Alberta Watson

Chris is a once promising high school athlete whose life is turned upside down following a tragic accident. As he tries to maintain a normal life, he takes a job as a janitor at a bank, where he ultimately finds himself caught up in a planned heist. An admired high school hockey player with a bright future foolishly takes a drive in the night with his girlfriend and two other friends with his headlights off with devastating results. The former athlete is left with a brain injury that prevents him from remembering many things for extended periods of time. To compensate, he keeps notes in a small notebook to aid him in remembering what he is to do. He also lives with a blind friend who aids him. Obviously, with the mental incapacitation, he is unable to have meaningful work. Thus he works as a night cleaning man in a bank. It is there he comes under the scrutiny of a gang planning to rob the bank. The leader befriends him and gets him involved with a young woman who further reels him in. After they get close and after reeling him in with his own failures, the bank plan unfolds. Confused but wanting to escape his current existence, he initially goes along with the scheme. After realizing he is being used, he attempts to stop the robbery, which of course immediately goes awry. —John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net> Since reckless driving 'to impress them' killed Chris Pratt's passengers and left him a memory-impaired half-wit, he lives with resourceful blind Lewis, takes a course and hopes against hope for promotion from cleaner to teller in a bank. Cool Gary Spargo recruits Chris, whom he convinces to be getting such a bad deal the world owes him, as look-out to help his violent gang rob the local bank branch. After a promise he may try out as teller, Chris wants to bail out, but is now forced to betray his real friends and see some hurt. After a shoot-out, surprises follow for Chris, he physically got away with the loot, and Gary, who is confident to roll over him easily again, even gun-wounded. —KGF Vissers Up until four years ago, the world was Chris Pratt's oyster - from a well off Kansas City family, he was a promising young hockey player - but an automobile accident caused by his recklessness resulted in among other things he sustaining a brain injury. While that injury manifests itself in many ways, the most problematic for him is that he often forgets things, and when he does remember, he usually doesn't remember the proper sequencing, which results in he having to write things down in a notebook he carries with him all the time. He lost many people in his life an outcome of the accident, with his best friend and biggest supporter now being his roommate Lewis, a blind man who was also going through the social work process at the same time. While Chris' parents still provide him with some financial support, they provide little true emotional support which acerbic tongued Lewis can see more clearly than Chris. Obtained through his life skills class, Chris has a job as the nighttime janitor at a branch of the Noel State Bank and Trust in rural Redpath County, the bank where he, with the help of the chief teller Mrs. Lange, hopes to become a teller himself, something he will probably never be able to convince the branch manager, Mr. Tuttle. Chris' only other true friend is the County Deputy Sheriff Ted, who stops by the bank every working evening to bring Chris doughnuts and shoot the breeze. Out at a bar one evening in an attempt to socialize himself especially with women, Chris runs into Gary Spargo who went to school with Chris' sister. Gary and Chris become friends, and it is through Gary that Chris meets Luvlee Lemons, the first woman who has shown him any interest since the accident. It isn't until Chris becomes ensconced within Gary's social circle, including being intimate with Luvlee, that he discovers that their meeting was not by chance as Gary and his friends had been planning on robbing a bank - Chris' bank - and require his help in pulling off the heist. Gary is able to convince Chris that he can regain much of the life lost from the accident by his share of the heist. The question then becomes if Chris will be able to see through Gary's lies before it's too late, his life and that of those close to him at risk in the process. —Huggo

The movie opens with med-student bound Paige Morgan receiving a birthday cake from her teachers and colleagues. She suddenly realizes she is late and hurries out to drive home. She has no time to talk to her mother as she goes to her room, grabs a dress from her closet, and hops in her truck. Meanwhile, in the country of Denmark we see the young and rebellious Prince Edvard and his servant, Soren, meeting up with a young man for what turns out to be a street race. In the USA, Paige is driving to a friend's wedding; she arrives in her father's pick up and nearly runs over half of the wedding party. At the reception, she and a friend discuss the subject of romance and marriage, neither of which Paige has time for because of her focus on her career. The bouquet is tossed, and Paige's friend catches it, who just told Paige that she got engaged. In Denmark, the race is about to start; the cars speed down the open road and Edvard wins the race because his competitor lifts his foot from the gas pedal just before the finish, where he is greeted by two girls being photographed by the gossip magazines. He then realizes that, like Paige, he is also late for something very important. At the castle, 12-year-old Princess Arabella is playing a Gameboy as Edvard's parents, King Haraald and Queen Rosalind, wait anxiously for their eldest child to arrive before they are shown in public. Edvard arrives and is greeted with a hug by his sister Arabella, though his parents don't seem so happy. He turns serious, takes Arabella's arm and they step out onto the balcony. Later, Edvard and King Haraald are to meet with some members of the board; Haraald warns his son to behave himself, and Edvard glumly agrees. As they enter the room to sit down Haraald gets a bit dizzy, but when asked if he is all right he insists that he is fine. The meeting goes on. Edvard could not care less about business and politics and he intentionally flirts with one of the women present. Soren and Edvard leave the meeting and Edvard, after doing a bit of fencing to release his stress and watching a show about college girls gone wild, is told that his parents are ready to see him. King Haraald and Queen Rosalind are disgusted by their son's recent behavior. Edvard blames Rosalind for keeping him on a tight leash and tells them he wants to go to college in Wisconsin without his parents' help. After Edvard storms out, Haraald agrees that his son should go off to college, since they cannot stop him, however with Soren there to protect him from harm. Paige is at a bar with her friends, discussing how she is failing miserably at Shakespeare and needs a good grade to get into medical school. Later that day, Paige is crossing the street when she is nearly run over by Edvard's limousine. Unable to get a good glimpse of him because of the tinted windows, she ignores him and continues on her way; but Edvard can see her clearly and has an instant attraction to Paige. Soren is not pleased with the college life that Edvard desires, but Edvard orders him to enjoy himself and to call him Eddie instead of Prince Edvard. They get up to their dorm, which is not exactly clean and rather small. When their roommate, heavyweight Xbox geek Steven, comes in and tells them to keep their hands off his stuff, Edvard shrugs his shoulders and climbs onto the top bunk. Later that night, Soren and Eddie go to the bar and meet Paige, who teases Eddie a bit; after a few beers, Eddie musters up the courage to talk to Paige. After introducing himself, he asks her out for a drink, and then asks her to take off her shirt, which angers her and gets him squirted with water, at which a tough at the bar picks a fight with Eddie, who is miraculously saved by Soren, and the two are escorted out of the bar. In chemistry class later, Eddie asks Soren to leave because he is not allowed in the class, and to enjoy himself outside after an argument, Soren gives in and leaves. Eddie and Paige are teamed up for chemistry, much to Paige's dismay. After class, she tells him that she needs to do well in this class to get into medical school, and that he had better not mess up. As Paige is walking away, Eddie randomly quotes Shakespeare; Paige lashes out and calls him a phony and leaves. Later, Eddie wakes up to reality when he realizes he cut himself off from his parent's money, so he gets a job at the bar where Paige works. Paige comes in and asks Eddie instantly how he, of all people, managed to get a job at the bar, and Eddie says that he just used her name as a reference and he had the job. However, Eddie is working at the deli and not doing a very good job; Paige is forced to help him on his first day. He promises Paige that if he is really bad then he will quit. After a busy night at the bar, Soren is drunk and passed out as Eddie cleans up. He can't help but watch Paige privately dancing to the sounds of the song she chose from the jukebox. As Eddie cleans outside at night, he sees Paige and asks her to go a party with him; Paige rejects him because she is busy, and Soren offers him some advice. A few days later, Eddie doesn't show up to chemistry class, which angers Paige to whole new level, because her assignment fails having to execute it alone. Afterwards she storms up to his dorm as Soren is making breakfast for Eddie, who is still in bed even though it is after morning class. Paige blows her top at him, Eddie apologizes, and she leaves. Paige then discovers that her grade in her Shakespeare class is a bit below average, which is simply not enough to get into medical school. Later in class, Paige remembers that Eddie quoted Shakespeare and asks for his help. He agrees, only if she will help him with his laundry. As they do laundry together, Paige mocks Prince Hamlet; although Eddie can relate to him, he jokes right alongside her. Paige asks Eddie about a sonnet in Romeo and Juliet which Paige doesn't understand and Eddie explains several possible meanings of the passionate dialogue. In Denmark, Arabella is walking down the hall when she hears and sees nurses; growing worried, she listens in on a conversation between King Haraald and the doctor. She rushes in and asks: "Are you feeling ill, Daddy?", and crawls into his lap, and her parents assure her that it's nothing. A maid convinces Arabella go horse riding, and she leaves her parents, who continue with their regular business. The paparazzi who enjoy pestering the royal family are determined to find Edvard and find out what he is doing since nothing gossip worthy seems to be happening with the royals at the present. Paige is ecstatic when she receives an A- on her Shakespeare paper and goes to thank Eddie, who is repairing an oil fixture. They apologize to each other at the end of the conversation and oil spills all over the floor. Paige's friend observes their interaction and tells Paige she should have asked him home for Thanksgiving, and if Paige does not, she will ask Eddie to come home with her for Thanksgiving. Instantly Paige changes her mind, beats her to it and asks him first, and he accepts. Soren is scared to be left alone in the dorm by himself, but Eddie says he has everything he needs and that he'll be fine. Eddie and Paige go to her parent's Wisconsin dairy farm, where he meets Paige's mother, father, and two younger brothers. Paige shows Eddie her room. He is curious about the giant map on her wall; she tells him that the places marked with green pins are where she wants to visit someday to work with Doctors Without Borders. At lunch, Paige's brothers pick on Eddie about how there aren't any known people from Denmark; Paige is about to make a retort, but she can't think of anyone herself. Eddie names people like Kierkegaard, Niels Bohr, and Hans Christian Andersen. Paige is pleasantly surprised to learn that Andersen came from Denmark; her brothers are still not amused, but when he goes on to say that Lars Ulrich from Metallica is from Denmark as well, they become enthralled and almost ecstatic when they hear Helena Christensen is from Denmark; Paige nods at him in approval. The family loves him. Mr. Morgan invites Eddie to help with some of the farm chores, and Eddie says he will be happy to help. Little does he know that farm chores are not easy; by the end of the day, Eddie is rather tired, until he spots the lawn mowers, which Paige's brothers tell him they race every year. The big race is coming up, and Eddie says he can speed up the lawn mower. At the race, Mrs. Morgan notices that Paige's behavior changes around Eddie. The race starts and all is going well until the boys' ultimate rival gets angry. He tries to push Eddie off the road, but fails and goes off instead. Eddie wins the race and is congratulated by the boys, but when he tries to shake their rival's hand, he ends up in a fist fight. Back at home at the barn, Paige cleans Eddie's wounds. Paige tells him that they don't have a relationship, which ends with a long goodnight kiss. When they go back to the university, Eddie finds Soren in a pitiful state; unshaven, not showered, and his eyes glued to a video game screen. Steven says that he has been like this since he got back and tries to take the Xbox away only to have his head nearly bitten off by a power-crazed Soren. In the library, Eddie and Paige begin making suggestive movements, much to the notice of Paige's friend. Wanting to go somewhere private, they go off to the back of the library and start kissing and undressing when they are discovered by the paparazzi from Denmark. Still recovering from the shock of the moment, Paige asks Eddie what was going on and why they were calling him: "Prince Edvard." When Eddie explains to her that he is the crown prince of Denmark, she is upset. Eddie tries to convince her that his feeling were genuine, but Paige walks away in tears, because her feelings were genuine and she is convinced his were not. The next morning, Eddie splashes Soren with cold water and brings him out of his video game trance. Paige is unhappy. Soon the papers reach Denmark and King Haraald and Queen Rosalind are upset to see Paige and Edvard's shocked faces all over the tabloids. Later in chemistry class, Soren and Edvard have to fight past photographers to get into the classroom. Edvard is dismayed to find that Paige is no longer his chemistry class partner and is still angry and disappointed with him. After a long day, Soren receives a phone call from Queen Rosalind; he hands the phone to Edvard, who can hear strong concern in his mother's voice as she tells him that he must return home because his father is ill. Edvard is very concerned for his father and rushes back to Denmark to be with him. Meanwhile, Paige is giving a speech in her Shakespeare class when she realizes that like Romeo and Juliet, she and Edvard may have been meant to be together. Paige goes up to his dorm and is told by Steven that he and Soren left in the morning. Paige can't believe this and her fears are confirmed when she finds a note left by Edvard. She goes to her dorm and does not see a letter of acceptance to a medical college, while packing her bags for the first plane to Denmark. As she takes a cab from the airport, she is excited to see the historical landmarks that the cab driver points out, but she is more concerned with finding Edvard. They discover that the royal family is out in public moving through the city, and the traffic is blocked, so it is difficult to get through. Paige thanks the cab driver and gets out to try spotting Edvard, and after a bit of searching, she finds him on his horse, riding alongside his family's carriage in the parade. Paige tries to call out to him, but he can't hear her. When some people recognize Paige and start shouting her name, Edvard turns and sees her. With his horse he rides to her, helps her up, and they ride off towards the castle together, much to his parent's dismay and the crowd's pleasure. Paige and Edvard arrive at the castle and Soren meets them. Paige hops off the horse and embraces Soren, whom Edvard orders to show Paige around while he talks with his parents. Queen Rosalind feels that Edvard has betrayed his country by being seen with a common girl like Paige, but King Haraald is silent. Edvard tells his mother that he will still accept the crown when his father dies, on the condition that he be allowed to marry Paige, but Rosalind disagrees. Edvard lists off the people who are next in line for the throne, trying to make a point that they need him. Rosalind tells him not to threaten them; Edvard ignores her, but stops when Haraald demands for him to be quiet. Haraald tells him that no matter what happens he WILL be the next king of Denmark, and Edvard says he understands. Haraald then gives Edvard permission to marry Paige (ignoring his wife's protestations). Edvard finds Paige with Soren on a tour of the gardens. He dismisses Soren, and takes the opportunity to propose to Paige, who almost instantly accepts it. Paige awakes the next morning and receives a warm embrace from her future sister-in-law Arabella. When Soren comes in and tells Paige about her schedule, Paige start realizing that she is about to become royalty and what that will entail. Arabella introduces Paige to Marguerite, who will be designing Paige's gown for Edvard's ball. Marguerite examines Paige's figure and posture, and tells her that she doesn't work with hunchbacks. A montage ensues showing Paige meeting in public places with Rosalind and Edvard and getting her dress prepared for the ball. At the hospital, the paparazzi are curious as to where Paige is; they find her playing with sick children in the playroom, where they snatch a picture of them. Queen Rosalind is less than amused and tells Paige what the consequences are, and how this could be dangerous to her reputation. Soren and Paige leave Rosalind to find Edvard; they find him sitting at Haraald's bedside and Soren says that it's time for him to leave for a meeting. Edvard thanks him and kisses his father's forehead before leaving. At the meeting, Edvard points out to the members of the board that he has learned a thing or two about negotiation on the Morgan farm, and also says that the new Denmark will be about negotiations. Paige is trying her dress on when Soren tells her that Queen Rosalind wishes to see her, and they leave to meet her together. Soren tells Paige that he won't leave her side, but Rosalind sends him away and he obeys. Rosalind tells Paige straight out that she has always stayed close to tradition, but that maybe it is indeed time for change if this means that her son is starting to act like a responsible adult man. She leads Paige down into a vault where all the jewels are stored and lets Paige have her pick of the finest. Later that week during the ball, Edvard asks Paige to dance; it takes her a few minutes to realize that the song that is being played is the song that she chose on the jukebox back in Wisconsin. They dance for awhile, then go off into the study. After only a few minutes of privacy, Soren comes to tell Edvard that the prime minister of Norway is here to see him. Edvard sighs and tells Paige that he will come back with a surprise. Paige watches as Edvard helps Haraald sit down, only to be surprised when Soren closes and locks the door. Paige walks around the dark study and notices a globe which reminds her of all the places she wanted to see and work with the Doctors Without Borders, before she fell in love with Edvard. He returns again and shows her a meat slicer to make the perfect sandwich for her. Though Paige is happy, she tells Edvard that she cannot be his queen. She explains to him that she cannot give up her dreams and stop being herself, but that Edvard has to stay, for his father and for his country. They hug, knowing that their relationship is over. Edvard is crowned king and Paige goes to see him when he gives his speech to the Danish people, right before she returns to Wisconsin to graduate from college. At graduation day, she suddenly hears Edvard quoting Shakespeare to her. She runs up to him, hugs and kisses him. Edvard tells Paige he still loves her and wants to marry her, whatever plans she has and needs to do. She warns him that Denmark is not ready for a queen like her; he says that they will have to be because he is. They kiss and the movie ends.

In 1988, Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (age 11)(Max Ligosh) is arrested and charged with crashing 1,507 systems in one day and causing a single-day 7-point drop in the New York Stock Exchange. Upon conviction, he is banned from owning or operating computers or touch-tone telephones until his 18th birthday. Shortly before Dade (Jonny Lee Miller) turns 18, his mother (now divorced) takes a job in New York City. Upon turning 18, Dade calls a local television station, dupes the security guard into giving him the modem's phone number (a tactic known as social engineering), and successfully hacks into the station's computer network, changing the current TV program to an episode of The Outer Limits. However, Dade is "attacked" by a hacker (handle "Acid Burn") on the same network. During the conversation, Dade identifies himself by the new alias, Crash Override. Dade enrolls at Stanton High School, where he meets Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie), who is assigned to take him on a tour of the school. After Dade learns that Kate is "Acid Burn," a feud erupts between them. The real trouble begins when Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford), the novice hacker of the group, successfully breaks into an Ellingson Mineral Company supercomputer to prove to the rest of the group that he is an elite hacker. To validate this feat, he downloads part of a garbage file. Unfortunately, the company's IT employee Hal (Penn Jillette) detects this unauthorized entry and summons computer security officer Eugene "The Plague" Belford (Fisher Stevens) to deal with the problem. The Plague realizes the file being downloaded can prove that he is stealing from the company via salami slicing. The Plague enlists the U.S. Secret Service to recover the file by claiming that it is the code to Da Vinci, a computer virus that will capsize the company's oil tanker fleet and he needs that code to destroy the virus. Joey is arrested and his computer is searched, but the Secret Service finds nothing, as Joey has hidden the disk containing the files. In response, Dade and Kate decide to settle their disagreements with a hacking duel, with hacks focused on harassing Secret Service Agent Richard Gill (Wendell Pierce), a known enemy of hackers, who was involved in Joey's arrest. Kate and Dade's hacker friends Ramon Sanchez (Renoly Santiago) a.k.a. "The Phantom Phreak," Emmanuel Goldstein (Matthew Lillard) a.k.a. "Cereal Killer," and Paul Cook (Laurence Mason) a.k.a. "Lord Nikon" (so named for his photographic memory) act as judges. After being released on parole, Joey reveals the disk to Phantom Phreak in a public park; but they quickly realize that they are being followed by the Secret Service. The next day, Phreak is arrested. He uses his phone call to inform Kate that he hid the disk in a boy's bathroom at school. That evening, Kate and Cereal Killer ask Dade for his help; but, because of his record, he declines. Kate then asks Dade to copy the disk so that, if anyone else is arrested, they have the disk as evidence. After determining that Dade is not the one who hacked into Ellingson, The Plague attempts to enlist Dade's help to find the one who did. First, he offers Dade a free high-powered laptop. Later, he threatens to have Dade's mother incarcerated with a manufactured criminal record. At this, Dade agrees to deliver Kate's copy of the disk. Meanwhile, Kate, Lord Nikon, and Cereal Killer attempt to discern the contents of the disk. Dade joins them; and, after working all night, they learn the truth. It's designed to salami-slice $25 million from Ellingson transactions. Dade reveals that he knows Plague is behind this scheme because he was the one who wanted Kate's copy of the disk. He admits he gave Plague the disk and reveals his history as Zero Cool. Determined to stop the scheme, the assembled hackers plan to hack the Gibson again. Kate and Dade go dumpster-diving for employee memos with passwords; Cereal Killer installs a hidden microphone in the Ellingson offices; and Nikon poses as a delivery boy wandering the Ellingson cubicles, memorizing employee passwords as they enter them. From the memos, they discover the Da Vinci virus is set to capsize the fleet the next day, which would provide the perfect cover to distract from the salami-slicing worm. In need of help, they seek out Razor and Blade, the producers of a hacker-themed pirate TV show, "Hack the Planet." The next morning, they evade the Secret Service and converge on Grand Central station, where they use payphones to begin their assault on the Gibson. At first, their attempts are easily rebuffed by Plague, who calls Dade to warn him to escape before he is arrested. However, Razor and Blade have contacted hackers around the world, who lend their support with virus attacks, distracting Plague long enough for Dade to download the incriminating file to a floppy disk. Shortly after crashing the Gibson, Dade and company are arrested. As they're being led away, Dade surreptitiously informs Cereal Killer, hiding in the crowd, that he's tossed the disk in a trashcan. As Dade and Kate are being interrogated, Razor and Blade jam the local television signals and broadcast live video of Cereal Killer, revealing the plot and Plague's complicity. Plague is arrested when he tries to flee to Japan under the alias "Mr. Babbage" (a reference to Charles Babbage). Their names cleared, Dade and Kate go on a date. Kate even wears a dress. While relaxing in a pool on the roof of a building, their friends show off their latest hack. The lights in several adjacent office buildings spell out "CRASH AND BURN."

The prized possession in my video collection is my copy of 'The Keep' . For those as yet unaware of the treat awaiting them, The Keep portrays a time worn castle in hallowed Eastern Europe captured by German SS forces during World War II. The brutality and greed of the German occupying forcesAs a movie it has the ability to transcend its populist graphic imagery with an undercurrent of empathy that allowed me to identify with the evil occupant of the