James Spader

Eleven-year-old Toe Thompson is the designated punching bag for the bullies of the suburban community of Black Falls, where his and everyone elses parents work for Black Box Industries, makers of the do-it-all gadget thats sweeping the nation. But during a freak storm, a mysterious Rainbow Rock, which grants wishes to anyone who finds it, falls from the sky. Suddenly, the neighborhood that Toe already thinks is weird is about to get a lot weirder. As the Rainbow Rock ricochets around the town from kid to kid and parent to parent wishes-come-true quickly turn the neighborhood upside down in a wild rampage of everything from tiny aliens to giant boogers. From Robert Rodriguez, director of Spy Kids, comes a magical fantasy adventure told through a series of shorts that each brings to life the sometimes wonderful, often terrible, and totally out-of-control wishes that become far more than Toe and his neighbors ever imagined.

Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal), is a socially awkward and emotionally sensitive youngest daughter of a dysfunctional family. She has to adjust to normal life after having been hospitalized following an incident of dangerous self-harm. She learns to type, starts to date an acquaintance from high school named Peter, and begins to work as a secretary for an eccentric attorney, named E. Edward Grey (James Spader), who hires her despite her stilted social skills, unprofessional appearance and scoring higher than anyone he's ever interviewed therefore being really highly overqualified. Edward explains that it's dull work and they don't use computers, however Lee remarks that she is okay with these conditions. Though at first Grey appears highly irritated by Lee's typos and other innocuous mistakes, it soon becomes apparent that he is sexually aroused by her submissive behavior. After he confronts her about her propensity for self-injury and commands that she never hurt herself again, the two embark on a BDSM (B&D (bondage and discipline) with S&M (sadomasochism or sadism and masochism) relationship. Lee experiences a sexual and personal awakening, and she falls deeply in love. Edward, however, displays insecurity concerning his feelings for Lee, and he shows shame and disgust over his sexual habits. After a sexual encounter in his office, he fires Lee. During this period of exploration with Edward, Lee has also been attempting to have a more conventional boyfriend in Peter (Jeremy Davies), even engaging in lukewarm sex with him. After Lee is fired from her job, Peter proposes to Lee, who reluctantly agrees to marry him. However, while trying on her wedding gown she leaves and runs to Edward's office where she declares her love for him. Edward, still uncertain about their relationship, tests Lee by commanding her to sit in his chair without moving her hands or feet until he returns. Lee willingly complies. Hours pass, as Peter, family members, and acquaintances individually visit Lee to alternately attempt to dissuade or encourage her while Edward watches from afar, completely taken by Lee's compliance, and his resulting sexual arousal. After three days, during which Lee has gained live news coverage in the media attention while on her, of what they've called "The Lee Holloway Hunger Strike", Edward returns to the office and takes Lee to his apartment where he bathes and nurtures her. At the end, Lee and Edward get married and happily continue their dominant-submissive relationship.

Supernova chronicles the search-and-rescue patrol of the medical ship Nightingale 229 in deep space in the early 22nd century and its six-member crew, which includes captain and pilot A.J. Marley (Robert Forster), co-pilot Nick Vanzant (James Spader), medical officer Kaela Evers (Angela Bassett), medical technician Yerzy Penalosa (Lou Diamond Phillips), search and rescue paramedic Danika Lund (Robin Tunney) and computer technician Benjamin Sotomejor (Wilson Cruz). Sweetie (Vanessa Marshall) is the ship's on-board computer. Aboard their vessel, they receive an emergency distress signal directly coming from an ice mining operation on the moon Titan 37, more than 3,000 light-years away. The ship usually receives signals from dispatch, so getting a direct signal is unusual. Titan 37 is a rogue moon as it was expelled from its parent body and is now wandering in deep space. The moon was abandoned 5 years ago, and all mining operations stopped. The call is from Karl Larson, who is Kaela's old former lover. Nick has joined the crew just 12 days before and is ex-military. He was discharged for drug use and he opted to spend his volunteer service (as part of the rehabilitation) on the Nightingale. Kaela doesn't trust Nick. Danika is having a sexual relationship with Yerzy. The crew answers the call and dimension-jumps-during which Captain Marley suffers fatal injuries due to a malfunction of the ship's equipment (the dimensional pods will allow humans to survive during the jump malfunctioned)-arriving in the path of Titan 37's debris cloud, some of which damages the ship and causes the loss of 82 percent of its maneuvering fuel. Worse still, Titan 37 orbits a blue giant, and its high gravity field will pull the ship to the point where it will be incinerated in 17 hours, 12 minutes-which happens to be almost the same amount of time that the Nightingale 229 will need to recharge its jump drive, their only possible hope for escape. Benajmin figures out that the dimension pod was showing signs of malfunction prior to the jump, which he thinks that Marley must have seen. He is puzzled as to why Marley chose to jump in this case. With only an 11-minute window for escape, the surviving crew soon find themselves in danger from the disturbing young man in his 20's (Peter Facinelli) they rescue (Karl launched a ship from the Titan's surface while the Nightingale was in orbit around the moon), and the mysterious alien artifact he has smuggled aboard. Kaela says the young man they rescued is not Karl. The man claims to be Troy, Karl's son, who he says died 3 years ago. Troy claims that he was scavenging the moon after the Govt left and was left stranded by his friends when they found nothing of value on the moon. But he reports that the moon has plenty of fuel for the Nightingale. He found the alien artifact when he was on the moon all alone. He plans to sell it to the Govt for a hefty profit and offers 5% each to the crew. But Nick says this can dangerous and plans to abandon the artifact in deep space, when they get out of their current situation with the blue star. Nick leaves on a shuttle to get fuel for the ship. Yerzy is fascinated with the artifact, while Troy seduces and has sex with Danika. The artifact is analyzed by the ship's computer and is said to contain nine-dimensional matter (The shell casing enclosing the matter is supposed to disperse it in all directions, resulting in the creation of new 3-dimensional matter. Kaela concludes its a bomb, but Sweetie says that it will replenish essential minerals in the 3 dimensional universe).. Kaela believes that an alien civilization has planted this device, so that an advanced civilization discovers it, takes it home, where it explodes and eliminates their competition. Troy cuts off Sweetie's communication with Nick, while Nick discovers many dead bodies inside the mining station. It is ultimately discovered (Sweetie matches with known the DNA records, when she can't ascertain Troy's identity as stated) that the young man who called for rescue is actually Karl Larson, an old former lover of Kaela (it is implied that he was abusive). Karl came into contact with the nine-dimensional matter after recovering the artifact. It somehow enabled him to acquire super-strength (his bones have strengthened themselves) and supernatural healing abilities, ability to read people's minds and made him younger (such that Kaela did not recognize him as Karl). Karl murders most of the crew (Danika is killed first when she finds Troy sabotaging Nick's shuttle. He kills Yerzy as he was getting stronger due to the closeness to the artifact. Benjamin discovers that Yerzy and Danika are missing and attacks Troy, who kills him) except Kaela and strands Nick on the mining platform (By flying the shuttle back to the Nightingale, remotely). Karl unsuccessfully attempts to romantically reconcile with Kaela. Nick finds his way back to the medical ship through a rescue pod left on the mining platform, and a battle ensues between Nick and Karl. Karl is ultimately killed by Kaela using explosives placed near the alien artifact which Karl was obsessed with retrieving. The explosion ejects the artifact into space, hurtling it towards the blue giant. With moments left before the dimension jump activates, Kaela and Nick place themselves into the only remaining dimensional stabilization chamber (Karl had destroyed all but one), which is the only thing that enables human beings to survive the ship's dimensional jump drive. The pods are meant to hold only one person; however, two subjects might be genetically mixed during the dimensional jump. Before Nick and Kaela enter the only remaining pod, the computer warns them that the nine-dimensional matter is reacting with the gravity of the blue giant sun and will cause a nine-dimensional reaction that will spread in all directions, such that the reaction's resulting supernova will reach Earth within 51 years. The computer hypothesizes that the reaction will either destroy life on Earth or "enable humankind to achieve a new level of existence". Just before the blue giant supernovas, the ship engages in a dimensional jump which brings Nick and Kaela back to Earth. As a result of their being in the same pod, the two of them each have one eye of the other person's original eye color. The ship's computer also reveals that Kaela is pregnant, which may be the result of them being in the pod together during the jump, or the result of their copulation hours earlier.

A hospital resident is put in the middle of a legal battle between two half-sisters on whether to pull their comatose dad's life support. But more seems to be at stake than dad's life - his inheritance. Dr. Werner Ernst (James Spader) is a young hospital resident who becomes embroiled in a legal battle between two half-sisters who are fighting over the care of their comatose father. But are they really fighting over their father's care, or over his ten million dollar estate? Meanwhile, Werner must contend with his nutty supervisor, who insists that he only care for patients with full insurance. Can Werner sidestep the hospital's legal team and do what's best for the patient? —Martin Lewison <mlewison@utk.edu>

In the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, two hit-men, Lee Woods (James Spader) and Dosmo Pizzo (Danny Aiello), break into a house at night and walk into a bedroom where a sleeping couple, aspiring Olympic athlete Becky Foxx (Teri Hatcher) and her ex-husband Roy Foxx (Peter Horton) are in bed. Lee injects Becky with a tranquilizer then shoots Roy in the head. Lee and Dosmo then drive to an abandoned area off Mulholland Drive, where Lee shoots Dosmo and blows up the car in order to set Dosmo up as the fall guy for the murder. Lee flees the scene with his Swedish girlfriend, Helga Svelgen (Charlize Theron) where they hide out at a local hotel bungalow. However, Dosmo was wearing a bulletproof vest and survived the shooting and car explosion. He seeks shelter at the mansion of wealthy art dealer, Allan Hopper (Greg Cruttwell) where he takes Hopper and his assistant, Susan Parish (Glenne Headly) hostage. Dosmo is unaware that Hopper has called his sister, Audrey Hopper (Marsha Mason) a nurse, to come to the house. On her way, Audrey picks up Teddy Peppers (Paul Mazursky) a down-and-out TV producer contemplating suicide. The next morning, Becky awakens and discovers Roy's body in bed beside her. She runs from her house and flags down two police detectives, young, ambitious Wes Taylor (Eric Stoltz) and cynical veteran Alvin Strayer (Jeff Daniels) who are driving by. Although he is sympathetic, Wes begins to suspect that Becky knows more than she is saying. It turns out that Becky was the one who had hired Lee and Dosmo to kill Roy for $30,000, but was unaware that they would kill Roy in her own house. When Audrey arrives at Allan's house, Dosmo takes both her and Teddy hostage as well as forces Audrey to tend to his wounds in exchange for her not being harmed. Meanwhile, Lee goes back to the house to get the money, encounters homicide detectives Creighton (Keith Carradine) and Carla Valenzuela (Ada Maris) working the crime scene, and kills them both. Wes decides to return to the crime scene to see if he can offer any insight on the case. Masquerading as one of the detectives, Lee lures Wes outside, intending to kill him. In Lee's bungalow, Becky and Helga get into an argument, which escalates into a fight. After being smashed over the head with a vase by Becky, Helga reaches across the bed to grab her gun from her purse, but Becky realizes this and runs and grabs the gun as well to prevent herself from being shot. In a confused fight for the gun, Helga ends up getting shot and wounded in her left side, after which Becky escapes from the hotel with Helga shooting at her from the doorway of the room multiple times but missing with each shot. Helga finds her way to Becky's house, where Lee has knocked Wes unconscious. Lee reluctantly decides to kill Helga instead of taking her to the hospital, concluding that her wound is too severe to be treated, but his gun jams. He turns to retrieve Wes' gun but finds that Helga has escaped and has flagged down a passing car containing Dosmo and his four hostages. Audrey jumps out of the moving car and tries to help the dying Helga, but Helga dies on the roadside. Wes is caught in the middle of a shootout between Dosmo and Lee, and is shot in both of his legs. Just before Lee can kill Dosmo, Teddy shoots Lee, killing him. A grateful Wes allows Dosmo to take the $30,000 and escape with Susan. The following day, Teddy shows up to an anniversary party that Audrey is attending. In the final scene, as Susan and Dosmo drive down a highway leaving Los Angeles behind them, Dosmo contemplates using the money to start a pizzeria in Brooklyn. Susan smiles and he kisses her.

Will Randall (Jack Nicholson), an editor-in-chief of a large, New York City publishing house, is driving home to Manhattan from Vermont on a cold March night. The road is quite dark and icy and he hits a large wolf with his car. While he inspects the wolf's body and tries to drag it off the road, the uninjured wolf, playing dead, suddenly bites him and trots off. Will walks slowly back to his car, noticing that several other wolves are watching him in the woods nearby, their yellow eyes glowing in the dark. Will makes it back home to his penthouse and his wife, Charlotte. He ends up sleeping for some 20 hours, waking up only when Charlotte comes home in the evening. They have dinner together and Will becomes very passionate with her, to her sly delight. When he returns to his office, he notices that his sense of smell is greatly enhanced; he can smell tequila on a coworker's breath as he passes him and hear every conversation going on among the office's other employees. Will is also able to edit a manuscript quickly and without his glasses. Will's new boss, Raymond Alden (Christopher Plummer), a rich tycoon who has bought the publishing house, throws a lavish dinner party at his Long Island estate. He tells Will that he's demoted as chief editor and his replacement will be Will's protégé, Stewart Swinton (James Spader). Raymond offers Will a job as editor in Easter Europe. While stalking away from the meeting with Raymond, Will gets too close to a few prized horses Raymond is showing and they become spooked. Will also feels pain in his chest like a heart attack and is forced to sit down near a guest house. While he recovers, he meets Alden's headstrong daughter Laura (Michelle Pfeiffer), who is polite but sullen and withdrawn. She comforts him with a glass of liquor and firmly rebuffs Will's advances. Will rejoins Charlotte and Stewart and genially congratulates the latter on his promotion. Stewart, feigning incredulity, claims he had no knowledge of Raymond's decision until right before the party. Will and Charlotte drive home, both seething over the turn of events. At home later, with Charlotte out of town for work, Will takes several deep sniffs of a robe. He becomes very agitated and goes to Stewart's apartment. Steward lets Will in the building, tries to grab him to talk to reason with him and Will bites him viciously on the arm. Will jumps up the grand staircase to Stewart's apartment with seemingly superhuman agility and finds Charlotte there. Will stalks off without another word, leaving his wife unharmed. Will checks into Manhattan's Mayflower Hotel. The next day he consults his secretary Mary (Eileen Atkins) and his assistant Roy (David Hyde Pierce) and plots to draw his and Roy's clients into a new firm with new investors, a move that Will hasn't backed up with a shred of truth, much to the admiration of Mary and Roy. Will drives out to Raymond's estate again to tell him he's turning down the position in Eastern Europe. While leaving, Will sees Laura again, riding a horse nearby. The horse is spooked when it sees Will and throws Laura off. Raymond suddenly appears and, upon finding out that Laura is unharmed, takes another opportunity to slag Will, saying that he doesn't approve of Laura getting involved with Will. She turns down her father's offer of lunch and takes Will back to the guest house she's staying in. The two talk over peanut butter and jelly and wander around the estate. Will tells her about his encounter with the wolf and how he believes he might be becoming one. He feels sick again and lays down in her house while she tends to him. During the night he wakes up, clearly showing characteristics of a wolf and bounds out, hunting down a deer and killing it. In the morning Will finds himself on the bank of a stream, with blood all over his face and hands. He leaves immediately and sees his doctor, who tells him he's fine. Laura, believing Will had left her cold, refuses to take Will's calls. Will visits Dr. Vijav Alezais (Om Puri), a professor specializing in the supernatural. Alezais tells him that the wolf that bit Will was not a true werewolf but a demon wolf that simply passes the spirit of an animal on to it's victims. He also suggests that this spirit can be transmitted to another person simply through passion and that not all wolf spirits are evil, they are manipulated by the nature of the individual. The professor gives Will an amulet to protect him from turning completely into a wolf. Alezais also asks Will to bite him, as Alezais does not have long to live, and would prefer "demonization to death." After refusing, Randall keeps the amulet so that he won't transform at the next full moon. Calling Laura to explain, Randall, now a wolf, breaks into the Central Park Zoo and steals handcuffs from a policeman (David Schwimmer) who tries to arrest him. In another area of the park, muggers want his wallet, but he attacks and leaves one of them alive. He wakes up in his hotel, with no memory of what happened. Will outmanoeuvres Raymond and Stewart with his threat of stealing the publishing house's biggest authors. He finagles a new contract that will let him stay editor-in-chief and grant him a larger salary and greater authority. Raymond also grants him the opportunity to fire Stewart. The two meet in the men's room and although Stewart begs Will for a second chance, Will still fires him, urinating on his shoes. While washing his hands, he finds fingers in his handkerchief and realizes he killed someone, at least one of the muggers in Central Park. Will's biting of Steward when he discovered his affair with Charlotte has consequences. Stewart attacks and kills Charlotte and sets about framing Will for the murder. Will, who believes he's become too dangerous, handcuffs himself to the radiator in his hotel room and waits for Laura to arrive. She frees him against his objections and Will finally puts on the amulet Alezais had given him. The two spend the night together, having sex. The next day they both hear about Charlotte's murder and Will insists Laura take him to her father's estate and lock him in the horse stables. Laura gets a call from a Detective (Richard Jenkins), the chief investigator of Charlotte's death. He tells her that canine DNA was found on Charlotte's body. Alarmed, Laura goes to the police station. There she runs into Stewart, who makes an animal-like pass at her. Laura hurries away, making arrangements for her and Will to leave the country. Stewart follows her, viciously kills the two security guards on the property and attacks Laura, trying to rape her in front of Will in the stables. Will tears off the amulet, succumbs to the full power of the wolf and escapes confinement, attacking Stewart. The two fight ferociously until Stewart is shot to death by Laura when he tries to stab Will with a pair of garden shears. Will and Laura stare at each other, Will is frightened to touch her due his monstrous state. She looks at him with a loving glance and takes his hand but he still runs off, hiding in the woods where he makes a final transformation. Later, Jenkins arrives. Laura shows heightened senses while talking to the detective and the police that accompanied him, telling the detective that she can smell vodka on his breath. The final scene is a close-up of her face fading into dark, lupine eyes, and a close up of Will completing his transformation into a full werewolf.

A huge alien spacecraft landed in a North African Village in 8000 BC. As most people ran away from the spacecraft, one man stood up and walked towards it. The man was "taken" by the spaceship. In 1928, Professor Langford discovers a massive stone ring in the sands of Giza, Egypt. When the ring is lifted, it reveals inscribed cover stones underneath them presumably with instructions on how to operate the rings. In the present day, Langford's daughter Catherine (Viveca Lindfors) offers Egyptologist Daniel Jackson (James Spader), a down-on-his-luck linguistics professor, the chance to translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that may prove his controversial theory regarding the Pyramid of Khufu. Jackson is an archaeologist and linguist whose theory was that the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty did not build the Great Pyramid of Giza. The scientific community does not believe in Jackson's theory, who says that the pyramids (the most significant structure, if built by the Egyptians), did not have any writings inside. Jackson accepts and travels to a US Air Force installation inside Creek Mountain, Colorado. Dr. Barbara Shore (Rae Allen) and Dr. Gary Meyers (Richard Kind) are researchers who were studying the cover stones recovered in 1928 in Egypt. Major General W. O. West (Leon Rippy) is the commanding officer of the facility housing the ring device & the cover stones. Rippy re-activates Colonel Jack O'Neil to take command of the project. O'Neil had recently lost his son and was contemplating suicide when contacted by West's men. Jackson translates the hieroglyphs on the stone ring's cover stones, which read: "A million years into the sky is Ra (Jaye Davidson), sealed and buried for all time, his Stargate." Formerly retired Special Forces Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell) arrives to take command of the project and declares it classified. O'Neil tells Catherine is that he has been assigned to the project in case she succeeds. Jackson deduces that the symbols are star constellations that are coordinates for a location within space. Jackson says that there are 7-star constellations on the cover stone. 6 points are needed to exactly determine a point in 3-dimensional space and the 7th symbol is the point of origin. Jackson finds the 7th symbol at the base of the cover stone, which was a pyramid with a sun directly overhead (perhaps symbolizing the Earth). At this point, O'Neil reveals the existence of the ring to Jackson, which is the Stargate from Jackson's translation. The Stargate is made of a mineral not found anywhere on Earth. The symbol sequence is entered into the star-gate, creating a wormhole to a location in another galaxy on the other side of the known Universe (which is determined by sending in a mechanical probe and the signal from the probe charts its position on the map of the Universe). The probe also reveals that there is a corresponding gate on the other side, and that the air composition is exactly the same as of Earth. Jackson says that he can translate the symbols on the other star-gate and chart a path home. Jackson is included in the away team, and Catherine gives him a medallion that she found with the Stargate. O'Neil leads a team through the Stargate, and they find themselves inside a pyramid in the middle of vast sand dunes. The members of O'Neil's team includes Lt. Louis Ferretti (French Stewart), Lt. Freeman (Christopher John Fields), Senior Airman Brown (Derek Webster), Senior Airman Reilly (Jack Moore) and Lt. Porro (Steve Giannelli). O'Neil brings in a large amount of equipment which he leaves inside the pyramid. The world they are in has the pyramid and 3 moons orbiting the planet. Jackson reveals they cannot dial home because the Stargate coordinates to go back to Earth are missing. He says that the Stargate on Earth had the cover stone, and a similar cover stone is required to get the coordinates for the return journey. Jackson says that he assumed that the cover stone would be next to the star-gate, which is not the case. O'Neil secretly assembles a nuclear bomb inside the Pyramid, which he had brought along with him. Some team members stay at the pyramid while Jackson, O'Neil, and others go out and discover a mining village inhabited by humans who assume them to be gods sent by Ra, when they see the medallion hanging around Jackson's neck. Kasuf (Erick Avari) is the local leader of the tribe. The mineral that the villagers are mining is the same as that of the Stargate. Jackson realizes that the people speak a dialect of Ancient Egyptian and begins communicating with them. The team develops friendships with the people; O'Neil with Skaara (Alexis Cruz), and Jackson begins a budding romance with Sha'Uri (Mili Avital), a daughter of the leader. Jackson learns from hieroglyphs in the catacombs how the Egyptian god Ra was actually an alien life-form who enslaved humans with his advanced technology. While these humans eventually rebelled and buried the Stargate, some had been taken to the other planet through the Stargate and used to mine the Quartzite-like mineral on which all of Ra's technology is based. Fearing another rebellion on this planet, Ra outlawed reading and writing. At this point, the team from Earth discovers the cover stone to get back to Earth, but the seventh symbol is eroded away. O'Neil orders the team to return to the pyramid. A short time later, a huge spacecraft lands on top of the pyramid. All team members in the pyramid are either killed or taken into the pyramidal craft. O'Neil and Jackson are escorted to the throne room, where they meet Ra. Despite wearing fearsome armor, Ra's guards and servants are human children. Ra reveals his intention to send the atomic bomb brought by O'Neil, which was to be used to destroy the Stargate to prevent invasion by any threat, back to Earth; it is now enhanced with his Quartzite-like material to produce cataclysmic results. O'Neil attempts to disarm the guards and kill Ra but relents when Ra uses his children courtiers as human shields. Jackson is killed during the altercation. O'Neil is thrown into a dungeon with the captured team members, while Jackson is regenerated in a sarcophagus-like device. Ra states that he will kill Jackson and everyone who has seen him unless Jackson kills the rest of the team to show the villagers that Ra is their one true god. However, once Ra has the local people gathered before the pyramid craft, several young villagers signal to Jackson that they have recovered the team's weapons. Jackson then shoots at Ra while the kids create a distraction. O'Neil, Jackson, and the rest of the team flee Ra's ship and take shelter in a cave with the boys. The next morning, when Skaara draws a picture of the people's victory against Ra, Jackson realizes that part of this drawing depicts the seventh symbol needed to reactivate the Stargate: three moons over a pyramid. O'Neil convinces the locals that their "gods" are mere mortals and, with their help, O'Neil, Jackson, and the remaining members of the team make it back to the Stargate hoping to deactivate the bomb. When the locals begin an open rebellion against Ra's troops, Ra decides to retreat and prepares his ship for takeoff. Sha'Uri is killed in the battle, but Jackson resurrects her in Ra's sarcophagus and manages to escape when O'Neil activates the ship's ring transporter. Unable to deactivate the bomb, O'Neil and Jackson transport the bomb to Ra's ship in orbit via the ring where it explodes, killing Ra. The team is able to return to Earth through the Stargate, though Jackson decides to remain on the planet.

Best friends from law school to election night, their friendship is sorely tested when one learns of another's betrayal. Peter and Tim are both law students looking to get into the battleground of politics in Washington, but they both have different ideals and ethics. Tim wants to pursue a career in justice, but Peter is determined to be a big political power broker any way he can, even if that means bending the rules. As their careers push them towards political opposites, their friendship must constantly adapt to the new situation. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au> Peter Burton and Tim Garrity both meet when they go to law school. Tim comes from an affluent family, while Peter comes from the working class, which he is a bit ashamed of. Tim's a noble person who wants to do what is right, while Peter's willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead. And that includes blackmail and intimidation. And when his latest scheme burns Tim, Tim decides to find out if Peter deliberately betrayed him or if the man he works, John Palmeri made him do it and if so to make them answer for it. —rcs0411@yahoo.com

Lust turns to love for a 40-ish working-class woman and a 20-ish yuppie adman with little in common. Max Baron (James Spader) is a 27-year-old high-flying advertising executive still recovering from the death of his wife. One night he is in a bar when he meets Nora Baker (Susan Sarandon), a 43-year-old waitress with a fixation on Marilyn Monroe. The couple gradually fall in love, though age and social differences mean that the path of true love is strewn with problems. —Matt <matt@measham.force9.net> Max Baron (James Spader) is a successful St. Louis advertising executive who's been in mourning since the death of his young wife. A chance late-night encounter introduces him to Nora Baker (Susan Sarandon), and unexpectedly turns his life upside-down. —Anonymous

A soft and hesitant young man is in danger when he tries to break toxic relationships with a mysterious stranger claiming to be his friend. Michael, a wimpy young executive, is about to get pulverized by a jealous boyfriend in a bar when a handsome, mysterious stranger steps in--and then disappears. Later that night, while jogging, Michael runs into the stranger on a pier. He introduces himself as Alex, and the two go out to an under- ground club. Within a matter of days, Alex wheedles his way into Michael's life and turns it upside down, and Michael doesn't realize that Alex is a dangerous sociopath until it's too late. —Denise P. Meyer <dpm1@cornell.edu>

Graham, a college friend, drifts back into the lives of John, a philanderer, his angelic wife Ann, and her saucy sister Cynthia, leaving their relationships forever transformed.

In Ancient Egypt, Ema 'Emmy' Hesire, a young princess, is hiding from her mother inside a pyramid disguised as a mummy. Emmy is against her arranged marriage, and prays to the gods to be united with her true love in the future. Strangely, Emmy suddenly vanishes before her mother's eyes. In present-day Philadelphia, Jonathan Switcher is a young artist working in a mannequin factory. Jonathan takes his time perfecting one he is working on, which angers his boss, who claims he needs to be working on quantity than quality. After protesting, Jonathan is fired and attempts to find other jobs, but his artistic passion also gets him terminated from most of them. One evening, after his motorcycle breaks down in the rain, he passes by some windows being property of the department store Prince & Company and is surprised to see his mannequin in the window. The next morning, Jonathan returns to the store and ends up saving the life of its owner, Claire Timkin, from her own fallen shop sign. Claire becomes very grateful and offers to find Jonathan a position in the department store. Viewed with suspicion by the security guard, Captain Felix Maxwell, Jonathan works with and befriends flamboyant Hollywood Montrose, the store's chief window dresser. Jonathan eventually finds the mannequin he created and is surprised when it comes to life with Emmy's spirit, when he is alone. She explains she has existed for centuries as a muse, sometimes possessing the works of an artist she admires and inspires. Emmy then explains the gods allow her life when she is alone with Jonathan, who is unsure once he is dreaming or has gone insane. The next morning, Jonathan wakes up in a newly created window display advertising tennis equipment and sportswear, unsure once he dreamed all this or not. The window display begins to attract massive attention, bringing shoppers back to Prince & Company. The landmark store has been losing shoppers to a newer, trendier department store called Illustra located across the street. Prince & Company's conniving manager, Daryl Richards, is secretly being paid by Illustra's owner, B.J. Wert, to convince Claire to sell her store to him. However, after the recent floor traffic seen on account of Jonathan's window display, Claire feels that Jonathan could be the key to saving her store. Much to Richards' disgust, the store's board members promote Jonathan to visual merchandising. Over the next several weeks, Jonathan and Emmy continue their secret romance and keep improving the creativity of the store's window displays, which bring a tremendous number of customers and profits for the store. Jonathan soon receives a call from his former girlfriend, Roxie Shield, who works for Illustra. Jonathan meets her for lunch at a French restaurant, where Roxie says that Illustra wants him to be their chief window dresser. Jonathan explains that he cannot do this, considering that he likes working at Prince & Company, as well as working with a very beautiful woman there, enraging Roxie, causing her and another co-worker to sneak into Prince & Company after hours to take pictures of Jonathan and his supposed girlfriend. However, they are shocked when they see what appears to be Jonathan getting intimate with a mannequin. Jonathan's window designs continue to be the talk of the town and business continues to bloom at Prince & Company, leaving B.J. seething and threatening to fire most of his workers once his store's sales do not improve. Claire has been very impressed with Jonathan's work and soon after promotes him to vice president of the department store, after she fires Richards and Felix, for their accusations towards Jonathan. Meanwhile, he chooses to celebrate that evening by taking Emmy for a ride through the city on his motorcycle, despite how unusual this seems to bystanders. However, he is encountered and accosted by Roxie again, claiming he needs to seek help and begs him again to come to work at Illustra. Jonathan denies again, claiming that he has people at Prince & Company who care about him and someone who makes him feel special. Richards and Felix, who are sitting in a car around the corner of the store, plan to go into steal Emmy, but sees her and Jonathan speeding past on the motorcycle. Richards and Felix give chase, with their car getting stuck in a narrow alleyway. Later that evening, Jonathan and Emmy enjoy their time alone in the store, before Emmy leaves his side to take her place in one of the windows. However, Richards and Felix have also come back to the store to steal Emmy, only are unsure which mannequin is her. Being desperate, they simply steal every one from the display room, unaware they are being watched by security cameras. Jonathan wakes up the next morning and is informed of this design by Hollywood while the customers applaud him. Jonathan immediately suspects Illustra's workers are behind this, and he and Hollywood drive over there. Jonathan confronts Richards, Roxie and B.J., demanding to know where Emmy is in the store. Roxie storms out, with Jonathan following her, while being pursued by the store's security guards including Felix, Richards and B.J. Roxie runs into the storeroom and loads the female mannequins into a large trash compactor, then is knocked out by falling debris. As Hollywood holds back the pursuers with a fire hose, Jonathan goes into the room and a janitor watches Jonathan jump onto the compactor's conveyor belt to save Emmy slowly moving to her doom. Jonathan grabs her and Emmy comes to life, grabbing his arm, as he pulls her out and the janitor shuts down the compactor. Once safe, Emmy realizes she is alive again and now free from her ancient curse, she thanks the gods for uniting her with her true love and Jonathan vows to love her forever. While the janitor wonders once other mannequins will come to life, Hollywood arrives and suddenly realizes Emmy was alive the entire time. In the aftermath, the store guards, Felix, Richards and B.J. all barge into the storeroom, along with several police officers, who B.J. orders to arrest Jonathan for trespassing, but Claire arrives to convince the officers that she has video footage of Richards and Felix sneaking into Prince & Company to steal Emmy and the officers arrest Felix, Richards and B.J., who fires Roxie as they are all hauled away. Some time later, Jonathan and Emmy are married in the store window of Prince & Company, with Claire as maid of honor and Hollywood as best man, as well as numerous pedestrians watching them exchange vows.

The life of super-yuppie J.C. is thrown into turmoil when she inherits a baby from a distant relative. J.C. Wiatt is a successful New York business woman known around town as the "tiger lady." She gets news of an inheritance from a relative from another country and off the bat she suspects it's money. Well it's not money, it's a baby girl. At first she doesn't accept until the lady that gives the baby to her has to catch her flight. J.C. is now stuck with an annoying baby girl. Her boyfriend doesn't like the idea of a baby living with them and he leaves her. J.C. has enough of it and takes her to meet a family ready to adopt her. She leaves but hears the baby cry while walking away and has to go back. The baby is too attached to her now and won't let her go. Later, her baby gets into mischief which causes her to get fired. Now, she sets her eyes on an old two story cottage in Vermont to get out of the New York life. When she arrives, the house needs more help than originally thought. She gets bored one snowy day and decides to make apple sauce. Her baby loves it and she decides to sell it. Pretty soon everyone wants some of the baby apple sauce. J.C. hits it big and falls in love with a local veterinarian. Was this fate or destiny?

Andie comes from a poor home, is a bit of an outcast at school and works at a record store. She takes care of her dad, who is still a bit lost after being left by Andie's Mom years ago. Duckie is her best friend who has secretly been in love with her since childhood. Enter Blaine, A popular rich kid who is interested in Andie despite the social pressure from his friends. After a couple days of flirting Blaine eventually asks Andie out, much to Duckie's disappointment. Andie is initially very excited but feels out of place when Blaine takes her to a party and his friends are less then accepting. They leave and go to one of Andie's favorite hangouts, A bar with live music, but the Blaine gets a less the welcome reception from Duckie. Despite the social world differences the two want to make it work and Blaine asks Andie to Prom. Blaine's douche bag friend Steff get's to him though and Blaine backs out of the prom date. Andie eventually decides to go anyways, is meet there by Duckie, and they reconcile their friendship. Blaine realizes he was wrong and apologies to Andie, Duckie relents and tells her to go after him, and Andie and Blaine make up and out in the parking lot and everything is golden in 80's teen romance land.

Newly orphaned siblings Abby and Loren McWilliams arrive in a small Florida town to help their Aunt Fay and Uncle Charlie run a family-owned amusement park, and they find that the town is terrorized by a local street gang. Abby McWilliams and her brother Loren are particularly normal teenagers. Their parents Mac and Mary Beth are killed in an accident. It's decided that Abby and Loren live in Glenby, Florida with their Aunt Fay and Uncle Charlie who own a gas station and an amusement park. Loren and Abby don't have much trouble making friends at their new high school. Loren starts dating Karen, the local sheriff's daughter while Abby starts dating Mark. Loren feels uncomfortable when he sees a blond-haired guy harassing Abby in the lunchroom. Mark tells Loren and Abby that the blond-haired guy is Eddie Dutra, a teenage drug addict who is the leader of a gang of redneck thugs. Loren helps Abby keep Dutra at a distance. Dutra's retaliations keep getting more vicious until Dutra forces a showdown at the amusement park by kidnapping Abby. —Corey Semple (AdamSandler's8SexyNights)

In suburban Chicago, 15-year-old Jade Butterfield (Brooke Shields) and 17-year-old David Axelrod (Martin Hewitt) fall in love after they are introduced by Jade's older brother, Keith (James Spader). Jade's liberal family is well known in their community for their bohemian lifestyle, allowing Jade and David to develop an all-consuming and passionate relationship; including allowing the two to make love in Jade's bedroom. In contrast to the openness of her family, David's home life is boring; his parents are wealthy right-wing political activists who are not actively involved in his life. One night, Jade's mother Ann (Shirley Knight) sneaks downstairs, and upon seeing Jade and David make love by the fireplace, starts living through them vicariously. However, Jade's father Hugh (Don Murray) watches the couple with increasing unease. Jade's nightly trysts with David begin negatively impacting her grades and her ability to sleep. One morning, she attempts to steal one of her father's prescription sleeping pills, but he catches her in the act. This is the last straw for Hugh and he demands that David stop seeing Jade until the end of the school year in 30 days. Although David is devastated, believing Hugh wants to destroy their relationship, Ann calmly assures him that the time apart is for the best and will go by quickly. Back at school, David's friend Billy (Tom Cruise) informs him that when he was eight years old, he tried to burn a pile of newspapers and after he became scared, put out the fire, only to find his parents think he was a hero for saving the house from burning. Inspired by this grim story, David starts a fire on the Butterfields' front porch after their late-night party and walks away briefly. Unfortunately, by the time he returns, the flame has spread too far under the high wind. He rushes to warn the family but he is too late, the entire house is burned to the ground. David immediately evacuates the Butterfields from the burning house before he is eventually apprehended. Following the trial, David is convicted of second-degree arson, sentenced to five years' probation, committed into a mental hospital for evaluation, and forbidden from ever going anywhere near Jade or her family again. Nevertheless, he continues to write daily, but his letters are not sent because of the court order to make no contact with Jade. David's wealthy parents arrange to have him released early from the mental hospital, much to Hugh's chagrin. Meanwhile, David receives his many letters upon his exit, and upon realizing why Jade never wrote back, he decides to pursue her even though he knows full well that this will violate his parole. After the loss of their home, the Butterfields has moved from Chicago to Manhattan, where Ann and Hugh file for divorce. At her apartment, Ann imitates she has an attraction to David, but he gently refuses her advances which leaves her rather nonplussed. When Ann isn't looking, David thumbs through her address book, learning where Jade is and discovers that she now attends the University of Vermont in Burlington. Intent on catching a bus to Vermont, David sees Hugh on the street and Hugh angrily chases him. But while running across the street to catch David, Hugh is run over by a car and killed. Hugh's fiancée, Ingrid Orchester (Penelope Milford), arrives on the scene just in time to witness David leaving. He comes close to board the bus to Vermont, but is overcome with grief and returns to Ann's apartment and consoles her. Keith orders David to leave and informs him that Jade hates him while Ingrid, catching a glimpse of David, recognizes him from the accident. Jade later goes to David's room and informs him that they have to leave their relationship in the past and move on with their lives separately. He pulls her back as she tries to leave, throwing her on the bed and holding her down until she admits she still loves him, which she eventually does, and they spend the night together. The next morning, Jade and David plan to return to Chicago and begin a new life together. Keith and Ingrid arrive at the hotel and Keith angrily informs Jade that David is blamed for their father's death. Jade initially refuses to believe this, but when David confirms that he was actually at the scene, she becomes horrified and hides behind Keith. David tries to explain that this was an accident and shoves Keith out of the way in a desperate attempt to come near her. Keith holds him off until the police arrive and arrest David for brawling, disturbing the peace and violating his parole. David is sentenced to five years in a state prison and despairs that he may never to see Jade again. Jade informs her mother at her father's lakeside funeral that no one will ever love her as David does, and Ann expresses her understanding and approval. The final scene shows David from behind bars watching Jade approach the prison through his barred cell window to comfort him.