Jack Thompson

The late 19th century Cuba during the Spanish rule, and a woman awaiting her execution by garrote while telling her story to a priest, to the actual events of that story. Luis Vargas (Antonio Banderas), a wealthy Hispanic Cuban businessman, sends for American Julia Russell (Angelina Jolie) to sail to his country to be his bride. Julia departs from the ship, looking nothing like the photos she's sent prior to her voyage. Julia explains she wants more than a man who is interested in a pretty face, and that's why she's been deceptive - substituting a plain-looking woman in place of her own picture. Luis also admits to deception; he's been misleading her into believing he's a poor working man, instead of the rich owner of a coffee company. Julia says that they both have something in common: that both are not to be trusted. But they assure each other that they will try to understand and trust each other in life. Luis and Julia wed within hours of her setting foot in Cuba. Luis and Julia make a stunning couple. Luis would not force himself on Julia and promises to come to her only when she wants him to. Luis falls passionately in love with his new wife, while Julia seems to be fighting inner demons. Luis lives in a huge estate with many servants and workers. Luis is a kind man who treats everyone very well. Luis gives Julia a tour of his vast business interests. The sex between Luis and Julia is amazing and, in his arms, Julia becomes a different woman. At an opera, Julia wanders off during half-time and Luis finds her backstage seemingly talking to a stranger. But by the time he could get to her, the stranger had vanished. Sometimes in the middle of the night, Julia wakes up kicking and screaming. Luis finds cut marks on the back of Julia's shoulder. Meanwhile, Julia's sister Emily (Cordelia Richards) has been trying to contact her, worried about her after such a long trip to a strange land. She sends an emotional letter asking about her welfare. Luis forces Julia to write back, fearing that if Julia continues to ignore Emily's letters, Emily will assume something terrible has befallen her sister and might send the authorities to check on her welfare. Holding off as long as possible, Julia finally pens a letter to her sister. In order to assure that his wife has everything she wants, Luis adds Julia to his business and personal bank accounts, giving her free rein to spend as she pleases. A detective, Walter Downs, arrives from Wilmington and tells Luis that he has been hired by Emily to find her sister Julia and would like to see her on the coming Sunday. Luis informs Julia about this, and she gets upset. Emily arrives in Cuba to meet Luis and shows the letter Julia wrote to her. Emily is adamant that the person who wrote the letter is not her sister Julia as the handwriting does not match. She informs Luis that she believes Julia to be an impostor and that her sister may be dead. Luis discovers Julia has run off with nearly all of his fortune. Luis opens the trunk brought by Julia and realizes that it belonged to the real Julia, implying that the impostor disposed of the real Julia on the ship to Cuba. Luis falls into a spell of depression and visits brothels to have sex with prostitutes to channel his rage. Walter approaches Luis in a bar, where he was drowning in sorrow and makes him realizes that Luis has not had closure with Julia. Luis says that he wants to kill Julia. Luis then teams up with detective Walter Downs (Thomas Jane) to find Julia. Walter reveals to Luis he believes Julia to be an impostor and the intended wife to be dead by her hand, and that she may be working with someone. The two set out together looking for her. Luis finds Julia and discovers she is actually working with Walter. Luis believes she loves him and lies to Walter, but when confronted by him a fight breaks out and Luis shoots Walter. Julia coldly tells Luis to go and buy them tickets home, but the minute he leaves, Walter gets to his feet; he had loaded the gun with blanks. Julia appears to love Luis, but Walter has too much control over her, so she continues to work for him as she and Luis run off to live in secret with the supposedly dead Walter on their tail. Walter turns out to be Julia's (Bonny's) old lover and partner, Billy. Billy makes a cut on Bonny's back before having sex with her, as he did during their previous encounters. Luis throws away his promising future and opens himself to living a lie with Julia. One night Luis follows Julia and discovers Walter is alive and the two are still working together; she is apparently going to poison her husband that very night. He returns home and waits for her, and when she arrives reveals, he knows of the plan, confesses his love for her once more and swallows the poisoned drink. Julia flees with the dying Luis, with Walter close behind. They run into him at a train station; Walter is furious that Julia has betrayed him. While Walter holds a knife to her throat, Luis shoots and wounds him, with Julia finishing him off. Back in the end scene, Julia finishes her story and asks the priest to pray with her. The next morning the guards come to her cell to take her to her execution, only to find the priest in her clothing. In Morocco, Julia is watching a card game. She walks around the table occupied by gamblers - including Luis - and thanks them for allowing her to watch. As Julia signals Luis about the other players' cards, he begins telling them the story of how they got there.

A visiting city reporter's assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, who he befriends. This panoramic tale of Savannah, Georgia's eccentricities focuses on a murder and the subsequent trial of James Arthur Williams (Kevin Spacey): self made man, art collector, antiques dealer, bon vivant, and semi-closeted homosexual. Magazine reporter John Kelso (John Cusack) finds himself in Savannah amid the beautiful architecture and odd doings to write a feature on one of William's famous Christmas parties. He is intrigued by Williams from the start, but his curiosity is piqued when he meets Jim's violent, sexy lover, Billy Hanson (Jude Law). Later that night, Billy is found dead, and Kelso stays on to cover the murder trial. Along the way, he encounters the irrepressible Chablis Deveau (Lady Chablis), a drag-queen comedienne; Sonny Seiler (Jack Thompson), lawyer to Williams, whose famous dog Uga, is the official mascot of the Georgia Bulldogs; an odd man who keeps flies attached to mini leashes on his lapels and threatens daily to poison the water supply; the Married Ladies' Card Club; and Minerva (Irma P. Hall), a spiritualist. Kelso has his hands full being Jim's buddy, cuddling up to a torch singer, meeting every eccentric in Savannah, participating in midnight graveyard rituals, and helping solve the mysteries surrounding Billy's murder. —Teresa B. O'Donnell <sun.moon.stars@worldnet.att.net>

A bratty teenager fakes her own kidnapping, but gets mistakenly kidnapped for real instead. Tired of feeling unloved and unwanted by her father and all other attempts of trying to get her fathers attention having failed, Emily fakes her own kidnapping and while locked in the trunk of her car, in comes a thief who steals her car not knowing she is in the trunk leading her to be accidentally kidnapped for real. Vincent the innocent car thief and Emily get off to a rough start but soon begin to bond and form a relationship, realizing they have more in common then they thought, all the while dealing with Emily's uncle and other criminals who are after them.

In 1501, a city in Italy has been taken by a coup d'état while its rightful ruler, Arnolfini (Fernando Hilbeck), is away. Arnolfini promises some mercenaries 24 hours of looting if they succeed in retaking the city, and they do so well, raping and killing those who stand in their way. But in their revelry, Arnolfini decides that he wants them gone. Hawkwood (Jack Thompson), the commander of the troops, is caring for a young nun he mistakenly attacked and injured during the siege. Arnolfini promises to get medical attention for her and Hawkwood leads Arnolfini's cavalry, betraying his former lieutenant, Martin (Rutger Hauer). The cavalry ejects the mercenaries from the city without their loot. Soon after, Martin's son is stillborn. Burying the infant unearths a wooden statue of Saint Martin of Tours-a saint with a sword. The mercenaries' cardinal views this as a sign from God to follow Martin as their new leader. Arnolfini's son, Steven (Tom Burlinson), is betrothed to Agnes (Jennifer Jason Leigh). They meet for the first time and eat from a mandrake to magically fall in love, then the entourage is attacked and robbed by Martin's band. Arnolfini is seriously injured; Kathleen, Agnes's lady-in-waiting, is stabbed in the chest and dies; and Agnes is hauled away, concealed among her valuable dowry. Martin discovers Agnes later that evening as they strip the caravan of valuables. The men desire to gang rape her but Martin decides to take her himself. He rapes Agnes while she at first taunts him and then begins to flirt with him, hoping to gain Martin's protection. The mercenaries come upon a castle where, unknown to them, the inhabitants are infected with the plague. They capture the castle easily with the help of Agnes. She induces Martin to fall in love with her and works on the other mercenaries to accept her. She appears to have given up on her former life. Meanwhile, Steven is determined to rescue her and turns to Hawkwood. Hawkwood only wants to live a quiet life, married to the former nun he had injured. Steven, becoming as ruthless as his father, seizes the nun to force Hawkwood to help his pursuit of Martin. They locate Martin and the mercenaries. They do not have sufficient force to take the castle and lay siege to it. In the castle, Martin asks Agnes where her true loyalty lies; she is noncommittal, hinting that the winner takes all. Outside, the plague spreads among Steven's forces and infects Hawkwood. Steven builds a siege tower to storm the castle, and Martin destroys it with something Steven had tried earlier: gunpowder. Steven's soldiers are killed as Steven scales the tower's ladders, and he falls into the castle grounds. The mercenaries capture Steven and shackle him in the courtyard. Agnes pretends to join in the abuse of the captive Steven and even makes love to Martin in his presence. Using a new medical technique Steven had learned (cutting the buboes on the infected body), Hawkwood cures his plague. He cannot continue the siege alone but, before leaving for additional troops, he catapults pieces of an infected dog into the castle. One chunk lands near the chained Steven, who flings it into the castle's water well. Agnes sees this and Steven tells her that she can decide whether to tell the mercenaries. The mercenaries wish to leave the castle, fearing the plague, but Martin persuades them to stay. At the next meal, Agnes watches as they drink infected water. As Martin begins to drink, she slaps the cup from his hand. Many mercenaries soon show signs of the plague sickness and hurl Martin into the well. As she did after Steven's capture, Agnes pretends to join in the abuse of Martin. Hawkwood and Arnolfini have recovered from their wounds and return with an army. Inside the castle, Steven needs Martin's key to escape from the shackles, and Martin needs Steven to get out of the well. The two cooperate, but upon seeing the besieging army, Martin flees to the belfry. Steven frees himself and, as the battle rages, races to find Agnes. During the fighting, the belfry catches fire. Before long, all the mercenaries but Martin, Polly, Anna, and Little John are dead. Martin confronts Agnes. She claims that she loves him, but he prepares to murder her rather than allow her to return to Steven. As Martin is strangling Agnes, Steven attacks. Martin, a cunning and hardened mercenary, overpowers Steven. He almost drowns him, but Agnes strikes Martin on the head, and she and Steven flee the blazing castle and reunite with Hawkwood. As Agnes and Steven embrace, Agnes sees Martin over Steven's shoulder, escaping from the castle, a sack of loot on his shoulder. She says nothing