Jennifer Jason Leigh

About the movie An elusive thief, eyeing his final score, encounters a disillusioned insurance broker at her own crossroads. As their paths intertwine, a relentless detective trails them, hoping to thwart the multi-million dollar heist they are planning.

William Singh was living peacefully with his wife and daughters Kerry and Kathy when a local gangster known as the Skull descends on them

A nave 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood begins an affair with her older employer and is thrust into an education on lust, loss and power.

Based on the real life story of Richard Wershe Jr., who, as a teenager, worked as an FBI informant in the 1980's. Wershe was ultimately arrested for drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.

Lena, a biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don`t apply.

Sinister events plague a single mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and her three children after they move into their new house.

Michael Stone, a customer service expert, is living a dull life and tired of his monotonous routine. However, there`s a sudden shift in his life when he encounters a stranger on a business trip and helps him realize what he`s been missing- love & happiness.

When Alice Klieg wins the Mega-Millions lottery, she immediately quits her psychiatric meds and buys her own talk show. Alice suffers from borderline personality disorder, but she has what she needs in life. She has an apartment, she has a best friend, and she has tapes of every Oprah Winfrey show. And now, after winning the lottery, she also has 83 million dollars. What she doesn't have is an outlet for the whole world to know who she really is. The TV station cut her off when she tried turning her lottery announcement into a frank discussion of her sexual experiences, but with her money in hand, she's off to LA to convince two struggling TV producer brothers to produce her own TV show. Whatever it costs, she's going to do it. From swan entrances to dog neutering, she is going to introduce the world to Alice. But is the world ready for Alice? —Anne Campbell Alice Klieg is a young woman with psychiatric issues who unexpectedly wins the lottery. Inspired by her idol, Oprah, Alice decides to use her new fortune to start her own television talk show. Nothing proves to be off limits for her eccentric new show. When Alice chooses to stop taking her psychiatric medicine, the quirky show becomes even zanier.

Intolerâncias da Fé pretende retratar os conflitos religiosos ocorridos no espaço público e problematizar o tratamento conferido a estes conflitos pela sociedade e por instituições como a escola e a polícia.

NO, A Flamenco Tale is a fictional musical film, an urban, contemporary flamenco opera in which the action is expressed through dance and the original text is narrated through song.

Margot and her son Claude decide to visit her sister Pauline after she announces that she is marrying less-than-impressive Malcolm. A slice of family life: sisters, husbands, children, history, secrets, jealousies. Margot and her teen son, Claude, travel from Manhattan to her family's Long Island home, occupied by sister Pauline, Pauline's daughter, and Malcolm, the slacker Pauline will marry outdoors that week under a tree neighbors want removed. Backbiting marks family discussion, particularly between the sisters and in Margot's cutting remarks to Claude. Pauline tells Margot a secret that Margot promptly tells Claude. Margot dislikes Malcolm and undermines him. She also has marital problems and a lover nearby. People are cruel, inside and outside their families. Is there a refuge for Margot or for Pauline? —<jhailey@hotmail.com> Margot and Pauline, two of four siblings, have been estranged for years, largely because of their fundamental differences. Margot, a successful Manhattan-based writer, is judgmental yet neurotic. She believes anyone stupid is clinically retarded or autistic. She has written about their family, including Pauline and their abusive father, as therapy, although she does not admit publicly that her stories are autobiographical. Pauline, a divorced college professor with a preteen daughter named Ingrid, is a free spirit who largely goes where life takes her, which is nowhere. Despite that estrangement, Pauline invites Margot and her family to her wedding at Margot and Pauline's childhood Long Island home where Pauline now lives with her fiancé, Malcolm. Margot, in turn, accepts, also despite she not approving of Malcolm either on principle or on first sight, he who dabbles in many different areas, none of which earns him any money. Margot and her preteen son Claude arrive a few days in advance of the wedding, while the rest of their family, including Margot's husband Jim, plan to arrive the day of. Margot's unyielding ways have had a negative affect on Claude, although he needs the emotional connection to his mother. Pauline learns that while in the area Margot plans on doing some work, she who is collaborating on a screenplay with local writer, Dick Koosman, whose twenty year old daughter Maisie is friends with Pauline and Malcolm. As such, Pauline can't help feel that Margot accepted the wedding invitation solely because of that work. Margot and Pauline feel the need to be close to each other emotionally, which manifests itself in each telling the other issues about their personal life which they have not divulged to anyone else. These revelations and what they do with the information may either bring them closer together or tear them apart even further as those revelations also affect their relationships with others in the same way. —Huggo Margot (Kidman) is a successful writer, and decides to attend her estranged sister Pauline's (Leigh) wedding. On arrival she takes an immediate dislike to Malcolm (Black), Pauline's hopeless and unemployed fiancé. With her unnerving and brutal honesty, Margot stirs up trouble and plants the seed of doubt in her sister's mind about the union.

The film begins with several shots of Hillwood showing the kids having fun and adults doing their usual routine until Sid notices construction workers demolishing a house. Arnold and Gerald are then seen walking back to the boarding house with a popped basketball after being beaten by 5th graders at a game. Before Arnold walks into the boarding house, he sees several of his neighbors making a fuss about something. One of the gathered neighbors Mr. Green, explains the commotion. He states that Mr. Scheck, the CEO of a real estate company called Future Tech Industries or FTi, wants to buy all the houses in Arnold's neighborhood so the urban development firm can convert them into a futuristic mall. According to the news, Mayor Dixie is already approving plans for the mall. This means that Arnold's neighborhood will be destroyed and everyone who lives there has to move away (which would also mean Helga would not see Arnold again or express her feelings to him). The neighbors state that they should do something about this. During the night, Helga discovers that her dad, Big Bob Pataki, is working with Nick Vermicelli (who had worked with Bob on previous occasions). Bob is revealed to be planning to build a store in Scheck's mall called "Big Bob's Super Beeper Emporium." Helga points out to her dad that people are going to suffer if he builds his store. However, Bob counters by saying that if they leave the neighborhood alone, his store will not exist. He also insists that change is good (as does Scheck at various times in the film) and states that when his store is built, their family will be rich and Helga will be able to buy anything. The next morning, FTi puts up a huge electronic billboard across the street from the boarding house that shows the number of days until construction begins as well as several Future tech Industries ads featuring Scheck stating "Out with the old, in with the new," "Change is good," and "I've seen the future, and the future is Future Tech Industries." Arnold rallies the neighborhood and hosts "Blockapalooza," a block party held to protest against FTi. However, the permit allowing them to close a public street was stolen by Scheck's employees, and Blockapalooza was declared illegal. Arnold's grandmother was jailed for being hostile to the police suppressing the rally. She tries breaking out but keeps getting caught. As demolition day closes in, Gerald tells Arnold to stop looking on the bright side of things and that you cannot always win. Later, Arnold sees how this will effect the citizens as he sees the friendship between Sid and Stinky and the relationship between Mr. Green and his shop and how this will destroy his business. Later on, as the boarders begin packing, Grandpa tells Arnold the history of the boarding house, stating that it was first built in the 1700's and it was the site of the "Tomato Incident" (a parody of the Boston Tea Party) during the Revolutionary War. The residents at that time angry over the increase in British taxes for tomatoes. The locals fought the British soldiers by hitting them with the tomatoes, sending them running. Arnold realizes that if he can find a document proving the event happened, then the neighborhood will be declared a historical site and cannot be demolished. With Gerald reluctantly tagging along, Arnold manages to trace the document to FTi, though Scheck denies ownership of the document. Just as Arnold and Gerald are about to give up hope, the boarding house telephone rings, and a mysterious individual named "Deep Voice" reveals that Scheck is lying and the document is hidden in his vault, which Vermicelli has the key to. Gerald suggests going to a woman named Bridget who can provide them with the proper gadgets to do the job and sneak the key away from Vermicelli. Arnold and Gerald, now secret agents, follow Vermicelli to a bar, where they disguise themselves as employees. Arnold and Gerald use one of the gadgets to listen to what Vermicelli is saying. Vermicelli's voice is heard over the speakers, and people are confused and wonder about the key that Vermicelli had mentioned. Vermicelli gets angry and accidentally spills his drink. He demands that Arnold and Gerald clean up his mess and replace his drink. Arnold's fake mustache almost slips off, nearly revealing him to be a kid. They walk away, and before Vermicelli can figure out who they are, they leave the bar. Arnold and Gerald follow Vermicelli to his home outside of Hillwood and stay on top of his roof until he eventually falls asleep. Arnold straps himself to a rope to swing down and sneak the key. Gerald is holding on to it, but let's go when his watch beeps. Arnold almost falls down, but Gerald grabs it just in time. Vermicelli wakes up when Arnold's sweat touches his forehead, but luckily, he thinks that Arnold is an angel and goes back to sleep. Arnold gets the key and they leave the rooftop. Deep Voice gives them a call and gives them more information on what they need to do. The bus picks them up and they head to FTI. Big Bob, having read the fine print of his contract, finds that Scheck had taken control of 51% percent of his company in exchange for the right to build his beeper emporium, and takes his anger out on Vermicelli. They engage in a small fight before Bob is dosed in pickle juice (reminiscent of the Hulk) and knocked out. Vermicelli then realizes that the key was gone and alerts Scheck. Meanwhile, Grandpa Phil and the men at the boarding house are trying to develop a backup plan just in case Arnold fails to get the document. They have several ideas, but fight on their weaknesses. However, Phil gets an idea that works. They plan to wire the sewer tunnels beneath their street with dynamite. They would then ignite it and blow a huge hole in the ground so the Future Tech workers would fall in. Arnold and Gerald infiltrate the FTi building and locate several different vaults. When they finally unlock the right vault, they find the document missing. Scheck comes up from behind them, with the document in his hand. He reveals that his ancestor, who was the German leader of the British forces, was humiliated by the Tomato Incident. For generations, Scheck's family has been planning on regaining control of the city and get revenge against the boarders. Scheck then burns the document in front of them. His bodyguards then arrive to detain Arnold and Gerald, who manage to escape and split up. When Arnold is just about to give up hope, he receives another call from Deep Voice, and remembers that FTi has cameras everywhere. He manages to get a video of Scheck burning the document. However, security forces arrive, forcing Arnold to hide on the roof. Meanwhile, Gerald searches for a cab to take them back to the neighborhood. Arnold is then contacted by Deep Voice once again, who is then revealed to be Helga, who, after some pressing from Arnold, confesses her romantic feelings for him and kisses him at the top of the tower. They escape the building and meet Gerald on a city bus. But the driver Murray is unwilling to speed up until he realizes that his former flame lives near Arnold and that her house is going to be demolished. They then ensue into a high speed chase to get back to the neighborhood before Scheck, who is chasing after them in his car and trying to kill our heroes in anyway possible to prevent them from stopping his plans. Scheck tells his workers to let up the bridge so the bus can't cross, but they make the leap, and Murray becomes unconscious. Murray's foot is stuck on the gas pedal. Arnold tells Gerald that he must drive. Though reluctant at first, Gerald eventually is convinced that he must drive it, while Arnold and Helga control the other gears. They almost run over man walking across the street. Phil and the others are waiting with their explosives for FTi to begin taking the neighborhood down. The FTI workers are going to destroy the neighborhood with people still there and inside the buildings. Big Bob is in the area and discovers Phil's plan. Although Bob states they could do some serious jail time, he decides to help because Vermicelli double-crossed him. Meanwhile, Vermicelli's workers blow up the overpass to prevent Arnold, Gerald, Helga, and Murray (who is unconscious at the time) from getting to the neighborhood. However, a truck on the freeway that had a ramp on the back was stopped near the edge. The quartet ride the bus over the truck's ramp to jump the hole and make it to 33rd Street. Back at the neighborhood again, Grandma (who has escaped from jail) hijacks one of the bulldozers and destroys the rest. Soon, a rogue bulldozer and the city bus that Arnold, Gerald, and Helga are on collide. The three kids come out okay a few moments later. Mayor Dixie arrives and Bridget gives Arnold a VCR to show the tape of Scheck burning the document. Bridget hooks it up to the big Scheckivision screen and Arnold shows Mayor Dixie the tape, who then proceeds to claim the neighborhood as a historical landmark. The citizens of the neighborhood cheer for Arnold and Gerald for their bravery and for saving the neighborhood. Scheck then arrives but is dismayed by the incriminating evidence. He gets into his car and tries to run over Arnold and Gerald, only to find that Grandma stripped his car of its wheels. He is then arrested for his crimes and Big Bob gets in another fight with Vermicelli, knocking him out. Arnold's neighbor Harold is exhausted because the exploding freeway woke him up. He sits down on the button that ignites Phil's explosives. The explosives beneath the streets ignite, destroying the FTi billboard. Phil and the boarders run away from the police, and Murray reunites with his ex-girlfriend Mona. As Arnold and Helga watch them, they begin talking about the events of that night and agree that it was all "in the heat of the moment." (As neither of the two were ready to deal with the fallout of the confession.) Arnold and Gerald do their handshake and talk about how they saved the neighborhood. Arnold reminds Gerald that their ball is flat, but Gerald tells him that it's just a little low on air. Arnold questions Gerald's positivity, and Gerald tells him that somebody had to do it, just like Arnold said to him at the beginning of the film. The movie ends with Helga running cheerfully as Eugene sings a song about the neighborhood being saved, but Gerald interrupts the song and tells him that the show is over.

Love is complex and relationships deteriorate. Celebrity couple Joe and Sally Therrian are going through yet another rough stage in their six-year marriage: while Joe's novels have been climbing higher and higher on the best-seller lists, Sally's film career has been steadily sinking into oblivion. Joe's been given the rights to cast and direct the screenplay of his latest book, but rather than resurrect Sally's career by casting her in the lead role, he's given it to Sally's rival, Skye Davidson. Even worse, he's invited Skye to their anniversary bash. Will the marriage, or anything else for that matter, survive the party? —Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net> While celebrating their reconciliation and six years of marriage, the American actress Sally Nash and the British novelist Joe Therrian receive their close friends, some colleagues and their next door neighbors in a party. Under the effect of Ecstasy, revelations are disclosed and relationships deteriorate among the group. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In 1963, Greensboro, North Carolina, lives a liberal-minded Lydia (Jennifer Leigh), and her 14-year-old son Sam (Bug Hall). Lydia's father Casper Callahan (R. Lee Ermey) is running for governor of North Carolina, and he does not want Lydia and Sam in his way, so the two are banished from North Carolina. Lydia claims that she did not do anything wrong, but Sam can guess that Lydia messed up again and Casper could not risk more embarrassment to hit his campaign. Lydia knows that Casper banished them as having an illegitimate grandchild would not look good on the campaign trail. Sam started writing the day his grandfather banished him and his mother from North Carolina. Sam promises not to skip the good parts, unlike the other writers as his story is not about self-pity. Lydia drives 2000 miles with the top down. She could not read a map, so Sam navigated. Arriving in Wyoming, Lydia only wants to have a good time, and Sam is never allowed to call her "Mom" (she wants him to call her "Lydia"). Lydia decides to break away from her usual habits & start a new life in Wyoming. Lydia's liberal ways cause quite a stir in small town Gro Vant, Wyoming. Sam soon finds out that he is one of only two students in Gro Vant High School who can read. Sam is the only one who seems to ask questions during class and challenges the opinion of the teachers, while the others are simply OK to memorize whatever is taught in class. The other one is Maurey (Mischa Barton), a girl at the same age as Sam who wants to learn about sex. Maurey is Sam's neighbor. Maurey's mother Laurabel (Peggy Lipton) takes a welcome basket for Lydia, but Lydia is offended at being typecast as a housewife and shuts the door on Laurabel's face. Lydia is a scandal in a largely conservative town. All the single men lust after Lydia, who is bored with the same old, wants to try "something new". Dot (Andrea Menard) is the waitress at the local diner where Lydai and Sam have their meals. Sam is forced to join the football team as the coach cannot conduct practice till he has 22 players and he is one short. The coach is also Sam's English team and threatens him with failing the class, if he does not comply. Maurey and Sam don't get along at first but are united in their grief when President Kennedy is shot in Texas. Both are also bullied in school by the players of the school football team & which brings them even closer together. Lydia is devastated at the news of the Kennedy assassination. Sam tells Maurey that Lydia never talks about his father. Once he saw a picture of 5 guys in football uniforms in Lydia's undergarments box and figured that one of them might be his father. Lydia picks up a local native American man, Blackfeet named Hank (Michael Greyeyes), to come and live with them as she knows that her father cannot stand native Americans. Lydia starts having sex with Hank and then starts to frequent the local bars and saloons & frequently gets drunk. Maurey is frustrated that nobody would satisfy her curiosity on the subject of sex. While Lydia is too open about sex with Sam, but Maurey is told that the topic of sex cannot be spoken about openly. When Sam has a wet dream, Lydia is only too happy to sit him down and explain the process to him. Later when Sam and Maurey were in their underwear (Sam in the briefs and Maurey in the panties and bra) and the clothes were hanging around the bed, Maurey ask Sam to go first but Sam told Maurey to ask her to go as well, Eventually they both stood naked, that embarrasses Sam but Maurey said they would skip parts and they embrace. Maurey and Sam try to have sex, but just don't know what goes where. Maurey holds Sam's penis in her hands, and he ejaculates, which grosses her out. They reach out to Lydia, who tells them the anatomy of sex & gets them to try again and again till they get it right. Maurey dabbles with the hockey team jock, while Sam spends time with Bible thumping Chuckette Morris (Alison Pill). Sam and Chuckette share a few kisses, and when Sam says that he doesn't love her, she feels that she has been taken advantage of. Consequent to Maurey and Sam's mutual discoveries, Maurey becomes pregnant. Maurey decides to have an abortion in a distant hospital, and by accident, runs into her mother Laurabel (Peggy Lipton) and the baseball coach who is also there with the same intent. Hank admonishes Lydia for teaching sex games to Sam & Maurey when they were only 14. He places the blame of Maurey's pregnancy squarely on Lydia, who allowed this to happen on her watch. Maurey moves to Lydia's and Sam's house, since her father banishes her from his house. Meanwhile, Hank Elkrunner falls for the feckless Lydia, while her dictatorial dad keeps tabs on them all from afar. In the end, Maurey decides not to have an abortion and keeps the baby, a little girl named Shannon. After being threatened to be financially cut off unless she breaks up with Hank, and lets Sam go to Military School, Lydia decides to stay with Hank, and takes a job at the local diner. In addition, Hank sells his trailer and moves in with Sam and Lydia, along with Maurey and Shannon who decide to permanently move in. The film ends with Sam finishing the flashback for the story, with Shannon nearby. Throughout the movie, Sam has many dream fantasies which star Drew Barrymore as the subject of his fantasies. In one scenario Drew is a nurse, comforting Sam on his deathbed due to the exile, and Casper repenting and seeking his forgiveness. In the scenario, after his wet dream, Drew is a sexy seductress, who helps "make a man out of him" by having sex with him 5 times in a single day.

At a Antenna Company seminar, Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is introduced as the "goddess of the gamepod". She carries a single ski boot and describes eXistenZ, which is a new game system (metaflesh). Almost everyone in the room volunteers to test the new system. At the door, a game company worker Ted (Jude Law) screens Noel Dichter (Kris Lemche) for recording devices. Noel has an outdated gamepod, and is anxious about the demo. The demo uses flesh like gamepods to allows players to interact with the game. As they go into a trance to enter the game, Noel pulls an odd-looking gun out from inside his gamepod and shoots Allegra in the shoulder. The gamers attached to her feel the impact, and Noel gets shot by security. Ted grabs the gun and whisks Allegra away. In the car, Allegra throws Ted's phone away, as it can be used to track them. He uses a pocketknife to dig out the bullet, which is a tooth. They realize the gun and ammo are made of flesh and bone, which would not be detected by a scanner. They stop at a motel. Ted wants to check in with Antenna, but Allegra wants to test the game, and needs Ted to help her. Ted does not have a "bio-port". They go to a gas station and ask the attendant Gas (Willem Dafoe) to install an illegal port. He agrees, after recognizing Allegra. When she connects her pod to Ted, it short circuits, locking everyone out of the game. Gas reappears, holding a shotgun, and explains that Ted's port is useless. Ted shoots Gas in the neck before he can kill Allegra. Allegra and Ted drive to an old ski club, where they find Kiri Vinokur (Iam Holm). She hands the ski boot to Kiri for safekeeping, then Kiri and Landry (James Kirchner) work to repair the pod. Afterwards, Allegra and Ted jack into the game, and Ted's reality changes. Allegra says "you have to play the game, to find out WHY you're playing the game. They meet a gameshop owner, D'Arcy Nader (Robert A. Silverman), and Ted realizes the non-player characters (NPCs) must act based on his actions and speech. Nader gives them micro-pods, and they use them to port in. Ted's character makes a pass at Allegra, and she responds. During the encounter, the scene suddenly changes, and Ted is at a trout farm, working on a conveyor belt as "Larry", next to Yevgeny Nourish (Don McKellar). Yevgeny explains that the trout farm is now used for making game pods. Yevgeny recommends lunch at the Chinese restaurant, and to order the special. He finds Allegra, but she seems to react like the NPCs as well. Over lunch, Ted tells her he is nervous, and manages to pause the game. Back in reality, Ted starts to feel like the real world is fake, and vice-versa. They re-enter the game, and special of the day arrives. It's gross looking, but Ted's character eats it anyway. He assembles the bones into the same weapon that he found in the real world. He shoots the waiter (against his will), and the weapon is destroyed. Yevgeny appears, and tells them the waiter was a traitor. Yevgeny leads them to a breeding pool for the creatures and explains that they are working on undetectable weapons for a secret agency in addition to pods. The trout farm where Ted and Allegra work is owned by a company called Corticle Systematics, and Yevgeny's organization wants to destroy all non-real elements such as pod games. They return to the gameshop and speak with Hugo Carlaw (Callum Keith Rennie). Hugo shows them Nader's dead body and tells them Nader and Yevgency Nourish work for Corticle Systematics, and Ted shouldn't have killed the waiter. Hugo is with the realist underground. He tells them to assassinate Yevgeny. They return to the trout farm and find a game pod left for them. She ports into the pod, but something goes wrong. Ted cuts her link to the pod, and she begins to bleed out. Yevgeny arrives and burns the pod, which releases deadly spores. Allegra stabs him, and the farm catches on fire. They awake back in the ski lodge. Allegra's pod has caught the disease from the game. She injects the pod with a spore disinfectant, then sees Ted's bio-port is infected, too. She realizes Kiri installed an infected bio-port. She inserts a disinfectant pod his port, and says they cannot play for awhile. Suddenly the ski lodge is attacked, and the game cashier arrives, talking about freedom, and destroys the pod. Ted realizes they are still in the game. Outside, a battle rages, and the cashier talks about the victory of reality (the death of eXistenZ). He points a gun a Allegra, but Kiri shoots him from behind. Kiri explains that he copied the game, and tries to recruit Allegra to Corticle Systematics. Allegra shoots Kiri. Ted points out that she's committed murder, then tries to kill her. Allegra triggers the bomb she inserted into Ted's bio-port and celebrates, thinking she's won the game. Allegra and Ted awake back in the seminar, and the group de-briefs, applauding Ted and Allegra. The session proctor, Merla (Sarah Polley) tells everyone they will get a discount on the next game, transCendenZ. We realize Allegra was only playing a part of a game designer, and that Yevgeny is the real designer. Yevgeny tells Merle he is nervous about the anti-designer theme. Ted and Allegra shoot Yevgeny and Merle, then shout "death to transCendeZ!". The Chinese waiter asks, "are we still in the game?" End.

In this adaptation of Stephen King`s novel, an estranged mother and daughter must confront their darkest memories when one of them is accused of murder...for the second time.

Dorothy Parker remembers the heyday of the Algonquin Round Table, a circle of friends whose barbed wit, like hers, was fueled by alcohol and flirted with despair.

Two quarreling brothers in the Chicago Fire Department are forced to work with each other against a dangerous arsonist on the loose.

Film school grad Nick Chapman thought his career was made after his award winning short film, but discovered Hollywood wasn't as easy as it seems. Nick Chapman graduates from film school, and his short film wins a special prize. This gives him a high enough profile that he can get Hollywood to back the film he has long dreamed of making. Studio exec Allen Habel is interested. But Nick soon is seduced by Hollywood and makes one concession after another until his original movie is lost altogether. Worse, Nick is lost, too, turning on girlfriend Susan and old buddy Emmet. Will he come to his sense before everything is lost? —Reid Gagle Nick Chapman is a graduate film student. His best friend, Emmet Sumner, is an aspiring cinematographer, the two who hope to make films together. Nick is supported in his pursuits by his girlfriend, aspiring architect Susan Rawlings. Nick's prospects look good when he wins the student film award presented by the National Film Institute. He has a clear idea for his next film, and hopes to get it made with the assistance of those in the movie business who court him, including agent Neil Sussman, and movie studio exec Allen Habel. Sussman and Habel's visions for Nick's movie are vastly different than Nick's original concept. Habel's manoeuvrings include getting Nick to cast a vapid aspiring actress named Gretchen in one of the lead roles. Nick gets caught up more with the process of making the big Hollywood movie than with keeping true to his artistic vision. In the process, he also loses sight of the important personal aspects of his life, such as his friendship to Emmet and Susan. Nick also learns that the fast lane in Hollywood is laden with the potential for serious and irreparable crashes. —Huggo

Carol inherits her uncle's night club, discovering his strangeness while confronting memories of their special relationship as she adapts to her new life. Carol inherits a night club from her weird uncle. She moves into the place, only to find out just how weird her uncle really was. She begins to remember more about her very special relationship with her uncle as she battles her memories and her surroundings in her new home. —Rick Lofgren <rlofgren@synopsys.com>

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

Set in a small Midwestern American town of Grandview, Illinois, Tim Pearson (C. Thomas Powell), a Grandview High School senior, wants to study oceanography in Florida after graduation. His father Roger (Ramon Bieri) loans him his brand new Cadillac to go to the senior prom with Bonnie Clark (Elizabeth Gorcey). Later, while Tim and Bonnie are making out in the car near a stream, the car's parking brake fails and the car literally rolls in, so they walk to "Cody's Speedway", a local garage, for a tow. When Bonnie's father (M. Emmet Walsh) comes for her, he punches Tim in anger. Mechanic Michelle "Mike" Cody (Jamie Lee Curtis) defends him, and has local demolition derby driver Ernie "Slam" Webster (Patrick Swayze) tow the car with Tim. Slam first stops at the local bowling alley asking for his wife Candy (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who hasn't been there all day. Slam suspects that Candy might be cheating on him. The next morning, when Tim visits his father at work, he tells Tim he does not want him to drive his car again. Running into Mike, he thanks her for helping him with the car and asks to drive in the derby. Tim goes out to the Speedway, where he meets Mike's mentally challenged brother, Cowboy (John Philbin). Later on that night, Mike goes to the bar to see her uncle Bob (William Windom), asking to borrow $10,000 to fix up the Speedway. He doesn't have the money, but wants to help. Just then, they both hear a drunken Slam beating on a video game machine after loosing. Mike and Bob help him out to his truck, and she and Slam talk about old times. Hungover at work the next morning, Slam's boss sends him home. When he arrives, he finds Candy with Donny Vinton (Troy Donahue). Enraged, he jumps on his car demanding she come back to him, in the process Donny shoots himself in the foot. At the hospital, Candy doesn't press charges, but won't come home. She files a restraining order so Slam cannot be within 50 feet of her. That night, when Mike sees Slam sleeping in his truck, she comforts him, believing he does not really love Candy but is only afraid of being alone. Later, he invites Mike out to dinner but she can't. (She has a County Commission meeting, but doesn't say so.) Tim and his dad also go to the meeting, and he tells him he's declining his ISU scholarship to go to Florida to study oceanography; Roger isn't too pleased. At the Town Hall, Roger asks Tim to get something in his office. There, he sees the Speedway renovation plans. At the meeting, Mike requests more time to get the money to fix up the Speedway, but the commission won't give it to her. Tim reveals they plan to put a country club and golf course on Mike's land. (Roger has already bought all of the adjacent property to the Speedway and will go bankrupt if the deal doesn't go through.) Tim then argues with his father and leaves. Tim runs into Mike, who thanks him for saving her place. Going for a burger, she invites him over, and they spend the night together. Mike offers Tim a car to drive in the Derby. In the morning Slam shows up, finding them in bed together; he leaves upset, thinking Mike turned him down because of Tim. Later on that day, Roger apologizes to Tim about the fight. He asks Tim to reconsider Illinois State University, but he still wants to go to Florida. At the Speedway, Mike sells her old cars to make extra money, upsetting Cowboy, who runs off crying. Slam goes to his house and sees his stuff on the lawn, getting wet under the lawn sprinkler. Donny taunts him by the door with a shotgun, telling him he called the cops. Slam leaves with his wet things. Later that night, at the Demolition Derby, Tim is competing against Slam in the race. At the climax, Slam crashes into Tim, injuring him. Thinking he did it on purpose, Mike sends him off the track. Then, as Candy and Donny are having sex in his house, Slam bulldozes it and he is arrested. As Tim and Mike drive home from the hospital, they see firetrucks and find the Speedway has burned down. Mike asks her mother what had happened, but she doesn't know. In the morning, however, the police discover that the gas tank was unlocked. Cowboy had started the fire because Mike sold the old cars. Tim and Mike talk, and she admits she is in love with Slam. Mike bails Slam out of jail and he offers to help fix the Speedway, but she says she'll sell to Roger so they can afford to start a life together. She then asks him for a favor. In the final scene, Tim is a bus stop on his way to Chicago. As the bus leaves a car comes alongside, forcing him off; Slam gives Tim the old car and money for his trip to Florida. Mike and Slam, now a couple, go to the local parade.

Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a 15-year-old high school sophomore who works in the Ridgemont Mall at Perry's pizza parlor with the seemingly more sexually experienced Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates). Mark "Rat" Ratner (Brian Backer) also a sophomore, works in the mall as "assistant to the assistant manager" at the movie theater. His friend Mike Damone (Robert Romanus), who also hangs out at the mall scalping rock concert tickets, believes himself to be both worldly and wise in the ways of women. Stacy's brother Brad (Judge Reinhold) is a semi-dorky senior but is relatively popular because he has his own car and is a low-grade supervisor at All-American Burger, a favorite after-school hang-out and a place that treats teen employees well. Brad is spending his final year in high school basking in the joy of becoming the unfettered owner of his blue 1960 Buick LeSabre ("the cruising vessel"), which has only six payments left, and obsessing over the best way to ease out of the long-time relationship with his girlfriend, Lisa (Amanda Wyss), who also works at All-American Burger. Surfer-type Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is the resident stoner who begins the new school year tumbling out of a Volkswagen Microbus after hot-boxing in the parking lot as the final attendance bell rings. Spicoli tries to come into the stern Mr. Hand's (Ray Walston) history class after the final bell, but Mr. Hand has locked the door. Spicoli knocks on the door but when Mr Hand sends him to principal's office, Spicoli calls him a "dick," thus beginning a vendetta between Mr. Hand and Spicoli that lasts throughout the movie. The sexually curious Stacy initially hooks up with a much older home stereo salesman, Ron Johnson of Pacific Stereo in the mall. He provides her first sexual experiences. He dumps her a few months later, causing Stacy to wonder what was wrong with herself and seek other relationships. In addition to his brief encounters with Stacy at the pizza parlor during his breaks at the movie theater, nerdy Mark Ratner ends up with Stacy as his lab partner in biology class. Ratner receives pointers from his friend Damone, the scalper. With prodding from Damone, "Rat" goes over to the pizza parlor one evening and asks for Stacy's phone number, saying he'll call her to ask her out on a date. Embarassed, but flattered, Stacy accepts Mark's offer of a date. The date goes well despite Mark forgetting his wallet at home and the tape deck being stolen from his sister's car during their dinner at a local German restaurant. They go back to her house, where she comes on to him. Inexperienced with sex, he chickens out, leaving her there with nothing but a robe on. This leads Stacy to confide in Linda that she believes (mistakenly) that Mark does not love her. Back at school, Spicoli continues to annoy Mr. Hand, including one episode in which Spicoli arranges for a pizza delivery in the middle of class by a less-than-thrilled "Pizza Guy" delivery man (Taylor Negron) only to have Mr. Hand take the pizza away and distribute it to his favored students. Meanwhile, Brad loses his cherished job at All American Burger one day in a dispute with an unsatisfied and rude customer (Sonny Carl Davis) who demands his money back (clearly a yuppie con artist), where after the rude customer insults Brad and Brad insults the rude customer back, the stern boss, Dennis, approaches and instantly fires Brad for it and falls for the con artist's ploy and refunds his money. Brad feels betrayed when all of his co-worker friends don't have the courage to stand up for him to their dictator of a boss out of fear of losing their jobs too. As a result, Brad never speaks to any of his friends ever again. Brad is forced to take a new job at "Captain Hook Fish and Chips," a Long John Silvers-styled fish restaurant. Employees are forced to wear pirate uniforms, and after being laughed at by a beautiful woman (Nancy Wilson) while on a delivery, Brad quits in disgust while tossing all the "Catch of the Day" boxes out into the street. At a pep rally before the football game with Lincoln High, Brad meets up with his girlfriend Lisa. In a complete turnabout from his plans to go solo during the summer, Brad bares his troubled soul to Lisa, telling her that he needs her now more than ever. But Lisa dumps him, saying she wants to see other people before she heads to college, the perfect culmination to Brad's personal annihilation. As Brad's life crumbles as he now has no friends or job, Stacy and Linda are sitting by the pool discussing men. Meanwhile, Damone convinces Mark to give it another shot with Stacy. Damone leads Mark to Stacy's house, where Damone crashes the girl chat. Brad comes home, dejected, and goes into the house. The teens all comment on how Brad is so depressed after losing his job at All America Burger. Brad heads for the bathroom and starts to masturbate as he fantasizes about Linda approaching him in her bikini and undoing her top (in a now near-legendary scene set to The Cars' song "Moving in Stereo"). Linda jumps into the pool and gets water in her ear. She makes her way to the bathroom for a Q-tip and is shocked as she catches Brad masturbating, which ruins the pool party. Later that evening, Spicoli is seen drinking beer, smoking marijuana, and lost in his own world as he joyrides in a 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 owned by Charles Jefferson (Forest Whitaker), an ill-tempered, hulking jock who is the star of the Ridgemont football team. The car is a gift from a grateful alumnus, and Jefferson's little brother, along for the ride, freaks out as an unconcerned Spicoli drives like a maniac through the crowded city streets. Spicoli eventually wrecks the car when he swerves to avoid an oncoming car, and crashes into a concrete wall. Spicoli promises to Jefferson's brother that he can fix it. The next day at school, a large crowd gathers around the front entrance--where Jefferson's totaled car is covered in anti-Ridgemont graffiti. Spicoli has apparently made it look as if the rival high school, Lincoln High, destroyed it as a prank. Jefferson takes out his anger on the Lincoln football team that night, winning the game single handily and sending Lincoln's quarterback out of the game on a stretcher. Over the next several weeks, Stacy grows attracted to Mark's friend, Damone. Stacy meets Damone after school and Damone drives her home. Damone asks if Stacy has any iced tea and then he wants to go for a swim. She brings him into the changing booth near the pool. Instead of swimming, the two have clumsy, unsatisfying sex in the changing booth. Later, Stacy tells Linda that she is pregnant. Stacy tells Damone and they decide that an abortion is the only solution. She asks Damone to pay for half the abortion ($150) and give her a ride to the clinic. Damone agrees. A little later, Damone and Ratner get into an argument over Stacy in the locker room after Ratner hears that Damone has been with Stacy. After Damone and Ratner almost get into a fistfight, they cut ties with each other. Damone has a hard time coming up with his half of the money to pay for the abortion. Damone desperately and unsuccessfully attempts to collect from past "clients" who owe him money. It is only then that Damone finally discovers how little power and popularity he has with the other teens. Ashamed, Damone does not show up to drive Stacy to the clinic and avoids her phone calls. Stacy catches a ride with Brad to a nearby bowling alley under the pretense that she is meeting some friends there. Brad sees Stacy leave the bowling alley and enter the clinic. After the procedure is finished, Brad is waiting for Stacy outside and talks to her about what happened, though Stacy will not tell him the identity of the father. Stacy's sibling bond grows with Brad when he shows a brotherly act of kindness by not pressing the issue. Linda, however, is not so charitable. After Stacy tells her of Damone's deception, Linda goes after Damone by scrawling "Prick" in spray paint on his car door and "Little Prick" in marker on his school locker. Another month or two later, Stacy and Mark are fated to be together again when they go on a biology class field trip to observe an autopsy performed by their flaky biology teacher Mr. Vargas (Vincent Schiavelli). Spicoli tags along with the class (despite that he does not take biology) just for the excursion. When Mr. Vargas starts to rip organs from the corpse, Stacy feels sick and Mark helps her out of the procedure room. Stacy is grateful to Mark for staying with her and says he's "a nice guy." School is coming to an end. Mr. Hand takes some revenge on Spicoli by visiting him at his home on the night of the graduation dance and administering an impromptu American History lesson long enough to delay Spicoli until well after the prom has started. Surprisingly, Spicoli does well with Mr. Hand's questioning and the two are actually amiable by the end of the session. Still, the teacher relents on the question of whether or not he will flunk Spicoli, telling the stoned surfer he'll probably "squeak by." Mike Damone and Mark Ratner speak to each other at the prom. A tenuous bond is reformed, but Damone knows he no longer has power over "Rat." In the closing scenes, Stacy, still working at the pizza joint, sees Mark at his station across the mall at the theater. She waves him over and gives him a demure photo of herself. She makes it clear she'd like to begin seeing him again. Mark is at first tentative, but Stacy playfully nudges Mark and eggs him on. He looks at Stacy for a moment, smiles and then says he'll call her. Meanwhile, Brad is working at his new job, the bottom rung on the high school scale of after-school employment: a convenience store called Mi-T-Mart. Spicoli walks in and tries to make a purchase while fumbling with pocket change. He then asks to use the bathroom. As soon as Spicoli walks away to the restroom, a car pulls up to the front of the store, a robber exits the car, walks in the door, sprays the security camera, pulls out a pistol and tells Brad to give him all the money in the wall safe. Brad gets very nervous, and cannot open the safe. But when the armed robber threatens to shoot and kill Brad for stalling, Brad's fear suddenly turns into anger as he mouths off to the armed robber, wishing that he would just die.... as Brad sees this as just another rotten episode in his further disintegrating life. Just then Spicoli walks out of the bathroom complaining that there are no paper towels and he inadvertently distracts the thief for a few seconds, just long enough for a furious Brad to grab and throw a pot of hot coffee in the robber's face, jump over the counter, take his gun away and captures the would-be thief as the criminal's getaway car peels out the parking lot, making Brad a local hero... at least in Spicoli's eyes. Before the end credits roll, the characters' futures are shown: Brad Hamilton: Made manager of Mi-T-Mart, June 12. Mike Damone: Busted for scalping Ozzy Osbourne tickets. Now working at 7-Eleven. Mr. Vargas: Switched back to coffee. Linda Barrett: Attending college in Riverside. Now living with her Abnormal Psych professor. Rat & Stacy: Having a passionate love affair. But still haven't gone all the way. Mr. Hand: Convinced EVERYONE is on dope. Jeff Spicoli: Saved Brooke Shields from drowning. Blows reward money hiring Van Halen to play at his birthday party.