D.B. Sweeney

Chi-Raq is a modern day adaptation of the ancient Greek play `Lysistrata` by Aristophanes. After the murder of a child by a stray bullet, a group of women led by Lysistrata organize against the on-going violence in Chicago`s Southside creating a movement that challenges the nature of race, sex and violence in America and around the world.

On November 5, 1975 in Snowflake, Arizona, logger Travis Walton (D.B. Sweeney), and his co-workers - Mike Rogers (Robert Patrick), Allan Dallis (Craig Sheffer), David Whitlock (Peter Berg), Greg Hayes (Henry Thomas) and Bobby Cogdill (Bradley Gregg) - head to work in the White Mountains. Driving home from work, the loggers see an unearthly light in the distance through the treeline. Upon investigating, they come across an unidentified flying object. Curious to learn more, Walton gets out of the truck to examine closer, only for the hovering object to reach and strike him with a bright beam of light, hurling him several feet backwards. Fearing Walton has been killed, the terrified loggers escape from the scene. Rogers decides to go back to the spot to retrieve Walton, but he is nowhere to be found. Going back to town to report the incident, the loggers are meet with skepticism by Sheriff Blake Davis (Noble Willingham) and Lieutenant Frank Watters (James Garner). They are suspected of foul play, something believed that quickly spreads over their small town, leaving them as social outcasts. Watters realizes there was a great deal of tension between Walton and Dallis and that Dallis has a criminal record, leading him to believe this is a murder investigation. Watters also discovers a tabloid newspaper in their truck with headlines about aliens, hinting that they used the article to concoct their story. The loggers are accused of murder and are threatened by Travis' older brother Dan Walton (Scott MacDonald). After a large search party found no sign of Walton, the loggers are offered the chance to take a lie detector test. After the testing is complete, Rogers is outraged that the results are not shared and he and "his guys" refused to return the next day to retake this. After the loggers leave, the test's administrator informs Watters and Davis that, with the exception of Dallis (whose results were inconclusive), the loggers seem to be telling the truth. Five days later, Rogers receives a phone call from someone claiming to be Walton. He is found at a Heber gas station, alive but naked, dehydrated and severely traumatized. A ufologist questions Walton but he is thrown out and Walton is taken to a hospital. Rogers visits Walton while in the emergency room and ends up telling Walton that he leave him after he was struck by the beam of light but came back to get him. Walton appears enraged by this and turns away from Rogers who blames the whole incident on Walton for getting out of the truck. During a welcome home party, Walton suffers from a mental breakdown and flashback of the abduction by the extraterrestrials. In his flashback, he awakens inside a slimy cocoon. Breaking out of its membrane, a puzzled Walton finds himself in a zero-gravity alien environment inside a cylindrical enclosure, whose walls contain other similar cocoons. Struggling in the low gravity, he breaches a nearby cocoon by chance, horrified to discover that this contains decomposing human remains. Exploring further, he drifts towards a neighboring area, seeing several humanoid figures below him. Drifting uncontrollably towards them, he surmises that the immobile figures are actually spacesuits, one of them occupied by an extraterrestrial creature. Walton attempts to escape, but is apprehended by two extraterrestrial creatures who drag him down corridors full of terrestrial detritus such as shoes and keys before arriving in a bizarre examining chamber. The aliens hold the struggling Walton to a raised platform in the middle of the chamber, stripping him of his clothes and covering him with an elastic material that completely restrains him. Despite Walton's terrified screams, the small aliens clinically force him to undergo an experiment in which a gelatinous substance is shoved into his mouth, a long pipe is inserted down his throat, his jaw is clamped open and a device is stabbed into his neck. Overhead equipment then begins lowering towards him while fully conscious during the experience. After a needle-like ocular probe extends towards this exposed eye, Walton loses consciousness until finding himself back on Earth, disoriented and severely traumatized. While interviewing Walton, Lieutenant Watters expresses his doubts about the abduction, dismissing this merely as a hoax. He notes Walton's newfound celebrity because of the tabloids' attempt to profit from his story, believing that he had faked the abduction to become a celebrity. However, with the investigation closed, Watters is forced to abandon his pursuit and leaves town. Two and a half years later, Walton visits Rogers, now a hermit, and the two reconcile while they struggle with trauma over the past. The film's closing titles inform that in 1993, Walton, Rogers and Dallis were resubmitted to additional polygraph examinations, which they passed, corroborating their innocence.

In 1943, the crew of a B-17 based in the UK prepares for its 25th and final bombing mission over Germany before returning home to the USA. It's May 1943 at a US Army Air Corps base in England. The four officers and six enlisted men of the Memphis Belle - a B-17 bomber so nicknamed for the girlfriend of its stern and stoic captain, Dennis Dearborn - will soon start their twenty-fifth mission, having completed their previous twenty-four successfully with nary an incident, while fewer and fewer other planes are coming back from their missions at all. If they complete their next mission successfully, they will be the first Army Air Corps B-17 Crew to complete their tour of duty. Visiting communications officer Lt. Col. Bruce Derringer wants to publicize and highly tout their accomplishment, even before it happens, as a long term good news campaign at a time when there is little good news to report. Derringer's plan is against the wishes of the base commander, Col. Craig Harriman, who would prefer to treat the ten as any of his other hard working men. The previous success of the Memphis Belle is despite the disparate natures of the ten men, whose personalities and backgrounds could not be more different. Each of the ten has a differing view of Derringer's publicity campaign as well as to the probable success or failure of what will be their last mission regardless, a dangerous one into enemy territory over the skies of Bremen, Germany. —Huggo 1943. The air war over Germany is at its zenith. In the 8th Air Force is a B-17 bomber whose crew are about to complete their 25th mission, the first to do so. After this mission they will be rotated back to the US on a marketing drive. However, their 25th mission is far from a milk run and they will need all the skill and luck they can muster to back it back alive. —grantss The "Memphis Belle" is a World War II bomber, piloted by a young crew on dangerous bombing raids into Europe. The crew only have to make one more bombing raid before they have finished their duty and can go home. In the briefing before their last flight, the crew discover that the target for the day is Bremen, a heavily-defended town that invariably causes many Allied casualties. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au> It's May 17, 1943; the day before the Memphis Belle's, a B-17 bomber, 25th and final mission. After their final mission, they crew of ten men get to go home. Since they would be the first crew to finish all 25 missions in the 8th Airforce, there were already plans to make the 10-man crew big stars back home for the war effort. But the mission hadn't been flown yet. With the target being Bremen (not Dresden), which was a target heavy in surface-to-air artillery, the flak wouldn't be easy to get through. With weather, nerves, and dreams all playing a part in the finishing of the mission, the crew has to become the lead plane in the squadron and get the job done of bombing a Nazi supply factory, if they get it wrong, many innocent people could be killed. —Jen Marh <nhl1135@icanect.net>

The movie begins with a funeral in a cemetery during the Vietnam War, with military rites. As the audience continues to see video from the funeral and hear bagpipes being played, a narrator reads a letter to "Sarge". In 1968 at Fort Myer, Specialist Jackie Willow arrives ready to serve. The Old Guard, an elite unit that participates in military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, is based there. Sgt. Clel Hazard would rather be somewhere else, believing the soldiers at Fort Myer are "toy soldiers". But his requests for transfer have never been granted. While he would like to train troops to serve in Vietnam, he is opposed to the war and thinks the U.S. can't win. Willow, by contrast, would rather be serving in Vietnam. When there is a war, he believes that is where U.S. soldiers should be. Hazard has been assigned to "take care" of Willow because he served with Willow's father in Korea. Also welcoming Willow is Sgt. Maj. Goody Nelson. Willow meets with Capt. Thomas who explains Delta Company's prestige. Hazard shares an elevator with Samantha, a Washington Post reporter who lives in his building. He helps her with her bags and asks her to come to his place for dinner with friends. The friends are late, but they get to know each other before the others arrive. Hazard likes Persian rugs and has interesting books. Samantha admits to being opposed to the war. Nelson and his wife Betty Rae join them and they have conversations about various topics. Nelson and Betty Rae met when she was working for Sen. Sam Ervin of North Carolina and he needed her help. Sgt. Flanagan orders the soldiers out of bed early and tells them to prepare for inspection. Wildman, another soldier, takes abuse from Flanagan for his incompetence, but Willow tries to help him succeed. Over time, Wildman continues to mess up. From time to time, Willow, Hazard and Nelson socialize at a bar. On one occasion Willow disagrees with the other men who say Vietnam is different from other wars. Willow gets drunk and gets in a fight with others, and Hazard and Nelson have to take him out. Willow learns his beloved father died and he cries. He is given time off to grieve and attend the funeral. Hazard and Samantha go on several dates. One ends with them kissing at her door, and possibly preparing to do more than kiss. Samantha and Hazard tell each other that both are divorced, but Hazard has a son he has not seen in a long time. Willow is promoted to "buck sergeant" and goes through a hazing by the other sergeants. His objective, however, is to train at Officer Candidate School. Willow occasionally narrates, reading a letter. From time to time, the Old Guard participates in funerals. Samantha is part of the audience when the unit puts on a show for the public where the duties of various groups are described. For example, one group is dressed as soldiers would have during the American Revolution. A band plays in the style musicians might have at that time. As part of his group Wildman messes up several times. When the show is over, Wildman tells Willow a pretty girl keeps looking at him. Willow sees the girl, and it is his ex Rachel. Willow goes over to meet her and expresses interest in dating again. She has a date but he persuades her to break it. Willow introduces her to Hazard and later asks to borrow money from Hazard. Samantha says she got arrested for protesting but intends to continue to oppose the war. Willow arrives at the home of Rachel's parents. Her father Col. Feld is working on a secret project for the Pentagon and he and his wife have moved to the area. Rachel is just visiting, as she is living in Europe. Willow and Rachel go on their date and get in a disagreement when he wants to talk about the war and she doesn't. She reminds him they broke up because Willow got the impression he wasn't good enough for her father, who was apparently trying to get him into West Point. Rachel says he was gullible. She also said she never read his letters to her. Willow and Rachel end up at Hazard's place and is told there will be field exercises the next day. Willow and other soldiers go through training that will hopefully teach them what to do to survive in Vietnam. Hazard is missing but Nelson finds him, and they get in an argument. Hazard wants to teach soldiers what to do in order to survive. Nelson says Hazard is a platoon sergeant. Hazard's latest request for a transfer is denied. He won't get what he wants by acting crazy, but is told everyone who could approve a transfer will hear he is a fine soldier. Thomas yells at Nelson for embarrassing him and Nelson yells at Hazard, who is "arrested" as a prank. Willow completes officer training and returns to a celebration. He asks Rachel to marry him. There is a wedding and a reception. Willow and Wildman are among those who get their orders for Vietnam. Wildman, a newspaper says, serves honorably and receives the Congressional Medal of Honor. What appears to be actual video and audio from the war is shown several times. Nelson is told to come calm Hazard down. He is in a room breaking things. Willow's name is on a list of funerals. Willow was determined to earn a Combat Infantryman Badge. Hazard then visits Samantha. Willow's funeral takes place, with Hazard speaking. Some parts of the funeral are a repeat of scenes from the start of the movie, only now the audience knows Rachel is the grieving widow. "Taps" is played at the end.

A young woman from a Catholic school and a young man from a nearby prison camp fall in love and must run away together to escape the law, the church and their parents. In this fact-based melodrama, Joe Fisk is a juvenile delinquent who falls in love with Lisa Taylor, a Catholic girl's school student, in an Oregon forest. The two meet by chance when the troubled young man stumbles upon her while being chased by his peers in a training exercise, sees the lovely young girl floating in a small lake as she works on a photography assignment. The two are immediately drawn to each other, but neither of their custodians encourage contact of the opposite sex. However, when their relationship is discovered there's trouble all around, forcing the young lovers to flee. The question then remains: Will they be able to escape the law and other authorities long enough to find happiness? —Bambi Ross <mgross@fuse.net>