Jodie Foster

Based on his memoir, this legal drama follows Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was arrested after the 9/11 attacks and detained for over 14 years without being charged with a crime.

In the taut and tense thriller Money Monster, Lee Gates ( George Clooney ) is a bombastic TV personality whose popular financial network show has made him the money wiz of Wall Street. But after he hawks a high tech stock that mysteriously crashes, an irate investor ( Jack OConnell ) takes Gates, his crew, and his ace producer Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) hostage live on air. Unfolding in real time, Gates and Fenn must find a way to keep themselves alive while simultaneously uncovering the truth behind a tangle of big money lies.

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the planet`s crime and poverty, and they critically need the state-of-the-art medical care available on Elysium - but some in Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens` luxurious lifestyle. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission-one that pits him against Elysium`s Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces - but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the planet`s crime and poverty, and they critically need the state-of-the-art medical care available on Elysium - but some in Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens` luxurious lifestyle. The only man with the chance to bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission-one that pits him against Elysium`s Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces - but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well.

Tarzan and Jane Porter face a mercenary army dispatched by the evil CEO of Greystoke Energies, a man who took over the company from Tarzan's parents, after they died in a helicopter crash. Stranded in the heart of the untamed African jungle, orphaned John Jr, the helpless little son of the famous industrialist John Greystoke, finds a new family in the shape of a mighty female silverback gorilla. And, almost two decades later, Johnny becomes Tarzan or the fearless Ape without Fur. But, before long, Tarzan finds himself up against the unscrupulous young CEO of Greystoke Energies, William Clayton, as his evil plan to exploit the unharnessed force of a prehistoric meteor threatens the already fragile equilibrium of the forest. Now, in search of fragments of the rare celestial body, Clayton will stop at nothing to rob the jungle of its invaluable resource. However, not if Tarzan and Jane, the adventurous daughter of the late explorer James Porter, can help it. Will the ruthless invaders desecrate Tarzan's virgin realm? —Nick Riganas

Nim's Island tells the story of a young girl named Nim (Abigail Breslin). She lives on a beautiful uncharted island with her father Jack Rusoe (Gerard Butler), a research scientist studying microscopic marine organisms. She spends her days having wild adventures in the woods along with her animal friends, Fred the lizard, Galileo the pelican, and Selki the seal, and her wild imagination. Nim has a huge passion for books, especially the Alex Rover books. Jack is about to take Nim on a two day research trip looking for protozoa, but Nim begs to be left behind so she can help the hatching baby sea turtles. Jack reluctantly leaves Nim behind and sails out to sea. While he is away, Alexandra Rover (Jodie Foster) the author of the Rover books emails Jack to get his knowledge about volcanoes for her next book. Nim replies thinking he is the great adventurer Alex Rover. Everything goes well until a huge storm hits the island and Jack becomes lost at sea. Nim sends a letter to her literary hero pleading for help. Little does Nim know, that Alex Rover is a woman (Jodie Foster). Alexandra is agoraphobic and never leaves the house. She rarely even opens her front door. Alex also has a wild immagination, whereas her fictional character Alex Rover (also Gerard Butler) talks to her, mocks her, and gives her pep talks. When they find Nim's Letter, fictional Alex badgers Alexandra until he finally convinces her to leave the confines of her townhouse to go and help Nim. After a long and terrifying journey, both of the Alex's make it to Nim's Island and try to help. Will they find Nim's father? Find out by going to see Nim's Island.

As World War I draws to an end, a young French woman's greatest fight is about to begin. Mathilde has received word that her fiancé Manech is one of five wounded soldiers who have been court-martialed and pushed out into the no-man's land between the French and German armies... an almost certain death. Unwilling to accept that her beloved Manech is lost to her forever, Mathilde embarks on a extraordinary journey to discover the fate of her lover. At each turn, she receives a different heartbreaking variation on how Manech must have spent those last days, those last moments. Still, she never gets discouraged. If Manech were dead, Mathilde would know. With a steadfast faith, strengthened by hope and a stubbornly cheerful disposition, Mathilde follows her investigation to its conclusion, convincing those who might help her and ignoring those who will not. As she draws closer to the truth about the five unfortunate soldiers and their brutal punishment, she is drawn deeper into the horrors of war and the indelible marks it leaves on those whose lives it has touched.

Trapped in their home`s panic room, Meg Altman and her daughter play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders. But what they really want is inside the room itself.

Set in the American Old West, the story is a first-person account by a wisecracking gambler Bret Maverick (Mel Gibson), of his misadventures on the way to a major five-card draw poker tournament being held on the paddle steamer Lauren Belle. Besides wanting to win the poker championship for the money, he also wants to prove, once and for all, that he is "the best". Maverick rides into the fictional town of Crystal River intending to collect money owed to him, as he is $3,000 short of the poker tournament entry fee of $25,000. His efforts to make up this $3,000 provide some plot motivation, as well as diversions caused by, and in the company of, three people he encounters at a poker game at Crystal River: an antagonist named Angel (Alfred Molina), a young con-artist calling herself Mrs Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster), and legendary lawman Marshal Zane Cooper (James Garner). The first two are also rival poker players. Maverick, Bransford and Cooper share a stagecoach. They narrowly escape a fatal plunge into a ravine after their elderly driver suddenly dies. During their journey they agree to help a wagon train of migrant evangelist settlers who have been waylaid by ruffians. The settlers offer Maverick a percentage of the recovered money they desperately need to start their mission, while one spinster missionary suggests marriage to Cooper, but both men turn down the offers. They are also headed-off by a troop of Indians led by Joseph (Graham Greene). Unknown to his companions, Joseph and Maverick are good friends, and Maverick allows himself to be "captured." Joseph is another one of his unreliable debtors, and Maverick tries to collect the $1,000 that Joseph owes him. In and around his tribal grounds they collaborate on a scheme to swindle a Russian Grand Duke. Still seething over his loss in the Crystal River game, Angel receives a telegram instructing him to stop Maverick from reaching the Poker game at Lauren Belle, and has also learned that Maverick had conned him in Crystal River. Angel catches up with Maverick after he has left Joseph's tribe, beats him up and attempts to hang him. Despite being tied to both a tree and to his horse, Maverick escapes and reaches the poker game, which is taking place on a paddle steamer. Bransford and Angel have also reached the game, and Cooper has been engaged to oversee its security. Still $2,000 short, he makes his way to the Lauren Belle and finds Bransford, who is still $4,000 short herself. Spotting the Archduke aboard, Maverick poses as a Bureau of Indian Affairs agent investigating the shooting of Indians for game, conning the Archduke out of $6,000 to cover his and Bransford's entry. Commodore Duvall welcomes the competitors to the tournament, with Cooper overseeing the security of the game and the $500,000 prize money and watching for any cheaters, who will be summarily thrown overboard if discovered. After the others are eliminated, the four finalists are Maverick, Bransford, Angel, and Commodore Duvall (James Coburn), the boat's owner and the tournament organizer. Prior to this game, Maverick and Bransford have a tryst in his quarters. Maverick almost fails to reach the final table by the 5:00 AM deadline, having had his stateroom door chained shut (by an unknown person) after a short tryst with Bransford. He manages to climb outside the steamer to reach the table on time. The game proceeds, with Bransford the first eliminated, and shortly thereafter a "fixed" hand is dealt to the three remaining players. The Commodore is given four 8s and Angel is given a low straight flush, whilst Maverick has the 10, jack, queen and king of spades. The Commodore and Angel each bet "all in". Maverick observes the dealer bottom-dealing to the others, protests the conduct of the hand, and eventually accepts one card dealt by Angel and calls without checking the card. It turns out to be the ace of spades, giving Maverick an unbeatable royal flush and the championship. An enraged Angel draws his gun, but he and his stooges in the audience are gunned down by Cooper and Maverick. Three plot twists follow Maverick's win. First, Cooper steals the $500,000 prize money instead of presenting it to Maverick. Second, it is revealed that the Commodore and Cooper were secretly in cahoots on the theft and that Angel had actually been working for the Commodore. Third, the Commodore betrays Cooper, but before he can shoot him, Maverick ambushes the two around a campfire and steals back the money, leaving them a single gun to settle their affairs. The gun turns out to be unloaded, and Cooper beats up the Commodore, then sets out to take revenge on Maverick. Later, Maverick is relaxing in a bath-house when Cooper finds him, and drops the facade to reveal that he is in fact Maverick's father. The real conspiracy was in fact between the two of them. However, Bransford enters the bath-house and robs Cooper and Maverick (whose relationship she had surmised from their similar mannerisms). After she escapes, Maverick reveals she only got away with half of the money, as Maverick had hidden the rest in his boots. Maverick and his father smile as he comments that it will be a lot of fun getting the rest of the money back from her.

A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift. Dede is a sole parent trying to bring up her son Fred. When it is discovered that Fred is a genius, she is determined to ensure that Fred has all the opportunities that he needs, and that he is not taken advantage of by people who forget that his extremely powerful intellect is harboured in the body and emotions of a child. —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au> Uneducated working class Dede Tate is the loving single mom to now seven year old Fred Tate, the two who live in a small inner city apartment. Dede has known since Fred was an infant that he is gifted, even more so than the most exceptional of children. His gifts, which are in the sciences and creative arts, are largely intuitive. Because so, he is a sensitive human, who internalizes many of his feelings, and who has ulcers in part because he worries about the world's problems. But more than anything, Fred wants to have friends, which he doesn't have at his inner city public school because he is considered different. Dede understands this, and although she does indulge some of his intellectual pursuits, she wants him to be like a "normal" kid. Their lives change when Fred comes to the attention of Jane Grierson of the Grierson Institute, a school for exceptional children. Jane was considered an exceptional child herself. Jane wants Fred to enroll in the Institute and after she gets to know him better wants to take him under her personal wing. But taking Fred to the other extreme may not be what Fred needs to flourish either. In addition, people who do truly become Fred's first ever close friends as he sees them may not truly understand what literal Fred needs in his friend virginity. A battle of sorts ensues between the two women as they do what they believe is best for Fred, who brings out maternal instincts for the first time ever in Jane. —Huggo The story of the intellectually-gifted eight-year-old Fred Tate, his mother Dede and the director of a program for gifted children, Dr Jane Grierson. It explores the tension between Fred's emotional and intellectual needs and between his mother and Dr Grierson. —Mike McBain <mike@calcite.apana.org.au>

After Sarah is gang-raped in the back of a bar, she finds herself battling the legal system, not once but twice, as she and her attorney go after both her attackers and the onlookers.

Emotionally scarred from Vietnam, taxi driver Travis is increasingly disturbed by the underbelly of nighttime Manhattan and soon finds his thoughts turning towards violence.

Tom Sawyer (Johnny Whitaker) and Huckleberry Finn (Jeff East) play hooky from school and have a plan to revive a dead cat with the spirit of a man who is on his death bed. Sawyer and Finn talk with Muff Potter (Warren Oates), the town drunk, but are interrupted when Injun Joe (Henry O'Brien) says that Doc Robinson (Richard Eastham) wants to see them. Potter and Joe meet Robinson and he informs them that they have a job to dig the grave of Williams. Joe is angry that Robinson didn't fix his leg correctly. Meanwhile, Sawyer continues to skip school and comes up with fantastic stories about why he's not home for dinner, where he tricks the children of the town to do his punishment chores for him. After Williams dies, the two go to the graveyard and find out that Potter and Joe are digging up a grave on the advice of Doc Robinson. Joe continues to be angry at Robinson and demands more money for the job. When Robinson refuses, Joe picks up a shovel, accidentally knocking Potter out, hits Robinson into the grave with the shovel, then grabs Potter's knife and jumps in after Robinson. Sawyer and Finn witness all this and then run off, making a pact not to tell anyone what they saw. Joe frames Potter for the murder and Potter goes to jail. Meanwhile, the beautiful Becky Thatcher (Jodie Foster) moves to town which sends Sawyer into a romantic daze. At the trial for Potter, Sawyer is unable to contain himself as Joe is called to the stand and lies about the incident, continuing to frame Potter for the murder. As Sawyer is called to the stand, he relates what happened, not mentioning that Finn was with him. Suddenly, Joe throws a knife at Sawyer, narrowly missing Sawyer's head and jumps out the window of the courthouse, fleeing. After the trial, Sawyer and Thatcher get "engaged" but that quickly ends when Sawyer mentions he's also engaged to Amy Lawrence. After sulking, Sawyer is attacked by Finn for "breaking the pact" and they both decide to run away. While paddling down the Mississippi, their raft is capsized by a passing riverboat and they end up on an island where they enjoy freedom and muse over what happened to Joe. While on the island, they witness some people "dragging the river", a process where a cannon is fired to bring up any bodies from the bottom of the river. Sawyer and Finn decide to "go home" and find out that there's a funeral being held for them. The funeral service breaks up when Judge Thatcher (Noah Keen) sees them in the back of the church. The Widow Douglas (Lucille Benson) takes Finn under her wing after that. Later, at a 4th of July celebration, Sawyer and Becky Thatcher go into McDougal's Cave for a drink of water from the underground spring and run into Joe. Joe chases them through the cave, intent to kill Sawyer. However, Judge Thatcher, Muff Potter and Huckleberry Finn catch up to Joe and Potter throws a torch at Joe and he falls to his death. Later, Finn disappears, worrying the Widow Douglas and Sawyer finds him at the old fishing place they hang out at. Sawyer berates Finn for worrying Douglas, and Potter decides to leave the town.