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CAYOM YEAR 2: PART 1

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Bulletproof

Director: Rupert Sanders

Studios: Silver Shark Entertainment

Genre: Action / Fantasy

Cast: Chris Hemsworth (Samuel), Sam Claflin (Jeffrey), Ian McShane (Adam)

Budget: $ 39 million

Theater Count: 3,251

Rating: R

Release Date: January 20th

Running Time: 1 hr 39 mins

Plot:

There has been a war between the immortals long time ago. Only seven warriors have survived the war and made a deal that nobody of them should ever fight against the others. For over thousand years there has been peace in the society of the immortals who has grown again but a murder happened. Only the sword of another immortal can kill them. Samuel and Jeffrey are immortals of the newer generation. Both are over two hundred years old and friends from the beginning. Now they are somewhat of an unofficial police in the society and lead the investigations. From the first day the war has ended there has been a head of the society. The current head is Adam who is one of the seven warriors. Samuel, Jeffrey and Adam come to know that four of the seven has been killed. Adam is shocked and wants the two friends to find out who of the immortals is breaking the unwritten law. They find some suspects who start to fight with them in a spectacular sword duel. Samuel and Jeffrey defeat the suspects and kill them with their swords. One of them tells them “Watch your father,” before he dies. The two immortals return to the residence of the society and want to talk to Adam. They take him to task and want to know what happened. Adam tells them that the seven warriors had a deal but he believes that there shall be only one immortal who should lead the society. So he started to kill immortals and the remaining warriors. He would be the only one who will rule. “Only one king will rule…” he whispers before he starts a sword battle against his former friends and sons. He kills Jeffrey and turns to Samuel who still can´t believe what happened. In a very breathtaking fight Samuel defeats his “father” in the end and become the new head of the society of the immortals.

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Fifth Expert

Genre: Comedy/Farce/Satire

Cast: Matthew Mcconaughey (The Fifth Expert/Dr. Kevin Ashburn), Katherine Heigl (Melissa), Aaron Eckhart (Oscar Lambert), Jimmy Dartmouth (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Lisa (Meryl Streep), Professor Morrison (Dennis Quaid)

Release Date: 2/24

Theater Count: 2942

Budget: $30 million

Running Time: 115 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language, some sexual content

Plot:

Ever wonder when they say "Four out of five experts like product?" Meet Dr. Kevin Ashburn. He's the fifth expert, and he doesn't want people using the new diet pill Moxanal, even though the ads keep saying "four out of five doctors suggest Moxanal over any other diet drug." Dr. Ashburn doesn't always seem or act like a doctor. He spends more time flirting with the med students, especially Melissa, than actually working, but somehow his patients love his over-the-top humor, and the way he can make everything seem like a joke without offending even the terminally ill.

Dr. Ashburn may not take life too seriously, but he doesn't believe in diet pills, and specifically doesn't trust Moxanal. He just gets a bad vibe any time he hears the name or sees an ad on TV. He knows something is off about it, but he can't explain what, and other doctors laugh at him when he prescribes calorie intake limitations and exercise plans. Moxanal just seems to work, right? You eat less, but feel like you've eaten as much as you did before, and it doesn't have any blatant side effects, just the usually litany of effects that every medication has because someone has the flu when they take it so they say it causes nausea and fever.

Oscar Lambert's job is Moxanal... he visits doctors and nurses. Moxanal gold watches, Moxanal promotional videos, Moxanal limited edition baseball hats signed by Albert Pujols... he has it all, whatever it takes to get the drug on the market , and then to get it a dominant share in the dieting industry.

Lisa is a corporate executive who is worrying that her stress will cause her to over-eat, and she comes to Dr. Ashburn with a request for Moxanal. She';s not even overweight... so he has no idea what she wants. He suggests that she take up exercise, and when she begins to panic, he has to give her a mild sedative. She ends up leaving without her Moxanal, but that is not the last that we hear of her. She begins to complain about how she was denied her right to take Monaxal by a rude doctor, and Oscar Lambert begin to pick up on this and looks up Dr. Ashburn. He noticies that Dr. Ashburn is a big fan of football and baseball, specifically the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers, so he arranges to have rookie Tyron Smith sign a football, and Michael Young to sign a baseball, with just some hints of Moxanal in the packaging.

Dr. Ashburn is suspicious when these objects arrive at his office, and he is quick to notice a Moxanal pamphlet. He tells Melissa to return the football and baseball. She is surprised, but she agrees to do that

All this time, Jerry Dartmouth, a college biology major just starting his upper division classes in junior year, accidentally comes across a website with Moxanal information that was meant to remain private. The keen young man realizes that Moxanal doesn't just repress the appetite, but it tricks the body into taking in fewer calories than it actually is. Effective, taking Moxanal makes you take in only 75% of the calories you eat. Bullied as a kid, Jerry has begun to work out a lot, and as part of a challenge to himself and to study biology, he got an armband that measures his calories, so he is very sensitive toward that information.

He realizes that people could lose dangerous amounts of weight on the drug if they counted calories and tried to maintain their weight, they would keep losing weight. He begins to look into this further, and ends up focusing more on that than some of his general ed classes. He begins to miss his macro-economics and sociology courses as he delves further and further into this mystery.

Lisa's anger becomes news, as ill-informed news outlets make up all sorts of stories, and encouraged by Oscar Lambert, try to make Dr. Ashburn look like an activist doctor with outdated values that doesn't know what's best for his patients. Dr. Ashburn just walks off one day, frustrated by the media attention that Lisa gave herself. Moxanal is gaining steam as a diet drug, with excited commercials talking about how easy it was to lose weight.

We see an exhausted-looking Jerry with a 20-page paper in a biology class. The requirement says: 5 pages on modern medicine. Jerry's professor, Professor Morrison, is very impressed and concerned with Jerry's state of mind and the urgency of his paper. He tells Jerry to get some sleep ,but Jerry insists that he needs to fight Moxanal and help this unjustly disgraced doctor. The professor tells him to get some sleep, and Jerry nearly trips as he walks out of the classroom. An overgrown class clown laughs.

Dr. Ashburn tries to keep up appearances, keeping up his same joking demeanor, but he can't do that when Oscar is there to meet him in person. Oscar's smile is plastic as he tries to act like the "good guy."

Jerry's paper attracts attention within the scientific community, but the news media has already begun to move on, Moxanal is old news, and now the latest celebrity scandals take precedence. We see a concerned Oscar on the phone. He says, "That's not too bad... just tell them that's a feature!"

But Moxanal loses steam when reports come in about other problems. People are still getting the bad nutrients from the food they eat... it's only calories that change. At the end, a news reporter on CNN asks: And where do these "lost calories?" go? According to Dr. Morrison, the drug tricks the body into rejecting protein and carbs... so taking Moxanal actually increases the percentage of calories from fat..."

A relaxed and justified Dr. Ashburn sits on the couch, watching a Josh Hamilton home run on TV.

Edited by Electric
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The Vast Dark: Part Two - The Sacrament

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Budget: 26m

Release Date: October 19-21st

Rating: R

Director: James Wan

Score: Jonny Greenwood

Running Time: 109 minutes

Theater Count: 3383

Cast:

Dale - Edward Norton

Kenneth - Tobin Bell

Ashley - Dianne Lane

Rosenfeld - Miguel Ferrer

Gordon - James Morrison

Oregin - Terry O'Quinn

Silva - Zachary Quinto

Plot:

Chapter 2

We start with the last scene of the previous film when Dale and Ashley got stabbed. We're zooming to a hospital, the camera moves very slowly in the corridor with ominous music in the background. We hear a voice over of an FBI agent: "He's still unconscious. Poor soul, he might not wanna wake up at all. I tell you now, it was the worst thing I ever saw and I did my share in the Bureau and served in two wars as well. Blood covered the whole bed, she was lying dead in his arms. Agent Welsh (Bell) found them, but when we got there he was just crying in the corner holding onto his cellphone. You could see it instantly that he was gone, long gone."

We cut to a beautiful scenery. Mountains covered with snow. We're in Dale's (Norton) mind, we see his battle for life. His torn between the beautiful, peaceful nothingness and the cruel, gritty, painful reality that is our world. He starts drifting away from the mountains, the picture gets blurrier and we hear a loud groan, pain is getting back to his body. He starts shivering, the picture gets clearer and clearer. Then he opens his eyes.round him. The doctor and a few agents are all. They break the news to him that Ashley (Lane) is dead and Agent Welsh is in the madhouse. When the doctor tells Dale how lucky he is to be alive, he freaks out and starts shouting. "Do you call this luck? I lost everything I had. What Am I here for?" Agent Rosenfeld (Ferrer) tries to console him and encourage him to fight on to strike this devilish force down. Dale blames himself for what happened and informs his college that he has no intention to return.


Chapter 6

We're in a forest in Alaska. Chase scene. Welsh is running up the field, Dale is behind him. Other FBI agent following them from the distance. Dale catches Welsh. Welsh starts laughing. "You can't kill him. Dale you don't understand." Rosenfeld and Gordon (Morrison) arrive to the scene as well. Morrison shouts. "Don't do it Dale, the man saved your life". "Don't throw the towel in, Dale" adds Rosenfeld.

Dale reaches out for his knife. Welsh starts clapping. "Look around Dale, we're everywhere. You can prevail when darkness beckons, but the light always find it way. It's a funny old circle, there's no way out. Whatever you do today, it's not gonna change a single thing. It's gonna happen tomorrow and the day after. It's same things gonna happen all over again. And you can NEVER kill me" Dale looks down to his knife.

Chapter 4

FBI HQ, Agent Rosenfeld and Gordon are in the office, discussing the outcome of the case. Trying to come up with new plans and strategy. All of a sudden Welsh walks in to the room. "Kenneth, what are you doing here? How did you get out" asks the shocked Gordon. "I'm a special agent" says Werslh. Rosenfeld lands a massive left hook at his jaws. Dale gets a phone call and comes in, Rosenfeld and Gordon gives him the briefing. " I don't know how the hell did he do that, but he somehow got out and put down four security guys. And none of them were lightweight, they were all Hulks with special skills. I'll be damned if I understand what's going on" adds Rosenfeld. Dale wants to talk to Welsh. His old friend and mentor is in the world of his owns, his preaching about the meaning of life and that the game. That he always plays the game. Doesn't matter whether he's happy or sad or depressed. He has to play the game. Welsh also adds that dale is part of the game, he just doesn't realize it and he hopes that when he does, he will make the right decision. All the agents agree the Welsh completely lost it. Dale is disturbed. He goes to Ashley's graveyard. He meets up with Ashley's brother, who shares anecdotes about her childhood. dale reveals how he lost faith in religion and life in general. The nice, philosophical conversation ends up with Dale in tears. On the way home he gets a disturbing phone call. Ashley's house is on fire.

We enter to the scene, the brother was brought out by the fire brigade, but it was too late to help him, he couldn't survive. Dale just can't take the drama anymore. Sits down on the pavement, giving up all hope when Rosenfeld runs to him. "Dale, there's a note for you from Kenneth"

"In the middle of one dark night
Two dead agent rises for a battle

Breaded their swords and shot, one for me
One for you,
Deaf policeman heard the noise but,
But Dale is dead, and he feels out of trouble.
Kenneth's wife died, she was buried,
I've seen the future, and it has come.

See you soon, Dale
Your Loyal friend and teacher,


Kenneth Welsh


Chapter 1

We jump back in time to the interrogation scene with Silva and Welsh. Silva is very cocky, he admits all the killing and explains them in brutal, detailed way. He claims that he has a friend, who'll help him out. The disturbed Welsh goes home. Once he steps into the house, he hears strange noises and discovers Dale and Ashley making love in his bedroom. He walks to the kitchen, grabs a sharp knife, silently enters to the bedroom and strikes down with great power. He stabs dale, but then drops the knife. Starts crying and shouting. "I can't kill you, I can't". Calls for an ambulance.


Chapter 3

Rosenfeld suggest Dale to get out of town for a week to refill. Dale accepts the offer and heads to a small village in Canada. Here he's having a great time discovering an amazing community. He talks to the locals, who are very special and interesting people. They have an unique theatre group, a local candle factory and a man, who studies bats and knows everything about their behaviour across the world. He founds a very intriguing man, called Oregin (O'Quinn), who lives in a forest. dale likes Oregin instantly, they're having meaningful conversations. Oregin is a very odd character, he 's very open-minded and honest, he admits that he's not a great man, he's an outcast, he's been banished from the city. When Dale asks more question about the subject, Oregin doesn't hide anything, he tells him that he did terrible things, he's shamed of himself, because the locals are all nice people. Oregin explains Dale that his nature is just doesn't bode well living among people, that's why he prefers to live in the forest alone. Oregin teaches Dale how to control himself and before the agent leaves he gives him a special knife.


Chapter 5

After receiving the note, Dale knows where to find Welsh. The climax of the film is their monologue of faith and their lives. Welsh tries to convince Dale about the existence of God. Dale is stubborn and brings up plenty of reasons why not to believe in God. They also talk about their friendship and Ashley. dale have mixed feelings, he sees the joy and warmth that Welsh provides with his speech, but can't forgive him for what he did with Ashley. "I'm a murderer. I admit that, Dale. But I do plenty of great things and I don't have to hide. You're always in the dark and always unsure of what to do next." "I'm gonna kill you, how do you like THAT game, Kenneth? For you it's all a game, now it's going to end." Welsh starts running. Now we cut to the scene we saw in the beginning of the film.

Welsh starts clapping. "Look around Dale, we're everywhere. You can prevail when darkness beckons, but the light always find it way. It's a funny old circle, there's no way out. Whatever you do today, it's not gonna change a single thing. It's gonna happen tomorrow and the day after. It's same things gonna happen all over again. And you can NEVER kill me" Dale looks down to his knife. "Don't do it, Dale." - shouts Rosenfeld and Gordon. "You're going to make me stronger...you're weak" laughs Weslh. dale looks down the knife again that he got from Oregin in Canada and stabs Welsh three times. Blood is dripping down. dale is looking down at him with sadness, he doesn't regret his act, but feels ashamed and he realizes that Welsh was right, he's weak. He bends down to him. "My friend, the old man in Peublo, what did he teach you" (referring to the sequence in the first film in the native American chapter). Welsh smiles before he dies and whispers his last words. "He taught me everything"

After the end credits.



3 DAYS LATER

Dale is in the FBI HQ drinking his coffee. His secretary says that Welsh is on the phone wants to speak to him urgently. Dale starts laughing. "What kind of sick jokes is that, Mary" Then Welsh appears at the front door.

THE END

Edited by The Dark Alfred
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The Adventures of the Cosmos (3D)

Date- July 20th 2

Genre- Sci-Fi Adventure

Rating- PG-13

Theaters- 3,958 theaters

Budget- 170 million

Running Time- 142 minutes or 2 hours and 22 minutes

Studio- Number 2 Productions

Director- Timur Bekmambetov

Actors and Actress-

Vaughn- Alex Russell

Raquela- Julianna Guill

Jhowahl- Tom Hiddleston

Zanna- Charlize Theron

Mey-Sahn- Samuel J. Jackson

Plot: Vaughn is an astronaut who is lost in space. We see flash backs of his life on earth and that his family was murdered. He signed up for the space program so he could get way from earth. Vaughn suddenly enters a black hole and is shoot into a far way planet in space. Vaughn crash lands and discovers a highly civilized race of aliens. Vaughn goes on several adventures until Vaughn meets an exiled Princess named Raquela and they immediately develop a close relationship together, which eventually becomes a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Raquela says that Vaughn is on the planet Jupata. She says that her sister Zanna and her cousin Jhowahl who rule the planet with a harsh hand exiled her to this mountain palace. She says that Vaughn was prophesied to come to save this world. She takes Vaughn to meet a wise old alien leader named Mey-Sahn who teaches Vaughn about the culture on Jupata. He, Vaughn, and Raquela build up a resistance against Jhowahl and Zanna. They spread word out to the many alien cultures that a hero has arrived to save them. Zanna and Jhowahl catch word that the hero Vaughn who was prophesied to come to over throw them has come. Jhowahl and Zanna order a massacre in the region were Vaughn is reported. The citizens of the region of the massacre become furious with Vaughn, Mey-Sahn, and Raquela. Mey-Sahn manages to calm the citizens down but the loyalty is not as strong as it was. Jhowahl and Zanna find that Vaughn was not killed and they personally attack Raquela’s mountain palace where Vaughn is. Raquela cleverly fakes Vaughn’s death with poison. Raquela and Mey-Sahn make a treaty with Jhowahl and Zanna that they will not hurt the citizens of the planet. Jhowahl and Zanna agree but when they leave they plot to gather an army and destroy much of the population of Jupata for thinking of betraying them. They return with a vast army. Raquela and Mey-Sahn gather the small army they have and battle. They battle is intense and consist of an ariel battle and land battle. Jhowahl and Zanna are winning until Vaughn shows up in surprise with a large army of citizens who had been neutral. Jhowahl and Zanna are killed but in the battle Mey-Sahn is killed. The battle ends and Vaughn and Raquela are declared king and queen. After a ceremonial burial for Mey-Sahn, Vaughn and Raquela return to the main palace and make love. The film ends with Vaughn being told that the humans are planning to visit Jupata in search of him.

Edited by Andrew the Alien
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The Few

Genre: Drama/War/Action

Studio: Guernica Films

Budget: 75m

Release Date: August 17-19th

Rating: PG-13

Director: Micheal Mann

Score: James Newton Howard

Running Time: 118 minutes

Theater Count: 3217

Cast:

Tobin Eugene - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Andy Mamedoff - Riley Smith

Vernon "Shorty" Keough - Haley Joel Osment

Geoffrey Gaunt - Hunter Parrish

Winston Churchill - Timothy Spall

Billy Fiske - John Krasisnki

Philip Leckrone - Michael Pitt

Keith Park - Tom Hiddlestone

Dol Park - Sally Hawkins

Frank Howell - Jamie Bell

Michael Appleby - Eddie Marshan

Alois Lindmayr - Thomas Kretschmann

Rolf Heitsch - Florian Panzer

Stephan Schmidt - Jamie Parker

Johnny “Dogs” Dundas - Benedict Cumberbatch

Hermann Göring - Harvey Friedmann

Narrator - Liam Neeson

Plot:

August 16, 1940, Battle of Britain

A RAF airplane is cruising through the clouds. Once the picture gets clear we look down and find ourself in the middle of a waz zone. We're focusing on one pilot manouvering through the enemy lines following a German plane. Billy Fiske (Krasinski) moves away from the centre of the battlefield following a Meserschmitt. After a few exciting moves he lands behind the German's tail and takes the easy shot.

He's circling around the column of oily black smoke that rises from the petrol which still burns on the surface of the water where the Meserschmitt had struck and exploded. The excitement and the tension of sudden violent combat culminating and the destruction of the Messerschitt begins to die down. Fiske realizes that he's alone and the enemy activity is still at its height. He's sweating heavily and looking around with anxiety, searching for signs of others of the enemy, but not an aircarft is to be seen, so he climbs away heading home for refuel and be ready to fight again. As he's drifting away in the air, his mind take him back to his childhood, he recalls the the first time he saw an airplane in the States at the year of five.

The aircraft flies away in the distance and the opening credits begin for the music of Pink Floyd's Learning To Fly. During this sequence we show a montage of early aviaton history from the early twenties in Northern America, including clips Lindberg's solo flight from New York to paris, aviator schools opening up the North, clips of more and more record breaking flights and Schneider Trophy races and several Flying Clubs enjoying the flock of enrolments.

Back to the battlefield. Fiske climbs up 11 000 feet and then without any warning there's a loud bang as his engine blows up and catches fire. Flames are licking around the canopy and sparks dart around inside the cockpit. Fiske switches off the ignition, turns off the fuel, turns up his oxygen supply and starts side-slipping in an effort to keep the flames from reaching the reserve petrol tank that situates just behind the firewall bullkhead. His aircraft rapidly loses speed and Fiske finds himself right over the centre of London, if he bales out, the machine would crash into a densely populated area. He bravely decides to stay with the aircarft and hopes that the fire will blow out and he might reach an open country or even possibly his own airfield. He calls the Controller and tells him what happened. Not much is being said other than asking him if he wants to bale out. Fiske responds by saying that he thinks he can make it to the airfield. Tense minutes are coming up, but he manages to bring his baby home. But the dark clouds are not drifted away yet. The Luftwaffe singles out Fiske's base for attack. RAF Fighter Command orderes 601 to patrol over Tangmere at about 12,000 feet: Ju 87 dive-bombers are detected as they cross the English coast at nearby Selsey Bill. Soon, the Stukas starts to dive on Tangmere, killing several ground staff and badly damaging the airfields. Fiske gets a reserve plane and has to get back to the warzone. Fiske and his fellow 601 pilots chase the Germans out to sea just to the south around Pagham Harbor and down several enemy planes, but they can not hold on any longer against the German's manpower and second unit. Fiske gets a hit and his plane is badly damaged. He manages to escape and returns to the base once again. It doesn't look good, he glides over the boundary and lands on its aircraft's belly which immediately catches fire. Medical and fire crews rush to the plane. Fiske is taken out from the machine but sustains severe burns. He is rushed to the Royal West Sussex Hospital in Chichester but dies from shock. At the age 29, he's the first American pilot to be killed during the Battle of Britain.

Two days later, on August 20, six members of Tangmere's ground staff carries Billy Fiske to his final resting place. His coffin is covered in the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes and the RAF's Central Band plays funeral marches. Buglers give a farewell, and then a rifle squad cracks the silence with a salute. Up above, Fiske's English comrades fend off yet more Stuka attacks as the Battle of Britain rages on. Andy Mamedoff (Smith), Eugene Tobin (Gordon-Levitt),Vernon Keough (Osment), Geoffrey Gaunt (Parrish), Philip Leckrone (Pitt) and three other American pilots of the 609 Squadron are remembering Fiske, recalling stories about his amazing character and his inspiration to everybody around him.

FLASHBACKS of Fiske deciding that he would pretend to be a Canadian in order to circumvent American neutrality laws. He pledges his life and loyalty to the king, George VI, and is formally admitted into the RAF. In his diary, a joyous Fiske writes, "I believe I can lay claim to being the first U.S. citizen to join the RAF in England after the outbreak of hostilities." Fiske makes no pretensions about his flying skill and soon becomes popular with the squadron's other flamboyant and daring pilots. When not on duty, he invariably beats them in races to local golf courses and pubs in his 4.5 liter open Bentley, painted British racing green, complete with bonnet strap and projecting supercharger. On July 20, Fiske flew for the first time in a 601 plane, making two patrols. Over the coming weeks, he would fly with the same exceptional skill that he guided bobsleds in the Olympics in the 30s, pushing his plane to its operational limits without being reckless. When the call to scramble sounds, Fiske is the first to sprint to his "kite," so eager to test himself in the ultimate thrill ride.

September 15., 1940.

This is the day that the Battle of Britain reached its zenith and Hitler abadonded his plans to invade Britain.

We hear the voiceover of Pilot Officer Johnny “Dogs” Dundas (Cumberbatch) as we introduce the scenery of the aircraft base. "You catch him right smack in the middle of your sights and give him a complete burst. The Brownings go to work, and, brother, when they are working they’re not kidding! Eight guns, 1,400 rounds per minute. Figure it out for yourself."

Aircrews stretch away their fatigue and hook starter batteries to 609 Squadron’s Spitfires, standing silhouetted in the dawn light near the bungalow that doubles as the dispersal hut. A few hundred yards away, Tobin Eugene is lying in deep slumber in his quarters.

“I say, old boy, better wake up.” Pilot Officer Johnny “Dogs” Dundas and Geoffrey Gaunt are trying to shake Tobin awake. “I say, old boy, you really must pull yourself together.” Tobin opens his eyes. Gaunt yawns, still dressed in his bathrobe. “What’s the idea?” says Tobin groggily. “Why do I have to get up at this ungodly hour?” “I’m not sure, old boy, but they say there’s an invasion on, or something.” Tobin leaps out of bed.

Narration: “They didn’t know then that September 15, 1940 was going to go down as the biggest day in the history of the Royal Air Force, and that never before had so many planes filled the sky in aerial combat; that more than 500 planes would be zooming and diving in the fighting over London.”

Tobin dresses quickly and then sprints out to the airfield. For the next two hours, he and his fellow 609 pilots will fly above London, seeing familiar landmarks and still-smoldering fires below but no action. Meanwhile, Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park (Hiddlestone) is seated opposite his wife, Dol (Hawkins), at the breakfast table in their home, a stone’s throw from his office: the so-called bunker—Fighter Command’s Sector 11 operations control room. It's not a good start to the day. Dol says something about it being her birthday. Park had forgotten. He apologizes. Dol understands. “Never mind. A good bag of German aircraft would be an excellent present,” she tells him.

By mid-morning, 609 Squadron returns to Middle Wallop. Pilots now lay on the grass or slouch in deck chairs. Tobin Eugene dozes, trying to make up for just twenty minutes’ sleep the previous night. Yesterday had been stormy, with heavy thunder and cloud cover. But this Sunday morning, when Tobin should have been at Mass, the skies are ominous blue. It's 57 degrees, warm enough to roll up shirtsleeves. A thin film of mist hangs above the airfield, but the sun will soon burn it off. At Chequers, Winston Churchill (Spall) also notes the weather and decides to pay Air Vice-Marshal Park a visit. He is soon speeding towards Uxbridge, west of London, with his armed bodyguard; his private secretary, John Martin; and his wife, Clementine. The car’s police bell clangs.

It's around 9:30 a.m. at Cormeilles-en-Vexin, the home base of Dornier bomber unit KG 76. Glum-looking air crews stream out of debriefing rooms. Watching them leave is a thirty-eight-year-old Bavarian, Alois Lindmayr (Kretchmann), leader of the KG 76’s III Group: a cool-headed veteran of devastating raids on RAF Kenley and Biggin Hill. He had just briefed his men on that day’s mission. The news that KG 76 has the great honor of leading the Luftwaffe across the Channel isn't received with stamping feet and applause. Among them are Sergeant Rolf Heitsch (Panzer) and his crew of three. Each man has a pistol strapped to his belt. If he finds himself trapped in his burning plane, unable to bail out, he can put the Mauser to his temple and pull the trigger. Lindmayr’s men are soon clambering aboard their Dornier 17 bombers. Radio operator Technical Sergeant Stephan Schmidt (Parker) makes his way to the rear of the plane. He has been chosen to operate a top-secret weapon. The new device is in fact a flamethrower that has been borrowed from the Wehrmacht and fits to the rear fuselage.

Back in England, it is around 10:30 a.m. when Keith Park learns that Churchill is about to arrive at the bunker. Park greets them and once again has to explain diplomatically that the prime minister can't not smoke inside the bunker. Churchill grunts and then bits down on his unlit Cuban.

“I don’t know whether anything will happen today, sir,” says Park. “At present all is quiet.”

Churchill and his party take their seats in the gallery above a plotting table and several WAAFs.

Around 11 a.m., over the chalk cliffs of Cap Gris Nez, Technical Sergeant Heitsch can breathe a little easier. He spots his escorts above: Me-109s from Hans-Karl Mayer’s Ace of Spades and several squadrons from JG 3, who sticks as close as possible to the Dorniers.

It is 11:04 a.m. in the bunker at Uxbridge. Radar reports indicate that KG 76 and its escorts are stacking up over Boulogne and Calais. Then a young WAAF puts down her knitting and walks calmly over to the plotting table and places a wooden block on it. The block indicates that at least thirty bandits are heading towards England. A few minutes later, two more blocks are on the plotting table.

“There appear to be many aircraft coming in,” says Churchill.

Park remains calm. “There’ll be someone there to meet them.”

More blocks appear on the plotting table.

“Northolt, Kenley, Debden,” Park calls out.

Bulbs on panels covering a wall opposite the gallery begin to light up, indicating each squadron’s status: at readiness, scrambled, or engaged. More blocks appear on the table. There is now a palpable sense of crisis in the sixty-foot square room, fifty feet below ground.

At 11:20 a.m., Park orders the rest of his squadrons into the air and told 10 Group to alert Middle Wallop. A few minutes later, 609 Squadron is scrambled. Eugene Tobin and Shorty Keough tuck maps into their boots and follow several other pilots out of the dispersal hut at Middle Wallop. Geoffrey Gaunt does the same, two cushions under his arm, and is soon being helped up onto the wing of his Spitfire by his ground crew. Andy Mamedoff climbs into his cockpit and is quickly strapped into his safety harness.

At 11:30 a.m., 609 reaches twenty thousand feet, the best performance altitude for the Spitfire. Tobin checks that his oxygen supply is working. London is below, terraced housing stretching far into the distance, skirting the Thames. Barrage balloons hang like giant gray sausages over the charred East End. “Climb to twenty-five thousand and maintain patrol.”

Back at the Uxbridge bunker, Winston Churchill looks with mounting concern at the wall of bulbs facing him. All but a few of the bulbs now glow, indicating that most of Fighter Command is in the air or intercepting the enemy.

It is around midday when the Dorniers of KG 76, led by Alois Lindmayr, begin a “flak waltz,” zig-zagging to avoid anti-aircraft fire, as they cross over the southern outskirts of London. In a few minutes, they will begin their bombing runs. Then the flak stops and Hurricanes and Spitfires begin to attack. At the rear of the Dornier formation are Rolf Heitsch and his crew. In his headset, Heitsch suddenly hears the excited voice of Stephan Schmidt, who is manning the flamethrower. A Hurricane is fast closing in on them from astern. At four hundred yards, its pilot lets rip. Bullets crash into the Dornier. Schmidt grabs the flamethrower and sends a giant squirt of burning gasoline towards the Hurricane. The jet of flame falls far short, but Schmidt succeeds in spraying some unlit oil over the British fighter’s windscreen, forcing its pilot to push its nose down, ducks below the Dornier and pulls away. Rolf Heitsch flying on, now straggling dangerously behind the rest of KG 76.

Meanwhile, twenty thousand feet above central London, Pilot Officer Andy Mamedoff looks around and up, watching for bandits. Once again, he is weaving back and forth, the tail-end Charlie to 609’s B Flight led by “Butch” MacArthur, who has been in a particularly gloomy mood of late. As Butch sees it, 609 and the rest of Fighter Command have failed miserably to protect the people of London from the Grim Reaper on September 7. Maybe today 609 will have some success in keeping him at bay. Tobin Eugene is as usual weaving behind Shorty Keough and his A Flight Leader, Frank Howell (Bell). “Many, many bandits at four o’clock!” shouts Howell.

Tobin looks up and sees more than fifty 109s from Hans-Karl Mayer’s JG 53, around four thousand feet above.

“Okay, Charlie, come on in,” Howell calls to Tobin.

Tobin glances over his shoulder. Three bandits are diving towards them.

“Danger, red section!” shouts Tobin. “Danger, danger, danger!”

Howell hears him and breaks fast to the right.

Tobin begins a 360-degree turn, immediately feeling the G-force. He lifts his feet to the G-stirrups and presses down. The blood returns to his head as he spots 609’s Geoffrey Gaunt climbing to his left, followed by a furious Messerschmitt. Then he is turning tighter and tighter, pulling the stick as far over as he dares without blacking out, holding the Spitfire in its life-saving arc. The cockpit controls shakes with the strain and his face contorts as he struggles to stay conscious.

Tobin pulls his emergency boost. The engine howles and he is kicked back in his seat. A Messerschmitt flashes past at more than 400 mph. Then he is easing out of the turn, head spinning as he searches the sky for bandits. And there they are—more Me-109s. Tobin sets out after one of them. A black cross is soon in his crosshairs. He fires. Smoke streams from the German’s motor. But before he can fire again, the German disappears in cloud cover. Tobin breaks to his left and begins to climb, opening the throttle, weaving back and forth violently behind Howell and Gaunt at around 275 mph, not caring now whether he or his Spitfire takes the strain. He has no time for pretty tricks.

Narration: "The main thing is in a battle is to get where you can shoot...and then get where they can’t shoot at you. A neat barrel roll looks nice from the ground and so does a wreath.”

Tobin suddenly sees a 609 Spitfire and feels a bit sick: the plane is around two hundred yards away, out of control, cockpit ablaze. It begins to spin down trailing black smoke. Then he spots Technical Sergeant Rolf Heitsch’s Dornier diving towards clouds. Again, he pushes his Spitfire to its limit. She responds beautifully, like a thoroughbred in peak form. He is still a long way off but decides to fire before he loses the ugly gray bandit to the clouds. His tracers streaks through the sky and, to his delight, strikes the bomber’s left engine.

Heitsch looks out of his cockpit and sees his left propeller stop spinning. He knows the cloud cover won't not last for long. Even if he can escape Tobin, can he then nurse the stricken bomber back across the dreaded Channel, or should he try to land? Now white smoke is billowing from his other engine. Tobin has hit the glycol tank or a radiator.

Then 609’s Shorty Keough suddenly appears as if from nowhere — he has climbed almost vertically below the bomber — and also lets rip. More pieces are flying off Heitsch’s plane. Then both Tobin and Shorty are pressing the tit, sending streams of bullets through the sky. Stephan Schmidt, manning the flamethrower, is badly hit in the chest. He drops the flamethrower and slumps to floor.

Heitsch somehow flies on. He trained as a doctor before the war and knows that to stand a chance of saving Schmidt from bleeding to death he would need to land as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Tobin is lining up for the kill. He moves the ship over a bit so that his left wing is right in the bull’s eye. Part of the wing flutters off and he disappears into the cloud. A few seconds later, he reappears. Any moment now it will surely be all over, but seeing that Heitsch’s plane is critically damaged Tobin and Shorty Keough choose not to press on with their attack. Heitsch spots a field near the village of Shoreham and tells his surviving crew to brace themselves for a forced landing. With great skill, he brings the stricken bomber down, narrowly avoiding power lines. The Dornier crasheswheels up with an awful screech of metal and breaking propellers and skids a sudden halt, just missing several cows. Heitsch throws off his harness, stands up, and struggles furiously to open an escape hatch.

A few hundred feet above, Tobin circles the crash site. He opens his cockpit and slids back the hood. He can see Heitsch and another of his crew climbing out of the Dornier, carefully pulling the badly wounded Schmidt after them. Tobin waves his handkerchief, signaling to a growing group of hop pickers to stay back from the German plane. White tracer flashes past Tobin. He pulls his stick back and climbs. Then he realizes that the tracer meant not for him but for another Spitfire, dueling with an Me-109 two thousand feet above him. Tobin is suddenly alone. He checks his fuel gauge—just seven gallons left. It is around 12:20 p.m. After refueling at Biggin Hill, he flies back towards Middle Wallop. The airfield soon appear below and he begins his approach, but then a truck suddenly emerges from behind a hangar into his landing path. It is too late to climb. He hears one of his wheels skim the vehicle and jolt back into the fuselage. Now he circles the field a couple of times and then comes in to land on the one wheel with the other wing up. It is a pretty tricky business. As the wheel touches the ground, the ship wobbles for an instant and then the other wheel flops down from the impact. Tobin eases the stick and she settles down nicely.

Elated, Tobin taxies towards the dispersal hut. A few minutes later he is jumping down to the oil-stained grass and heading towards an animated group of his fellow pilots. But then one of his ground crew comes over with bad news: his plane needs to be serviced and there is no other available, which means he was effectively grounded for the rest of the day. Bitterly frustrated, Tobin joins his fellow pilots for lunch. They are particularly pleased that fighter command scrambled them early enough and then sent them high enough to avoid being bounced.

FLASHBACK Some character building footages from the past, bringing us closer to Tobin and Andy Mamedoff. The 23-year-old Tobin and 27-year-old Mamedoff had been flying friends at Mines Field in California, now Los Angeles International Airport, before the war. Tobin had paid for flying lessons in the late 1930s by working as a guide and messenger at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio. Mamedoff had grown up in Thompson, Connecticut, where his White Russian family had settled in the early 1920s. Both were convinced that the war in Europe would come to America sooner or later, and they didn't want to be drafted into the army as grunts when it did. Mamedoff encourages his boyhood friend, Geoffrey Gaunt to join them. During their first training for RAF, they becoming friends with Shorty Keough, also an American, who claimed to be Canadian.

We're back in Shoreham, Kent, the local Home Guard is soon on the scene and arresting the crew of Tobin’s downed Dornier. Technical Sergeant Sauter is badly wounded in the ankle and was taken to Maidstone Hospital. Technical Sergeants Rolf Heitsch and Pfeiffer, the bomber’s observer, are escorted to the nearest pub. Someone brings the two trembling German airmen a couple of brandies to calm their nerves. Then they are driven to Seven Oaks Police Station. Their other comrade, Technical Sergeant Stephan Schmidt, does not go with them. He is pronounced dead on arrival at Seven Oaks Hospital, his chest torn apart.

Meanwhile, Heitsch’s fellow KG 76 pilots struggle back across the unforgiving Channel. Just fifteen of Alois Lindmayr’s Dorniers are still in formation. Ten are missing. It is a pitiful sight: the “flying pencils” limping across the dark waters, full of dead and wounded, cockpits holed and smeared with blood, engines coughing, props flailing, gashed fuselages letting in gushes of freezing salty air, white glycol smoke trailing several as if they are signaling surrender. Many of the surviving pilots are resentful and angry. The chilling truth is that the Lords are stronger than ever and better organized, attacking from higher than before, out of the sun. The change of targets from airfields to London had been a disastrous mistake, allowing them time to recover. Now they are surely ahead on points. Alois Lindmayr has to only glance out his cockpit to see how the Brits won this round.

Very soon, another round begins.

At 1:45 p.m., back in the bunker in Uxbridge, a young WAAF places a marker on the plotting table. Several more soon followed. From the gallery, Winston Churchill again watches intently as Park once more marshal his forces, scrambling several squadrons. Gambling that the Germans are all headed towards London, just as on September 7, Park decides not to intercept until Kesselring’s armada reaches its most vulnerable position: the big turn over London. By then, the German pilots will be getting nervous, glancing at their fuel gauges, able to fight for only a few minutes at the limit of the Me-109’s range.

Luck is on Park’s side. The German bombers are forced to circle over Maidstone because they missed their rendezvous with their escorts. From Maidstone, it is sixty miles to London: a heart-pounding journey now dubbed the racecourse by many a rattled German pilot. It takes the bombers and their escorts thirty very long minutes, more than enough time for Park to direct his forces towards them.

It is 2:15 p.m. when the first two squadrons intercept.

“Mitor and Gannic squadrons, tally-ho, tally-ho!”

Twenty-seven British fighters dive out of the sun into Kesselring’s armada of four hundred fifty planes.

“Achtung, Spitfeuer!”

Churchill’s few has the sun and height on their side, and some learned how to fight like Galland’s hunting packs—a screaming dive, with the target in sights and guns blazing, and then breaking away in a flash. Minute by minute, more RAF squadrons followed. Soon, the bright blue sky is scarred by tracer bursts and the oily smoke of burning planes.

At Middle Wallop, the telephone rings. Tobin watches in frustration as Shorty grabs his two cushions and then sprints with Andy Mamedoff and the rest of 609 towards Spitfires waiting close by, their engines warm.

Meanwhile, the German bombers lumber on. But not for long: over the East End, thirteen more RAF squadrons pounc on them, ripping several to shreds in seconds as pilots literally line up to wait their turn to open fire. The formations finally breaks up and the German pilots then turn tail, drop their loads over leafy suburbs, and begin the desperate journey back to France. One in four will not make it home.

It is now 2:35 p.m. in the bunker in Uxbridge. Winston Churchill notices that Park is standing still, unusually tense. The reason becomes clear when Churchill looks at the wall of bulbs. Every one is glowing red, indicating that all of Fighter Command is now engaged.

“What other reserves have we?” Churchill asks.

Park turns around.

“We have none.”

Churchill looks grave, and for good reason.

But for 609, at least, the odds are for once very much on their side. To intercept the fleeing bombers, Squadron Leader Dundas leads both A and B Flights away from London to the southeast. Suddenly, as 609 nears the coast, two battered formations of Dorniers are spotted. The bombers are a long way off and diving at maximum speed, their pilots trying to get as low as possible and then skim unnoticed across the choppy waves back to France.

Andy Mamedoff scoures the skies. Only a few German fighters are flying escort. Then he hears Dundas order 609 to give chase. Throttles open, the West Riding Squadron gladly obliges, soon fixing onto two stragglers.

Shorty is seated on his two pillows, flying as wingman to Green Section’s leader, Pilot Officer Michael Appleby (Marshan).

“Green Section, No. 1 Attack, go!” shouts Appleby.

Shorty latches onto one of the stragglers, a Dornier from KG 2. He follows Green 1 into attack on the Dornier and attacks from quarter and then astern. Satisfied that the bomber is done for, he breaks away and dives through the clouds. Emerging from them, he can not find Green Section and decides to return to Middle Wallop. The Dornier pilot somehow keeps his plane in the air and turnes back for England, where he crash-landes ten minutes later in a field at Eighteen Pounder Farm, near the historic town of Hastings, at 3:15 p.m. Hastings had been the scene of Britain’s last defeat at the hands of an invader, almost a thousand years before, in 1066.

It is now 3:25 p.m. in Park’s bunker at Uxbridge. The bulbs on the wall facing Churchill begins to change. Some now indicate that squadrons had landed and are refueling. One bulb shows that 213 at Tangmere, Billy Fiske’s old base, is ready to be scrambled again. There is a reserve once more. The crisis has passed. Park and Churchill are visibly relieved.

“I am very glad, sir, you have seen this,” Park tells Churchill, “Of course, during the last twenty minutes we were so choked with information that we couldn’t handle it. This shows you the limitation of our present resources. They have been strained far beyond their limits today.”

Churchill and his party thanks Park and leaves the bunker, bound for Chequers, where Churchill is soon taking an afternoon nap. But it is not over yet. At Middle Wallop, 609 was scrambled yet again at around 5:40 p.m. It is Shorty’s fourth sprint to his Spitfire that day. 609 joined six other squadrons above Southampton, but neither Fighter Command nor the Luftwaffe has any luck. Thirteen Me-110s, skimming above the Channel, misses their target, and Shorty and 609 are sent too high to intercept. Alongside him are Geoffrey Gaunt and the quiet Philip Lecrone.

FLASHBACKS of the twenty-eight-year-old Philip Leckrone, from Salem, Illinois, flew more than two dozen sorties over the English Channel as a "tail-end Charlie"—the rear plane in a formation—in 616 Squadron. Minnesotan Art Donahue, 27, was perhaps the most experienced of all the Americans who flew in the RAF during the summer of 1940, having logged over 1,000 hours in the air before joining. He was posted to 64 Squadron just six weeks after leaving his farm in St. Charles, Minnesota. The very next day he destroyed his first bandit: a Bf 109.

Back to present where the RAF is taking charge of the battle, the tide is turned, however the death toll is still counting. Gaunt and Lecrone catches a Messerschmitt formation, they manage to break them half completely, but they get hit as well and both of them crash down and their aircraft explodes. The rest of the German aircarfts are soon to be hit by Hurricanes, but it is too late for Gaunt and Lecrone.

The day draws to a close. At Middle Wallop, the shadows cast by 609’s Spitfires stretch long across the grass. Dusk settles and then, darkness: the cue for the pilots to be released at last and head to the officers’ mess for a bite to eat.

At Chequers, Churchill wakes from his nap. John Martin, his private secretary, allowed him to sleep through the afternoon, knowing how emotionally drained he had been by the bunker experience. Now Martin quickly brings Churchill up-to-date on the day’s developments. “This had gone wrong here,” says to Churchill, “There had been bad sinkings in the Atlantic.” Martin pauses “However,” he then says “all is redeemed by the air. We have shot down 183 for the loss of under 40.”

It was the best news Churchill has received all year. He's delighted and will soon broadcast his famous radio speech.

Across the Channel, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring picks up the telephone in his headquarters and puts a call through to the Reich Marshal aboard the sumptuous Asia. Göring (Friedmann) is not in the mood for bad news, having been served sedatives by his nurse Christa Gormanns. “We cannot keep it up like this,” says Kesselring, “we are falling below the standard of safety.”

The Luftwaffe is in fact bleeding to death, having now lost so many bombers that if Göring kept throwing them at Fighter Command in daylight attacks there would soon be none left.

For 609 Squadron, the night is still young. There is time to sink several pints before closing time in the officers’ mess or at a nearby pub. On the surface, Tobin is his old self no doubt, joking about taking down “yellow-nosed boys” and tapping his wings with a grin and then saying ruefully “I guess these are a one-way ticket pal,” but inside he is full of concern. Gaunt is not at the brass rail with him, not asking about the film stars he knows, not creasing up at his wisecracks, not singing along to Bing Crosby records. Then Tobin starts to feel better: “Hell, Tobin. Why don’t you quit your beefing? You’ll live through it.” says Shorty. Andy Mamedoff is also deeply troubled by Gaunt’s disappearance. “We had known each other all our lives and been at school together for about twelve years. Only a week or two before, I had said to him one evening that if anything were to happen to him, I should feel rather responsible because he was an only son, and I had persuaded him to join the RAF with me.”

Late that night, Tobin opens his diary. “Today was the toughest day—we were in a terrific battle over London,” he jots. “Geoffrey Gaunt, one of my best friends, is missing. My fellow countrymen, Philip Lecrone hasn't been returned either. I saw a Spitfire during the fight spinning down on fire. I sure hope it wasn’t them. If it was—well, from now on they’ll be flying in clearer skies.”

The following day, Göring rages at a conference of his senior commanders about the Jagdwaffe’s abysmal failure yet again to protect his bombers.

“The fighters have failed!”

This time, Göring’s rant falls on deaf ears. The Jagdwaffe’s many brave pilots, prime among them JG 26’s Adolf Galland, now deeply resent his insinuation that they lack guts. Göring is delusional, basing his assertions on hopelessly inaccurate intelligence. For the first time, there are mumblings on some airfields about the impossibility of winning not just the battle but the war.

Churchill’s fighter boys does not yet know that they had fought off the greatest threat to Britain’s survival in a millennium, and that they had done so by the narrowest of margins. Only with the passage of time would it become clear that on September 15, 1940 —“the hardest day”— they had made possible a far greater victory.

We cut back to base and circle around the tired faces. The American group is sitting next to each other sharing anecdotes. At this iconic image we start to zoom out, music fades in with a narration.

Narration: “When the details of the fighting grow dim, and the names of its heroes are forgotten, men will still remember that civilisation was saved by a thousand British boys.And a few Americans."

Bruce Springsteen's beautiful, melancholic song titled also The Few is on during the end credits.

Edited by The Dark Alfred
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The War of the Worlds

Genre: Musical

Studio: Guernica Films

Budget: 100m

Release Date: June 29-July 1st

Rating: PG-13

Director: James Mangold

Running Time: 115 mins

Theater Count: 3547

Cast:

Owen - Hugh Jackman
Ogilvy - Richie Blackmore
Lucy - Kate Winslet
Nathaniel - Ewan McGregor
Artilleryman - Eddie Redmayne
Henderson - Andrew Garfield
Carrie - Miranda Otto


Narrator - Michael Caine

Plot:

Motto appears with nice folk music in the background.

But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be inhabited? . . .
Are we or they Lords of the World? . . .
And how are all things made for man?--
Kepler

We’re glazing through the beautiful English countryside, the nice folk tune gets louder. We ride through fields and farms, across hills and stiles. We see some amazing views and beautiful wild flowers along the way. We zoom into a little village house and we find our main character Owen (Jackman) with the company of Ogilvy (Blackmore). Ogilvy is watching the stars with his telescope and discussing his latest examination. Owen pretends to be interested, but his more occupied reading the paper. When he had enough of listening to his friend, he suggests to go down to the tavern. Nice character building sequence begins, showing the locals in this merriment, all wearing nice, late 19th century clothing. In the tavern after a few pints and anecdotes, Ogilvy starts to play the guitar and soon everyone gathers around him. Also in the tavern there are Owen’s wife Carrie (Otto) and their close friends Lucy (Winslet) and Nathaniel (McGregor). Ogilvy performs and original song Village in the Country. When the song ends we zoom out and the camera ascends to the sky and narration fades in and we find ourselves on the surface of Mars.

Narration: No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space.No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinized, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us.

Eve of the War begins.

At midnight on the twelfth of August, a huge mass of luminous gas erupts from Mars and speeds towards Earth. Across two hundred million miles of void, invisibly hurtling towards our planet, come the first of the missiles. Many of the locals witness this phenomenon. Owen is alone at home as his family traveled to London to visit their grandparents, he rushes to Ogilvy’s house, who’s shaking from the excitement. A flare, spurting out from Mars – bright green, drawing a green mist behind it is a beautiful, but somehow disturbing sight. Ogilvy, assures Owen they’re in no danger. He is convinced there could be no living thing on that remote, forbidding planet. The lyrics of the song fades in. Owen starts to sing. "The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one," he said. "The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one - but still they come!"
The next day there is a huge crater in the middle of the Common, and Ogilvy comes to examine what lays there: a cylinder, thirty yards across, glowing hot... and with faint sounds of movement coming from within.
"Good heavens!" says Ogilvy. "There's a man in it--men in it! Half roasted to death! Trying to escape!" Then he sees Henderson, the London journalist, in his garden, he calls over the palings and makes himself understood.
"Henderson," he calls, "you saw that shooting star last night?"
"Well?" says Henderson.
"It's out on Horsell Common now."
"Good Lord!" says Henderson. "Fallen meteorite! That's good."
"But it's something more than a meteorite. It's a cylinder--an artificial cylinder, man! And there's something inside."
Suddenly, the lid falls off! Two luminous disc-like eyes appear above the rim. A huge, rounded bulk, larger than a bear, rises up slowly, glistening like wet leather. Its lipless mouth quivers and slavers - and snake-like tentacles writhe as the clumsy body pulsates.
A few young men creep closer to the pit. A tall funnel rises, then an invisible ray of heat leaps from man to man and there is a bright glare, as each was instantly turns to fire. Every tree and bush becomes a mass of flames at the touch of this savage, unearthly Heat Ray. Ogilvy gets a hit and burns to death amongst many others.
People start to claw their way off the Common, and Owen runs too. We follow him as he reaches Maybury Hill and long way from home after feeling a bit secured and far from the Heat Ray he falls asleep. He awakes to alien sounds hammering from the pit, and hurries to the railway station to buy the paper. Around him, the daily routine of life - working, eating, sleeping - is continuing serenely as it had for countless years.
On Horsell Common, the Martians continue hammering and stirring, sleepless, indefatigable, at work upon the machines they are making. Now and again a light, like the beam of a warship's searchlight, sweeps the Common - and the Heat Ray is ready to follow. In the afternoon, a company of soldiers come through and deploy along the edge of the Common, to form a cordon.
That evening, there is a violent crash and Owen realizes with horror that his home is now within range of the Martian's Heat Ray. He finds a house to take shelter. At dawn, a falling star with a trail of green mist lands with a flash like summer lightning. This is the second cylinder. The hammering from the pit and the pounding of guns grow louder. His fear rises at the sound of someone creeping into the house. Then he sees a young artilleryman, weary, streaked with blood and dirt. Artilleryman and the Fighting begins. During the instrumental bits we hear the conversation between artilleryman and Owen.
“Anyone here?” asks the Artilleryman.
“Come in. Here - drink this.” – welcomes him Owen.
“Thank you.”
“What's happened?” – asks Owen.
“They wiped us out. Hundreds dead - maybe thousands.”
“The Heat Ray.”
“The Martians! They were inside the hoods of the machines they'd
made - massive metal things on legs! Giant machines that walked - they attacked us!
They wiped us out!”
“Machines?”
“Fighting Machines! Picking up men and bashing 'em against trees.
Just hunks of metal, but they knew exactly what they were doing.”
“Mmm. There was another cylinder came last night.”
“Yes. it looked bound for London.”
“London! Carrie! I hadn't dreamed there could be danger to Carrie and
her father, so many miles away. I must go to London at once.”
“And me. Got to report to Headquarters - if there's anything left of
it.”
“At Byfleet I came upon an Inn, but it was deserted.”
“Is everybody dead?”
“Not everybody. Look! Six cannons with gunners standing by.”
“It's bows and arrows against the lightning. They haven't seen the
Heat Ray yet. Let’s move on.”
They start to hurry along the road to Weybridge. Suddenly, there is a heavy
explosion. The ground heaves, windows shatter and gusts of smoke erupts into the
air. Artilleryman shouts. “Look! There they are! What did I tell you?”
Quickly, one after the other, four of the Fighting Machines appear. Monstrous tripods, higher than the tallest steeple, striding over the pine trees and smashing them. Walking engines of glittering metal. A fifth Machine appears on the far bank. It raises itself to full height, flourished the funnel high in the air - and the ghostly, terrible Heat Ray strikes the town. As it strikes, all five Fighting Machines roar like thunder. “Ulla! Ulla!”
Nicely choreographed scene begins with the chorus singing while the fighting scene is on. “Ulla! Ulla!” With a white flash, the Heat Ray sweeps across the river. Owen is scalded, half- blinded and agonized, he staggers through leaping, hissing water towards the shore. He falls helplessly, in full sight of the Martians, expecting nothing but death. The foot of a Fighting Machine comes down close to his head, then lifts again, as the four Martians carry away the debris of their fallen comrade... and by a miracle Owen escapes. “Ulla! Ulla! Ulla!” – the song fades out.
Owen climbs up the hill and looks down to the valley, it’s an incredible view, everything is covered in red weed. We don’t rely on special effects, we see the realistic red weed everythere as Owen walks through the field and performs the powerful original song Red Weed. Then he reaches another destroyed town and sees desperate faces everywhere and he can’t stop thinking of his wife. He performs the beautiful ballad, Forever Autumn.
We see more of the battle with the Martian during a song that requires a lot of extras and different dance moves. Thunderchild is on.
As Owen walks towards London, he suddenly notices a familiar face, the body of a Nathaniel, lying on the ground in a ruined churchyard. Owen feels unable to leave him to the mercy of the Red Weed and decides to bury him decently. He hears Lucy’s crying voice running toward the body. Nathaniel flicks his eye open, he’s alive! Lucy steps to him. “Nathaniel! I saw the church burst into flame! Are you all right?”
Nathaniel: “Don't touch me!”
”But it's me - Lucy. Your wife.”
“No. You're one of them. A devil!”
Lucy to Owen. “He's delirious!”
“Lies! I saw the devil's sign.”
“What are you saying?”
“The green flash in the sky. His demons were here all along - in our hearts
and souls - just waiting for a sign from him. And now they're destroying our world.”
Nathaniel performs the beautiful duet with Lucy, The Spirit of Men.
Owen leaves the couple and continues his journey towards London, through towns and villages that are blackened ruins, totally silent, desolate, deserted. As he walks pass a farm, he recognises a familiar voice.
Artilerryman: “Halt! Who goes there?”
“Er - friend.”
“Be on your way. This is my territory.”
“Your territory? What do you mean?”
“Wait a minute - it's you! The man from Maybury Hill!”
“Good heavens! The Artilleryman! I thought you surely burned.”
“I thought you surely drowned.”
“Have you seen any Martians?”
“Everywhere. We're done for all right.”
“We can't just give up.”
“Course we can't. It's now we've got to start fighting - but not against them 'cos we can't win. Now we've got to fight for survival, and I reckon we can make it. I've got a plan.” He performs A Brave New World.
They march on reach the dead and empty London. There are a dozen dead bodies in the Euston Road. The song Dead London fades in, we hear the Martian chorus singing “Ulla! Ul-!”
Abruptly, the sound ceases. Suddenly, the desolation, the solitude, becomes unendurable. Now suddenly, Owen looks up and sees three machines erected and motionless. They march recklessly towards the Titan and sees that a multitude of black birds are circling and clustering about the hood. Owen scrambled up to the crest of Primrose Hill, and the Martian's camp is below him. A mighty space it is, and in their overturned machines, are the Martians - dead... slain.
Owen finally reaches the house, where he finds his wife and children safe.


Narration: After all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things upon the Earth, Bacteria. Minute, invisible, bacteria! Directly the Invaders arrived and drank and fed, our microscopic allies attacked them. From that moment - they were doomed!
The torment was ended. The people scattered over the country, desperate, leaderless, starved... the thousands who had fled by sea - including the one most dear to me - all would return. The pulse of life, growing stronger and stronger, would beat again.


Epilogue after the end credits, present time.

PASADENA CONTROL: It's looking good. It's going good. We're getting
great pictures here at Nasa Control, Pasadena. The landing-craft touched down on
Mars 28 Kilometers from the aim-point. We're looking at a remarkable landscape,
littered with different kinds of rocks - red, purple.... How 'bout that, Bermuda?
BERMUDA CONTROL: Fantastic! Look at the dune-field.
PASADENA CONTROL: Hey, wait. I'm getting a no-go signal. Now I'm losing one of
the craft. Hey, Bermuda, you getting it?
BERMUDA CONTROL: No, I lost contact. There's a lot of dust blowing up there.
PASADENA CONTROL: Now I've lost the second craft. We got problems.
BERMUDA CONTROL: All contact lost, Pasadena. Maybe the antenna's...
PASADENA CONTROL: What's that flare? See it? A green flare, coming from Mars,
kind of a green mist behind it. It's getting closer. You see it, Bermuda? Come in,
Bermuda! Houston, come in! What's going on?
Tracking station 43, Canberra, come in Canberra! Tracking station 63, can
you hear me, Madrid? Can anybody hear me? Come in, come in...

Edited by The Dark Alfred
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Pokemon: The Journey Begins

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld (Stephanie), Joel Courtney (Gary Oak), Polly Walker (Mom), Jon Bernthal (Mr. Saturn), Aidan Gillen (Mr. Apollo), Tristan Wilds (Brock), with Tom Hiddleston (Bill), and Bill Nighy (Professor Oak)

Release Date: 3/2

Theater Count: 3408 Theaters

Budget: $110 million

Running Time: 112 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG for fantasy creature violence, mild language, and situations of peril

Background: This film draws inspiration from the Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow Gameboy games and their Fire Red/Leaf Green remakes. The film is set in the Region of Kanto.

Plot Summary: COMPLETED

The film begins with a montage of scenes narrated by Professor Oak (Nighy) that introduces us into the world of Kanto and its Pokemon, giving us basic information about the creatures, showing us shots of a number of species in the wild, and explaining a little of the complicated relationship between Pokemon and humans. The camera pulls back and we see that it’s a nature documentary of sorts on TV, being watched by Stephanie (Steinfeld). Her mom (Polly Walker) says she must be studying up for the big day tomorrow, which is when Stephanie will get her first Pokemon. Stephanie is excited and asks her mom to tell her again about her mom’s own Pokemon adventures. After the mom tells a story of her time as a Pokemon trainer, Stephanie goes outside for a walk. We’re introduced to the small village of Pallet Town and its assorted characters. After a few minutes of this Stephanie bumps into her neighbor, Gary Oak (Courtney), who is Professor Oak’s grandson. Gary is very boastful, so he comes off as being a bit of a jerk. He says he can’t wait to get his own Pokemon and take the gym challenge, and says he’ll be the best.

The next day is the big day, as a bunch of prospective trainers from the general area converge on Professor Oak’s Pokemon lab. Professor Oak appears and is a bit kooky and eccentric and gives a little speech about how the kids/teens are entering a wonderful world of adventure. His assistants hand out various common Pokemon to the trainers, though neither Gary nor Stephanie receives one. After the crowd disperses Gary wants to know what the deal is and Oak laughs and says he never forgets his grandson (causing Gary to mutter that Oak sometimes forgets his name). Oak tells Gary and Stephanie to come into his lab with him. In the lab, Oak whistles and a small, furry Pokemon scampers over. It is an Eevee. Gary is thrilled since the Eevee (a male) was Oak’s own pet. Oak says Eevees are very rare and can evolve into very powerful and unique Pokemon when treated well. Gary picks up the Eevee and says the two of them are going to go far. Oak then tells Stephanie he’s known her family for decades, giving her own mother her first Pokemon, and wants her to have a special Pokemon also. He leads her to a tray of three Pokeballs; small items the size of softballs that use miniaturization technology to store Pokemon inside, and tells her to pick one. Stephanie studies their info for each for a minute and then picks one and releases the Pokemon inside: a Bulbasaur. The Bulbasaur (a female) is nervous but Stephanie soothes it and the Bulbasaur starts to get friendlier. Gary is eager for a Pokemon battle but Oak says they need to get used to owning Pokemon first. He says he’s expecting a package from Viridian City and the two should go there to pick it up, which should give them time to get to know their Pokemon.

We see Stephanie and Gary travel to Viridian City, which is a few hours walk, their Pokemon walking alongside them. Gary talks about all the great evolutions Eevee has depending on how it’s trained. While they take a break she ponders what to name her Bulbasaur and after some thought settles on Silva (Latin for “forest”). Gary though doesn’t know what to name his Eevee and decides to wait until he decides what to evolve it into. Eventually they reach Viridian City and Gary rushes towards the Gym and says he can’t wait to take the Gym Challenge. A citizen tells them that the Gym is closed and is for very experienced trainers only, which dampens Gary’s mood. They go pick up Oak’s package and take the walk back, both wondering what’s inside. They return to Pallet Town by sunset and Oak opens the package to reveal a bunch of devices that look like iPads. They are Pokedexes, which categorize all the important information of Pokemon that trainers encounter in the wild or possess. Oak says they are for his lab’s research, but he wants both Stephanie and Gary to have one so they can learn a lot about Pokemon on their journeys. He asks them to come by in the morning.

Stephanie returns home and talks with her mom about her day and says she’s so excited, with Silva curiously inspecting items around the house and comically interacting with a couple. Her mom is glad Stephanie is happy and says her days as a Pokemon trainer were among the best in her life. The next day Stephanie and Gary return to Oak’s lab and Oak gives them each several Pokeballs, saying they’re now real Pokemon trainers. Gary again badgers Stephanie for a fight between their Pokemon and Stephanie agrees, wanting to get it over with. The fight is short, with Eevee quickly darting around to try and tackle Silva, who dodges a couple times and then uses its vines to grab Eevee and lightly bop it on the ground a few times, making it dizzy and clearly showing Silva is the winner. Oak chuckles and Gary, a bit flushed, says he’ll win next time and leaves in a huff with Eevee. Oak says his grandson will get over his loss and tells Stephanie her first trip should be to Pewter City where the first gym is.

We see Stephanie packing up her things and then setting out on her journey. On the way north she and Silva soon discover Gary is following them. Gary says he’s going north too so they might as well travel together. Stephanie is hesitant, since Gary’s a bit annoying, but decides to go with it. Soon, Gary decides to catch a Pokemon and wanders into the tall grass, Stephanie not far behind. Gary sees a Spearow sunbathing on a rock and throws a Pokeball at it, but the Spearow avoids capture by flying to a tree and chirps at Gary like it’s laughing. Gary is annoyed and throws some small rocks at the Spearow, Stephanie telling him to quit it. Soon a small rock clonks the Spearow on the head and it makes an angry noise. Seconds later, dozens more of the same noise are made and we see that the tree is full of Spearows, and they’re not happy with Gary. Gary backs away and Stephanie suggests they run, which they do, the flock chasing them until Stephanie and Gary are able to hide in some bushes. The chase over, they continue to Viridian City and, resting at a Pokemon Center, talk about what they’re doing next. Stephanie is continuing on to Pewter City but Gary has decided to go west for a bit to capture some Pokemon, so they’ll be parting ways. Stephanie wishes Gary luck and he replies he won’t need it, and says next time they meet he’ll beat her in a battle.

We get a short scene with Professor Oak doing some research and getting a call on a video-screen. It is Bill (Hiddleston), an old student of Oak’s who is another Pokemon research and an inventor. Bill says he’s doing some fascinating work in Mt. Moon currently and he can’t wait to send his research to Oak. Oak is pleased and says he has a couple special trainers eventually coming that way and asks Bill to keep an eye out for them when they show up.

After resting for the day, Stephanie heads towards Pewter City. Along the way she encounters a wild Pokemon, a male Nidoran and catches it. She names it Conan. After letting Silva and Conan get to know one another Stephanie continues into the Viridian Forest, which is full of tall, dark trees. She catches another Pokemon here, a male Weedle. She names it Spike. Stephanie encounters another Weedle later in the forest and tries to use it for battle practice, but the commotion attracts a whole crowd of Weedles, which move in for an attack. Stephanie uses her Pokemon to try and hold them off, but there are too many and one drops down from a tree and stings Stephanie. The situation looks very grim and Stephanie falls down, and as she loses consciousness (the camera gets all out of focus) she hears someone summon a Pokemon and something that looks like a huge rock-snake appears and plows in a circle around her.

Stephanie wakes up in a hospital bed and is told by a nurse that she’s in Pewter City and she was rescued by the local Gym Leader, Brock. Brock (Wilds), a young man, then enters and said she was lucky he was in the forest nearby and says many young trainers underestimate Bug Pokemon since they’re dangerous in numbers. Brock says that’s why he specializes in Rock-type, since Bug Pokemon do nothing against them. Stephanie introduces herself and Brock says he’d be happy to take her challenge for a Gym Badge, but she needs a little time to recover and train her Pokemon some more first. Brock leaves and when Stephanie feels better she gets up and goes to an outside yard where her Pokemon are socializing with others, though they happily come over to her when they see she is fine. Stephanie tells them she’s going to work hard at training them so she doesn’t make the same mistake again. We see a short montage of her training her Pokemon and Spike evolves into a Kakuna but as a bug Pokemon he won’t be much help against Brock, so Stephanie tells Silva it’s all on her.

Stephanie enters Brock’s gym and says she’s ready for a battle. Brock says plenty of first-time trainers come here and find they need to work even harder. The gym battle begins, with Silva facing two Pokemon, one at a time, Brock’s Geodude and his Onix. Silva, who has a type-advantage, easily beats the Geodude, but she runs into trouble with Onix, who is much bigger and also very fast. At one point the Onix almost gets Silva into a constrictive bind, but Silva uses her vines to yank herself out of the way and then fires a volley of razor leaves at Onix, which knocks it out, winning the battle. Stephanie is thrilled, hugging Silva and saying he is great, and Brock congratulates her, saying that as a first-tier gym leader it’s his job to encourage new trainers and he’s always happy when one proves herself to be ready for the long road ahead.

That night, Stephanie calls home and talks to her mom about her victory and is still buzzing about it. Her mom is very happy and says Stephanie’s father would be proud to know what a great trainer his daughter is turning into. The talk turns a little somber as Stephanie asks her mom to talk about her father for a bit, since he died when she was little, and her mom tells her a moving story about when Stephanie was born.

We change scene to Mt. Moon, a series of tall mountains between Pewter City and Cerulean City with a series of cave tunnels. We see Bill in person in a cluttered camp-site, going over some maps and other tools as he does research. He hears some echoes in the tunnels and curious, investigates and finds in a large cavern a group of men and women in black uniforms and a few scientists. The leader (Jon Bernthal) tells the others that they’re going to start combing the place for valuable fossils for “the boss.” Bill pulls out his smartphone and sends a text message on it, but then stumbles and makes a noise, which alerts the people to his presence. They quickly find and grab him and bring him before the leader, who introduces himself as Mr. Saturn and says Bill shouldn’t be nosing around other people’s business.

Stephanie sets out from Pewter City. The route between Pewter City and Mt. Moon has other trainers traveling back and forth, and one of them, an obnoxious teen obsessed with shorts, challenges Stephanie and she easily beats him. After some more travel, she encounters Brock, who says he is traveling to Mt. Moon to investigate reports of strange men scouring the place. They go the rest of the way together, Stephanie peppering Brock with questions about his work as a Gym Leader, trainer experiences, etc and Brock answering them. They eventually arrive at the base of Mt. Moon and rest at the Pokemon Center there. While there, Stephanie lets her Pokemon out to exercise and they watch as she is accosted by a merchant who promises to sell her an incredibly powerful Pokemon for a bargain price. Intrigued, Stephanie is taken in by the salesman and buys the Pokemon. She eagerly goes outside to see what is inside the Pokeball, pre-emptively naming it “Leviathan” and it is…a male Magikarp. Stephanie’s mood immediately sours and her Pokemon roll on the ground in laughter at her getting conned. Brock notices and chuckles. He tells her that while Magikarp may look useless, a patient trainer will be rewarded.

Stephanie and Brock enter Mt. Moon’s caves, Brock, being a rock nut, pointing out the interesting geological aspects. They enter a large cavern and Brock points out that it is full of Zubats. Brock encourages her to catch one and though it is tricky, Stephanie is able to trick it into going near the ground so Silva can grab it with its vines. Stephanie catches it and names the female Zubat Selene. Selene is very chipper and likes to flit around in the air and flies ahead of Stephanie and Brock. Eventually they hear the noise of men working and Brock cautiously leads the way to an outcropping where they see the same group of men Bill encountered, having set up camp. Stephanie asks who they are and Brock says they’re members of a group called Team Rocket, an organization that uses Pokemon for criminal activity. He says that a friend, Bill, was doing research here and found them, so Bill alerted him. There’s no sign of Bill, so Brock thinks he may be held prisoner. Brock tells Stephanie that he is going to drive the Team Rocket members off and during the distraction she needs to go into the camp and see if Bill is there. Stephanie agrees.

We see a very short scene with Bill tied up and gagged in a Rocket tent. He overhears Saturn telling some goons that the first shipment is away and the results seem promising, so more money for Team Rocket. Saturn then says he is going outside to get a message sent to the boss about their progress.

Brock sets up and enters the large cavern and summons a Pokemon, a Rhydon, a very large and strong Pokemon impervious to many kinds of attacks. The Rhydon charges and startles the Rockets, many of whom run from the cavern with Brock and the Rhydon in pursuit. Stephanie then climbs down to the cavern floor and summons all her Pokemon (except Spike, who as a Kakuna can’t move) and tells them to look for someone tied up. After some investigation Selene flies over and chirps, leading her to a tent where Silva and Conan have found Bill. Stephanie ungags him and is immediately warned about a Rocket behind her, who growls at a kid’s meddling and sends his Pokemon, a Rattata and an Ekans at her. Stephanie has Silva fight the Ekans and Conan fight the Rattata while she sends Selene to get Brock. The Rocket fight goes with Silva and Conan winning without much trouble. The Rocket tries to flee, but Stephanie, apologizing to Spike beforehand, stops the Rocket by throwing Spike at him and the Kakuna’s impact knocks the Rocket out. Spike then starts shuddering and morphs into his final form, a Beedrill. Stephanie says he looks awesome as Spike shows off. She finishes untying Bill, who says it’s fascinating how fast Bug Pokemon evolve. He introduces himself and when Stephanie says who she is he says Professor Oak asked him to keep an eye out for her and his grandson. Brock reappears with Selene and says some of the Rockets managed to get away, but his Rhydon has the majority cornered in a small cavern and they won’t be escaping before the police arrive. Brock asks what the Rockets were doing and Bill says they were looking for fossilized Pokemon. Fossils alone are worth a fair amount of money, but Bill has heard rumors that some scientists are working on techniques to resurrect fossilized Pokemon, which would make them tons more valuable. Brock doesn’t like that news and says he’ll be sure to see what the police can dig up. Brock tells Stephanie that he has to stay here to keep an eye on the Rockets, so she’ll have to continue on to Cerulean City with Bill. Stephanie asks why he doesn’t use his Rhydon in gym battles and Brock, laughing, says that if he did that no new trainer would ever get a badge. Getting pummeled by a powerful Pokemon teaches a new trainer nothing. They bid goodbye and Stephanie and Bill set out towards the exit. On the way, Silva spots something shiny and grabs it with her vines. Bill examines it and says it’s a Moon Stone and that Stephanie should hold onto it, since it could be useful in the near future.

We see Saturn outside Mt. Moon, looking furious as he berates a few Rocket members over letting their operation get hammered. The Rockets say they faced a huge Rhydon and Saturn grumbles. He says at least they sent the first shipment to Cinnabar for study and experimentation. He also says that they better not screw up in the next operation for their boss.

We then see a couple scenes of Stephanie and Bill walking towards Cerulean City. Bill talks about his time with Professor Oak, which includes a funny story about Oak being absent-minded, though it’s clear Bill is also klutzy. Stephanie asks if Leviathan will ever be useful and Bill says Magikarp are great swimmers and can pull much more than their weight because of that. During the journey, Silva is trained enough to evolve into her next form, an Ivysaur. Eventually they reach Cerulean City and Bill says he is going to go to his house north of the city and Stephanie should stop by after exploring the city a bit. Stephanie does that with her Pokemon and takes in the sights. After some exploring, she bumps into Gary of all people. Gary says he got to Cerulean City a few days ago and is getting ready to battle the local gym leader, Misty. Gary says that he went to see Bill, because his grandfather said he should, but Bill wasn’t around. Stephanie mentions Bill just coming back and Gary says they should go visit him then. As they walk, Gary talks about how he’s trained his Pokemon very well, though he still is unsure how to evolve his Eevee. We see that he has a Pidgeotto, a Sandshrew, and an Abra. Stephanie talks about her Mt. Moon adventure and Gary is interested to hear about Team Rocket and boasts he can handle them no problem. As they walk and talk their Pokemon follow along and intermingle with some light humor.

The two reach Bill’s house and find it deserted aside from a nervous-looking Clefairy. Things take a turn for the weird when the Clefairy speaks! After a couple seconds of shock and horror, the Clefairy explains that he is Bill (in Bill’s voice) and that he started working on a teleportation experiment that accidentally switched his mind with a Clefairy’s, the audience then seeing Bill’s body entering the room with a very sprightly behavior, hopping around and all that. Bill says they can re-run the teleporters to un-switch the bodies. A humorous scene happens as Gary and Stephanie coax Bill’s body into one teleportation box and Bill the Clefairy goes into the other, and then they run the machine, which successfully un-switches the bodies. Bill thanks them when he comes out of the machine and says he sometimes loses track of where everything is. He tells them both that Professor Oak wants them both to visit the S.S. Anne, a cruise ship that will stop soon in Vermillion City. The S.S. Anne is a trainer cruise ship, so it’ll be full of trainers for the two to battle against. Bill says he can’t attend because of work, but he’s arranged for them to and gives the two each a special pass for the ship. Stephanie and Gary thank him and Stephanie asks Bill not to get into more trouble for a little while. Bill chuckles and says science isn’t fun if there isn’t a little danger involved.

On their way back to Cerulean City, Gary asks Stephanie if she is up for another battle. Stephanie instead wants to challenge Misty. Gary jokes that she’s nervous she’ll lose this time and Stephanie replies she doesn’t want to embarrass him again. Gary lets it go, and then suggests they challenge Misty together, that way they can see how much they’ve progressed. Stephanie after some thought agrees. They go to the Cerulean City Gym and challenge Misty, who agrees to the double battle. Stephanie uses Silva and Gary uses his Eevee. Misty sends out her two Pokemon, a Staryu and a Starmie. The Starmie is very powerful and fast and blasts water towards Silva and Eevee, who have to be quick to dodge. After some initial moves, Stephanie realizes she and Gary will have to focus on one Pokemon at a time and tells Gary this. Gary at first doesn’t want to, thinking his Eevee is strong enough, but after it gets hit by a water jet and is a little dazed, he realizes Stephanie is right. Silva and Eevee therefore work together and first take down the Staryu, and then focus on the Starmie. After some trouble, Stephanie has Gary use his Eevee to distract the Starmie with quick attacks while Silva, who has a type advantage, sets up for the knockout. The plan works and Misty’s Starmie is defeated. Misty says they fought well and says they should pair together more often. Gary immediately says no way, he’s soon going to be strong enough to not need help next time. Stephanie and Gary leave the gym with their badges and Gary says Stephanie is raising Silva well, but she still won’t beat him. Stephanie, getting a little annoyed, says that he’s being stupid and on the S.S. Anne she’ll prove it by beating him.

At the city’s Pokemon Center, Stephanie rests her Pokemon and ponders how to train next and tells Leviathan that even it will get some training…eventually. The scene then changes back to Pallet Town, with Oak talking to Bill via video screen. Bill talks about the Mt. Moon situation and Oak is concerned about the news and says he’s heard a few things about strange Pokemon research but it’s too little to go on right now. If they learn more about Team Rocket’s general plans then they might be able to figure out how they can stop them. Oak later goes across town to visit Stephanie’s mom and tells her that he’s heard from his grandson that he and Stephanie just beat the Cerulean City Gym. Stephanie’s mom is happy that things are going so well and says Stephanie reminds her a lot of herself when she was younger. Oak agrees and says the mom was a wonderful trainer and that what happened in the past was a terrible tragedy. Stephanie’s mom sadly nods and says she hopes Stephanie never experiences the same event.

We see Stephanie traveling to Vermillion City and training along the way, seeing a montage with her beating other trainers and trying to get her Pokemon experience, even Leviathan, which mostly just splashes around in the water. She then stumbles upon another Pokemon she wants to catch, a Drowzee. She catches the male Drowzee and names it Houdini. Also along the way, Conan evolves into a Nidorino.

Stephanie reaches Vermillion City and at the Pokemon Center encounters one of Professor Oak’s research assistants, who says that he’s here on business for Oak at the S.S. Anne. The assistant points out the S.S. Anne floating in the harbor and says the festivities start there the next morning, so she should look around the city for the rest of the day. Stephanie does that, looking at the Pokemon fan club in town as well as the outside of the city Gym, where she learns that the Gym Leader, Lt. Surge, has closed the gym until after the S.S. Anne leaves. That night Stephanie looks through her Pokedex’s files and learns that Conan can evolve into his final form if he is exposed to a Moon Stone, which Stephanie got at Mt. Moon. She looks at Conan as he sleeps and decides to wait until she’s comfortable with it.

We then see a suspicious man in the city walking into a house, which we discover is a Team Rocket hideout. Saturn is there and he is organizing plans for what appears to be a raid on the S.S. Anne to steal a bunch of Pokemon. Another person arrives and we learn he is Mr. Apollo (Aidan Gillen) and he is higher-ranked than Saturn. Apollo tells Saturn that the boss is still annoyed at the Mt. Moon operation being cut short, which is why he’s assigned Saturn to this job to redeem himself. Saturn asks how the other plans are going and Apollo only says that the one shipment Saturn sent from Mt. Moon is proving useful. Saturn assures Apollo that he won’t mess this operation up.

The next day Stephanie travels to the harbor and takes a ferry to the S.S. Anne. Lots of different events are being held on the ship for visiting trainers to see, one of which is a talk hosted by Lt. Surge, who gives training tips while demonstrating the power of his Raichu. Eventually, Stephanie bumps into Gary, who demands the battle Stephanie promised. Stephanie sighs and agrees, and they use one of the battle rooms on the ship. The only change in Gary’s team is that his Abra has evolved into a Kadabra. The battle starts with Gary using his Pidgeotto and Stephanie using Conan. The Pidgeotto is faster and gets in some hits, but Conan is able to time a tackle perfectly that knocks it out. Gary then sends in his Sandshrew, which gets the edge on Conan, so Stephanie switches him out for Selene, who though weaker, is much faster and easily flies out of the way of attacks and uses a confusion ray to dazzle the Sandshrew and make it stumble around comically until it walks into a wall and knocks itself out. Gary is frustrated and sends out his Kadabra, so Stephanie switches out Selene for Houdini. We get a Psychic Pokemon standoff with each using Psychic moves to daze and confuse the other, and eventually Kadabra wins, staring down Houdini until Houdini falls asleep. Gary shouts in triumph and after some thought Stephanie sends out Spike. Gary laughs at using a Beedrill, which is weak against most evolved Pokemon. Stephanie reminds him that Bug Pokemon have the advantage against Psychic ones, just as Spike avoids a psybeam and jabs Kadabra with its stingers, knocking it out. Gary is annoyed again and sends out his Eevee, which kicks up a dust cloud to hide its movements and is able to surprise Spike and tackle it. Spike now defeated, Stephanie sends out Silva, who is somewhat blinded by the dust cloud and swings around with its vines to nab the Eevee, but Eevee is quick and dodges and sneaks in a couple light tackles. Gary is confident, but Stephanie orders Silva to fire leaves in all directions and it does so, and a couple are able to hit Eevee in the cloud and knock it out. Stephanie has won. Gary recalls his Pokemon and is frustrated that he lost again and storms out. Stephanie follows, telling him to stop being such an idiot about losing. Gary says that everyone expects him to be great, his grandfather is the most famous Pokemon researcher in the world, his parents were both top-level trainers who almost beat the Pokemon League. Stephanie reminds him that they’re both just 15 and have a long time to prove themselves. Gary calms down and apologizes for being a jerk. The two decide to go see what else is going on in the S.S. Anne, their revitalized Pokemon allowed to go explore on their own.

As Stephanie, Gary, and their Pokemon explore the ship, we see Saturn and his men infiltrating the ship. Saturn says the key is to separate Lt. Surge and the experienced trainers from the rest of the ship, so they can grab the Pokemon of lesser trainers. Stephanie and Gary meet up with Oak’s research assistant, who has just given a lecture and is doing some sightseeing of his own. They talk about all the exciting things on the ship and then suddenly they hear a boom and Team Rocket members burst into the main convention hall on the ship, using Pokemon to collapse some walls to block some areas off. Stephanie, Gary, and the assistant run away to a different part of the ship where they see the Rockets trying to steal as many Pokemon as they can. Stephanie says they have to help stop them but Gary, who had boasted he could fight Team Rocket before, is now unsure. Stephanie convinces him to help. Meanwhile Lt. Surge tries to fight against the Rockets with his Raichu and takes down several, but Saturn sends out a Weezing and orders it to use “self-destruct.” The result is a big explosion that injures both Surge and his Raichu and causes a section of the S.S. Anne to collapse to block off that area. However it also causes some damage to lower bits of the ship that cause it to start flooding.

As Oak’s assistant helps guide people to lifeboats they can use to get away from the ship, Stephanie and Gary rush forward to fight the Rockets. The Rockets’ Pokemon are mainly a mix of Normal, Poison, and Ground types. Stephanie and Gary use their Pokemon to defeat some of the Rockets. Meanwhile, Surge and his Raichu have managed to climb up to the top deck and cross over to the rest of the ship and drop down into the main area to fight the Rockets. They pummel some, but then Saturn shows up again and sends out a Hypno, Drowzee’s evolution, and has it use a barrier move that reflects a thunderbolt from the Raichu back towards it and the blast knocks both Raichu and Surge out cold and also rocks the ship, exacerbating its flooding issues. Stephanie tells Gary to help Surge to one of the boats and he does so as she confronts Saturn. Saturn laughs at being challenged by a girl and uses his Hypno and an Arbok to attack. Stephanie sends out Silva and Conan and also sends out Selene and Spike to help guide people towards the exits. Silva and Conan are able to work together to take down the Hypno, but Saturn’s Arbok is very strong and injures Silva. At that point the S.S. Anne suddenly lists to the side, throwing people and Pokemon around as the ship becomes in danger of sinking. Gary has gotten Surge to a lifeboat and is told to get onboard by Oak’s assistant, though Gary complains that Stephanie is still onboard. In the mess, Stephanie’s pack opens and the Moon Stone spills out onto the floor. Conan tries to fight against the Arbok but is overmatched and Saturn tells Stephanie that her Pokemon have some fight in them, so he’ll take them from her. Stephanie is afraid, but Silva, barely conscious, sees the Moon Stone, grabs it with a vine, and flings it to Conan, who catches it in his mouth. A bright light envelops Conan and he morphs into his species’ final form: Nidoking, a very powerful Pokemon. Conan, energized by the evolution and now much stronger, fights back against the Arbok with some punches and kicks and takes it down. Saturn, losing, decides to run for it and Stephanie lets him go since she has to get off the ship too.

Stephanie tries to make her way towards the lifeboats but the S.S. Anne is now sinking and there is little time, with many people jumping overboard in life preservers as boats from the harbor show up to try and pick up people. Stephanie sends Leviathan into the water and, since it is a good swimmer, tells him to help people get to the rescue boats. Leviathan does that, taking one person at a time to a waiting boat, exerting a lot as it does so. Meanwhile Selene and Spike reappear, having helped many people get to the lifeboats, and Stephanie, recalling Silva and Conan into their Pokeballs, orders Selene and Spike to carry her Pokeballs and backpack to shore to stay safe. Spike grabs the Pokeball belt and backpack and flies off, but Selene is hesitant to leave Stephanie so Stephanie assures her that she’ll be alright. Selene then flies to catch up with Spike and Stephanie grabs a life-jacket and jumps into the water. As she swims, she sees that Saturn and some Rockets have managed to get into a lifeboat with several bags full of stolen Pokeballs. Leviathan shows up and Stephanie grabs onto him so Leviathan can lead her towards the Rockets’ boat. Stephanie notices that Leviathan looks strained and exhausted and says they can stop but Leviathan keeps on chugging along. They reach Saturn’s boat and Stephanie tells him to stop. Saturn laughs and says a girl a stupid fish can’t stop him and his men. One of the Rockets uses a Voltorb to shock the water, injuring Stephanie and Leviathan and making them sink below the surface. Leviathan recovers and starts to pull Stephanie upwards and its strain reaching the breaking point…it evolves. Suddenly the water around Saturn’s boat is filled with bright light and a low roaring noise is heard that grows louder and louder until suddenly a massive shape breaks through the bottom of the lifeboat, shattering it and throwing the Rockets into the harbor. Leviathan has evolved into a Gyarados and Stephanie sits on its back, laughing at the turn of events. The Rockets surrender as police boats soon arrive to retrieve the stolen Pokeballs.

Leviathan carries Stephanie to shore as things settle down. Spike and Selene find her and return her things and she lets all her Pokemon out to congratulate them on being so helpful. Gary and Oak’s assistant show up on the beach and are glad she’s all right. There’s an awkward moment where Gary and Stephanie almost hug, but instead says Stephanie did a good job and she’s the better trainer, for now. Stephanie asks if everyone is ok, and the assistant says that everyone got off the S.S. Anne safely (we see it is partially sunk) with their Pokemon. Surge then shows up, bruised but otherwise fine, and tells Stephanie and Gary that they distinguished themselves far more than any gym battle could and awards them badges for his gym, but says he hopes one day they show up for a proper battle. Stephanie and Gary say that Surge can count on it.

Later that day, Stephanie has her Pokemon resting at the Pokemon Center. Gary shows up and says he is going to continue on his journey and says that the third time will be the charm for him in battling her. Stephanie smiles and says he can go on thinking that. Gary waves goodbye and leaves. Stephanie then calls home to talk to her Mom, who heard about everything from Professor Oak. Her mom is relieved that she is okay and says that when she first heard about the incident she was terrified. Stephanie says that she’s fine and that her Pokemon are great also. Her mom knows this, but after a deep breath, her mom says “I never told you why I stopped being a Pokemon trainer, and after today you should know.” Her mom explains that a bad accident happened one day to her first Pokemon and it didn’t recover. After that incident the mom couldn’t bear to train her other Pokemon anymore and released them to a special reserve where they could live in safety. Stephanie is saddened by the story and her mom says that she just wants Stephanie to know that bad things sometimes happen.

In a police station, Saturn is locked up with his men and is brooding. He is taken to an interrogation room where Surge and Oak’s assistant sit. They tell Saturn that they have a lot of questions about Team Rocket and Saturn, smirking, says he only knows a little bit and that even if he could tell them all they wanted, they can’t stop Team Rocket’s plans. “But,” Saturn adds, “I don’t like jail, so ask away and I’ll say what I can.”

Stephanie sits on the Vermillion City beach, letting her Pokemon play in the surf as she thinks about everything that’s happened. Silva sits with her as they look out at the ocean. Stephanie talks to Silva (as a way of expressing her thoughts), saying that she doesn’t want to put her Pokemon into danger if she doesn’t have to. Silva nods and taps her on the shoulder with a vine to get her to look at her other Pokemon, who are enjoying themselves. Stephanie smiles and says Silva’s right, she won’t fail them.

Back in Pallet Town, Professor Oak and Bill have another video conference. Oak tells Bill that his assistant learned that Team Rocket has some operation going on in Cinnabar Island to the South. Bill says that’s Blaine’s jurisdiction so only he can act on it, and Oak says that Blaine has become “unreliable.” Oak also reveals that Team Rocket is using reanimation techniques on the fossils they took from Mt. Moon, but that is just a first step in a plan for genetic research. Bill is afraid to know what they plan to use that research for and Oak replies “me too.”

Sitting in an office, dressed in a business suit, Apollo makes a phone call. The voice on the other end is garbled but we can tell it is “the boss.” Apollo says that with Saturn arrested, the Cinnabar operation may be compromised, but the boss tells him that the operation there is secure. The boss then asks about how “Phase 2” is going. Apollo says that it is still developing, but the pieces will soon be in place. The boss is pleased and tells Apollo that soon Team Rocket will move beyond petty criminal acts into real domination. Apollo agrees and says “Mr. Giovanni, our time has come.” Apollo hangs up and reclines in his chair, and the camera zooms out from a shot of his window to reveal he is in a big office building that has the logo “SILPH CO.”

Edited by 4815162342
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Appian Way

Directed by Andrew Dominik

Cast

Scott Mechlowicz…………………Jimmy Daniels

Matthew Goode……………………Nate Daniels

Jeff Daniels………………………..Vincent Kedis

Steve Buscemi……………………..Moe

Deborah Ann Woll…………………June

Reece Thompson……………………Peter

Noah Segan………………………….Arden

Release Date: November 9

Theater Count: 2,437

Budget: 30 mil.

Run Time: 124 min.

Rating: R for strong violence, drug use, sexual content, nudity, and language

“June 1936, Any Town, USA. My first taste of Appian Way,” the voice of Jimmy Daniels narrates. A LaSalle makes its way down the road, passing a street sign reading, “Appian Way.” At the wheel was Nate Daniels, 20, tall, dark, and handsome. His father, Nathaniel Senior, sat in the passenger seat. In the back sat a ten year old Jimmy, watching his brother and father at work in total awe and admiration. “It was truly something else, watching those two. Every day I got literally sick from waiting to take my turn in the business, but my turn never came,” Jimmy continues to narrate. Nate pulls the LaSalle up to Thompson’s Convenience Store. Nathaniel turns to Jimmy in the back. “Stay here and keep your head down. Say the alphabet. We’ll be back before you get to Z,” Nathaniel says. He and Nate exit the car, leaving their doors open. We can hear ten year old Jimmy reciting the alphabet as the two men enter the store. Nate does a quick walk around the store and finds one shopper. “Store’s closing,” he tells the old woman, who begins to question him, but then realizes the threat. She quickly exit’s the store. Jimmy is at “E” now as Nate joins his father at the register. “You’re late,” Nathaniel Senior states. “Am I? It must have slipped my mind, really,” the store owner, Thompson, replies. “Where’s the coke?” Nathaniel asks. “It’s not here. It’s at my house,” Thompson replies. “Thompson, do you really want us going to your house?” Nathaniel asks. Thompson looks at them both for a moment. Jimmy is at “P”. Thompson sighs and walks past them, hurrying to the back and into the freezer where he heaves up a crate filled with ziplock bags of cocaine. He hands the crate over to Nate, who takes it outside. “Kedis give you a better deal?” Nathaniel asks. “Look, it’s nothing personal Nathaniel, I just need the money,” Thompson replies. “Well you’re wasting mine, Thompson. Gas isn’t free. So I think you owe me more than just the coke this time,” Nathaniel retorts, pointing toward the register. Thompson sighs as he goes over to empty it out. Outside, Nate is loading the cocaine into the trunk of the LaSalle. He can hear Jimmy in the back seat. “X…” Nate then notices something across the street. Two cars idling on the side of the road, A head turns quickly when Nate looks over. They were being watched. Nate hurries to the driver’s side of the LaSalle. “Y….” Jimmy continues. “Dad! We’ve gotta go!” Nate shouts. “Z.” And as if on cue, the sirens on the unmarked police cars across the street begin to blare. Nate throws himself in the car and pulls up as close to Thompson’s store as he can get. Nathaniel dives in, carrying a bag filled with money. And with that, Nate takes off, cops in hot pursuit. “I had never seen anything like it, my brother behind the wheel. It was like he wasn’t really living until his foot pushed that pedal all the way to the ground,” Jimmy’s narration continues. Nate skillfully bobs and weaves through the streets, the sirens getting fainter in the background. Eventually, he had lost his pursuers and pulls into a car garage. Everyone gets out the car and Nate grabs the crate of cocaine out the trunk. The three Daniels men head into an office. In the background we see a worker change the license plate on the LaSalle, readying it for it’s next task. Nate plops the crate down on the desk of Hank, an old man on the verge of retirement or death. “You didn’t get pinched?!” he exclaims. “No sir, but it was close,” Nathaniel replies. “Someone ratted us out. Everyone else on pickup today is in cuffs,” Hank states. Nathaniel curses under his breath at this revelation. Hank pulls out a briefcase filled with money and hands it over. “That’s your cut and half of John’s cut, Adam’s cut, and Roger’s cut. They won’t be needing it anytime soon. As for you, I hope you were looking for a way out because you’ve found one. Shop’s closing up, probably for good,” Hank says. Nathaniel sighs and shakes Hank’s hand. “It’s been a pleasure,” he says, then leads his sons out the door.

Jimmy finishes narrating the story. He’s twenty years old now. His audience was a six year old boy named James who had fallen asleep. “I didn’t even get to the end yet, ya little runt,” Jimmy says jokingly, tucking James into bed. He leaves the room and is confronted by Nate. “What the f*** are you doing, Jimmy? You can’t tell my son things like that,” Nate says. “It’s just a story,” Jimmy replies. “But it’s not just a story. It’s real. I don’t want my son growing up like that. He can live an honest life. You can live an honest life,” Nate retorts. “I’m sorry Nate, it won’t happen again,” Jimmy says, obviously upset. He walks past his brother and through the kitchen, where Nate’s wife, Sarah, was cleaning dishes. “Thank you for the dinner, Sarah. It was great,” Jimmy says, then walks out the door. “What did you say this time?” Sarah asks Nate. “The same thing I’ve been telling him for twenty years now,” Nate replies.

An empty glass slams onto a bar and the bartender fills it back up. Jimmy brings it to his lips and downs it in one gulp. He friend Peter is next to him, hammered. “He doesn’t listen to me. He never listens to me,” Jimmy complains. “Nate’s always been an a**hole,” Peter replies, missing his mouth when he goes to take a sip and spilling alcohol all over himself. “He’s not an a**hole, but he certainly knows how to act like one sometimes. I just wanted to be part of the family. To be accepted by them, ya know?” Jimmy continues, tapping on his empty glass to signify a refill. “Forget about Nate. I’ve been working this great job for a few weeks now. Maybe I could put in a good word for you,” Peter says. “It’s not just about the job, Pete,” Jimmy replies. “I know it’s not just about the job. Your craving for acceptance reminds me of my girlfriend. I can’t get rid of the bitch. Try as I might, I can’t get rid of you either,” Peter says with a laugh. Jimmy laughs with him. As the night goes on, their inebriation causes the conversation to get wilder and incomprehensible. Eventually they’ve had enough and both pull out wads of crinkled bills to pay for their drinks before stumbling onto the streets. Eventually the friends part as they head to their respective homes.

The next scene is a montage of Jimmy trying to find a job. At first he goes the conventional route, applying for local businesses, then super markets, then restaurants, but eventually Jimmy turns to his rolodex of criminal names. “Daniels?” the man on the other end asked, excited. “Yes sir, Jimmy Daniels. And I’m open for any job you want to put me in,” Jimmy replied, smiling at this breakthrough. “Well I’d want you as a runner, obviously. You’re the fastest kid in the west. You’re a true legend,” the man replied. And then Jimmy deflated. “That’s Nate. I’m his brother Jimmy.” Silence was all that came on the other end of the phone. Many conversations followed the same pattern. Jimmy couldn’t escape Nate’s shadow, and even worse, he wasn’t even given a shot. At the end of the montage, Jimmy’s phone rings. Exhausted from the job search, Jimmy wasn’t in the best mood to be speaking with anyone, but he picks up the phone regardless. “Is this Jimmy Daniels?” the man on the other end asks. “It is,” Jimmy replies coldly. “My name is Vincent Kedis. I wanted to present a job offer,” the man says. It’s obvious from Jimmy’s face that he recognizes the name. “I’m sorry, you must be looking for my brother Nate. But he doesn’t do this stuff anymore,” Jimmy replies. “If Nate doesn’t do this kind of stuff anymore, why would I be calling him?” the voice retorts. Jimmy smiles. Finally things were looking up.

A young man named O’Malley leads Jimmy up the stairs of a massive mansion. A quick stride through a hallway led them to a giant set of double doors. O’Malley opens the doors and leads Jimmy inside. Vincent Kedis sat behind a desk, looking over some files. He had a unique look about him. An everyman look, like your dad, only you got the sense his punishments were a bit more severe. The only other person in the room was Moe, Vincent’s right hand man. He looked even more unassuming than Vincent, save for the giant pistol holstered to his belt. Vincent looks up from his work when he notices O’Malley had led Jimmy in. “You didn’t knock first?” Vincent asks. O’Malley knocks on the already opened doors. “Don’t be an ass. Get out of here,” Vincent says. O’Malley awkwardly turns and hurries away. Vincent motions to a chair on the other side of the desk for Jimmy to sit in. Jimmy complies and takes a seat. “So the famous Nate Daniels has a brother. How are you, Jimmy?” Vincent asks. “Fine, thank you, sir,” Jimmy replies. “Call me Vincent. And this here is Moe. You’ll be working with him mostly, as an assistant,” Vincent continues. Jimmy nods, taking it all in. Moe hands Jimmy a pistol and asks if he was ready. “Now?” Jimmy asks. “When I was little, my father took me out in his boat one day. Out to the middle of the lake. I had been bugging him for weeks to teach me how to swim. So we’re out there in the middle of the lake and he just shoves me into the water and paddles away, not even turning back to see if I’d popped up out of the surface yet. You can question his methods, but I swam my way back to shore. So Jimmy, my question to use is do you want to take a boat ride?” Moe asks. Jimmy tightens his grip on the pistol, smiling as he feels the weight of it in his hands. He looks back up at Moe and says, “I’m ready.”

Moe pulls his car along the side of the road, across the street from a nice looking two story house. In the passenger seat, Jimmy was moving his pistol around in his hands as if it were a toy. “Excited to put a bullet in between someone’s eyes?” Moe asks. Jimmy nods. “You shouldn’t be. Killing may be something I’m good at, but it’s not something I enjoy. It shouldn’t be an enjoyable task. That’s a lesson you need to learn quickly,” Moe says. Jimmy nods and stops playing with the gun. “Ok, now you let me do all the talking. You just stand behind me as backup,” Moe continues. Jimmy nods again, trying to control his excitement. “Alright, let’s go,” Moe says, hopping out the car. Jimmy giddily follows suit.

Moe rings the doorbell and a few moments later a fat man wearing only a robe answers the door. “Moe, what are you doing here?” the man says with a smile, but the fact that he’s only peering through the cracked door speaks of his uneasiness. “I’m not gonna pussyfoot here, Jer. I need the drugs, and I need the money you conned from Rispoli,” Moe replies. “Moe, I don’t know what you’re talking-” the man, Jerry, begins, but Moe cuts him off. He slams the door open and steps inside, Jimmy following closely behind. They step inside into a living room, where a large glass window reveals them to the backyard. A Mexican is outside watering a garden. Moe eyes the man, then says, “Let’s speak somewhere a little more private.” Jerry leads them up a flight of stairs and into his office, where another window looks over the backyard. This would have to do. “Listen, Moe, I don’t know what you heard, but I promise it’s not true,” Jerry blurts out. “What I heard is you took two hundred pounds of cocaine from the warehouse and made quite the cozy little profit off of it before killing the poor buyer and taking back the product. Give us all the cocaine and all of the money and I’ll see what kind of deal I can work out for you,” Moe replies calmly. Jerry is looking very uneasy now, like he was beginning to panic. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know anything about any cocaine or any money,” Jerry continues, his lie growing less and less sure. Moe nods and looks around Jerry’s office. He stares at a family portrait of Jerry, his wife, and his daughter. “That’s a nice family you have there, Jerry,” Moe remarks. “Thank you. That’s my daughter-” Jerry begins, but Moe cuts him off. “Your daughter Janie and your wife Vivian. Sweet girls. It’s never fun when they’re so sweet,” Moe says. Jerry has lost his cool now. “Don’t you touch them! I swear to God if you touch them!” Jerry exclaims. “Bring me the cocaine and the money,” Moe tells him. Jerry nods, beginning to give in to Moe when suddenly the Gardener comes up the stairs. “Is there something wrong here, Mr. Cassel?” the Gardener asks. “Everything’s fine, Miguel. These are just some old friends in need of some money,” Jerry replies. Miguel nods, then reaches his hand into his jacket pocket. Jimmy doesn’t have much time to think and he instantly brings up his pistol, sending a bullet through Miguel’s head, splattering brain on the wall behind him. Moe curses and turns toward him. “What did I tell you?!” he demands, but he jerks back around when he hears the window shattering. Moe races to the broken window and looks down to see Jerry moaning in pain as he pulls himself up and hobbles toward a shed in the back of the yard. Moe pulls out his pistol and lines up a shot. Jerry throws open the shed doors as Moe fires. The bullet strikes Jerry in the shoulder, causing him to topple forward onto a car. Blood smears across it’s hood as he slides off it and onto the ground. Moe watches as Jerry inches his way along the ground, then pulls himself into the driver’s seat. He didn’t have a shot. Moe cursed and stared down at the ground below, then leapt out the window. He hit the ground and rolled instantly onto his feet, pistol already lined up. Jerry slammed on the accelerator, gunning right toward Moe. Moe pulled the trigger and the bullet ripped through windshield, then flesh. He stepped aside as the car surged forward, then crashed through the large window of the house and into the living room, where the wall on the opposite side finally brought it to a halt. Moe stepped over all the wreckage and walked over to the car. What was left of Jerry’s head was leaning against the steering wheel. Moe sighed and opened the trunk. He found what he was looking for. “Jimmy!” Moe called. Up the stairs, Jimmy was staring at Miguel’s body. He finally got the nerve to crouch down and fold the jacket back to see what Miguel was grabbing for. It wasn’t a gun. In Miguel’s lifeless hand he held a few crinkled dollars. He was only trying to help Jerry with their “money issues”. Jimmy clinched his eyes shut tight, letting out a long sigh. Then he pulled himself together and headed downstairs.

Vincent taps his fingers against his chin, in deep thought. Moe and Jimmy stood before him. “Tell me I didn’t make a mistake in taking you on, Jimmy,” Vincent says. “No sir, you didn’t. It was a misjudgment on my part that won’t happen again,” Jimmy replies. Vincent sighs and nods his head. “It’s come to my attention that an employee of mine is filtering information to Gregory Monroe, my biggest competition. It’s a problem that’s been going on for too long. I want you to take care of it,” Vincent says. “Yes sir,” Jimmy replies. “I want this to be untraceable, so I’ll take your gun. You’ll get it back if you get the job done. And Jimmy, you better get it done. This is your last chance,” Vincent continues. Jimmy nods and hands over his gun. “You’re going to the apartment complex on Carlisle Drive. Room 306,” Vincent says. This visibly knocks the air out of Jimmy. He clinches his teeth to make his recognition of the address less obvious. “You know the address?” Vincent asks. “No sir,” Jimmy obviously lies. “Don’t lie to me, Jimmy. You know the address. That’s the whole point. You f**k up, there’s consequences. It teaches you to never f**k up again. Now are you capable of completing this job?” Vincent asks. “Yes sir,” Jimmy replies, looking sick. “Then go,” Vincent retorts, coolly. Jimmy hurries out of Vincent’s office. “This f**king kid, Moe. What am I going to do with him?” Vincent asks. “He’s a good kid, Vince. And he doesn’t deserve what you’re making him do,” Moe replies. “No, Moe. He does,” Vincent retorts, slamming his hands on the table and standing up. “Who was it that shot up the help, giving Jerry Cassel time to escape? Was it you? I certainly hope not, or else why the f**k have I employed you for the last fifteen years? I can feel Gregory Monroe coming up behind me. Breathing down my neck. He could end me. I need employees that his employees can’t compete with. And that doesn’t mean some f**k up kid. It means I need Nate Daniels, and god damn it, Moe, I’m gonna get Nate Daniels. If the kid does his job I’ll give him a pass. But if he f**ks up again, I’ll let you be the one putting the bullet in his head.” Vincent takes a deep breath and wipes his brow after the long rant. Moe just remains silent, gives his boss a slight nod and forced smile, and exits the office.

Jimmy stood in front of room 306 too afraid to knock. But he had to push through. He had to step out from his brother’s shadow and prove himself. Finally, he knocks on the door. “Who is it?” comes a frazzled voice from inside. “It’s Jimmy,” Jimmy replies, his voice cracking. The door flies open to reveal his friend, Peter. “Jimmy, I’m in trouble,” Peter says, pulling Jimmy inside, then shutting and locking the door behind him. Around the apartment, a random assortment of items were crammed into boxes. Peter is acting so frantic he doesn’t realize how much of a wreck Jimmy is. “I did a bad, bad thing, Jimmy. I’m not safe anymore. I started packing, but that was stupid. I just have to go. I don’t want to say anymore because that might put you in danger too, and I don’t want that.” Peter is talking a mile a minute, pacing around the apartment. He finally stops when he realizes Jimmy’s frozen stare. “What’s wrong, Jimmy?” he asks. Jimmy shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Pete,” he says. Peter looks confused, but the look on Jimmy’s face clues him in. His face goes from panic to pure horror. “Jimmy, no,” he quietly says, eyes watering. Jimmy doesn’t respond. Instead he takes off his belt and moves toward Peter. Peter scurries backward and trips over a box. He tries to scoot away, but Jimmy’s on him in an instant, wrapping the belt around his neck. “No!” Peter gasps, struggling to break free. Jimmy stays quiet, looking dead in the eyes as he pulls back hard on the belt. Peter is thrashing about wildly, tears streaming down his face as he tries to break free. Eventually he stops moving. After a leg twitch, Jimmy lets go and collapses to the floor. He wipes his eyes then stands up, quickly jumping back into his dead eye look. Jimmy begins unloading the boxes and putting things back where they belonged. The last thing he pulled out of the last box, meaning it was the first thing Peter packed, was a framed picture of Jimmy and Peter. Jimmy stared at it for a long while, then put it on the shelf with all of Peter’s other picture. Then he grabbed Peter’s body and dragged it into the bathroom. Jimmy struggled to hoist the body up, but eventually he had Peter’s body over his shoulder, fastening the belt to the shower rod. When Peter was secure, Jimmy backed away. He stared at his friend’s body, hanging there limp. The coroners would label it a suicide, but Jimmy would have to live with the truth. As Jimmy left Peter’s apartment, he didn’t know what was scarier. That he was capable of killing his best friend, or that he was capable of living with it.

Nate and Sarah are in bed, kissing. Nate rolls onto his wife and begins pulling down both their under garments. He reaches over to the night stand, feeling for something when she stops him. “Wait. Let’s not,” she says. “Are you tired?” Nate asks. “No. Let’s not use a condom,” she replies. “But you might-” Nate begins, but then Sarah smiles at him. “Another baby?” he asks with a smile on his face. She nods and kisses him. She obviously ready to get this started, but he pulls away smiling, lost in thought. “We’re going to have a little girl,” he says. “I don’t think we get to choose,” Sarah replies, laughing. “No, it’s going to be a girl. I can feel it. And we’ll name her Lily, after your mother. It’s only fair since James came from my side of the family. And she’s going to be so beautiful, just like you. And then when she’s older she’ll go crazy and fall for a bum. I’ll never like the guy, but I’ll still love her,” Nate says. “My father likes you. It just took awhile for him to come around,” Sarah replies. They’re both laying next to each other now, smiling as they think about what’s to come. “She’s going to be amazing,” Nate says. “I think you’re getting ahead of yourself. Don’t you have to do something first?” Sarah asks. “Oh yeah,” Nate replies with a smile, and then he climbs back on top of her, ready to make that baby.

The next morning, Nate walks into the kitchen as if he was floating on air. Sarah was at the stove making breakfast. He walks over to her and gives her a kiss. “How do you feel?” he asks. “I feel nothing yet. You realize it’s not an instantaneous thing, right?” Sarah retorts with a smile. Nate smiles back at her and goes to the kitchen table where James was sitting, waiting for breakfast. “Ya know I was thinking we haven’t been to the carnival yet,” Nate says. James’ eyes light up. “Can we go?” he pleads. Nate smiles and looks at Sarah. “I’m gonna go for a quick run while mommy cooks breakfast. How about when I get back we eat and then spend the entire rest of the day there?” Nate asks. “Yes!” James cheers with excitement. Nate smiles and musses up his son’s hair, then kisses him on the forehead. Then Nate goes over to Sarah and kisses her one more time. “I won’t be gone long. Don’t miss me too much,” he says. “I won’t,” Sarah smiles sarcastically. Nate smiles back, then turns to walk out the door.

Nate walks out of his house then breaks out into a job when he hit’s the street. As he’s leaving his street, a black car enters it. Nate eyes it for a second, but then continues his run without putting more thought into it. The camera follows the car as it drives down the street and pulls into Nate’s driveway. Two men step out, Roger and Kyle. They knock on the front door and Sarah answers it. “Hello, Mrs. Daniels. My name is Roger and I’m a friend of your husband. Does he happen to be home?” Roger asks. “I’m sorry, he went out for a run,” Sarah replies. “Great,” Roger retorts with a smile, shoving his way into the house. Sarah races away as the two men enter her house. She grabs James and sprints to the backdoor. Kyle takes out his pistol and aims it at them. “Mrs. Daniels, please come over here with your son and take a seat. If you cooperate I promise that no harm will come to either of you,” Roger says. Sarah brings James over to the couch where they both sit down, shaking from fear. “What do you want from us? What do you want from my husband?” Sarah asks. “That’s something we’ll discuss with him privately,” Roger replies. “Does he have to keep that gun pointed at us?” Sarah asks. “Yes,” Roger replies. Sarah is trying to contain herself. Her eyes are watering but the wheels are visibly turning in her head, thinking of a plan. “You can’t shoot us. The neighbors will here,” she says. Kyle looks to Roger. “Don’t test us. I’m sure one of you will be leverage enough,” Roger replies. This sends shivers down Sarah’s spine. “Please don’t hurt us,” she begs, putting her head between her knees as she starts to cry. Her whole body shakes as the tears begin to flow. Roger sighs and motions for Kyle to lower the gun, then inches toward her. Roger leans down next to her and says, “Everything will be ok. I promise you. As long as we get what we want from your husband…” Roger begins, but Sarah jerks her head up, slamming it into his. His nose cracks and blood begins to gush. Then Sarah charges at Kyle. “James run!” she shouts. James sprints toward the backdoor. Roger is laying on the floor cursing and clutching his nose as blood flows from it. Kyle throws the attacking Sarah off of him and brings his gun back up. James had reached the backdoor when the gun went off. Sarah screamed the most heart wrenching scream as she watched her son’s body topple to the ground. Outside, the gunshot echoes through the streets before it makes its way to Nate who stops dead in his tracks. A sense of dread washes over him as the gunshot reaches his ears. He goes pale as he quickly turns around and sprints back toward home. Inside his house…“F**k, Kyle!” Roger exclaims, spitting blood that had gotten into his mouth. Sarah is screaming hysterically. She tries to go to her son, but Kyle won’t give her the decency. “Shut up,” he tells her, but Sarah is long past shutting up. The screams and the tears won’t quit coming. “Shut your mouth!” Kyle says, a lot angrier this time, but Sarah won’t listen. “I said shut up!” Kyle shouts a final time, swinging the gun down hard at her head. This knocks Sarah to the ground with a thud. “F**k, Kyle!” Roger exclaims again, rushing over to Sarah. “She’s not breathing,” Roger says, checking her pulse. He goes white and falls backward. “F**k! S**t! You killed her, Kyle!” Roger exclaims. Then he looks at his hand which was covered in his own blood that was still pouring from his nose and onto the floor. “We’ve gotta get out of here!” he shouts, trying to wipe up his blood with his shirt sleeve. Kyle nods and races out the door, Roger stumbling behind him. Nate turns a corner onto his street, running faster than he had ever run before. The black car zooms past him. He knew the gunmen were in that car, but he had other priorities. His worst fears were realized when he saw the front door of his house was wide open. He steps inside and see his wife laying on the floor. Nate runs over to her and holds her in his arms. “No, no, no,” he cries to himself. Then he looks up and sees James laying by the backdoor, a pool of blood forming under him. Still holding Sarah, he slides across the floor to his son and grabs him too. Blood and tears fell to the floor as Nate held his wife and son in his arms.

O’Malley stood nervously in Vincent’s office. “What’s the problem this time, O’Malley?” Vincent asks, legs plopped comfortably on his desk. “Well, sir, I was moving that gardener’s body like you asked, and I got the job done good and well, but at some point he kinda….released,” O’Malley explains. “Released?” Vincent asks. “S**t, sir. He s**t everywhere,” O’Malley replies. Vincent takes his feet off the desk. “You let him s**t in my Cadillac?” Vincent demands. “Well he’s dead, it’s not like I gave him permission,” O’Malley replies. “Have I not told you to stop being such a smart ass, O‘Malley? Did you expect me to help you clean up the s**t you got in my car? Go clean up that god damn mess and make it spotless. And you just thank your god that I was nice enough to let you use a rag,” Vincent coldly says. “Yes sir. Thank you, sir,” O’Malley replies nervously, hurrying out of the office. Moe leads the next visitors in, Roger and Kyle. “S**t, what happened?” Vincent asks when he sees Roger’s bloodied face. “The bitch put up a fight. Before Kyle killed her,” Roger replies. “You killed the wife?” Vincent demands, almost losing his cool. “And the kid,” Roger sighs. The anger boiling inside Vincent is obvious, but he is calmly holding it back as he opens a drawer in his desk and pulls out a pistol, shooting Kyle in the head with it. Roger turns white as he stares at Kyle’s lifeless body on the ground. He knew he was next. “Please, sir,” Roger begged. Vincent lets out a sigh as he turns his aim toward Roger. “We can still get Nate,” Roger blurts out. “I’m sure he’d love to do business with the man who killed his wife and son,” Vincent says, cocking his pistol. “We still have Jimmy,” Roger replies, a nervous wreck. Vincent stops and thinks about that, then puts the gun down. “Go speak with O’Malley. He’s probably in the garage. He’s got a job he’ll gladly accept help with,” Vincent says. “Thank you, sir,” Roger replies as he turns to leave. “Don’t thank me yet,” Vincent retorts, but mainly to himself. “I’m surprised you didn’t kill him,” Moe says. “Nate will get him eventually,” Vincent replies. “You think Nate will come after you even with Jimmy around?” Moe asks. “Jimmy will buy me time, but not much. Not only do I not have Nate, but I probably drove him right toward Gregory Monroe. I’ve been an honorable gentleman this entire time. I let Monroe play his little games, I never stepped directly in his way. I wanted to be the best because I was the best, not because of process of elimination. But things are coming to a head now, Moe. I can’t keep my hands clean anymore,” Vincent says. Moe nods and retorts, “Were they ever clean?”

Vincent, Moe, and Jimmy sat around a table in a small diner. Jimmy is piling food into his mouth, oblivious to the stress Vincent was under. “So if this Gregory Monroe guy is just a problem, what’s stopping you from just sending a bunch of guys to take care of him?” Jimmy asks with his mouth full. Moe and Vincent share a quick glance. “I don’t know,” Vincent says. “Because there’s no honor in gunning him down in his own house. We’re business men, and we’ll settle this problem as such,” Moe retorts, obviously upset by his boss’ answer. Vincent looks over to Jimmy. “I left my wallet in the car. Can you go get it for me?” Vincent asks. Jimmy nods, and rushes off. Outside, the camera pulls back to show Nate in his own car, watching from a distance as Vincent, Moe, and Jimmy were eating. His eyes were bloodshot and in his hand was a pistol he was very ready to use. Nate watched as Jimmy went to Moe’s car, searching for the wallet. Then Nate looks at Vincent, who was staring right back at him. Vincent points his fingers like a gun at Jimmy and acts as if he’s pulling the trigger. Nate curses at the message, putting the gun down and driving away. Jimmy, oblivious, heads back inside. “I couldn’t find your wallet, sir,” he says. Vincent pulls his wallet out of his jacket pocket with a smile and says, “My mistake.”

Nate sat down with Gregory Monroe who was giving Nate the same honor spiel Vincent gave Jimmy. “I don’t need guns to take down Vincent Kedis. I’m pushing a better product than he is and I’m on track to outsell him in the close future. That victory is much more savory,” Monroe explains. “Vincent Kedis will never let you surpass him. He’s playing civil now, but when he sees your strength he won’t be so nice,” Nate replies, his eyes still bloodshot. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a decade and somehow that much older in a matter of days. “Nate, I’m sorry. That’s just not how I conduct business. I know what he did to you, and I’m terribly sorry for such a tragedy, but you not to calm yourself before something even worse happens,” Monroe says. Nate has realized at this point that Monroe would be no help in taking down Vincent Kedis. He had to start facing the truth that this was something he might have to do on his own.

As Nate left his meeting with Monroe, a man bumped into him. “Sorry,” the man said. Nate wasn’t really in the mood for apologies, but didn’t slow his pace to his car. When he got home and stepped inside, he realized he wouldn’t be able to sleep there. He couldn’t live in this house after what had happened in it, so he gathered up a small amount of necessities and then went back to his car, searching for a hotel. Once settled in to his new home, he began to settle in. A small piece of paper fell from his jacket pocket as he slid it off. Nate picked up the paper, which had only a phone number written on it. Nate goes over to the phone and dials the number. “Is this Nate Daniels?” the voice on the other end asks immediately after answering. “It is. Who is this?” Nate asks. “My name is Daren. I don’t have much time to talk, but I think I know someone who can help you, if you’re interested,” the voice replies. Nate thinks on this for a moment. He had no clue who this Daren guy was or if he could trust him, but Nate had nothing to lose at this point. “Ok,” Nate says. “Good. Go to the Red Street Diner tomorrow at noon.”

It was hard to tell if Red Street Diner was a busy, popular place or if it’s small size had to do with it’s packed appearance. Nate felt uncomfortable crammed into a small corner booth as he sat and waited for someone to come meet him. He saw a beautiful, young, redheaded woman pushing through the crowd of people making her way toward the corner. That couldn’t be who he was here to meet, but sure enough the young woman took a seat at the table across from him. “Nate Daniels?” she asks. Nate nods. “I’m June,” she says, extending her hand. Nate shakes it. “I’m sorry, but I’m not exactly sure what we’re doing here,” Nate blurts out. “We both share a mutual hatred toward Vincent Kedis. I wanted to offer my assistance,” June replied. “I appreciate that, but I don’t think one woman can make much of a difference against Kedis’ army,” Nate retorts. “Listen, Mr. Daniels, I know you wanted an army, but I’m all you’ve got, and I’m all you’re gonna get. Not one man or woman who knows the name Vincent Kedis is gonna put their neck on the line to take him down. Now, you know a bit more about Vincent Kedis than I do and I’m not afraid to die if it meant bringing him with me,” June begins. “Good, then we’re on the same page,” Nate says. “There’s gotta be a way to get in a room with him alone,” June continues. “If there was a way, don’t you think I would have done it by now? Why do you want Vincent Kedis dead, anyway? What could he have done to a girl like you?” Nate asks. “My daddy used to work with Vincent. They were pretty close too. He invited them over to a party one night and he met my mama for the first time. He took a liking to her real bad. He killed my daddy and raped my mama that very night. She was never the same, a complete wreck. I was six years old and had to be sent off to live with my grandmamma,” June explains. Her years of hatred and the determination to get revenge on Vincent had made her tough. She told the event like it was some old passage she was forced to memorize. Nate sat on that for a moment, thinking. “There might be a way,” Nate says. “What?” June asks. “I can’t ask you to do it,” Nate replies. “Yes you can, or you wouldn’t have brought it up. Nate sighs as he looks at her. “Your mother wasn’t the first woman Vincent Kedis took for his own. He’s in such a position of power that anything he wants he gets,” Nate begins, studying June’s face to make sure he didn’t upset her by mentioning her mother or offend her by even thinking of this plan. But if June was upset or offended her face didn’t show it. She simply replied, “So now Vincent Kedis has to want me.”

Vincent Kedis sat at a bar, downing a drink. He was in the middle of a conversation with a man in a fancy suit. “I’m sorry, Mr. Kedis, but Gregory Monroe has the better price,” the suited man says. “But does he have the better product?” Vincent asks. “Maybe not, but for a third of the price I can’t tell the difference,” the man replies. Vincent pulls out a small bag from his pocket and dumps the white powder onto the bar. The bartender doesn’t say anything. “Give it a try. I guarantee you’ll change your mind,” Vincent says as he cuts it into a line. The man eyes him, then the product on the table. The man quickly snorts up all of the cocaine. Vincent looks at him. “Well?” Vincent asks. “It’s…” the man begins, but then his face gets red as he loses his breath. He grabs his chest and falls out of his seat and onto the floor. Two men that were with him race over to help. The man is writhing wildly, but eventually stops, dead. The men pull guns on Vincent. “You killed him,” one gunman says. “Clever,” Vincent sarcastically states. The two gunmen flinch as they feel cold metal pressed against the backs of their necks. The camera pans to reveal Moe and Jimmy standing behind them, guns raised. “You two go run and tell all your friends that Gregory Monroe is no longer an option,” Vincent says coldly. The men drop their weapons and nod, then leave the bar. Vincent turns to Jimmy and points at the dead body. “Have O’Malley come clean this up,” he says. Jimmy nods and goes off to look for a phone. Moe didn’t look happy about this situation. It wasn’t right, but he couldn’t say that to Vincent. Vincent was past listening. When the man had died and the guns were drawn, most of the bar’s patrons had left. One of the few that remained caught Vincent’s eye. He walked to the back of the bar where a beautiful, young, red headed woman sat drinking alone. “Why’s a girl like you drinking in a place like this?” Vincent asks. “I was supposed to meet someone. He never came,” the woman replies. “It wasn’t him was it?” Vincent asks, pointing at the dead body. He was in full charm mode now. A much different side to him, but very effective. “No, I prefer my men to be a different kind of stiff,” she replies seductively. Vincent smiles. This girl was exquisite. “How rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Vincent Kedis,” he says. The woman smiles and replies, “I’m June.”

Vincent and June are kissing passionately as they stumble into his bedroom. Vincent’s charming ways were gone now that he had June here. He was acting a bit more forceful as he began pulling his clothes off. He unzipped her dress and it fell to the floor. When June’s dress came off it was almost like her armor came off with it. Standing there in front of him naked, she had a look of fear on her face. He began kissing her neck, each kiss sending shivers down her spine. Then he pushed her onto the bed and climbed on top of her. Memories of her mother, and what Vincent did to her filled June’s head. It took every bit of strength she had not to run away now. Instead just laid there as Vincent pumped away. He never noticed as a single tear fell down her cheek. When he was done he rolled off of her and turned to go to sleep. “You can stay the night in case I wake back up and want you again,” he says. That made June want to throw up, but she held herself together. She waited until she heard Vincent snoring, then slowly and quietly got out of bed. She fumbled around in the dark until she found her dress, then pulled a small knife from a secret pocket inside it. When she looked back up at Vincent she saw that he was awake and staring at her. He sighed as he got out of bed and slowly walked over to her. “Don’t step any closer,” she tells him. Vincent continues forward anywhere. June steps forward, slicing at him. Vincent catches her arm and twists it. She cries out in pain and drops the knife. Then Vincent pulls his fist back and swings hard at her face. June falls to the floor in pain. She pulls herself up to her knees and Vincent kicks her while she’s down. She pulls herself back up and painfully begins to crawl. It was useless, as there was nowhere to go, but she crawled nonetheless. Vincent walked over to her and grabbed her by the hair and began to drag her toward the bathroom. “Please,” she starts, but Vincent grabs her head and shoves it into the toilet. She struggles to break free as the water fills her mouth. Keen eyes will notice the eerie similarities between Vincent’s cold face now to the one Jimmy had when he strangled Peter. Eventually the struggle stops and Vincent steps away. He puts on a robe to cover himself up and goes to his bedroom door and opens it. A man stood guard. “Tell O’Malley he’s got another clean up,” Vincent says. “He’s still busy with that bar guy,” the guard replies. Vincent just stares at him. “I’ll go get one of the new guys,” the guard says, intimidated. A few moments later a young man arrives and enters the room. He bumps into Vincent’s night stand on his way to the bathroom to get June. “Who’s this guy?” Vincent asks the guard as he watches the young man fumbling with June’s body. “His name’s Arden. He started last week,” the guard replies. Arden hoists June’s naked body over his shoulder and carries her out of the room.

Nate sat in his car waiting. And waiting. He kept checking his watch. June should have been there by now. Something went wrong. When he saw headlights coming toward him he cursed and ducked down. A car parked beside him and Arden stepped out. He tapped on Nate’s window. Nate rolled it down and stared up at him. “I’m Daren,” the man we knew as Arden says. “What are you doing here?” Nate asks. “I’ve got my own vendetta against Kedis. I’ve been working with him since last week. He doesn’t suspect me. He doesn’t even know me,” Daren says. Nate would question this, but he had another thing to worry about. “Where’s June?” Nate asked. The look on Daren’s face gave him his answer. Nate cursed and put his head in his hands. Daren points at his car. “It’s my job to dispose of the body,” he says. Nate leans back in his seat, then slams his hands on the steering wheel. “This is my fault. It was my plan. I should have never let her fight my battle like that,” Nate says. “It was worth a shot,” Daren tries. “Was it?” Nate retorts. After a long pause Nate continues. “She trusted me, and now look what happened to her….” then his anger starts to boil. “And you were in a room with him! You’ve crossed paths with him for a full week and have done nothing! A week? My family was alive a week ago! If you hadn’t been such a coward!” Nate exclaims. “It wasn’t out of cowardice. I would have taken a shot if I had the chance. But there’s always five other men in the room with him and I don’t have a weapon,” Daren defends himself. “My brother was given a gun,” Nate retorts. “Well my last name isn’t Daniels, so I don’t have the same pull as your brother. But if you’re patient and can wait a decade, maybe I’ll have worked myself up the ranks by then to be in a room alone with him and a loaded gun,” Daren responds. Nate sighs. He knew he was being hard on someone who was just trying to help. “I can’t do this anymore, Daren. I’m ending this,” Nate says. “I’ll help you in anyway I can,” Daren replies. “Get my brother to safety. I don’t want him caught in the crossfire. And I need a way in,” Nate begins his plan. “I can help with that,” Daren says. “You know one?” Nate asks. “I know them all,” Daren replies, pulling a set of keys from his pocket with a smile. (quick explanation in case you missed it, he bumped into Nate to give him the number, then bumped into the nightstand to grab the keys)

It was a beautiful day as the sun shone down on Vincent Kedis’ lofty mansion. Inside the large garage, which held a dozen different cars, Roger was humming along to the radio as he put the final shine on the seat of Vincent’s car. “Finally finished,” he says. Then the radio cuts off. He turns to look at it and is then staring down the barrel of a gun. Nate pulls the trigger, sending blood and brain all over the just cleaned seats. He then jogged out of the garage, headed for the back of the main house.

O’Malley pulls his car up to the gate of mansion, waiting to be let in. He eventually notices that no guards were on duty. O’Malley curses and draws his gun, getting out of his car and looking around. He finds the two dead bodies of the gate’s guards behind some bushes. O’Malley curses and hops back into his car. He backs up, then slams his foot on the gas. The car crashes into the gate, but it doesn’t open. O’Malley curses again and stumbles out. Then steps on top of the car and begins climbing over the gate.

O’Malley stumbles into the mansion. Vincent sat in the living room, reclined on a sofa, a girl on either side of him. “Philip and Louis are dead,” O’Malley says, out of breath. “S**t, we’ve got a breach,” Moe exclaims, racing over to Vincent. A whole swarm of guards surround him and usher him up the stairs. The girls are basically tossed aside as nonentities. Vincent is led through two large double doors into a circular room with a fountain in the center. Four men stay outside as guards and the doors are shut behind them. The other men start moving items in front of the door to block it from any possible intruders. Then two men lead Vincent into one of the many rooms that lined the circular walls, Vincent’s office. They shut and lock the doors, leaving only Moe and Jimmy in the circular room standing guard. “Tell me you aren’t willing to risk your life for Vincent Kedis’,” Moe says. “I am,” Jimmy replies. “No, Jimmy. No bulls**t. Please don’t be so naïve. Tell me Vincent doesn’t have you hooked,” Moe pleads. It’s clear Vincent’s loyal right hand man was beginning to doubt his own faith in Vincent, and he didn’t want to see Jimmy dragged down too. Jimmy’s clearly thinking about this hard when a door behind them is kicked open. A machine gun opens fire. Moe curses and tackles Jimmy to the ground. The shooter steps toward them. Moe’s back is riddled with bullets. Outside the giant double doors, the four guards are trying to get in to help, but all the furniture used to block the doors was now working against them. Moe rolls over and quickly brings up his gun, firing blindly. It strikes the shooter in the gut. Moe drops his gun as the shooter drops to the floor. Jimmy looks to Moe, but he was already gone. He curses and stands up, gun pointed at the fallen shooter. He goes pale when he sees who it is. Nate lies on the floor, spitting up blood and clutching the hole in his stomach. “Nate,” Jimmy cries, kneeling next to his brother and putting pressure on the wound. For a second the hard demeanor Jimmy had built up around him fell away, and he was simply a little brother again. Nate curses when he saw Jimmy. Jimmy wasn’t supposed to be there. Daren was supposed to get him away, the coward. But at least Jimmy hadn’t been hurt by his wild stream of bullets. “Do you know what he did?” Nate asks as he coughs up blood, referring to Vincent. Jimmy shakes his head. “He killed Sarah. He killed James,” Nate begins, shaking. “He killed them because he wanted me,” Nate finishes, ending in a fit of coughs that sent even more pain to his stomach. “No, he told me he didn’t want you. He said he wanted me, Nate. Not you,” Jimmy replies, a flood of emotions running through him. He was trying to help his brother, but he wouldn’t let the façade around him be torn down. People always wanted Nate. This time was different. It had to be. “Jimmy. He killed my family,” Nate mumbles, tears streaming down his face. Jimmy wasn’t finally rocketed back to the real world. His brother was dying, he knew. And the man responsible, the man Jimmy trusted and looked up to, was in a room ten feet away. Jimmy gets up and walks over to Vincent’s office door. “It’s Nate. He’s shot, but he’s alive…for now,” Jimmy calls through the door. On the other side, Vincent smiles. “You can’t go out there, sir. Let us finish him off first,” one of his guards says. “I think I’ll finish this one myself,” Vincent replies, opening up the office door. He sees Moe laying dead on the floor, Jimmy covered in his own brother’s blood, and Nate Daniels, laying on the floor, inches from death. Vincent walked over to him, then knelt down next to him. “Nate Daniels. We could have been something special,” he begins. Behind him, Jimmy turns to the two guards and shoots them both in the head before they have time to react. Vincent turns wildly. “What are you doing?” he demands. Jimmy strides closer to him, then punches him hard in the face. Vincent reels backwards, then catches his footing. Vincent spits out some blood, then faces Jimmy. If it’s a fight Jimmy wants…. Vincent lunges forward, tackling Jimmy to the ground. The two roll around, swinging punches and jabs left and right. Vincent was much bigger than Jimmy, so he had the upper hand. He quickly found his way on top, driving fist after fist into Jimmy’s face. He stops for a second to catch his breath and examine his work. Jimmy looked rough, his entire face bloody. But he wasn’t giving up just yet. He sat up fast, pushing hard on Vincent’s chest. Vincent fell backwards, cracking his head on the fountain. Jimmy stands up as Vincent slowly brings his hand up to the back of his head. Blood covers his fingers. He looks at it drip, woozy. Jimmy grabs Vincent’s head and shoves it into the fountain water. He was going to give Vincent a taste of his own medicine. It’s reminiscent of Vincent murdering June, or Jimmy having to kill his best friend. Vincent thrashes wildly, and Jimmy struggles to try and keep his head submerged. The dead look in Jimmy’s eyes was gone. There was emotion there. He was determined to kill Vincent Kedis. And when the body stops thrashing, he knew he had done just that. He let’s go of Vincent body and let it drop to the floor. Jimmy goes back to his brother, looking deathly pale. “Come on, I’m going to get you out of here,” Jimmy says, grabbing onto his brother. Both men know it’s a lost cause, but Jimmy just wouldn’t accept that. “Jimmy,” Nate mumbles. Jimmy doesn’t listen, he just drags his brother toward the office, then opens the window. “You can hold on to my back. I can climb down,” Jimmy says. Nate shakes his head. “I promised Dad I would keep you from this kind of life. Don’t make me break my promise, Jimmy. You’ve gotta get clean,” Nate says. “You’ll make sure I stay on the right path. We’re both getting out of here. You’re not done harassing me yet,” Jimmy says, trying to heave his brother up. “Jimmy, you not I’m not going to make it,” Nate says. “No, we can…” Jimmy begins. “Jimmy,” Nate cuts him off. “Go.” Jimmy looks down at Nate, only a few breaths of life left in him. Jimmy nods his head, fighting back tears. He gives his brother a kiss on the forehead, then climbs out the window.

THREE MONTHS LATER

It was night out. Jimmy sat in his car, upset about something. He’s breathing hard, not knowing what to do. Fighting the urge not to do something. He slams his hands on the wheel as he makes his decision. He gets out of the car and heads inside Thompson’s Convenience Store (the same store Nate and his father robbed at the beginning of the movie.) Jimmy goes to the counter, distraught. “What’s wrong?” old man Thompson asks behind the counter genuinely. Jimmy couldn’t tell him the real reason he was upset. That he was letting his brother and his father down. But this life was in his blood. As hard as he tried to fight it, the urge would never go away. Jimmy puts a bag on the counter and pulls out a pistol. His eyes water up as he says, “Give me all your money."

Edited by Frankenberry
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The Whale

Date- February 17th 2

Genre- Found Footage

Rating- PG-13

Theaters- 3,275 theaters

Budget- 16 million

Running Time- 128 minutes or 1 hour and 58 minutes

Studio- Number 2 Productions

Director- Gonzalo Lepoz-Gallego

Plot: This is a modern take of the famous classic Moby Dick. The film is presented in found footage format. Ishmael holds the main camera but several times the film cuts to aerial cameras from Ishmael’s camera crew and from the security cameras on the boat.

The film begins with the captain, Ahab and Ishmael discussing the dealing being made with the TV programs and Ahab. It is revealed Ishmael is taking a camera crew on Ahab’s ship to look for a mysterious whale and to document what whaling is like. Ishmael and his right hand man, Queequeg leave with the Pequod on a cold Christmas Day. Soon the ship is in warmer waters, and Ahab makes his first appearance on deck, balancing gingerly on his false leg, which is made from a sperm whale’s jaw. He announces his desire to pursue and kill Moby Dick, the legendary great white whale who took his leg, because he sees this whale as the embodiment of evil. Ahab nails a gold doubloon to the mast and declares that it will be the prize for the first man to sight the whale. As the Pequod sails toward the southern tip of Africa, whales are sighted and unsuccessfully hunted. During the hunt, a group of men, none of whom anyone on the ship’s crew has seen before on the voyage, emerges from the hold. The men’s leader is an exotic-looking man named Fedallah. These men constitute Ahab’s private harpoon crew, smuggled aboard in defiance of Bildad and Peleg. Ahab hopes that their skills and Fedallah’s prophetic abilities will help him in his hunt for Moby Dick.

Days later The Pequod rounds Africa and enters the Indian Ocean. A few whales are successfully caught and processed for their oil. From time to time, the ship encounters other whaling vessels. Ahab always demands information about Moby Dick from their captains. One of the ships, the Jeroboam, carries Gabriel, a crazed prophet who predicts doom for anyone who threatens Moby Dick. His predictions seem to carry some weight, as those aboard his ship who have hunted the whale have met disaster. While trying to drain the oil from the head of a captured sperm whale, Tashtego, one of the Pequod’s harpooners, falls into the whale’s voluminous head, which then rips free of the ship and begins to sink. Queequeg saves Tashtego by diving into the ocean and cutting into the slowly sinking head.

During another whale hunt, Pip, the Pequod’s black cabin boy, jumps from a whaleboat and is left behind in the middle of the ocean. He goes insane as the result of the experience and becomes a crazy but prophetic jester for the ship. Soon after, the Pequod meets the Samuel Enderby, a whaling ship whose skipper, Captain Boomer, has lost an arm in an encounter with Moby Dick. The two captains discuss the whale; Boomer, happy simply to have survived his encounter, cannot understand Ahab’s lust for vengeance. Not long after, Queequeg falls ill and has the ship’s carpenter make him a coffin in anticipation of his death. He recovers, however, and the coffin eventually becomes the Pequod’s replacement life buoy.

Ahab orders a harpoon forged in the expectation that he will soon encounter Moby Dick. He baptizes the harpoon with the blood of the Pequod’s three harpooners. The Pequod kills several more whales. Issuing a prophecy about Ahab’s death, Fedallah declares that Ahab will first see two hearses, the second of which will be made only from American wood, and that he will be killed by hemp rope. Ahab interprets these words to mean that he will not die at sea, where there are no hearses and no hangings. A typhoon hits the Pequod, Ahab takes this occurrence as a sign of imminent confrontation and success, but Starbuck, the ship’s first mate, takes it as a bad omen and considers killing Ahab to end the mad quest. The storm ends, one of the sailors falls from the ship’s masthead and drowns.

Ahab’s fervent desire to find and destroy Moby Dick continues to intensify, and the mad Pip is now his constant companion. The Pequod approaches the equator, where Ahab expects to find the great whale. The ship encounters two more whaling ships, the Rachel and the Delight, both of which have recently had fatal encounters with the whale. Ahab finally sights Moby Dick. The harpoon boats are launched, and Moby Dick attacks Ahab’s harpoon boat, destroying it. The next day, Moby Dick is sighted again, and the boats are lowered once more. The whale is harpooned, but Moby Dick again attacks Ahab’s boat. Fedallah, trapped in the harpoon line, is dragged overboard to his death. Starbuck must maneuver the Pequod between Ahab and the angry whale.

On the third day, the boats are once again sent after Moby Dick, who once again attacks them. The men can see Fedallah’s corpse lashed to the whale by the harpoon line. Moby Dick rams the Pequod and sinks it. Ahab is then caught in a harpoon line and hurled out of his harpoon boat to his death. All of the remaining whaleboats and men are caught in the vortex created by the sinking Pequod and pulled under to their deaths. Ishmael, who was thrown from a boat at the beginning of the chase, was far enough away to escape the whirlpool, and he alone survives. He floats atop Queequeg’s coffin, which popped back up from the wreck, until he is picked up by a navel warship and taken back to America.

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Name: The January Gem

Director: Ben Stiller

Genre: Comedy/Satire/Mockumentary style

Date: January 6

Cast: Ben Stiller (Eric), Jack Black (Oily/Dan), Paul Rudd (Martin), Leslie Mann (Wendy), Seth Rogen (Bob)

Plot: Eric is an out of luck film director who just can't get things going. His latest summer blockbuster cost $200 million to make and barely brought half of that back. His friend Dan/Oily mooches off of him and lives on his couch paying very sporadic rent, but Oily comes up with a great film idea... to make a successful and well-received movie that comes out in January. Usually, he explains, January films are horrible formulaic chick flicks or unoriginal horror ripoffs.

At first Eric is sketpical, but he takes Oily up on the offer after he keeps insisting. He says however, they don't want slapstick. At first it's just the two of them filming around their neighborhood, but money is already running short, and they have to go to Martin and Wendy for help. Martin agrees to help, but Wendy is less than supportive. It is only after they show Wendy some clips that she helps out as well.

They find Bob sitting in a college classroom, but he says he does it just to "get the girls" and graduated 3 years ago... shh, don't tell anyone. Bob becomes their main actor, and Bob and Eric argue over slapstick... eventually the slapstick gets added in, but the funniest part comes from Eric's rage within the film about slapstick, which gets put into the movie. The movie becomes a modest hit easily making back the budget, but what really did it was the legs from positive word of mouth.

Theaters: 2,406

Runtime: 1hr 58m

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Budget: 25m

Edited by Electric
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ADAM

Date- February 3rd 2

Genre- Thriller/Horror

Rating- PG-13

Theaters- 2,981 theaters

Budget- 22 million

Running Time- 101 minutes or 1 hour and 41 minutes

Studio- Number 2 Productions

Director- Robby Henson

Plot: The film begins with a story of a brother and sister, Alex and Jessica Price, who are kidnapped from their home in 1964. Their kidnappers, Alice and Cyril, are insane fanatics dedicated to a religion called Eve's Holy Coven. After living in Alice's shack for over sixteen years, the siblings finally escape. They slowly begin to adapt to the real world, though Alex suffers severe psychological damage from his time with Alice. After failing to become a priest, Alex falls into depression and awakes in the middle of the night, screaming in terror. Jessica begins to fear for her brother's sanity after he brutally attacks her fiance, Bruce. Shortly after this, Alex disappears and is never heard from again.

The film moves to a man named Daniel Clark who is a behavioral psychologist who works for the FBI. For the past 16 months he has been stalking a killer called Eve who kills a young woman during every new moon using a deadly new strain of meningitis injected into the brain. His obsession with the serial killer causes his wife to divorce him. On the eve of the killer's sixteenth murder, Daniel and his new partner, pathologist Lori Ames, manage to extract Eve's victim before she has succumb to the disease. However, Eve intercepts them, killing Daniel with a bullet to the head and reclaiming his victim. In a frantic attempt to save Daniel, Lori manages to resuscitate after he has been clinically dead for almost a half hour. Despite escaping with his life, Daniel now experiences amnesia cannot remember seeing the killer's face; also, he now suffers from spastic episodes of fear every hour or so. Still determined to find Eve, Daniel convinces Lori to drug him into having a second near-death experience, which he believes will trigger his memory of the night he saw Eve's face. She hesitantly agrees, and injects him with drugs that trick his brain into thinking he is dead. Instead of reliving the experience, he has a haunting dream of a young boy claiming himself to be Eve. Meanwhile, Daniel's ex-wife Heather has been tracking the Eve case for several months. After receiving cryptic phone calls from a man she believes to be Eve, she is kidnapped. Daniel tracks her down using the clues given to him by the boy in his dreams. After tracking Heather to an abandoned tunnel, he encounters Eve and willingly trades his life for Heather's. Eve's nature is here revealed to supernatural, having possessed Alex Price and manipulated him into killing women so Alex can "atone" for sins. Heather enlists the help of Father Seymour, the priest who trained Alex before he left the faith. Together, they track down Daniel only to find that he is now possessed by Eve, having "accepted" Eve "into his heart". Father Seymour attempts to perform an exorcism on Daniel. Alex is present, though he only stands aside and tells them how futile their attempts are. Lori arrives and reveals herself to be Jessica Price, and manages to convince her brother into letting go of Eve. The spirit, angered, leaves Daniel and attacks the siblings, almost killing Alex before it disappears. In the aftermath, Alex is sentenced to life in prison and Jessica goes on to teach Medicine. Daniel, an agnostic before his possession by Eve, remembers crying out to God during his ordeal and knows that Eve was dispelled by a Bright Light he had always claimed never existed.

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Guardians of Life

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Studio: Silver Shark Entertainment

Genre: Sci-Fi/War

Cast: Simon Baker (Travis Leves), Hugh Laurie (General Logan), Jon Bernthal (Jeffrey)

Budget: $ 160 million

Theater Count: 3,763

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: December 19th (Wednesday)

Running Time: 1 hr 53 mins

Plot:

The world faces its death due to economical problems and ongoing wars. It wouldn´t be that false to say that humanity commits suicide. In 2022 a third Worl War is merely a matter of time. Travis Leves is captain in Chicago after the army installed a base in the centre of the city. He´s called in the middle of the night when some strange lightnings happen in the sky. White lighting missiles are falling from the sky hitting the big buildings of Chicago and the base of the U.S army leaving destruction and pain.

Travis Leves commands two companies into the battle against the unknown enemy. The companies meet at the Lincoln Park with three other companies to catch a look at the enemy. Two giant starships are floating above Lake Michigan. Two smaller scoutships are rushing to the coast and gets engage by the full force of the U.S army. One of it crashes before it reaches the coast but the other one reaches it and opens fire at the soldiers. At the end the U.S troops can take down the scoutship finding only one survivor of the aliens. Travis wants to interview the prisoner himself. When Travis touches the visitor from outerspace the alien learns only from two seconds of touching the language from Travis. “You deserve nothing else but this,” it whispers. Travis hits him hard and wants to know who he is. The alien calling its race ´Guardians of Life´ who prevent worlds from dying whiping out everything and everybody who could stop them. The alien dies in silent when all the soldiers are starring at the sky and the starships realizing that the end is near.

Travis awakes them from their panic and orders to move to the center of Chicago to form a defense line. Other companies should evacuate the population of the coast, leaving the shore to the aliens. Meanwhile the U.S Navy and the U.S Air Force have arrived at Chicago opening a huge battle against the invaders. Meanwhile Travis meets with General Logan to talk with him about the evacuation. General Logan tells him that Chicago and all the families of the soldiers have to be gone at 12pm then the heavy artillery will shell the centre of the city and other spots where the ´Guardians´ build up some basements.

Travis and his companies move to Oz Park where another spot of `Guardians´ should be. In a urban warfare they can beat down the dozen of invaders they meet at the park. Suddenly they hear a defeaning noise from the sky. Dozen of starships appear and hundreds of one-man attack crafts. The U.S Air Force sends almost everything they have to fight off the invaders but more and more ships appears. The big starships appear all over the United States and all over the world and reposition above industries and everything which could harm the nature of the planet. General Logan commands the defense but fails in fighting back the ´Guardians´. Travis and his companies must show heavy losses and only a two dozen soldiers are left. At the St. Michaels Church they get ambushed by the aliens and only survivive because of a militia lead by Jeffrey. Jeffrey tells Travis that the aliens have their main base near the Milton Lee Olive Park after they´ve destroyed the Navy Pier next to the Park. Jeffrey wants Travis to help him destroying this base to achieve a victory. Travis thinks that the soldiers should help with evacuation but when he looks to his soldiers he sees that they want to fight for their fallen mates.

In the night they reach the park and can catch a look from main base. Suddenly the whole city loose electricity while Travis receives a radio message that the aliens whiped out the industries and power plants. Also atomic power plants has been destroyed but no radioactive plume happened because the aliens absorb it. Travis realizes that the aliens really want to save the planet and they won´t stop whiping out humanity. All over the world the military forces of humanity loose against the forces of the aliens. Travis wants Jeffrey to wait for five minutes because Travis wants to call his family. Mobile phones are still working but anybody answers of Travis family. He sends a radio message to the commanding centre of the U.S army to get information about his house. His house is completely destroyed as is the whole area near the house. Travis seems to be very calm and wants Jeffrey to lead the engage. They start their engage and infiltrate the base while General Logan also plans a final strike against the base with his remaining forces. Travis calls General Logan and wants him to wait.

Suddenly Travis, Jeffrey and their soldiers get caught by the aliens. The leader of the aliens introduces himself as the “Creator”. Travis wants the alien to touch his forehead like the first alien did to learn from him. The ´Creator´touches Travis and sees all the positive aspects of human beeing like family and love. General Logan orders the engage and hundreds of missiles hits the main base of the aliens. When the dust is gone we see that nothing happened and the missiles stopped right before the clash. Also the aliens stopped fighting. Travis, Jeffrey and the Creator leaves the main base. General Logan is already there and orders to shoot the Creator. But Travis shouts that the soldiers should stop. Travis made the aliens to stop their attacks in return he will come with them on their journey through the galaxy. The aliens already whiped out every industries on the planet leaving behind pure nature. General Logan doesn´t trust Travis and shoot at the Creator but Travis stopps the bullet. Travis tells Logan that he already lost everything but also he understands the aliens who want to save the planets. Travis and the Creator leaves Logan and the other soldiers entering the huge starship of the aliens. Then the starships of the ´Guardians of Life´ all over the world enter space again leaving behind Earth with its nature and another chance for humanity.

Edited by SilverShark
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Red in the Night

Director: Jeff Wadlow

Studio: Silver Shark Entertainment

Genre: Thriller

Cast: Ryan Reynolds (Derek ), Shemar Moore (Jake)

Budget: $ 17 million

Theater Count: 2,647

Rating: R

Release Date: September 7th

Running Time: 1 hr 33 mins

Plot:

In the night an unknown man kills gangsters in the streets of New York. Many people praise him like a hero but the police wants to stop him. Derek Saloni leads the investigations in the case but without any results yet. The unknown “hero” hasn’t left any hints about his personality or why he does the murders. One week later the police finds seven corpses at a well known house of an infamous gang. On the wall of the house something is written with blood of the victims. “Evil shall be punished with evil.” The unknown man becomes the most wanted murderer in Big Apple. Many months past but Derek and his partner Jake can´t find any suspects in the case. Derek starts to drink very much because he feels desperate about his failing in the case. One night Jake visits Derek to look after him but the commissioner isn’t in his apartment. Jake only finds a bloody coat and a bloody sword which has been used in the murders. Jake is speechless that his partner could be the murderer called “Red Night Killer”. Suddenly Jake receives a phone call from the police department that another murder happened near the apartment of Derek. Derek is already there and leads the investigations again. First Jake doesn’t talk with Derek about what he found in his apartment but then on the way back to the department he takes him to task. Derek can´t believe what he´s hearing. Suddenly his state of mind changes and Derek seems to be very confused. He starts talking about monsters in the night and that he´s the punisher of evil. Jake wants Derek to stop the car but his former friend and partner doesn´t stop. Instead of stopping he crashes the car into a shop and flees. Jake follows him and catches him some streets later in a dead street. Derek wears his suit and has the bloody sword in his hand aiming at Jake. Jake aims with his gun at his friend shouting: “Please don´t force me to do that.” “Evil shall be punished with evil,” Derek shouts and rushes toward Jake who shoots his friend. The “Red Night Killer” will be forgotten but Jake will remember and takes the coat and the sword with him.

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Delta

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Studio: Guernica Films

Budget: 35m

Release Date: April 20-22 2

Rating: PG

Director: Robert Schwentcke

Running Time: 97 mins

Theater Count: 3218


Cast:

Lauren - Rachel McAdams

Stuart - Casey Affleck

Plot:

BASED ON A TRUE STORY from Reader's Digest

LAUREN (McAdams) is 35 and living in Richmond, Virginia. Somehow a lifelong partner doesn’t seem to be in the cards; she is about to coming to peace with that. We show glimpse of her average life, which is full of joy, but she’s unlucky with men. Then I one day she bumps into an old friend at a conference. She starts talking with him, but somebody else is standing there. STUART (Casey Affleck). He is a bit shy to walk up to her, but when she starts talking to another person, he walks up to the friend and says. “I have to meet her.” The friend is very supportive. “She usually goes to the afternoon social hours” Stuart shows up. And there they are talking for the first time. They feel like they’d known each other for a very, very long time. She is a bit dismayed to realize that Stuart is living in Salt Lake City. There is the excitement of feeling really connected however, but then they have to go on separate ways. So they begin a long-distance relationship: Lauren is in Richmond, Stuart is in Salt Lake, and their airline carrier is Delta. They’d fly through Cincinnati or Atlanta. One day Stuart comes up with a funny idea to leave notes for each other. He writes a bit of poetry or some form of appreciation or just a thought. Then he folds them up and tucks them under a chair in the airport and sends a map to her with the gate area, and X marks the spot. She starts to do the same thing. They carry on doing this for a couple of months. They spend Thanksgiving together. Thrn Christmas and New Year. Character building scenes with the family. In January, Lauren runs out ideas and the only thing she can think to put on her note is “Will you marry me?” She isn’t ready to tell him about the note, but she is ready to write it. Around March, she finally gives him a map to find the note.
Stuart flies to Cincinnati and his plane is delayed in landing. He’s running down the concourse, hoping to get to the next plane in time. He’s running at a pretty good clip, and all of a sudden, he remembers the note. He is debating, Should he stop and risk his connection? Can he grab that note? He peels into the gate area and identifies which chair it is. There is a fellow sitting there, wearing a very expensive suit and Stuart walks over and says, “Excuse me, I think I dropped my pen when I was sitting here previously,” and I reaches under the seat. He grabs the note, takes off running down the hallway, and gets to the gate just before the door swung shuts.
Back in Richmond, Lauren is thinking: Did he find the note? What is he going to think? She ducks out of a faculty meeting and drives out to the Richmond airport. She has a big bunch of flowers, and she feels like a bride waiting for her groom. The minute she sees Stuart, she knows that he found the note. He just has that glow. She has the bouquet of flowers, and Stuart gives her big hug, and says “Yes!”

Note fades in:

Stuart and Lauren have been married for 17 years and have a 16-year-old son, Dylan. They live in Salt Lake City and work as psychologists Edited by The Dark Alfred
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Epic Chase

Genre: Action

Cast:
Mark Washington - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

Luke Davis - John Cena
Steve - Shia LaBeouf

Director: Michael Bay

Studio: Public Pictures

MPAA Rating: R(for language and violence)


Release Date: March 16th

Theater Count: 3,002

Run Time: 95 minutes

Budget: $35 Million

Setting: California Coast(SF to LA)


Plot:

The movie starts with a group of people robbing a bank. It all goes wrong when Steve shoots the bank teller(played by Megan fox in a cameo). The leader of the group(Mark Washington) sees this and yells at him like crazy and calls him a fucking moron and says that they are done working together. The police show up after he says this. Mark sneeks out the back with the cash leaving Steve and the rest of the team to get taken in by the police. What he doesn't know is that there was a cop(Luke Davis) parked out back who sees him fleeing the scene of the crime with the cash. He decideds to go on his own and follow him. After about 5 minutes, Mark notices the he is being followed, so he decided to try and out run him.

This causes a chase to break out down the coast of California. The next hour of the movies is just the two chasing after each other in their respective cars. It spans from SF to LA. Not once does Luke call for help as he knows he can catch him by himself. Mark used to race for Nascar, so he is a great driver and is not easy to chase. Lots of crazy action happens during the chase with them shooting at each other, dodging people while driving on the beach, and driving 100 mph on a small 1-lane road.

Once they get to LA, they are both out of gas and their cars just stop in the middle of the road. They get out, and have a staredown. Luke tells him to give up, but Mark won't do it. This causes them to break out in a huge, hand-to-hand fight. While they are fighting, they are dodging cars left and right. Their cars get crashed into behind them by a semi-truck as they are fighting and a big explosion happens. The fight eventually ends with them about to get ran inot by a speeding SUV. Luke jumps out of the way at the last second, but Mark isn't so lucky as he gets smashed into. Luke goes over to him and says, I told you to give up......you should have listened. After this, Luke calls in an ambulance to pick him up and police to come get him and at the hospital.

The movie ends with a big wide shot of all the destruction on the highway. Edited by EmpireStrikesBack
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Dragon Age: Darkness over Ferelden

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Epic

Starring: Chris Hemsworth (Avner Cousland), Eva Green (Morrigan), Chris Evans (Alistair), Mark Strong (Loghain), Idris Elba (Sten), Miranda Richardson (Wynne), with Laurence Fishburne (Duncan), and Helen Mirren (Flemeth)

Co-Starring: Liam Cunningham (Arl Eamon), Benedict Cumberbatch (Fergus Cousland), Léa Seydoux (Leliana), Eddie Marsan (Arl Howe), Rosamund Pike (Queen Anora)

Written and Directed By: Matthew Vaughn

Original Music By: Bear McCreary

Release Date: 11/2

Theater Count: 3602 Theaters

Budget: $160 million

Running Time: 147 minutes

MPAA Rating: R for graphic fantasy violence and sexual content

Plot Summary: A partial adaptation of the video game Dragon Age: Origins.

The film begins with Duncan (Fishburne) narrating about the origin of the Darkspawn. Centuries ago, powerful magicians sought to make themselves gods and challenged the natural order. They were cast down in corrupted forms, losing their humanity but gaining the power to corrupt the world around them. From them came the Darkspawn, mindless savages seeking nothing but destruction. On occasion, the Darkspawn gain enough power to initiate a Blight, a full-scale invasion of the continent of Thedas. It is the task of the Grey Wardens, of whom Duncan is a senior commander, to constantly fight against the Darkspawn.

The scene shifts to the Royal Palace in Denerim, the capital of the country of Ferelden. Present is a council consisting of King Cailan, his queen Anora (Pike), his father-in-law Loghain (Strong), who is the chief military commander, several advisors, and finally Duncan. The council is discussing the massing Darkspawn in the Korcari Wilds in the south. Duncan insists that the Darkspawn have grown stronger and better coordinated. Loghain says that there is no evidence suggesting an archdemon is leading the Darkspawn. When Duncan suggests requesting assistance from the country of Orlais Loghain says he would rather die than see Orlais soldiers on Ferelden soil. Anora beseeches the two to calm down, which they do reluctantly. After some thought, Cailan tells Loghain to get an army ready to move south to meet the Darkspawn head-on. Cailan is very enthusiastic about the idea of battle. Duncan tells Cailan he will acquire new recruits for the Grey Wardens.

In the northern region of Highever, a castle is abuzz with activity. Teryn Bryce Cousland, the lord of Highever, is organizing troops to support King Cailan. Aiding him are his two sons, Fergus (Cumberbatch), the elder, and Avner (Hemsworth), the younger. Fergus will be leaving midday with most of the soldiers while Bryce will leave the following morning with the rest. Avner will stay behind to act as regent. Avner wants to come but is reminded that there must always be a Cousland to rule. Visiting is Arl Rendon Howe (Marsan), an old friend of Bryce. Late in the morning Duncan arrives, looking for Grey Warden recruits. When it is time for Fergus to depart, his wife and young son warmly bid him farewell. After they leave Fergus asks Avner to watch over his family for him.

After Fergus leaves, Bryce, his wife, Avner, Howe, Duncan, and a few other attendants have dinner. Duncan says the signs indicate that the early stages of a Blight may be forming. He also says that that hundreds of Grey Wardens from Orlais are ready to join the fight. This angers Howe, who says that he, Bryce, and many others fought hard to remove Ferelden from Orlais’ occupation just a few decades before. After some more conversation Howe decides it is time to go and gives an oddly stiff farewell. Afterwards Duncan says he has found a couple candidates and will recruit them the following morning. Bryce wishes him luck.

That night Avner is woken by panicked shouts. He climbs out of bed just in time for a man to burst into his room with a sword. Avner fends him off and rushes into the castle halls. He finds his mother and learns that Howe has betrayed them and has sent elite soldiers to storm the castle by surprise. She tells Avner to find Fergus’ family and get them to safety through a secret tunnel. Avner dashes for Fergus’ family and arrives to find them both slain. Avner sadly returns to the main keep to locate his parents. He arrives to find Duncan assisting several guards. Avner learns that the castle will fall soon and that Bryce left to find Avner’s mother. Avner goes to find them, Duncan coming with him since it is essential that he get to Ostagar.

Avner and Duncan find Avner’s mother kneeling over Bryce, who is badly wounded. Bryce tells him that he won’t survive an escape and will stay behind. Avner’s mother, heartbroken, says she will defend her husband’s body. They both ask Duncan to ensure that Avner gets out. Duncan says that because Howe wouldn’t stage a coup without support from other lords, it is likely that both Avner and Fergus have powerful enemies. The best way to guarantee Avner’s safety is to conscript him into the Grey Wardens. Avner agrees without hesitation. After bidding his parents a tearful goodbye, Avner follows Duncan out the secret passageway.

We see a short montage showing Duncan and Avner riding south towards Ostagar. One night, Duncan tells Avner that though joining the Grey Wardens will protect him from his political enemies; it can be a death sentence since they are constantly fighting the Darkspawn. Avner is resolute in his promise and says that he must find Fergus inform him of what happened. Duncan sympathizes and says that he will do his best to locate his brother.

Avner and Duncan arrive at Ostagar, a former city in the south of Ferelden. Its ruins form the base camp for Cailan’s army and border the Korcari Wilds. Duncan is brought before Cailan, who updates him on progress. Several minor victories have been won, though it appears that a major engagement will arise soon. Cailan recognizes Avner and asks how his parents are doing. When Avner mentions Howe’s coup Cailan is shocked and promises that when the fighting is over he will personally ensure that Howe pays. Avner asks about Fergus and is told by Cailan that his brother is leading a scouting mission and may not return in time for the battle.

After the king excuses himself Duncan takes Avner into the camp and tells him that very soon he and other recruits found in recent days will be initiated into the Grey Wardens. He tells Avner to find Alistair, who is watching over the recruits.

After some exploring, Avner finds Alistair (Evans). Alistair has a very light-hearted and jesting personality. After some banter in which Avner proves an equal of wits, Alistair introduces Avner to the other recruits: Jory, Daveth, and Harrin. Another Grey Warden shows up and hands Alistair a note from Duncan. Alistair reads it and announces that it looks like the five of them are to go on an “adventure” into the Korcari Wilds as preparation for the four recruits taking part of the “Joining,” which is the initiation into the Grey Wardens.

The five enter the Korcari Wilds. Alistair explains that their journey has two purposes. The first is that they are to find a ruined keep which holds copies of old Grey Warden documents. The second is that they are to collect materials needed for the Joining, including Darkspawn blood. After some trekking Alistair stops and says that a party of Darkspawn is close and when asked how he knows replies sensing Darkspawn is an effect of the Joining. Soon a group of several Darkspawn are spotted. The group dispatches the Darkspawn and collects samples of their blood. Soon they reach the ruined keep and look for the documents but find nothing. Another party of Darkspawn arrives, larger than the first. This group of Darkspawn has a shaman leading them who summons infested wolves. The battle is grueling, with Harrin being torn apart by the wolves. Though the others kill several Darkspawn and wolves, the situation is dire until a blast of magical lightning fries a couple Darkspawn. A second blast takes down some more and forces the remaining Darkspawn to retreat. The group turns around to face their unexpected ally and find a young woman standing. “Look what we have here” Morrigan (Green) muses aloud.

Back at the camp, Duncan is escorted into Loghain’s tent. Duncan brings up Howe’s coup in Highever. Loghain says that it was a shame what happened to Bryce Cousland. When asked how Howe could have gotten the courage for the coup, Loghain says that with so many officials in the borderlands, Howe must have seen an opportunity.

Avner and the others back away from Morrigan. Alistair says that Morrigan is a witch and cannot be trusted, though Avner reminds him that she also just saved their lives. After some banter which ends in Morrigan mocking Alistair, Morrigan asks if they were here for the old documents and says her mother took them long ago. Alistair asks her to take them to her mother and she does. Her mother is Flemeth (Mirren) and she is interested in the group. She gives them the documents since she has no use for them. Alistair tells the others that the documents are old treaties binding various groups to ally with the Wardens against the Darkspawn during a Blight. Alistair is still distrusting of Morrigan and Flemeth since they are witches but Avner says if they meant harm it would already have happened. Flemeth remarks that it’s rare to see a smart Grey Warden. Finally Alistair says they should return back to the camp. As they do, Flemeth tells Morrigan “I think we shall have to keep an eye on them.”

Upon returning to camp the four are met by Duncan. He tells Avner, Jory, and Daveth to wait for a summons and takes Alistair with him. Avner and the other two wait, debating what goes on in the Joining based on rumors they have heard. Eventually a Grey Warden arrives to tell them that Duncan wants them.

At an isolated clearing, Duncan and Alistair are waiting. Duncan explains that the items they collected are mixed together into a potion. The most important element is the Darkspawn blood, since it partially infuses the Grey Warden with the Darkspawn corruption. This gives Grey Wardens physical and mental advantages. When Jory points out that ingesting Darkspawn blood is almost always fatal, Duncan says that the potion is such that half of those who drink it die. Daveth is the first to drink. he goes into convulsions and after a few seconds lies still. Duncan says a prayer before looking at Jory. Though it is his turn, Jory refuses to go through with it. When he pulls out his sword, Duncan disarms him and kills him. Avner is appalled but Duncan says that Jory drew his weapon first. Avner honors his commitment and drinks the potion for the Joining. After a few seconds he too goes into convulsions and then everything goes black.

In a first-person view we see a swirling, green-tinted flurry of images of Darkspawn assembling for war, slaughtering animals in the wilds, on the march, and finally an image of a massive spiked dragon landing on a hilltop and bellowing a frightening call at a horde of Darkspawn numbering in the thousands, which begins to march.

Avner wakes up and sees Alistair. Alistair welcomes him back into the land of the living. Avner mentions he saw hazy visions and is told that one side effect of drinking Darkspawn blood is that they occasionally unconsciously tap into the collective minds of the Darkspawn and experience visions as well as sensing them. The drawback is that as a Grey Warden grows in power, the Darkspawn can sense them too. Alistair says that Duncan wishes them to attend a final strategy session before the battle.

At the session, Cailan is presenting his plan. Half of the army, including all of the Grey Wardens, will lure the Darkspawn into an attack. After the Darkspawn army is engaged Loghain with the other half will assault the enemy’s flank. Duncan asks for time to assemble more forces but Loghain insists that there is no point in delaying further. Duncan accedes to Cailan’s plan but volunteers his Grey Wardens to light a beacon tower to signal Loghain’s forces to spring the trap. Cailan proclaims that soon his first great victory will occur. Loghain appears to be in a sour mood.

Avner and Alistair arrive and are told by Duncan of the plan. He tells Avner that since he has only just been through the Joining he will light the tower’s beacon. He tells Alistair to stay with Avner, which frustrates Alistair since he wants to fight at Duncan’s side. Duncan tells Alistair that he is very capable, but the time to prove his worth hasn’t yet come.

While waiting, Avner and Alistair talk about their past lives. Alistair says that he was an orphan whose guardian sent him to be inducted into the Templars, an organization of warriors whose purpose is to watch over the Circle of Magi and hunt down rogue mages, which is why he was suspicious of Flemeth and Morrigan. However he was recruited by Duncan into the Grey Wardens. Alistair sees Duncan as a father figure.

Cailan’s forces assemble. After some tense waiting the Darkspawn appear, a horde in the thousands coming from the forest. Archers and catapults fire upon the approaching enemy. Once the Darkspawn get close Cailan gives the order to charge and his army rushes forward. The two forces collide and thousands of warriors hack at one another, with the Darkspawn growing more numerous by the minute.

After a short time Alistair tells Avner that it is time to send the signal. At the tower they are told that a raiding party of Darkspawn has flanked the army and is entering the camp. Hurrying, they race to the top of the tower and light the beacon. As the beacon fire burns several Darkspawn break into the top chamber, forcing Avner and Alistair to fend them off.

As the battle rages, Loghain observes it grimly. His lieutenant, Cauthrien, asks if it is time to advance, but Loghain gives the order to retreat instead. Cauthrien is shocked and says that will leave the king in tremendous danger, so Loghain repeats that he gave her an order. Subdued, Cauthrien gives the order to retreat and Loghain’s half of the army begins a march to the north.

Down in the battle, the situation grows desperate as the Darkspawn numbers continue to grow. Cailan is cutting Darkspawn down until suddenly an ogre appears and grabs the king and then snaps his spine. Duncan, too late to help, uses a burst of energy to rush the ogre and kill it. Exhausted, he staggers towards Cailan’s body. Looking at the king’s body and then at the lit beacon, Duncan realizes they have been betrayed. He does nothing as a Darkspawn soldier rushes towards him and swings a sword towards his neck.

In the beacon tower, Alistair is growing concerned, wondering why the reinforcements aren’t coming. With the battle becoming a rout, they decide that they need to link up with other survivors. They get out of the tower, but during their escape both Avner and Alistair are struck by arrows that wound them. Avner is knocked off his feet when a fiery explosion occurs nearby. Losing consciousness, the last thing he sees is something that looks like a dragon.

Avner wakes up in a cottage, a bandage covering his upper chest. He sees Alistair unconscious on a cot next to his and after a few seconds he is spoken to by a woman’s voice. It is Morrigan and she remarks that it appears that Avner and Alistair owe her twice now. She explains that she and her mother were observing the battle and decided it was best to rescue the two of them. Alistair begins to stir and Morrigan tells Avner to get the two of them ready, since her mother would like to speak to them both.

After rousing Alistair and briefly explaining the situation, the two exit the cottage to find Morrigan and Flemeth waiting for them. Flemeth says that she helped them because the Darkspawn threaten every living thing in Thedas. She says that Loghain’s troops left the battle without fighting and few managed to escape Ostagar. This enrages Alistair. Avner guesses that Loghain is making a power play. Alistair remembers the treaties they found in the ruins and says that with them they can bring the rest of Ferelden into an alliance against the Darkspawn, which may settle the political situation. Flemeth agrees and tells them that the area north of Ostagar is becoming infested with Darkspawn. She says Morrigan will guide them through the Wilds to the town of Lothering. Morrigan is disgruntled about having to lead the two, but gets more annoyed when Flemeth says she will be joining them on their quest. Alistair is reluctant to bring a witch along with the group but Avner decides that the more they have to help the better. Flemeth also says that Morrigan is very powerful and they will need her strength in the days to come. Morrigan and Alistair are eventually convinced it is for the best and the three soon set out.

The scene shifts to Denerim. Loghain, with Anora at his side, announces the death of King Cailan, which disheartens a crowd. Loghain tells them that the time to mourn will be later, since now the time has come to unite under a strong banner and crush the Darkspawn. One of the nobles, Arl Eamon (Cunningham), is skeptical of Loghain’s motives. Loghain says that as Anora’s father and the commander of Ferelden’s armies he is merely doing his duty. Eamon says that he and other nobles believe differently. He appeals to Anora to assert herself but Anora remains silent.

After the assembly, Loghain meets with Howe, Anora off to the side looking unsure. Loghain says that with Eamon as the puppetmaster, many nobles will argue and even rebel as he unites them under his banner due to his prestige and as the uncle of Cailan. Howe reassures Loghain that their plans will continue to unfold. Just as they’ve overthrown the Couslands, so too will Arl Eamon fall.

A vision, somewhat foggy, shows the Darkspawn again on the move, looking undeterred by losses at Ostagar. After several shots of the Darkspawn forces the vision shows the black spiked dragon from before perched on a hilltop, scanning the horizon. It then looks directly ahead in the vision, straight at the audience.

Avner wakes up in a start, sweating. He looks over and sees Alistair awake and learns that he also saw the vision as well. Avner is told that the dragon in the vision is an Archdemon, one of the sleeping old gods who on occasion are awakened by the Darkspawn. When that happens the god is corrupted and a Blight occurs as the Archdemon has the power to coordinate the mindless Darkspawn.

A couple scenes show Avner, Alistair, and Morrigan traveling north. They don’t talk much, with Morrigan especially refusing to engage in conversation aside from mocking Alistair with humorous insults.

Avner, Alistair, and Morrigan arrive at the outskirts of Lothering to find it in chaos, with hundreds of refugees camped outside the town or passing through. Avner wants to search for Fergus but is dissuaded from the idea, since Fergus if not dead could be anywhere. Instead they enter Lothering, searching for news. They learn that a bounty has been placed on the Grey Wardens by Loghain, who is using them as a scapegoat for Cailan’s death. They are also attacked by several soldiers after Alistair lets it slip that he and Avner are Grey Wardens. The three are aided in driving off the soldiers by Leliana (Sagnier), a young woman who is a low-level cleric in the local Chantry church. Leliana offers to give them aid for their journey in exchange for aiding her church. That matter involves dealing bandits preying on refugees. While resupplying at the church, Avner encounters Sten (Elba), a formidable qunari warrior who has been imprisoned in Lothering on murder charges. Sten’s acceptance of his fate intrigues Avner, who promises to see what he can do.

Leliana joins the three in dispatching the bandits and shows that she has formidable skills. After returning they hear news that a large force of Darkspawn is approaching the town. With the contingent of templars and militia heavily outnumbered, Avner promises to assist in defending the town while the civilians flee north. Avner strikes a deal with the templar commander to let Sten go in exchange for his service in defending the town. Sten is reluctant to leave his cell since he wants to be punished for his crime, but after Avner says that Sten can pay his debt by helping him fight the Darkspawn, Sten agrees. Avner and the others work to aid the Lothering defenders in holding the Darkspawn at bay. For a time they are successful but soon the Darkspawn break through, leaving the companions no choice but to retreat. From a hilltop they watch Lothering burn as the Darkspawn slaughter those who weren’t able to flee.

Sometime later, the five are encamped in a forest. Avner and Alistair sit by a fire with Leliana and Sten planning where they should go next. Alistair, still seething over what Loghain has done and wants to take the group to Redcliffe, a prosperous area in the west ruled by Arl Eamon. Avner agrees and goes off, leaving the others. Alistair, knowing nothing of the other two, tries to break the ice but gets nowhere due to Leliana being coy and Sten being silent as a stone.

Avner finds Morrigan. The two strike up a conversation and Avner is able to edge past her cynicism to learn a bit about her childhood where Flemeth found her and raised her to use magic. They talk a bit more about Morrigan’s her distrust of the outside world and Morrigan admits that most people she’s encountered away from home have been worthless or pitiful. Avner asks “what about me?” and Morrigan, smiling, says that the jury is still out on him. As they return to the camp Morrigan looks at a hawk circling in the sky.

After a few scenes showing them travelling, the five arrive at the outskirts of Redcliffe, a large castle looming over a good-sized town. Alistair pulls Avner aside and says that he must tell him something. Alistair tells Avner that Arl Eamon was his guardian as a child but then sent him to live in the care of the templars. When Avner asks why Eamon would do such a thing Alistair says he was ordered to by King Maric, Cailan’s father. Alistair says that he and Eamon are not on the best of terms anymore.

Redcliffe’s streets are mostly deserted. Sten comments that there is a stench of fear in the air. Eventually they reach a square with a couple people who soon hurry away. Alistair comments that he has a bad feeling about all of this, at which point over a dozen city guards surround the group, all of the guards nervous and suspicious. Avner assures the guards that they mean no threat and are seeking assistance from Arl Eamon. This calms things down and the guards decide to escort the group to Eamon’s castle.

Once they get to the castle Alistair asks to see Arl Eamon but is told he is badly ill. This news surprises Alistair, but even more surprising is who is running Redcliffe with Eamon out of commission: Fergus. The brothers reunite and share a sad moment remembering the deaths at Highever due to Howe’s betrayal. Fergus says that his scouting party was forced to retreat from Ostagar. When they reached a nearby town they heard of the defeat. Fergus tells Avner that Loghain has publicly supported Howe’s actions by saying that the Couslands were part of a Grey Warden conspiracy. Redcliffe was one of the few safe places to go and but before he got here Arl Eamon fell ill, though it appears he was poisoned. Avner tells Fergus that they need to see Eamon.

Fergus takes the two to see Eamon, who is bedridden. He recognizes Alistair and shows signs that he is glad to see him. Before slipping into unconsciousness he tells Alistair and Avner that the most important thing is to unite Ferelden with the Grey Warden treaties. Avner and Alistair leave the room with Fergus, who tells them that the poison is slow-acting, which has paralyzed the opposition since they can’t do anything until they know if Eamon will live. Avner points out that it also gives them time to find a cure. Fergus says that before he got to Redcliffe Eamon sent out knights to search for the Urn of Sacred Ashes. Alistair laughs that it’s a myth but Fergus says Eamon had enough evidence to prove it existed at some point. Avner thinks they need to share this information with the whole group.

A council is held with the entire group and Fergus. Sten, who is a foreigner, is told briefly about the Urn of Scared Ashes, which is said to hold the ashes of the female religious figure Andraste, and the ashes are said to be able to heal any injury. Eamon had sent knights out to investigate every rumor and a handful of days ago, a badly wounded knight, the only one of his group to return, had the first hard evidence of the Urn being real and its location and died shortly after passing the info over.

Later, the members of the group have been given rooms in the castle to stay in. Avner is getting ready to rest in his when Fergus shows up. The two brothers talk, Avner giving a more detailed account of the attack on Highever. Fergus is torn up over what happened to his family and Avner feels just as bad for failing to keep them safe. The two brothers swear vengeance on Howe.

The next day Alistair approaches Avner and tells him that if he plans to go to recover a mythical urn then he won’t join him since it could easily be a waste of time. Alistair tells Avner that he is going to go to the Circle of Magi and obtain not only their consent to the Warden treaties but also a healer to keep Eamon alive. Avner tells Alistair to take Leliana with him so he isn’t trekking on his own.

The stage is set for the group to split up. Avner, Morrigan, and Sten will set off for the remote mountain town of Haven, which is where the evidence points, with a small contingent of Redcliffe knights as backup. Meanwhile Alistair and Leliana will make the trek to the Circle Tower on the shore of Lake Calenhad in order to obtain both a healer to keep Eamon alive and to convince the Circle of Magi to honor their treaty with the Grey Wardens. Fergus will remain in Redcliffe to continue to oversee things.

The scene shifts to a fortified town with a few hundred militia congregating outside. Approaching the town are several hundred soldiers led by Loghain and Howe. Loghain gives the town one final chance, but the local leader hesitates so Loghain declares that any lord that will not swear loyalty to him will be a traitor. The lord tries to flee as Loghain orders the nearby royal soldiers to charge the militia. The soldiers do so and within seconds the militia scatter. In the ensuing rout dozens of militiamen are cut down. Other soldiers enter the town and pillage parts of it as a scare tactic. Howe comments that sometimes destruction and terror can be a beautiful thing. Meanwhile, men on horseback chase down the local lord and drag him back to Loghain. Looking over the cowering lord one last time, Loghain laughs at the man for being weak and beheads him. Afterwards, Loghain tells Howe that he will let nothing stand in the way of his making Ferelden a nation to fear. Howe concurs and tells Loghain that many nobles are sympathetic to Arl Eamon and will side with him if he recovers. Loghain nods and tells Howe to come up with a plan to ensure that no rebellion forms.

We jump to Alistair and Leliana trekking northeast towards the Circle Tower. One night in their journey they talk and get to know one another better. Leliana asks Alistair why saving Eamon means so much to him. Alistair replies that Eamon was the closest thing Alistair had to a father for some years. He also says that they had a falling out that he never had a chance to fix up. Leliana sympathizes with Alistair and the topic of conversation shifts to her. Leliana says that before she worked for the Chantry in Lothering she was a traveling bard who spent time in both Orlais and Ferelden. Alistair comments that many bards are allegedly undercover spies who use their talents to eavesdrop and steal information. Leliana laughs and smiles at Alistair, dismissing the speculation. The two continue to talk amidst the firelight of the camp.

The scene shifts to the other expedition, trekking slowly up a southern portion of the daunting Frostback Mountains. We see a scene of them in a dense forest. While camped, Sten confronts Avner about his concerns that this mission could be a waste of time. Sten says that Avner freed him so that he could atone by fighting the Darkspawn, but this mission could divert valuable time from doing just that. Avner says that as a convicted murderer Sten should be happy to simply be alive. Sten, indignant, tells Avner that he is no murderer. He explains that in his travels he angered a mercenary who sent men after him. One night near Lothering he took shelter with a farmer’s family and left the next day. The thugs following him tracked him to the farmer and massacred the family. Sten, feeling responsible for their deaths, didn’t contest the murder charge. Understanding Sten better, Avner promises him that this expedition will do more to help save lives than anything else they could have done.

Afterwards Avner returns to his tent and finds Morrigan lurking. The witch tells him that these grim matters have bored her and she wishes for a diversion. Avner asks what she has in mind and Morrigan, smiling seductively, says “Oh something I’m sure you’ve had on your mind since we’ve met.” She walks into Avner’s tent, Avner following her. Inside, Morrigan all but attacks Avner, kissing him violently and tearing at his clothes. Avner acts similarly and the two engage in passionate sex in his tent.

Avner wakes up sweaty and Morrigan chuckles as she pulls on her clothes and tells Avner to come with her as they should talk. After dressing, Avner follows Morrigan to a clearing a short distance away. Morrigan tells Avner that she has been watching him and finds that he is very trusting of the individuals he surrounds himself with and that that is a mistake. Avner says that he has no problem trusting those who aid him and wonders if she is telling him not to trust her. Morrigan’s reply is that he shouldn’t trust anyone. Avner comments that it must have been a hard and lonely life for Morrigan in order for her to believe in such a code. Morrigan but also says that to trust another person opens the door for further emotional attachments that could lead to trouble. Avner’s retort is that such attachments aren’t so bad once you try them out. Morrigan chuckles and says that such naiveté by Avner almost makes her curious enough to take him up on the offer. She says that Flemeth never really cared for her and is simply using her as a tool to suit her own agenda. “If you can’t trust even the people you love, then it is better simply to not trust at all” she says. Avner shakes his head and departs. Shortly afterwards the hawk Morrigan saw before lands in the clearing and morphs into Flemeth. Flemeth asks how things are and Morrigan says that Avner trusts her. Flemeth says that is good and that she needs to build that trust so that the two can come closer together. Flemeth then morphs back into a hawk and flies away from a shaken Morrigan.

After a couple short scenes the film shows the group reaching Haven. After some initial investigation they find an old man, Eirik. Eirik is evasive and says that he hasn’t heard about any knights visiting the town recently. Avner thinks something is off and whispers for Morrigan and Sten to nose around the village. They search together and bicker a little, but soon come across in the local religious house a locked room in which they find a weak man tied to a chair. The man says that he is Luke, a knight from Redcliffe being held as a hostage with valuable information.

Outside Eirik is still trying to stall when Morrigan and Sten show up with Luke, saying that the locals killed the other Redcliffe knights. This news causes Eirik to proclaim that no one will find the secrets Haven watches over. He makes a signal and a flock of fighters appear. He tells Avner to leave Haven or they will all die. Avner says that Eirik is right that one group is going to die. Morrigan launches a pre-emptive strike, firing a fireball at several cultists. The fight spirals from there with a handful of Redcliffe knights falling but the Haven locals being routed quickly. Eirik, badly wounded, says that they shall never defile their Lady. Avner shakes his head and looks at the others and says they need to press forward immediately. Luke, feeling a little stronger, comes forward and says that before he was captured he learned much about where the Urn of Sacred Ashes is. Avner tells him to lead the way.

The film shifts back to Leliana and Alistair, who have arrived at the Circle Tower, which sits on an island. They find the docks guarded by templars; who tell them that the tower has been sealed due to a dangerous demonic infestation. Alistair tells the templars that he is a Grey Warden and is on a very important mission to secure aid against the Darkspawn. The templars are reluctant to let Alistair pass but they do, telling him to see their commander.

Alistair and Leliana meet with Knight-Commander Greagoir. Greagoir tells them that a demonic infestation arose several hours ago and many mages and templars were killed by the summoned demons. Greagoir has sent off for the Right of Annulment, which gives a templar commander the right to slay any mage in a demonic outbreak as a way to contain the spread. Unless a senior official of the Circle stands before him to say the outbreak is over, Greagoir will invoke its authority to slay every mage in the tower. Alistair pleads for Greagoir to let him help stop the outbreak since he needs to secure the mages’ aid against the Darkspawn. Greagoir allows the two of them to enter the tower with a couple templars as assistance, but warns them that once they enter they’ll be sealed in the tower until it is cleared or the Right arrives.

Inside the tower, all is quiet, with a handful of scattered bodies on the lowest floor. Leliana asks Alistair if his judgment is clouded by his feelings of regret towards Eamon and Alistair admits that it may be, but asks Leliana to trust him and help him. Leliana agrees and says she hopes that Alistair will do the same for her if the need ever arises.

Entering the second floor they find a young mage in a fetal position on a floor, muttering gibberish nervously. Seeing Alistair, he jumps to his feet and begs them to kill him before “they” awake. The mage screams as his body lifts off the ground and bursts into flame from the inside-out. After disintegrating before the group, what remains is a misty demon. It summons several spiked demons which assault the group. The couple templars are killed and Alistair and Leliana are in dire straits until an older female mage shows up and blasts the remaining demons away. The mage introduces herself as Wynne (Richardson), a senior instructor at the tower. She quickly explains that the outbreak occurred due to one of the senior mages, Uldred, leading a revolt against First Enchanter Irving since he wished to not be bound by restrictions on blood magic. He summoned demons to aid him but things spiraled out of control. Wynne says that they must quickly kill Uldred and save Irving.

Alistair, Leliana, and Wynne move through the tower, encountering a couple more fights with parties of demons. After these fights they go to the top floor where they find Uldred holding Irving and several mages hostage. Uldred says that by allowing a demon to enter his body he is more powerful than ever. The final fight ensues with Uldred morphing into a tall and deformed Pride Demon. In the end Uldred and the abominations he creates are killed and Irving and some of the hostage mages are saved. They return to the base of the tower to meet with Greagoir and inform him of what has transpired. Greagoir tells Irving he will cede authority back to him.

In a conversation wrapping things up, Alistair and Leliana bring up both the Grey Warden treaty and the need to heal Arl Eamon. Irving says that he will make sure the mages in Ferelden honor the treaty and stand by the Grey Wardens against the Darkspawn. As for the second matter, Irving has no mages to spare since so many died in the Circle Tower, but Wynne volunteers to go with them and help keep Eamon alive out of gratitude for their efforts.

The film returns to the other expedition, which is climbing a mountain pass above Haven. Luke guides the way until they reach the top of the pass, where they see a cave. Luke says that this was as far as he got before he was captured. Avner thanks him and has a couple knights return with him to Haven. The few other knights go with Avner, Morrigan, and Sten into the cave. The cave opens into a massive cavern. As the group walks into the middle of the cavern Sten says they are being watched. Sure another the glinting of many eyes light up and out of the darkness come several short but long lizard creatures with scales, spikes, and long tails. They are young dragons, and they surround the group while a grizzled-looking man emerges from a cave opening.

The man, Kolgrim, applauds the group for making it this far but then tells them that the Urn of Sacred will never be taken from its resting place. Kolgrim rambles about how Andraste was reborn as a dragon and now protects the top of the mountain, and any attempt to get to the Urn would have to kill her. Kolgrim and his people are clearly insane and Avner tells Kolgrim that he won’t let the ravings of a madman cause Ferelden to fall apart. Morrigan creates a magical fire barrier around them, though which they all launch attacks at the enemies. The young dragons rush through the flames to attack the group. Too young to breathe fire, they have tails with spikes, clawed feet, and sharp teeth. Avner, Sten, and others hack at the young dragons and soon butcher them all, though a few of the knights fall. In the end Kolgrim’s followers are destroyed and Kolgrim flees through a passage as Avner and the others give chase. The chase leads to an exit from the mountain onto a snowy plateau overlooking a canyon. Kolgrim stumbles to a large gong and shouts “Andraste show them your power!” Kolgrim rings the gong. Nothing happens for a minute and then suddenly an ear-shattering screech sounds. Out of the snowy sky appears a massive purplish-blue form that lands with a thud, crushing Kolgrim’s body beneath it. It is a high dragon.

The high dragon glares at the group, which suddenly feels paralyzed. Avner, Morrigan, Sten, and the others feel their vision grow hazy and hear a cold whisper in their minds, the voice of the dragon trying to control them. Though the knights are frozen, Avner with Morrigan’s help is able to shake off the attempt and Sten is too.

The dragon bellows and breathes fire at the group, burning up the Redcliff knights. Avner organizes a plan which has Sten distracting the high dragon while Morrigan fires magic blasts from afar. The strategy works a little with the dragon suffering some minor wounds, but it also injures Sten with a swipe of its massive spiked tail. Avner then enacts the next part of his plan. Having climbed a small cliff, he signals Morrigan to blast the cliff, which causes some of it to collapse on top of the dragon. As the high dragon recovers Avner leaps down onto the dragon’s back and slashes it several times with his sword. The high dragon roars in pain and in the confusion Sten rushes in and hack at its side. Morrigan then fires a charged lightning bolt that causes the dragon to collapse.

Avner leaps to the ground and walks to the dragon’s head. As he stands over it, the high dragon attempts one last mental link, this time showing a vision of the archdemon summoning dragons to serve it. Snapping out of it, Avner raises his sword and swipes it down, severing the dragon’s neck.

After the survivors recover from the ordeal, they cross the canyon on a land bridge and enter a temple carved into a cliffside. Inside they find suspended over a dais a plain-looking urn. Avner takes a small amount of the ashes within and puts them into a pouch.

On the road back to Redcliffe we see a scene with Alistair and Leliana getting to know Wynne better as Wynne talks about her time as a mage. The scene then changes Alistair, Wynne, and Leliana returning to Redcliffe. Fergus tells them that Eamon is near death and Wynne says she might be able to prolong things. As Wynne starts to save Eamon by going into a magical trance, Alistair asks Fergus if there has been any word from Avner or the others and Fergus shakes his head. Alistair goes to Eamon’s old study to wait, fearful Eamon will still die. Leliana finds him there and says Wynne is strong and can keep him alive, and Alistair replies it won’t matter since it’s just a delaying tactic. Leliana comforts him and says she is here to help.

We see a scene of Avner and company on their way back to Redcliffe. Avner talks to Morrigan and Sten about the vision the high dragon showed him and Sten says that when a Blight is in full process an archdemon can bind other dragons to its will. It is a sign of what will come if Ferelden falls. Morrigan returns to her own tent and enters a magical trance where Flemeth communicates with her. Flemeth says her daughter is doing so well, but is not being fully tested. Flemeth says that the time is coming for Morrigan to show her true worth and fulfill Flemeth’s plans. Morrigan after the trance is shaken, unsure of how to deal with her dual roles.

After a period of time Wynne emerges, physically drained, and tells Alistair, Leliana, and Fergus that Eamon is out of danger for now, but to fully cure him is beyond her ability. Fergus says it is enough for now. Alistair enters Eamon’s room and breaks down, apologizing for how he behaved towards Eamon in their last meeting. Eamon forgives Alistair and apologizes himself for allowing others to push Alistair into a life he didn’t deserve. “Now Alistair,” he says “It is time for you to lead.”

Avner, Morrigan, Sten, and a couple surviving knights return to Redcliffe and after being introduced to Wynne Avner has her take the ashes and use her magic to make a potion that can cure Eamon. The process works and Eamon is rejuvenated enough to do minor work. In a private meeting with Eamon, Alistair, and Fergus, Eamon tells Avner that much work still needs to be done. While he and Fergus begin to rally the dissenting nobles against Loghain, Avner and Alistair must secure the alliance of the Dwarves of Orzammar and the Dalish Elves of the Brecilian Forest. Avner nods but says that Loghain needs to be dealt with first. Eamon agrees and says that unless Anora is willing to stand up to her father, a new monarch will be needed. As they talk, Alistair looks uncomfortable.

That night Avner paces in a hallway when Morrigan approaches. The witch jokes a person can only take so much brooding, which causes Avner to smile. Avner says that so much grim talk does require something to take the mind off it. He turns and tells Morrigan that he’d like their earlier tryst to grow into something more meaningful. Morrigan coyly says that she’s not that kind of woman. Avner smiles and says that he’ll just have to make it a project of his then before pulling her towards him and kissing her. The two retreat into a nearby bedroom.

In Denerim, Anora approaches her father to tell him that things appear to be on the brink of chaos. The Darkspawn are massing in the south and many nobles appear to be on the verge of rebellion. Loghain assures his daughter that things will soon be under control. Anora, feeling a bit unsure, asks her father if he left her husband to die at Ostagar. Loghain suddenly grows outraged and shouts that everything he has done has been to ensure a strong Ferelden. He tells Anora to not be so naïve about politics and storms into his private chambers. There he finds Howe waiting for him. Howe tells Loghain that rumors indicate that Eamon has recovered from his poisoning and that a few surviving Grey Wardens are allied with him. Loghain, angry, demands to know why Howe has done nothing to stop them. Howe, always clever, says that Eamon was only a part of the problem but now he knows where the real danger lies. Howe tells Loghain that what they must do now is to let the enemy go ahead with their plans and soon they will come out into the open where they can be taken out. Howe says he is finalizing a plan to do that.

A vision of the arch-demon. It looks dead ahead into the camera as a voice whispers that it has felt the Wardens grow in power. Now that it knows who seek to destroy it and it will enjoy seeing the Wardens despair as its armies annihilate the world. The vision changes to show an army of Darkspawn, larger than any yet seen, covering the whole expanse of the horizon.

Avner slips out to take a walk after dressing. In the castle grounds he encounters Alistair, who had the same vision. Alistair looks uncomfortable and Avner asks if he is alright. Alistair says he but soon admits that he is troubled by what Eamon wishes for him to do. Alistair brings up what he said before about King Maric having Eamon send him away. He tells Avner that the reason he was forced into the templars is because that he is the illegitimate son of the deceased Maric, which means that he is the ultimate chess piece in the battle against Loghain. Alistair says he is afraid that he’ll be pushed this way and that and won’t be able to act for himself. Avner reassures Alistair that no matter what he’ll be at his side to help him through this. He then tells Alistair about his vision given by the high dragon and says this means that stopping the current Archdemon before Ferelden falls is more important than ever. Alistair is shaken by the news but says that just like Avner; he is willing to see this through. The two Grey Wardens clasp hands as the camera pulls up and out to focus on the distant horizon, where a blood-red sun begins to rise.

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Trader Haters

Director: Paul Greengrass

Cast:

Aaron Paul.……………………Paxton

Billy Crudup…………………..Eli

Zoe Kravitz……………………Kiele

Jared Leto……………………..Malick

Release Date: May 11

Theater Count: 3,117

Budget: 100 mil.

Run time: 122 min.

Rating: R for strong bloody violence, a scene of rape, nudity, drug use, and language

We zoom across a desert landscape. Imagine if Paul Greengrass was given the reigns to a Borderlands film and you’ve got this film’s look. A pack of mutated looking dogs race across the hot dirt, we can literally sense the panic in their movements. The camera turns to reveal a group of men pursuing them on rusty hover bikes. (NOTE: Everything in this film looks gritty and dirty. Imagine you found a collection of futuristic devices that have sat there forever. They’re all rusted, and may or may not work properly.) The leader of this ragtag group was Eli. A large brute of a man. His attire matched that of many in this wasteland. A white button-up, browned from the dirt in the wind, covered with a tattered military jacket, and goggles to keep the sand from his eyes. He kept one hand on the handlebars of his bike, another on his rifle, lining up a shot. He fires and one of the hounds collapses. The group race over it. They’d come back for it later. They had other hounds to catch. The hounds begin to drop like flies, letting out moans as they are struck. It’s a tragic sight to see. Soon, there was just one left, the alpha dog himself. Eli smiles, and we get a glimpse of his yellow teeth. “He’s mine!” he yells to the others. Eli charges after the hound, clipping it from behind with his bike. The hound yelps. It continues on as Eli pulls up beside it and nudges it. He was taunting the poor thing. The hound reaches an overturned tree and darts into a hole that had been dug beneath it. Eli stops his bike and examines it. Inside, the hound had taken a defensive stance, snarling at his pursuer. Behind the hound was about a dozen pups. For a brief moment it looks as if Eli will be sympathetic and spare them. Then he suddenly raises his gun and fires. The blood splatters onto the pups, who yelp with fear. “Hit the jackpot today,” he says, and continues firing. We stay on his face as he continues to slaughter the hound family. He was taking great pleasure in this.

A lone figure limps across the dirt. This man was Paxton, and he looked like he just got into a brawl with Hell itself. Behind him, he leaves a trail of blood. Up ahead he spots the outlines of a group of buildings. He picks up his pace at the sight of safety. Paxton enters the small town. No one was outside, so he limps to a building and tries to enter the front doors. No such luck. He curses and goes around the back where he finds an unlocked door. He stumbles inside and collapses into a chair. A man races over and pulls a rusty pistol on him. Paxton raises his hands in fear. The man pulls the trigger before Paxton can plead his case. Paxton clinches his eyes closed, thinking he had officially bit the dust. He opens his eyes to see a flag protruding from it that read, “P***y.” The man smiles and pushes the flag back into the pistol, then holds out his hand. “Malick,” he says. Paxton shakes his hand and gives his name. “What the hell happened to you,” Malick asks. “My caravan was attacked by a group of raiders. Slaughtered everyone. I’ve been wandering the desert for a full day now,” Paxton replies. Malick takes a swig from a flask, then hands it to Paxton. “My next show doesn’t start for another hour. Let me take you to the doctor,” Malick says. “That would be great,” Paxton replies.

Paxton emerges from the doctor’s building all bandaged up. Across the road he sees a familiar face enter the bar. He limps over and heads inside. Sitting by herself, downing some whisky, was Kiele. Paxton takes a seat next to her. “It really is you,” he says. Kiele turns, taking a few seconds to figure out who he was. “Paxton?” she asks. “Yeah. I haven’t seen you in ten years,” Paxton exclaims, hugging her. He’s obviously more excited about this reunion than her. “Let me buy you another drink. We can catch up,” he says. “I’m not the girl you think I am, Pax. And I’ve got to get to work. Maybe we can talk a bit later?” Kiele gets up and walks away leaving Paxton confused.

Paxton enters the building he met Malick in, only this time through the front door. A crowd had begun to form around a small stage, waiting for a show to start. Paxton takes a seat and sets his eyes on the stage. On stage, Malick emerges from behind a curtain. He looks like a post-apocalyptic Criss Angel with his long brown hair and eye liner. “Ladies and gents, prepare yourself for a show unlike anything you’ve ever seen,” he begins in his monologue. Soon he cuts to the chase, snapping his fingers, causing fires to spark from thin air. The crowd “oohs” and two scantily clad women take the stage. Paxton is shocked to see that one of these women was Kiele. The other woman chains Kiele’s hands up and then stands next to Malick as he readies a pistol. “A beautiful face and a strong mouth. Trust me, I know from experience,” Malick says. A few pervs in the crowd cheer at this. Paxton is just uncomfortable. “But is it strong enough?” Malick continues, aiming the pistol at Kiele’s face. He fires the gun and everyone goes quiet. Kiele smiles and the crowd cheers that’s she’s alive. The second woman walks over to her and kisses her on the lips. She then pulls a bullet from her mouth as if they had exchanged it in the kiss. Most people would be able to see through this obvious trick, but the crowd Malick has attracted aren’t exactly the brightest group of men. “That’s my time. I hope to see you all at my next show,” Malick says, disappearing behind the curtains. Kiele is unchained and heads backstage. As the crowd begins to leave, Paxton pushes past them, wanting to talk to Kiele.

Paxton emerges back stage to find Malick and the second woman in the midst of a certain lewd act. Malick pushes the girl away and covers himself. “What the f*** are you doing back here?” Malick demands. “I wanted to talk with Kiele,” Paxton replies. “You can’t just run back here, man! You’re lucky I don’t use my real gun this time,” Malick exclaims. “You mean the one loaded with blanks?” Paxton asks. This shuts Malick up. Someone had seen through his trick. He turns to the girl. “Get out of here,” he says, then grabs a pinch of coke off a table and rubs it on his gums. He snorts what’s left off his thumb. “What do you want?” he asks. “I told you. I want to talk to Kiele,” Paxton demands. “She’s probably back at the bar looking for tips,” Malick replies. Paxton nods and exits.

In the bar, a lot of guys are chatting up with Kiele. Paxton pushes past them and grabs her. “I want to talk to you,” Paxton says. “I told you I wasn’t who you thought I was,” Kiele replies. “What happened to you? We were going to grow up and take on the world together,” Paxton says. “And then you left me! You left town the first chance you had and never looked back!” Kiele cries. “Kiele, I’m sorry. I love you and I never meant to hurt you,” Paxton replies. Kiele shakes her head and heads for the door. As she goes to open it she spots something that causes her to slam it back shut. “It’s Eli,” she mutters.

Outside, Eli and his posse walk the streets. “We just want your women! Hand them over and nobody has to get hurt!” Eli yells. A few doors open and have women pushed out of them. Eli’s posse goes to round them up as they try to escape. “I know that’s not all you have!” Eli cries.

From inside the bar, Paxton cracks the door to look outside. “Who is that?” he asks. “That’s Eli. He and his gang round up the women from all the local towns and sell them to the slave traders,” Kiele replies. “I won’t let them take you,” Paxton replies. “Pax,” Kiele begins. Paxton doesn’t let her finish. He grabs her and leads her to a back room to hide.

Malick slams all his doors shut. Before he can lock the back door, the girl from his show opens it. “Malick, please!” she cries. Malick shoves her outside and slams the door back shut, locking it. The girl bangs on the door violently, crying madly. Two of Eli’s gang walk over to her. One an average sized man. The other a literal giant of a man. He was over seven feet tall, four hundred pounds. We’ll call this guy Beast. The average sized man grabs the girl. Beast turns to the door and gives it a kick. The door is pushed in violently. Inside, Malick stumbles backwards and looks for a weapon. All he can find are his trick pistols. He grabs one and backs away nervously. Beast kicks the door again and it’s down. The brute of a man steps inside, sights set on Malick. “I swear, I’m hiding no women in here,” Malick nervously cries. He holds up his pistol in a very bad bluff. He shoots and the flag pops out reading, “Holy S**t!” The Beast charges. Malick races out of the way and pushes the flag back into the gun. He stumbles over a table, knocking it over and he falls to the ground. Next to him, the white powder that was his coke is scattered across the floor. He swipes some up with his finger and rubs it out his gums, then eyes his trick pistol again. Beast charges at him. No time to think, Malcik leaps into the air and jams the pistol into Beast’s eye, firing off the flag. The flag goes through Beast’s head and comes out the other side, bloodily hanging there, reading, “Sleep Tight.” Malick pulls the flag out from Beast’s head and throws the gun to the ground, then stumbles backwards and pukes.

Paxton peers out the back door of the bar. A windstorm had rolled in, causing it to be nearly impossible to see. Nevertheless, a few dozen yards away Paxton could make out a hover cycle. Paxton lowers his goggles and pulls up his scarf to shield his face from the wind. He then grabs Kiele. “Come on,” he says. The two race for the bike. Just a few feet away when the dirt at their feet is rocked with a bullet. They both turn to see Eli standing behind them, rifle in hand. “Step away from the girl,” he says. “You’re going to have to shoot me first,” Paxton says. Eli shrugs and raises the rifle. “Wait!” Kiele screams, darting from behind Paxton. “Please, don’t shoot,” she says, making her way towards Eli. Paxton grabs her by the arm. “You don’t have to do this,” Paxton says, clutching her tightly. “You’ve let me go before,” Kiele replies, then turns and heads toward Eli. Eli grabs her and turns to head toward the other. Paxton charges at him. Eli turns and uses his rifle as a bat, knocking Paxton across the face, sending him falling to the dirt, out cold. Eli grabs Kiele and leads her to a trailer. (this trailer is just like every other vehicle in the Wasteland. No wheels, hovers, and looks old and rusty) Women are roughly tied up and thrown into the trailer. Their cries are pitiful, but the savages don’t care. Eli grabs some rope and ties Kiele up gently. He places her in the trailer and looks at her with an odd bit of affection. She looks back at him with eyes filled with rage and tears. The trailer doors are slammed shut and a beat up hover truck pulls it away. Eli and his men get back on their hover bikes and take off, following it close behind.

Eli has a giant stack of dollar bills slapped into his hands. He ruffles through it, the product of a hard days work. The other men in his gang do the same. The woman they had just rounded up were pulled from the trailer and thrown roughly into cages by their new handlers, the vicious merchants. Eli turns to one of the men from his gang, Mutt, and asks if he’d like to go grab a drink. Mutt respectfully declines, not wanting to offend his boss. He had plans with the other men. The fact that he wasn’t invited hurt Eli a bit, but he dared not to show this. He takes one last look at Kiele, who looks distraught, but was holding herself together, and then hops back on his bike, riding off from his gang.

Eli rides into Harmony, the town he, his gang, and their families called home. It was a tight knit-community. While Eli was practically at the top of the command rankings, people shied away from him, finding him to be a recluse. Eli enters his shack and takes off his sand beaten jacket, then enters the kitchen where he finds a woman hanging limp from a noose over his kitchen table. He curses and races over to her, removing the rope from her neck and laying her on the table. He checks her pulse. Yep, definitely dead. He curses again, then picks her up and heads out the back door. He drops her body into a small pit in his backyard, then douses her in lighter fluid. His neighbor watches as he lights the match and drops it onto her body, which instantly goes up in flames. “You’re going through slaves like a banshee, E,” his neighbor remarks. Eli looks at him with eyes of stone. The neighbor just nods and heads back inside. Eli takes the crumpled bills from his pocket and counts them out, then heads for his bike.

Eli rides back into the merchant’s area. This place was filled with gypsies, traders, and rats. The slaves were now all on display. All the woman stripped of their clothes, visibly shaken by their complete vulnerability. The pigs of men that stood around them barked off bids for the women up for grabs. Eli takes out his money and enters the bidding war for Kiele. “Three hundred!” shouts a man, licking his lips as he eyes Kiele. “Three-fifty,” Eli says. “Four hundred!” the man counters. “Four-twenty,” Eli says, fumbling through his bills, clearly running low. “Five hundred. Now wrap that b***h up and let me at her,” the man exclaims. His friends cheer. Eli sighs and watches as the man collects his prize. Kiele is shoved inside a hover-dune buggy and driven away. Eli hurries to his bike and follows them from a distant.

Eli bursts into the man’s house. He was in the midst of forcing Kiele onto his bed. “What the f***!?” the man yells. Eli charges at him and punches him in the stomach. The man keels over. Eli takes his arm and snaps it. The bone slices through his skin and blood flies everywhere, including onto the camera. The man howls in pain and Eli shoves him into the ground. Eli kicks him in the face then pulls him off the ground. He punches him hard in the face and continues doing so until it’s nothing but a bloody pulp. He finally stumbles backwards, catching his breath and examining his hand, which is bloodied from the man’s wounds and his own. Once he calms himself he turns to Kiele, cowering in the corner. He walks over to her, going to collect his prize.

It was sometime after midnight. Paxton silently enters the marketplace, looking for the slaves. He finds their cages, empty. He curses under his breath and looks around. No way they had all been sold already. They had to be kept somewhere. He looks around the marketplace for any clues. No such luck. He wasn’t going to give up on Kiele, but he didn’t know what to do. Finally, he enters a shack and finds a set of stairs, heading down into some basement area. Paxton quietly heads down the stairs, not wanting to disturb any possible occupants of the shack. He pulls out a pistol just in case. When he reaches the bottom of the stairs he finds himself in a long hallway. Lining both walls of the hall were cells containing the women slaves. They were all either asleep or dead, looking so frail we just couldn’t tell. Paxton makes his way down the hall, peering into each cell in search of Kiele. He comes to the end of the hallway. A dead end save for a door that could lead anywhere. He questions whether or not he should risk it. He sighs, deciding Kiele had been sold. He turns around and heads for the exit. On his way back to the stairs a hand reaches out of a cell and pulls him close to the bars. “Help me,” the captured woman begs. He pulls away from her. “I’m sorry, I can’t,” Paxton replies. “Please, I’m going to die in here. We’re all going to die,” the woman pleads, beginning to cry. “I’m sorry,” Paxton says, struggling to keep himself together, heading for the stairs again. “I’ll scream,” the woman says defiantly. Paxton stops and grits his teeth. Now he was trapped. “I’ll scream and those Traders’ll wake up. They’ll come out that door, guns blazing,” she continues. Paxton’s mind races for a way out of this, then turns to face her, putting on a very serious face. He draws his pistol and points it through the bars at the woman’s head. “Or I could just shoot you,” Paxton grunts. “You shoot me and they’ll still wake up. You’d die anyway,” the woman replies, her demeanor a bit shaken. “Sounds like I’m f***ed either way. Might as well take you with me,” he retorts. The woman backs up into the corner, defeated. She falls to the floor, crying. “I just want to go home,” she mumbles to herself, repeating it over and over again. “I need you to give me some information,” Paxton says. “What do you want?” the woman asks through her fits of tears. “There was a girl. She was brought here earlier today. Her name was Kiele,” Paxton begins. “Yeah. I met Kiele,” the woman replies. “What happened to her?” Paxton asks. “Eli bought her,” the woman replies. Paxton sighs, realizing it’d be more challenging then he thought to get her back.

“You’re an idiot, and I want nothing to do with this!” Malick exclaims. Paxton sighs. “You don’t even need to do much. I just need you on that train waiting with weapons. I’ll take care of everything else,” Paxton replies. “I don’t think you realize exactly how powerful Eli is. You’ll never make it out Harmony alive, let alone get Kiele on that train,” Malickk retorts. “I have a plan. If everything works out Eli won’t even know she’s gone. Worst case scenario I’ll have to kill him. But I’m going to need you on that train to make that happen,” Paxton explains. Malick sighs. “Is this girl even worth it? From my experiences, she’s not,” Malick asks. “She is,” Paxton replies. “Then I’ll be on that train,” Malick reluctantly agrees.

Eli leads Kiele into his shack. “Don’t worry. I’m going to take good care of you,” he says. He leads her to the kitchen. “You’ll get the hang of things eventually,” he says, grabbing her seductively. She winces at the touch. She’s been through this ordeal already. “Kiss me,” he says politely, almost like a question. “No,” she says defiantly. “Kiss me,” Eli says again, this time scarily more violent. “No,” Kiele says again, with shocking strength. Eli grabs her and violently throws her onto the table. She cries out in fear as he strips her of her clothes and begins to violently rape her. The camera lingers on this for a long time as she cries out in pain and fear. We get a real good sense at how ruthless Eli can really be as he ignores her pleas to stop and continues the act roughly. The whole scene is very graphic and very intense. Kiele eventually stops pleading, knowing it was useless. She just lays there, tears flowing from her eyes feeling totally helpless.

Paxton strides into Harmony and heads for the bar. Inside, he takes a seat on a stool and orders himself a drink. “New in town?” a burly man next to him asks. “I’m here to see Eli. I have a business proposition for him,” Paxton replies. The man just nods and takes a swig of beer. “Do you have any idea where I might find him?” Paxton asks. The man turns, agitated that he’s still being bothered. “Directly across the road,” the man replies. Paxton nods and heads out. The bartender returns with his beer and when he finds an empty he stool he decides to keep it for himself.

Paxton examines the outside of Eli’s shack, the looks through the windows to see if he was home. He was, and he saw Paxton staring at him. Paxton quickly backs away, trying to play it cool as Eli throws his door open. “Why the f**k were you looking into my house?” Eli demands. “Just seeing if anyone was home,” Paxton replies, trying to put on a confident face. “And why would you need to do that?” Eli asks. “Because I’ve heard so much about you. You’re like a legend,” Paxton says, then outstretches his hand. “My name’s Paxton. It’s an honor to meet you,” he continues. Eli shakes his hand. “So what exactly do you want, Paxton?” Eli asks, a bit flattered someone was actually taking the time to really talk with him. “I come from the Verge. We’re on a bit of a dry spell, hunting wise. They sent me to see if you’d possibly be interested in teaching me your ways. You know, so I could go back and teach them,” Paxton replies. Eli thinks about this. He was so overwhelmed with the fact that someone wanted his advice was enough to make him say, “Ok.”

Eli leads Paxton through his house, giving him the tour. Paxton keeps his eyes open, looking for any sign of Kiele. Finally, Eli takes him into the backyard where there was a small shed. Eli opens a door that leads into a portion of the shed. “If you don’t mind, you can stay here. You’ll be next to the slave’s quarters, but she shouldn’t be too much trouble for you,” Eli explains. Paxton nods. Eli goes to head back inside and turns to see Paxton still standing in the shed. “You coming?” he asks. “Oh, yeah. I was just looking around. Feeling things out,” he replies. “Alright. Meet me in the kitchen. We can talk,” Eli says, getting a bit of delight using the phrase, ‘we can talk.’ Eli heads inside and Paxton moves over to the wall of the shed. “Kiele?” he asks. “Paxton!” Kiele exclaims from the other side. Paxton’s face lights up. He had found her! She was so close now. “I’m going to get you out of here,” he assures her. “Paxton, Eli will kill you if he finds out,” she replies. “I promised you I would never leave you again,” he says. He then goes around to the front and examines the locks. It would take quite a bit of force to break them off. He was definitely going to get the keys if he wanted her free. “Just give me a little bit of time. I promise you’ll be out of here soon,” he continues to assure her. “Thank you,” she says through the shed, obviously crying. Paxton sighs, looking at the shed one more time before heading back inside.

Eli books it across the desert landscape, rifle in hand. Paxton is behind him, trying to keep up. It was the following day, and their hunting trip had begun. After a while, Eli stops, holding his arm out, signaling Paxton to stay quiet. He points up ahead at a patch of branches piled together. He slowly begins walking toward it, readying his gun. He peers into the branches, then is about to fire. He suddenly stops, thinking of something. He crouches to the ground and drops his bag, rummaging through it and pulling out another rifle. He holds it out for Paxton to grab. Paxton grabs it and we linger on this passing of weapons between the two men. Paxton had gained enough of Eli’s trust to earn his gun. Eli motions for the branches, signaling for him to take the shot. Paxton moves over to the branches, raising his gun. When he sees their just pups he hesitates. This wasn’t a time for second guessing. Not with Eli standing over his shoulder. Paxton lets out a deep breath and opens fire.

The gunshots rip across the wasteland and end up within earshot of the pups parents, who were out hunting with their pack of hounds. In an instant, this group of about a dozen had turned around, sprinting towards the sounds of the gunshots. Back at the nest, Paxton could see them racing towards them in the distant. “S**t. I think we pissed them off,” he says. Eli doesn’t reply. Just holds up his rifle and takes aim. He fires, clipping one of the hounds in the leg. It barrel rolls face first into the dirt. The others continue forward, undeterred. Eli reloads and turns to Paxton. “Come on! Don’t just stand there! That’s a whole pack up for grabs!” he exclaims, taking aim again. He fires and another hound falls. Paxton fires, missing. They were getting closer now, and Paxton was getting nervous. “Are we just going to stand here?” he cries. Eli doesn’t reply, firing off another shot. Paxton couldn’t take it anymore. He turns around and bolts in the direction of where they had both left there bikes. Eli stands his ground as the hounds reach him. One jumps for his fires. He fires at it close range. It’s head explodes and blood flies everywhere. He attempts to reload, but the hounds begin clawing at him, so he uses his rifle as a bat. Swatting them backwards, then pulling out his pistol and unleashing his ammo. Four of the hounds move on, chasing after the fleeing Paxton. Just as he’s about to reach the bikes, a hound leaps onto his back, clawing at his flesh. He rolls over, kicking it off him, scrambling backwards as the others lunge for him. The hound he kicked pulls itself up and shakes the pain off, then turns toward him, pissed. Paxton realizes this and kicks hard with his feet, pushing himself backwards as his hands scramble for his rifle. The hound pounces. Paxton rolls out of the way and pulls himself up, hopping onto a bike. As he starts it he frantically rummages through a knapsack and pulls out a pistol, firing it at the four circling hounds. They all charge and Paxton revs the engine, speeding past them. He makes it back to the nest where Eli was sitting on the pile of hounds he had single-handedly defeated. Paxton is impressed. The four other hounds watch from a distance, realizing they were defeated. Three of them sulk off. The last one stands still, then slowly walks toward the two men, accepting his fate. Eli and Paxton both stand in admiration of this animals courage. Eli throws his gun down and unsheathes a knife. He walks over to the hound and quietly finishes it off.

Eli and Paxton enter the shack. Eli counts out the money he just received for the hounds and goes to hand some to Paxton. “You keep it. I should be paying you for teaching me anyways. Besides, you did all the work,” Paxton says. Eli smiles and pockets the money. He enters the kitchen where Kiele has made them dinner. Eli kisses her on the lips as if they were a married couple that do this sort of thing everyday. Kiele’s slight recoil makes things a bit awkward. So the three of them sit around the table, eating dinner. This is entirely awkward, yet Eli is oblivious. “This is a very good dinner. You did a great job,” Eli tells Kiele. She just nods silently. “Very good,” Paxton awkwardly agrees, staring Kiele down. Trying to say, “This will all be over soon” with his eyes. As Paxton eats, his grip goes tight around his knife, going through the scenarios in his head on whether or not he could take on Eli. He sighs. Now wasn’t the right time. “Contrary to what you might think, you didn’t do completely terrible today,” Eli says. “I don’t know about that,” Paxton replies. “You’re still alive, aren’t you?” Eli laughs. “But seriously, I’ve been tracking something for a while now. I finally stumbled upon it’s nest about a week ago. You ready for some slightly bigger game?” Eli continues. Paxton pauses, not knowing what to say. Finally he manages to nod. “Yeah. That’d be great,” he mumbles. Eli’s grinning ear to ear. Here he is, sitting with what he thinks is the perfect family. He finally had a woman, a friend.

Paxton lays on his back in the shed behind the shack. (I couldn’t resist) He was in the midst of a talk with Kiele. He smiles as they reminisce about their childhood together. After a long talk and assuring her they’d both make it out of there alive, he peers outside. All lights in Eli’s shack her out. Paxton exit’s the shed and tiptoes forward. He peers in through a window and sees no movement. He tries the backdoor. Locked. He curses under his breath and goes for the window. He manages to pry it open and slip inside. He fumbles around counters and tables, looking for keys to Kiele’s lock. His heart stops when he hears footsteps heading toward him. He drops down low and hides beneath the shadows of the table. Eli walks past him and out the backdoor. Paxton sits still, thinking he was about to get caught. After an excruciating sixty seconds, Eli reenters his shack, Kiele with him. Eli leads her to his bedroom. Paxton lets out a deep breath, trying to contain his feelings. He needed to move faster. He needed to get Kiele out of there. But at this point we are beginning to wonder if it’s for her safety, or from his brewing jealousy.

It’s still dark out, but some time has passed since Eli led Kiele into his room and they were now all finished up. Eli sits up in bed as Kiele is putting her clothes back on. A little timid, but no longer feeling threatened. “I’ve never had anything like this,” Eli blurts out, instantly feeling scared of putting himself out there. Kiele turns to him, not knowing what to say. “I’ve always wanted something like this. Someone to come home to, you know?” he continues. Kiele nods. “You’re nothing like the others think you are,” she says. Eli nods. “Why is that? Why do you crave people’s fear?” she continues. “Because that’s all I have. Nobody notices me, so I have to make myself noticed. Without their fear I have nothing,” Eli explains. Kiele nods, understanding, then heads for the door. “You can stay here with me tonight. If you want,” Eli says. Kiele stops at the door, questioning if that was a smart choice. She sighs and turns back around, crawling back into bed. Eli smiles and lays down next to her. “I love you,” he says. Kiele doesn’t hesitate in telling him she loved him too, but the camera zooms in on her face, growing with concern.

Eli walks around town running errands, Paxton following him. They both grab some coffee, which looks like oil or sludge. Pick your poison. Another man walks up and grabs some coffee. He eyes Eli and Paxton. “What?” Eli demands. “Nothing, just wondering to myself how much money you spend on that whore of yours,” the man replies. Eli snaps, throwing his coffee into the man’s face. The man howls in pain as his face burns. Eli kicks him backwards and the man tumbles to the ground. Eli pounces on top of him and begins throwing punches. A couple of other men try to pull Eli away. He pushes them away and goes right back to his attack. The man tries to fight back and throws a punch. Eli catches the man’s arm and twists it around, then punches the man in the face, sending blood and teeth flying. The man has fallen to his knees, pouring blood. Eli goes to strike again, but Paxton finally steps in. Eli is breathing heavily as he eyes the man while Paxton offers him words of wisdom. Eli finally falls back, realizing how quickly he had snapped and knowing Kiele would be upset. He instantly feels remorse and goes to help the man up. The man slaps him away. “Get your hands off me!” the man growls. Eli hurries back to his shack, Paxton following behind him. As they head home, eyes watch them. An Eli outburst was a normal event for them, but beating a man half to death is always going to get you a stare down. “Why do I always do this,” Eli mutters to himself. “It’s ok, man. We all have those outbursts,” Paxton says. “I have a problem. I can’t keep doing s*** like this,” Eli replies. They reach his shack and head inside. Paxton could tell that something serious was boiling under Eli‘s skin. To make matters worse, Malick wasn‘t going to wait around forever. He had to move. Now. This gears quickly grind in his head, going over all his options. He finally thought of something. “You need to take your anger out on something,” Paxton says. “Like what?” Eli asks.

Eli and Paxton park their hover bikes and step up to the foot of a rock formation. Both men have rifles at the ready. “You sure you’re ready for such big game?” Eli asks. “Not really, but I’d love to see you go bats*** crazy on a formidable opponent,” Paxton replies. The two men laugh, and Eli leads the way up a path in the rocks. Paxton tightens his grip on his rifle, eying Eli’s open back. “Alright, Paxton. It’s cave is right up here,” Eli calls back. “Ok,” Paxton replies nervously. Eli stops walking and stands before a dark cave. He readies his rifle with a smile. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He takes a small step into the cave and can hear the creature inside growl. Paxton steps up behind him. “What the hell is that thing?” Paxton asks. “I call it the Alpha,” Eli replies. And The Alpha it was. The beast emerges from it’s cave and we get a good look at it. Like a giant, mutated bear with a face only a mother could love, this thing towered over the two men, twice their size. “Holy s***!” Paxton explains as Alpha swats a massive paw at them. It connects with Eli who goes flying into a giant rock, connecting with it hard. He cries out in pain. Paxton falls back, firing off shots that all miss. “Run!” Eli exclaims. Paxton stumbles down the rocky hill, when a loose boulder collapses, sending him spiraling down. Alpha makes a single leap and jumps down the entire formation, landing inches away from Paxton’s body. Paxton pulls himself up in pain, looking for his gun as Alpha stands over him. He opens up his mouth revealing gnarled yellow teeth that could snap Paxton’s head clean off. Just as it’s about to do just that, Eli strikes, plunging a knife into it’s shoulder. Alpha howls in pain and quickly turns, swatting at Eli. He jumps out of the way just in time. “Grab your rifle!” he calls to Paxton, pointing a few yards away to the gun. As Eli evades Alpha’s attacks, Paxton sprints for the gun. He scoops it off the ground and begins firing at the beast. Bullets connect with it’s back, causing it to jerk and cry out in pain. It turns to Paxton, who is forced to reload. It charges as Paxton fumbles with the gun. Eli leaps onto the beast, grabbing his knife and repeatedly plunging it into the beast’s neck. Alpha claws at Eli’s chest, leaving deep gnashes in his skin. Eli stumbles backwards, blood gushing from his chest. Paxton finally has his rifle ready and fires. It strikes Alpha in ear. It snarls at swats at Paxton. Paxton leaps out of the way and fires again. This connects with Alpha’s injured shoulder. It howls in pain, stumbling backwards, giving Paxton the time to line up a good shot. Paxton fires and the bullet goes right through Alpha’s right eye. The beast falls to the ground, dead. Eli pulls himself up, clutching his chest. “You did it, kid,” he says with a pained smile. Paxton forces a smile back. Eli stumbles forward, looking up at Alpha’s cave. Meanwhile, Paxton kneels by the beast, pulling the knife from it’s neck. “We make a good team,” Eli says as Paxton slowly walks up behind him, knife in hand. Paxton holds the knife out, now having second thoughts. He pushes his feelings back and thinks of Kiele. He made a promise to her that he planned on keeping. And with that, he raises the knife and plunges it into Eli’s back. Eli cries out and spins around, then falls to his knees. “You…why…” he begins to mutter, generally surprised and hurt that is friend just literally stabbed him in the back. Paxton can’t muster up a final statement, so he instead turns and heads for the bikes. He hops on to his and races away from Eli. The camera stays on his face as he drives, actually feeling remorse for what he had done to Eli.

Eli reaches behind his back and wraps his hands around the knife. Very slowly, and very painfully, he pulls the knife from his flesh. He tosses the knife aside and we see that anger boiling up once again beneath his skin. He pulls himself to his bike and sits up. He revs the engine and takes off, hell bent on revenge. The Devil himself would be afraid of this match-up.

Paxton speeds into Harmony and pulls to a stop outside Eli’s shack. He sprints to the backyard and up to the shed. He pulls out his rifle and points at the lock. “Kiele! I’m getting you out of there! Step away from the door!” he yells. “What’s going on?” Kiele asks. “Just back up!” he exclaims. He fires at the lock. It does some damage but doesn’t completely knock the lock off. He goes to shoot again, but he was out of ammo. He curses and begins beating the lock with the butt of the rifle. The lock finally gives and he throws the doors open. Kiele embraces him. “Where‘s Eli?” she asks. “It doesn‘t matter. I‘m getting you out of here,” Paxton replies, visibly jealous she’s asking about Eli as he leads her to the bike. He hops on and she sits behind him, holding on tight. Paxton looks behind him and can see Eli racing into town behind them. He curses and speeds off and out of Harmony. Meanwhile, Eli rides into Harmony, pulling up to the bar and storming inside. “Let’s go. All of you,” he says, then heads back outside and continues to give chase.

Paxton is going as fast as the hover bike can go, then pushes for it to go faster. Up ahead he could spot the train, which was basically a series of a dozen hovering platforms, linked together by an invisible force, speeding over a magnetic track. Paxton pleads to himself that Malick was waiting for them on that train. Suddenly, a bullet flies past them. Kiele jumps in fright and clutches Paxton tighter. “Paxton!” Kiele cries out. “We’re almost there!” Paxton assures her. They were indeed closing in on the train. Another shot. This bullet lodges itself into Kiele’s back. She cries out in pain. Paxton curses. “Hold on. You’re going to be ok,” he assures her. Kiele’s grip loosens as blood pours from her wound. “Don’t let go! We’re almost there!” Paxton exclaims. They were now just a few yards away from the train. Paxton’s eyes search the first platform, desperately hoping to spot Malick. No sign of him. Paxton curses, losing hope, when Malick pops out of cover from behind a crate, outstretching an arm to Paxton and Kiele. Malick grabs Kiele’s arm and pulls her on board, then helps Paxton on board, his abandoned bike crashes and burns. Malick, Paxton, and Kiele crouch behind the cover of a crate. Malick slides over a case filled with weapons to Paxton. Paxton pockets to and clutches another, then nods his thanks. A bullet rips through the crate, mere inches from Malick’s face. Malick peers over it and sees Eli and his group of a dozen men giving chase to the train. “What the f**k!? You said it’d just be Eli!” Malick exclaims. “I was wrong. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. Kiele’s hurt. Get her to the first platform,” Paxton says. Malick sighs, then reluctantly agrees, helping Kiele to her feet and running away. They jump to the next platform, then the next. They continue on until they reach the first platform. Malick lowers Kiele to the ground and props her up against a crate. He hands her a pistol. “Let’s hope you don’t have to use this,” he says, then turns and races back across the platforms.

Malick joins Paxton in cover. Eli and his gang had closed in and were unleashing their ammo. Paxton peeks out of cover and fires off a few rounds. He manages to strike one of the Raiders in the shoulder, causing enough force to knock him off his bike. Another Raider fires back, striking the crate and causing splinters to fly everyone, including into Malick’s face. “Ah!” Malick cries out, clutching his eye. “Fall back!” Paxton calls to him and the two leap to Platform Eleven. Malick takes cover behind another crate, ripping his shirt and using it as a bandage to wrap around his bloody eye. Paxton goes for a small lever on the edge of the platform that causes Platform Twelve to disconnect. The platform collapses to the ground and many of the Raiders have no time to react, driving right into it and going flying. Eli and four others manage to swerve around it and continue to give chase. The Raiders continue to open fire. The crate Malick is taking cover behind is being ripped to shreds. “I didn’t agree to this s***!” he yells to Paxton and leaps up, sprinting across the platforms. “Malick!” Paxton calls after him, then curses, chasing after him. Paxton catches up with Malick on Platform six when a bullet rips past them. Paxton pulls Malick into cover. Paxton peers back to see two Raiders had boarded the train. Paxton eyes the release lever and goes to pull it. One of the Raiders fires. Paxton darts back into cover, cursing. Things get worse when Eli pulls his bike along the right side of the train, aiming his rifle at Paxton. On the left side another Raider, who you may recognize as Mutt, is aiming at Malick. No conceivable way out of this one. Malick suddenly rolls something behind him. Paxton eyes him and sees he’s waving a pin in the air. We see the object rolls through the cracks of the platforms and we know it’s a grenade. It explodes, knocking the back platforms off the tracks and swerving wildly out of control. One of the onboard Raiders loses his footing and flies over the side. The platform swerves and hits Mutt, causing him to lose control of his bike and go tumbling into the ground. Eli jumps onboard, going to attack. He and his last remaining Raider close in on Paxton and Malick. Paxton leaps from cover, firing off a shot that hit’s the Raider right between the eyes. He then turns to Eli, who swats the gun away and goes for a punch. Paxton stumbles backwards. Eli pulls out his pistol and goes for the killshot when Malick takes this opportunity to make a run for it. He races for the next platform and Eli shoots him. Malick falls to the ground, struck in middle of the back. Paxton has now stood himself up and begins to fight Eli. Paxton manages a good punch across Paxton’s face. Paxton stands his ground. Eli throws another punch and Paxton manages to avoid it. Eli kicks him hard, sending him stumbling forward. “Kiele! Pull it!” he yells. On the first platform, Kiele begins pulling herself toward the release lever. Eli curses as Paxton pulls himself up. “No! Don’t leave me!” Malick cries out as Paxton and Eli race past him across the platforms. Kiele finally reaches the lever and pulls it. The platforms disconnect and begin to tumble away as Eli and Paxton make a giant leap for safety. Paxton lands hard on the first platform, sliding forward, his gun going over the side. Eli barely makes it, holding onto the side for dear life. Behind him, the ten other platforms collide with each other in a glorious train wreck. Eli pulls himself up, finding Kiele with her gun raised to him. Paxton stands next to her. “Why did you do this? Why did you take her from me?” Eli asks. “She doesn’t love you,” Paxton replies. Eli turns to Kiele, desperately hoping she had a different answer. Tears flow from her eyes as she points her gun at him, not wanting to hurt him with the answer to his question. “Kiele?” Eli begs, not wanting to accept this betrayal. “I’m sorry,” she says, now breaking down. She drops the gun and falls to the ground. Eli can’t fight back his won tears any longer. He drops his own gun, shaking his head in disbelief. Paxton picks up Kiele’s dropped pistol. He turns to Eli, then pulls his scarf up and lowers his goggles. Eli’s face is a tragic mixture of realization and distraught. Paxton raising the gun and fires. “Paxton! No!” Kiele cries as Eli’s chest is pumped full of bullets. Eli falls to his knees and looks Kiele in the eyes, trying to say something, but merely coughing up blood. “Kiele’s mine,” Paxton says, then kicks Eli over the side of the platform. “Good riddance,” Paxton says. “He was a good man,” Kiele replies. “A good man? Kiele, he beat and raped you. He deserved it,” Paxton retorts. “He was confused. Emotionally unstable,” Kiele replies. “He was a freak,” Paxton retorts. “You’re safe now,” Paxton continues, sitting down on the edge of the platform, his feet hanging over the side. Kiele sits down as far away from Paxton as she can get, putting a hand to her gunshot wound. Blood covers her fingers and she winces at what this could mean. The gloomy score kicks in as Paxton sits at the edge of the platform, looking behind him at the severely wounded Kiele. He turns back around, just watching as the desert wasteland zooms past him. The camera zooms out to reveal Paxton and Kiele a mere five yards away from each other, yet the distance seems to stretch for so much longer. As the screen fades to black we don’t know what the future holds, but we do know one tragic truth. Paxton’s transformation into the cold dark soul he saw Eli as was now complete.

Edited by Frankenberry
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Judgement Day

Director: Keith Gordon

Studio: Silver Shark Entertainment

Genre: Disaster/Drama

Cast: Thomas Jane (Steve), Melissa George (Mary), Jeffrey DeMunn (Michael)

Budget: $ 19 million

Theater Count: 2,771

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: April 6th

Running Time: 1 hr 43 mins

Plot:

(shot in found-footage style like Cloverfield or Chronicle)

The end is near: All over the world cataclysms started and destroy the metropolises of the blue planet. Steve and Mary are together on their way home when they hear via radio that the earth is breaking under Los Angeles. Experts estimate that there are only about 4 hours left to leave the city before it gets destroyed. Steve and Mary decide to get their families and flee from destruction. When they reach Steve´s family the ground breaks and the car is from them is gone. Now they can´t reach Mary´s family anymore. She´s totally desperate but Steve got an idea. His dad Michael has a friend who owns a helicopter. With the helicopter they reach the family of Mary and can save them. Then all want to leave the city but after a few miles the fuel is near the end. Somebody has to leave the helicopter otherwise nobody would survive. Steve tells Michael to flee with Mary and her family while Steve will stay to save their lives. So the helicopter leaves without Steve while Mary screams for her love. Steve watches the helicopter during its flight but then he hears via radio that an unknown volcano erupts and the ashes is in the sky. A few minutes later the helicopter returns to Steve. Mary gets out of the helicopter and hugs her love. Also the families of both Steve and Mary return because all realized that the last minutes should be spend with the beloved ones. The earth starts to quake and there are some explosions. Then the video ends with “critical error”.

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Marathon Men


Genre: Comedy

Cast:
Mike Mitchell - Jim Carrey

James Daniels - Will Ferrell
Steve Jones - Eddie Murphy
Dave Richards - Adam Sandler

Director: Seth Gordon

Studio: Public Pictures

MPAA Rating: R(for language)


Release Date: July 13th

Theater Count: 3,275

Run Time: 117 minutes

Budget: $69 Million


Plot:

It is the story of 4 out of shape friends who decide to all run a marathon together. They have been friends for years and have always been really competitive with each other. Each one believes that they will finish before the other 3 and that the other 3 won't even be able to finish the race. Before they decide to race they all bet $100 that they will finish 1st out of the 4 of them. None of them really need the money, but their competitive nature casues them to really want to take their friends money.

The middle of the movie is all about them getting ready for the race. There are lots of hilarious scenes of them training for the race and talk smack about/with each other. As they are training they all get really winded and can barely run. When they are all shown passing out for the 1st time it shows them all 1 after the other, saying that they fucking hate running. They all realise that it was a stupid idea to race, but don't want the other to think the can't do it, so they decide the have to still race.

By the time of the race however, they all got in enough shap to actually feel fine about race. They all actually think they have a shot at coming in 1st out of the 3. The last part of the movie is the marathon. Somehow they all run at about the same speed. Lots of hilarious things happen during the race. At the last mile however, they all about pass out at the same time. As they are on the ground deciding if they will continue, they all agree that it doesn't matter who comes in 1st amoung them. All that matters to them is that they don't look like losers and finish the race. They race ends with them holding each other up and walking the last mile together. All four of them cross the finish line together and they each get their $100 back.

The movie ends with them passed out on the ground screeming in pain and yelling at the other three saying that it is their fault they ran in the 1st place. The closing shot is all of them laying on the ground.
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Time Keepers

Director: Gore Verbinski

Studio: Silver Shark Entertainment

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi

Cast: Tom Cruise (Ian Ruth), Josh Holloway (Horis), Matthew Fox (Thomas Akle)

Budget: $ 80 million

Theater Count: 3,592

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: June 15th

Running Time: 1 hr 45 mins

Plot:

In 2562 humanity found a way to travel through time to clear mistakes and disasters. It´s a secret project of the U.S government. The so-called ´Time Keepers´ has to watch over the missions equipped with some special devices. They can stop time and start it again to prevent the people from doing bad things. There are rumors that Time Keepers are getting more influential than most of the politicians of the world. Also there are rumors that some politicians use the technology to follow their own plans with time.

Ian Ruth is an assassin who is hired to kill a politician five days ago. He has been hired before to do jobs like that. His clients are in a unknown syndicate who wants to change political decisions. Ian doesn´t care about his target or what it does, he´s just interested in money and success of the mission. With a special device he enters the code of time and travels back five days. He draws the attention of one Time Keeper named Horis. The keeper uses the device to stop Ian but he´s resistant against it. Everything else stops and we see a spectacular fight through a shopping mall while time stands still. Ian can flee and Horis starts time again. After Ian is gone and Horis left the time line of the past minutes get deleted by other keepers and get replaced with the original code. Horis orders more keepers to find the violator.

Meanwhile Ian works on his TTD (Time-Travel-Device). Never before he has drawn attention of a Time Keeper. But soon he focuses on his target again. He has only one chance for the killing shot. Thomas Akle is on a diplomatic mission and wants to stop a war between two ethnic groups in Afrika. Soon Ian comes to know that his clients want the war to start because of the oil in the country. He just laughs about that fact. Suddenly Time Keepers rush into Ian´s apartment and surround the assassin. Ian uses his TTD to stop the bullets but his device has no effect on the keepers themselves. Ian runs and jumps through a open window and flees but Horis stops him and knocks him out. When Ian awakes Horis and Thomas Akle stand in front of him. “Everything will be cleared, Sir. The original code will replace this happening,” Horis says. Akles thanks him and leaves. Some bodyguards and Horis follow the diplomat.

Suddenly we hear shooting from outside. The door opens so Ian sees Akles and his bodyguards lying dead on the ground. Horis enters the room again and frees Ian. He tells him that Ians clients are also Horis clients. Horis had to follow Ian and secure that Thomas dies. Ian understands but asks Horis why he had attacked him when he arrived. Horis just wanted to let everybody think that he has nothing to do with the current case. Suddenly dozen of Time Keepers appear and take Horis to task. Ian flees from the room and throw some grenades into the room. Just Horis survives and rush to Ian. Another spectacular fight between them starts. The fight goes on until Horis TTD breaks and the keepers gets knocked out by Ian.

Ian starts to think about the time traveling technology. Horis awakes and tells him that there is a way to end the time traveling in replacing the original code with a false one. Nothing would happen to the present day but everything what happens in the process of time traveling will be wiped out as will be the person who initializes the fake code. Horis gives him his broken TTD which contains the fake code. Ian enters the code into his TTD and starts the initializing. Everything he sees blurs and seconds later the existence of Ian, Horis and all the other Time Keepers just end along with the time line.

Edited by SilverShark
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