Iain Softley

When the funniest Monster fish in the sea contest is announced in the town of Schmert, Charlie and his pals Mucus and Frankfish decide to enter the competition in hopes of comedic glory

A nurse is hired to care for an old woman`s ill husband in their decrepit mansion. Armed with a skeleton key that unlocks every door, she finds a room that holds a deadly secret.

A person appears "out of no where" at the NY Central station. He helps a woman being mugged and is arrested by the police, when he gives weird answers to their questions. After claiming he is an extraterrestrial from the planet 'K-PAX', 1,000 light years away in the Lyra constellation, Prot (Kevin Spacey) (not capitalized and pronounced with a long O, rhyming with boat) is committed to the Psychiatric Institute of Manhattan. There, psychiatrist Dr. Mark Powell (Jeff Bridges) attempts to cure him of his apparent delusions. However, Prot is unwavering in his ability to provide cogent answers to questions about himself, K-PAX, and its civilizations. His medical examination only reinforces his story, as Prot can see ultraviolet light and he is completely resistant to the effects of Thorazine. Powell introduces him to a group of astrophysicists (Dr. Chakraborty (Ajay Naidu), Dr. Steven Becker (Brian Howe) & Dr. Claudia Villars (Alfre Woodard)) who are befuddled when Prot displays a level of knowledge about his claimed star system that was unknown to them. Prot claims to be 337 yrs old, arrived on Earth 4 yrs and 9 months ago and aged by 7 yrs while travelling to Earth at 6 times the speed of light. There are no families on K-PAX and reproduction is very unpleasant. No laws, no lawyers and no punishments for crimes. Mark is married to Rachel Powell (Mary McCormack), who feels that Mark is neglecting the family. Mark is divorced from his first wife and has a son Michael Powell (Aaron Paul), who is in college, but wont speak to Mark. Prot also wins over the other patients at the Institute (Ernie (Saul Williams) who is bacteria phobic, Doris Archer (Celia Weston) who went mad after she her partner abandoned her and she has been waiting for 11 yrs, Sal (Peter Gerety) & Howie (David Patrick Kelly)), each of whom believes unquestioningly that he is indeed from K-PAX. Prot, who claims to have journeyed to Earth by means of "light-travel" (and his beings can travel at several times faster than the speed of light) (He says Earth is an early stage evolution planet with an uncertain future), explains that he can take one person with him when he returns. Thereafter, most of the patients at the Institute ask Prot to take them with him. Prot tells Howie to complete 3 tasks in order to be cured. The first task is to find a blue bird and Howie gets very excited when he finally views one through the window (an extremely rare occurrence). The 2nd task was to almost strangle Ernie to death. Ernie realizes that death is something that he has no control over, and is cured of his germ-phobia. Last task was to stay on Earth and be prepared for anything. Upon learning that many of his patients expect to leave Earth on July 27 (at 5 51 am eastern time, as entries and exits from K-Pax have to be coordinated, just like an ATC), Powell confronts Prot, who explains that it is a predetermined date. However, Powell believes this to be a significant date in Prot's life, a day on which he suffered a severe psychological trauma. Prot demonstrates that he can speak to animals as well. Powell decides to subject Prot to regression hypnosis (mark invites Prot to his home for 4th of July. Everything was going well until Mark's kids turned on the sprinkler and ran into it, and that's when Prot lost his cool and tries to stop Mark's daughter from running into the sprinkler and has to be subdued), which works well. Using information gained from these sessions, Powell figures out that Prot may simply be an alter ego of Robert Porter, a man from New Mexico who attempted suicide in 1996 after his wife and child were murdered. Prot claims that Robert could contact him, and had done so several times in the past. and that day, when his wife and child was murdered, Robert called Prot to Earth to help him. The local sheriff tells Mark that Robert came home from work and found his wife and daughter murdered and proceeded to kill the murderer by snapping his neck like a twig. Powell tries to confront Prot with this knowledge, but Prot's reaction is one of bemusement, and he cryptically tells Powell that he hopes he will take good care of Robert now that he has found him. Prot also tells Mark to spend more time with his family and to reconnect with Michael. On July 27 as the hospital staff watch, the camera in Prot's room cuts to static at the precise time Prot said he would leave Earth. Powell finds Porter lying on the floor in his room, catatonic, Prot having apparently left Porter's body for the light travel back to K-PAX. The other patients do not recognize Robert, as he is being wheeled out of the room. In addition, one of them is missing: Bess (Melanee Murray), a woman who had remained mute since her home was destroyed in a fire and who had been among the patients that asked to go to K-PAX with Prot. She is never found. Powell continues to take care of the catatonic Porter and tells him about how the patients he helped have gone on to live normal lives again (Howie got a job at the public library, Ernie is a crisis counselor), but Robert does not respond. Powell is left with no absolute answer as to whether Prot was in fact an alien entity or just a coping mechanism of the traumatized Porter, but seems far from convinced that Porter's behavior was a delusion. In a final voiceover, Prot explains to Powell that the people of K-PAX have discovered that our universe will repeat its events again and again, so the mistakes we make will be repeated forever. Prot encourages Powell to make this time count, as it is the only chance we have. Inspired, Powell begins a new, better life by reconciling with his estranged son.

In 1910 London, England, Kate Croy (Helena Bonham Carter) lives under the careful watch of her domineering Aunt Maude (Charlotte Rampling). The wealthy Maude has taken the penniless Kate in, intending to marry her to a rich man and save her from the fate which befell her recently deceased mother when she married Kate's own dissolute estranged father, Lionel (Michael Gambon), who swandered most of the family's money to support his drug addiction. Lord Mark (Alex Jennings), a sophisticated aristocrat with a large estate, begins to court Kate with Maude's approval. However Kate is secretly in love with a young muckraking journalist named Merton Densher (Linus Roache), whom her aunt has forbidden her from pursuing a relationship with because of his humble circumstances. Nonetheless she has continued to meet with Merton in secret, though he is growing increasingly impatient for her to leave her aunt and marry him. Aunt Maude confronts Kate about her continuing association with Densher and threatens to withdraw her financial support from Kate and her father. Kate reluctantly breaks with Merton and refuses to meet with him anymore. A few months later, at a dinner party given by her aunt, Kate is introduced to the wealthy American orphan and heiress Milly Theale (Alison Elliott), who is on an extended trip through Europe with her travelling companion Susan Stringham (Elizabeth McGovern). The cynical Kate is captivated by Milly's beauty, vivaciousness and humor, and the two form a strong friendship. Kate and Merton reconcile and resume their secret meetings; one day they run into Milly and Kate introduces Merton as a friend. Soon after Milly invites Kate to accompany her and Susan to Venice. Before leaving town, Lord Mark secretly reveals to Kate that Milly is terminally ill and that although he desires Kate he has to marry Milly to avoid losing his estates. Aware that Milly is indifferent to Lord Mark but is smitten with Merton, Kate invites Merton to Venice and persuades him to show Milly affection in an effort to seduce her. Kate expects that the orphaned and lonely Milly will leave him her fortune after her death. During Kate's, Milly's, and Merton's excursions through Venice, Kate gradually becomes jealous of Milly's attraction to Merton, so much so that she lures him away one night to have sex. Milly confronts her the next morning, though Kate denies that Merton is her lover. She realizes that she must leave, without warning Merton, if her scheme is to succeed. On their own in Venice, Merton's affection for Milly grows ever stronger and the two form a strong bond, even as her condition worsens. One day Merton spots Lord Mark at a cafe; alarmed, he goes to visit Milly but is denied entry. Susan visits him and Merton realizes that Kate has revealed their secret to Lord Mark to sabotage the whole scheme, knowing that Mark would tell Milly as revenge for her jilting him. Nonetheless Milly agrees to see Merton and the two share an intimate moment where she forgives him and says that she still loves both him and Kate, despite their actions. A few days later, Milly dies and Merton and Susan attend her funeral. A few weeks later, Merton returns to London where on one rainy evening Kate comes to Merton's flat. She asks why he has not come to see her in the weeks he has been back and finds a letter from Milly's attorneys, informing Merton that Milly did indeed bequeath a sizable portion of her estate to him. Merton tells Kate that he will not take the money, and she must marry him without it if they are to be together. She agrees, and they make love. But afterwards, Kate asks him to tell her that he is not still in love with Milly, or his memory of her, and he cannot. Kate leaves him for good, knowing that her conniving has backfired. Merton returns to Venice, alone.

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."

A dramatization of the Hamburg, Germany phase of The Beatles' early history. A pre-fame Beatles head for the seedy clubs of Hamburg in search of success. The band meet up with a group of trendy German beatniks, one of whom (Astrid Kircherr) bass guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe falls in love with. Whilst best friend John Lennon can only watch, Sutcliffe has to choose between rock 'n roll and a new life in Germany... —Douglas Baptie John Lennon and the rest of his new rock-and-roll group - Paul McCartney, Pete Best, George Harrison and Stuart Sutcliffe - travel to Hamburg to try their luck. Word soon gets out and they become increasingly popular, especially with the girls. But Stuart still thinks he is a better painter than bass guitarist, and he has fallen seriously in love with a German girl. He and the rest of the group have to make some decisions. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}