CAYOM Year 8: Part 1 (TAKE TWO) (Fourth Quarter) (4/13 Deadline)

[Films]

The gardenDate: October 5thDirector: dan scanlonTheatres: 3910Rating: GGenre: animationStudio: millennium films

Budget: 75MCast:Samanca Lowton- EllieEmma stone- flowesMila Kunis- flows

Hailee Steinfield- Gardes

Simon Pegg- Birdy

Douglas Booth- Sluig

Mads Mielkesen- WeedesPlot: Ellie is a 12 year old girl who finds a hole in her garden. While looking she falls in it. Ellie gets transported to another world in her garden away from her normal life. On her way she meets different creatures with flowes and flows first, a pair of arguing twins. They show ellie around the garden- a world under our world. They then meet birdy and sluig who argue as they both think their funnier than eachother but they are not funny at all. when they ask ellie who's funnier, she tells them neither are funny which makes birdy and sluig upset and sad but they get over it. When the king and queen- Weedes and Gardes find out about a human entering this world, they plan to get rid of her. they go different ways to find where she is. when gardes finds ellie, she tells her that weedes is planning to get her and she needs to go away. it turns out gardes does not want to hurt ellie. When weedes finds gardes and ellie talking peacefully, he realises that gardes is not going to hurt her and he plans his revenge on gardes and ellie. when flowes finds out about his plan, she tells gardes and ellie and that they need to run quickly so they run as fast as they can. Weedes who is about to catch up with them is then tripped up accidently and put into a net by birdy and sluig who were trying to catch other insects. they all then celebrate with the evil weedes now gone and ellie asks if she can go into the corner of the garden by herself for a minute. She then wakes up and believes it was all a dream but when she goes into the garden their is a photo of them all together and a message saying thank you for visiting the garden and we hope to see you back here soon, love flowes, flows, birdy, sluig and gardes. Ellie then looks in the hole. The end Was it a dream or not?

Edited March 30, 2014 by Divergent Films

[Films]

Simpsons 2: the ride

Date: Tuesday 20 November
director: matt groening
Theatres: 4074
Rating: PG
Genre: family comedy
Studio: millennium films/Oswood animation pictures/fox
Budget: 115M
Cast:
Dan castellanata- homer
Julie kavner- marge
Yeardsley smith- Lisa
Harry shearer- ned Flanders
Nancy Cartwright- Bart

Plot: based on the ride in Florida

The film starts with the Simpsons watching a tv commercial for a brand new ride. Itchy and scratchy are in the advertisement being there usual selves. Homer screams at the family telling them there going now but first he goes to get some beer from the fridge.

When they arrive their, everyone is racing to be at the front of the queue. Moe is trying to sell beer to get more money but nobody takes. The Simpsons rush to the front of the queue. First Krusty puts on a show to advertise the ride with a random person dressed up as itchy and a drunk barney dressed up as scratchy. Itchy and scratchy start play fighting but Krusty gets rid of scratchy when he sees how drunk barney is. When barney is walking away, sideshow Bob attacks him and dresses up in the scratchy costume. The Simpsons are let through the barrier to go through the new ride. Next to the opening of the ride is a radioactive machine. Lisa gives Krusty a talk on how dangerous it is but he's having none of it. Then cedric goes to tell Krusty how dangerous it is but Krusty tells him to carry on with his own experiment so he goes. Grandpa Simpson then offers to look after magpie while the others go on the ride. They sit on a bench next to the radioactive machine. When grandpa falls asleep, maggie gets off him, puts an animal there on his lap and walks into the radioactive machine. Grandpa wakes up and tries to find maggie after discovering she's not on her lap after a few minutes.


When the simpsons are about to go on the ride, sideshow bob arrives in his disguise and attacks Krusty. He then orders the simpsons to go on the ride. Marge, Lisa and Bart refuse but homer jumps onto the ride saying that he's waited all this time to go on it. The others then get onto the ride and a massive roller coaster drop happens splitting Bart/Lisa from marge/homer. Bart and Lisa then find themselves on this kid ride saying there safe but sideshow bob disguised as a panda attacks them. He then says hell get homer with e orations. He temps homer to reach for some beer. He does and homer and marge plummet down a river. They then get on this boat with Lisa and Bart in an attempt to escape. They then end up in space and drop heavily from the sky. But a radioactive maggie attacks sideshow bob and the Simpsons are victorious. But maggie then starts running all over Springfield. Cedric then puts an injection in maggie that restores her to her normal size. All of Springfield though is trampled on and the future looks bleak, then Bart spots a girl and stares at her with eyes of love. Lisa then teases him. Grandpa, oblivious to what happened, sees maggie and tells her she was very good at hide and seek. Moe then offers homer a beer who accepts and we see him drinking it. In a post-credit scene you see Bart say hi to this girl and it ends with homer shouting doh after seeing the Flanders.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Divergent Films

[Films]

Flappy Bird: A Documentary

Date: 19 October
Theatres: 2238
Rating: G
Genre: Documentary
Studio: millennium films
Budget: 2M

Narrator [quite small role]: Jennifer Lawrence

Interviews with people such as Dong Nguyen

 

PLOT:

The film starts by going through Nguyen's childhood. He grew up in a small village called Van Phuc in Vietnam [just outside Hanoi which is famous for silk making]. His father was the owner of a hardware store while his mum worked for the Government. His family struggled to be able to afford a Game boy but they then eventually managed to purchase a nintendo. He reveals that he was inspired to create video games due to games such as Super Mario Bros which he discovered as a child. He then discusses more about his childhood, family and environment he grew up in. He started to code from the age of 16 and  at 19,  he won an internship to one of the few gaming companies in Vietnam [Punch Entertainment]  after he placed in the top 20 of a computer programming competition while studying computer science at university. When he found out about Iphones, he wanted to make a simpler game for people on the move as he found games such as angry birds too complicated. Son Bui Truong who was Nguyen's former boss reveals that he stood out for reasons such as speed and a fierce independent streak

 

The first game he released was Shuriken Block and the objective of that game was to stop ninja's from impaling five little men on a screen. His biggest game, flappy bird was created between two-three days in April 2013 when the rest of Hanoi were celebrating Reunification day [the end of the Vietnam War]. He created it in his bedroom at his parents house with a poster of Mario above him. He posted a screenshot on twitter just before the last flag waved on Reunification day.

 

As the bird in flappy bird was going to die a lot, Nguyen wanted to make the deaths entertaining with originally going for the bird exploding in a bloody pulp or having it bounce back across the ground before he chose the faceplant. He went through 100 sounds before choosing the kung-fu style thwack as he found that sound to be humorous. The green pipes in the game are a homage to Super Mario Bros. Flappy Bird is a side-scrolling game that featured 2D graphics that had a retro style. The game's objective is to fly the bird through the pipes without hitting them [you lose if you hit the pipes]. The bird flaps very briefly every single the time a player touches the screen but if you don't touch the screen, the bird falls because of gravity. The player gets their score by how many pipes they got through with medals such as bronze, silver and gold awarded for how well they did. There is no variation or evolution during the game

 

When it was originally released on May 24 2013 [including support for Iphone5], the game flopped due to reasons such as the flood of games and because of no marketing behind this launch. This looked just like another dead game.

 

But the game started to go viral in December with people saying that the game was very annoying but way too addictive. The word spread from social media platforms like reddit and youtube and in real life like in playgrounds and office parks, flappy bird became a top 10 hit in the US Charts in early January while hitting number 1 on the 17th January. It also topped the Chinese and UK charts. Dong Nguyen was now earning 50,000 per day. But that's where the negative impact of this game kicked in.

 

The game turned into a lot more than just a game to play before you go to sleep and Nguyen struggled to cope with the pressure of this. Paparazzi kept surrounding his parents house and he could never go unnoticed. He never wanted all this publicity and posted on twitter to give him peace. He also got loads of complaints from people that parents and children have stopped speaking over it, people have been sacked from their jobs for playing it and people have broke their phones while playing Flappy Bird.

 

When it became early February, Nguyen could not sleep or didn't want to go outdoors because of everything that was happening. He had enough and decided to discontinue flappy bird with a 22 hour warning on twitter. This resulted in 10,000,000 downloads in that timeframe. After he removed the game, he received loads of abuse from fans against this decision and even got death threats. Rumours then started to spread that Dong Nguyen has committed suicide but this was untrue. Also rumours started to spread that the game was to be removed because Nintendo were suing him.

 

The game being taken down resulted in a lot of copycat apps with at one point, the top 2 apps being Flappy Wings and Splashy Fish. There were other parodies such as Sesame Street [Flappy Bert] and Fall Out Boy [Fall out bird]. People on Ebay were offering phones with the app pre-installed for $1499 minimum but some bids went as high as $90,000. This was then stopped because it violated EBay's mobile phone laws as the smartphones must be restored to factory settings before being sold. Flappy Bird clones accounted for a third of iOS game launches between 5AM on 26 February to 5AM on 27 February [95 games]. Apple and google started rejecting apps with the world flappy in the title.

 

The millions of people who still have the game on their device is still generating Nguyen thousands of dollars for him. He quit his job and says he might by a mini and an apartment. He now has a passport. He is working on 3 new games at the same time- Kitty Jetpack [a vertical flying game], Checkonaut [an action chess game] and an untitled cowboy themed shooter.

 

He says he now feels relief since he shut down flappy bird and in mid-March, he said he will bring the game back at one point but not soon. He feels good now and is doing what he likes best, creating new games.
 

Edited April 9, 2014 by FrozenFilms

[Films]

Wallace And Gromit: Christmas

Date: Wednesday 19 December

director: Nick Park

Theatres: 3930

Rating: G

Genre: Animation

Studio: millennium films/Oswood animation pictures/ Aardmen

Budget: 84M

Characters

Wallace

Gromit

Fluffles

Peilla

Mary Berry as Mary Berry (in animated form)

PLOT:

Before the film starts, there is a shaun the sheep spin-off with shaun accidental starting a fire and the sheeps trying to save the place before the farmer arrives.

The film starts going to Wallace and gromits house where they are sitting in a kitchen with fluffles and a cake celebrating that Piella is gone. Wallace jokes that his glad there is not a bomb in this cake. The title than shows going to pictures of Wallace and gromit with more bakery awards.

CHRISTMAS EVE

The film continues at Christmas Eve with Wallace and gromit baking cakes for their massive tv show and cake sale on Christmas. However Wallace accidentally drops the batch so fluffles has to help bake the cakes and bread for the next day. They finally finish and go to watch some TV. Mary Berry is advertising food on TV on her programme bread and Wallace hopes that she would turn up to the sale tomorrow before falling asleep

CHRISTMAS DAY

Wallace over sleeps so gromit and fluffles have to rush him out of bed to set up the sale. They set up really quickly and to wallace's delights, he spots Mary berry with a tv crew. Wallace runs up to her to cuddle her but then runs into one of the tv camers and it smashes. A laugh is heard from far away and it cuts to Peilla saying she will avenge her twin sister Piella. Back at the sale, gromit builds a new camera so all the cameras turn on him broadcasting him as dog hero. Seeing this on the tv big screen, peilla decides to kidnap 'doghero'.

Mary Berry firsts tastes one of fluffles cakes but tells her it has a soggy bottom so she runs off. Berry then raves about Wallace and gromits loaves of bread and offers them a deal to appear on her bread programme which Wallace accepts immediately. Just as the tv show is about to finally start, gromit here's a dog whistle and believes it fluffles so he runs off to see her. Wallace believes he's just got stage fright and will be back in a minute so he starts the show. However gromit is captured into a net by Peilla and taken back to her home. Peilla presents gromit a cake and tells him to cut it open at 2:55PM, just before wallace's show finishes. He then spots fluffles roaming the house and tries to get her attention but fluffles ignores him. Peilla then taunts Gromit about how fluffles will have to choose between him or her mother, just before he cuts the cake.

Wallace makes a mess of presenting the show on his own without gromit so Mary steps in to help him which attracts large crowds. However a power cut hits the area at 2:50PM and all the cameras stop working. Peilla is fuming at this as her plan would not be shown on TV. She then makes fluffles choose between her mum and gromit but to Peilla's surprise, she is going towards Gromit before she bites Peilla who falls to the floor in pain. Fluffles, gromit and fluffles mother work together to throw the cake into the same alligator pit that Piella died in. The cake (which contained a bomb) then went off. Peilla is fuming and reaches for a bread knife to aim at fluffles before realising she's gone. She then believes she sees fluffles near the alligator pit and runs towards it to 'capture her' but she trips over a wire and falls into the alligator pit suffering the same fate as her twin sister.

Gromit, fluffles and fluffles mother returns to Wallace and gromits house where the tv cameras are just starting to work again as the power starts to work. Wallace teases gromit about his 'stage fright'- oblivious to what really went on. Gromit tries to explain using actions about what happened but Wallace just thinks he's making excuses. Anyway Mary Berry and everyone is leaving and just before she goes, she gives Wallace her phone number and the date to go and film the episode of Mary Berrys bread. Wallace, gromit, fluffles and her mother to back into the house and have Christmas celebrations such as making funny Christmas cards with birds in the background (nod to the cracking contraptions short).

The film fast forwards five months where Wallace and the rest are watching the episode of bread on TV containing them and the programme is announced as a rating winner. They all celebrate and feel good but Pisella who witnessed what happened to her cousin, watches them and seethes through the window.

The end

Edited April 13, 2014 by FrozenFilms

[Films]

THE NORMANS

Date: 7 December [Limited], 19 December [Wide]
director: Luc Jacquet

Narrator: George Clooney
Theatres: 22 [12/7] 350 [12/14] 1,710 [12/19]
Rating: PG
Genre: Documentary
Studio: millennium films
Budget: 7M

 

PLOT:

A massive change in English history occurred in 1066. In 1066 the King- Edward the Confessor- died and this led to Harold Godwinson being crowned King. But in 1066 William Duke of Normandy came and challenged Harold in what is now called the Battle of Hastings. William defeated Harold and became the king. This was a massive turning point in British history that changed the lives of many people- for good and for bad. I will go through the people’s lives that have changed lots, a bit or not at all since the Norman invasion King William led.

 

The people who have suffered major changes under the new empire.

Under the reigns of Edward the Confessor and Harold Godwinson, Anglo-Saxon Lords were only behind their king in the feudal system. Little did they know looking at the system a couple of years later, they would be nearly at the bottom of the system after William Duke of Normandy was crowned the new king. Under the reigns of their previous 2 English kings they were rich and had loads of money. The Lords and Barons also had land that they owned themselves. Nobody could take their land. But now under the reign of King William, all their land had been taken by the Normans and given to Norman Barons, Lords and Knights. Their land is owned always by Barons/Lords [if you’re a Knight] and by the new King if you are a Baron or Lord. The lives of the previous English Barons and Lords have turned worse under the Normans rule.

 

On the other hand a major change is not always a bad change for a group of people. The Norman Lords/Barons now get a huge bit of land if they provide King William with knights for the army. This is a much higher stake they now own unlike when they lived in Normandy as everyday people. They get to boss knights and peasants around even if King William bosses them. They also thought they were much better than the Anglo-Saxons at recruiting army members and also at recording information about people and land way better. They also know the King and support him, with a much more fun job and they would like being high up. This is one group under King William’s reign that has changed a lot, but for the better.

 

Groups that has moderately been affected by the Normans coming to power.

The bishops in the Christian Churches lives have been affected but not to the extent of being as affected as the Barons and Lords. The bishops, like the Barons and Lords, used to have always owned land but that has sufficiently changed as they are now expected to give the land to knights. The knights supposedly need their land to fight. They also only need to fight when the King wants them too. Under the reigns of the previous Kings, the bishops have had a lot of power with the Kings putting faith and trust in them. This is the bad effect of the Norman reign on the Bishops but on the other hand, they have not been affected as much as people like the English Barons and Lords for 2 reasons. The first reason is that they still have their jobs as bishops even if they do not own any land. The Barons and Lords have lost their jobs as well as their land. The other reason is that England remained a Christian country so people still put their faith into the bishops.

 

Another group that has been moderately affected- but for the better- is the Norman Knights. Like the Norman Lords and Barons, they have also come over from France leaving their everyday jobs behind. Even though some of the knights might not want to fight, if they fight for a minimal period each year, they get rewarded a piece of land. The Norman Barons/Lords thought they were way better than the English Barons/Lords and the Knights thought the same. The knights fought they worked a lot harder than the Anglo-Saxon knights. They think that because they say they fight a lot more regularly than the Anglo-Saxon knights. The only reason they have fitted into this category of being moderately affected is because in my view the Norman Barons/Lords have been a bit more affected than the knights.

 

A group that was not affected by the Normans coming to power

A group that was not affected by the Normans rule was the peasants. Under the reigns of the previous English kings [the Anglo-Saxon time period], they were poor and had to give some of their crops and what they earned to those previous rulers of England. They were still poor under the Norman reign and also had to give some crops and money away to the Normans like with the English. The peasants work rate has not changed as well because they still work as hard as they have ever done in loads of areas including agriculture. The peasants were still at the bottom of the Feudal system under the Normans reign but they were bottom when the English were in charge of England. There have only been 2 changes for the peasants since the Normans took over and they are also minimal changes. The first change that applies to every English Citizen is that the Normans only speak French. That means the peasants struggle to understand what their new rulers are speaking but that is not an important change because it does not affect their lives like the Barons, Lords and Bishops who lose all their land. The other change is that they are now not allowed to hunt in the forest. Again this is a change for all the British people. They are not allowed to hunt because the land where they hunted is now the King’s land. This change might be a bit harder but it is not as serious as some of the changes mentioned above.

 

To summarise above, every group- Norman or British- had been affected by the Norman arrival whether it was to a minimal or maximum extent. The lives changed a lot in England and this was the start of England becoming a much bigger country, for protection [loads of castles being built to store weapons and to fend of enemies] and the economy rising. Even if the people who lived in England before the new rulers rebelled, the rebellions eventually got lower and lower till they stopped. This showed the country was coming together. England has changed a lot. The wealth as I said before is rising with King William spending his money wisely on land to give to the barons. In exchange for the land he gives to the Barons, they search for Knights to join the army. This makes King William’s army harder to defeat. He also spent money on building castles to store weapons in incase of an invasion or rebellion. The king was also more in control of England than the previous kings- Edward the Confessor and Harold Godwinson. He was more in control because he made people know he was the king and if the people of England crossed him or rebelled, he would stand firm with his judgement and make the rebels pay the price for their wrongdoing. Loads of other different areas changed and the Norman rule was a step further making England a bigger and more known country. The Norman rule has changed the lives of people who lived in England then and now forever

[CJohn]

The Little Mermaid

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Family
Date: December 14
Theaters: 4,002
Format: 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Emma Watson – Ariel

Liam Hemsworth – Eric

Queen Latifah – Ursula

Liam Neeson – King Triton

Alexandra Daddario – Vanessa

Simon Pegg – Flotsam (voice)

Nick Frost – Jetsam (Voice)

Unknown – Sebastian (Voice)

Unknown – Scuttle (Voice)

Unknown – Flounder (Voice)

Unknown – Carlotta

Unknown – Seahorse (Voice)

Unknown – Grimsby
Rating: PG for sequences of action and scary images, and brief mild language
Runtime: 110 min
Budget: $250 million

 

Tagline: “Get into the magical world of Ariel” | “This Christmas, the movie event of the Holidays arrives” | “Evil is never dead” | “The 3D family movie event of the year!”

Ariel and Eric are happy. After killing Ursula, both lived happily ever after. We see King Triton, in the ocean. Every creature leaves in peace. We see Ariel and Eric in their palace in the balcony of their room kissing.

 

T H E L I T T L E M E R M A I D

 

 

Ariel and Eric talk about how those last 5 years were great. Ariel tells him that she misses home sometimes, but is happy with him. Eric tells her that she should visit her father and family someday, since she doesn’t go there for some months now.

 

Ariel goes to the beach. She meets with Scuttle and tells it to warn her father that she is about to visit him. Scuttle agrees and gets very happy. We see Scuttle warning Sebastian, and Sebastian warning Triton. Titron summons his guards and tells them to be ready, because her daughter will be back soon. Image fades.

 

We see Jetsam and Flotsam; they are in the old garden where Ursula lived. They are crying and consoling themselves (funny scene with some sad funny things said by the characters). Soon, Jetsam and Flotsam go against some stuff that Ursula had in there. The some sort of mirror. Jetsam and Flotsam look at it closer. The mirror breaks.

 

Seahorse, Flounder and Sebastian are seen talking in the Ocean. King Triton passes by them and it is seen going to his palace undersea. Meanwhile in the garden, more mirrors stared to tumble and breaking. Flotsam and Jetsam are scared. Some sort of pink mist starts to come out of them.

 

King Triton is seen arriving. Talks to some guards, and discuss how calm everything is since Ursula died. King Triton says that everything must be ready for tonight. Ariel is seen talking to Eric. He says that he is happy that she is going to visit their family, but that he will miss her. She says it is only one night. They kiss.

 

Flotsam and Jetsam continue shaking around the pink mist. Only one mirror didn’t dropped into the floor. It stayed. The mist goes into that mirror. A dark image appears. Some flowers start to open. A huge scream is heard. The image in the mirror tells them to take back Triton’s trident and bring it to her. Jetsam e Flotsam quickly obeys and run away.

 

We see Eric kissing Ariel on the beach and her father appearing. Eric says goodbye to Ariel and Triton uses his powers to turn Ariel into mermaid form again. Triton and Ariel talk about Ariel’s new life and how are things in the sea. Jetsam and Flotsam are planning a way to steal the trident but they have no idea how.

 

The night comes and there is a party in the palace. Ariel reunites with Seahorse, Flounder and Sebastian. They have some funny and animated conversations. Jetsam and Flotsam try to infiltrate in the party but they are quickly caught by some guards.  They are expelled from the palace and go back to the garden.

 

When they arrived, shaking, the dark figure tells them to go away.  Then it invokes some dark ghosts with a spell. A huge sonic boom happens that is felt in Triton’s palace and in Eric’s palace. It is so strong that one wall is seen crumbling on Eric’s place. We see Eric running to the place where it happens. We also see Grimsby and Carlotta. They are saying how that scared them.

 

Eric asks them if it all okay. Eric looks at the sky. It is dark. Like if a storm is coming. The ocean is not calm anymore, like before. There are several waves.  Ariel asks her dad what is going on. We see the dark ghosts coming for them. Causing a huge mess and stealing the trident. Seahorse, Flounder and Sebastian hide under a rock. Triton goes after them with some guards. Ariel follows him.

 

When they arrive, they realize they are in Ursula’s garden. Meanwhile, Carlotta is cleaning herself and Grimsby is talking about the damage made to the palace and how that was possible. Eric tells them to run out of there and runs to the seaport. Eric sees a woman. It is a Vanessa. She laughs and turns into dust.

 

In the sea, the ghosts point the trident to the mirror. A huge light goes from there into the sky. Eric sees it. A scream is heard. From that light, Ursula comes out. Triton watches in shock and Ariel witnesses from behind, hidden. Ursula says that she never left. She was stuck in the afterlife and always had a backup plan.

 

Eric sees Vanessa again. Ursula pulls a new object from the mirror.  It is a necklace. The necklace shines and the guards of Triton turn against him. Their eyes are red. Ariel looks behind and other merpeople also have their eyes red. Ursula creates a tsunami that hits the shore, destroying Eric’s palace.

 

Eric sees what is happening at the distance. Vanessa quickly appears in front of him and kisses him. Eric’s eyes turn red. Vanessa laughs. Ursula sends merpeople to land. They turn into human form when they arrive. Triton tells Ursula to stop. Ursula gives Titron the trident and tells him to try. Triton tries but the attack is worthless. A light protects Ursula.

 

A new, bigger and perfected, trident shows up out of the light on Ursula’s hands. Ursula attacks Triton and he falls. The mirror disappears. We see Eric leaving on a ship with several coming behind him. Vanessa puts her arms around him. Vanessa tells her that soon they will dominate the ocean. And after that the world, and that her merpeople were going to infiltrate into the humans world and create new allies.

 

The camera goes slowly into Eric’s office in the boat. We see the mirror in there. Ursula passes by Ariel and laughs. Tells her that her end is coming and that vengeance is upon everyone. Vanessa tells Eric that we will be the king of the ocean. He puts a smile on his face. Ariel goes to the surface and sees the boat.

 

Ursula creates a whirlpool, and that is where Eric and the other boats are going. We see people in the other boats with red eyes. They are merpeople and some of them are humans turned evil by the merpeople. Ariel asks her dad to turn her human for her to go to Eric’s boat. Triton does that and asks her to be careful. Ariel tells her dad to be ready.

 

A giant Ursula emerges. She is controlling Vanessa, which is no more than an illusion. The human form of Ursula. Vanessa tells Eric to jump into the sea. Ariel shows up behind them Ariel uses his dad’s trident to make Vanessa disappear. Ursula panics for a moment but continues to control Eric.

 

Ariel grabs Eric and kisses him. A moment of silence. Ursula watches in fear. That has no effect on Eric. She laughs and Eric continues to walk to the prow of the boat. The merpeople attack Ariel but she uses the trident to defend herself. One of the merpeople attacks Ariel from behind and pushes her to inside Eric’s office. Ariel looks and sees the mirror.

 

Triton appears on the boat in human form and starts kicking ass into the evil human and merpeople. Ariel calls her dad. He sees the mirror. Eric continues to walk into the prow. He arrives at the end, looks below, and we see the whirlpool. Ursula watches with a huge smile. Meanwhile in the sea, the sea creatures fight the controlled merpeople. A huge battle happens.

 

We see Sebastian calling a merpeople. He regrets that. Before the merpeople hits Sebastian, Seahorse and Flounder push a rock to go against the merpeople. Sebastian gets all cocky and screams at the merpeope fallen. “You take that, and never mess with me again”! Flounder and Seahorse are happy with the team work.

 

Jetsam and Flotsam are seen running in the waters, from the battle that is happening. They go back to Ursula’s garden to hide from the battle. Flounder, Sebastian and Seahorse follow them. After getting to them, we see Jetsam and Flotsam saying that they didn’t do anything. Flounder, Sebastian and Seahorse look at them in an angry way.

 

Vanessa appears behind Ariel and attacks. Triton uses the trident to end with her forever. That creates a wound in Ursula. She attacks with her tentacles and takes the boat down. Eric falls into the water and Aril goes after her. Triton turns Ariel into mermaid form again. He then looks at Ursula and says “Goodbye”. “NEVER”, she screams. The boat goes fully under water.

 

Triton uses the power of the trident against the mirror. Ursula is able to take down the other boats. She thinks Triton got hit by her tentacles. We see the mirror breaking. The necklace around Ursula’s neck breaks. She sees it happening. A light starts to come out of his eyes and mouth.

 

Several thunders are seen in the sky while Ursula explodes in a huge light. Triton turns into his merpeople form again. Ariel brings Eric to the shore. The evil merpeople have no idea what happened and return to the sea, and the humans don’t know what happened either. Eric doesn’t breathe. Ariel kisses him while cries. Eric spits a bit of water to his side. Ariel smiles.

 

The battle in the see also ends. We see the merpeople apologizing, including a scene between Sebastian and the merpeople who attacked it. Titron looks while everything turns normal again. Eric asks what happened. Ariel tells him to forget and kisses him again.

 

A few months passed.  Eric re-builded his palace. Carlotta and Grimsby are seen doing their usual tasks. We see Ariel saying goodbye to Eric. Eric jokes about what happened the last time. Ariel smiles. We see her with her father arriving. We see Jetsam and Flotsam in jail (funny scene). They are both received with music and joy by everyone. We see Sebastian, Seahorse and Flounder with Ariel. The camera goes away slowly as the credits roll while the music continues.

Edited April 6, 2014 by CJohn

[Blankments]

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic – The Rise of Nightmare Rarity

Director: James Wooton
Genre: Flash Animation/Adventure/Musical
Date: October 12
Studio: Badass Films  (labeled as Baddonkey Films in marketing and on film itself)
Cast: Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle, Ashleigh Ball as Applejack/Rainbow Dash, Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie/Fluttershy, Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity/Princess Luna, Cathy Weseluck as Spike, Madeleine Peters as Scootaloo, Neil Patrick Harris as Larry/Shadowfright, Sean Astin as Bob, Michelle Creber as Apple Bloom, Nicole Oliver as Princess Celestia, Kelly Metzger as Spitfire, Britt McKillip as Princess Cadence, Peter New as Big Mac, Kristen Schaal as Maybelle, Rebecca Shoichet as Twilight Sparkle’s singing voice, Shannon Chan-Kent as Pinkie Pie’s singing voice, and Kazumi Evans as Rarity’s singing voice
Music by: William Anderson. Songs by Daniel Ingram.
Total Runtime: 113 min

Short: 5 min

Film: 108 min
Tagline: Friends or foes?

 

Plot Summary: Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy go on a quest with Luna and Spike to save Rarity from the evil Nightmare Forces.

 

Plot: Short film: In this short, Rainbow Dash takes her job patrolling the skies very seriously, but she may have met her match when a group of mischievous cloud gremlins threaten to block out the sun! Rainbow Dash will have her hooves full when it comes to these pint-sized menaces! A silent cartoon.

 

The story opens with Twilight Sparkle having a nightmare, galloping away from something through a dilapidated village. She screams in horror as shadows reach for her, only to be woken up. We soon discover that Twilight has apparently been suffering from nightmares for an entire week. As she and Spike walk through Ponyville, she looks through her books for a cure, to no avail. (“I Need Sleep”) As Twilight wonders about what's causing the nightmares, a half-asleep Rainbow Dash crashes into her. Dash reveals that she'd been having nightmares over the past week as well. Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy walk up and reveal that they've all been having nightmares too. (“Nightmare Madness”).

 

The friends decide to having a slumber party at Pinkie Pie's house that night; while they're still concerned about the nightmares, they're certain a night of fun will help them sleep peacefully. A few hours after they go to sleep, they experience the nightmares again—as a strange, black mist seeps into the room through cracks in the window and enters the ponies' ears. Twilight dreams of being dismissed from the royal court of Canterlot forever by Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Applejack dreams of her family (Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith) blaming her for losing their land to drought. Fluttershy dreams of her animal friends running from her in fear. Rainbow Dash dreams of being unable to fly with the Wonderbolts with Spitfire telling her of disappointment. Pinkie dreams of being unable to make ponies laugh. (“Dreams or Reality”) Finally, Rarity dreams of her friends rejecting her gifts and abandoning her in favor of a new pony named Maybelle (“Sweaters vs. Dresses”).

 

Twilight and her friends are awoken as the black mist swirls around Rarity and carries her out of the room and up toward the moon. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fly up to rescue Rarity, but she and the black mist vanish into thin air. As Spike breaks down in tears over Rarity's abduction (“My Fair Rarity”), Twilight writes a letter to Princess Celestia. The six ponies wonder about the connection between the black mist and their dreams and decide to seek out Princess Luna, who controls dreams and was taken over by Nightmare Moon a thousand years prior. Twilight is about to write another letter, but Celestia and Luna have already arrived on the scene.

 

Princess Luna explains that, although she doesn't have a clear answer for what's happening, she knows that dark and evil forces have taken Rarity to the Nightmare Dreamscape. According to her, when she was Nightmare Moon, she thought that she could show other ponies how special she was by making them fear her. Often, these "Nightmare Forces" would decide for her on what to do. Once Luna was returned to normal by the Elements of Harmony, she hoped that these dark forces would disappear. However, they somehow got enough energy from the new moon's cycle to claim what Nightmare Moon promised them: a powerful kingdom of their own.

 

Alarmed, the ponies decide to take immediate action, but Luna warns that the dark forces, having been defeated by the Elements once before, will come after them and destroy Ponyville. Luna proposes that she go alone, to the ponies' protest. Celestia tells Luna that the Elements are no ordinary ponies and to trust in them. Reluctantly, Luna agrees to this. Celestia explains that she can send Twilight and her friends to the Dreamscape and will help prepare Ponyville for the upcoming attack. Luna says that she hopes Rarity is brave, for "the Nightmare Dreamscape is not for the faint of heart".

 

Within the Dreamscape itself, Rarity is seen bound to a throne. She puts on a tough face at first, but as the dark forces whoosh around her, her determination falters. (“I Can Survive This”) The dark forces surround Rarity and glare menacingly at her, to which she remarks, "Oh, dear. That is definitely a step up... Good show, wooshie things."

 

Princess Celestia magically lassoes the moon, and she, the ponies, Spike, and Princess Luna pull it closer to Earth. Celestia goes to prepare Ponyville for battle, while the others walk across the rope to get to the moon. Luna warns the ponies that the Nightmare Forces will confront them with their greatest fears, but they're determined to save Rarity. (“I Know We Can Work Together”) When Spike, clad in knight's armor, accidentally snaps the rope, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Luna save Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Spike from falling. Spike nearly loses a fire ruby intended for Rarity, but Twilight recovers it with her magic.

 

Upon arriving on the moon, Luna says that when the Nightmare Forces came back to life, they needed a form to take and put the peaceful inhabitants of the moon under their spell. Elsewhere on the moon, Rarity is confronted by the Nightmare Forces' leader, Larry, who prefers to be called Shadowfright. Shadowfright and his sidekick, Bob, take advantage of Rarity's generosity, telling her that only she can help them and that they'd never reject her as they say her friends eventually will. (“We Love You Most”)As Rarity is overcome with a desire to help, the Nightmare Forces shroud her body in black mist.

 

Twilight, Spike, Luna, and the others run into the Nightmare Forces and, following a brief pursuit, are subjected them to their worst nightmares. In Twilight's nightmare, Celestia dismisses her and says the magic of friendship is dead because of her, until Spike and Luna tell her it's just a nightmare, and she breaks free. One by one, Twilight, Spike, and Luna help the others break free of their own nightmares: Rainbow Dash's nightmare of being unable to fly and help a flooding Ponyville, Pinkie Pie's nightmare of being jeered on stage and pelted with tomatoes, Fluttershy's nightmare of being growled at by her animal friends, and Applejack's nightmare of being blamed for the land becoming barren and causing everypony to starve. (“Dreams or Reality” reprise)

 

As Twilight and the others face off against the Nightmare Forces, Shadowfright and Bob arrive to taunt and threaten Luna into becoming Nightmare Moon again in exchange for sparing the others. Twilight and the others stand by Luna's side—as her friend—and she refuses. The Nightmare Forces, however, were prepared for this and introduce to Twilight and company their new queen: Nightmare Rarity.

 

Theaters: 2,945

MPAA Rating: G
Budget: $15 million

Previous Films Gross: (OW/DOM/WW)

Return of Queen Chrysalis: 16.2/51.4/83.5

Return of Queen Chrysalis, Part 2: 17.2/59.2/95.8

Edited April 23, 2014 by Blankments

[Blankments]

Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Search

Director: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko
Genre: Animated/Action
Date: December 14
Studio: Badass Films  (labeled as Baddonkey Films in marketing and on film itself)

Cast: Dante Basco as Zuko, Zach Tyler Eisen as Aang, Grey DeLisle as Azula, Jack DeSena as Sokka, Mae Whitman as Katara, Jen Cohn as Ursa/Noriko, Bryan Cranston as Ikem/Noren, Mark Hamill as Ozai, Tom Kane as Earth Kingdom Scholar, Spencer Garrett as Jinzuk, Mindy Serling as Rina, Greg Baldwin as Iroh/Azulon, Jennie Kwan as Suki, Olivia Hack as Ty Lee, Takayo Fischer as Elua, Elijah Runcorn as Young Zuko, Dee Bradley Baker as Vachir/Momo/Appa/Flutter-bat/other animals, Bailee Madison as Kiyi, Ellen Burstyn as Misu, Max Von Sydow as Rafa, and Sigourney Weaver as the Mother of Faces.

Music by: Jeremy Zuckerman.
Runtime: 115 min
Tagline: The True Secret of the Fire Nation

 

Plot Summary: Zuko along with the rest of Team Avatar goes on a search to find his long-lost mother, but they have to take the psychopathic Azula with them.

 

Plot:

We hear two unknown individuals are talking, one imploring the other to divulge "everything". The second person complies, announcing that they will start the tale from the beginning.

 

In a flashback, one man stands atop a stage in the Fire Nation town of Hira'a rehearsing his lines for a play. A woman startles him from behind, causing him to drop his mask. After some flirting between the couple, the woman, who turns out to be Ursa, announces with pride that she has just received the role of Dragon Empress in the play; the man, Ikem, jumps to his feet, ecstatic that he will finally get to kiss her before all of Hira'a. In his excitement, he puts on his mask and pleads with Ursa to practice with him. After an awkward and masked stage kiss, Ikem proposes marriage to his girlfriend, revealing that he has been in love with her since he was six. He asks once more to show her he truly loves her, not just in the script, and she accepts.

 

In the Yu Dao of the present, Team Avatar sits among an assembly of other important people concerned about the stability of the city's government. Although Aang and Sokka chat quietly among themselves to divert from the "boring" lecture of an Earth Kingdom scholar, Katara scolds them both and the three begin to bicker. Zuko watches them from the sidelines, ignoring the professor.

 

Zuko snaps to attention upon hearing the scholar say the word "family" and asks him to repeat the sentence. Following a side comment about the Fire Lord's obstructive adolescence, he tells Zuko an old philosophy about how the family is akin to a small nation, and the nation to a large family. Therefore, if a ruler has a proper handling on family, he may be more prepared to govern a nation. Zuko realizes the dysfunction of his own family – his father imprisoned, his sister kept in an institution, and his mother banished, missing for years – and tells Aang of his anxiety about what this means for his own country.

 

Back in Hira'a of years past, Ursa bursts through the door of her house ecstatic over the proposal and anticipatory of telling her parents the news; however, her mother, Rina, is kneeling with a family heirloom headpiece on her lap and a tear in her eye. Ursa asks what is wrong and is told that her father Jinzuk is in the greenhouse with a visitor. She runs to the greenhouse to find her father with Fire Lord Azulon, who explains that the mixed bloodline of Avatar Roku's grandchild, Ursa, and his own heir will strengthen his descendants and allow them to rule the Fire Nation and the world long after his death. Cutting to the chase, Azulon introduces his son Ozai, who has a proposal for her.

 

At Capital City Prison, Zuko stands outside of his father's cell with Suki and Ty Lee while chatting about the state of Yu Dao and Aang's plan to unite the four nations. Peeking through bars of the cell, Zuko watches Azula in her straitjacket staring at Ozai; their eyes are locked on each other, but the warriors assure Zuko that neither has said a word since they sat Azula in the cell with him. Despite Suki's disagreement, the Fire Lord enters the cell with tea for his family. Azula, unable to grab anything, bites on the tray and throws it into Zuko's chest, infuriated by how he, in her mind, expects her to lap it like an animal. Ty Lee chi blocks her against Zuko's advisement, causing Azula to rant wild-eyed at her former friend, accusing Ursa of having gotten to Ty Lee and made her lose her fear. Disregarding Azula's paranoia, Zuko explains that he thought the tea would add dignity; Azula persuades him to let her and their father to speak alone, with Zuko deciding that neither was any threat right now anyway. He confides to Suki that no matter how much he regrets it, they are the best chance of him finding his mother.

 

Ursa sits frowning in a carriage with the Fire Lord and his son, tuning out Azulon's small talk as they leave her hometown. Suddenly her fiancé, Ikem, yells from outside the carriage that he will not let Ursa, his love, be taken from him, holding theater prop swords as the only weapons he could find. Azulon orders his guards to take care of Ikem, but before the battle turns fatal, Ursa pleads with Ozai to make his father stop, calling Ozai her love with the idea that it might persuade him.

 

After Ozai stops the soldiers, Ursa runs out of the carriage and tells Ikem to go home. After Ikem says that if Ursa can tell him marrying the prince will make her happy, he will leave her. Glancing backward to see that the royalty are watching the conversation, she lies and says she is honored by her new engagement, ordering once more that he go home. As she rides away in the carriage, Ikem stays behind and wipes tears from his eyes.

 

Suki and Ty Lee accompany Zuko as he walks Azula in her wheelchair back to the institution, night having fallen over the city. After dismissing the warriors, Zuko questions Azula about the conversation she had with their father, to which she responds with sarcasm. Although Zuko begins to speak about moving her to the palace, Azula suddenly brings up how after being chi blocked, one feels limp – she tells him that after muscle control returns, for a few moments, one becomes more flexible than one ever could be before and pulls her arm from the straitjacket, generating lightning and blinding Zuko. Her brother shoots a burst of fire at her, but she uses it to her advantage and has it break the chains that bound her feet together; just as quickly, she jumps to the top of a building and escapes along the roof.

 

Outside of Hira'a, Ikem saunters sullenly through a jungle and begins to build a shelter for himself, becoming a hermit in his despair. In his days of forest-dwelling, he grows a beard and finishes a dilapidated house. As he sits next to a bonfire, Ikem turns around one night to spot a mysterious, glowing wolf drinking water from a pond.

 

Back in the Fire Nation Capital, Zuko pinpoints his sister's location and accesses a secret bunker that Azula entered moments earlier. He finds her rummaging through a chest of Ozai's possessions and mumbling to herself about how he had managed to break off Ursa's control and tell her the truth. She explains to Zuko that within the chest is a wealth of letters that their mother had written a few years prior. As Zuko approaches her in the hope of reading the one in her hand, she burns it to ashes, covertly sneaking the actual note behind her back and slipping it between her sash and her robe; Zuko, having been distracted by the letter going up in flames, does not see this and asks what is wrong with her, prompting her to suggest he take that question to Ursa, who would be happy to answer it. Gaining a clear mind once more, Azula admits through gritted teeth while squeezing the sides of her head that she wants to find Ursa too, and that she will tell him what was written in the note on one condition.

 

At her wedding reception, Ursa and Ozai look at her parents from afar. He tells her how lovely they are and promptly advises her to choose her last words to them well – as Fire Princess, she will have to abandon her former life and never mention Hira'a again. She must attend her duties as royalty now, since she now belongs to the Royal Family and to him.

 

In the present, Aang, Katara, and Sokka fly to the Fire Nation Royal Palace to meet Zuko, who has summoned them all together. Iroh greets them and alerts Zuko of their arrival. After learning some news about Toph, who was unable to attend in order to teach at her metalbending school, Zuko proceeds to explain that he has discovered the location of his mother's hometown and hopes that going there will heed answers for his search. However, since Azula was the one who coaxed the information out of Ozai, he agreed to let her travel with him unbound; before he could relay this information to the gang, however, they saw Azula lurking in the shadows and attacked. Aang admitted that he thought the plan was ludicrous, but he agreed for the group to go with him to Hira'a and help him find his mother.

 

That same day, as everyone is loading his or her luggage onto Appa, Azula insults the bison and the others by telling them to bring her things onto the shaggy beast. Zuko assures everyone that such treatment will only be temporary, but until they find Ursa, someone will have to be watching his sister at all times. Sokka volunteers for first watch and, though Zuko would prefer the job were given to the benders, he wants to show her what he is made of and tells her to get onto Appa, waving his boomerang in her face. She zaps it out of his hand with lightning, putting Team Avatar on the offensive as Aang binds her feet with earthbending and Katara encases her hand in ice. Sokka backs out of the job, suggesting someone else take it instead. As they fly away, Iroh theorizes that for the past hundred years, the Fire Nation has had too many weapons and too little tea, declaring to Suki and Ty Lee that he will instate National Tea Appreciation Day.

 

On Appa, Sokka watches in disgust as his sister and Aang kiss in front of him. After Aang notes that instead of Toph, they have Azula for company, she questions them as to which one of them was first approached by her mother, believing that they had conspired against her with Ursa. Zuko manages to snap her from her lunatic rant before it gets out of hand, with Sokka sighing that he misses Toph.

 

Zuko mentions after they land that he believes Hira'a is just up ahead, but proposes that they set up camp if they cannot enter the village before sunset. Meanwhile, Aang's face contorts to an angry-looking glare; he tells the group that he is not trying to make it, but that he feels the presence of a spirit with his face. Looking below, Aang spots a wolf spirit running along the path Appa is flying. While Sokka and Katara bicker, Zuko tells Aang that there is nothing down there despite his witness to the spirit and orders Azula, who has stood herself on the ledge of the saddle, to get down. She instead jumps down so she can get to Hira'a first, but Aang catches her with the aid of his glider. She swiftly burns a hole in glider and causes the two of them to crash. Zuko tells the others to check on Aang while he chases after his sister.

 

Azula jumps over a stream in her escape route, but before she can get any further, she hears her mother's voice speaking from the water and sees Ursa's reflection in the current, telling Azula that she is the one hurting herself. She once again ignores this part of her hallucination and asks Ursa how she managed to make everyone close to her turn on her and take her down. She tells her mother in triumph how Ozai broke free of her hold and led her to the letter that will allow her to take the throne, but she knows she cannot do this while Ursa is always working against her, vowing to end her mother's meddling for good.

 

Zuko interrupts Azula's confrontation with the Ursa hallucination, questioning from across the stream who she is speaking to. His sister responds that it does not concern him and that she no longer needs his help to find their mother. Katara forms ice that encases Azula's arms and torso, stopping the siblings from the impending battle. Zuko thinks there is something wrong with Aang upon noticing his countenance, but he tells Zuko that it is the wolf spirit's presence that incurs his expression. The spirit makes itself visible right after Aang says this, frightening the team and making Sokka believe they are finally respecting the power of his boomerang.

 

Back in the flashback, Ursa sits down at a desk and composes a letter that she hides in her robe. Afterward, she removes a family portrait from the wall of the room, looking at the masks she hid there and giving special attention to her past love's dragon mask. She covers the collection back up with the painting and answers the knock at her door to find a young Zuko afraid to go to sleep. After he explains his nightmare that featured Azula, Ursa tells him to hold onto the good dreams, not the bad ones, and tucks him in.

 

After she leaves her son's room, Ursa walks to another room of the palace and delivers the letter she wrote to Elua, who has delivered secret letters on Ursa's behalf in the past. Unbeknownst to the princess, however, Elua has not gotten them to Hira'a as requested, but instead has filed them for Ozai. After reading through this particular letter, Elua takes it directly to the prince, who is practicing his firebending. Upon skimming its contents, Ozai crumples the note in his hand, bewildered.

 

In the present again, Aang orders that his friends be respectful to the wolf spirit, who he believes has to have left the Spirit World for something important. Zuko and Katara slowly realize that the markings on the spirit's fur resemble the face Aang could not help expressing. At this he tries to reason with the spirit, recognizing what the spirit may have taken offensively and apologizing for the team, but this tactic does not work and he attacks again. Katara, Sokka, and Zuko attempt to defend themselves with their weapons, but Katara and Sokka's ice and boomerang are deflected and the spirit consumes Zuko's fire. Next comes Appa who, with Momo resting on his head, lunges at the spirit and gets the upper hand when he knocks the spirit off his legs, despite Aang telling Appa to go easy.

 

After regaining his footing, the wolf spirit turns the tables on Team Avatar by emitting a profuse number of moth wasps from his mouth, all of which fly immediately to the members of the group and begin to cover them from head to foot, making it hard for Katara to breathe and causing Sokka to lose sight of his arm. Due to Aang's badgering, they do not hurt the spirit animals, but Azula tells Zuko that if she is set free, she will take care of the moths, mentioning her regret for having run off and breaking their deal. Zuko unbinds her from the ice and she shoots a ray of lightning in the direction opposite the one they are traveling, causing the moth wasps to fly toward the light and the wolf spirit to run and catch up with his insects.

 

Night has fallen and everyone has gone to sleep but Azula, who is mumbling to herself about Ursa, Zuko, and Sokka, who worries about leaving Azula's hands unbound despite the trouble she caused throughout the day. Zuko calls attention to the way Azula saved them from the moth wasps, telling Sokka that he wants to give her a chance. The two begin to talk about Sokka's relationship with Katara, how he does not become angered by the snowballs Katara throws at him all the time. Although Sokka tells him that annoying her often enough makes things even, Zuko does not understand why he takes the worse side of the bargain. When it comes to his sister, Sokka confides, he does not mind the arrangement one bit.

 

Looking back at his own sister, Zuko asks Sokka for a blanket and takes it to Azula. As he lays it across her body, Zuko's eyes widen upon spotting the letter Azula has hidden from him all day. He reaches for it and reads the communication between his mother and a man named Ikem. In the letter, Ursa attests to her undying love for this man and for their son Zuko, into whose eyes she looks and thinks of him. Zuko singles out one particular phrase in the letter that his mother wrote: "our son".

 

The next morning, Azula is awoken by the touch of her mother, who asks that she give up her quest and realize her true destiny. Azula is caught off guard by this plea, grabbing Ursa's arm and telling her that she has proof that she is the rightful heir. In reality, however, it is Katara's arm that Azula takes grip on, compelling Sokka to throw his boomerang at the princess' forearm and breaking her from her hallucination. Realizing the letter is missing from her boot, Azula raises her flame-wielding hands and demands to know where her brother has gone.

 

Zuko, as it turns out, is sitting with Aang and discussing the letter he stole from his sister. He believes that the letter confirms he is not actually Ozai's son, which to him makes perfect sense as Ozai had no qualms about banishing him and was going to kill him the night before Ursa left the palace. In his theory, it was his mother who kept Ozai from taking his life. Aang does not wish to accept any of this despite Zuko's enthusiasm, bringing to the Fire Lord's attention that if he is not Ozai's son, no one else but Azula may be the rightful heir.

 

Just as Aang explains his fears about this theory, Azula comes up from the backside of the cliff on which Aang and Zuko sit and slips back into her paranoia, accusing her mother of telling Zuko to steal the letter from her. She begins to shoot fire at her brother and the Avatar, deciding not to let her mother win.

 

In a flashback to the Royal Family's life before Ursa's banishment, a young Zuko exclaims to his mother that Azula is burning a bush. Her defense is that the bush was not as pretty as the others in the royal garden, firebending at Zuko's behind for tattling. At this, Ursa orders her daughter to her room and comforts Zuko, who wonders why she must be so cold. Ozai witnesses this squabble and, having read the letter that is in the present possessed by Zuko, believes Ursa may be favoring Zuko because he is the son of Ikem. Ozai meets with Vachir of the Yuyan Archers, ordering the bowman to kill Zuko's supposed father at the village of Hira'a. Although Vachir assures that his action will not trace back to the palace, Ozai wants Ikem to know who hired the assassin.

 

In the present, Zuko and Aang deflect a volley of fire blasts from Azula. Worried about his friends, Aang leaves the battle to check on Sokka and Katara, Zuko insisting that he will handle Azula alone. After an intense hand-to-hand combat, Azula retrieves the letter, but before she can retreat with it, Zuko grabs her by the ankle and smacks her onto the ground, asking her why their relationship has always had to be so volatile. Instead of answering, his sister begins to scream about how Ursa was telling Zuko right now to throw her over the cliff. She suddenly stops speaking of her hallucinations to notice that Zuko has not yet burned the letter to ashes, which would have left her without evidence to prove the Zuko was not an heir to the throne at all, questioning if her brother is, in fact, on her side. Zuko shrugs this off, pleading that they work together to find their mom.

 

Once the siblings arrive back at the campsite, Aang informs them that Azula set fire to much of the surrounding forest. Zuko tells Aang that they have come to an understanding and that they will not be fighting anymore. Sokka skeptically mentions how they have said this before and that she will surely turn and fight with them again. In the end, the team gets on Appa and begins to fly the rest of the way to Hira'a.

 

Once more in the flashback, Ozai, Ursa, and their children are sitting around the dinner table. Azula is discussing with her father that her firebending teacher Kunyo is a dumb master and does not fulfill his role adequately, prompting Ozai to send him to the colonies when he gets the chance. When Zuko defends Kunyo's firebending teaching style, Ozai becomes infuriated, scolding his son for his inexperience in the art. Ozai continues to recount how when Zuko was born, he was unsure if Zuko was a bender and would have been content with removing him from the palace if his wife and the Fire Sages had not persuaded him to wait. "She was born lucky," Ozai says of Azula. "You were lucky to be born." Although Ursa expresses her utter disbelief at this statement, Ozai leaves the table to have an audience with a Yuyan Archer.

 

Ozai arrives on a balcony to find Vachir kneeling to him and sputtering his findings about Ikem's whereabouts. Although the locals of Hira'a knew that the man had retreated into a nearby forest years earlier, Vachir scoured that valley for months without finding Ikem. He details how the forest itself is a predator that attacks those who enter it, believing Ikem to have died without the need for an assassin. Ozai does not accept this speculation of death and orders Vachir back to the Pohuai Stronghold where he is to tender his resignation from the Yuyan Archers where he no longer belongs.

 

Back in the Royal Palace interior, Ozai tells the servants who are tending to Ursa to leave the room as he must speak to his wife alone. Ozai yells at her that any communication between her and anyone of her old lif, especially past infatuations, is treason, since he told her that she would have no more contact with them. Ozai continues his speech, telling Ursa that proof of her treason is living within the palace, referring to Zuko, who he believes to be Ikem's son using the letter as his evidence for this claim, to which Ursa reveals that her assumptions of Ozai intercepting her letters is correct. Although Ozai assures his wife that Zuko may remain in the palace, he tells her that Ikem deserved the fate that befell him, lying to her that Ikem has been killed by his command.

 

In the present again, the gang has landed just outside of Hira'a. Zuko warns everyone to disguise well, as a party that includes the Avatar and the Fire Lord may cause a disturbance. Katara asks why the village is considered a small town if it is so crowded, but they quickly see that a play is going on and join the audience. Upon realizing the troupe is performing Love amongst the Dragons, Zuko and Azula reminisce on their days of watching this same play with Mother and reenacting the final scene afterward, Zuko always being the evil Water Spirit and Azula taking the role of Dragon Emperor. They are shushed by an elderly couple in front of them, infuriating Azula, but Zuko calms her down in time to watch the final kiss scene. As the crowd disperses with the play's end, Zuko asks the couple if they recognize the name Ursa. Before they can give a full answer, the man who played the Water Spirit comes from behind and takes off his mask, introducing himself as Noren and inviting them to come to his home, where they can discuss privately.

 

At Noren's home, his wife Noriko makes small talk with Aang and Katara about their love lives while their daughter Kiyi asks Zuko and Azula if they would like to meet her doll, to which Zuko agrees despite Azula's declination. Kiyi explains that her name was such a good one that she gave it to her doll. Zuko notes its odd haircut, which prompts Kiyi to mention how she gave it that haircut and it did not turn out well. Azula mentions how instead of cutting hair from her dolls, she cut off their heads and offers to demonstrate. Meanwhile, Noren and Noriko tell the others about Ursa, who was once a famous member of the Hira'a Acting Troupe before she was taken from the village to the Fire Nation capital on official business. The general rumor about the town is that she married into the Royal Family. When Zuko asks about Ikem, they tell him of how he fled into Forgetful Valley after Ursa left for the capital; another rumor, they mention, is that Ursa came back years later and went into the Forgetful Valley to look for her lost love. Noren worries that, if this is true, both of those individuals may not have ended up okay, as the Forgetful Valley is not an easy place in which to live.

 

After leaving Noren and Noriko's home, Aang apologizes to Zuko for exploding that morning, as he does not know what Zuko must be going through. Even so, he continues, they should not continue to search for Ikem for the fact that learning his whereabouts could be a detriment to his nation. Although Aang wants to burn the letter at their next chance, Zuko reveals that he returned the letter to Azula earlier that day, promising the Avatar that the number one priority right now is to find his mother, and that finding out who he is supposed to be will come later. Aang does not accept this response, telling Zuko that when his citizens bow to him in the throne room, they bow to what he represents, not to just him. Sokka interrupts their conversation to tell Zuko that Katara and Azula will be fighting with their bending momentarily if something is not done. Zuko confides that there is one place left to visit: Forgetful Valley.

 

In another flashback, Zuko and Azula are arguing on Zuko's bed. Ursa overhears them and pulls Azula aside, asking her what it is that they were in such heated discussion about. She explains that she eavesdropped on Azulon scolding Ozai in the throne room. When her father asked for Iroh's birthright so soon following Lu Ten's death, Azulon ordered Ozai to feel the pain of losing his firstborn by killing Zuko. She tells Azula to go to bed and walks off down the hall in search of her husband.

 

Ursa finds Ozai, who tells her that he will not refuse the Fire Lord's command lest he commit treason. Unwilling to allow the murder of her son, Ursa offers that she create a colorless, odorless poison, insinuating that it be used on Azulon so Ozai can ascend the throne and Zuko can live. He agrees to this conspiracy on one condition: that she leave the city and never return, never to see her children again. In the end, Ursa accepts these terms. After creating the poison and giving it to Ozai, she goes to Azula, who is asleep, to give her a goodbye kiss, and visits Zuko's room to do the same. However, her son wakes up and asks what is going on, prompting Ursa to tell him that she has done everything to protect him and that he must not forget who he is. After this she leaves the palace grounds forever.

 

Back in the present, the team leaves Appa at the foot of the forest upon entering Forgetful Valley. Although there does not appear to be a path, Azula simply burns through the foliage in her way, angering her traveling companions. Aang is quickly distracted, however, by an involuntary change in his facial expression, akin to when he felt the presence of the wolf spirit. Sokka points out that the nature of the forest looks like it has faces on the trees and on a flutter bat's wings. Aang chases the flutter bat and finds a lake. Although he warns his friends to be respectful as the area is unusually spiritual, Azula erupts with fury upon seeing a reflection of her mother in the water and shoots it with lightning. Just as suddenly, a barrage of hardened flowers is thrown at the team, and Katara theorizes that they have been frozen and that someone is bending the water within the plants of the jungle to attack them. To counter their offenses, she manipulates the vines into neutral and calls them out, whoever they are. Shortly after this, an elderly woman and a mask-wearing man show themselves.

 

In a flashback to when she has left the palace, Ursa arrives at Hira'a and asks a young girl where Jinzuk and Rina, her parents, are located, but the girl informs her that they passed away. Noren, the man who invited Team Avatar into his home, finds her crying on the stage and after some small talk realizes she is Ursa. Instead of letting her cry alone some more, he invites her into his home as well.

 

In Forgetful Valley, Misu, the woman who came out of the brush, apologizes for attacking as she and her brother are not used to human visitors and were fearful that the pond was being disturbed. She also mentions how there are three pools identical to it that must also remain undisturbed. When Katara asks how two people from the Northern Water Tribe are living in a Fire Nation jungle, Misu goes into their background. When they were young, Rafa's face became horribly damaged, and no healer in the North could heal him. So, she went to the library and learned about a spirit who can give faces to anyone and anything, including her brother, and sneaked into the country with him, having had to learn offensive waterbending secretly beforehand. Ever since, she has searched without success for the spirit, with Katara agreeing she would do the same for Sokka while Zuko and Azula glance away.

 

After this, Azula asks if they know Ursa's whereabouts, but Misu tells her everything was quiet until they arrived. She continues, although the animals and trees are exhibiting signs of the spirit's presence with the faces that appear on their bodies, they do not seem to be at the correct pool of water, as the wolf spirit has not appeared and neither has the face spirit. Aang decides to enter the Spirit World in an attempt to contact the wolf spirit and make it come to the lake by which they are seated. When Azula goes off on her own, annoyed that they are stopping to help those who are irrelevant to her cause of finding Ursa, she has another breakdown, believing her mother to have sent Rafa and Misu to slow her down. Just as she shoots a blinding ray of lightning at Misu, Aang enters the Spirit World.

 

In spirit form, Aang meets the flutter bat again. He tells Aang to come with him and that he will lead the Avatar to what he seeks. The two land from their flight next to the wolf spirit, who Aang tries to convince to drink at the other pool of water nearer to Rafa and Misu. He looks at his earnest facial expression for a moment and begins to run away, but Aang grabs onto his side before he can get away. Upon the ride's end, a booming voice questions Aang's decision to ride the wolf spirit like it was a beast of burden. Aang responds with his own question of her name, to which she responds that she is the Mother of Faces.

 

While Aang's spirit continues his conversation with the Mother of Faces, Zuko withstands Azula's lightning long enough to redirect it without being harmed, saving Rafa and Misu from what could have been a lethal attack. Azula, in a paranoid rage, insists that the two of them are obstructing her and Zuko's search for their mother and, realizing his naivety in tolerating his sister's lunatic behavior, permits Katara and Sokka to aid in defeating her. Misu implores them all to stop fighting for the spirits' sake, but Katara and Sokka are convinced to cease in their assaults only after Aang tells them that someone is coming. At this moment, the Mother of Faces finally appears before them.

 

In another flashback, Ursa converses with Noren over a meal about the coincidence of his name being the same as a character in Love amongst the Dragons. When he addresses her by name despite her not having introduced herself, Ursa becomes wary and gets up to leave. Suddenly, Noren mentions having his face kicked with dirt when he and Ursa were six and having his heart broken by her at twenty-one. Ursa turns around and recognizes for the first time that Noren is actually Ikem, her long-lost childhood friend and lover.

 

Back in the present, the Mother of Faces announces herself to the humans below her, admitting that she has strayed from her usual actions in the mortal world because the Avatar has asked it of her. Zuko and Aang hope that she will be able to tell them where Ursa is, so she explains that she may grant one favor to one person each season. Aang realizes a dilemma in this stipulation, being that Misu has a request for the sake of her brother as well. After attempting to persuade her to grant two favors to no avail, Zuko relinquishes the honor to Misu, deciding with Aang that they will think of another way to find his mother.

 

Before Misu can complete her request to the spirit, however, Azula breaks free of the bond Katara made and demands to know where Ursa, Princess of the Fire Nation, is. The Mother of Faces recounts how a woman of that name came to her years prior, asking for a new face despite her beauty. In order to confirm the woman's sincerity, she granted one of entirely plain features, demonstrating the change by projecting the old and new faces on her hand. At this, Zuko recognizes the new face as that of Noriko. When he turns to alert Azula of this news, she has already begun her trek back to Hira'a. With directions from Misu, Zuko and Sokka chase after her while Aang follows the Mother of Faces into her sacred pool, hoping that he might convince her to grant one more favor for Rafa's face.

 

In another flashback, Ursa becomes enthralled in the prop warehouse of her youth with Ikem by her side. He recounts how he was never the same after she left, and no matter how much fellow villagers tried to cheer him up, he never recovered from the event. In his anguish, he retreated to Forgetful Valley, wishing to forget all that had happened. There, he met the Mother of Faces, who was gracious enough to give him his new face, which he accepted so that he could return to Hira'a without the endless sympathies of the people he had known all his life. However, he chose never to marry or have children, as he did not leave Ursa behind with his old identity.

 

Ursa mentions how Ozai claimed to have found and killed Ikem and how his new face saved him from any such turmoil. At this, Ikem says that she can come with him to Forgetful Valley and receive for herself a new face. Although she would like to leave much of her life in the palace behind, her love for her children keeps her from agreeing. Instead, Ursa sees the prospect of returning to the capital with a new identity as preferable, as that would mean she could see her children without being noticed. Still conflicted about what she will do afterward, Ursa nonetheless takes Ikem's arm and agrees to go find the Mother of Faces.

 

In his new search for the Mother of Faces, Aang calls out to her while encapsulating himself in a large air bubble, pleading that it will not be difficult for someone of her skill to grant Misu's favor. Instead of finding her, a group of giant crabs with faces adorning their shells attacks him with huge claws. He manages to ward them off, but is forcefully thrown from the lake by a strong eruption of water for his insolence. The Mother of Faces resurfaces before Aang and Katara, berating the former's lack of respect and reverence toward her and her sacred pool and venting her rage at how little the humans whose faces she crafted appreciate her personal handiwork. At the peak of her wrath, she tells him to leave and to take his friends with him, and the forest echoes her command.

 

Another flashback reveals the lives of Ursa and Ikem during their hike through Forgetful Valley. While they dine on the amateurish results of Ikem's cooking, they notice the wolf spirit drinking from a nearby sacred pool and know the Mother of Faces must be close. Before the spirit surfaces from the water, Ursa admits that the last few months in the forest with Ikem made her feel she had found her place in the world, making her unsure as to whether she wants to leave for her children or stay for him. Ikem offers that the two of them could go retrieve the children and return to Hira'a, but she knows that this will only endanger them and her loved ones. Their conversation ends when they come face-to-face with the Mother of Faces.

 

The spirit asks Ursa what she desires, to which she responds with the request for a new face and identity, saying she will accept even the plainest face so long as it is new. The Mother of Faces understands that a new face alone will not relieve her of the memories she gained during her life in the palace and offers her a new mind as well. Although she is told that she will not remember Zuko or Azula if she agrees, Ursa does affirm her wish with tears in her eyes, and the Mother of Faces obliges. As the spirit recedes into her sacred pool, Noriko calls for Noren in stumbling blindness, who tells her that he will always be there for her. After regaining her sight, the two eventually leave the forest and become husband and wife.

 

Since the directions they had gotten from Misu had led down a shorter route than that which Azula took, Zuko and Sokka arrive at Noren's house before Azula. They see from a window that the family inside is eating dinner; Zuko knocks on the door while Sokka stays outside as a lookout for Azula. Noren says he thought Zuko might return, but before he can explain this, Kiyi hugs the Fire Lord and pulls him to the table. Noriko explains that the family eats together every night and questions Zuko as to why he has come back, and before he tells her the truth of his search, he asks her if she is happy here; she simply responds, "Of course. This is where I belong." At this, Zuko smiles and prepares to leave, pleased with the life his mother has found, but Noren suddenly interjects and encourages him to reveal his true identity. After turning back to Noriko once more, Zuko announces that he is actually her son.

 

Meanwhile, Aang and Katara are still in the forest, now defending themselves, Rafa, and Misu from a multitude of spirit animals. Aang says he and the others have to leave, but Misu is adamant that she and Rafa cannot leave now without achieving their goal. Before the two can come to some agreement, Aang sees a flock of spirit bats flying toward Rafa. In an attempt to protect him from the incoming assault, he accidentally blows Rafa's mask away, revealing a completely blank face. Misu becomes hysterical and desperately tries to find the mask again, but Aang realizes that his condition is notably similar to the work of Koh the Face Stealer. The Mother of Faces suddenly halts the onslaught and tells Aang to repeat himself, telling him that Koh is her son and that they have been "estranged" since time began. After hearing of Koh's recent history, the Mother of Faces takes hold of Rafa and restores his face. As Rafa and Misu embrace in their triumph, Aang apologizes to the elderly spirit for his behavior, informing her that he had acted only out of utmost urgency to restore the relationships between a brother and a sister and between a mother and her son.

 

Back at Noren's house, Noren apologizes to Zuko for not telling the truth about Noriko's identity, admitting that he had hoped he could protect the life he shared with Ursa in his home. Noren explains to his wife that her previous name was Ursa and that she bore two children as Princess of the Fire Nation, with one of them having already ascended the throne, and revealing that she knows none of this due to her altered memories. After this, Noren looks to Zuko and finally admits his own true name, Ikem. At this revelation, Zuko declares that this home may be where he belongs, with his mother, sister, and father; but Ikem says that this cannot be possible.

 

Before Ikem can divulge further into the matter of Zuko's paternity, everyone notices sounds of a quarrel on the roof. Suddenly Azula makes an entrance by crashing through the ceiling with Sokka falling beside her, lighting concentrated in her hand. She quickly pushes her brother aside and focuses on her bewildered mother, asking if the latter's second daughter was meant as a replacement for her first. Sokka warns her to stop threatening Noriko just as his boomerang finishes its round, hitting Azula squarely in the back of the head. Although Ikem wishes to first go and retrieve his wife, Sokka leads him and Kiyi out first to assure the child's safety. Azula recovers from her hit soon after and dives for Noriko, pinning her against a wall and readying to bring down the final blow. Noriko, confused and with tears in her eyes, takes the face of Azula gently and says that if she truly is her mother, she is sorry for not loving her enough.

 

Zuko intervenes just in time and tells her not to try lightning on him since he will easily redirect it. Despite his warning, Azula unleashes a blast of lightning at him, which he redirects right back at her. She persists in trying to persuade him to her views, however, by mentioning how if he sides with her, he will not have to keep the throne that she believes he never wanted. Zuko contradicts this by admitting that he has always known the throne to be his destiny, revealing that he spared her on the cliff because, no matter how dysfunctional their relationship had turned out, he could not kill his sister.

 

Suddenly, Azula becomes extremely emotional and runs for the door, leaving behind the letter in which she had placed all her faith. He and Noriko chase after her, Zuko pleading for her to come back so that he might help her, but Azula, crying freely now, continues her escape into Forgetful Valley alone. Although wanting to go after her longer, Noriko beckons him to look as the Mother of Faces approaches. When she arrives she asks Noriko if she would like to remember her past. Zuko tries to dissuade her from such a decision in order to let her keep her life in Hira'a, but she agrees, thus being returned her old face and her memories.

 

Meanwhile, Aang, Katara, and Sokka converse on the sidelines about how Azula will one day return. Aang notes how he thinks Azula meant to leave the letter behind and did not simply drop it, contrary to Sokka's opinion. At the house, Ursa takes Zuko aside to talk to him while Ikem and Kiyi sit further away. She confesses that she owes Zuko the same apology she gave to Azula, admitting her sorrow for choosing to forget her own children, but Zuko believes that he has grown up fine despite the circumstances. Before they catch up, Zuko says that he has to first know the truth about the letter, which he hands to his mother.

 

In a final flashback, Ursa is in the palace with Ozai again, when he informed her of the supposed assassination of Ikem. She is outraged at his actions, citing that he knew more than anyone that Zuko was his son. This leads Ozai to the question of why she would tell so obvious a lie, to which she replies, "Maybe it was just my wishful thinking." Ozai grins wildly at this brazen remark, and declares that from that point on, he will spare no expense in treating Zuko as though he were the son of a treacherous dog only to fulfill Ursa's wish.

 

In the present again, Zuko takes in the fact that Ozai is, in fact, his father. Ursa still wants to tell him so much about the life she had in Hira'a and the life she had before she met Ozai, and Zuko wishes to hear it all. "For you, my dear," she supplies, "I'll start from the beginning ..."

 

Theaters: 3,793
MPAA Rating: PG for some action, thematic content, and crude humor
Budget: $35 million

Previous Film Gross: 23.4/75.5/376.5 (OW/DOM/WW)

Edited April 20, 2014 by Blankments

[Films]

Hairspray: Shimme more

Release date: 7 December
Theatres: 2,754 (2,038 including singalong), 3,760 [Christmas Day, 3,338 including sing-a-long]
Genre: Musical
Rating: PG
Runtime: 135min
Budget: Original release (55M) plus added stuff, reshot scenes, actor replacements and blah blah blah (extra 15M). Total budget is 70M
Studio: Millennium Films
Format:2D
Director: James Bobin
Cast:
Tracy- Daisy Sutfed [made up person]
Link- Theo James (new actor)
Edna- Melissa McCarthy (new actor)
Velma- Jessica Chastain
Amber- Amanda Bynes
Corny Collins- Miles Teller (new actor)
Erica Collins- Isla Fisher
Wilbur Turnblad- Tom Hanks
Penny- Samanca Lowton [made up person]
Seaweed- Terrence Howard
Motormouth Maybelle- Oprah Winfrey
Prudy- Meryl Streep
Little Inez- Quvenzhane Wallis
Mr Pinky- Christoph Waltz
Noreen/Doreen- Sally Hawkins
Lily- Willow Smith
Jane Krankow- Elizabeth Olson
Dynamite 1- Octavia Spencer
Dynamite 2- Jennifer Hudson
Dynamite 3- Solange
'Bigshake' Bellblue- Queen Latifah
Kate Winslet- Miss Wislow
Lisa- Chloe Grace Moretz
Tagline: You Can't Stop The Dancing

 

Differences: This one is also a sing-a-long. The film has had reshoots such as Melissa McCarthy replacing Adam Sandler, Theo James replacing Zac Efron and Miles Teller replacing James Marsden. Also this is a mini Oscar Boost for the songs

Plot:

The film starts with a scene of Edna snoring in bed. The coloured Hairspray logo appears and ‘good morning Baltimore’ starts playing. The alarm rings and Tracy opens her eyes and gets out of bed. Tracy then goes outside after getting all her stuff ready for school and starts singing, running down the street. She eventually jumps on top of a grey van giving her hope that she is not late for school but when she arrives at school, the bell rings meaning she is late to class and she gets a warning. Miss Wimsey tells Tracy off about her hair being too massive after her classmates complain. Tracy just wants to go home and starts singing when her Geography teacher leaves the class for one minute. At the end of the day, Tracy sprints out of the class knocking science equipment but nobody realises it was her that knocked it. She meets Penny and they get on the bus and run home to watch the Corny Collins Show ‘the nicest kids in town’.  It then does a split screen between Tracy and Penny running home and the corny Collins show cast preparing with Erica trying to persuade Corny to have more Negro days but Corny says it isn’t his decision and Erica tells him she wishes Velma was off the face of this earth. Tracy and Penny get home just in time to watch the TV and start dancing away. Edna originally just gets on with her ironing and keeps quiet.  Penny and Tracy cheer when Corny says once a month they have Negro Day but start groaning when the entire spotlight goes onto Amber. They go mental when Link comes on which is when Edna loses patience and tells them off. Edna tells them its turning their brains into mud and Penny replies its turning our brains into music which Edna puts her head in her hands at. Tracy then starts dancing to the Stricken Chicken with Penny but she jumps over the sofa when Prudy [her mum] arrives. Penny shouts ouch but Tracy manages to out voice her by singing along really loudly to the Corny Collins Show. Prudy then complains to Edna about the price of laundry but she would still get her laundry done there as G-d told her to and she didn’t want to do that much work. Edna nearly blows Penny’s cover but says it’s someone called Jan Jan there instead.  Edna then reveals Penny is behind the sofa which leaves Prudy infuriated and tells Penny she’ll get an exorcist and never see Tracy again. Penny bites her mum and says she needs the show in her life which leads to Prudy then dragging her home. Prudy starts screaming loudly at Penny when they arrive home and asks her if she wants to be tied up to her bed like her sister Lisa [who was tied up because she handed her father into the police and stayed out way too late at night in Prudy’s view]. Penny groans and goes to her bedroom with Prudy shouting at her to not groan or slam her door. The scene then cuts to the Corny Collins Show.

 

Velma [the station manager] complains about the performance and that the camera should focus more on her daughter [Amber]. Link then gives Amber an expensive ring [but not a proposal] and Amber is delighted but Velma than tells Amber to stop showing off her personal life and to save it for when she is the biggest most famous person in the world. The next scene is of Penny and Tracy moaning on the telephone to each other and they talk about Amber and how she’s a bitch and a whore. Maybelle than wants the camera on her back on the Corny Collins show when she is speaking about Negro Day. The next day Tracy and Penny are walking home from school and they see from the TV’s outside a shop which have Link announcing that people can go and audition to replace Lelta who is on maternity leave. Tracy screams YES and Penny screams she’ll go with but Edna refuses as she wants Tracy to run her laundry company. Wilbur walks in and Tracy asks him if she can go but Edna butts in, answering no for Wilbur. Tracy was going to run outside but went running crying to her room instead after that answer. Wilbur goes to speak to her but Edna goes and butts in first again before Wilbur starts speaking to Tracy. He then tells Tracy to go and follow her dreams and think big before Edna interrupts again saying big is not a problem in their family and neither is following their dreams. Tracy tries to convince Edna by singing ‘Mama I’m A Big Girl Now’ and Edna finally gives in.

 

The next day Penny and Tracy go to audition and they fantasize over Link but Penny gets last minute nerves and decides not to audition. Velma then introduces herself and starts taking the mick out of them and tells Deena to come back when it’s the horrible Negro Day. ‘Velma Rules’ starts playing and the girls on the show go to the new recruits including Tracy and also take the mick out of them. Penny starts laughing at Velma in the background and Velma goes mental at her during the song leading to Penny putting her cherry lollipop back in her mouth. Velma gets rid of Tracy during the song when Tracy says she would swim in an integrated pool. Penny than starts telling Tracy how good she thinks they thought she really was and that they were just too scared to tell her how brilliant she was then. Tracy rushes to school and sneaks into her classroom but Miss Wimsey sees her come in late and gives her a detention slip.

Tracy then meets Seaweed there and he shows her some more dance moves. Everyone starts to like her. Link than sees Tracy dancing in the detention room. Link invites Tracy to the hop at Corny Collins show for the next day and then walked into her by accident. Penny then runs into Tracy. Tracy starts singing I Can Hear the Bells while Penny starts getting more confused and both of them keep saying ridiculous things. Tracy then goes into the staff room and starts trying to chat up the teachers. Penny drags her out and tells her to stop eating the teachers. She is then sent to the Welfare room where she doesn’t stop singing. She then thinks she’s in a car with him but she’s in a car with a random person. She then runs into the male toilets but gets out quickly and then goes into the girl’s toilet covering herself in toilet roll. She then looks into the male toilets where Link is but she then falls in there as soon as they leave. She then falls asleep. Penny finds her and drags her out. Then Tracy wakes up. She looks at the buss and Link and Amber before sticking her tongue and spitting at Amber and she’s licking her lips at Link.

The bell goes and it goes to Negro Day at the Corny Collins Show with Link singing [the ladies choice]. Tracy and Penny go there and Penny goes to the Negro side by mistake before Velma drags her to the other side. Tracy then starts chatting to Seaweed over the barrier and people start giving Seaweed the evil eye. Amber and Jane then tell her to stop chatting up men from that side and drag her over hoping she leaves but she doesn’t. Corny takes notice of Tracy and so does Link. They all start dancing including Tracy but Penny is now just watching. Penny then starts dancing from the side with a lollipop still in her mouth. Penny runs to the Turnblad’s house screaming that Tracy’s got a role on the Corny Collins Show. It goes through every person and gets to Tracy. The house of Edna, Wilbur and Penny go mental and start singing [nicest kids in town reprise]. They all start dancing as well. Velma starts complaining behind the scenes. Tracy is then interviewed by Corny. She says she wants to be the first president and she would make every day Negro Day. Velma has a face full of fury. Amber then butts in saying Miss Hairspray will be her’s. Tracy than shouts out hi Penny, you’re amazing and the best friend. Afterwards, Velma starts complaining to Corny. Corny then says they can mix all the kids together. Velma then says shell sack Corny and he storms off. Velma is then told she has taken it too far. People start buying loads of things from the shop which has signed photos and more of Tracy. It then goes to the Corny Collins Show [The New Girl in Town] with Amber singing the main part even though these are the other group’s songs. The Dynamites start singing it way much better but Velma is not happy. Penny is still sucking her lollipop when she goes to see Tracy in the detention room. Penny meets Seaweed and she falls in love at first sight and then continues to lick her lollipop. Velma informs Maybelle there will never be Negro Day again for ‘copying’ the other groups song. Maybelle tells Velma that it was their song.

Mr Pinky wants Tracy to become a spokesgirl for his shop and Tracy needs to meet him tonight. She gets her mum to be her agent and tries to get her out of the house for the first time in 10 years. She eventually goes out after Tracy tells her that people who are different are now being accepted. [Welcome to the sixties]. When Edna goes out, she tries to go back inside but Tracy pulls her further outside. They then start dancing to the Dynamites music in the streets on the way to Mr Pinky’s. They ran into the shop and Mr Pinky gave Tracy some doughnuts. Mr Pinky presumes Edna is Tracy’s older sister. Edna then wants to go to the back and go through the contract with Mr Pinky while Tracy eats the donuts and looks through all the clothes. Edna then gets a new dress while the Dynamites carry on singing. Edna then comes out in this sparkly pink dress. They go outside the changing room and Tracy accidently knocks a shirt of the aisle. Tracy than gets into the same pink dress and they go on the street and dancing to it. They then go to a diner when Amber and Velma walk in. Amber gasps behind before Velma says I know who you are. They then start being bitchy and take the mick out of Edna’s weight. Penny then appears for a second and sticks her tongue out at Amber and Velma before going. Tracy tells Edna that Amber just wants to be a spoilt cow and they just want her to win miss hairspray.

In science the next day, Amber starts bitching about her at the back of the class before Link gets angry with her. Amber then frames Tracy for drawing a picture of their teacher with breasts. She gets a detention and so does Link when he says shut up and kiss my ass. They go to the detention room with Seaweed and everyone else. Link fails to impress the people with his dancing. Seaweed invites everyone to a party at his house. Penny starts jumping up and down going mental with excitement. [Run and Tell That] Tracy and Penny join in the dancing with Penny still having the lollipop in her mouth while Link watches. They go out of school and Amber looks on shocked. They then jump over a fence and Amber screams mental for Link to come back. Penny faints when Seaweed came right near her. Little Inez is introduced and Amber screams offensive things from the side but everyone ignores them as Inez continues singing. Then Lily starts dancing and singing and Inez introduces her as her friend. They then get on the bus with everyone still dancing. Seaweed plants a kiss with his fingers on Penny’s mouth after taking the lollipop out of her mouth and she faints again. Tracy and Link run towards her and Penny says have I just had my exorcism.

Amber then starts complaining to Velma about Link dancing with the Negros, white whale and ugly sour face blonde. Velma tells her she controls his career and he’ll lose his job if he does it again. Link, Tracy, Penny and Seaweed arrive to the party with Maybelle singing. [big, blonde and beautiful]. Penny starts acting awkward when Seaweed introduces her. She then dances with Seaweed with the lollipop still in her mouth. Amber pretends to be Mike on the phone and tells Edna where Tracy is. Edna arrives there but she gets convinced to stay by the food. Edna tells Penny to go home before her mother shoots and exorcisms her. Penny then realises she didn’t have an exorcism and Seaweed put a kiss on her mouth. Velma than arrives at the shop to chat Wilbur up. She tells Wilbur that her husband ‘accidently’ suffocated and poisoned him. Maybelle then reveals to everyone back at the party that Negro Day had ended. Tracy than says they should protest on the 11:00 news on WZYT. Edna tells Tracy she is not protesting but she says she is. Link then tells her that he can’t go as it can risk his career. Tracy is heartbroken and her and Edna storm off. She eventually works her magic after a couple of minutes and puts him in a cosy position when she hears Edna coming. [big, blonde and beautiful reprise]. Edna catches Wilbur just as Velma knew and she starts making up that Wilbur said she was out. Edna throws him out and used 700 tissues while crying. Tracy wakes Wilbur up in the store and she gives him a key to go back into the house. Tracy tells him how Velma is getting rid of everyone who is different. Wilbur goes back into the house and they sing a new song [i love you and you know I do]. They end up in bed together at the end. It goes to a dark street with Penny and Seaweed walking down a street [You and me forever]. They kiss at the end with Noreen and Doreen laughing at them from the side and Jane is disgusted and screams out racist chants at them. They then run off quickly when Penny and Seaweed find out Prudy is searching for Penny.

Edna goes to wake up Tracy in the morning but she has gone to the protest. Maybelle and Bigshake warn Tracy that she will never be allowed to dance again on TV but Tracy says she doesn’t care as she’s standing up for what she believes in and her friend. [i know where I’ve been]. They start marching on their way to protest. They reach the WZYT in the evening. Edna runs into the protest to try to talk Tracy out of it. Edna tries to drag Tracy away but she then gets dragged forward. In a shock, they show the back of the twist where Erica is protesting, risking her job, marriage and life.

The TV Company then call Velma up about it but she starts saying why would anyone care, they’re all Negros. Then they tell her Tracy is there and she sends TV cameras to there. Edna’s worried about the cameras but only because of her weight. The policeman starts being racist towards them. Tracy hits the policeman over his head and she is accused of assaulting him. They decide to arrest them all resulting in a major fight. Tracy runs away as she doesn’t want to go to prison and Erica then runs away because she knows she can’t get caught. It then goes to Prudy and Penny at home. Prudy starts cursing her and saying she knew she was a terrible influence and Penny can never see her again but Penny says that it’s probably a lookalike or a mistaken identity. Tracy arrives at the window and Penny pretends she needs to go to the toilet though she’s really letting Tracy in. Prudy says pray for her because the cow is going to need when her exorcism comes for a being a devil for assaulting someone. Edna runs home hoping she can find Tracy there but Wilbur tells her there is no sign of her. Wilbur than reveals he bailed everyone out.

Tracy jumps through the window into the house and Penny takes her to her secret room. Penny believes she’s already in jail when Tracy says she could go to jail for helping her. Penny shows her everything in the room and Prudy walks in. Prudy then ties Penny up in her room with jump rope saying her father will attack her when he’s out of prison that she will get an exorcism. At the Turnblad’s house, Edna hears a knock on the door and thinks its Tracy but it is Link. Link wishes he was there and goes into Tracy’s room. It then goes back to Prudy tying Penny up and telling her she’ll never leave the room, puts on the Lord music, she will only eat disgusting stuff and starts shouting at her devil’s child as she is leaving the room. Seaweed jumps into the room and unties Penny and they kiss. [Without Love]. It then goes back to Link who starts singing to a picture of Tracy which starts singing as well. Link then starts eating a half-eaten chocolate under her pillow. It then goes to Seaweed and Penny who unties her with a knife and they kiss again. They then escape through a ladder by the house. There about to run into the car but Penny remembers about Tracy at the last minute and unlocks the window. They hide her in the front of the car. The police inspect every car but Seaweed and Penny’s singing drowns them out from looking properly. Tracy is let out from the front and put into the back when they stop. They then arrive back at the record store. Maybelle, Bigshake and Little Inez see them all dancing. Edna tells Link his pork is ready back at the Turnballs.

It goes back to the record store and Maybelle is happy to see Tracy here. Also Seaweed reveals him and Penny are dating. Maybelle then tells them they will have a whole lot of challenges ahead and there will be stupid bits but she gives them her blessing. Penny then replies have you met my family and especially my mum then. It goes back to the Turnball’s and Tracy phones Edna and tells her to dress nice for the miss teenage hairspray tomorrow

It then comes to that day and Penny takes Edna to the first live showing of The Corny Collins Show. Velma then points out Amber to all the agents. [Hairspray], Prudy starts reading the bible again at her house. The guards say they have seen no sign of Tracy and she wouldn’t risk jail but Velma tells them she would. Amber complains at Link for spraying hairspray in her face and not being perfect in front of the agents. They then start the dance off and Corny accidently slaps Amber in the face who looks horrified but then smiles for the camera and agents. Erica is up first with a face like frost and looks so bored and she just does random jumps the whole time. Velma gets the results so far and she fixes them so Amber wins. The police guards think they have seen Tracy but it is just a lookalike. They then tell Velma it was a lookalike and she’s fuming with them. They then start using a hairspray can to open the door. They get in the building. Noreen and Doreen start their dance in the dance-off. The security guards says it was heavy so it took that long and Velma realises they just carried her into the building by accident. Tracy starts climbing up getting ready for her performance. Velma starts a manhunt there for her. It’s Amber’s turn to dance who is as smug as ever. Corny is about to announce the new teenage hairspray but then Tracy turns up for her song and Corny introduces her just before he is about to announce Amber as the winner. [You Can’t Stop the Beat
, the other girls tell Amber to stop walking into them. Tracy starts singing and dancing and Little Inez, Maybelle and Bigshake turn up to watch. Amber tries to flirt with Link but he goes and dances with Tracy. Amber starts complaining that she hasn’t won yet and sits in the tube but is pulled back up being stuck at a height. Tracy tells Link the agents love him and he invites Inez to dance. Corny introduces Inez while Maybelle can’t stop complementing her from the side-lines. The votes start piling in for Inez. Penny then starts singing from the side of the stage along with Seaweed. They run onto the stage with everyone looking shocked and they start dancing. Velma is in shock with what’s going on while Amber calls for help. Amber then nearly falls. Penny shouts out on the TV she is now a checkerboard chick with Prudy watching on the TV and she starts cursing the TV and hitting it. Prudy then falls over. Amber falls while security all trip up. Corny then says there’s nothing like live TV and Penny runs off then realising Prudy is watching. Corny and Seaweed high five and then shake hands. Little Inez is then announced as the winner to Velma and Amber’s shock. Velma complains that she was not in the competition but Corny tells her anyone who dances is eligible to win and she should read the rules more properly. Inez is now the lead dancer on the Corny Collins Show and Corny announces it is now integrated with everyone celebrating apart from Velma and Amber. Edna then goes and starts dancing. Then Corny tells Maybelle to go up and start singing, Bigshake to go and dance and Erica to dance and tells her it’s her time to shine with her dancing.

Amber tells Velma to deal with losing but Velma than says she switched the results and Edna then tells her she’s on camera. Velma then rages fury at the camera before she is called by the TV producer. She is then fired. Wilbur tells Edna to join in and she does [you can’t stop the beat starts again]. Corny then tells Maybelle to go up and sing. Velma tells Corny to do something but he tells her along with Erica that he won’t and it is the future. Maybelle starts singing. On the side of the stage, Jane starts screaming that no Negros should be dancing and they should all die. Lily then pushes her backwards, telling her she’s a racist cow and Jane falls into a hole. Inez gets the crown on her head and Tracy and Link kiss for the first time. Their kiss fades into a TV for the credits to start though just before they do, you hear Penny shout out awkwardly, I hope my mum’s not watching this. Credits then start [we’ve got so far to go and then a new song, then a reprise of you can’t stop the beat].

Credits names in order

 

Edited April 16, 2014 by FrozenFilms

[Films]

THE INNOCENTTheatres/ Date: 5 on 5/10, 20 on 12/10, 138 on 26/10, 340 on 2/11, 720 on 9/11, 860 on 16/11, 1,470 on 21/11, 3,450 on 30/11, 3,930 on 7/12director: tom hooperExecutive producer: Denis vilenvunee (I'll check spelling of surname another day, it's the one who directed Prisoners)Composer: John WilliamsCinematography: Roger DeakinsRating: R

Genre: Musical/ DramaStudio: millennium filmsBudget: 32.5MCast:Hugh Jackman- Joseph [A police officer who turns corrupt and kills his wife leading him to try to get off the hook]Hailee Steinfeld- Mia [Originally sent down for 15 years in prison after minor crimes, when released she is framed by Joseph of the murder of Sophie]Kate winslet- Sophie [Joseph's wife who he kills]Kelly Macdonald- Anna [Prison inmate of Mia who then becomes a prison officer 15 years later]

Jack O'Connell- Mia's Boyfriend [pretty small role]

 

The film is mostly just Jackman and Steinfeld. Winslet's role is about 5 minutes and Mcdonald's role is about 10/15 minutes. Song titles in bold and song lyrics [which tell the story so read them] in italics

 

Plot:

 

[Voiceover by Joseph in a scenery outside the court] Alabama, February 27 1960. Mia Lewis, you are sentenced to 15 years in jail because you stole money and food. Mia screams no multiple times at this verdict.

The title appears in white font on a black background.

 

The film goes to the prison where Joseph is taking Mia to her joint cell. Mia then moans how she's been sent down for too long. 'You Deserved It' [sang while they walk through the corridor to the jail cell]

 

Joseph: Was I the one who stole money, was I the one who stole food. No it was you so that's why you here

Mia: I did it to protect my family, my niece was dying. My family starving and I had to get something

Joseph: Well you committed a crime so now you must pay the price

Mia: I did nothing wrong. My family is po----

Joseph: Shut up with all you're winging, you deserve this jail sentence, you deserved it

Mia- If you had a child, imagine them starving, what would you do. I needed money, I'm se--ven--teen and you're ruining my young adult life

Joseph: Maybe you should have though about that, before you committed you're crime

Mia: I JUST STOLE A PIECE OF BREAD, AND £20 AND I GET 15 YEARS. This country is shambles

Joseph: How dare you insult this country, you're the one that's insulted it. You deserved it. You deserve a longer prison spell.

 

Song goes onto a slower pace

MIa: My life was all planned out,

living happily with my boyfriend,

maybe having 2 kids,

or 3,

but you're taking that away,

because I stole some bread,

and a £20 note.

Do you have something personal against me,

because I got this many years,

I want to see my sister, my brother, my nephew, my family, my niece, my boy----friend

And my precious home,

that I love so much,

I need to get out,

before my family rots to death.

 

Faster pace

Joseph: You are at home,

you're new one,

a prison cell,

you deserved it,

you stealing thief,

you deserved it,

you lying cow

Mia: HOW DARE YOU

Joseph: you deserved it,

you piece of nothing,

so live in your new home,

here is your prison cell

 

They arrive at the prison cell where Joseph pushes Mia in, locks the door and goes away. Mia then starts talking to her other prison inmate, Anna. They start up a conversation with them both asking each other why there are in prison. Anna tells Mia that she just sold some drugs and was a prostitute for a bit and that she got 20 years because of the evil Joseph. They both share there hatred with Joseph with each other when Mia spots him coming towards the cell. Mia pretends to be asleep while Anna starts doing stretches which Joseph laughs at and walks off.

 

The film goes forward to the next day when Joseph comes marching in to get Anna and Mia out of the cells and into the food hall for breakfast ' Get Up'

 

Joseph: Get up, Get up,

you lazy old fools,

get up, get up,

get out of bed and make em

 

Anna: I have a name,

and it's not fools,

i'll get up when I want,

you can't con---trol me

 

Joseph: well believe it or not,

I can control you,

you're in my prison,

so I control you

Get up, get up,

make sure your cell is clean [not that I care],

get up, get up,

you don't disobey me

 

Mia: In my home I can sleep,

as long as I like,

you told me this is my home,

so i'll wake up when I want

 

Anna: yeah, we'll wake up when we want

 

Joseph: I'll get the dogs on you now,

if you don't get up now,

they will bite your skin,

unless you get up now

 

Mia: well i'm kinda hungry,

I'll get up when you get away,

just move away from the cell,

 and I'll go to breakfast

 

Joseph goes to the side for a second, Mia gets up and leaves the cell to head to breakfast

 

Joseph: There's no one you can pay here,

for your 'special services'

 

Anna: How dare you bring that up,

you have no such right

Joseph: This is my prison,

I have this right,

so you get up now,

or you'll never see the light of day

a----gain

 

Anna slumps and gets out of bed to go to breakfast.

 

The film transforms to the afternoon where Mia meets some of the other prison inmates who laugh at why she's in prison calling her names such as weak. Mia getting fed up with this, takes the mick out of one of the inmates piercings so they all beat her up. When they leave her after beating her up, Anna arrives after talking to her solicitor to see Mia hurt so she goes to get help. When lying by herself on the floor, she whispers this is hell

 

15 Years Later

 

The prison gate is opened and Mia walks out of the jail to find all her family apart from her now ex boyfriend. 'I'm Free'

 

Slow ballad song

Mia: I'm free,

I'm out of jail,

I can finally,

breathe

 

I'm free,

by my family,

not locked away,

in a cage

 

Now I'm safe,

in the hands of the sky,

now I'm safe,

with my family by my side

I feel good,

as I'm free,

and it time to go ho----ooooo-----ooo-oooo-me

 

'Mia and her family get into the car to drive home and get out of the car when they get to home

 

'Now I'm back home,

my life awaits,

time to get a job,

and have a family

 

I can pursuit my career as a lawyer,

which is always what I've wanted to be

 

While having delicious meals,

with my family,

because I'm fr-eeeeeeee,

because I'm fr-eeeeeeee

 

I'm freeeeeeeeee

 

The film goes to the same road outside the prison where Joseph is driving a car while talking on the phone to a mysterious person with both of them annoyed that Mia is out of prison. Joseph says that he has sent of the payment to who he is speaking to and will see him soon. He arrives at his home where his wife Sophie is cooking him dinner. Sophie is glad to see him and tells him that they're all alone as they're son Kyle is at camp for two months but Joseph goes mad at her for no reason. Sophie asks him to stop and speak about what's wrong at dinner and tells him to go and have a rest first.

 

A bit later Sophie then puts dinner on the table but Joseph goes mad at her again because he doesn't like the food. 'It's time for you to leave'

 

Sophie: What is wrong honey,

why are you so upset,

you can speak to me,

about,

whatever is wrong

 

Joseph: You will never understand,

you are some stupid old woman,

who's probably a prostitute,

you dirty old slag

 

Sophie: I was just trying to help you,

trying to just help you,

and our son Kyle,

that's the only reason I'm still here,

you hurt me every day,

with your arrogance and meanness,

But now I've had enough,

it's time for you to leave

 

Joseph: You are so useless,

look you left the iron on,

can you not do anything,

I've had the day from hell

Sophie: So tell me what happened then,

why is this so bad

Joseph: A criminal got out of jail today,

someone who I hate

 

Sophie: But she has served her time,

maybe it's time to stop, [goes slower pace]

come and spend some time at home with Kyle,

and help around the house,

even cook dinner some time,

and stop worrying,

I love you so much,

but you have to let it go,

it's time for you to leave,

the police job,

be----hind

[faster pace]

Joseph: Don't tell me what to do,

i'll do what I like

 

Sophie: Well then you stop this,

and act like a man

 

Joseph: WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY

 

Sophie: act like a ma---------an

 

[Joseph pushes Sophie who hits her head on the ironing board leading for the iron to top into her which along with the injuries from Joseph hitting her, kills her]

  'I'm sorry  [only the italics are part of this song]

Joseph; I'm sorry,

for what I just did,

I'm sorry,

for hurting you,

but when I look at it wider,

Ill be arrested

I need to get rid of the evidence

 

Joseph goes upstairs and gets some detective gloves which he puts on [he has some because he is a police officer] and goes back downstairs. He takes the iron board and the iron and dumps it in his neighbors massive trash bin because he knows it gets collected in two hours and that his neighbors went away on holiday yesterday. Knowing nobody is turning up to the house for another 2 days, he drives off trying to think of a plan.

 

'I'm sorry,

for what I just did,

I'm sorry,

for hurting you,

but when I look at it wider,

I will be arrested,

I need to frame somebody

 

While in his car, he sees Mia walking down the streets and decides to frame her for his wife's death. Realising he's got parts of her dna at his home, he drives back really quickly and wipes her dna all over his detective gloves before putting her dna all over Sophie's body. However he sees a police car pull up outside his house, so he throws the detective gloves and Mia's fingerprints into the fridge that also contain his dna and runs out of the back door. He then let's himself in when he sees the police car pull up outside his house. He pretends to act oblivious to what's going on before acting devastated when he sees his wife. The police test for any evidence to what happened on Sophie's body and the main policeman then reveals he has found dna that belongs to Mia. Joseph tells him he thinks she did because she wanted revenge as he was the person who sent her to prison. Joseph along with two other policeman, go to track down Mia and arrest her for the murder of Sophie.

 

First Joseph goes in disguise and asks her family where she is. As they don't know he's a police officer and thinks it's one of Mia's friend, they tell him she's at a concert that's just about to finish at the Plaza del Arena. Joseph rushes there the police car and tells the others that he is capable of arresting her himself. They arrive there and see Mia straight away. When Mia spots Joseph running towards her, she shouts out asking what she's done wrong this time but when she sees he has handcuffs, she runs and manages to outpace the police officers who lose track of her. Mia then runs into an underground tunnel where there is nobody and hides there. 'What have i done wrong now'

[slow Pace]

Mia: Why is he looking for me again,

I have done nothing wrong,

why does he want to arrest me,

what have I done wrong now

 

Is it something personal,

or is he just corrupt,

I am scared,

when he's around

 

What have I done wrong now,

I have not killed any--one,

I have not stolen anything,

I have not hurt any thing

 

I hope I'll find out why,

he is chasing me again,

but for now,

it's time to hi-iiiii---iiii---de

 

What have I done wrong now,

I have not killed any-one,

or even hurt a thing

 

What have I done wrong now,

I have not stolen anything,

I need to be fr-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

 

When the rest of the police officers continue to look for Mia, Joseph makes a private phone-call arranging for someone called Jason, the same person he called when Mia was released from prison to meet him in the alleyway. They meet up and he then tells Jason that he has to call his ex-girlfriend and to pretend that he still loves her and to meet him at his house. Jason asks why so Joseph tells him that she's now a murderer on the run.

 

Jason then calls Mia proclaiming that he actually has just realised he still loves her and to meet him at his house which she agrees to.

 

THE NEXT DAY

Mia is in the bathroom at Jason's house when he informs the police that he's just found Mia at his house. The police come and arrest Mia for murdering Sophie which she keeps protesting that she didn't and she doesn't even know who Sophie is. With most the police and Mia gone, it just leaves Joseph and Jason to talk again. Joseph tells Jason that Mia is now going to get life so he doesn't need to pay Jason any more  money for getting Mia sent down for another long time. 'Bye Bye'

 

Joseph: I don't need your co-operation anymore,

so I've decided your future,

it's bye bye to you,

you're going to the police

 

Jason: Well I can drag you down just as easily,

you were part of it as well,

and if there's any evidence on me,

then there's evidence on you

 

Joseph: Unlike you, I've got brain cells that work,

I removed all evidence of myself being involved,

and they wouldn't believe you if I tried to bring you down,

because I'm the innocent police officer,

and by the way, I killed my wife,

not Mia

 

Jason: You're nothing but a creep,

a sadistic sad creep,

you will die young,

as g-d will punish you

 

Joseph: Well at least I wont rot to death in a prison cell

 

Jason runs off with Joseph shouting out that he will arrest him when he sees him again.

 

1 WEEK LATER

 

A newspaper cover has the headline, Jason, boyfriend of murderer Mia, commits suicide. The film then goes to the police cell when Joseph and his colleague is interviewing Mia who's with her solicitor.

 

Joseph secretly turns the recorder of the interview off and when Mia keeps denying that she knows who Sophie is, Joseph angrily tells her that she was his wife and that Mia's dna was found all over her body and presents the motive that Mia is acting dumb and killed his wife because he sent Mia down in her first spell in prison. The solicitor thinks Mia is now guilty so leaves the room and Joseph asks the other police officer to also leave so he accepts. This leaves just Mia and Joseph in the room together 'The End'

 

Joseph: I think it's time to be honest with you,

you have been framed for a crime you did not commit

Mia: I know that Sherlock

Joseph: A crime I committed,

I killed my wife,

and you stealing bitch,

will pay the pri----ce.

 

Mia: How could you, you---

 

Joseph: You're just not liked,

you're ex-boyfriend Jason, who's now committed suicide [Mia Gasps],

was involved with helping you get,

as long as you did,

for your first sentence,

we were paying each other,

and it paid off,

but I threatened him with jail,

after your recent arrest,

so he's gone and committed suicide

 

Mia: I hope yo-----

 

Joseph: And for the reason I hate you and your family so much,

goes back a long time,

your mum's 'brother',

he was adopted,

he was my older brother,

social services took him,

for some unknown reason,

so I wanted to hurt your family,

so that's why you're going to jail for life

 

Mia: You're going to hell,

you sadistic creep,

you mean person ruining lives,

think about how you're brother would feel,

when he hears about your antics,

you're going to hell,

you're not anything,

you're just a tiny spec,

you're not a man

 

Joseph: WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY

 

Mia: I said you're not a man,

do you have hearing problems

 

[Joseph gets a knife out of his pocket and stabs it in Mia's leg]

 

Joseph: This is the end for you,

the end,

the end,

the end,

the end

 

[Anna who is now a police officer walks into the room]

 

Anna: I heard the last police officer was sent back,

so they needed a new on

 

Mia: You're a police officer [weakly]

 

Anna: I am now,

they told me,

my jail sentence will be over,

if I became one of them

 

Joseph: Well you're a shit police officer

 

Anna: Oh fuck off, you sick bastard

 

Joseph: At least I don't sleep with people for money

 

[Anna notices the knife in Mia's leg and runs to get help]

 

Joseph: Now it's the end,

I'm going to finish you

 

Mia: I would call you bluff,

but then you killed you're wife,

you sadistic bastard

 

[Joseph punches Mia in the face really hard to knock her unconscious, before removing the knife from her leg. A police officer then walks into the room and Joseph throws the knife at his heart when he sees he has a gun. He then takes the gun from him]

 

Anna picks up the phone on the other side of the police room floor when they tell her that all policeman and woman need to find Joseph and arrest him as they have found the detective gloves and Mia's framed dna meaning he killed his wife. 5 police officers including Anna go to arrest him but he shoots them all dead. Another 3 police officers then go into the interview room and when Joseph tries to shoot using his gun, he realises it's out of bullets so he can't kill any more people so he gets arrested.

 

Mia is then seen waking up in the police station two hours later with her family by her side who inform her that Joseph has been arrested and that she can be the prosecutor for his trial as her break into law which she accepts.

 

5 AND A 1/2 MONTHS LATER

[Voiceover by Mia in a scenery outside the court]. Joseph Hampsted, you are sentenced to life in jail after the murders of Sophie Hampsted, Anna Lukatic and 5 other police officers, accepting bribes and being corrupt and framing Mia Lewis for attempted murder of Sophie Hampsted.

 

Mia then walks out of the court and lies on the ground with nobody around. A sense of relief hits her face that Joseph now can't her so she whispers to herself 'I am the innocent'

 

The film title then appears in a white font on the screen with a black background

 

Edited April 17, 2014 by FrozenFilms

[Films]

Just to say, the innocent has not been added to the schedule and the untitled Wallace and gromit film now has a title

[ChD]

Just to say, the innocent has not been added to the schedule and the untitled Wallace and gromit film now has a title

 

Give it some time. It'll get updated, don't you worry about that. We know Number is a busy man, so it'll get updated once it closes.

[ChD]

Two Way Road

 

Director: Michael Gondry
Genre: Drama/Science-Fiction
Date: November 21
Studio: Golden Age Movies
Cast:

Mia Wasikowska as Lily

Clive Owen as Father
Runtime: 105 min.

Composer: Alexandre Desplat

Plot:

The movie starts with the opening credits being displayed over a few scenes featuring a young woman. The first scene shows her leaving a library on a windy autumn day, walking through the city and ultimately arriving in a neighborhood that is in a bad shape. She enters an old building and reaches her apartment. She opens the door, revealing a small but cozy apartment, and the credits end.

 

She carefully moves around the kitchen, putting the books on the table as silently as possible. She then puts her thin coat on the hanger next to the door, picks up the books and enters the living room. The living room is as simple as possible: a sofa with a table in front of it and a TV on a simple wooden stand. She is heading towards her bedroom but is stopped by someone calling out ‘Lily, are you home?’ before entering the living room.

 

Through dialogue we find out that Lily was at the library to get some books and look a few things up on the internet in an attempt to catch up on studying since she had fallen behind because of the part time job she had; the same part time job her father made her quit in order to focus entirely on school. We also find out that her father is trying to get a night job in order to get the money necessary for Lily to go into college next year. They argue on that subject with Lily saying it wasn’t necessary for him to get a night job since she could take up a part time job anytime, but he refuses that offer by saying that he promised himself and her mother that he would give Lily the best treatment ever. He says he knows the current treatment isn’t the best, but he is trying. She says she gets the best treatment possible, and also jokingly adds that he always uses her mother when he wants to win an argument. He smiles at that remark, although it’s a sad smile.

 

He checks his watch and announces that he has to leave if he wants to make it to the interview and to his day job afterwards. He kisses her on the forehead and leaves. Lily then goes into her bedroom, wanting to study.

 

Later that day, we see Lily asleep on the sofa, the TV turned on. It’s dark outside. We hear the front door open and we see her father entering the living room. He notices Lily asleep on the sofa and smiles to himself. He goes into her room, intending to take a blanket to cover her, and finds that her bed is all covered in books, a couple of them opened. He puts them away, the ones that were opened being left open just in case, and takes the blanket to cover her. He shuts the TV and goes to sleep.

 

The next morning, Lily finds the apartment empty. In the kitchen, she finds a note from her father saying that he had to start working from last night and that he would see her tonight. She eats some cereals while looking through the newspaper, circling different things. She puts the newspaper down to reveal she’s been looking at the Job Section. Later that same day, in the evening, we see Lily watching TV as her father comes home. He is exhausted and wants to watch some TV before going to sleep.

 

He asks her what she’s done today and she casually mentions she’s called up a few people who were offering jobs, and arranged one interview for tomorrow. He starts arguing with her because of not listening to him, but she snaps at him saying that he’s the one not listening. By now, they’re both on their feet. Lily continues by saying that he never listens to her whenever she tells him not to take a night job or take it easier with everything. He argues back by saying that he did everything for her and that he wants the best for her. With tears in her eyes, Lily yells right back at him and says that if he wanted the best for her he would be around more instead of just working the whole time. She says that you never know when your time runs out and you just disappear from someone’s life just like her mother did, leaving their kid behind thinking they’ve done the right thing for them when everything they did was make their kid wonder why they never spend more time together. She asks him if he really wants to end up like their mother, just disappearing and leaving their kid disappointed for their whole life. She goes into her room, slamming the door behind her before he has a chance to reply. He also teared up a bit and went to knock on her door, telling her to open it and that he was sorry. She opens the door, still angry, and asks him what he still wants. He says that he’s sorry and that she’s right and that he’ll try to spend more time with her instead of just focusing on working. He hugs her afterwards and asks her what her job was, to which she mutters something he didn’t understand. He asks her to repeat and she replies by saying ‘Stripper’. He was ready to start yelling at her but she said it was a joke and that actually she would be working in a coffee shop. He says that despite that, he can’t quit his night job because they still need the money.

 

The next day Lily goes to her job interview. She buys some coffee and drinks it on a bench in the park, looking around. It was a nice day. She checked her watch and saw that she should be going, which she did. We then see her entering a Coffee Shop. We cut to her leaving it while talking to her father on the phone, telling him she’s gotten the job and that she would start Monday, and then asking him what his night job was since she forgot to ask. He says he works as a cab driver.

 

Later that evening, we see Lily and her father watching a movie, laughing together, basically spending some quality time together. Her father then announces that he has to go to sleep and does so, but not before kissing her on the forehead and telling her he loves her. Lily then goes into her bedroom, deciding to study through the night in order to catch up quicker. It’s 2 AM and she hears her father leave for work. It’s 5 AM and she is still studying.

 

We cut to her father’s point of view as he driving his cab on the interchange in the middle of the city. He is on the exterior lane. Everything is peaceful, until a car suddenly hits him from the interior lane, throwing him off the highway. We cut to black a few seconds before the car collides with the ground.

 

We then see Lily still studying. Her phone rings and she answers it. She is shocked at what she hears, and drops the phone as she runs out of the apartment.

 

She reaches the hospital and we see, without sound, a doctor talking to her. He tells her something and she crashes on the seats in the waiting area, crying. The doctor adds something else before turning around and leaving her there. We then see her entering the room where her father’s body was. His face was covered by a sheet, which she removed. We do not see his face, but she starts crying when she sees it. She sits down and starts crying against his body…

 

She wakes up, gasping for air. She is all sweaty and looks around her room, scared and confused. Her clock displays 3 AM and the calendar says it’s the 27^th of November (The day the movie started). She gets out of bed and goes to her father’s bedroom, to check on him. She sees him asleep and visibly relaxes. She goes back to bed afterwards.

 

We then see how the exact same events happen again, but this time Lily realizes something is wrong and starts fearing that everything wasn’t actually a dream, as she originally thought. We end up two days later. We see Alice awake at 5AM, staring at her phone, hoping it wouldn’t happen again. But it did… She answers, hears the same news again, and goes to the hospital. She enters her father’s room, and slowly approaches his bed, reaching for his body.

 

She wakes up. She sits upright and takes a few moments to contemplate about what’s happening. She starts asking herself if this would be the chance to change the outcome of that car crash. The same things happen again, only that this time Lily tells her father to wait for that night job until after Christmas. He agrees with her. A few days later, Lily watches TV and sees a report on a car crash that took on the interchange, the previous night sometime around 5AM. It was the same time and the same place, only that this time another car, the one that initially hit her father’s car and sent it off the interchange, flew off the highway because of a mechanical problem. Early reports indicate that the mechanical problem was from the manufacturer, and that the three people in the car all died. A special report for that tragic accident followed, with information about the people in the car: newlywed couple and their brother. Interviews with different people followed and a representative for the car manufacturer also gave an interview.

 

Lily starts thinking that she might have the chance to change the outcome of the crash and save both cars. We then see her transported back in time again and we see how she tries to change the outcome for a few times, but every time someone died. She also realized that every time she felt regret in her decision, she would be transported back in time again.

 

She then is transported again and realizes that in order for it to stop she had to make a decision without feeling regret. She didn’t know how to do that so she decided to attempt to talk to her father about it. To her surprise, her father believed her from the start instead of calling her crazy or telling her to stop making up things. He says that no one deserves to die without being judged first, although when you put three against one, the decision is already made. He tells her to look those people up and see how they are. She said she knew their names and everything she needed, seeing that the previous timeline news report covered it all.

 

Lily then starts investigating those three people. The people in the car were a newlywed couple and the brother of the groom, who was driving them towards the surprise the groom had for his bride: a house in the suburbs. She followed the couple on the day previous to their wedding, and managed to overhear a little argument they started while shopping for something. The bride complained about the man choosing his brother as his best man. He asks her what she thinks is wrong with him, and she says that he’s an ex convict who cut off his family and that the man had looked him up for him to be his best man because they were very close when they were small. She says that he will probably cut off his family again after this wedding, mentioning it was a surprise he accepted in the first place. The man says his brother is trying to build a new life and this is a start, and he is happy to help even if he cuts him off again afterwards.

 

When Lily got home it was already late and her father was sleeping. She crashed into her bed and cried herself to sleep. She wakes up the next day to find the apartment empty. She spends the whole day trying to figure out a solution that would maybe save both parts of the crash, but she knew she had tried everything previously, and it still ended up the same.

 

When her father comes home later that day, he finds Lily asleep on the sofa. He crouches next to it and slowly wakes her up, asking her if she had made her choice. She nods, on the edge of crying. He asks her if it is the choice he suggested, and she nodded again. She then hugged him and started crying, apologizing over and over again. He nods and says it’s all right, and then asks her to tell him about those people. After that, he says she made the good choice and that he is proud of her. He made her promise that she would make him proud and become someone someday. She promises him and he said that he guessed this was goodbye, and she asks him what he was planning on doing. He said he was going to take a walk before, ‘you know…’

 

She insisted that he should stay with her a little bit longer, but he just told her to go back to sleep. Everything would be over quicker than she thought it would. She said she couldn’t sleep in a moment like this, so he sat down on the sofa and let her rest her head on his lap. He talked with her until she fell asleep. He carefully got up from the sofa, went to her room, grabbed her phone and shut it down, then went to the kitchen, wrote a good bye letter and left the apartment.

 

We see him walking through the part, checking his watch. He wondered how everything would go now that he knew. Wouldn’t that change everything? He just decided to go with it, get in his cab and drive. He would be where he was supposed to be at the right time. We see him drive on the highway, just entering the interchange. We see, once more, from his point of view as he drives on the exterior lane. Then, he is hit from the interior and the car flies off the highway, towards the ground and we cut to black for a few seconds.

 

We cut to Lily, who is still sleeping with a smile on her face.

 

We then cut to black and see a few messages on the screen saying that the car manufacturer had to pay the damage causes, especially to Lily. There was no official number on the money they paid to Lily, but it was enough to help Lily get into a very good college, get a good job afterwards and a nice car. Despite that, she still lives in the small apartment she shared with her father.

 

 

Theaters: 3,000
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Budget: $15 million

Edited April 19, 2014 by ChD

[ChD]

[rukaio101]

Few small changes. Mushishi is moving forward to Nov 30th-Dec 2nd, Freddy vs Jason vs Ash is increasing its theatre count to 3382 and Black Ship is moving to Q1 next year to avoid the massive pile up in this quarter.

[4815162342]

Few small changes. Mushishi is moving forward to Nov 30th-Dec 2nd

That's a horrible decision since the post-Thanksgiving weekend is a barren place.

[rukaio101]

That's a horrible decision since the post-Thanksgiving weekend is a barren place.

You've got a point. Okay, move it to December 19th instead. 

[Blankments]

Move Avatar to December 14, the 21st is too crowded with wide-releases as it is

[riczhang]

Since this was ready, I'm gonna release it I think.

 

The Concert’s End

 

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Studio: Arcturus Entertainment
Format: 2D 35mm Film
Genre:  Historical/War and Political Drama
Cast:
Michael Fassbender as Count Leopold  von Berchtold of Austria (Like when he played Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method)
Ben Kingsley as Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
Rupert Everett as Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Viggo Mortensen as Count Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal of Austria
Berenice Bejo as Ferdinandine von Berchtold of Austria
Tom Wilkinson as Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf  of Austria
Anthony Andrews as Count Alexander von Hoyo of Austria
Shirley Henderson as Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg of Austira
John Simm as Count Karl von Sturgkh of Austria
Michael Caine as General Oskar Potiorek of Austria
Cillian Murphy as Leopold Lojka of Austria
Jason Statham as Baron Wladimir Giesl von Gieslingen of Austria
Julian Barratt as Count Frigyes Szapary of Austria
Mark Strong as Count Istvan Tisza of Austria-Hungary
James D’arcy as Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon of Great Britain
Jared Harris as Herbert Asquith of Great Britain 
Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill of Great Britain
Michael Culkin as Sir Edward Goschen of Great Britain
David Thewlis as David Lloyd George of Great Britain
Alan Rickman as Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany
Neil Maskell as Prince Karl Max Lichnowsky of Germany
Stephen Graham as Count Heinrich von Tschirschky of Germany 
Johnny Lee Miller as Theodore von Bethmann-Hollwegg of Germany
Tom Hardy as Gottlieb von Jagow of Germany
Julian Barratt as Helmuth von Moltke of Germany
James McAvoy as Gavarillo Princip of Serbia
Paul Giamatti as Count Alexander Izvolsky of Russia
Joseph Fiennes as Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Liam Cunnningham as Sergei Sazonov of Russia
Robert Carlyle as King Peter I of Serbia
Jimi Mistry as Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire
Unknowns as Miscellaneous Kings and Other Leaders of Europe
Score: Patrick Doyle
Director of Photography: Haris Zambarloukos

Budget: $95 million
Theatre Count:  3819
Rating:  PG-13
Release Date:  9 November
Running Time: 2hr 41mins (161 mins)

 

Plot:

 

The Film opens with a sweeping crane shot of Buchlau Castle. The words Buchlau Castle, Austria-Hungary, 16 September 1908 are shown on the bottom-centre of the screen. We cut to the inside of the castle as we see the servants bustling around, evidently preparing for some sort of event. We see an ornate state room being prepped for two, along with lots of food, drink, and stationery. We also see a large map being laid out on the table. Through the open doors we can see other servants dusting and straightening everything else out. We cut to the entrance hall and we see two men, Count Leopold Berchtold (Michael Fassbender) and Count Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal (Viggo Mortensen), nervously standing in the middle of the hall. The sides of the room are flanked by a small consortium of valets, butlers, and other staff. We hear the faint sound of the telephone in the background as we see Leopold fidget a little. Alois tells him to stop, and Leopold responds that he’s just a bit nervous. He adds that this has the potential to blow up in everyone’s faces. Alois tells him to calm down and stop acting like a schoolboy. This goes on for a little longer and we learn that Leopold is the Austrian ambassador to Russia and Alois is the Austrian Foreign Minister. We also learn that they’re hosting a meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister, Alexander Izvolsky, at Leopold’s castle. As their talk is about to turn to the actual topic of the meeting, they are interrupted by a butler, who says to Leopold, “Sir, the groundskeeper just telephoned and His Lordship’s convoy passed by the gates about 4 minutes ago. They will be arriving in about 5 minutes.” We see Leopold nod and dismiss the butler. He then excuses himself and goes into the rest of the castle to check on the progress. He sees that almost everything is done and perfect, and so he shoos the staff and commands them to get out of sight. The nervousness of his tone and his stiff body indicates just how much is at stake here and just how vital it is that everything is perfect.

We cut back to entrance hall as Leopold re-enters the room just as the large oak doors are swung inward. Looking outside we see a convoy of at least 5 cars enter the Porte-Cohere. The biggest car in the middle bore the state flag and insignia of Russia and the Czar. The drive of that car quickly gets out and opens the door. From within the car steps Count Alexander Izvolsky (Paul Giamatti); he quickly ascends the stairs and shakes hands with Leopold and Alois. They make some small talk that we can’t hear before Leopold beckons them into the castle for a meal.

We cut to them in the dining hall at the end of the meal. We see the remnants of a main course taken away as the drinks are refilled and the desert is brought out. They all seem to know each other decently well, and the alcohol is working its magic as their small talk is jovial and friendly. Then after all of them have finished, we see Leopold catch the attention of and nod sharply yet imperceptibly at one of the footmen who quickly arranged for the plates to be taken away. Alois then motions towards Alexander and says, “Shall we?” Alexander nods his consent and Leopold tersely says, “Follow me.” We see Leopold lead the men through a series of ornately decorated hallways, establishing the mood and feel of the time period: aristocratic, lavish, and filled with prodigality.  They arrive at the entrance to the state room with its high double doors and Leopold opens it before ushering the two other gentlemen inside. He turns to leave, but turns back and tells them that if they need anything just notify him via the telephone in the room or one of the footmen and that he’ll be in his study. He wishes them good luck and then turns to leave.

 

We see a shot of him, outside the state room, letting out the breath that he had been holding. He then goes upstairs into his private suites where we see his wife, Ferdinandine von Berchtold (Berenice Bejo), waiting for him. She looks up at he enters the drawing room of the suite and cocks her head. He sits down on the chair opposite her and lights up a pipe, takes a deep breath, exhales, and sinks into the chair. He lets out a sigh and his wife asks him what’s wrong. He says that he’s just so confused, and so unsure of all of this. He says that they’ve been planning for months, yet everything still rests on a most precipitous cliff. His wife chides him a little for being so self-doubtful before reaching out to place a comforting hand on his back. She then proceeds to tell him that it’s all right as Leopold says in a slightly emotional voice that he can’t help being indecisive because he can’t stop himself from contemplating all the alternatives and what could go wrong. His wife just continues on comforting him.

 

We cut back to the state room, and we see that the two men are dwarfed by the sheer size and spectacle of the room. We see them, sitting on opposite sides of a long table, engaged in a heated debate. Austria wants to annex Bosnia and Herzogovina and Russia wants to take over the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits. We see snippets of their argument. They agree fairly early on that there would be mutual support for each other’s actions; however the conditions, concessions, and methods of dealing with the other countries are fiercely debated. At one moment we see Alois take a knife and stab it into an apple on one of the fruit plates. We hear the sound of the splitting apple as the knife causes the apple to crack cleanly into two halves.  Eventually after lots of arguing and drawing on the map, they come to an agreement that Russia will open the straits up to all ships, Austria will annex Bosnia and Herzegovina and withdraw from the Sanjak of Novibazar, and that they’ll mutually support each other. They also accepted Bulgarian independence and said that in exchange for support of the annexation they would support other countries’ expansion into the Balkans. They conclude the meeting with a cordial handshake and wishing the best of luck to each other. 

 

We cut to the great hall again as Alexander exits and gets back into his car. Alois and Leopold are standing next to each other, and the moment Alexander’s convoy peels out of the Porte-Cohere, Leopold turns towards Alois. Alois says that it’s good news and that he has to notify the emperor immediately. Leopold then breaks into a genuine relaxed smile as they exit the room.

 

Title Credits.

 

We then cut to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (Ben Kinsley) in an ornate stateroom. The date, 6 October 1908, appears on the bottom-centre of the screen. He’s sitting at a desk, flanked by his advisors, amongst them include Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Rupert Everett), Alois, and Leopold.  In front of him on the desk rests an official looking paper. We eventually settle on a shot of the paper from over his shoulder and see that it reads “Proclamation//Annexation of the Bosnia and Herzegovina//Emperor Franz Joseph I//[…].” He takes the quill on his desk, dips it into his inkwell, and then signs at the bottom of the document. He is then passed a seal, and heated sealing wax is poured onto the paper below this signature. He then takes the seal and presses the seal down onto it. Then a second document is presented to him: it reads, “Proclamation//Demilitarisation of the Sanjak of Novibazar//Emperor Franz JosephI//[…]” He signs it, and it is sealed just like the other document. After he is done there is polite applause from his advisors.

 

We cut to a shot of the exterior of the British Foreign office, and we cut into the office of Foreign Minister, Viscount Edward Grey (James D’Arcy), as the minister enters. He sits down at his desks and asks one of his aids to “Inform me of what the hell is going on,” and so one of his aides quickly presents him with a prepared dossier. He reads it quickly before telling his aide to send this message to Vienna, “London is concerned by this action and requests clarification quickly.” He then tells the aide to inform the War Ministry to ready the army because this might blow-up very soon.

 

We cut to the Ballhausplatz in Vienna where Alois is inundated with telegraphs and messages. We quickly learn that the Ottomans and the Serbians are fiercely against the annexation and that the rest of the powers of Europe are extremely concerned and worried by this violation of the Treaty of Berlin. Over the next few weeks we see snippets of the Austrian, French, German, Russian, Ottoman, Serbian, and British armies preparing for the possibility of war as the capitals of Europe liaise with each other. We see this from Alois’s perspective in Vienna, and he’s getting more and more worried as the situation seems to be spiralling out of control; this isn’t helped by the fact that Emperor Franz Joseph I is feeling like Austria has got her back pressed against the wall and so is taking it out on Alois.

 

We cut back to London, where we see the Cabinet in session. We see Grey addressing the Prime Minister, Asquith (Jared Harris), and the Cabinet in general. We see him talk about the situation at hand and how they must be extremely careful not to upset the balance of power. He says that they must respect maintain their entente with France and with Russia, so they must not outright advocate for maintaining the status quo or for going along with these new events. Grey proposes that the official government line be that they aren’t opposed to change as long as it happens within the existing guidelines of the Treaty of Berlin. He says that they must not only stress that the Treaty shall not be amended but also that they are open to change.

 

We cut to Moscow where Leopold has returned to, being the ambassador, and he and Alexander are furiously trying to piece together a united front for the Austro-Russian team to present to Europe. We see them puzzling over the various requests and positions of the European nations. We learn that all the great powers bar Germany are in favour of having a conference to settle the issue (violation of the Treaty of Berlin), Serbia and the Ottomans want a reversal of the annexations or territorial gains and compensation, Italy wants territory in exchange for recognising the annexation, and that Britain is against amending the Treaty of Berlin. However, Leopold’s indecisive nature is hindering him as he is getting pushed around by Alexander a little bit.

 

Over the next few months we see Alois trying to juggle everything around, as tensions escalate to new heights. An amendment is being passed around for ratification; however due to British opposition, Russia will not be getting the Turkish straits. We cut to Moscow and we see Alexander lambasting and screaming at a scared Leopold. We cut to a scene of Alexander with his wife where he doubts the use of all the work he’s done to avert war because, “War now, war later. We’ll fight a war in the next 10 years and it’ll be the biggest we’ve ever seen.” His wife just tells him to focus on the matter at hand and that everything will sort itself out in the end. We cut back to Vienna where the Emperor and Alois are in a discussion. They eventually decide that they’re going to start leaking state correspondence with Russia until Russia complied and ratified the amendment to the treaty. However, this causes tensions to heat up drastically and both Austria and Russia are on the verge of mobilisation before the Germans issue an ultimatum to Russia, Alexander caves in, and the Russian government ratifies the amendments. In Vienna we see a relieved Alois that war isn’t happening, and in Moscow we see a suitably nervous Leopold because this is a huge diplomatic defeat for Russia and Alexander is furious. Soon after, the amendments are totally ratified and war is averted. Serbia and the Ottomans both get compensation, Austria gets to keep Bosnia and Herzegovina, and everyone else gets nothing. We cut to the treaty signing between Austria-Hungary, Russia, The Ottomans, and Serbia. We can see the leaders of all Europe gathered in the background. In the foreground, the leaders of Russia, Austria-Hungary, The Ottoman Empire, and Serbia are sitting at a table with the treaty in front of them. The camera pans to each of them as they sign the treaty. Tsar Nicholas II (Joseph Fiennes) looks livid and Franz Josef I looks relieved and quite pleased with himself as Austria-Hungary got to keep Bosnia and Herzegovina and the compensation isn’t particularly large. The Ottoman Caliph, Abdul Hamid II (Jimi Mistry), doesn’t look too upset either. He looks more resigned to the inevitable fate of his empire. We cut to the Serbian party; King Peter I (Robert Carlyle) looks stoic but kind of angry. We cut to some of the Serbian government and military officers in the background. We see one unidentified figure whispering to another, “They need to pay for this. All in good time.” The figure says more but the sound is drowned out by the applause from all the world leaders as the treaty is officiated.

 

We cut to the celebration banquet and ball. The opulence of Europe is still on full display. We then cut outside to a peaceful night-time shot of Vienna, serene and calm in knowing that War is not on the horizon, as we fade to black.

 

In the blackness we hear, “Boom, Boom, Boom.”

 

We slowly fade into a scene of the Austrian army going through practices. Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary 28 June 1914 is displayed on the bottom of the screen. We now cut to the train station at Sarajevo where Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie (Shirley Henderson)are getting off and into their convoy. We settle into a tracking shot of the car speeding through the city centre of Sarajevo when all of a sudden, a thunk is heard before a large explosion occurs behind them. The car immediately stops and the crowd descends into an absolute panic. We see out of the peripheral of our vision, someone jumping off of the bridge and into the river. We then pan in that direction and see many police officers diving in to retrieve the body. We cut back to the Archduke and we see the police attending to him and asking him if he’s all right. He shrugs them off and just holds onto his wife closely. They are quickly ushered back into their car and hurried away. We focus on the scene of the exploded car and we see an aide go into the wreckage and fish out a blood stained piece of paper.

 

We cut to the town hall where the Mayor begins to give his speech of welcome as Franz Ferdinand’s motorcade arrives. We see Franz hurry out of his car, rush up to the mayor, and interrupt him by saying, “Mr. Mayor, I came here on a visit and I get bombs thrown at me. It is outrageous.” Then Sophie pulls Franz back and whispers something into his ear. Franz then takes a step back and a deep breath before telling the mayor that he may continue. At this point an aide approaches him and gives him a blood-stained piece of paper, the same one that was fished out of the wreckage of the exploded car. It is his speech.

 

We cut to him at the end of his speech where he remarks about the bombing, and thanks the people of Sarajevo by saying, “as I see in them an expression of their joy at the failure of the attempt at assassination.” He finishes off his speech and the crowd bursts into applause. He then gives one final wave before heading into the town hall with his wife and the mayor. The Camera follows them into the town hall and the Archduke, his wife, and the Mayor are quickly ushered off into a side room where a crowd of advisors are waiting. They are discussing their next moves. Some people are advocating not letting the enemy get to them and to continue with the schedule, others are advocating going to the hospital to visit those wounded from the attack, and others still are advocating to just call-off the visit for the sake of security. Eventually, The Archduke decides to go visit the wounded but also decides to take a safer and more direct route rather than a ceremonial one through the city-centre. As everyone exits the room, Sophie begins to break down into sobs causing the Archduke to put a comforting arm around her. He tells her that everything will be all right and that they can’t let the terrorists get to them.

 

We cut to a delicatessen where a thoroughly disappointed Gavarillo Princip (James McAvoy) walks into. We see him browse the selection before purchasing some ham. We see him fumble for his money, pay for the meat, and then leave. Out of the window of the delicatessen we can see a large convoy of cars passing by.

 

We cut to the Archduke’s convoy as they’re passing by a delicatessen, and we see the driver of the archduke’s car make a turn onto a bridge. All the rest of the convoy continue on the main road and pass by, unable to stop. The other passenger in the Archduke’s car, General Potiorek, the governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, shouts at the driver and tells him that he’s going the wrong way and that the plans have been changed. The Driver looks absolutely bewildered and says that no one’s informed him as he’s backing off of the bridge.

 

We cut back to Gavarillo as he steps out onto the pavement of the street and notices that the Archduke’s convoy is passing by and seems to be having some problems, as evidence by the Archduke’s car backing off of the bridge and the absence of the rest of the convoy. We see him reach into his jacket and we see that he’s palming his gun. His face has suddenly taken on a determined look as he seems to be contemplating a new idea.

We cut back and forth between the Archduke’s car and Gavrillo as the car stalls, Gavarillo begins to approach the car, the driver getting panicked and trying to get the car to move again, Gavarillo takes a step forward, and we cut to black as two shots are heard and the crowd erupts into panic and screams. We hear the peeling sound of a car speeding off and we cut.

 

We cut to the inside of the car where we see that both the Archduke and his wife have been shot. We see that the Archduke is trying to hold the both of them upright as the car is speeding away from the scene. We see Potiorek tell the driver to take them towards the Governor’s residence because they can get medical help there. As Sophie is clutching her stomach and slumping forward, the Archduke is saying softly to her, “Sophie, Sophie! Don't die! Live for our children!” Sophie and Potiorek are both asking about the Archduke’s jugular vein injury and he brushes both of them off by saying, “It is nothing,” multiple times.

 

We cut back to the scene of the murder and we see Gavarillo getting swamped by the crowd and police; he gets beat up severely before he’s arrested and carted off. As he is thrown into the police car, we see one of the police officers give him a kick for good measure.

 

We cut back to the Archduke’s car as they’re still speeding off towards the Governor’s residence.  However, as we see the residence appear at the end of the road, Sophie suddenly slumps over and dies. The Archduke looks totally distraught as he tries to revive her and tells her to keep living for their children. However, the Archduke soon succumbs to his injuries and begins his death rattle. Potiorek looks absolutely horrified and scared at this point and orders the equally scared driver, Leopold Lojka (Cillian Murphy), to drive as fast as possible towards the residence.  We see them pull into the Porte-Cohere and the staff, having no prior warning, are completely bewildered as we hear frantic shouts for medical staff and to make the necessary arrangements. We see the bodies of the Archduke and Sophie getting carried into the building, as Lojka and Potiorek are being questioned and examined for injuries. In the background we hear someone ordering someone else to get a Priest here immediately. (for the Last Rites)

 

We cut to the inside of the residence where we see a doctor covering up the bed of Sophie; he shakes his head and turns his attention to the Archduke who is on the other bed in the room. The doctor examines his injuries, and gives him some tonic; however, he eventually beckons to the Priest who is waiting outside the door. The priest comes in and administers the last rites to the Archduke. Just as the Priest is finished, Potiorek, Lojka, and a bunch of the Archduke’s aides who just arrived, after backtracking to the scene of the accident and then proceeding to the Governor’s residence, enter the room as the Archduke passes away. The Doctor puts his year up to the Archduke’s mouth, taps him several times on the head, and proclaims his death with great sorrow. The entire room descends into prayer for the Archduke for just a moment before the well-oiled machine of Austrian bureaucracy springs into action. We see a Potiorek delegate the task of transporting the two bodies back to Vienna to a few aides, and then instructs Lojka to send three telegrams. One to Emperor Franz Josef, One to German Kaiser Wilhelm II (Alan Rickman), and One to the Archduke’s children about the deaths. He then turns to another aide and instructs him to expeditiously arrest anyone involved in the assassination.

 

We cut to Vienna where a telegraph operator tears the sheet of paper off of his pad and runs out of the room. We see him run up into the ornate palace, disregarding all of the orders for him to stop and declare his business. He approaches the Emperor’s private suite and barges in as multiple guards are on his tail in pursuit. The Emperor is sitting having lunch with Count Karl von Sturgkh (John Simm), The Minister-President of Austria-Hungary, and Count Leopold von Berchtold, who is now the Imperial Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary. They are in the middle of discussion, something about protecting the security of the Archduke and not letting the bomb incident happen again, and they all look irate that a servant interrupted their private meeting. However, the telegraph operator, looking distraught, hurriedly presents the sheet of paper to the Emperor and tells him that he should look at it. The Emperor looks shocked and lets out a gasp as the guards enter the suite and proceed to take the telegraph operator away. The Emperor tells them to let the telegraph operator go, and then dismisses all of them. He then passes the sheet of paper to Karl and Leopold, and the camera settles over their shoulders to see the note reading, “Your Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, We bear grave and distressing news from Sarajevo. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife the Duchess Sophie of Hohenberg have been shot and killed. We will update when further details are known. - General Oskar Potiorek (Michael Caine), Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” There is an atmosphere of visible shock in the room as the three men process what had just happened. Karl is the first to respond and he first offers his apologies to a still shell-shocked Franz Josef before saying that they need to put the military on mobilisation alert. Leopold nods his agreement and the three men begin to discuss the appropriate responses towards Serbia. The options are quite clear; they cannot allow Serbia to get away with no punishment so it would have to either be war or severe diplomatic punishment.

 

We cut back to Sarajevo where we see Princip getting interrogated. Although he is originally defiant, we soon see him crack as he reveals the entire plan. How he and a bunch of others were part of the Black Hand, how they trained in Belgrade, Serbia, and how they snuck across the border and etc. Most importantly, he gave up the names of the other people involved. We see Potiorek standing in the back of the room, listening. He quickly dispatches officers to seal up these passages and arrest all of these people. We then cut to him leaving the police station and we can see massive anti-Serbian riots on the streets. As his car drives off, the crowd swarms it and the car can barely move anywhere. We then cut to him arriving at the Governor’s palace where he orders the military to be dispatched to quash the riots because even though they are in our favour, they’re too dangerous to be allowed to continue. We cut back to the scene of one of the riots as the Austrian military arrives and begins to arrest and break the riot up. We can hear the sounds of a few shots fired in the background as this is happening.

 

We cut to Berlin, there is a meeting between German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, German Chancellor, Theodore von Bethmann-Hollwegg (Johnny Lee Miller). They are talking about a series of domestic issues including Welfare, Pensions, and etc. The topic then turns onto Foreign Affairs and naturally the conversation shifts to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Theodore says that it is the perfect opportunity to exercise Darwinian Socialism. He says that their army has never been stronger and that his military advisors have told him that there may never be as good a time as now. He says that they must take advantage of it. Wilhelm nods his agreement; however he adds that we must be very careful because we cannot be seen as the aggressors of war or else the entire system could be brought down. Theodore tries to argue and says that they don’t need the system anymore because when Germany wins, Germany can write the system. Wilhelm adamantly rebuts that all the monarchs from Cardiff to Vladivostok are interrelated and that relation represents the complex web of alliances, gentleman’s agreements, and etc. He then says that one error could bring all of it crashing down. Theodore tries to argue more, but has to submit to the will of the Kaiser.

 

We cut to the next morning as we see all the capitals of Europe awaking to this news. We see a montage of people reading newspapers and paperboys from London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, Vienna, and Belgrade. They all carry the same headline.

 

We cut back to Vienna where we see Leopold in his office, in front of him is a copy of a telegraph from Sarjevo that outlined the information that Potiorek got out of Princip and the current progress of the investigation. He then tells his chief of staff, Count Hoyo (Anthony Andrews), to get a telegram to Berlin. He wants Berlin to support Vienna in its request for a formal investigation into this affair. Hoyo then asks him if they’re going to war or not and Leopold responds, “I don’t know.” Hoyo then replies, “With all due respect, sir. I think we should. It’ll be good to put Serbia back in her place.”

 

We then cut to Leopold arriving home for the evening, and we see him sinking into a chair with a drink looking utterly lost and distraught. We see his wife approach him again and he confesses that he has no idea what he’s doing. He says that he never wanted this job and all he’s doing is making things worse for everyone. His wife takes his hands in her hands and then says very calmly but also authoritatively, “Get yourself together. Your country needs you. Now is not the time for you to vacillate. It’s time to be strong and assertive because if you’re strong you’ll at least have a chance of getting things right. Being weak does nothing and accomplishes nothing. GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER.” Leopold nods, a little shocked by his wife’s scolding, and tells her that he’ll try. She smiles at him and inquisitively asks, “So, are we going to war? I had tea today at the lady’s club and that was the rumour going around. War, with Serbia. Is that wise, what about the alliances?” Leopold looks as if he wants to say I don’t know and kick the can further down the road but decides to carefully answer, “War is looking inevitable. The Serbians most likely won’t accept our demands. The alliance system shouldn’t be a large obstacle because we doubt that the Russians will mobilise to help the Serbians. They’re too small and insignificant for the Russians to honour their alliance and risk bringing in Germany.”

 

We cut to a meeting of the Austrian cabinet. The four main players are Franz Josef, Leopold, Karl, and Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf (Tom Wilkinson), the Chief of Staff of the Austrian army. Franz Conrad is advocating for outright war, while the other three are more cautious in their approach. They are accepting war is a valid, and perhaps inevitable, option but would rather push for diplomatic punishment and resolution. Franz Josef in particular is against war unless they can get German backing for it. Leopold says that public opinion must be prepared for war and that it is best to wait for the results of the Austrian investigation and the trial of the conspirators because then they’d have a solid legal case and base to go to war on. Franz Conrad replies that the Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo seemed to indicate plenty of public goodwill for war with Serbia. Karl also adds that he just spoke with his counter-part in Budapest (Dual-Monarchy, the system is really complicated), Count Istvan Tisza, the Minister-President of Hungary was against going to war with Serbia. Franz Conrad at that point makes a snide comment about the Magyars (Hungarians). As the meeting is going on, they are interrupted by a telegraph which informs them that a major player in the assassination has escaped to Montenegro and that a commanding officer in the Serbian military was involved, according to Princip. We see Franz Conrad go into an uproar and say that they must go to war now because the Serbian government is involved and that this is a blatant violation of national sovereignty. However, Leopold, looking a little uncomfortable having to stand-up to such an intimidating figure, says that they must not deviate from a path of moderation and diplomatic solution. He says that they have acquired Germany’s support if they want to press for an investigation and that he’ll telegram Belgrade today to firmly request an inquiry. He says that he’ll also telegraph Moscow to ask them to pressure Belgrade into an inquiry as they’re Belgrade’s ally.

 

We cut to the German embassy in Vienna, the German Ambassador, Count Heinrich von Tschirschky (Stephen Graham), working at his desk. We see an aide enter the room and say, “My lord, Ambassador. There is a message to you from Berlin.” Heinrich takes the message and dismisses the aide. He opens it up and sees that he has been forwarded a copy of the telegram that Lojka sent to Wilhelm II; a note was added at the bottom of the telegram, “Now or Never.”

 

We cut later that day; Leopold is in his office reviewing all of this material. We see him compose a telegram to Montenegro requesting them to capture the escaped conspirator and to honour their extradition treaty by returning him to Austria. We then see him call a meeting with his advisors to discuss further courses of action. It is here that we see his indecisiveness is still his Achilles heel because he allows himself to be bamboozled and pushed by his pro-war advisors. This is particularly strong in his Chief of Staff, Count Hoyo. Hoyo advocates war to exterminate Serbia forever and to advance Austrian foreign policy. He then says that he met with a German source who says that the German government and the German Foreign Minister will of supportive of reasonable Austrian action. Hoyo then says that they need to engineer a situation so that they have the legitimate reason to attack. He says that that should be their number one goal, not diplomacy. Leopold looks kind of confused and dazed but is able to stand his ground a little bit and does not concede to pursuing war as the number one objective. They are drawing up a list of possible allies and enemies for their position. Germany is the first to be put onto the ally list. Russia is put into the enemy list but noted to be possibly neutral as they might not be willing to risk war for Serbia. They also deem Romania, a Austrian-Ally, to be possibly more pro-Russia and pro-Serbia due to a recent Russo-Romanian summit. Italy is also put into the unknown category because they abandoned the Germany and Austrian position during the Moroccan crises even though they are formally allied. In the end they decide that they need to pursue alliances with Bulgaria, Ottomans, and to rekindle their alliance with Italy.

 

We cut to Leopold leaving the meeting room where he is cornered by Franz Conrad. Franz Conrad takes the opportunity again to push for war, and we can see that Leopold is being gradually convinced by both his staff and Franz Conrad. Leopold responds that, yes War is inevitable, but there needs to be a solid basis and it must look legitimate. Franz Conrad seems to be placated by this small victory, and presses on to say that he is concerned that Germany hasn’t stated its intentions clearly enough in the case of war. Franz Conrad asks Leopold to clarify and get the German position in very black and white terms. Leopold agrees to that and we cut.

 

We cut to the British Cabinet room. We see Edward Grey addressing the cabinet. We see that he is saying that the world is on a knife edge and one wrong step from anyone can bring war upon Europe. He says that Britain must use its influence to mediate between Serbia and Austria to ensure that no war breaks out. He says that he will be sending telegrams to Berlin, Moscow, Vienna, and Belgrade today to request for talks. He also says that they need to start looking for a Casus Belli in the event that they need to go to war because their ententes are not military accords. However, he also advocates slow, methodical, and well-thought out plans because he says that the tension is still far from critical levels and that they can depend on the enormous German influence on Austria-Hungary to defuse the situation. We can see many of the people in the Whig cabinet upset at this activist foreign policy, but under the sharp glares of Prime Minister Asquith they all stay silent. Then Prime Minister Asquith moves the agenda forward and turns to what the British Government holds as the more important topic, the imminent civil war in Ireland as the separatism movement has gotten out of hand.  We see the Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lloyd George (David Thewlis), mention that they need to avoid war anywhere if possible due to the cost. He says that the empire is both a blessing and drain finance wise.

 

We cut back to the Emperor’s private suite where Leopold, Karl, and Franz Josef are having lunch again. Leopold informs the two of them that the Montenegrins have the conspirator in custody and he is arranging for his prompt and immediate extradition. He also informs the other two that both Russia and Serbia have rebuffed their and Germany’s request for a formal inquiry. He then says that he also plans on sending Hoyo to Berlin to ask for a clear, black and white, German declaration of intent in all of this. Franz Josef and Karl agree with this, and Franz Josef says that he’ll add his own personal letter to the mix and that he’ll send the letter to Leopold’s office this afternoon. Franz Josef then also proposes a Joint Council of Ministers (Austrian Ministers and their Hungarian counterparts meeting) next week to decide on a course of action.

 

We cut to a meeting between Wilhelm, Theobald, and the German Army Chief of Staff, Helmuth von Moltke (Julian Barratt). They are discussing the peace plan that was sent by the British Foreign Secretary, Edward Grey. Both Theobald and Helmuth are in favour of binning the telegram and telling the British that it isn’t Europe’s job to interfere in a localised and domestic dispute between the Slavs in Austria-Hungary and the Slavs in Serbia. However, Wilhelm wants to forward the peace plan to Austria and get Austria to reject it. He says that that way Germany will be seen as trying to help the peace plan and not causing war. However, Helmuth raises the objection that the Austria possibly could accept if they think that the German forwarding of the peace plan is a signal that Germany won’t help in even of a war and because the Austrian army isn’t in the best of shape at the moment. Theobald then raises the point that they can’t tell Austria to reject the proposal because that’s too dangerous and could lead to an international scandal. Eventually they compromise on just not responding to the peace plan.

 

We cut to Leopold and Hoyo outside the Ballhausplatz where the government offices are located, and we see Leopold giving Hoyo a stack of letters. He tells Hoyo to go straight to the office of the Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, to demand an audience with the Kaiser. He tells Hoyo to be expeditious and waste no time and to telegram back the response when he gets it. 

 

We cut to the funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie. It’s a small but lavish affair with only the Imperial Royal Family in attendance. Emperor Franz Josef looks particularly sad as the coffin is carried into the chapel and laid in front of the altar. We cut as the archbishop of Vienna begins the service.

 

We cut to Hoyo arriving in Berlin. He is immediately ushered into German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollwegg’s office. They have a Frank chat about the situation and Hoyo discloses the quite obvious intent of his trip. He then asks for an audience with the Kaiser which is promptly granted. We cut to an audience of him with the Kaiser; he bows and kneels at the feet of the Kaiser before he is given the signal to take a seat. Then we see him pass the letters that Leopold gave him to the Kaiser. He then appeals to the Kaiser directly and asks the Kaiser if Germany will support Austria in the event of an Austrian-declared war. The Kaiser pretends to decide for a moment before saying that he needs to consult with his government. We cut to the backroom where Helmuth and Theobald are sitting. The Kaiser says that he told Hoyo that he needs some time to discuss. Theobald and Helmuth gets the point that the Kaiser is making and we see them waste some time by going over some of the domestic issues that need dealing with. We see only a few seconds of that before we cut back to the outside room. We see a few shots of Hoyo waiting for what appears to be hours before the Kaiser emerges and tells Hoyo that Germany will unconditionally support whatever actions Austria deems necessary. Hoyo bows again to the Kaiser before being dismissed and leaves with a large smile on his face; the deal was better than what Austria had asked for.  We then see Theobald emerge from a room and walk down the hall. Theobald greets Hoyo and then leads him away to his office to discuss “further details” about the blank cheque.

 

We cut to London where we see Grey reading a particularly vacillating response from Berlin. It promises everything without promising anything. This causes Grey to be particularly annoyed and we can hear him muttering under his breath, “Germans. We’re on the verge of a bloody war and you can’t even be bothered to care.” We see him storm out of his office.

 

We cut to a shot of Grey entering the German embassy in London. The ambassador’s chief of staff is surprised to see him, and says that the German Ambassador, Prince Karl Max Lichnowsky (Neil Maskell), is currently in a meeting and cannot meet with him. He suggests that Grey leave word and schedule an appointment. Grey is visibly frustrated and tries to bargain before bursting out, “Oh shut up, and let me see him immediately.” The Chief of Staff is shocked and promptly leads Grey to the Ambassador. The Chief of Staff leads him to a set of closed double doors, knock twice, and opens it without waiting for a response. He then announces, “Ambassador, The Viscount Grey is here to see you. I’m afraid he is very insistent.” The Ambassador is visibly disgruntled but acquiesces to Grey’s demands. The moment the Ambassador steps into the hallway and the doors are closed again, Grey launches onto him. He rants in an angry but steady manner about how the Germans need to act and standing here doing nothing is the exact same as provoking war between Austria and Serbia. The Ambassador looks flabbergasted by this entire tirade and tries to calmly say that he agrees; however Grey just goes on. Finally, the Ambassador raises his voice a little and says, “Enough. If you’ll just listen to me for a moment.” He then goes on to tell Grey that he is very sorry that the German government position is this, and that he agrees with Grey that something needs to be done. He then promises Grey that he’ll telegram and get in touch with Berlin again to reiterate his points and try to push Berlin into action. Grey looks calmer now and says that it’s a pleasure to do business with the Ambassador and hopes that through their efforts that a peaceful solution can be reached. The two shake hands and we see the Ambassador turning to go back into the room. As the Ambassador is going back into the room, he is handed a telegraph note. It says, “Note: Second Reich Official Policy towards the Austria-Hungary and Serbian conflict is unconditional support towards the policies of Austria-Hungary.” He looks at the note and sighs. They’re too late.

 

We cut back to Leopold’s office where two telegrams arrive for him. One is from the Montenegro Government that notifies him that the conspirator has escaped. The other is from Hoyo who says that the German Kaiser has given the Austrians their full support for any of their actions towards Serbia. He rips up the one from the Montenegro government and then proceeds to tell his aide to send a strongly worded telegram to Montenegro expressing their disappointment and displeasure that they have allowed the conspirator to “escape.”

 

We cut to Moscow and we see Tsar Nicholas II meeting with Foreign Minister, Sergei Sazonov (Liam Cunningham). He is expressing his concern to Sergei about the mysterious actions that Austria is taking and the recent visit to Berlin that Count Hoyo, the chief of staff to the foreign minister, made. He says that it is best if Sergei go to the Austrian embassy to ask for clarification. We cut to Sergei in a meeting with the Austrian ambassador in Moscow, Frigyes Szapary (Julian Barratt). Sergei is questioning Frigyes about the actions of the Austria government, and Frigyes denies everything. He says that he is just a diplomat and that he is uninformed of all of the going-ons in the Austria government. He says that he’ll only be informed when Leopold (Austrian Foreign Minister) deems it necessary for him to know in order to carry out his job properly. Sergei then asks him to request that information from Vienna before they bid each other good day and Sergei leaves. We then see Frigyes calling for an aide and begins to compose a telegram to Vienna. He looks quite frantic and panicked now that Sergei has gone. We cut back to Sergei and the Tsar. We see Sergei telling the Tsar that he feels like Frigyes is concealing something from Russia. Tsar nods and just tells him to keep a close eye on everything and to make sure everything stays under control. He then adds that War is to be avoided as the army isn’t ready yet for heavy fighting.

 

We now cut to the Joint Council of Ministers meeting. We see some people advocating a surprise attack, and others advocating for war but in a more controlled and methodical manner. Only one person, Count Tisza (Mark Strong), the Minister-President of Hungary is opposed to war. Many people are cautious but supportive of war and it is a fight between the both sides to get those people onto their side. Tisza argued that war would lead to many unforeseen consequences and could be on a larger scale and time frame than anyone can imagine or anticipate. Karl argues back that not pursuing war would be seen as a policy of hesitation and weakness, but agrees with Tisza that there must be further careful and due consideration. He then reiterates that Russia would most likely not step in to aid Serbia because Serbia is too insignificant an ally for Russia to risk war with Germany over. As the argument is getting heated, Hoyo arrives back from Berlin and gives his oral report. He says that Kaiser Wilhelm II is fully supportive of whatever Austria does and that their Chancellor, Theobald, personally told him that Germany prefers war over diplomatically negotiated peace. This quickly swings a lot of people into the pro-war camp and they finally decide on presenting Serbia with an ultimatum, which if refused would lead to war in order to placate Count Tisza who is particularly assertive. 

 

We cut to a dinner service for the Joint Council of Ministers and we can see the furious backroom dealings going on as we see different people pushing for different conditions in the ultimatum. However, we soon get the impression that the consensus is to present Serbia with an ultimatum that it can’t possibly accept to give Austria-Hungary a legitimate Casus Belli to attack Serbia but also to ensure British, French, and other European Countries neutrality as this would be a “legitimate” war and not an unprovoked one and one based on sketchy testimony and unproven evidence. However, Tisza is still opposed to war and is determined to piece together an ultimatum that is harsh but still acceptable by the Serbians. We then see Leopold get a telegram from the Austrian Ambassador in Moscow who asks what he should tell the Russian Foreign minister who just requested Austria clarify its intent towards Serbia. Leopold decides to tell the Ambassador to tell the Foreign Minister nothing and to say that Austria has no plans for war.

 

We cut back to Berlin and we see Wilhelm, Helmuth, Theodore, and the Foreign Minister, Gottlieb von Jagow (Tom Hardy), meeting. They’re discussing the progress of the Joint Council of Ministers. We see Gottlieb saying that the Ambassador in Vienna is reporting that they’re hung up over the wording and the harshness of the ultimatum. He also says that there is a sole hold-out, the Hungarian Minister President, Count Tisza. We see them debate and discuss some more before they decide to tell their ambassador in Vienna to push the Austrians along. We see Helmuth saying “Austria must beat the Serbs.”

 

Over the next few days we see Hoyo and Franz Conrad pushing Leopold to take a more aggressive stance as the Joint Council is still debating on how harsh the ultimatum will be and what’ll be on it. We see Tisza still holding out for a more peaceful approach and we see Leopold confronting him to try to get him to accept war. As the debates go on we see Leopold capitulate to Hoyo and Franz and orders his staff to begin drawing up a carefully worded and crafted ultimatum. We also see the ministers getting quite tired of going in cyclical arguments, and then we see the German ambassador in Vienna, Count Heinrich von Tschirschky, approaching Leopold and advising him to sue for war. He says that everyone in Berlin is in favour of war. He then says that it is the belief of the German government that Austria must choose immediately and that they should choose war if they want what’s best for the continent in general. Leopold looks visibly scared at this and asks about Germany’s commitment to their alliance and Heinrich responds that only time will tell. Leopold blanches as he takes this as a sign that Germany could be willing to break their alliance with Austria. Leopold then tells Heinrich that the Austrian government plans on sending Serbia an unacceptable ultimatum that the Serbians definitely will reject in order to provoke war. He asks Heinrich if he can do a favour for him. Heinrich motions for him to continue and Leopold asks him to talk to Tisza and to give him a bit of a scare because Tisza’s the only person demanding an acceptable ultimatum. Heinrich nods and says that he’ll do what he can.

 

We cut to a meeting between Franz Conrad, Franz Josef, Leopold, and Karl in the Emperor’s private suite to discuss the war. Even though they are just issuing an ultimatum, all of them are acting as if war was 100% assured. They’re discussing the best times to deliver the ultimatum and to declare war. Franz Josef says that it will be advisable to deliver the ultimatum after the Franco-Russian summit because they can facilitate a change in action if the summit has unusual results and because they can’t risk the French and Russians coming to new military agreements as a result of the ultimatum being presented while they’re engaged in talks. Franz Conrad then also says that the earliest Austria can declare war will be the 25^th of July because they need to wait until the summer harvest is over to be fully equipped and supplies for the war. Eventually they decide the present the ultimatum on the 23^rd and to set its expiration date on the 25^th.

 

We cut to the Cabinet room in London, and we see Grey addressing the cabinet again. He says that they must keep pressing for a conference to sue for peace because otherwise this would be the most disastrous war in history. He says that he’ll go through the German ambassador in London, Prince Lichnowsky, to propose to the Germans again the idea of a conference. He says that he’s already spoken to Moscow and Paris and both of them are open to the idea of diplomatically discussing this through. He then adds that the German participation is crucial to the conference’s success and the failure of Germany to participate means that Britain must take “exigent and drastic measures to protect the safety and prosperity of itself and that of its empire. He then says that they must proactively pursue these measures because quoting a telegram from the British Ambassador in Berlin, “We do not know the facts. The German government clearly do know. They know what the Austrian government is going to demand...and I think we may say with some assurance that they had expressed approval of those demands and promised support should dangerous complications ensure...” However he adds that the telegram says that “the German government did not believe that there is any danger of war.” However, no risks can be taken.

 

We cut to Lichnowsky receiving a telegram and promptly hurrying out of the room. We then cut to Grey walking into the Foreign Office building and into his office to find Lichnowsky waiting there for him. Grey looks a bit surprised and says that he was just going to go visit Linchnowsky. Lichnowsky says that he has something urgent he needs to discuss with Grey and Grey ushers the both of them into his office. Grey says that he needs Lichnowsky’s help and that he needs Lichnowsky to press Berlin into acquiescing to a conference. Lichnowsky says that that was precisely what he was here about. He says that he received a directive from Berlin this morning and he says that all hopes of peace is dead. He says that Berlin informed him that it was pressing for Austria to go to war and instructed him to inform and fool the British government into thinking that Berlin isn’t interested in war and isn’t egging Austria on. Grey looks a bit shocked at this and says that Lichnowsky must do something. Lichnowsky asks, “What? What can I do? The Directive’s been given. I am but a humble servant of the Reich and I have no choice but to obey. However, as a friend, I recommend you inform your government to prepare for war.” He then promptly leaves the room without a word.

 

We now cut to an empty hallway in the Ballhausplatz. We see Tisza emerge from a room and proceed down the hallway. He doesn’t get very far before he is cornered by the German Ambassador, Heinrich. Heinrich tries to persuade Tisza to accept war and Tisza refuses and continues to demand peace. Then Heinrich says the same thing that he said to Leopold. This leads Tisza to draw the same conclusion as Leopold did. Even though he tries to hold his ground, he eventually capitulates and says that he’ll stop demanding peace because the threat of breaking the Austro-German alliance is too dangerous to disregard. Then Heinrich smiles and bids Tisza a good day before going off.

 

We cut back to London and we see Lichnowksy telegraphing Berlin and saying, “If we do not join the mediation, all faith here in us and in our love of peace will be shattered.” However the prompt response from Berlin is to follow the directive and that it has been deemed by the leadership in the best interests of the Reich to proceed with war.

 

We then see the ultimatum drafted by Leopold’s staff quickly presented to the Joint Council and they make quick work on rewording it and making a final copy out of it. Just as the final copy is about to be finished, Leopold has a moment of weakness and decides to throw it all out the window and start again because he feels that there needs to be no doubt that Serbia would reject. However, Heinrich hears about this and tells Leopold to just reword the current draft as redrawing a new one will take too long and will prolong the period of vacillation and indecision. He also tells Leopold that the presentation of the ultimatum must be delayed by one hour because they need to make sure that the French are far enough from St. Petersburg that they won’t turn back and negotiate new treaties to deal with the ultimatum. Leopold gulps and nods.

 

We now cut to the 5:00 PM 23rd of July. The time is displayed at the bottom of the screen and we see the Austrian Ambassador, Baron Wladimir Giesl von Gieslingen (Jason Statham), in Belgrade walk into the audience room of the King Peter I of Serbia, hand him the ultimatum, say, “You have 48 hours,” and leaves without another word. We see  from over the King’s shoulders that the terms of the ultimatum are:

 

1.  Suppress all publications which "incite hatred and contempt of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy" and are "directed against its territorial integrity".

2.  Dissolve the Serbian nationalist organisation "Narodna Odbrana" ("The People's Defense") and all other such societies in Serbia.

3.  Eliminate without delay from schoolbooks and public documents all "propaganda against Austria-Hungary".

4.  Remove from the Serbian military and civil administration all officers and functionaries whose names the Austro-Hungarian Government will provide.

5.  Accept in Serbia "representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Government" for the "suppression of subversive movements".

6.  Bring to trial all accessories to the Archduke's assassination and allow "Austro-Hungarian delegates" (law enforcement officers) to take part in the investigations.

7.  Arrest Major Voja Tankosić and civil servant Milan Ciganović who were named as participants in the assassination plot.

8.  Cease the cooperation of the Serbian authorities in the "traffic in arms and explosives across the frontier"; dismiss and punish the officials of the at Shabatz Loznica frontier service, "guilty of having assisted the perpetrators of the Sarajevo crime".

9.  Provide "explanations" to the Austro-Hungarian Government regarding "Serbian officials" who have expressed themselves in interviews "in terms of hostility to the Austro-Hungarian Government".

10.  Notify the Austro-Hungarian Government "without delay" of the execution of the measures comprised in the ultimatum.
 

6:11PM 23^rd of July: We see Emperor Franz Josef order Chief of Staff Franz Conrad to prepare the army for war, but no mobilisation yet.

 

8:54PM 23^rd of July: We see Grey get a notification of the ultimatum and proceed to draft a telegram to all the capitals of Europe again. In the telegram he strongly advocates for peace, but adds that should a conference not happen then Britain will do everything in her capability to protect herself and her empire. We then see him tell his aide to call all the ambassadors from the major powers of Europe and Serbia to join him tomorrow in his office.

 

7:47AM 24^th of July: We see Leopold get a message from Russia expressing its displeasure and mentioning that Serbia had appealed to the Russian Ambassador in Belgrade for help. Russia expresses its sympathy towards Serbia and its hope that Austria will take a calm and reasoned approach to all of this.

 

8:51AM 24^th of July: We see Leopold, Franz Josef, Franz Conrad, and Karl eating breakfast together and they’re discussing the Russian telegram. Leopold seems a bit unsure of himself however Franz Conrad says that they’re in too deep to back-off now. He says that withdrawing the ultimatum is too diplomatically damaging. Karl then adds that he thinks that Russia’s bluffing and that they wouldn’t really step in to help and risk war with Germany.

 

1:39PM 24^th of July: We see Grey meeting with the ambassadors of France, Germany (Lichnowsky), Russia, and Italy. We see Grey saying that they must still sue for peace and that he wants each and every one of them to pressure their home governments into accepting. The tension in the room is palpable and we see Russia (Referring to the ambassador) attacking Germany for warmongering and saying that the ultimatum is a farce. Germany coolly responds by saying that they had no prior knowledge of all of this.

 

2:12PM 24^th of July: We see Grey meeting with the Russian ambassador. They’re discussing the ultimatum. Grey tells Russia that he thinks the ultimatum was designed for rejection and Russia agrees. Russia also says that while it is in support of the conference, that it is also concerned that such a conference could be used by Germany to break up the entente. Grey says that he’s well aware of the risks but thinks that peace is needed at any cost.

 

3:19PM 24^th of July: We see Leopold telegramming Wladimir, The Austrian Ambassador to Serbia, and telling him to break all diplomatic relations with Serbia and to prepare to leave tomorrow. We see Wladimir receive the telegram and telling his servants and his wife to pack and prepare to leave tomorrow. An aide then approaches him and mutters something into his ear. We then see him telegram back to Berlin, “Serbia has mobilised. War is imminent. Ultimatum taken as rejected.”

 

8:00AM 25^th of July: We see the Joint Council of Ministers and Emperor Franz Joseph I sitting in a large stateroom waiting for the Serbian reply. We then see an aide rush into the room and distribute copies of a telegram. We see from over the shoulder of the Emperor that it is the Serbian response to the ultimatum. They have accepted all the terms of the ultimatum except for Article 6. The council then without much discussion proclaims the Serbian response to be unacceptable and the order to mobilise is quickly brought to the Emperor who signs it without much hesitation.

 

1:03PM 25^th of July: We see Wladimir and his family surrounded by a mountain of suitcases as their motorcade arrives. They get into the car and the servants load all their suitcases on before the motorcade proceeds to the train station.

 

3:22PM 25^th of July: We see Grey telegram Berlin to advise Berlin to advise Vienna to reconsider and accept the Serbian response. 

 

4:07PM 25^th of July: We see Leopold receiving Grey’s telegram, forwarded by Berlin, with a small addendum at the end. “Reject.” We also see him receive a telegram from Russia saying that they cannot remain “uninterested” should Austria attack Serbia. We see Leopold tell Hoyo to inform Franz Josef, Franz Conrad, and Karl that war with Russia is most likely a certainty.

 

8:38AM 26^th of July: We see Leopold drafting a telegram to London saying that they reject Grey’s proposal and hope for a localised war. He then adds that should a localised war be impossible then Austria will be counting on Germany’s gracious help.

 

1:32PM 26^th of July: We see the British Cabinet assembled again. We see Grey addressing the cabinet and saying that “Yet again, our proposals for peace have been thwarted and rejected. It leaves us with no choice but to prepare for war.” He then says that he has found a Casus Belli and explains that since Russia has indicated its intent for war against Austria should it attack Serbia, then Germany is obligated to declare war on Russia, and as a result France is obligated to declare on Germany. He says that for Germany to attack France successfully, it’ll have to route at minimum a small portion of its troops through Belgium. Grey then goes on to say that they’ve decided to use the Belgian Neutrality Guarantee to justify declaring war on Germany should the need arise. Asquith then says that all non-essential government meetings and business will be postponed in preparation for war. We then see Churchill (Timothy Spall) indicate his need to speak. Asquith gives him the go-ahead and Churchill says that as the First Lord of the Admiralty, he’ll order the navy not to disperse after their annual inspection because Britain preparing for war could act as a deterrent. We then see an unnamed member of the cabinet voice his opinion that Berlin is playing all of us. Grey says that he knows and that the whole world knows, but they can’t do anything about it. Grey then says that they must choose now for War or for Peace when the fighting begins however the British Cabinet decides to postpone that decision until necessary. Lloyd George says that he will need more time to draw up a financial plan for the war. Grey rebuts and says, “David. I really don’t think we should be worrying about money right now. It is our moral duty to save all Europe from its fate in chains and to restore peace, stability, and prosperity.”

 

5:02PM 26^th of July: We see Leopold and Franz Conrad meeting in Leopold’s office. They’re discussing when the formal declaration of war and commencement of military operations will be. Conrad says that the Austrian military will not be fully ready until 12 August and advocates waiting until then. Leopold advocates for 28 July, when Austria will have the capability to first start attacking Serbia. Conrad tries to argue, but Leopold replies, “The Diplomatic situation will not hold that long.”

 

5:21PM 26^th of July: We see Winston Churchill in his office and we see that he’s dictating an order to the navy: “Secret. European political situation makes war between Triple Alliance and Triple Entente by no means impossible. This is not the Warning Telegram, but be prepared to shadow possible hostile men of war... Measure is purely precautionary.”
 

5:33PM 26^th of July: We see the order being carried out as the ships of the British fleet spring to life as sailors begin the necessary preparations for war. We see them clear the decks and arm the guns and cannons and etc.

 

11:49AM 27^th of July: We see Grey meeting with Lichnowsky, The German Ambssador, again. He’s asking Lichnowsky to submit to berlin yet another peace proposal, this time one that’s from King George V. Lichnowsky asks Grey why he’s submitting yet another proposal that he knows will be rejected. Grey says that war is inevitable and Britain cannot be seen as aggressors.  “We must maintain our peaceful stance for as long as possible, so as not to be construed in any human way as being the aggressors of a global war.”

 

1:41PM 27^th of July: We see Wilhelm, Theobald, and Gottlieb discussing the recently peace proposal from London. Theobald complains that it is almost the same thing as last time and that they should just reject it. However, Wilhelm and Gottlieb are more cautious and favour presenting it to Austria. Wilhelm says that the last proposal the forwarded to Austria with the word reject at the bottom was only a small action to keep the British at bay. He then says that to really not be seen as the aggressors, Germany needs to actively help the peace proposal along. Gottlieb adds that he and the Kaiser have spoken already and decided that the best policy was to present the peace plan to Austria, but only after they have declared war. Theobald looks livid that his foreign minister plotted against him with the Kaiser but is forced to acquiesce. Then they turn onto the matter of the actual war. Wilhelm is concerned that there is a chance of fighting a war on two fronts. He says that if Russia mobilises against Austria, which is looking likely, then France is bound by treaty to join in. Gottlieb assures the Kaiser that it won’t happen. He says that if Britain doesn’t mobilise, which it doesn’t seem to be seeing as it is committed to “our peaceful stance for as long as possible, so as not to be construed in any human way as being the aggressors of a global war,” then France won’t mobilise and honour its treaty with Russia. Theobald then says that even if France does declare war, they have the Schlieffen plan to deal with the entire thing. He jabs at the map in front of them and says that going through Belgium where France has no fortifications and won’t be expecting it is genius and that the French won’t know what hit them as Paris is captured within 4 weeks.

 

3:15 PM 27^th of July: We see Leopold meet with Heinrich and inform him that the Austrians plan on declaring war tomorrow. However, he informs Heinrich that the bulk of the Austrian army won’t be ready until the 12^th of August Heinrich looks outraged. We then see Heinrich telegram back to Berlin that plans may have to be slightly altered as the Austrians won’t be able to fully mobilise for 2 weeks longer than anticipated. We also see him receive a telegram from Berlin. It is Grey’s peace plan. At first Heinrich looks confused, but then reads the telegram and understands.

 

11:00AM 28^th of July: We see Emperor Franz Josef I signing the declaration of war. The officials stationed in the room begin to applaud. We can hear the sound of the cheering crowds outside, and after the Emperor is done signing the declaration we see him approach the glass doors and step onto the balcony. We see a glimpse of the cheering crowds below and we cut.

 

11:01AM 28^th of July: We see the Austrian Army amassed at the border of Serbia begin to shell the Capital City of Belgrade which lies just across the river. Boom. Boom. Boom.

 

12:00PM 28^th of July: We see Heinrich walk into the stateroom for his audience with Franz Josef I. We see him present Franz with the British peace plan before looking to be dismissed. Franz dismisses him and he leaves. Franz then tells an aide to dispose of the plan in the trash.

 

1:38PM 29^th of July: We see Grey meeting with Lichnowsky again. We see him hint at the fact that if Germany were to join the war and attack Russia or France then Britain would have no choice but to join in. However, Lichnowsky doesn’t seem to have gotten the hint. Grey also says that the British Army has been put onto high alert. Grey then tells Lichnowsky that he must tell the government that they need to accept the Peace talks, with no ifs, buts, or whys. He says that failure to do so would inevitably cause a world war.
 

2:15PM 29^th of July: We see the British Ambassador to Berlin, Sir Edward Goschen (Michael Culkin), meeting with the German Chancellor Theodore von Bethmann Hollwegg. Goschen is questioning the legitimacy of the German commitment to peace and further demands assurances that Germany will not enter the war. We see Bethmann Hollwegg trying to tactfully get over the issue and says, “The Imperial Government is ready to give every assurance to the British government, provided that Great Britain remain neutral. That Germany aims at no territorial acquisition at the expense of metropolitan France. In regards to Belgium, I can state if Belgium does not take sides against Germany, her integrity will be respected at the end of the war.” Goschen then reminds Bethmann Hollwegg that Great Britain, France, and Germany all signed treaties in 1839 to ensure Belgian neutrality. He says that Great Britain and France are upstanding and great nations and always honour their agreements. However, when Bethmann Hollwegg enquires further about British intention, Goschen simply reiterates the line, “His Majesty’s Government is committed to its obligations and the safety and security of its Empire.” Bethmann Hollwegg then chides Goschen and says, “A scrap of paper signed 80 years ago is hardly a reason to go to war.” Goschen then adds, “The British government is committed to is obligations and Paris has assured us that they are fully committed to their obligations.”

 

4:29PM 29^th of July: We cut to Theodore, Wilhelm, Gottlieb, and Helmuth meeting again. Theodore is sharing his recent meeting with the British ambassador. He says that the situation has changed and says, “The tides have changed and it is, in my eyes, inevitable that Great Britain and her empire will join the war. It is imperative that we put the Schlieffen plan into action.” Wilhelm looks a little bit apprehensive and seems to shrink back and bit and reconsider how sage it was to go to war. However, Gottlieb adds in that there is still a chance that Britain won’t. He says, “I will meet with Edward (Goschen, the British ambassador in Berlin) again tomorrow to achieve a compromise of British neutrality.” Helmuth also adds that the Schlieffen plan was designed for this and that they’ve prepared for this conundrum. Eventually they decide that as a pre-emptive measure they’ll enact the Schlieffen plan.

6:42PM 29^th of July: We cut to Moscow. Tsar Nicholas II is meeting with multiple advisors. He seems to be making the final decisions to go to war or not. He is talking to one of his unnamed advisors on the feasibility of war. The advisor says that even though the Russian army is not the best equipped, they have the most numbers and they’ll be able to beat back both Austria-Hungary and Germany. Sasanov, the foreign secretary, then adds that they’ve received from Paris, an affirmation of their commitment to the Franco-Russian accord. He says that it’ll force the Germans to divide up their army into two and will give the Russians a further tactical and numerical advantage. Then Nicholas II says, “Then so it is set. It is our decision to go to war, because we can only do the right as we see the light. The rest, we reverently commit to the hands of God. We’ll win this war. All Russia needs is us, God, and the people. Inform the generals; tell them that we have made our decision.”

 

11:00AM 30^th of July: We see Tsar Nicholas II sign the proclamation of war. There is clapping all around as we cut outside to see the numerically impressive Russian army doing drills and going through the ceremony that war dictates. Outside the square where the Russian army is doing drills we see the tens of thousands of civilians assembled. Many of them are carrying banners or signs or pictures of the Tsar; the mood is jubilant. As the Tsar steps onto the balcony to appear in front of his people, all the soldiers and civilians get onto their knees. Once the Tsar signals for them to get up the cheering resumes, but louder.

 

11:44AM 30^th of July: We see the Russian ambassador in Vienna meeting Emperor Franz Josef I and informing him that Russia has just declared war on Austria and will be mobilising immediately. Emperor Franz Josef just nods and dismisses the ambassador.

 

12:00PM 30^th of July: We see Kaiser Wilhelm II sitting at a table with an official document in front of him. We can hear the people cheering outside. In the background are all the senior members of his government and senior members of the military. We see him sign the declaration of war on Russia and Serbia. The room bursts into applause and good cheer because the Germans think that they’ll win easily. We focus on Helmuth in the back of the room who tells to an aide that they need to mobilise the army immediately and carry out the Schlieffen plan.
 

1:03PM 30^th of July: We see Heinrich meeting with Emperor Franz Josef and informing him that Germany has just received word of the Russian declaration of war and is honouring their alliance by mobilising their troops against Russia. Emperor Franz Josef I smiles like this and tells Heinrich to tell Berlin that he is grateful and pleased by Berlin’s unwavering support throughout this entire ordeal.

 

3:10PM 31^st of July: We cut to the border of Luxembourg and Germany. We see the first German troops, very few of them, begin to cross the border into Luxemourg. We then cut to Berlin as we see many, many, many trains leaving Berlin filled with troops and supplies. The morale is extremely high and the mood is jubilant.

 

10:15AM 2^nd of August: We cut to Berlin as we see the Foreign Secretary, Gottlieb, sending a telegram to the German ambassador to Belgium instructing him to deliver the ultimatum to the King of Belgium at 11am and to tell the King that the Belgians have exactly 12 hours to respond.

 

3:01PM 2^nd of August: We see Grey meeting with the Prime Minister at a gentleman’s club. They’re discussing the German occupation of Luxembourg and the ultimatum to Belgium. Grey says that this is a pre-emptive sign of the German invasion of France. He says that he’ll inform Lichnowsky to inform Berlin that Britain is committed to maintaining Belgian Neutrality and that the ultimatum is unacceptable by Britain. He also says that he’ll inform Berlin that Britain is committed to maintaining French as well as Belgian neutrality as France has pulled its troops back from the border in a show of peace, yet Germany still is going to invade.

 

1:18PM 4^th of August: We see Grey addressing the Cabinet again. He says that they need to decide on war immediately. He says that Germany has declared war on both Belgium and France, in addition to Russia, and that Britain is committed to maintain their neutrality. He then references and quotes an audience the British Ambassador in Berlin had with the Chancellor Bethmann Hollwegg, “Her Imperial Government is ready to give every assurance to the British government, provided that Great Britain remain neutral. That Germany aims at no territorial acquisition at the expense of metropolitan France. In regards to Belgium, I can state if Belgium does not take sides against Germany, her integrity will be respected at the end of the war.” He then reads out another quote from the meeting, “A Scrap of paper signed 80 years ago is hardly a reason to go to war.” He then says that this morning the Chancellor said that it’s full-out war and necessity governs us now and that necessity needs no boundaries. He says that this type of supercilious and arrogant attitude is despicable and has led the entire world to war. He says that it is up to Britain to defend the freedom and natural laws of mankind. He finishes off by proclaiming that the concert of Europe has failed. After he finishes, Asquith stands up and asks for a vote. We see the names being read out as each member votes. The British cabinet votes unanimously for war, though some voted grudgingly for it. Asquith sits down and in a grave tone says, “And it is done.”

 

6:00PM 4^th of August: We see the British Ambassador to Berlin, Sir Edward Goschen, presenting the German Foreign Minister, Gottlieb von Jagow, the ultimatum and telling him that he has 6 hours to respond.

 

12:00AM 5^th of August: We see Grey standing by the window of his office looking out into the still it city still lit and alive city. We can see his face from the reflection in the mirror. He looks down to check his pocket watch as the minute hand moves and 12:00 becomes 12:01. No response to the ultimatum is coming. He looks out into the city and sighs before saying, “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our time.”

 

We cut to a scene of the German army at the border of Belgium. We can see what looks like an opposing army, probably the Belgians, not too far into the distance. We see the order be given and the first soldiers cross into Belgium. As they draw nearer and nearer to the opposing army, shots begin to get fired. People are falling on both sides now and as the armies get within 50M of each other and the bloodshed really begins, we fade to black. Roll credits. 

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Part 1 is now closed. If people need to edit/fix some of their posted stuff for the next day or two, they can, just let people know before they review the film in question.