CAYOM YEAR 4 - PART I - MOVIE SUBMISSION

[YM!]

Food Wars

 

Tagline: “This Thanksgiving, Get Stuffed” or “Fast Fools”

Studio: Infinite Studios

Will Packer Production

HartBeat Productions
Release Date: 11/20/Y4

Genre: Comedy

Director: Malcolm D Lee

Producer: Will Packer

Rating: PG-13
Budget: $25M

Theater Count: 3,483

Format: 2D
Runtime: 101 minutes

Cast:

Kevin Hart as Ronald Barber

John Cena as Charles Harding

Ben Schwartz as Rex Richards II

Zendaya as Susie

Kenan Thompson as Herb

Al Madrigal as Gary

Leslie Mann as Alice

Hannibal Buress as Joseph

with

Tika Sumpter as Honey Barber

 

PLOT:

Ronald Barber is the proud owner and manager of Kicking Chicken, a small local chicken restaurant in a small town in Florida. His crew consists of the deadpan and rather high school sophomore lazy cashier, Susie, his “a bit too mellow” cook Herb, and his second in command, Gary. Business is okay for them, not great but not bad. However, Kicking Chicken’s number one rival is Charlie’s Pizza, their more successful pizza counterpart, which happens to be right across the street. The owner and manager, Charles Harding has a personal beef with Ronald as the two are the only fast food game in town and the two constantly attempt to undermine each other’s success (flashbacks show an elaborate series of undermining played by both Charles and Ronald, Ronald points out Charles’s new item Crazy Sticks are the same mozzarella sticks one can find at the grocery store, Charles ruining Ronald’s attempts to purchase new equipment for his fast food place by buying it ahead of time even if he doesn’t need it).

 

One day, after losing some very important business to a wealthy family thanks to both the incompetence of Susie (who’s laziness and Squidward esque attitude causes problems) and Herb (who may or may not have been high) along with sabotage via Charles, Ronald and Gary march up to Charlie’s Pizza to give Charles a piece of his mind. Charles’s cashier/girlfriend, Alice gives the two a humorously hard time until Charles steps out of the shadows to gloat. Feigning defeat, Ronald orders a slice of their best slice of pizza and throws it at Charles’s face which escalated into a food fight between Ronald and Gary versus Charles, Alice and the rest of Charles’s staff members causing customers to get hit in the crossfire. The police end up being called and Ronald and Charles are both given fines.

 

Ronald goes home to his wife, Honey, who’s pregnant. It is revealed that the two are barely pushing by money wise but Homey believes Ronald has got what it takes to make sure they’ll be alright. The next day, on his way to work, Ronald sees a throng of people nearby his restaurant. Overjoyed, Ronald goes to see what it’s about only to realize that it’s not for him but the newly opened fast food mega chain Burger Bosses. Ronald goes inside to see what all the commotion is about, and meets the owner of the restaurant, Rex Richards III, a cocky and ruthless owner. Ronald introduces himself to Rex as a restaurant owner nearby and hopes that everything will work out for everyone and wishes him luck. Rex comments that competition is no problem for him as both the opponents will be gone in a month. Ronald runs back to the restaurant and tells Susie, Herb and Gary to step up their game as they have new competition.

 

We then cut to a week long montage of the Kicking Chicken crew stepping up their A game; Susie is a little nicer to customers, Herb isn’t noticeably high and Gary and Ronald are working their best but despite that, they’re losing business. Rex comes every now and then to gloat but no one is dissuaded. One day, Ronald sees a frustrated Charles at Kicking Chicken who offers a proposition. Charles reveals his pizza joint is also being squashed by Burger Bosses saying the two of them should team up to take down Burger Bosses. Ronald agrees but notes he doesn’t trust him. The two proceed to pull a series of elaborate ways to sabotage but they ultimately backfire or help Burger Bosses. Back at Kicking Chicken, Ronald and Charles get into an argument of what to do next until a high Herb suggests they suggest they steal the secret recipe. Charles and Ronald laugh it off but consider it much to Gary’s refusal.

 

Charles and Ronald manage to come up with a heist plan but need someone with criminal expertise. Ronald remembers he knows a friend who might be good at that type of stuff. Ronald’s old friend from the hood, Joseph, the seemingly harmless guy whose to Charles shock is a master thief and expert hacker. Joseph agrees to offer his advice and participation but for a fee of course which Charles and Ronald reluctantly agree on. Ronald tells his crew about the heist, but Gary refuses not wanting a part of this and quits ashamed at his friend from stooping that low. Herb and Susie agree though to be a part of it, the former for a raise and the latter for a college letter recommendation. Alice also agrees to be a part of the heist.

 

Joseph says that the best time to start at night but tells Charles and Ronald to do some recon first, but reminds them to be stealthy. The two use Charles’s pizza van which is painted over to avoid suspicion. The two take shifts watching the restaurant to see what and where in going on. The two also bond during why they both enter the food business for love of food and their dreams. The two narrowly escape as the employees get ready to go home.

 

Ronald reveals to the group that Rex is the first to leave at about 11:00 pm, and at precisely 11:30 pm, the last worker heads out the back. Ronald wants Susie to distract him, while the rest goes in the front where Joseph disarms the security system, as he, Charles, Joesph and Alice go inside. Alice will break the lock to the managers room behind the kitchen while Ronald downloads the recipe on a USB drive. Herb will act as the getaway driver if things goes south. Charles asks when do they strike, and Ronald says since today is Monday, the night should be at the slowest out of all the day so they strike tonight.

 

The crew drives out to Burger Bosses and go through their plan. Susie distracts the teenage guard through very sloppy seduction. Joseph attempts to hack his way through as the security system will go off in about five minutes not giving them much time and he’ll be stuck here. As they slip and slide through the kitchen due to the greasy floors, Alice breaks the lock and Ronald attempts to navigate through the computer to find the recipe which is hard since a lot of images are on the computer. Ronald manages to download all of them due to time but the alarm goes off, forcing them to make a hasty get away. Susie manages to slip away pretending not to be apart of it, promising to call. The police are call as Herb, who’s high as shit is actually a great get away driver, due to his trip, making a crazy car chase throughout the town. However, although they manage to get away, the van is totaled due to Herb’s trip gone bad.

 

The gang rendezvous back at Kicking Chicken, and use the computer after sifting through all types of data including some porn that was on there much to the disgust of everyone, they find the corporate burger patty recipe which the patty is revealed to be both dog and cat meat, much to the shock of everyone along with some other crimes Rex has done including money laundering and battery. Charles immediately says they shouldn’t use the recipe and Ronald says they should tell the world, saying they will leak it tomorrow.

 

The next day, Ronald wakes up to see Honey tell him someone is at the door for him, and it is revealed to be Rex. Rex wants to talk to Ronald in private, revealing he know what he’s done, stating that he’s hidden cameras in the managers room and Greg tipped him off. Rex offers him a proposition in order for his silence, Rex says he’ll let the whole Kicking Chicken crew, Alice and Joseph, a pass as well as a sizable loan to acquire Kicking Chicken and giving Ronald an enormous promotion but Charles would take the fall as he already did call the police. Ronald refuses but Rex says that Ronald has a child on the way and no child should have a dad behind bars. Rex also said he’s had a worker in disguise for him revealing that Charles was going to betray him. With no other options, Ronald agrees to his terms and Charles is arrested, who reveals that although he was at first, they became friends so he wouldn’t do that.

 

Despite their problems being over, Ronald fells immensely guilty for what he’s done, and comes clean to Honey, who understands but whips her belt at him. Honey tells him to come clean but Ronald is unsure they’ll go far with that until Greg comes to apologize for his betrayal which Ronald accepts as Greg was trying to look out for him. Greg then asks Ronald when he did the heist did he save the files, saying they might still be on the computer. Honey also reveals she taped the conversation as well. The three then rush to the restaurant before Rex comes in the morning, retrieve the files and send it to the police as well as the internet.

 

Charles is freed from prison although he and Ronald along with their workers and accomplices are under 1000 hours of community service for all parties involved, Rex winds up in jail for his crimes, Burger Bosses faces a huge lawsuit and the restaurant in town is shutdown. Ronald and Charles reunite their rivalry albeit on more friendly terms, with Charles forgiving Ronald not before starting a massive food fight in his restaurant.

 

Edited September 26, 2018 by YourMother the Edgelord

[Blankments]

Lucid

 

Writer/Director: Rian Johnson

Genre: Sci-Fi/Action/Thriller

Release Date: September 25

Major Cast:

Henry Golding as David

Karl Urban as Mark (voice role)

Kyle Chandler as the CIA Agent

Ben Mendelsohn as the FBI Agent

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the Pilot.

 

Theater Count:  3,962

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sci-fi action, strong violence, and language.

Format: Filmed partially in IMAX (From where the dream world collapses to near the end of the movie.)

Runtime: 121 min

Production Budget: $75 million

Music by: Alan Silvestri

 

Plot Summary: After a man is arrested by the FBI for no apparent reason, he finds out he is trapped in a dream and must get out before he slips into a coma.

 

Plot: 

 

A man, David, waits at the airport when his phone rings. He picks it up and begins talking to his friend, Mark. Mark tries to convince David to not take his flight, and David asks why not. Mark says that as long as David remains in the airport, something bad is going to happen. David asks what, and Mark says he’s not sure. David hangs up on Mark, and continues to his terminal. Cut to black.

 

 

 

David walks through the air tunnel, staggering a bit, but he makes it to his seat. He is sitting in between two agents, an FBI agent and a CIA agent. They stare at him, and ask him if he’s okay. David says he’s fine. Cut to white.

 

 

The plane takes off, and after they are stable, David suddenly stands up. The FBI agent asks what he’s doing, and David says he doesn’t know. David walks into the cockpit, and then the pilot stands up, and pulls a gun to David. David asks what’s going on, and then the pilot says he is a threat that must be killed. David has no idea what is going on, but he kicks the pilot in the groin, and grabs the gun. He tries to throw the gun away, but then a gunshot goes off without him pulling the trigger. The pilot is suddenly dead, and the plane begins freefalling, causing everyone inside to go in zero gravity. David still has no idea what is going on, but then the agents run in, and punch David in the head. Cut to grey.

 

 

David comes out of the unconsciousness and finds himself handcuffed to a table in a room. The agents are right in front of him. The CIA agent asks David if he knows what he did, and David confesses he doesn’t remember anything. The FBI agent slaps David and yells at him to remember. The CIA agent rolls his eyes, and says that David will come around to know. He then drags the FBI agent out of the room, telling David they’ll be back in half an hour.

 

David tries to find a way out when he hears Mark’s voice ask him if he really doesn’t remember. A quick flashback to the plane dropping occurs. David looks behind him, and he says Mark looks different to him. It cuts to a donkey, who begins talking with Mark’s voice, explaining that the way he appears now as how David views him. Mark continues, explaining that David’s asleep right now, under some experimental medication, and they need to escape the facility. David asks why, and Mark answers that if they don’t get back to the airport and hijack a plane within four hours, then there’s no way David will ever wake up.

 

David asks Mark to explain what’s going on, but Mark says he doesn’t know how he knows what’s going on, and all he knows is that since David took a plane out of the sky, the only way for him to wake up is to take a plane into the sky. David is still apprehensive, so Mark asks him to try to remember how he got on the plane. The film flashes back to David arriving at the terminal. He sits down and grabs a newspaper. His phone rings, and he sees that Mark is calling. He opens his newspaper... and then cut to him in the air tunnel. David realizes Mark must be right. Mark says they need to get out now, and Mark rips off the handcuffs with his teeth.

 

The agents see this on security cameras, and grab their guns smiling. It cuts back to Mark and David. Mark says the agents are coming now, and they need to escape quickly. They try the door, but it is obviously locked. Mark says that since this is David’s dream, if David wills it to be unlocked, then it will. David says that’s ridiculous, but Mark says just to try it. David closes his eyes and the door unlocks. They run out, and see the agents’ guns pointed at them. They shoot, but then David looks at the ground, willing it to be intangible under the agents. The agents fall down into the basement, but they immediately stand up to run up the stairs.

 

Back with David and Mark, Mark says that David can’t do the reality bending all the time. David asks why not, and Mark explains that the two agents come along with the medication, and they will adapt to the dream no matter what, and also, too much reality bending could collapse the simple structure of the dream world right now. David and Mark then run down the hallway, while David remarks how funny it is that Mark is a donkey. Mark rolls his eyes. The two exit the building to find a car. Mark says that it’ll take them to the airport, as long as they drive for half a day. They turn onto a highway, the only thing in sight besides the agent’s headquarters.

 

The two drives for a bit, and the late afternoon turns to night, when suddenly, they hear a screech behind them. David is driving, so he tells Mark to look behind him. Mark looks and he sees the agents behind them in a semi-truck with the CIA agent driving. Mark tells David what is happening, and that he needs to try to get rid of them. David asks how to get rid of them. Mark answers that if he gets rid of one of their tires, then that should be enough to get them off their tail. Mark warns him that the dream can only withstand one more reality change before it collapses on itself.

 

Mark takes over the wheel, and David climbs out of the car and onto the roof, in order to see the tire to get rid of it. However, the FBI agent is on the roof of the semi-truck as well. He jumps across onto the roof of the car, and pulls out a sword. David is confused why he isn’t using a gun, and the FBI agent admits that their guns are impossible to leave the base. The FBI agent attempts to stab and kill David, but David dodges it, and then pulls out a laser sword out of thin air. They fight for a bit, and the laser sword proves to not be more powerful than the normal sword. The two fight for a full minute, cutting back in forth between the driver seats of both vehicles, showing that Mark is evading the CIA agent’s attempts to ram the bus.

 

Alas, David cannot prevent the agents’ semi from being faster than their car. David sees the left front tire out of the corner of his eye, and he explodes it. Immediately, the CIA agent flies back into the semi’s passenger seat. David, confused, jumps back into the passenger’s seat of the car, while Mark is panicking. David asks what is wrong, and Mark explains that he just did two reality changes, the laser sword and the tire pop. Mark explains that the solid dream state is collapsing, and David asks that that should mean he wakes up. Mark says that since the dream is collapsing, it just cuts their time in half, so now they only have two hours to get to the airport. David says that that isn’t that bad, but Mark continues, saying that now, there’s no telling what the world will do to them, and that the agents now have the reality-bending powers.

 

The agents pull a bazooka and an AK-47 out of thin air, while the highway begins breaking apart like a fault line. They begin shooting at the car, and when the bullets hit they explode into fire, and then blood and bones. David looks back and is confused on how this could happen, while Mark says they need to jump out of the car, or else the agents will catch them. David disagrees, but Mark doesn’t care, as he grabs David with his own teeth by David’s shirt, and jumps out of the car. The car then stops and explodes, first into fire, but then into mud.

 

Following their jump, David and Mark are in free-fall, and Mark estimates that they will hit the ground in a minute. Mark says that they need to survive the fall, so David needs to imagine Mark as something else. Mark explains that David’s reality-bending powers are gone, but his personal view on Mark can still change how the Mark in the dream appears. David concentrates hard, and Mark suddenly has wings. Mark rolls his eyes and asks how he could possibly be a flying ass, and David shrugs and smiles.

David gets on Mark’s back, as Mark slows down to a stop, and they gently land on the ground. They look around and see they are in a purple forest. David says they must have about one hour left, and Mark says he knows the airport is just two miles north. They start walking in that direction. Cut to the agents, who are now on the ruined highway. They walk out with their guns, and begin heading in the direction of Mark and David.

 

David begins following a river, which he says his gut feeling says is going to reach the airport. Mark agrees and they continue following it. The agents, not that far behind them, see the river, and create jet-skis to ride down the river with. David and Mark reach a waterfall which leads into the lake. There is nothing beyond the waterfall, and the only way to go is up. David gets on Mark’s back again, and they begin flying up when the agents reach them. Mark flies faster up, but then the FBI agent grabs a flamethrower out of thin air and torches the water. Immediately, the water turns into lava, causing Mark to fly faster up. They quickly arrive above at the land near the top of the lavafall.

 

The lavafall immediately solidifies into rock, and Mark says they have to run; the agents will be up there in two minutes. They run and quickly arrive at the airport, which is a mismatch of several bizarre items, including a mall, a missile, and a giant horse. Mark tells David to ignore them and they are running out of time. They run inside the hanger, finding there to be several Davids running around the airport, wearing only shorts. David is confused, but Mark refuses to answer, saying the surrealness of the dream will increase as they get closer to the terminal.

 

They continue running through the airport, when the agents walk in, and begin shooting down the multiple Davids. Every time one is hit, David loses something from his body. First he loses an eye, and then an arm. Mark realizes what is going on, and runs back to fight the agents. After the first two Davids are shot down, the other Davids run away to hide. The agents don’t care and continue walking. Mark runs in and kicks the CIA agent in the face. As the FBI agent sneaks by, Mark and the CIA agent have a bizarre fight on a baggage carrier, with Mark using only some nunchuks he found on the ground with his teeth and the CIA agent attempting to use a machete against him. The fight lasts a minute, and Mark manages to throw the CIA agent off the carrier into a firey abyss. Mark realizes that time is almost up, and now it’s completely up to David.

 

David arrives at the terminal, which is literally flashing with all the colors of the rainbow. He runs into the air tunnel, when things start to get normal again. It looks the exact same as the beginning of the movie, but when he walks in, there’s no one in the plane at all, including the pilot. He runs into the cockpit, to begin taking off the plane. He has no idea how to do it, but then he suddenly notices a giant purple button that says “Press to Take Off.” David reaches for it, but then he hears the door of the air tunnel shut.

 

He hides under the cockpit, and he sees the FBI agent come in. David sees that the FBI agent is unarmed, and so he runs out, and kicks the agent in the face. While the agent is surprised, he smiles and begins a hands-to-hand fight with David. They throw punches, and the FBI agent clearly has the upper hand, as he has two hands compared to David’s one. However, David steers the fight toward the button, but the FBI agent notices it. He trips David, causing him to just miss the button... with his hand. His head hits the button, and the plane begins take off, and the plane’s door opens. David then jumps up, and begins pushing the FBI agent back until he falls off the plane.

 

David then sits in the cockpit as the plane takes off. Slowly, the sky begins collapsing into different objects and David braces himself. It cuts to Mark looking at the plane taking off, smiling, but then frowning as something dawns on him. David clenches his hand, and closes his eyes. He opens them when the shaking feeling stops, and he finds himself holding his newspaper in the airport. Everyone around him is looking at him weirdly, and then over the intercom, it is heard that the plane is now boarding. David smiles, realizing that everything was just a dream. However, he does not notice his phone beeping, revealing that he has five important messages from Mark. The phone begins ringing again, marked with urgent. Cut to credits.

 

Edited September 30, 2018 by Blankments

[YM!]

@Xillix 

Move High School Musical 4: Reunion to June 26th, and Johnny Test to September 4th

[Blankments]

3:37 AM

 

Director: Stephen Susco

Genre: Found-Footage Horror

Release Date: October 30

Major Cast:

Unknowns

 

Theater Count: 2,729

MPAA Rating: R for some violence, language and disturbing images.

Runtime: 79 min

Production Budget: $1M

 

Plot: A girl wakes up in the middle of the night, and she looks at the clock, seeing it is 3:37 AM. She then hears a creek outside of her apartment. She gets up, and begins thinking about whether she should check it out. She eventually decides to check it out. She leaves her apartment, and sees the apartment next to her's door open. She goes inside, and finds that the guy living there is stalking her. Out of nowhere, a man comes and chokes her while gagging her. She wakes up in her bed, and looks at the clock, and it is still 3:37 AM.She gets up, and goes into her closet and pulls out a baseball bat. She goes next door, and sees the man who previously gagged her sleeping. She hits him with the baseball bat, and he wakes up, looking at her in terror. She grabs a gun sitting on his nightstand and shoots him. She then wakes up in her bed again, and sees that it is still 3:37 AM. She tries to call the police, but is put on hold. When the police finally pick up, she explains the situation. The police come over and arrest the guy. The girl smiles, but then wakes up in bed again, and the time is still 3:37 AM. She then goes next door, where the door is still open. She goes inside, and finds the apartment completely vacant, until she hears screaming. She jumps out the window. Cut to the clock, still showing 3:37 AM turn to 3:38 AM.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Blankments

[YM!]

@Xillix High School Musical 4: Reunion is finished.

[Alpha]

Btw @Xillix Stargazer is scheduled for January 10th.

[4815162342]

@Xillix As I said in Year 4 Discussion RDR is not coming out.

 

 

The Square Mile

 

Genre: Crime

Cast: Naomi Watts (Inspector Elizabeth Montgomery), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Inspector Chester Lawrence), Alexander Skarsgård (Novikov), Charles Dance (Sokolin), Mark Gatiss (William Newman), Stephen Rea (Chief Inspector Hanson), Nikolaj Lie Kaas (The Associate), with Toby Jones (Henry Kronsby)

Written and Directed By: Martin McDonagh

Release Date: 10/23/4

Theater Count: 3118 theaters

Budget: $50 million

Running Time: 144 minutes

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

 

Plot Summary:

 

Spoiler

 

Prologue: Worked to Death

 

Tuesday

 

Henry Kronsby (Jones), a mid-level financial officer at Findlay International Banking Corporation, is worried. His office phone rings and he answers in a hushed tone, promising to the unheard caller that he’ll keep his mouth shut. He asks the caller to just give him a little more time. Kronsby, looking pale, puts the phone down and turns his chair to look out the window at the cityscape of downtown London, the place that is known commonly as The Square Mile.

 

Kronsby works late that night. Going over a series of complex monetary transactions, he is oblivious to everything else. Eventually he gets the urge to go to the bathroom. Upon returning he sees that his office chair is facing away towards the window. As he enters his office a voice in accented English comments “It must be hard on the wife for you to work late so often.” The chair turns around to face Kronsby and sitting in it is a finely-dressed man with platinum blond hair. The man then adds “fortunately she won’t have to worry about that much longer.”

 

Kronsby, looking petrified, begs the man, Novikov, to trust him to not mess things up again. Novikov (Skarsgård) shakes his head. “No, I’m afraid that isn’t possible” he says, taking out a silenced pistol. He then with his gloved hands pulls a flash drive from Kronsby’s computer before continuing “You see, Mr. Kronsby, the people we both work for do not tolerate serious slip-ups. Our employers have decided to rescind your contract.” Kronsby only says half a word before Novikov shoots him twice in the chest. As Kronsby twitches on the ground, Novikov calmly gets up, walks over to Kronsby, and shoots him in the head. Novikov puts the gun away, adjusts his suit, and exits the office.

 

Chapter 1: Running the Hamster Wheel

 

Wednesday

 

Chester Lawrence (Ejiofor), a London detective, wakes up in a small and cramped apartment that is a little messy. As he gets dressed for work he gets a text on his cell phone that he looks at with a sad sigh and then ignores it. He continues getting dressed, grabs a quick bite to eat, and his phone rings. Caller ID says “Marisha.” He sighs and answers it and says he doesn’t want to talk right now. We only hear his side of the conversation but we get the gist that he was in a relationship that is on the rocks and he is very reluctant to try and mend things. The last part of the conversation has him say that he won’t “miss it” and then he’ll be there tomorrow. He hangs up, grumbles, and walks out the door.

 

We cut to him taking a ride on the London Underground before getting another call on his cell. Answering it, he looks annoyed by what he hears and protests that he and his partner aren’t on call today. Sighing, he says that he’ll be at the scene as quickly as possible and hangs up.

 

Chester enters the main floor for Findlay International Banking Corporation, a Styrofoam cup of coffee in each hand. The place is shut down with cops crawling all over the place. After some inspection of the area Chester finds his partner, Elizabeth Montgomery (Watts) squatting by a body bag. Elizabeth complains about having to work on an off-day. Chester hands her one of the cups and asks what the forensic teams have found. Elizabeth gives the information about the deceased and says he was shot execution-style. The nature of the killing makes the death clearly a hit of some kind. Chester notices Kronsby’s computer and asks if there was anything on it that could be a clue but is told that it appears someone copied a multitude of files from the computer and then wiped them. The techs are going to reconstruct what they can but it will take some time.

 

The scene changes to the precinct where they work. Chester is handling some paperwork when Elizabeth comes up and says that the boss wants to talk with them. Chester then follows Elizabeth to a conference room where Chief Inspector Hanson (Rea) is waiting. Hanson is irritable and profanely bristles at Chester’s complaint that there were detectives above them on the call sheet. Hanson says that Chester and Elizabeth have the best clearance rate of any team in the Homicide division and for this case he wanted the best. Hanson says that MI5 had been looking into Kronsby discretely over the past few weeks based on suspicious financial transactions with known foreign crime syndicates, so there is interest in finding his killer.

 

After the meeting, Chester and Elizabeth divide up the work they have over lunch. While discussing that they get evidence from the techs about some of what was extracted from Kronsby’s computer. Also, they receive a copy of security footage that shows a partial view of the killer. After some more digging they find a copy of Kronsby’s schedule for the upcoming week and learn that he was to meet with William Newman, an old mainstay in the House of Commons. It’s probably nothing but Chester decides to pay Newman a visit.

 

Newman (Gatiss) is a bit put-off by the arrival of Chester, since he was hosting a few campaign donors and lobbyists for drinks. He tells Chester that Kronsby handled the investing of his office’s accounts in order to generate additional funds for campaigns. Under a recently law it’s legal, even though some of the prim and proper politicians think it unsavory. Chester says that some evidence indicates Kronsby was funneling money for some sordid types and they’re simply checking on all the accounts he handled. Newman agrees that diligence is very important and urges Chester to find the killer since Kronsby was a nice fellow. Chester leaves Newman’s penthouse and is contacted by Elizabeth who tells him that she’s found something of interest.

 

Back at the precinct a technician shows Chester and Elizabeth a reconstructed file showing that Kronsby helped to launder money for the Vory V Zakone, the feared Russian criminal syndicate. Most of the information about the account holder, the actual transaction data, etc is still in need of reconstruction. Chester says that there’s no point in waiting around until then the scene changes to a nearby pub where Chester and Elizabeth are having some drinks and are both a little tipsy. Chester vents a bit to Elizabeth about how the situation with Marisha is really putting a strain on him. Elizabeth asks how Alicia is doing and Chester says she’s confused, doesn’t really understand why her parents aren’t living together anymore. Chester says he wants to be there for her, but after how things have gone with Marisha he feels it is better if he stays away mostly for the time being, and let her get used to the new normal. Elizabeth puts her hand on his and says that everything is going to work out for him. The two exchange a warm smile and Chester says there isn’t much point in staying at the pub.

 

Chester and Elizabeth exit a cab and Elizabeth leads the way to her apartment where inside the two begin making out and slowly removing each other’s clothing for sex. After they get going for a bit the film fades out and then cuts to later with the two of them in bed. They talk and we learn that their relationship began a couple months ago, which was a few months after Chester and Marisha separated. Neither of the two are sure how much of a future there is to this. Elizabeth says Chester should really think about reconciling with Marisha, since “no offense, but you were the one who fucked up.” Chester sighs and says he knows, but if he screwed up once, he can do it again. He also asks if she’d really be fine with that, given what’s happened between them since. Elizabeth smiles and assures Chester that they’ll be there for one another no matter what. “We were friends and partners long before all this, and we’ll stay that way long after.” She kisses Chester and then rolls over to sleep. Chester looks up at the ceiling, his eyes slowly closing.

 

Thursday

 

The sound of two phones ringing wakes them up. The two answer in different rooms to avoid either being overheard in the other’s call, since technically their fraternization is against the rules. Chester listens to what the caller says and replies that he’ll be in immediately. He walks back into the bedroom to see Elizabeth hanging up and tells her that they’ve got the name of the account holder. Elizabeth smiles and says that they also got a security picture of the murderer.

 

At the precinct Hanson is in a poor mood as there is a ticking clock on the leads. He tells them about a Russian by the name of Gromyko, who is a venture capitalist who works in the Square Mile. However, Gromyko has booked a plane ticket for Moscow for this evening so they need to pick him up from his firm for questioning before he bolts. Chester and Elizabeth get ready to head out but are first given a second security picture that shows the majority of the killer’s face and the audience can tell that it is Novikov. A tech tells the two that facial recognition software hasn’t gotten a match so he is likely a professional contract killer. Before they head out to get to Gromyko Chester is delayed by a trivial issue but he catches up with Elizabeth at her police auto.

 

The two arrive in Elizabeth’s police-issued car at Gromyko’s firm with a couple extra cop cars as backup. Inside they are told that he just left, the receptionist pointing him out. As they follow him, they see a car pull up and the chauffeur assisting Gromyko. As the chauffeur turns, Chester gets a clear look and sees that it is Novikov. He quickly alerts Elizabeth and signals to a pair of cops waiting by their support car. The two cops walk towards Gromyko’s car but are suddenly gunned down by automatic fire out the driver’s window. Before Chester or Elizabeth can react, Gromyko’s car speeds off down the street and they rush to their own car to give pursuit, a couple of the backup cars joining in.

 

The car chase is filmed from either within the car or from cameras mounted on the car for a close-quarters feel. Their car chases Gromyko through the busy streets of London, the dense traffic making it treacherous. A third previously unseen man leans out of a passenger window of Gromyko’s car and fires an automatic rifle at the detectives and their support vehicles. The automatic fire goes through one support car’s windshield and kills the driving cop, and that cop car loses control and hits a civilian vehicle, flipping over. Chester returns fire while Elizabeth drives, deftly avoiding traffic as they weave in and out through intersections. After some further exchanges of gunfire Chester eventually takes out the third man. The chase goes on for a couple minutes of screentime until they reach the docks of East London, where a few more cop cars join. A sudden turn of Gromyko’s car surprises Chester and his car spins wildly as he tries to match it. The pursuit ends as their car mildly slams into a parked car. The detectives hear over a radio that the car has entered a warehouse district and the street exits are being closed off. Chester and Elizabeth go on foot, backed up by the two cops from the other pursuit vehicle and see Gromyko’s car has parked by a warehouse near a dock. Gromyko and the driver are fleeing and the driver shoots at the cops, hitting one of the supporting cops in the chest. Returning fire from behind cover, Chester fires a shot that clips the driver in the right shoulder, but the man stays on his feet and pulls Gromyko into the warehouse.

 

As SWAT teams arrive, they give orders to seal all of the exits from the area. Chester tells the SWAT leader that a valuable witness is there and they need him alive. The SWAT teams burst into the warehouse, which has a wall blocking the far half on the lower floors so they have to go up first, following a small trail of blood. Upstairs Chester and Elizabeth find Gromyko dead. As they try to find the killer they hear a crashing noise and look out a window to see a small speedboat on the river, having burst through a door by the dock. Elizabeth says that they don’t have any units on the far side of the river and they’ll lose him. Chester punches a wall in frustration.

 

Back at the precinct, Chester and Elizabeth wait for Hanson, expecting the worst. To their surprise Hanson isn’t too upset; since he informs them that while Gromyko was sloppy in covering his tracks. The techs pulled his computer from work and found some poorly hidden financial details. He also says that they found fingerprints of the killer at the warehouse, so they can assemble a bio-profile that can catch him if he tries to leave the country. Finally, they know the killer is wounded so they have a rough description posted at all area hospitals in case he shows up there. Chester is pleased and Elizabeth, first looking surprised, says that that is wonderful news. Hanson says that it appears Gromyko helped control front companies for the Vory V Zakone and donated money to politicians. One of those politicians is William Newman. Hanson tells Chester to go chat with Newman again and see how innocent those donations were. Elizabeth volunteers to go to Gromyko’s home and see if any more incriminating info is there. As they head out Elizabeth asks Chester if he wants to come over later. Chester declines, saying that his daughter has a piano recital he promised to make. Elizabeth agrees he should do that, As they get into their separate cars Elizabeth calls out to him and says “Hey, you’re a good dad. Remember that.” Chester nods a little glumly and the two drive off in separate directions.

 

Chester returns to Newman’s flat, the parliamentarian not happy to be bothered by the police yet again. After Chester reveals a hint of the organized crime connection, Newman becomes both indignant and tries to dodge Chester’s questions. He tries to use his position to threaten Chester for nosing around politics but Chester remains firm. Newman sighs and says that Chester is wasting his time since all of the donations are legal and all he has done has been for perfectly decent reasons. But since Chester will persist, Newman tells him that he should spend his time taking a look at where the money comes from, since the source is probably where the killer is getting direction from. Chester, knowing he won’t get anything else at this time, leaves Newman’s place. He tries calling Elizabeth but it goes to voicemail. He tucks his phone away and drives off to his daughter’s recital.

 

We cut to a small concert hall where about a dozen kids about 10-12 years old are doing piano recitals. Chester enters a little late, but sees that Alicia hasn’t gone yet and so sits about halfway down the rows. There is a little eye contact between him and Marisha, but he mostly avoids it. Alicia goes on the stage and plays Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Chester sits there enraptured, and exchanges a couple more looks with Marisha before looking away, a little teary. After Alicia finishes he gets up and walks away, not to leave the building but just to get some space in the back.

 

We cut to after the recital is fully over and families are milling around. Chester walks over to Alicia, who is standing by her mother, and he tells her she was terrific. Alicia hugs him, for a while, and says that she is glad he came. Chester says he wouldn’t miss it for anything. He and Marisha finally exchange some words and they’re short and cordial. Neither of them bring up the elephant in the room. Alicia, looking up at Chester, says she and Mom are going out for dinner afterwards and asks if he can join them. Chester says he wishes he could but he has to work late tonight. Alicia is disappointed but Marisha says that “Dad” will take her out another time. She asks Alicia to go wait by the exit for her. After Alicia walks off Marisha looks at Chester and says that it meant a lot to Alicia for him to come. Chester starts to say something but Marisha cuts him off and says “Listen, I get why things are the way they are. But you don’t have to shut her out too.” She then walks off.

 

We cut to Chester returning to his car and driving off back towards his station. As he does, he hears over the installed police radio of an emergency at an address that he recognizes is the location of Gromyko’s home. He speeds down the streets at lightning speed.

 

Getting there, he pushes his way to Gromyko’s flat past the police cordon outside where he finds the apartment in chaotic disarray. Novikov is sprawled on the floor, pools of blood around him and a number of gunshot holes in various walls. He then sees Elizabeth being attended to by a medic. Elizabeth has a gunshot wound in her left arm and is being told that while it isn’t serious she’ll need some medical care at a hospital. Chester and Elizabeth lock eyes. “Didn’t have a chance to call for backup” she says. “I got in and he was already here. Got a bit messy.” Chester says that she’s alive, that’s all that matters.

 

Elizabeth gets put on a stretcher, for precaution sake, and is wheeled out towards an ambulance, Chester accompanying her. As they leave Elizabeth asks “So how was the recital?” Chester laughs and says it was good. They continue out the door but the camera stays behind, lingering on a shot of Novikov on the floor.

 

Chapter 2- A Walk on the Violent Side

 

Monday

 

Novikov wakes up and proceeds to shower and dress in a slick suit before driving to a nightclub that is marked closed. Inside he is frisked by some guards and surrenders a small assortment of deadly weapons before being ushered into a back room where a man, Jakob Sokolin (Dance) is sitting in a booth talking to Kronsby. As Novikov hangs back, we with him overhear bits of a conversation that indicates that Sokolin is displeased with Kronsby’s performance and Kronsby pleads to be given some slack. Sokolin eventually dismisses Kronsby and the nervous banker quickly flees.

 

Sokolin notices Novikov and gestures for him to sit. The two men chat for a moment before getting down to business (all of their conversation is in Russian). Sokolin then brings up Kronsby. Kronsby has been getting sloppy in his work for them, leaving accidental breadcrumbs that securities and banking regulators are starting to notice, and he’ll need to be taken care of. Novikov relishes the opportunity to make money and says that by the end of the next day Kronsby will be taken care of. As he gets up Sokolin reminds Novikov that he is also on thin ice himself for his recent mistakes that have been concealed only through the use of “friends”. “I brought you in from our Copenhagen brothers to give you a chance to redeem yourself and so far, you’ve been lacking. Don’t disappoint me again.”

 

Later Novikov is within the Square Mile and enters a small café. He watches a man in a corner booth, Kronsby, fidgeting quite a lot in anxiety. Novikov, after a minute of observing, walks over to Kronsby’s booth and sits down over Kronsby’s objection. Kronsby then recognizes Novikov from the nightclub. Novikov says he is here simply to keep an eye on him and reassure him that he is in good hands. The two talk for a couple minutes over Kronsby’s frustrations. Kronsby then asks Novikov what he does. Novikov replies that he is a “fixer,” the perks of which are traveling all over the continent solving problems for their employer, and getting plenty of rewards along the way. Kronsby says he hasn’t taken a vacation in years, and would like to take a trip once this current business is all smoothed over. He then realizes he is running late and quickly excuses himself. As he leaves Novikov comments to himself in Russian “poor fool, unfortunately your next trip will be to a box.”

 

Tuesday

 

Novikov enters the office building where Kronsby works. He scouts the area on the pretense of having an appointment and makes note of security cameras and other security measures though the film makes it obvious that he misses an obscured security camera. After a little more recon the film jumps to him outside the building where he makes a call on a cell phone. Speaking in English, he tells the person on the other line that he will be making his move tonight. “We’ll be counting on you to make sure there is no fallout.”

 

The film shifts to that night, with Novikov infiltrating the building, avoiding all of the security cameras except the one he missed earlier. On the target floor he sees Kronsby entering a bathroom and uses that time to set himself up in Kronsby’s office. The camera hangs back a bit, looking through an office window as Kronsby returns and the murder scene from the beginning is shown again, though the volume is suppressed. After Novikov shoots Kronsby he exits the office without looking back. We follow him down the street a short distance where he makes a call, speaking in Russian to the other person that the job is done.

 

Wednesday

 

Novikov returns to the nightclub and has a conversation with Sokolin in Russian. Sokolin is happy and hands Novikov a wad of bills. Sokolin says that Novikov will have two jobs tomorrow. The first job will be to pick up an “associate” from Heathrow Airport. Who the associate is doesn’t need to be said. For the second job Sokolin then says that their “friend” has alerted him that Kronsby left potentially incriminating files on his office computer. Sokolin says that those files could lead police to a middleman called Gromyko. Sokolin has told Gromyko that he is being taken to an airport tomorrow to leave the country but insinuates to Novikov that Gromyko is not to reach the airport. Novikov nods and Sokolin, pleased, summons a nightclub dancer over. Sokolin tells her to show Novikov a good evening and the dancer leads Novikov to a back room. There she puts on a strip show, gives a lap dance, they do some illicit drugs, and have some general sexual carousing. Afterwards, the two sprawled on a couch, the dancer asks Novikov if he enjoys his line of work. Novikov, smoking a cigarette, grins and says he’s good at what he does, so it doesn’t hurt to take a little pleasure in it.

 

Later that night, Novikov returns to his own apartment, which is spartan, almost devoid of furnishings. He pours himself a drink and stares out a floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking downtown London, and loses himself in contemplation.

 

Thursday

 

Novikov, dressed as a professional driver, stands near the entrance to Heathrow Airport holding a sign that says “Dostoevsky.” Eventually a man around forty years old taps Novikov on the shoulder and says in Russian he should work on perceiving his surroundings. Novikov says nothing but takes the Associate’s (Lie Kaas) bags and walks the man to the waiting car. As the Associate climbs in, he says in Russian “Tolstoy was better, by the way.”

 

During the drive into London the car is eerily quiet, Novikov having both a reverence and a nervousness around the person in the back seat. Eventually Novikov starts to ask a question but is immediately cut off by the Associate, who tells Novikov he should keep his attention on the road. As Novikov continues to drive, the Associate starts talking (all of the car dialogue is in Russian), saying that he is fully aware of who Novikov is. “Copenhagen was stupid of you” he says, “but my brothers were convinced to assign you to this place where you can prove yourself. But though the Westerners are fond of second chances, even they know that no one gets a third.”

 

Novikov drops the Associate off at a nondescript suburban house. The Associate goes to the door and it is opened by Sokolin, who embraces the Associate warmly and brings him inside, giving Novikov a curt nod before closing the door. Novikov, looking grim, starts the car and drives to another location where he picks up an assistant with an automatic rifle (the one from the car chase in Chapter 1).

 

Novikov arrives where Gromyko works. He goes upstairs to Gromyko’s office and inside the two briefly talk in Russian. Gromyko complains about being forced to leave London on such short notice since he’s in the middle of some key deals. The two leave the building. As Novikov gets in the driver’s seat he sees what looks like two plainclothes detectives exiting the office building. Suspicious, he starts up the car but then sees two regular cops walking towards the car. In Russian he says to Gromyko and the other occupant of the car that traffic to the airport will be unusually hectic today and before Gromyko can say anything Novikov pulls out a submachine gun concealed under the dash and fires it at the two cops, killing them. He then guns the engine and roars into the crowded street.

 

We then have an abbreviated replay of the chase scene, though now we see it from the view of Novikov with cameras mounted within and outside the car showing the interior, the street in front, and the pursuit coming from the rear. Gromyko is panicking tremendously and Novikov cajoles him to shut up, saying that there is an escape route ready for them. He curses after his compatriot is shot by Chester, a couple bullets cracking through the rear windshield and just missing Gromyko and himself. Novikov curses and pulls a few daring turns that cause civilian cars to crash and pedestrians to dive out of the way, almost taking out the remaining cop cars in the process. Eventually they get to the warehouse from Chapter 1.

 

At the warehouse, after Novikov is wounded in the shoulder, he pulls Gromyko inside the building along with his briefcase. There, Gromyko is downright hysterical. Novikov, wincing as he alternates between firing at encroaching SWAT teams through a window and wrapping up his wound, tells Gromyko that there is an escape boat. Gromyko’s mood suddenly uplifts, but then Novikov turns around with a pistol pointed at him. As Gromyko tries to stammer out a question, Novikov interrupts and says “Not for you though.” He then shoots Gromyko, takes a set of keys out of the dead man’s coat pocket, and then takes the briefcase with him to a speedboat in a concealed dock. Getting in, he crashes through the exit door, speeding across the Thames with no pursuit. As he approaches the other side, he looks back at the warehouse and laughs at getting away, and then winces in pain. He looks at his right shoulder wound, which is somewhat serious.

 

We then see Novikov in an abandoned building, having just conducted rudimentary first aid on his shoulder wound, though he is still in pain. He examines the contents of Gromyko’s briefcase, finding a collection of files, computer discs, and cash. Satisfied with his search, he uses a cigarette lighter to light a single piece of paper on fire. After using the flaming paper to light a cigarette, he then drops the paper into the briefcase, setting the whole thing ablaze. He sits on a counter, puffing away in thought as he watches the briefcase and its contents become consumed.

 

It is now early evening and Novikov has arrived at Gromyko’s flat. He enters the flat and without paying attention to his surroundings begins to rummage through the dead man’s belongings, trying to find any more incriminating evidence. After a minute of this rough searching, he is interrupted by a woman’s voice telling him “You don’t need to exert yourself. I already found what we needed.” Novikov freezes in his tracks and says “So he sent you to clean up.” He turns around and sees, sitting in a chair with a gun pointed at him, Elizabeth.

 

Elizabeth smirks and tells Novikov that she’s here because he has made a few too many mistakes yet again, adding that he’s done those things carelessly and has exposed himself with security footage of his face. “They have your face, your prints. They have you.” Novikov, slowly growing nervous, says that he’s gotten a new face before and he’s more than skilled enough to warrant yet another one. Elizabeth shakes her head and says with a little condescension “I think they’ll save the new face for someone who actually deserves one.” Novikov sighs and then suddenly flings a vase from a shelf behind him at Elizabeth, who dodges it. The distraction though gives Novikov time to knock the gun from Elizabeth’s hand, then attempting to pin her and choke her to death. Elizabeth is soon is able to throw Novikov off her. She slams his shoulder wound, causing him to writhe in pain. Getting up, she kicks him several times in the stomach and then retrieves her gun. As Novikov looks up, for the first time showing total fear, she shoots him multiple times. She then fires a handful of shots into the walls to make it look like a gunfight, quickly tosses the room around in disarray, and then she makes a call on her police radio reporting that shots were fired and an officer is wounded. Finally, breathing slowly, she places her gun against her left arm and fires a shot, the screen going to black at that instant.

 

Chapter 3- Business as Usual

 

Friday

 

Chester is hard at work going through files found on Gromyko’s computers. Hanson arrives at the precinct and checks in on Chester, who he guesses has been working all night. Hanson tells Chester that Elizabeth is going to be just fine, in fact she’s being released in a few hours and is cleared to do light office duty since they both know there’ll be no way of keeping her from her job. However, she’ll be off the streets for a little while. Hanson tells Chester to get some rest and then pick up Elizabeth from the hospital. He expects to talk to them both when they get back.

 

Chester is waiting in a hospital lobby a few hours later when Elizabeth shows up, left arm heavily bandaged and in a sling. The two hug slightly awkwardly because of the wound and go to Chester’s car. On the drive Chester says that Hanson wants to talk to them both, since Elizabeth can still be of use at the precinct, if not in the field. Elizabeth jokes that only under Hanson does a gunshot wound not apply to getting her an excused absence and the mood in the car ride is lightened.

 

Back at the precinct, Hanson tells Chester and Elizabeth that their assassin had purged most of Gromyko’s files from his home computer, but a couple things do corroborate financial details from his work computer. He gives Chester a folder with some names and details Chester can run down. As Chester looks through the folder Elizabeth asks what she can do and Hanson looks awkward for a second. He then says that the superiors above have made it clear that any officer injured in the line of duty is to be sent home until they’re fully cleared medically. He calls it a stupid bureaucratic policy, but he can’t do anything about it. Elizabeth accepts the judgment. Hanson almost looks empathetic before he leaves the room. Chester walks Elizabeth to the exit, saying she can help him out. He writes some names down on a piece of scrap paper and says they’re people implicated in Gromyko’s home files and she can dig something up. Elizabeth promises to do that and says to Chester that she will definitely be taking a vacation when the case is over. Chester, after looking to make sure they’re alone, kisses her and says “book two tickets.” Elizabeth is surprised and asks if he’s sure, since it could draw attention to their relationship. Chester says he doesn’t care. “When it’s just you…it’s not complicated anymore.” Elizabeth smiles and says she’ll find somewhere nice.

 

Chester is walking down the sidewalk when he gets a call. It is Alicia. Chester is a little surprised and asks if she shouldn’t be in school, but Alicia says school has an off-day for some parent-teacher office thing. She asks him to pick her up and take her to lunch. Chester asks if “Mom” knows about this and Alicia says Mom is busy and she wouldn’t mind. Chester says “ok” but says he is working a case so it can’t be that long.

 

Cut to Chester and Alicia in a restaurant, eating lunch and talking. Chester is relaxed and laughing as Alicia talks about a couple times she was able to avoid getting into trouble for various things. They’re having a good time, until Alicia asks him when he is going to come home. Chester goes quiet at that and then finally says “It’s complicated.” Alicia says that Mom says that too, but she thinks when grown-ups say “It’s complicated” it really means they don’t want to talk about it. Chester laughs and says she’s right, and “You’re much smarter than I was at your age.” Alicia says she gets it from Mom and Chester acknowledges she is probably right there too. Chester says that her mom and him have things they need to work out, and it may take a while before that happens. Alicia nods and the two go back to eating, though much quieter.

 

Chester drops Alicia back off at her home, and they find Marisha waiting on their doorstep. Marisha kisses Alicia on the head and tells her to go inside. Alicia hugs Chester goodbye and then does that. Marisha gestures towards a small park across the street and Chester nods. The two go over there and sit on a bench. There’s a silence for a minute until Marisha finally breaks it. “You know when I said not to shut her out, I didn’t mean show up the next day.” Chester says that Alicia called him. “I don’t understand why you’re making this difficult” he says. “You want me to see her, and then complaint about me seeing her.” Marisha replies that because the way he is doing it is going to confuse her. “You drop out of her life for nearly a month, and then show up two days in a row, and who knows how long that keeps up. It isn’t fair to her.” Chester sighs and says he doesn’t want to argue. There is some more silence and then Marisha says “you know I’ve forgiven you, right? The only one keeping you from coming home is yourself.” Chester says he hasn’t forgiven himself though, and he doesn’t want things eventually spiraling back to what happened the first time. He then says “also, there is something…someone else.” Marisha smiles and says “I was curious if that was going to happen, and how long it would take. So who made the first move, you or Elizabeth?” Chester looks a little surprised that she almost expected what happened, but then says “I did.” Marisha nods and says that’s what she figured. She asks him if it’s the real thing. Chester looks at her and says he honestly doesn’t know. Marisha nods again and says she hopes Chester figures it all out, and then gets up and goes home. Chester watches her leave, and then looks out over the park from the bench and sits for a while.

 

We jump to Chester showing up at one of the names in the folder: Jurgen Kefrow, a German national with links to drug smuggling. Kefrow operates out of a pawn shop and has a couple thugs milling around. Chester, by promising to look the other way about his drug activities, is able to convince Kefrow to give up some information that indicates illegitimate ties between Newman and the Vory v Zakone, but nothing that would stick. However, Kefrow’s info does make two other names in the folder: Yalesh Kimur and Irvgut Frankel, seem promising. Chester then goes to Kimur’s place. Kimur is a Tajik émigré who has ties to Afghani opium smuggling and when Chester arrives Kimur is franticly packing. A guard tries to block Chester but Chester easily subdues him and intimidates Kimur to give up information. Kimur says that an associate of his was just pulled off the street into a van and that it had to be Russian mobsters. Kimur says that the Vory v Zakone is trying to increase its legitimate holdings and that Newman uses his influence to get laws passed that loosen financial regulation, de-illegalize certain ventures, etc, and in return he gets laundered drug and prostitution money. Kimur has no proof though. Chester then leaves Kimur and rushes to Frankel’s place. He arrives at Frankel’s apartment to find Frankel dead on the floor. Chester curses and calls in a CSI team to check the whole place.

 

The scene stays in Frankel’s apartment but shows police present. Hanson is there and tells Chester that Kefrow is dead. “Called a cab, and the cab driver put a bullet in his brain.” Hanson adds that there is pressure from his bosses not to follow the money. Chester says that following the money will lead to the big fish supporting the whole scheme and Hanson agrees, but says that any such investigation could erupt into the kind of scandal most of the bigwigs want to avoid since it’ll look bad in the papers for a long, long time. Chester asks for 24 hours to run down some leads before Hanson officially blocks off that route. Hanson nods and tells Chester to not do anything too stupid. Chester says he can’t make any promises but then turns serious and says to Hanson “I got a feeling about something, so I need you to do something for me.”

 

Chester returns yet again to visit Newman, who is annoyed by three visits in three days. Chester pressures Newman very hard, claiming he has proof that Newman is tied to organized crime and implying he will use force to get information. Newman, petrified, says he isn’t doing anything wrong and keeps up the act for a couple minutes, but after Chester threatens to shoot him in the kneecap he seems to relent. He says the name of a warehouse center in East London. Newman then says he is a dead man if “they” learn he told Chester anything. Chester says he should have thought about that before he started to work with them.

 

Chester calls Elizabeth and tells her to meet him at a subway station in the Square Mile where they’ll meet. Chester arrives at the spot to find Elizabeth waiting for him. He says he asked her to come since he may need backup or someone to call in for help. Elizabeth says she’ll do what she can, but suggests that Chester maybe slow down things, letting him know that Hanson told her about the pressure being put from above. Chester says any slowdown could let their quarry get away. “A lot of people have died over the past few days. I don’t want anymore, not if we can roll this up now.” Elizabeth looks a bit sad when she says she’ll have his back.

 

They drive over towards the warehouse center and as they do Chester says he told Marisha about the two of them. Elizabeth is surprised and asks how she took it. “Like she expected it to happen” he replies. Chester says he has no idea where all this is going but “when I spent time with Alicia today, I realized just how much I missed that. I…don’t know how I can balance that with what we have now.” Elizabeth smiles and says she knows it’ll work out for him, and then looks out the window sadly as Chester goes back to driving.

 

They arrive at the warehouse center and Chester goes to check it out, Elizabeth remaining behind in a car since she’s injured. Chester’s investigation finds that the warehouse is being used for storage of various illegal things. He tells Elizabeth over the walkie-talkie that she should call this in. On his way out he is spotted by a guard who draws a weapon. A brief shootout begins with the one guard getting shot but a few more appearing and Chester fleeing. He gets outside and into the waiting car and tells Elizabeth to drive. Instead she pulls out her pistol and asks for his weapon. Chester, looking shocked, hands it over and asks what the hell she is doing. “I’m so sorry” she says, tears present, before pistol-whipping him and knocking him out.

 

Chapter 4- The Woman with Two Faces

 

Sunday

 

Elizabeth, in a dress, enters a banquet hall, the surroundings indicating some sort of fundraiser. She mingles for a minute before spotting someone by an open bar. Going over there, she orders a drink. The man she spotted, Novikov, comments that it is a shame they have to keep things professional since he’d love to do some “investigation” with her later. Elizabeth brushes off the flirt and says that if he’s as good at his job as he is at hitting on women it’s no wonder that she is being called in to watch over him. Novikov laughs and says even the best make mistakes. “Fortunately I don’t make many.” Elizabeth replies “No, you don’t. But when you do, you make a right fuckup of it.”

 

Elizabeth spots Sokolin, shaking hands with a few people, one of them Newman. Sokolin after paying his dues notices Elizabeth. He walks over, warmly kisses her on the cheek, and says they need to talk. The three of them exit the banquet hall and go to a conference room. Sokolin tells Novikov to stay outside. Novikov does so reluctantly. Inside, Elizabeth and Sokolin talk in Russian. Sokolin says that Elizabeth has her uncle’s steely gaze, adding that it is such a shame that he isn’t here to see her. Elizabeth says that her uncle was so focused on making the enterprise work in this country that he didn’t notice the natural causes that killed him. “Still, his meticulous nature meant that no one ever came close to suspecting he was involved, which helped get me where I am today.” The two talk a little more about personal matters before Sokolin brings up business. He says that the enterprise’s efforts are reaching a critical point. He needs Elizabeth to do whatever she can in her job to protect those operations. Elizabeth says she will do her best and asks about the politician Sokolin was with earlier. Sokolin says William Newman is a popular politician who is in their pocket for now, but may be smart enough to wiggle his way out. For now, he is someone who they need to look after. Sokolin then adds that an “associate” from the “old country” is coming this week.

 

Elizabeth then returns to the party and eyes Newman and soon finds him eyeing her up as well. The two get into a conversation over drinks, Newman turning up the politician’s charm and Elizabeth pretending it is working. Eventually Elizabeth gives him a card and says that should Newman ever run into some “trouble,” he should call her so can take care of it. Newman’s face shows realization and he gets a little nervous, quickly saying he has to run since he has an early Parliament meeting. After Newman leaves, Novikov slides into the previously occupied seat and asks “moving up in the world?” as he puts a hand on Elizabeth’s thigh. Elizabeth with a death stare slowly moves it away and tells Novikov that his old tricks won’t work in London anymore and says she’ll contact him when things need to be taken care of.

 

Monday

 

Elizabeth reports to her precinct and finds a light workload. Chester greets her and the two have a warm moment before another inspector tells them that Hanson wants to see Elizabeth. Elizabeth goes to chat with Hanson, who is reviewing clearance reports from the Homicide Division. Hanson skips asking Elizabeth to sit (which she does anyway) and proceeds to critique her on apparently recent shortcomings. He says that she’s appeared harried on multiple occasions recently and he’s concerned that she has some personal issues affecting her policework. Hanson says that the top brass want to make headway against the crime stream flowing from the criminal syndicates in the city, especially the murders, and he’ll need her at her best if they want to make a dent in them. Elizabeth says she’ll do her part.

 

After a couple short scenes showing Elizabeth at work at her desk and in various file and evidence rooms in the police precinct, during which we see that she is carefully cataloguing things and taking precise notes about certain case files, we see her visit someone in a nursing home. It is an aunt, who is confined to her bed but still sharp. The two quietly talk in Russian when they are sure they alone. Elizabeth’s aunt says that “Mikhail” would so happy to see where she is today. Elizabeth says he would be, and she tries every day to live up to his expectations and to not let him down. She then asks if her uncle ever had second thoughts about the life he lived, and whether he thought of dropping it to keep his family out of it. Her aunt laughs and says that the “enterprise” was his family as well, just as it is hers. “You always look out for your family, and do what you must to protect it.” Elizabeth nods and says that is what she thought, and we can see a couple traces of second thoughts in her mind. After a little more conversing she kisses her aunt on the forehead and goes home.

 

Tuesday

 

Elizabeth is sitting on a bench in Waterloo Station when Sokolin sits down on the bench facing the opposite direction. Without looking at one another the two talk in Russian. Sokolin says their “imported friend” (Novikov) will be doing a task tonight and will need Elizabeth’s assistance in cluttering the police investigation. Elizabeth says she will do what she can, but if their friend makes mistakes then her subtle efforts may not be enough to cover his involvement up. Sokolin says if it comes to that then other measures may be needed.

 

That night, Elizabeth receives a phone call on a disposable cell. It is Novikov (the call he made earlier in the film). Elizabeth says she will do what she can to clear things up but warns Novikov that he can’t afford mistakes that will implicate him.

 

Wednesday

 

Elizabeth is in her office at the precinct reviewing the files extracted from Kronsby’s computer. She pulls out a beeper that she uses to send a signal to an unknown recipient. She then copies some of the files onto a disc as well as a message saying that certain middlemen have been compromised. She then takes the disc and leaves the precinct to go for a walk. In a crowded street intersection Elizabeth spies a man on the opposite side and the two briefly nod in acknowledgement. When the light changes they cross the intersection with the rest of the pedestrians and Elizabeth slips the man the disc. She then returns to the police station and breathes a bit heavily.

 

Thursday

 

Elizabeth and Chester are walking to the police garage where Elizabeth’s car is but Chester is delayed by a trivial issue (the scene from Chapter 2). Elizabeth in the garage places a call on the disposable cell. The call goes to Sokolin. Elizabeth tells him that Novikov’s face was shown on security footage and he is burned. Sokolin asks if there is anything she can do to throw them off Novikov’s trail and she says it’s too late by this point. Sokolin then says that Novikov cannot be arrested. Elizabeth takes a deep breath and says she understands. Sokolin’s voice becomes empathetic as he says that the “first time” for anyone is difficult, but Elizabeth knows the stakes.

 

We jump to after Novikov has escaped from the docks and have a short replay of the Chapter 2 scene where Elizabeth volunteers to go to Gromyko’s house to investigate it. Elizabeth travels to Gromyko’s home and does some searching. She finds some printed files and burns them. She also goes onto Gromyko’s computer and starts to purge the system but is interrupted when she hears Novikov arrive. We get a replay of the scene where Novikov thrashes through Gromyko’s belongings, is confronted by Elizabeth, the two fight, and she kills Novikov and inflicts a wound on herself after radioing police for assistance. Now fighting through the pain, she does her best to continue purging Gromyko’s computer as she hears police sirens growing louder every second. When they’re almost there Elizabeth ceases her work since she can’t be discovered eliminating files and we see that the purge is about 80% complete. Police and EMTs burst into the house and immediately start to give Elizabeth first aid, and she is told that she was lucky and got a flesh wound which will have only minor recovery.

 

We then see an ambulance going down London streets, Chester in the back with Elizabeth. Elizabeth gives a fabricated story about what happened at Gromyko’s house. Chester holds her hand and says that when he heard about the shooting over the radio a part of him almost died inside. He tells Elizabeth he doesn’t know how he’d have taken it if she’d been killed. Elizabeth smiles and tells Chester she isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Chester says that seeing the doctor will probably be just a formality and that after an overnight stay she’ll be cleared to return to work and they can wrap up this case. Elizabeth says that she wouldn’t have it any other way, but then looks away, her expression showing (to us, Chester doesn’t see) that she clearly has no intention of doing that but feels guilt about it.

 

Friday

 

Elizabeth wakes up in a hospital bed, her left arm wrapped up in a sling. She sees that a number of people have left flowers, most of them from comrades on the police force. She looks at one bouquet and sees it is from “Uncle,” saying she has made him proud. The doctor soon enters to tell her that she was very lucky with that wound and she is cleared to go, though she’ll need to do a little rehab. After a little more talk about her injury she gathers her things and goes down to the hospital lobby where Chester is waiting.

 

The scene changes to after Elizabeth has been sent home from the precinct. She goes to a pay phone and calls a number. She reads the names Chester has given her and says they’re no longer “friends.” She then returns to her apartment and goes inside to find Sokolin waiting. All dialogue in this scene is in Russian. She is surprised by this visit and says that is too dangerous for Sokolin to visit her here. Sokolin replies that some visits are worth the risk and he wanted to make sure that she is truly alright after what happened with Novikov. Elizabeth says that she will be fine and says she’s off-duty now because of her injury. Sokolin says that may be for the best and kisses her on the forehead, saying that his people will take care of the names she gave them. He then says that it is time for her to meet an honored guest of his. At this point the Associate appears from a back room and says Sokolin has praised Elizabeth beyond anyone else in his organization. The Associates says that her partner however is skilled as well and continues to investigate the details of Kronsby’s death. He says that there are enough loose ends scattered about that Chester could find one before Sokolin’s people can sweep them all up. He asks Elizabeth how far she is willing to go to if her partner gets close to something big. Elizabeth takes a deep breath and says she will do what is necessary to protect the enterprise. Sokolin is pleased by the answer and says he trusts her to make the right decision. He hugs her and goes to leave and the Associate lingers, saying he has a couple things to discuss with Elizabeth in private. When it is just the two of them, the Associate gestures for Elizabeth to sit. She does and the Associate asks if she knows who he is. Elizabeth replies that she only knows what he’s here for and the Associate nods. He says that in this business it is crucial to be faceless, nameless, and shapeless. “Novikov forgot those things, and now Novikov is gone. Many people made the same mistakes in the past, and many more will in the future.” The Associate questions if Elizabeth can stay hidden and remain an asset. Elizabeth says Sokolin trusts her and the Associate smiles before saying “it isn’t Sokolin you should be trying to convince” and then leaving.

 

We then jump to her receiving a phone call. It is from Newman. He reminds her of their meeting on Sunday and says there is some trouble he needs her to get him out of. He explains about Chester’s visit. Elizabeth looks concerned and says she’ll take care of it. After hanging up she gets a call from Chester which is the one he made earlier. We see Elizabeth’s face showing a look of despair and futility as she knows what she has to do now. She agrees to meet Chester. After hanging up she screams in anger and throws her home phone across the room, smashing it. She then sits quietly on her couch, getting teary, before putting on an overcoat with her gun holster.

 

The film then jumps to her in a car driving to the backside of the nightclub from earlier in the film, a couple other cars following. She directs the men in those cars in Russian to take Chester and secure him. Inside, Elizabeth goes to the kitchen where she finds Sokolin where they talk in Russian. He is displeased about Chester being brought here but Elizabeth says that it was necessary to bring the policeman in alive so that they could learn how much he knows. Sokolin notices she looks troubled and asks what is wrong, and she explains that it was hard since she and Chester was her partner and were good friends. Sokolin understands and says a choice like this was bound to occur sooner or later and that she made the right decision to be loyal to her family. Sokolin tells her that for now her part is concluded and she should return to her home and stay low. “There will be nothing for you for some time. You have done more than enough my child.”

 

Now nighttime, Elizabeth returns to her apartment and digs through some mementos and finds a handful of pictures showing her and Chester together. As she sits she gets a call on her apartment phone. It is Marisha.

 

Marisha apologizes for calling her but says she tried to reach Chester on his cell phone but he didn’t pick up. Elizabeth lies and says she hasn’t seen Chester all day, since she is off-duty today, but he’s probably got his phone off due to investigating something. Marisha agrees that is probably the case, but we can tell her voice is nervous. Marisha lingers on the phone and says that Chester told her about the two of them. Elizabeth tries to say something but Marisha cuts her off and says she doesn’t have any ill will towards her. “He needed someone stable to hold him down, and he had you. I want him to be happy.” Elizabeth says she wants that for him too and adds “I don’t know if this means anything to you, but I’ve told him he should go home.” Marisha softly says that it means a lot and apologizes to Elizabeth for bothering her. Elizabeth says that it is no trouble at all, and Marisha hangs up. Elizabeth sits on her bed and stares off into space, lost in thought.

 

Chapter 5- Come Together, Right Now

 

Saturday

 

Chester opens his eyes to find himself lying on a couch, his hands tied behind his back. He sees Sokolin sitting across from him. “Good morning officer. I’m sorry it has come to this” Sokolin says, explaining that his people go to great lengths to avoid the police, since causing them harm is bad for the business. Chester says Elizabeth is one of his people and Sokolin nods. Sokolin only says that there are some things people are born into and she has made the best of the cards that her life dealt her, and then turns the conversation back to Chester and what he knows. Sokolin says that the more Chester tells about his knowledge, and the quicker he tells it, the easier it will go for him. Chester stays silent and Sokolin says he’ll give him a little time to think about it.

 

Sokolin leaves the room and goes to another private room. There he is approached by the Associate (all dialogue in this scene is in Russian), who tells him that keeping the cop alive is a mistake. Sokolin says he can’t risk being unaware of the cop having told others information that is valuable to the police. The Associate says that every minute the cop draws breath is a minute where something can go wrong. Sokolin reminds the Associate that he’s only here to assist and to observe, no more, it’s Sokolin who is in charge. The Associate leaves, glowering, and Sokolin serves himself a stiff drink.

 

We jump to Elizabeth visiting her aunt again. The conversation is again in Russian. She tells her aunt that she thinks she made a mistake the other day. She let a good friend of hers get hurt, just so the business would not be. Her aunt gives her a stern look and scolds her for having regrets. “Mikhail would not hesitate to eliminate anyone who posed a threat. Loyalty to the enterprise of all other things. He should have taught you that.” Elizabeth says he did, and she only now has learned what that lesson means. Her aunt says then she knows what she must do, to be strong like Mikhail. Elizabeth replies “Mikhail was strong, Mikhail was loyal, Mikhail was successful, and Mikhail died alone, with no one but his enterprise to mourn him, and nothing but empty nights of vodka in his final years. I don’t want that for me.” Her aunt looks at her with contempt and says “Then perhaps you are not my niece after all. If you were, you would put your family first.” There is a lingering silence before Elizabeth says “Goodbye” and leaves, intentionally not kissing her aunt on the forehead when she does.

 

Back at the precinct, Hanson is on the phone with some superior officer and is stalling for time in the investigation regarding attempts to backtrack the money trail from Gromyko and Kronsby. He’s told again that it’s been decided that since the killer is dead, it’s better to tie things up cleanly with a case closure. Hanson pleads to give his detectives more time but he gets stonewalled and hung up on. Hanson shakes his head sadly and then looks at the clock. He asks an aide if Chester has reported in yet and gets a shake of the head. Hanson sighs and after a minute calls someone on the phone and says “It’s Hanson. I need you to pull the data now.”

 

Elizabeth sits in her apartment at a table, looking at her gun, the impression being she is considering suicide. After a moment she swears silently and then grabs her gun and leaves.

 

Newman is sitting in his apartment by a bottle of whiskey when he gets a phone call. The voice on the other end is the Associate but Newman doesn’t know who it is other than someone working with Sokolin. The Associate tells Newman that his value to their joint enterprise depends on Newman using his political clout to slow things down. Newman says he’s done that through intermediaries and the police investigation will go away very soon if there are no further developments implicating their mutual interests. The Associate says he’ll be taking care of that concern on his end.

 

Hanson and a small host of officers are combing over the warehouse center from before that Chester and Elizabeth had went to, but it is empty, the contents having been evacuated over the night. Hanson swears and then gets a call from the precinct. After listening for a few seconds he hangs up and tells his men to move out.

 

Chester is still tied up when a trio of men enter his room. One of the men acts as an interrogator and asks Chester questions about what he knows. Chester refuses to answer, so the interrogator tells the two other thugs to persuade Chester, and the thugs begin to beat Chester up.

 

The Associate meets again with Sokolin and again (all dialogue in this scene is in Russian) pushes him to kill the cop and be done with it, this time saying that their brothers in the East won’t like how Sokolin taking risks. Sokolin finally caves and says they will go take care of it as soon as his interrogator finishes. The Associate is pleased and says he will take his leave and adds that when he returns things better be sorted out.

 

Elizabeth returns to the nightclub, carefully avoiding notice by Sokolin or his principal guards in the main rooms before slipping into the rear service corridors. After turning a corner she pulls out her gun and attaches a silencer to it. She walks to a room where we hear the muffled sound of fighting and enters to see the three thugs and Chester. In a flash she shoots all three men and Chester looks bewildered. “You were the insider” he finally gets out. Elizabeth nods and shuts the door to keep the noise in. “It’s in my blood” she replies “you have few choices when you inherit a life like that.” Chester then asks her why she is here and she answers “because I made one.” She squats down to be at his level and says she can’t take back all the things she has done, but she wants him to know that what happened between the two of them was real. “You really should have just walked away” she says sadly. Chester says she knows he couldn’t have. She nods, and then looks at him with a sad smile. “Then it always was going to come to this, wasn’t it?”

 

Elizabeth then unties Chester and gives him a gun from one of the three dead thugs. She says Chester needs to get out before anyone realizes what just happened and Chester says that if he’s lucky half of the London police force is on their way. Elizabeth doesn’t understand and Chester says that when he found out that the people on the list he was looking into started to disappear or get killed, he got suspicious that there was a leak in the police and he took his concern to Hanson.

 

“I got a feeling about something, so I need you to do something for me.” Chester said to Hanson the previous day (the end of an earlier scene in Chapter 3). That scene then continues, with Chester saying that only one other person knows the names of the people he is looking into and he fears that at least two of them getting taken out is not a coincidence. Hanson is in disbelief and says “she killed the hitman.” Chester nods and says he needs Hanson to keep an eye on her. Since Elizabeth has a police-issued automobile, the police can track its movements, so if she uses it they can see where she went. Chester says he plans to bring Elizabeth in on whatever he finds so if she is the leak, the police can know where everything is going down if Chester drops off the grid. Hanson says Chester is playing a dangerous game if his hunch is correct, and Chester says he knows and hopes he is wrong.

 

After Chester leaves Newman’s apartment and calls Elizabeth he then calls Hanson and tells him he got some information and is bringing Elizabeth in to check it out. He tells Hanson that if he doesn’t check in within 12 hours to move in. Hanson wishes him luck.

 

The news startles Elizabeth as she realizes the implications. “You still need to get out of here” she tells him. She opens the door and the two go off down a hallway. After some traveling they wind up in the main entertainment room where they encounter Sokolin and a handful of guards who were en-route to taking care of Chester. Sokolin asks Elizabeth what is going on and Elizabeth says she convinced Chester to give up what he knows and has brought him to Sokolin. “He just needed to hear it from me, rather than your…. Unrefined associates.” Sokolin appears pleased and says Elizabeth can go then. Elizabeth tries to convince him to let her stay, as he may need her to continue to persuade Chester to cooperate, but Sokolin slowly grows suspicious and again tells her to go, his men placing their hands on their pistols. “Move when I do” Elizabeth whispers to Chester, who realizes what she intends and whispers there must be another way.

 

Elizabeth shakes her head and quickly throws Chester to the side behind a booth and then pulls out a pistol, being a little slower because of her injury. This gives the guards time to pull out their guns and they fire as she does. Her bullet hits Sokolin in the right chest and she is hit several times. Chester from behind cover fires with his gun and kills a couple guards in the confusion and then flees down a hallway. After some running and shooting at pursuing guards, Chester enters a loading dock and opens the garage door, which moves slowly. A few guards soon enter and point their guns at him but the door has opened enough to reveal several police cars parked outside and a number of cops, who open fire on the guards when they try to shoot at the cops. The cops swarm into the loading dock and Chester drops his gun and submits to the police.

 

The scene changes to the main room of the nightclub, with Chester surveying the scene as forensic people analyze stuff and coroners load up the dead bodies. Chester watches Elizabeth be zipped into a body bag and get carted away before being approached by Hanson, who says that when Elizabeth traveled to the nightclub a second time, he knew it had to be a place of interest and moved as fast as he could. “Not fast enough for her” Chester says. Hanson nods and says that Sokolin managed to get away through a side exit it seems, but he can’t get far with a chest wound. Hanson then asks Chester if he’s ok. “She betrayed us, betrayed me, and then she died for me” Chester replies. “No Chief, I’m not fucking ok.”

 

Sokolin is being driven down a highway south, a bodyguard tending to his chest wound while another drives. He gets a call on his phone from the Associate (all dialogue in this scene is in Russian), who tells him that by now London police will have the local airports monitored, so he will have to cross the Channel into France. Sokolin says he’ll need medical treatment from a doctor the organization can trust, forged identification documents, and a secret way to get across. The Associate says that everything is being processed. Sokolin is fearful for his life but the Associate assures him that he had done great things for the organization in London and that he will be taken care of. He gives Sokolin the address of a rest stop where the hand-off will occur and a doctor will join Sokolin. The scene changes to Sokolin’s car arriving there and Sokolin assures his two bodyguards that they will all be in safe hands soon enough. An SUV appears and pulls up alongside Sokolin’s car. Sokolin rolls down his window to receive the documents but instead receives a hail of automatic weapons fire that riddles the car, killing all three inside. The SUV then drives off.

 

Chester sits in a police morgue, looking at the partially covered corpse of Elizabeth. Hanson comes in and sits next to him, saying that no one suspected Elizabeth’s real affiliation, so he shouldn’t beat himself up about it. Chester says that he should, since he and Elizabeth were more than just partners, or fruends. Hanson understands and says that he had a feeling about that, and adds that the two of them did have something real, because otherwise Chester would be dead, Elizabeth alive, and the case nowhere. Hanson finally says that police found Sokolin and two others dead on a southern highway, so the Vory v Zakone is cleaning house after what happened. He also says that they have nothing on Newman with their only source on him dead, so they have no leverage to use to get information from him and the superiors feel that with Sokolin’s death the case is closed. Chester laughs and says they’ll just have to keep an eye on Newman and see if he slips up, because when he does it could bust the case back open. Hanson agrees and says he has to get back to the precinct and suggests that Chester go home and get some rest. Hanson goes to leave but then remembers to give Chester something: His cell phone, which the forensics people recovered from the crime scenes. After Hanson leaves, Chester continues to look at Elizabeth’s corpse for a moment before getting up, walking over, and kissing her on the forehead. He says goodbye and then leaves the morgue, shutting the light off as the door closes behind him.

 

Cut to Chester at a park, sitting on a bench as a light rain begins to fall. He turns on his cell phone and sees that he has a ton of messages, many from Marisha. He makes a call. We hear only his side of the conversation, and the camera slowly pulls back from him on the bench until it fades to black as he finishes the conversation:

 

“Hey, it’s me.” “No I’m fine, it…..it’s been a bad week for me. I….” he starts to tear up. “There’s a lot we need to talk about.” “Yeah, I know the place, tomorrow works.” “No don’t bring her, this is something we should do on our own, a lot of it is stuff she shouldn’t hear right now.” “No she…that’s part of why we should talk, something happened.” “Okay, I’ll see you then…wait. I…I’m sorry, I’ve always been sorry, I just…I wish things had happened differently. I know, I know. ….I love you too.”

 

Epilogue- The Beginning

 

Three Days Later

 

Newman exits his home and enters a waiting limo. He tells the driver to take him across town to the Gherkin in the Square Mile and the driver says he’ll do that. Newman soon notices that the driver is going a roundabout way and asks what the problem is. The driver replies that the alternate route will give them some time to talk and the camera curves to show that the driver is the Associate. The Associate tells Newman that his political connections helped prevent the mess with Sokolin from escalating to other areas of their enterprise, though they will need to tread carefully since the recent episode has drawn police attention. Newman says with his political influence he’s gotten the London police bosses to play down the investigation since otherwise it’ll lead to a huge can of worms for everyone. The Associate agrees and says that his friends have already begun “cleaning house” just to be safe. “Can’t have any loose ends jeopardizing operations.” Newman nods and takes a bottle of champagne out of a limo cooler and pours himself a glass. He offers some to the Associate, who declines, saying “not on duty, my friend.” “Suit yourself” Newman replies. He raises a toast to the beginning of a new partnership and then downs the drink.

 

The Associate smiles and says “Yes indeed” as we have a shot of his eyes in the rearview mirror looking to the back of the limo, where in the background we see Newman gag, clutch at his throat like he is choking, and then collapse on the back seat, the glass and bottle falling to the side and spilling. The Associate comments in Russian “To a wholly new beginning.” The view changes to show the limo from the outside turning onto a side street and disappearing out of view, the skyscrapers of the Square Mile glittering in the distance.

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2018 by 4815162342

[Xillix]

4 hours ago, Alpha said:

Btw @Xillix Stargazer is scheduled for January 10th.

All right. It doesn't get added til it's done, though.

[Xillix]

Earth Day

Release Date: April 17th, Y4

Studio: Red Crescent Pictures

Genre: Horror/Found-Footage

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Theater Count: 2,940

Shooting Format: Just a crap-ton of different digital cameras

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Image Release Formats: 2K DCP

Audio Release Formats: 5.1 (only actually in stereo for most of the movie)

Production Budget: $15 million

MPAA Rating: R for horror, violence, gore, and language

Running Time: 86 minutes

Major Cast: Paul Giamatti (Professor Derek Vaughn)

 

Plot Summary:

The film consists of footage from various sources such as TV news programs, security cameras, cell phones, livestreams and the like, edited together into the loose narrative of a single day.

 

We begin with a morning news show on CNN. An environmentalist, Professor Derek Vaughn (Paul Giamatti), is debating some talking-head politician on the US government's recent decision to lift caps on greenhouse gas emissions because of their perception that they wouldn't do enough to stop climate change anyway (and in case you aren't already upset enough, yes, this is a real current news story). Professor Vaughn outlines the terrible effects this would have and asks why they didn't make the regulations stronger instead, to which the politician gives a canned response about it being "economically unfeasible" and "needing to compete in the global market." Professor Vaughn remarks there won't be a global market when the world is on fire, and the two get into a shouting match. The moderator has to break it up and offers both a final statement. The politician continues going on and on about jobs and industry. Professor Vaughn, again, replies none of that matters in the grand scheme of things.

 

"The Earth is a living organism," he says, "And we're just cells. Cells attacking our own body. Before long, there'll be a catastrophic immune response. And it'll be our own damn fault, and our money won't save us."

 

That very same day, the professor's prediction comes true. Wild animals the world over suddenly become openly hostile and aggressive towards humans. Early on, the full scale of the problem isn't understood. We see local news stations reporting on things like suspected outbreaks of rabies in local raccoon populations and the resulting attacks. But soon pigeons and rats are attacking people in swarms in New York City, zoos across the world become slaughterhouses as exotic animals escape and maul the guests, wolves and coyotes and mountain lions migrate out of the woods and into suburban neighborhoods to hunt mankind, et cetera. There are lots of gory death scenes captured on video by victims and bystanders and news cameras. The climax involves a pod of normally-peaceful, massive whales attacking and capsizing an oil tanker, with the crew then being eaten by a huge group of different, waiting sharks.

 

The film ends with world governments deploying military forces to combat the animals, and Professor Vaughn warning the world that humanity is doomed either way - either the animals kill us off, or we kill them and completely destroy the planet's ecosystem, killing us in turn more slowly.

[Blankments]

Frosted

 

Director: Jason Zada

Genre: Horror

Release Date: February 21

Major Cast:

Aaron Paul as Jeff

Vanessa Kirby as Dani

 

Theater Count: 3,144

MPAA Rating: R for language, violence and bloody images.

Runtime: 75 min

Production Budget: $5M

 

Plot: A couple waits out in a cabin in the woods while a snowstorm takes place. However, the house is haunted by a vengeful spirit of someone who died a century ago in the same cabin. By the end of the movie, they both die.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Blankments

[YM!]

A Fool’s Errand 

Studio: Endless Entertainment (through the Endless Animation division)/Animated by Laika
Laika
Release Date: 8/14/Y4
Genre: Stop-Motion Animation/Fantasy/Adventure
Director: Chris Butler and Alex Hirsch

Score: Dario Marianelli (think the epic score of a Howard Shore movie like Lord Of The Rings mixed with the fantastical aspect of Kubo and The Two Strings)

Rating: PG for thematic elements including sorcery, brief language, scary images, mild action and rude humor

Budget: $60M
Theater Count: 3,650
Format: 2D and 3D
Runtime: 100 minutes (includes 5 minute short)
Cast:

Jim Sturgess as Asin

Isla Fisher as Luka

Zach Galifianakis as Magnum

Will Arnett as Sagduo

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hexrot

Chiwitel Ejiofor as The One With Many Eyes

Shameik Moore as Euth

with

Domhnall Gleeson as Lord Ignatus

Teri Hatcher as The Soothsayer

Jermaine Clement as Skyjumper

and

Scarlet Johansson as Serena

George Takei as Deucis

 

Plot:

Spoiler

Short: Spooky Love (traditional animation)

Rating: G

Runtime: 5 minutes

 

We open in an empty haunted mansion on a stormy night, as things spring to life, animated suits of armor, levitating rugs, dog like plant creatures and a lonely ghost woman, who is sort of the watcher of the mansion. The woman lets out a sigh wanting companionship. A nerdy young man arrives inside due to the storm as the ghost woman falls head over heels for him. The ghost woman tries various things to get his attention that end up scaring him or comically injuring him in her pursuits. Eventually she tries to go talk to him face to face which the man runs away mimicking chasing scenes from horror movies. The man reaches a dead end and is trembling and the woman realizes he’s scared of her and starts bawling. The man feeling a bit sorry consoles the ghost. The man then falls for the ghost and stays in the mansion.

 

Movie:

 

 

We open with a traditionally animated storybook which describes humans and magical creatures (elves, orcs, goblins, trolls, giants, etc.) at war for land with each other that lasted centuries. The magical creatures were at an advantage due to skills and power which caused human to dabble in magic. Some used it for good while others used dark magic causing the war to escalate for both sides leading to the summoning of an evil warlord called The One With Many Eyes. Humans and magical creatures were forced to overcome their own differences to defeat the demon but to no avail.  A wise wizard dubbed Deucis, both of human and unknown magical creature kin, was able to defeat The One With Many Eyes and banished him to the depths of the Underworld. Humans and magical creatures made a treaty to live in harmony together with humans in one half and magical creatures in the other half.

 

We then cut to Felinum, a medieval kingdom with much of a steampunk flair surrounded by lush forests and a giant chasm ruled by the pompous ruler, Lord Ignatus, a buff yet slim man with glorious red locks. Asin, a kind hearted and brave jester who is blind, entertaining the king and his knights. Asin wants to be a knight but due to his deformity is mocked by the king and knights for his dream. His best friend, a fellow knight, Euth, steps in to defend him and believes in his dream. One day on an errand for Ignatus, Asin accidentally gets lost in the woods. Asin attempts to find his way back while still lamenting on being a knight, doing a few humorous fighting moves that cause him to stumble into a cavern. Asin tries to get out by climbing up but finds nothing to climb and searches for an exit. Asin is then greeted by a frail old woman named The Soothsayer who’s trapped under some rubble. Without hesitation anddespite his lack of sight, Asin springs to help her. The Soothsayer thanks him and says there’s something special in Asin, claiming he has immensely powerful gift, noting there’s power inside him. Asin shrugs it off but thanks her for her kind words. The Soothsayer says cryptically sundown will change everything and hopes he’ll be prepared. Asin then finds himself out of the cave and outside of the woods near Felinum. Asin wonders where The Soothsayer went and chalks it up as a crazy dream.

 

We then see a black ooze crawl out of the forest that Asin just left that picks up debris on the ground and each towards Felinum as we hear footsteps following it. Asin helps serve the king as usual but during a knights practice training, Euth fall offs his horse about to fall into a chasm but sensing this, Asin tries to save him, accidentally using telekinesis to set him on the ground. Ignatus is outraged by his witchcraft and orders Asin to be executed although Asin tries to explain himself even Euth cliches for him. Suddenly, the ooze from the forest arrives at the kingdom manifesting into a physical form, a shapely woman with purple veins and three eyes, the middle one of which is beast like with a sharp wide pupil. The woman introduces herself as Hexrot, the daughter of The One With Many Eyes.

 

Asin tries to find his way back and meets a warrior who is revealed to be made out of stone. The stone woman introduces herself as Luka but explains she’s friendly and means him no harm and that she’s here to bring him to The Soothsayer as she is The Soothsayer’s bodyguard. Asin is confused but Luka says there’s no time for questions when the world is at stake, grabbing Asin, sprinting off. We then cut to The Soothsayer’s cottage, it’s old and run down yet oddly homely.

 

At the Soothsayer’s cottage, Luka gives tea to both Asin and The Soothsayer. Asin asks what is going on. The Soothsayer reveals that there is something special about him, confirming that Asin is the descendant of Deucis, and that his magic is inside him. Asin doesn’t believe it as he is just a blind jester. The Soothsayer explains that Hexrot is planning on creating a spell using three sacred objects; a giant’s eye, the essence of a dragon and pure magic, to resurrect The One With Many Eyes. The Soothsayer says the spell can only be used when the moon aligns perfectly (lunar eclipse) in three days. The Soothsayer advises Asin to meet Magnum, a wizard on the magical side of the world. Asin is unsure but The Soothsayer says it’s up to him to save the kingdom and the planet but assures him he won’t be alone as Luka will come along with him. Asin agrees and he and Luka embarks to the other side, by traveling down the chasm. The chasm is dark and deep and a wooden vault with a pixie on it as it the bottom. Asin wonders how they’ll get in, Luka says she has got it from her, using her superhuman strength and rock like rigidiness, Luka opens the barrier.

 

The two then find themselves in a lush forest full of treasures, Luka is at awe of the vast amounts of treasure but Asin senses something is wrong. The two are them surrounded by a swarm of hungry grey skinned goblins. Luka realizes they’re in a goblins nest, explaining they have a hunger for both treasures and flesh. The two attempt to fight off the goblins as Luka swings punches as Asin is comically unprepared much to Luka’s chargin, telling him to use some of his magic. Asin says he didn’t even know he had magic in him until a few hours ago. Luka teaches Asin the basic of fighting while attempting to protect them both from the goblins. Asin takes a pummeling from the goblins but using his sense of sound he’s able to track and hit them (his punches are a bit sloppy as he’s never fought before and he can’t see), he asks Luka how is doing, happy to have hit something. Luka says good but a bit sloppy while do a few cool fighting moves. The two are then surrounded by goblins but a blast of ice freezes a goblin, as we see a portly wizard blasts spells of fire, ice and lightning sending goblins flying, or humorously frozen in ice.

 

The wizard introduces himself as Magnum. Magnum asks the two who they are as Luka explains the situation. Asin asks if it’s possible Magnum could help them on their quest as well as training him. Magnum agrees but says they mustn’t waste time and tells the others to follow him. Magnum then shows the two a giant beanstalk and explains that most giants live far up in the clouds (Asin jokes like Jack In The Beanstalk which Magnum says laugh all you want but that book is an almost realistic story except Jack was species washed as a human).

 

The three then climb the gigantic beanstalk and find a castle in the sky shrouded by lush realistic looking clouds. The three head inside the castle (this part is filmed in live action, the castle looks almost like an actual home and some of the items (some of which are a bit taller to enhance) like chairs and a fruit bowl seem and are realistic). Magnum warns Luka and Asin to be very careful as the giant is very bloodthirsty, pointing out they need to be as swift as possible. Magnum says he’ll fight Hexrot while they should be careful. The three carefully navigate their way around the giant’s realm until Mangum sees Hexrot fly into a room and tells them to look out for him much to Asin’s chargin as he wants in on some of the action.

 

We then see a giant with brown locks and bushy eyebrows sleeping on a bed (the giant is a huge stop motion figure that is about 12.5 feet tall in actual height). Hexrot climbs to the top of the bed to remove the eye but Magnum attempts to stop her. The two have a magical duel but Hexrot has the obvious advantage. Asin convinces Luka they should help and the two attempt to run into the room guarded by a resting giant dog (3 feet tall clay dog, some features are enchanted like its fur and claws to make it more wolf like). The two attempt to maneuver around the dog but Luka accidentally steps on its tail. The dog yelps to alert the giant.  

 

Hexrot quickly stop fighting Magnum and steals the left eye, quickly making her escape. The giant wakes up enraged and in pain, introduces himself as Skyjumper, and attempts to chase our heroes. Magnum quickly runs out of the room with the giant behind him, coming after all three of our heroes. Luka suggests they should split up which Asin agrees to. Asin manages to use his sense of sound to trick the dog into jumping off the cloud platform where the hound plummets to his demise. Asin run backs inside to check on the others only to hear the giant thunderous footsteps as he hides behind a hole in the wall. Skyjumper caught Magnum and Luka and trapped them in a glass jar and is heading to the kitchen to cook the trespassers. Asin avoids giant kitchen tools and makes it to the jar and tries his best to free his friends but nothing works he even tries to tap into his magic source. Magnum suggests he should focus hard and let the magic flow through him. Focusing hard, Asin finally is able to create a ball of magical energy and throws near the voices of Magnum and Luka breaking the glass jar that imprisoned the two. Hearing the glass break, Skyjumper is furious and gives the group chase one more time. Asin has an idea to trick Skyjumper into bringing the house down on himself as the three split up, narrowly missing Skyjumper’s lunges and attacks as the house falls apart. The three run out a hole, narrowly missing Skyjumper’s hand as the house collapses on Skyjumper.

 

Back on the ground, Hexrot, who was watching the heroes with the eye and the combination of a spell, shrinks the eye and stuff it in her pocket, quickly creates a little cavern for herself using her magic to rest. Realizing that she needs to find ways to divert the heroes as well as rest from her magic is slowly limiting, gets an idea. Hexrot uses a teleportation spell to a cavern full of trolls (like goblins but taller and green and much more intelligence) drinking and having a good time. Hexrot explains she needs a bounty hunter, the most athletic and slender troll, sporting a glorious ponytail, using a bow and arrow, fires an arrow at her which she catches in mid air. The troll introduces himself as Sagduo and asks how much does she got. Hexrot says it doesn’t matter. Sagduo whistles and his crew of troll archers arrive. Sagduo proudly says they got enough for rounds forever. The trolls cheer and prepare their trek.

 

Luka, Magnum and Asin are on their way to the next location, the Dragon’s Den. Luka praises Asin for his bravery, impressed at the magic but Asin beats himself as Hexrot got away with the eye. Magnum tells Asin his greatest weakness is his own self doubt. The sun quickly sets and the moon rises and Magnum suggests they should camp for the night. Luka cooks a surprisingly edible meal (Asin asks what’s her secret, Luka replies mud and worms, Asin nearly vomits but swallows it out of kindness, Magnum enjoys the meal though) Magnum helps Asin with his magical training by help him obtain inner piece. At first it doesn’t work in fact most of Asin’s attempts backfire but the two bond during it. Asin finally seems to get the hang of it. Mangum happy decides it’s time to rest which Asin agrees.

 

Asin drifts off into sleep and has a vision of The Soothsayer (the background is a mix of the Panther Heaven from Black Panther and a kaleidoscope). The Soothsayer says his power is growing which is good but warns as his power grows so do threats. Asin asks The Soothsayer if she’s sure he has what it takes. The Soothsayer pauses for a second but then says it’s not up to her which confuses Asin. Asin then wakes up from his dream and it is the crack of dawn. Deciding to go bath (after getting a whiff of himself), he hears a babbling brook and bathes. Asin then senses something in the distance almost as if he’s being followed but shrugs it off. Asin gets dressed and wakes up his friends as they continue their trek through the forest to Dragon’s Den. The camera then shows the trolls leaping from treetop to treetop following them.

 

The three reach Dragon’s Den, which is revealed to be a giant cave. Magnum creates a small flame for them to use as a torch. We then see tons of cave paintings of the dragons as they navigate the cave showing that overtime dragons have become endangered and a rare species. An arrow then hits Magnum, barely touching him. Luka turns around to see the trolls as well as Sagduo. Sagduo explains himself as the world’s most deadliest and famous bounty hunter but humorously none of them have heard of him. Much to his annoyance he gives a small bit of info about him, and says Hexrot hired them to kill them and gets dragon essence, saying now that he’s done talking he can get to the fighting. The heroes battle the trolls. Although the trolls are more in number, the three are able to hold them off. Eventually Sagduo tells them to use long range attack with the trolls firing stunning arrows everywhere. Magnum gets hit with one and becomes paralyzed. Luka’s rocky skin and Asin’s movement allow neither to be hurt by the arrows. Sagduo tells the trolls to use the more deadly arrows. The trolls comply and fling special barbed arrows that pierce Luka’s rocky skin as she falls into a crevice with some trolls following her down. Asin is outraged but outnumbered but a delirium Magnum gains his mobility back and deals with the trolls while Asin using a discarded scale and fuses it with the piercing arrow, goes after Sagduo. Asin takes on Sagduo but the latter doesn’t consider the former as a threat but Asin gets a good hit in, and manages to cut off Sagduo’s ponytail which sends him into a fury. Luka pulls the arrow out of her arm and sees a long serpentine dragon with emerald scales. The dragon bares down menacingly at her but trolls come in and start using their special piercing arrows to kill the dragon. Luka defends the dragon by fighting of the attacking trolls. Sagduo and Asin continues their fight, with the two are evenly matched with many closed call with Asin’s using his still emerging powers. However, Sagduo has the upper hand but before Sagduo can finish Asin, he is distracted by a loud roar. Bonding with the dragon, Luka, riding it, comes into save the day, easily mowing through the trolls. Asin hits Sagduo in the jaw and kicks him in the groin. Sagduo then attempts to retailaite but the dragons chomps down Sagduo and spits him out the cave. Luka asks the trolls if anyone else wants some causing the trolls to flee.

 

Our heroes celebrate their victory, camping once more. Asin is a bit more confident in himself as well having found some sort of peace. Both Luka and Magnum are happy for him but remind themselves they may have stopped Hexrot’s cronies for now, they still got to make sure Hexrot doesn’t get the magic she needs as well as how to defeat her. Asin is confused as magic is all around them but Magnum points out that Hexrot would most likely go to Gnome Grotto as gnome magic is the most powerful. Magnum also says the best way to beat Hexrot is most of her power comes from her staff and if they break the staff, they can find a way to stop her. The three decide to rest for a bit and get to the grotto as fast as possible.

 

The trolls head back to the cavern with Sagduo still covered in dragon saliva to meet Hexrot. Hexrot is happy to see the saliva having the essence she needs. Sagduo decides to quit as one beating is enough for his ego and he hasn’t gotten paid yet. Hexrot then uses a ray of dark energy to choke Sagduo into submitting to her demands. Hexrot assures Sagduo the next plan will allow both his redemption from his humiliation as well as what they both need. Sagduo agrees just on the purpose of being shown up. Some of Sagduo’s troll army is unsure but Sagduo’s lust for vengeance blinds him from folding. Hexrot says she has a plan that won’t lose either.

 

The heroes then reach the Gnome Grotto, which houses a series of miniature gnomes. Asin decides to come up with a plan in order to protect the gnomes as well as stop Hexrot there and then. Walking through the gnomes of the plan, creating strong defensive systems as well as traps. Suddenly an arrow comes out of nowhere barely missing a gnome. Luka looks to the other side of the grotto to see the trolls and Sagduo charging. Luka tells the gnomes to be ready now. Despite their small stature, the gnomes surprisingly have the advantage, with their traps being effective and also comical as well providing tons of slapstick but the fight is still tough due to the trolls archery and physical abilities. The three also help even the odds due to Luka’s physical strength, and Magnum and Asin’s magical skills. Luka senses something off commenting it is too easy. Sagduo then maneuvers his way through in a brutal and very cool fashion, stealing a satchel of something. Seeing this, assuming it to be the pure magic and refusing to let Sagduo get away, Asin chases him and with much reluctance Magnum and Luka go after to help their friend.

 

Our heroes then arrive in the mirror maze, a thick fog obscures the vision of the others. Due to Sagduo’s eagle like vision as well as the fact both Luka and Magnum are at a disadvantage, he attacks each with numerous surprise attacks. Sagduo then shoots numerous stun arrows from multiple directions to make it seem like they’re outnumbered. Asin dodges the arrows but one hits Magnum leaving just the two of them. A swift kick then hits Asin and another arrow hits Luka. Asin then fights Sagduo in the mirror move. Asin dodges the arrows, either fires blasts of magic or simply his movement. Sagduo asks why won’t he just die and takes a more close combat role, taking out a long sword which hits Asin a few good times. Asin then uses a surge of magic to create a shield around him which sends Sagduo’s sword flying. Sagduo charges at him but Asin uses the latter’s blind fury to against him, and defeating Sagduo with a sucker punch. Sagduo tries to get away but Asin has him at swordpoint. Asin tells Sagduo to give up the pure magic but Sagduo says confused he doesn’t have any. Sagduo pours the contents of the bag which is a bunch of gold pieces. Sagduo says the only way to get pure magic is to get it from a magical creature directly.

 

Asin quickly realizes that they’ve been duped and when the three heroes run back with a defeated Sagduo in hand, hoping they aren’t too late. Back at the grotto, Hexrot commands the trolls to start capturing the gnomes and starts draining the gnomes of their magic turning them into green stone and fills it in a jar. By the time the gnomes are all drained, the jar is half full, the second in command troll asks what to do next and Hexrot says she needs more. Hexrot betrays the trolls and starts draining the trolls of their magic as she teleports away with glee.

 

The heroes and the captured Sagduo see the gnomes as well as some of the latter's trolls (much to Sagduo’s outrage) to see them all petrified. Asin quickly points it out as his fault despite Magnum saying otherwise. Sagduo says bluntly they’re all doomed. Magnum suggests they should rest now and figure it out in the morning. Asin walks to the seaside cliff as the waves crash onto the shore. Asin expresses sorrow for his failures but Magnum tries to convince him it’s not his fault and that he should just get some rest right now.

 

Later the night, in his dreams, Asin gets another vision from The Soothsayer in his sleep as Asin tells her he’s giving up and she was wrong about him. The Soothsayer asks is he sure because someone would like to talk to him. Deucis, (a 7 foot tall man with elf like ears) appears before Asin encouraging him not to give up and he can still stop Hexrot, revealing that he himself was also an outcast and wasn’t the most confident but he was able to succeed against all odds. Asin asks what makes Deucis so sure he can, and Deucis says because Asin is Asin noting his heroics throughout the adventures and his inability to see has helped rather than hindered. Asin realizing he can still succeed thanks Deucis and wakes up.

 

Asin gives a rousing speech encouraging them not to give up as they have time to stop Hexrot. Sagduo agrees to help as he wants to not only revenge for his men but also his redemption. Luka is unsure of trusting him but Magnum reminds them they need all the help possible. The four then construction on a boat using discarded parts of machinery as well as wood to create a ship. Asin takes the wheel as Luka and Magnum help push it into the water. Sagduo agilely opens the sails as Magnum levitates himself and Luka to get on the ship as they sail into the sea.

 

As our heroes sail down the seas, Sagduo spots large islands of hardened rocks and notices a group of slender mermaid and buff merman like creatures with seal like pupils, smooth baby blue skin and wonderful pearly white smiles. The leader of the creature, Serena, introduces herself happy to have guests. Asin asks for directions to The Hollows but Serena warns them of the dangers there and they’d be safer here. Luka insists they should be going but Serena sings a wonderful hypnotic melody that puts Luka and Sagduo in a daze but only Magnum in fear and Asin due to his inability to see are immune to the enchantment. Magnum quickly realizes that Serena and the creatures are man eating sirens and warns Asin they need to leave now and not to listen to them but Magnum falls under the spell. Asin quickly attempts to turn the ship around but the sirens seductively climb onto the ship trying to coax Asin out of it. In fear, Asin grabs a discarded plank hitting Serena in the face as she screams a haunting screech which causes all the other sirens to screech as they show their sharpened rows of teeth, claws, and their true, more scaly navy blue skin. The other soon snap out of the Siren’s spell as they prepare for a brawl. Sagduo pulls out his bow and arrow and Magnum casts a few blast of magical energy as they blasts some of the sirens of the ship. The sirens lash at Luka who defends herself using her superior strength and fighting skills. Asin steers the ship as fast as he can as they try to escape more sirens. Serena stop him and tackles Asin, forcing him to face her head on. While dodging her claws, Asin fires a few small bursts of magical energy and is able to knock her off the ship. The crew takes care of the rest of the sirens as they arrive at The Hallows.

 

Everything is lifeless there, the trees are gray and withered, the ground is not fertile and coarse almost sandlike with the skeletal remains of beings around them. Sagduo finds Hexrot in the distance preparing the spell, using the giant’s eye, the essence from a dragon and pure magic as she begins the incantation. The four charge at Hexrot as she chants while fighting. The heroes have an advantage at first as Hexrot is focused on the spell. Luka manages to give a few good punches, Sagduo uses his long sword and Magnum and Asin combine their magical powers to blast Hexrot down, silencing her. Asin celebrates as they have defeated Hexrot but something is wrong.  

 

The ground starts to tremble as Hexrot cackles triumphantly, as the group stares in horror. The dead withered trees start rapidly swaying in the breezes, as debris flies around them in a circle, generating a black hole from underneath them as a man with many faces (four in total with a sickly yellow skin, three eyes on each face, one in the front, one in the back, one on the left side and one on the right side). The One With Many Eyes prepares his plan for world domination as the hole widens arounds him. The heroes attempt to fight both of the evil magic users but it’s too much.

 

In order to buy his friends time to deal with Hexrot, Asin tackles The One With Many Eyes into the black hole, sacrificing himself, the hole itself shrinks back into its normal size. The hole itself has no gravity and is all black except for a purple hole that leads to the Underworld. The One With Many Eyes sucker punches Asin as the two fight. while dishing out a verbal and physical beat down pointing out his weaknesses and he’ll always be a worthless cripple. Sagduo flings a flurry of arrows at Hexrot while Luka attempts to hit her but Hexrot easily dodged the hits and the arrows do practically nothing. Magnum attempts to cast a spell to hold Hexrot in her place which works. Luka then hits Hexrot with a few strong uppercut as Sagduo uses his long sword. Magnum then hits Hexrot with an inferno spell. At first it seems like they can win but Hexrot curbstomps them easily, using her magic to fling Luka and use her like a battering ram against Sagduo and Magnum. Hexrot then holds them in place with her dark magic, strangling them. We then cut back to the black hole as The One With Many Eyes while dishing out a verbal and physical beat down pointing out his weaknesses and he’ll always be a worthless cripple. However, Asin hearing his friends struggles from the other side, remembers all of the tasks he accomplished on his journey as well as the positive words of his friends and unleashes a powerful wave of energy that blasts The One With Many Eyes back.

 

Asin, finally fully powered with Deucis’ dormant magic and The One With Many Eyes have an epic battle inside the hole. Blast of magical energy collide with each other. The One With Many Eyes has the upper hand but Asin manages to push him near the vertex to the Underworld. The One With Many Eyes gets dragged back into the Underworld attempting to drag Asin down with him as revenge but Asin gets away and manages to slip out as he fires a blast of his most powerful magic, severing the left face on The One With Many Eyes as Asin makes his escape.

Injured and badly beaten, Sagduo, Magnum and Luka brace themselves for Hexrot’s attack but her staff breaks in two pieces. Hexrot, in horror, fades into dust as the dust is sucked down the hole, as The Hollows slowly springs back to life. Asin makes it out of the hole barely making it in time. The other praises Asin for his heroics as they arrive back to Felinum but see the citizens are still in their sleep like state much to Asin’s confusion as he thought they defeated Hexrot. Magnum says they did has an idea, creating a potion using Hexrot’s broken staff to create an antidote for the citizens of Felinum as well as Lord Ignatus, who praise him for his heroics but Ignatus refuses to give Asin any credit as well as bringing blood thirsty magical creatures. Euth and the other knights call him out as the citizens revolt as Ignatus is forced off the throne. The crowd attempts to make Asin their king but Asin declines as he doesn’t want to lead and instead recommends Euth instead. The village has a huge celebration for the heroes as Asin meditates to meet with The Soothsayer once more, who congratulates Asin for his bravery but says he’s journey is just beginning, noting dark forces are still amok but Asin proudly says he’s ready.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by YourMother the Edgelord

[YM!]

@Xillix 

 

Huge Change Of Plans:

Johnny Test will open on January 17th and Hoops will move to January 10th

Can You Imagine will open on March 27th with a limited release March 20th, but IMAX is being dropped so Pillars can have a longer run.

Treasure Planet: Gauntlet of Midas will open May 1st and the Amazon screening will open April 18th

St. Claire and The Bermuda Affair will open September 4th

The Second Crash Bandicoot will be sharing IMAX with Lucid but Lucid gets the majority

Food Wars will now open on November 25th

Kingdom of The Sun will now open Christmas Y4.

Edited September 30, 2018 by YourMother the Edgelord

[Xillix]

@YourMother the Edgelord If you still want IMAX for KotS you're gonna need to work that out with @cookie

[YM!]

1 minute ago, Xillix said:

@YourMother the Edgelord If you still want IMAX for KotS you're gonna need to work that out with @cookie

Fair enough.

[YM!]

20 minutes ago, Xillix said:

@YourMother the Edgelord If you still want IMAX for KotS you're gonna need to work that out with @cookie

We worked that out. KOTS will get 100 select IMAX theaters on the 25th but they’re being shared with Voltron.

[Xillix]

12 minutes ago, YourMother the Edgelord said:

We worked that out. KOTS will get 100 select IMAX theaters on the 25th but they’re being shared with Voltron.

To be clear, it's split showtimes on these 100 screens?

[YM!]

6 minutes ago, Xillix said:

To be clear, it's split showtimes on these 100 screens?

Yes.

[Sears]

When A Stranger Calls

Writer-Director: Jason Blum as Writer

            Oren Peli as Director

Genre: Horror

Release Date: 1/31/Y4

Studio: Hot Shot Productions

Theaters: 3000

Cast:

Not Much Really

MPAA Rating: R for Execessive Violence, Torture, Straight Up Horror

Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes

Production Budget: $15 million

Plot Summary: A near shot-by-shot remake of the 1979 original

Spoiler

 

Jill Johnson is babysitting the children of Dr. Mandrakis (Kanye West) at their home. When the children are asleep, Jill receives a telephone call from a man who asks her if she has checked the children. At first, Jill dismisses the telephone calls as a practical joke. However, as the calls become more frequent and threatening, Jill becomes frightened and decides to call the police, who promise to trace the caller if Jill keeps him on the telephone line long enough. Jill, frightened to extreme measures, arms herself as she receives one final call from the nefarious stalker. Soon after the conversation, Jill receives a call from the police, only to find out that the stalker is calling from inside the house. A light comes on at the top of the staircase, and Jill sees the stalker's shadow. In a panic, she immediately runs to the door, unhooks the chain lock and screams. The scene segues to a close-up of detective John Clifford, who enters the very same doorstep to investigate shortly afterwards. Patrol officer Charlie Garber explains that Jill is unharmed, but the children had been murdered by the perpetrator several hours earlier, before Jill's ordeal even started. The killer is identified as an English merchant seaman named Curt Duncan ,and is subsequently sent to an asylum.

Seven years later, Duncan escapes from the asylum. Dr. Mandrakis hires Clifford, now a private investigator, to find Duncan. Not knowing Clifford is after him, Duncan is now a homeless, vagrant loner. He is beaten after disturbing a woman, Tracy, in a tavern, and later follows her to her apartment. Feeling sorry for his appearance and her involuntary role in the beating, Tracy makes light conversation with him and does not explicitly rebuff his awkward proposal to visit her for coffee the next night, hoping this will be the last of him she will see.

Meanwhile, an increasingly obsessed Clifford confides to his friend (now Lieutenant) Garber his intention to kill Duncan rather than arrest him. Garber, who was also present in the Mandrakis crime scene, agrees to collaborate. Clifford follows the trail to the tavern where Duncan was beaten, and from there to Tracy's residence—the same night Duncan is likely to arrive for his visit. Clifford tells Tracy just how dangerous her situation has become, revealing that Duncan had literally torn and hacked up Mandrakis' children with his bare hands, rendering their bodies unrecognizable. Tracy reluctantly accepts to be Clifford's bait at the tavern that evening. Duncan, hiding in her closet, does not appear until after Clifford leaves her place. Tracy screams for help when Duncan attacks her, and Clifford returns and chases him away from the scene, losing his trail in the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

 

Jill Lockhart is now married with two young children. One night, she and her husband Stephen go out to dinner in celebration of a promotion, while their children are babysat by Sharon. At the restaurant, Jill gets a telephone call and hears Duncan's voice again: "Have you checked the children?". She panics and calls Sharon; nothing seems to be wrong at first, but then the call is suddenly disconnected. The police escort Jill back home and find that everything is fine, and the Lockharts go to bed. Clifford is tipped off by Garber and tries to call Jill, but finds that the line is disconnected. When Jill goes for a glass of milk, the lights suddenly go out and she goes back her bedroom. The closet door opens a little, the phone line is dead and she hears Duncan's voice, at which point she tries to awaken Stephen—only to realize that the man lying next to her is actually Duncan. He chases her around the room and tries to strangle her, but Clifford arrives and shoots him dead. Stephen is revealed to be in the closet, unconscious but alive. As Clifford comforts Jill, the last view is of the house, superimposed to the frightening eyes of Curt Duncan.

 

 

Edited September 30, 2018 by Sears

[Sears]

I hastily finished When A Stranger Calls so I have a film for the first half of Y4

 

By the way I finished When A Stranger Calls and its ready to add to the schedule

[Xillix]

As an FYI - Hiccup had me move The Female Man to February 28th. So I suppose Ava was in a REAL rush to redeem herself after... uh, Redeeming Love.