The Back Story
I can't remember the exact context. Yet again it happened in the Twitterverse. Something was said that I didn't understand. The lack of my understanding of this word was the reason. It won't happen again.
Plot Outline:
The newest Indiana Jones adventure begins in the desert Southwest in 1957 - the height of the Cold War. Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones (Harrison Ford) is back into action, as a convoy of Soviet soldiers is infiltrating a military base in the Nevada desert called "Hangar 51". Jones is kidnapped & forced to use his skills to lead them to a crate holding the remains of an extraterrestrial creature that crashed ten years before in Roswell, New Mexico.
As he barely escapes a close scrape with nefarious Soviet agents on a remote airfield. Jones has returned home to Marshall College - only to find things have gone from bad to worse in his absence. The dean of the college explains that Indy's recent activities have made him the object of suspicion, and that the government has put pressure on the university to fire him.
On his way out of town, Indiana meets rebellious young Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), who carries both a grudge and a proposition for the adventurous archaeologist: If he'll help Mutt on a mission with deeply personal stakes, Indy could very well make one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in history - the Crystal Skull of Akator, a legendary object of fascination, superstition and fear.
Plot Outline:
Great Britain, 2007. A deadly plague, known as the "Reaper Virus" has broken out, killing hundreds of thousands in its wake. In desperation, the British Government evacuates as many survivors as it can out of the infected area (which happens to be Scotland), and then builds a wall (another one), preventing the remainder from escaping.
Thirty years later, with the wall still up and the victims all but forgotten, the virus breaks out in London. The Government at this point decides to divulge that though there shouldn't be, their satellites have intercepted survivors in the Hot Zone. If there are survivors, there may be hope for a cure.
Based on this classified information, a crack team of operatives, led by Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), is sent into the hot zone to investigate this possibility of a cure, in an attempt to save London.
The Back Story
Non required really - In Bruges ... the only film this year I saw twice at the cinemas. 'nuff said.
Plot Outline:
Wealthy & smart teenager Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) has been kicked out of every private school he has been to. Now he is failing miserably at fitting in at a new public high school run by the world-weary Principal Gardner (Robert Downey Jr).
As he begins to better understand the social hierarchy, Charlie's charm and likability positions him as the resident "psychiatrist" dishing out advice, and prescriptions with a bully-turned business partner, to other students in need. It's far from a smooth ride though. It's only a matter of time before he has to face the consequences of his actions.
As he tries his best to rectify his mistakes and find other avenues to remain popular with the crowd, he slowly learns that he too needs to take some of his own advice. Within this journey he finds romance, popularity and above it all, he learns to accept who he is as an individual.
Plot Outline:
The story revolves around a man who is caught in a quagmire of crime and consumerism as he struggles to find heaven on earth.
Arjun (Emraan Hashmi) is a reckless young man with an obsession for making money at card games. A chance meeting with a girl in a mall, Zoya (Sonal Chauhan) gives him the reasons he was looking for to move out of his ordinary life. He steps up from playing a small-time card games to becoming a bookie.
Stuck in a triangle of sorts between the woman he loves and his addiction to make a quick buck, Arjun moves on from being a bookie to a runner for the mafia. He steps into the world of Cricket match fixing, ensuring a match looks interesting, but the end result is to their advantage.
Arjun basically switches on the limelight to the bigger, faster, better & more, until his dizzying rise attracts the attention of the police. Arjun has now to choose between the love of his life, and this new found success and power.
As Arjun struggles to choose between the two, the Don offers the forbidden apple of limitless wealth in exchange for his soul, drawing him into his core entourage of money spinners.
Plot Outline:
In a seedy bar in a town ravaged by war, mysterious businessman Hunt (Julian Wadham) hires marine D.C. (Ray Stevenson) to assemble a crack team of ex-soldiers to protect him on a dangerous journey into no-man's land.
Their mission is to scope out an old military bunker in Eastern Europe. It should be easy - 48 hours at the most. Lots of cash for little risk. Or so he says...
Once at the outpost, the men make a horrific discovery that turns their mission on its head..
The scene of a bloody and gruesome series of experiments, carried out by the SS in Reality shifting and Reanimation during World War II.
As war rages above ground, and a mysterious enemy emerges from the darkness below, D.C. and his men find themselves trapped in a claustrophobic and terrifying scenario. Their mission is no longer one of guarding, but one of survival. Together they must discover why Hunt has brought them to the outpost and what it is that's killing them off, one by one...
Plot Outline:
If Morgan Spurlock has learned anything from over 30 years of movie-watching, its that if the world needs saving, its best done by one lone man willing to face danger head on to take it down, action hero style.
So, with no military experience, knowledge or expertise, he sets off to do what the CIA, FBI and countless bounty hunters have failed to do: find the worlds most wanted man. Why take on such a seemingly impossible mission?
Simple - he wants to make the world safe for his soon to be born child. But before he finds Osama Bin Laden, he first needs to learn where he came from, what makes him tick, and most importantly, what exactly created Bin Laden to begin with.
This documentary follows his journey there and back, interacting with the locals and getting their views on the Taliban situation as well as the different perceptions of America.
The Back Story
I've been reading this quite frequently over at Dark Matters. Now it's not like I don't understand what he means when he gives a break-down rating of say Gratuitous Babeness: öööööööö (8), even though babeness isn't a real word. It blatantly means, the babes in this one will be overly good-looking. However, from this particular instance I also seem to give the word gratuitous a positive spin, which isn't necessarily true.
Checking this out had clarified this matter. Case closed.
Plot Outline:
It's believed that children have the strongest connection to god. They have the ability to perceive goodness in everything and everyone. This is a story about a seven-year-old naughty yet innocent boy, who unknowingly turns a foe into a friend. This is a story about Banku and his friend, Bhoothnath (Amitabh Bachchan).
This is a story that will show adults to see the world through the eyes of a child... an angel, a creation of god. It's then that one will realize what a beautiful world they live in after all.
It begins as Banku and his family move in to their new house -- the Nath Villa, unaware of the fact that the house is inhabited by a ghost. It is learnt that the ghost is not too happy with having co-habiting with strangers, but what the ghost isn't quite prepared for is an unlikely friendship he happens to form with the kid. As a friend, Banku must now learn why his ghostly friend is stuck and help him to attain salvation.
Plot Outline:
Hurtling down the track, careening around, over and through the competition, Speed Racer (Yep, that's actually his name) is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed (Emile Hirsch) is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized-the legendary Rex Racer - whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill.
Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer (John Goodman), the designer of Speed's thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner but also uncovers the terrible secret that some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits.
If Speed won't drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. The only way for Speed to save his family's business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed teams with his one-time rival-the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) - to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.
The Back Story
It's ten past four in the afternoon. Due to my genetically inhertited disorder of regularly doing so, I'm going to the office kitchen to wash my hands, as I do. To my surprise, it's like the ten past nine rush hour of the mornings, my supposed bosses (technically team leader & manager) & another happy chappy by the name of Jones have decided to get themselves a cup of tea. The manager likes his tea with a lot of milk, he over fills his mug to the point that it's overflowing if any more is added.
Dr. Jones strolls by & says, living life on the edge there aren't you? A little surprised, he responds "what?" .. to which Dr. Jones says the meniscus is reaching beyond the mug. Me being me, I enquire what the meniscus is .. Dr. Jones reels off verbatim the 2nd definition of the above given, just like that, off the top of his head. Impressed, I decide to blog this. What a loser, the others probably think to themselves.
Plot Outline:
Composer Peter Bretter (Jason Segel) has spent five years adoring his girlfriend, television star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). He has had success for composing the theme song and score of her highly-rated CSI-like crime drama show.
Things take a twist when she breaks up with him, and Peter suddenly finds himself alone. Trying to get over her, he has sex with various women, but besides getting an STD scare, all this does is increase his stress and heartache. After an on-the-job nervous breakdown, he sees that not having Sarah may just ruin his life.
At the suggestion of his stepbrother Bryan (Bill Hader), Peter takes an impulsive trip to Hawaii to clear his head. At Turtle Bay Resort, he is confronted by his worst nightmare: Sarah and her narcissistic new British-rocker boyfriend, Aldous Snow (Russell Brand), are staying at his hotel.
As he torments himself with the reality of Sarah's new life, he finds relief when talking with Rachel (Mila Kunis), a beautiful resort employee whose laid-back approach tempts him to rejoin the world. Although they bond and get along well, she is also reluctant to move on, because she too has been recovering from a recent heartbreak.
Some son-of-a-nutcracker had to go to some stag do somewhere, meaning they took time off work, making me the only FTW Specialist available at work.
Normally this is no big deal, but this time it co-incided with this particular film festival. In a nutshell I missed out on some good stuff because of this, but at least I had the weekend.
As the weekend arrived, be it my luck that I had a mighty headache on Saturday evening. I went to this all-nighter expecting to probably walk out after the 1st film (which happened to be Alien). From prior experience of these all-nighters, they aren't always in the order advertised & I really did want to see Alien so that was plain lucky. With some more such luck I actually managed three out of the four films.
This is the order they played in, the films need no real introductions but I'll say a couple of cents on each:
Alien (1979) - The last time I saw this I was about 9 or 10, I used to keep an eye open in the free Herald & Post newspaper that we got through the door each week for films that were on Saturday nights. I had just worked out how to use the timer record function on the VCR and knew that I could watch the Saturday film on a Sunday afternoon. The teddy bear scene as I like to call it, freaked me out, I actually didn't eat for a whole day, because if I ate, I knew what happened next. I felt it was about time I seeked closure about that one. I finally did & it was hilarious. I have washed away my fears. I can finally open the Quadrilogy box set now & watch the rest (which I've never seen) and enjoy it. -- True Story
Pitch Black (2000) - I saw this at the cinema when it came out, bought it on DVD when it came out. It is 'the' film where Vin Diesel was cool. That other riduculous film was not Riddick. This one is the awesomeness that got him noticed & with good reason. What the hell happened to him anyway?
Solaris (2002) - Had never seen it, expected a suckfest that put me asleep if not a coma. (It began at 04:30) .. was pleasantly surprised. No clasic by any measure, but not as terrible as I'd heard it was.
The Thing (1982) - Like a sucker, I have never seen this, the reason I walked out is because I thought at 7am (when this was starting), I may not be able to give it the attention it deserves. I don't even have it on my DVD shelf sticking out - that will have to be rectified in the near future.
As with the Anime All Nighter last year, the atmosphere was worth the admission price alone, the ample supply of Red Bull, Ice-Cream & Tea/Coffee .. just another bonus, even the goodie bag had DVD's in it ... If you're a geek & you know it, this is the film festival you shouldn't miss. Everyone geeks out & feels at home about it. The whole experience is akin to a warm hug. (& no they aren't paying me to say that, I'm just bitter I missed so much of it).
Plot Outline:
Based on the Marvel character created by Stan Lee, this is the story of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the CEO of Stark Industries, (producer of advance weapon systems for the U.S. military) lives the life of a hard drinking, rich playboy. He is also a genius who has invented many high-tech gadgets and weapons for the billion dollar company.
During a trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate his company's new weapon system, Tony Stark is attacked and kidnapped by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings. They want him to build them a version of his weapon system, an extremely destructive multi-warhead missile called 'The Jericho'. Instead, with the aid of a fellow captive, Dr. Yinsen, he builds a crude but very strong power armour, powered by a miniature arc reactor to give Tony the strength and protection to be able to escape the terrorists.
Stark gets away and is picked up by the army. Upon returning to the United States, Stark declares that Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons, a move which his business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) disapproves of.
Instructed to keep a low-public profile by his partner, Tony builds a better such suit which gives him superhuman strength and the ability to fly. With the help of his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Tony vows to change his ways and protect the world as Iron Man.
