Chad Lindberg

A former Marine Captain Eddie, desperate for work, lands a job as a mall cop. On his first night at the mall, he runs into a young girl named Jamie, who while travelling with police officers as a trial witness, was attacked by a group of heavily armed mercenaries, but somehow manages to escape and seeks refuge at the mall.

Former U.S. Army Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), a bitter alcoholic traumatized by the atrocities he committed during the American Indian Wars, is approached by his former commanding officer Colonel Bagley (Tony Goldwyn) to train the newly created Imperial Japanese Army for a forward-thinking Japanese businessman Omura (Masato Harada) (an industrialist and pro-reform politician who dislikes the old samurai and shogun-related lifestyle. He quickly imports westernization and modernization while making money for himself through his railroads. Coming from a merchant family that was like many repressed during the days of Samurai rule and the cause for his extreme dislike for their nobility, he assumes a great deal of power during the Meiji Restoration and takes advantages of Meiji's youth to become his chief advisor (wielding power similar to those of the Shoguns)), who intends to use the army to suppress a Samurai-headed rebellion against Japan's new emperor Meiji (Shichinosuke Nakamura) (Credited with the implementation of the 1868 Meiji Restoration, the Emperor is eager to import Western ideas and practices to modernize and empower Japan to become a strong nation). Despite his hatred of Bagley (Algren dislikes Bagley for his role in the Washita River massacre of the Native Americans that Algren cannot get over) for his role in the Indian Wars, an impoverished Algren takes the job for the money, and is accompanied to Japan by his old friend, Sergeant Zebulon Gant. Upon arriving, Algren meets Simon Graham (Timothy Spall), a British translator knowledgeable about the samurai. Algren finds the Imperial soldiers are actually conscripted peasants that have no knowledge of firearms or battle. Early in their training, Algren is informed that the samurai are attacking one of Omura's railroads; Omura sends the army there, despite Algren's protests that they are not ready. The battle is a disaster; the undisciplined conscripts are routed, and Gant is killed. Algren fights to the last before he is surrounded; expecting to die, he is taken prisoner when samurai leader Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) (a warrior-poet who was once Emperor Meiji's most trusted teacher. He is displeased with Mr. Omura's bureaucratic reform policies which leads him into organizing a revolt against the Imperial Army) decides to spare him. Algren is taken to Katsumoto's village to live among his family. While he is poorly treated at first, he eventually gains the samurai's respect and actually becomes friends with Katsumoto. Algren overcomes his alcoholism and guilt and learns the Japanese language and culture. He develops sympathy for the samurai, who are upset that the pace of modern technology has eroded the traditions of their society. Algren and Taka (Koyuki Kato), Katsumoto's sister and the widow of a samurai killed by Algren, develop an unspoken affection for each other. One night, a group of ninjas infiltrate the village and attempt to assassinate Katsumoto. Algren saves Katsumoto's life, and then helps defend the village. Katsumoto requests a meeting with Emperor Meiji and is given safe passage to Tokyo. He brings Algren, intending to release him. Upon arriving in Tokyo, Algren finds the Imperial Army is now a well-trained and fully equipped fighting force. Katsumoto, to his dismay, discovers that the young and inexperienced Emperor has essentially become a puppet of Omura. At a government meeting, Omura orders Katsumoto's arrest for carrying a sword in public and asks him to perform Seppuku to redeem his honor. Algren refuses Omura's offer to lead the new army to crush the rebels, due to his sympathy. Omura sends assassins to kill Algren, but Algren kills them. Algren assists the samurai in freeing Katsumoto; in the process, Katsumoto's son Nobutada (Shin Koyamada) (Katsumoto's son who is lord of the village in which the Samurai are encamped. Nobutada befriends Algren. Katsumoto, the samurai lord, advises Nobutada to teach Algren in the Japanese way - Japanese culture and Japanese language) is mortally wounded, sacrificing himself to allow the others to escape. As the Imperial Army marches to crush the rebellion, a grieving Katsumoto contemplates Seppuku, but Algren convinces him to fight until the end, and joins the samurai in battle. The samurai use the Imperial Army's overconfidence to lure them into a trap and deprive them of artillery support. The ensuing battle inflicts massive casualties on both sides and forces the Imperial soldiers to retreat. Knowing that Imperial reinforcements are coming, and defeat is inevitable, Katsumoto orders a suicidal cavalry charge on horseback. During the charge, the samurai break through Bagley's line. Bagley is killed by Algren, but the samurai are quickly mowed down by Gatling guns. The Imperial captain, previously trained by Algren and horrified by the sight of the dying samurai, orders all of the guns to cease fire, disregarding Omura's orders. A mortally wounded Katsumoto commits Seppuku with Algren's help as the soldiers at the scene kneel in respect. Days later, as trade negotiations conclude, Algren, though injured, arrives and interrupts the proceedings. He presents the Emperor with Katsumoto's sword and asks him to remember the traditions for which Katsumoto and his fellow Samurai died. The Emperor realizes that while Japan should modernize, it cannot forget its own culture and history; he promptly rejects the trade offer. When Omura attempts to protest, the Emperor silences him by threatening to seize the Omura family assets and distribute them among the populace. While various rumors regarding Algren's fate circulate, Graham concludes that Algren had returned to the village to reunite with Taka.

Shot in beautiful coastal Washington weeks after the 9/11 attack on America, this hip and stylish film focuses on a group of friends dealing with their passage to adulthood and their destructive buddy, Harper, pitted at the center. Starring Mt. Vernon native Chad Lindberg (The Velocity of Gary, October Sky, The Fast and the Furious) as the wise-cracking, alcoholic Harper, Sean Christensen as his best friend, Luke, and Jude Herrera as Luke's college girlfriend, Paige, the story picks up as Harper returns home from a work-stint to appear in court where he's facing jail time. Ordered to six months at a work-ethic camp, Harper decides to make the most of his few days of remaining freedom. Self-destructive and unwilling to show any crack in his armor, Harper is zealously protected by his close friends who cannot begin to offer a haven for his vulnerability. Harper finds unexpected comfort in Luke's new girlfriend, Paige, who has returned to the Swinomish area to claim a fishing boat left to her by her uncle. With Luke's days filled with the demands of a new job, Harper and Paige spend their time exploring the safety and honesty of their emerging friendship. This leads to a test of faith for Harper and Luke and a showdown with the law Harper's ill-equipped to win.

LAPD officer Brian goes undercover to investigate Dominic Tottero and his crew for conducting high speed robberies, but gets sucked in deeper than he meant to.

In October 1957, news of the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 reaches Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the mining community of Coalwood, West Virginia, who is inspired to build his own rockets despite the skepticism of his friends and family, especially his father John Hickam (Chris Cooper), who strictly wanted Homer to work in the mines. John says that one year of work in the mines would make sure that Homer builds enough body strength to be selected for the football team and could even land a football scholarship to college. Homer is the younger brother to Jim (Scott Thomas). Jim works at the machine shop of the mine. There is talk of layoffs at the mines, which is a source of tension for the town. John is the manager of the mine and the owners want him to fire half the miners as the tonnage of output has reduced to half in the last 10 years. Sputnik had ushered in a wave of anxiety across the US and was responsible for a new and grim phase of the cold war. Dr. Wernher Von Braun is in charge of the US Army Ballistic Missiles agency and is confident that the US will be launching artificial satellites of its own pretty soon. The Sputnik is visible over the US October sky for an hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset. Homer teams up with math geek Quentin Wilson (Chris Owen), who shares an interest in aerospace engineering, with the support of friends Roy Lee Cooke (Chris Owen) and Sherman O'Dell (Chad Lindberg), and their science teacher Freida J. Riley (Laura Dern), they construct small rockets. Quentin helps them get the exact formula for rocket fuel using publicly available materials in the library, which Homer was not able to search for himself. Homer and the gang want to request Jim for the welding services needed on the rockets, as Jim has access to a welding machine in the machine shop. Homer knows that Jim would inform John, and so he goes to the machine shop manager Ike instead. Miss Riley wants to enter the rocket in the upcoming regional science fair, where the winners go to the National Science Fair in Indianapolis. Here colleges from all over the country attend the fair, and hand out scholarships to deserving students. When one of them lands near John's office and nearly injures some workers, John warns Homer not to build rockets on his property again. The boys hike over the edge of the coal company's property to continue, where they succeed with the help of the townsfolk, including the mine's machine shop manager Ike Bykovsky (Elya Baskin). He is later punished by John for helping the boys, being sent to work in the mine. Ike teaches Homer how to weld. The boys launch several prototypes but each explodes at some stage or the other. Quentin figures out that the fuel has air pockets inside it, and when it Combusts, it explodes when it comes in contact with the air. So, they mix the fuel with a stable binder like alcohol to create a rocket fuel paste. The rocket launch is now successful. Pressure on Homer increases when Jim gets a football scholarship. The team starts experimenting with bigger rockets. The rocket launches begin attracting townsfolk. However, the boys abandon rocketry after they are accused by the police of starting wildfire with a stray rocket and arrested. In a mining accident, John is injured and Bykovsky is killed, devastating Homer, who feels responsible for his death. However, John later tells him that he offered Bykovsky to return to the machine shop, but he declined because he was making more money in the mines. Homer drops out of high school to work in the mine and provide for his family while his father recovers. Homer is inspired by Miss Riley to read a book on applied rocket science, with which he learns to calculate a rocket's trajectory. Using this, he and Quentin locate their missing rocket and prove it could not have caused the fire. The boys present their findings to Miss Riley and the school principal, Mr. Turner (Chris Ellis), who determines the cause was a flare from a nearby airfield. Homer tells his father he is returning to high school and no longer wants to work in the mine. The boys return to rocketry and win the school science fair. When the opportunity arises for one of them to participate in the National Science Fair in Indianapolis, Homer is chosen. The miner's union goes on strike against the coal company. With the mines set to close and resenting his father's pressures, Homer storms out of the house, vowing never to return. At the National Science Fair, Homer's display is well-received. Overnight, someone steals his machined rocket part model, the De Laval nozzle, and his autographed picture of Dr. Wernher Von Braun. Homer makes an urgent phone call home to his mother Elsie (Natalie Canerday), who implores John to end the strike so that Mr. Bolden (Randy Stripling), Bykovsky's replacement, can build a replacement nozzle in the machine shop. John relents when Elsie, fed up with his lack of support for their son, threatens to leave him. With the town's support and replacement parts sent to Indianapolis, the boys win the top prize, and Homer is bombarded with college scholarship offers. He also shakes hands with Dr. Wernher Von Braun himself, however Homer does not realize it was him until after Dr. Von Braun left. Homer returns to Coalwood as a hero and visits Miss Riley, who is dying of Hodgkin lymphoma. Preparing for the launch of their largest rocket yet, Homer asks his father to come, telling him that Von Braun is brilliant but is not his hero, implying John is his true idol. At the launch of their rocket, named for Miss Riley, almost all of Coalwood turns out to watch, including John, who had never come to any of their previous launches. John is given the honor of pushing the launch button. The Miss Riley reaches an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,100 m) higher than the summit of Mount Everest. As the town looks to the skies, John puts his hand on Homer's shoulder and smiles, showing Homer that he is proud of him. An epilogue reveals the real-life outcomes of the main characters' lives, noting that Miss Riley died, the mine closed, John dies later on, Elsie moves to Myrtle Beach and all four Rocket Boys went to college, going on to successful careers, with Homer working at NASA.