Ian McKellen

A career con man sets his sights on a widow worth millions. As the two draw closer, what should have been another simple swindle takes on the ultimate stakes.

Plot After the Globe Theatre burns down in 1613 during a performance of Shakespeare's play Henry VIII, William Shakespeare, aged 49, returns home from London to Stratford-upon-Avon to rejoin his wife, Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare and Anne have a distant relationship, as he has spent most of their marriage working in London, and she is a down-to-earth country woman who cannot read or write. Their marriage has never recovered from the death of their son Hamnet, aged 11, of plague in Stratford, while his father was in London. While they also have two daughters, Hamnet was Shakespeare's favorite child, especially because of the poems which he believes the child wrote. Shakespeare now devotes his time to tending to the family garden. In spite of his hard work he is not very successful. The Shakespeares' elder daughter Susanna is married to a doctor named John Hall, who is a prominent Puritan in town. Susanna has to stifle her independence and her own personality to live by her husband's moral codes. She is accused of committing adultery and faces a public trial. Shakespeare terrifies her accuser by claiming that he knows an African actor who was once in love with Susanna and who would kill anyone who ruined her good name. The accuser fails to attend the hearing, as a consequence of which Susanna is acquitted. Anne is impressed by her husband's actions, especially as she knows that he was lying, the African actor was a gentle person who would never harm anyone. Shakespeare's younger daughter, Judith (Hamnet's twin), is outspoken in her doubts about the role of women in Jacobean England. She has not been allowed to have an education or opportunities in life, because it is expected she will marry and provide children. She has refused to marry and is bitter at her father for not loving her as much as her dead brother. One night during an argument, Judith confesses to Shakespeare that it was she who wrote the poems, rather than her brother. They were in Hamnet's handwriting because Judith cannot read or write and dictated them to him. Anne agrees that Hamnet was not especially intelligent; they have hidden this from Shakespeare so he would be able to keep his fond memories. The Shakespeares receive a visit from the Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare's former literary patron, to whom he wrote his 154 sonnets. This upsets Anne; she is aware of rumors that William and Southampton were lovers. While drinking with Southampton, Shakespeare recites his Sonnet 29, expressing his feelings for Southampton and hoping that Southampton felt the same way about him. Southampton cuts off the conversation and seems uncomfortable but as he leaves he also recites Sonnet 29, indicating to Shakespeare that he did have feelings for him. After some time at home, Shakespeare and Anne grow closer and develop a mature relationship. Anne ultimately allows her husband to sleep with her in the family's second-best bed (the best bed is reserved for guests). Having fallen back in love with Anne, Shakespeare amends his will to make sure that she will receive this bed. Now that the truth has been told about the poems, Judith also develops a warmer relationship with her father. She agrees to marry a local man, Thomas Quiney, who has been her suitor for some time. Quiney's reputation is damaged when his former sweetheart gives birth to his illegitimate child and the baby and mother die during labor. Judith becomes pregnant by Quiney, much to Shakespeare's delight. While researching, Shakespeare discovers that there was no notable plague outbreak in 1596, the year that Hamnet died. He becomes suspicious and questions his family. Anne tries to convince him that Hamnet died of plague but Judith confesses the truth. One day as a child, Judith told her brother that she was going to reveal the truth to their father, that Hamnet did not write the poems. That night, Hamnet went missing. He was found in a nearby pond, having drowned, with the copies of the poems in the water with him. Hamnet would never normally enter the pond and so Anne and Judith suspect he committed suicide. The women covered it up, and told everyone that the boy had died of plague. Although it is an emotional revelation, the truth allows Shakespeare to finally come to terms with his son's death and to accept a more honest memory of the boy. In April 1616 Shakespeare's fellow playwright Ben Jonson visits him and they reminisce about their lives. On the 23rd of April, Shakespeare's fifty-second birthday, he is feeling unwell. His wife and daughters gather to present him with a surprise. Susanna has been teaching Anne and Judith how to read and write. Susanna has found the Shakespeares' marriage certificate and Anne finally signs her name, where previously she had only been able to sign with an "X". Shakespeare dies that day. At his funeral, the three women recite the song "Fear No More" from Shakespeare's play Cymbeline. They are now all able to read.

A family must use a magical box of Animal Crackers to save a run-down circus from being taken over by their evil uncle Horatio P. Huntington. Dangerous stunts, flying acrobats, and even the clowns Uncle Doug hated so much-Owen is itching to see all of it. But when his little sister Zoe, a self-proclaimed animal whisperer, accuses the ringmaster of mistreating the circus animals, the last thing Owen has time to do is to watch the show. With the help of some magical animal crackers that can transform him into a bear, a hippo, or even a hamster, Owen sets out to rescue his kidnapped uncle and sister from the hands of the scheming ringmaster and his circus lackeys. —Anonymous

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies marks the conclusion of Bilbo Baggins` adventures. Bilbo and Company are forced to join in a war against an army of combatants and the terrifying Smaug from acquiring a kingdom of treasure and incinerating all of Middle-Earth.

The hobbit Bilbo Baggins, along with the wizard Gandalf and the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield and his twelve companions, leave the Carrock after the events of the previous film. They continue east to the edge of the forest of Mirkwood where they encounter the skin-changer Beorn. Gandalf departs before the others enter Mirkwood where they are attacked by giant spiders and, except for Bilbo, are captured by Wood-elves. Bilbo helps the dwarves escape from the elves and they follow the forest river to Lake-town, where they meet the Master of the town, and Bard, a bowman and the descendant of the original Lord of Dale. After acquiring a boat and supplies from the town, the company travels to the Lonely Mountain. They eventually find the hidden door into the mountain and Bilbo enters and encounters the dragon Smaug. In the meantime, Gandalf leads the White Council to drive the Necromancer out of Dol Guldur. Gandalf enters Dol Guldur, where he discovers the true identity of the Necromancer. The elves of Mirkwood, led by King Thranduil and his son, Legolas, must battle the orc invasions from Dol Guldur.

Set in a parallel universe, Lyra struggles to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from horrendous experiments being conducted on them.

''Stardust'', an adaptation of one of Neil Gaiman's better-known novels, is the most high profile endeavor till date to turn virtuality into reality. A fantasy adventure in the kingdom of Stormhold, a race for the fallen star among the King's sons, the witches and Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox), beyond the wall to win the heart of his true love; Victoria (Sienna Miller). The star has fallen in the form of a girl, Yvaine (Claire Danes) who Tristan must protect from the other evil forces.

Symbologist Robert Langdon gets involved in the murder case of a curator at the Louvre and ends up on a quest to unravel a mysterious, two-thousand-year-old religious secret.

Roddy St. James is a decidedly upper crust pet rat who makes his home in a posh Kensington flat. When a common sewer rat named Sid comes spewing out of the sink and decides to stay, especially as England are playing Germany in the FIFA World Cup final, Roddy schemes to get rid of Sid by luring him into the "jacuzzi", which is actually the toilet bowl. Sid may be an ignorant slob, but being a sewer rat, he knows his plumbing. He plays along and instead pushes Roddy in and flushes him away into the sewer. There, Roddy meets Rita Malone, an enterprising scavenger rat who works the drains in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Rita does not like Roddy initially, but ends up taking him along as The Toad sends his henchmen, Spike and Whitey, after her because she had stolen back her father's prized ruby a long time ago. The Toad despises all rodents to the point of hateful obsession, blaming rats for his fall from grace (he was once Prince Charles' pet). He decides to have them frozen with liquid nitrogen. However, The Toad's plan fails. Worse, during their escape, Rita takes a unique electrical cable. The cable is required to control the Floodgates. The Toad's evil plan is to open the gates during halftime of the World Cup, drowning the rats and their underground city in sewage. He can then use the depopulated city as a home for millions of his own tadpole offspring. Roddy finds that the ruby is a fake and breaks it in front of Rita, enraging her, for she can now not get the money she needs for her large family. Roddy offers her a real ruby if she takes him back to Kensington. Accepting the offer, the pair first stop to visit her family before setting off. During Roddy's stay, he overhears a conversation that causes him to think that Rita had double-crossed him, so he steals the Jammy Dodger. When Rita catches up to him, he is able to clear up the misunderstanding. The pair evade Spike and Whitey pursuing in a remote-controlled toy boat, with Thimblenose Ted and others on eggbeater jet skis. During this scene, Roddy and Rita share a quick love moment. Incensed at his minions repeated failures, The Toad sends to France for his cousin; an infamous, if somewhat laid back, mercenary known as Le Frog. Le Frog and his subordinates intercept the duo and retrieve the cable, but Roddy and Rita use a plastic bag to lift themselves out of the sewer (snatching away the cable during the ascent) and get Roddy home, though the Jammy Dodger has to be sacrificed. Back home, Roddy pays Rita the promised ruby and an emerald, then proceeds to show her around his house. She at first believes he has family in the home, but noticing his cage, she realizes he's a pet. Roddy tries to pass Sid off as his brother, but Sid and Rita know each other. Rita tries to persuade Roddy to come with her, but he is too proud to admit that he is lonely. By now, they have fallen in love but have not told each other their feelings. She departs, both of them broken-hearted, but is soon captured by The Toad. Talking to Sid about half-time, Roddy pieces together The Toad's plan. He gives Sid his cushy position and has Sid flush him back to the sewers to find Rita and save the city. Together, they defeat The Toad and freeze the wave of sewage generated by the flushing of countless toilets during the FIFA World Cup half-time with liquid nitrogen before it drowns the entire rat population. Rita and Roddy build the Jammy Dodger Mark Two and set off in her with Rita's entire brood. A newspaper article reveals England had lost on penalties. Rita and Roddy become boyfriend and girlfriend. Later while the credits start, Roddy's former owner comes back with a new pet (a cat), which frightens Sid.

The young hobbit Frodo takes his final steps to the top of the fortified Mount Doom to destroy the fateful ring and with it, all evil in the world. Aragorn and Gandalf wage war against the Dark Lord Sauron and his army to provide a distraction for Frodo, the middle-earth`s last hope

In southern California in 1984, 16-year-old high school student Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) discovers that his elderly neighbor, Arthur Denker (Ian McKellen), is really Kurt Dussander  a former Nazi Obersturmbannführer who is now a fugitive war criminal. Though Bowden threatens to turn Dussander in, the teenager reveals his fascination with Nazi activities during World War II and blackmails the war criminal into sharing stories about the death camps. When he spends more time with the old man, his grades suffer, he loses interest in his girlfriend (Heather McComb), and he conceals his bad grades from his parents. In turn, the Nazi blackmails the young boy into studying to restore his grades, threatening to expose the boy's subterfuge and his dalliance with Nazism to his parents. Dussander even poses as Todd's grandfather and goes to an appointment with Bowden's school counselor Edward French (Ed Schwimmer). Talking about the war crimes affects both the old man and the young boy, and Dussander begins killing animals in his gas oven. Dussander also takes great pride in Bowden's unbelievable turnaround, going from near dropout to straight A's in a matter of weeks. One night, Dussander tries to kill a hobo who sees him in the uniform. When Dussander has a heart attack, he calls Bowden, who finishes the job, cleans up, and calls an ambulance for Dussander. At the hospital, Dussander is recognized by a death camp survivor sharing his room, and he is arrested to be extradited to Israel. Bowden graduates as his school's valedictorian and gives a speech about Icarus, saying, "All great achievements arose from dissatisfaction. It is the desire to do better, to dig deeper, that propels civilization to greatness." The scene is juxtaposed in a montage with Dussander's home being searched and the hobo's corpse being found in the basement. Bowden is briefly questioned about his relationship with Dussander, but he manages to convince the police that he knew nothing of the old man's true identity. At the hospital, Dussander hears a group of Neo-Nazis outside the hospital; realizing his identity has been hopelessly compromised, he commits suicide by giving himself an air embolism. In the final scene, Mr. French learns that the old man who met him on that day was not Bowden's grandfather but a war criminal and confronts him over it. Bowden blackmails French into silence by threatening to accuse him of making inappropriate sexual advances towards him. As Dussander lays dead in his hospital bed, Todd Bowden graduates from high school now a full-blossomed sociopath due to his dalliance with Kurt Dussander.

The story of Russian emigrant Yanko Goorall and servant Amy Foster in the end of nineteenth century. When Yanko enters a farm, sick and hungry after a shipwreck, everyone is afraid of him, except for Amy. The film tells the story of a Ukraine émigré, and the only survivor from ship crash, named Yanko Goorall, and a servant Amy Foster in the end of nineteenth century. When Yanko enters a farm, sick and hungry after the shipwreck, everyone is afraid of him, except for Amy, who is very kind and helps him. Soon he becomes like a son for Dr. James Kennedy and romance between Yanko and Amy follows.

The exiled royal doctor to King Charles II devotes himself to helping Londoners suffering from the plague, and in the process falls in love with an equally poor woman. An aspiring young doctor, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of a spaniel dear to the King. Merivel joins the King's court and lives the high life provided to someone of his position. Merivel is ordered to marry one of the King's mistresses in order to divert the suspicions of another one of his mistresses. He is given one order by the king and that is not to fall in love. The situation worsens when Merivel finds himself in love with his new wife. Eventually, the King finds out and relieves Merivel of his position and wealth. His fall from grace leaves Merivel where he first started. And through his travels and reunites with an old friend, he rediscovers his love for true medicine and what it really means to be a doctor. —P. Wong <pwong@nt.net>

In Tibet after the First World War, at the court of a powerful foreign warlord, an American named Lamont Cranston (Alec Baldwin) has succumbed to his darker instincts during the war. He then vanished into the Orient, where he exists as a brutal warlord and opium kingpin under the alias of Yin-Ko (Mandarin Chinese meaning "Dark Eagle"). One night he is abducted from his palace by servants of the Tulku (Barry Dennen), a holy man who exhibits otherworldly powers and knows Cranston's identity. Tulku lives in a huge temple deep and high within the mountains, but the temple itself is hidden to the outside world. Only the chosen ones are allowed to see the temple. Tulku informs Cranston that he will become a force for good. Tulku says that Cranston has the ability to see the evil in men's hearts as he has seen the evil himself. Cranston objects but is silenced by the Phurba (Frank Welker), a mystical living knife that assaults Cranston, wounding him. Cranston is unable to refuse and remains under the tutelage of the Tulku for seven years. The price of Cranston's redemption was to take up man's struggle against evil. He learns to "cloud men's minds", a form of hypnosis that allows him to influence others' thoughts through the force of concentration and bend their perceptions so that he becomes invisible, save for his shadow (the only thing he can never hide). Cranston returns to New York and resumes his previous life. No one is aware of his past in the East, and he is seen as a shallow and opulent playboy. He operates as The Shadow, a vigilante that terrorizes the underworld. Citizens who are saved by the Shadow are recruited to be his allies, providing him with informants and specialists. The existence of The Shadow is regarded by the public as nothing more than an urban legend. Moses "Moe" Shrevnitz (Peter Boyle) is a cab driver allied with the Shadow. Dr. Roy Tam (Sab Shimono) is a Chinese scientist rescued by the Shadow. Burbank (Andre Gregory) is an ally of the Shadow who runs his spy network which is connected to a central station through a network of communication pipes running through the city, used by the allies to deliver messages to The Shadow. Cranston's allies are given a special ring that helps them identify each other as members of The Shadow's organization. His identity is largely unknown, especially to his Uncle Wainwright (Jonathan Winters), who happens to be the Police Commissioner of New York, who he has to regularly hypnotize in order to keep the police from interfering with him. The Shadow's secret is endangered when Cranston meets Margot Lane (Penelope Ann Miller), an eccentric socialite who is also a natural Telepath. He is intrigued, but unable to continue seeing her as he cannot keep his thoughts from her. Cranston is challenged by Shiwan Khan (John Lone), another student of the Tulku who possesses even sharper powers but did not turn to good. Shiwan Khan arrives in New York inside Genghis Khan's sarcophagus and delivered to the New York museum. Isaac Newbold (Joseph Maher) is curator of the New York museum and Berger (Max Wright) is the assistant curator. Isaac is astonished to find a sarcophagus made of pure Silver delivered to the museum. He is shocked to read the inscription and realize that the sarcophagus belongs to Genghis Khan. The sarcophagus opens at night, revealing Khan, who kills Nelson (Ethan Phillips), the night guard at the museum. Through his network, Cranston learns about Khan's arrival in the city. Khan is the last descendant of Genghis Khan and plans to fulfill his ancestor's goal of world domination. He offers Cranston an alliance, sensing that blood-lust and a thirst for power still exists in his heart, but Cranston refuses. Cranston acquires a rare coin from Khan and learns that it is made of a metal called Bronzium that theoretically can generate an explosion large enough to destroy a city. This suspicion is confirmed when he learns that Margot's father Reinhardt (Ian McKellen), an atomic scientist working for the War Department, has vanished. Cranston deduces that Khan has compelled Reinhardt to create an atomic bomb. Shiwan Khan hypnotizes Margot Lane and sends her after Cranston, hoping to force him to kill her and reawaken his darker side, but the attempt is unsuccessful. Cranston breaks Khan's hold on her but she is now aware of his secret identity. Cranston goes to rescue Reinhardt but is thwarted by several of Khan's henchmen. The Shadow suffers another setback when he confronts Reinhardt's former assistant Farley Claymore (Tim Curry), who has joined Khan's forces. Claymore traps the Shadow in a submersion tank, but he saves himself by mentally summoning Margot. The Shadow learns of Khan's hideout: the luxurious Hotel Monolith, a building in the middle of the city that Shiwan Khan has rendered invisible as it appears to everyone as an empty lot. Knowing that Khan has Reinhardt hostage and the completed bomb in his possession, he infiltrates the hotel for a final showdown. The Shadow fights his way through the hotel, killing Claymore and Khan's warriors. He faces Khan and is subdued by the Phurba, sustaining multiple injuries until he forces himself to concentrate and overcome Khan's power. He takes control of the Phurba and sends it into Khan's torso, splitting his concentration which undoes both Reinhardt's hypnotic state and the hotel's invisibility. As the citizens outside see a building appear, the Shadow pursues Khan into the bowels of the building while Margot and Reinhardt disable the bomb. The Shadow defeats Khan by psychically hurling a mirror shard into his skull. Khan awakens in an asylum, confused as to how he got there and discovering that his powers no longer work. He learns that the doctors saved his life by removing the part of his brain that harbored his psychic abilities. He demands to be set free but is ignored along with the rants of the other inmates. Unknown to him, the doctor is an agent of the Shadow who has ensured that Khan is no longer a threat. Cranston and Margo begin a relationship and join forces to fight the criminal underworld.

An affluent New York City couple finds their lives touched, intruded upon, and compelled by a mysterious young black man who is never quite who he says he is. New Yorkers Louisa "Ouisa" Kittredge (Stockard Channing) and John Flanders "Flan" Kittredge (Donald Sutherland) are upper-class private art dealers, pretentious but compassionate. Their prized possession is a double-sided Kandinsky: one side represents control; the other, chaos. They relay a story to their friends and acquaintances that becomes legendary over time: their encounter with a young Black stranger who came stumbling upon their front door one evening as they were courting Geoffrey Miller (Sir Ian McKellen), an important investor who could make them wealthy beyond their dreams. The young man, Paul Poitier (Will Smith), had just arrived in the city when he was mugged outside their building; he had a minor knife wound in his abdomen. He was a friend of the Kittredges' children, who are attending Harvard; more importantly, he's the son of actor and Director Sidney Poitier. Tomorrow, Paul is meeting up with his father, who is in town directing a movie of "Cats". Beyond the attraction of talking Paul into getting them roles in the movie, Ouisa, Flan, and Geoffrey all end up being captivated by Paul's charm, charisma, pedigree, and eloquence. After tending to his wounds, the Kittredges invite him to stay the night. Their encounter with him ends up being an all-too-familiar story that leads them on a search for him after he leaves their house the next morning. In that search, Ouisa in particularly starts to critically study their lives and how much compassion they actually have. —Huggo Rich New York City art dealers Flan and Ouisa Kittredge are called on one night by a young man, Paul, who professes to be a friend of their kids' from Harvard. They offer him a bed for the night. He enchants them with a home-cooked meal and magnificent conversation. The next morning, they learn that he is not all he seems to be. Their investigations are intriguing and lead them to re-evaluate their lives. —John J. Magee <magee@helix.mgh.harvard.edu> In New York City, art dealers John Flanders "Flan" Kittredge (Donald Sutherland) and Louisa "Ouisa" Kittredge (Stockard Channing) are ready to have a business dinner with their South African friend and client Geoffrey Miller (Sir Ian McKellen), when a wounded young Black man comes to their fancy apartment telling that he had been just robbed in Central Park and asking for help. He introduces himself as Paul Poitier (Will Smith), a friend of their son and daughter at Harvard and son of Sidney Poitier, and the couple invites him to stay with them. During the night, they find that Paul is not who he claims to be. When they investigate his life, they find the hidden truth. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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