Jude Law

A series of bank robberies and car heists frightens communities in the Pacific Northwest. A lone FBI agent believes that the crimes were not the work of financially motivated criminals but rather a group of dangerous domestic terrorists. In 1983, a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations and armored car heists frightened communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. As baffled law enforcement agents scrambled for answers, a lone FBI agent (Law), stationed in the sleepy, picturesque town of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, came to believe the crimes were not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals but a group of dangerous domestic terrorists, inspired by a radical, charismatic leader (Hoult), plotting a devastating war against the federal government of the United States.

Albus Dumbledore gathers a ragtag group of wizards and witches to stand against the growing might of his one-time friend, the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.

The future of a family is plunged into uncertainty upon relocation from America to England, as the tense isolation of their new home affects them differently.

Stephanie is wrecked by the loss of her family in a plane crash. When she learns it wasn`t an accident, she goes on a path of revenge to find those responsible and make them pay.

Newt Scamander is enlisted by Professor Albus Dumbledore to battle Dark wizard Grindelwald, whose plan to rule over non-magical beings threatens to divide the wizarding world.

Jack Frost, Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy join hands to protect the hopes and dreams of children when an evil boogeyman Pitch threatens to take over the world.

Sherlock Holmes matches wits with his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty, a criminal genius conspiring to make a fortune by manufacturing the next generation of wartime weaponry.

Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days, as the worldwide medical community races to find a cure.

In a dystopian world, a repo man who pursues customers that can no longer pay for their implanted organs ends up buying an artificial heart of his own.

When a string of brutal murders terrorizes London, legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his crime-solving partner, Dr. Watson, work on finding the killer.

Based on Robert Penn Warren`s novel, the film charts the rise and fall of a charming Southern politician and the embittered ex-reporter who fuels his corrupt political ambitions.

A biopic depicting the early years of legendary Director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.

A stylish reinvention of the 1960`s classic, this film is a humorous, sexy and often touching tale of a philosophical womanizer who is forced to question his seemingly carefree existence.

Inventive Violet Baudelaire, her intelligent younger brother Klaus, and their sharp-toothed, precocious baby sister Sunny are orphaned when a mysterious fire destroys their parents' mansion. Mr. Poe, in charge of the Baudelaire estate, entrusts them to their "closest relative," the obnoxious Count Olaf, who is only interested in the money Violet will inherit when she turns 18. He loses custody of the children after unsuccessfully attempting to kill them in a train accident. Poe then sends the Baudelaires to live with their uncle, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, a cheerfully eccentric herpetologist. Planning a trip with the children to Peru, their stay with Uncle Monty is cut short when Olaf appears in disguise as a man named Stephano, who murders Monty and frames a large and poisonous viper for the killing. As the disguised Olaf prepares to spirit the children away, Sunny reveals the snake's true gentle nature, and Olaf's plot is exposed. Poe accepts Olaf's guilt, though not his true identity. Olaf abandons his disguise and escapes. The orphans are then sent to live in Lake Lachrymose, where their Aunt Josephine resides in a house perched precariously on the edge of a cliff overlooking the waters of the vast lake. She has numerous irrational fears, and yet lives in a house populated with many of those things of which she is terrified by - her fear of realtors prevents her from moving. A room of photographs and documents apparently contains clues to the cause of the fire that killed the orphans' parents. However, Olaf arrives once again, disguised as a sailor named Captain Sham, and quickly gains Josephine's confidence. A hurricane comes to Lake Lachrymose, and Olaf regains custody of the children after rescuing them and leaving Josephine to be eaten alive by deadly leeches. Olaf concocts his final plan involving a play starring himself and Violet. In the play, his character marries Violet's character, but in such a way that the staged marriage is legal, gaining him access to her inheritance. This move is accomplished by Olaf's casting of Justice Strauss, as the supposed judge in the play; with her in this role, the marriage is technically legal. To ensure Violet's co-operation, he holds Sunny hostage. However, Klaus succeeds by incinerating Olaf's marriage certificate when he triumphantly climbs to a nearby tower, using the same light-focusing apparatus that Olaf used to set fire to the Baudelaire mansion. Olaf is arrested, but subsequently escapes. At the ruins of the Baudelaires mansion, the three orphans find a letter left to them by their parents before the Baudelaires became orphans, which contains words of hope and encouragement. The envelope also contains a spyglass, one of several that Klaus signifies to imply the presence of a secret society his parents and relatives belonged. The orphans are then sent to new "fortunate" guardians.

Dan (Jude Law) is a young writer walking down a street in downtown London. He spots a young woman (Natalie Portman) with short red-dyed hair walking in the opposite direction and they make eye contact and begin to smile at one another. Not being used to cars driving on the left side of the road in the UK, she steps into traffic after looking the wrong way and gets hit by a car. Dan runs to her side and she looks up and says "Hello, stranger." She isn't badly hurt (aside from a bruised left knee and some cuts and bruises), and Dan takes her to the hospital where they start to get to know each other. As they're leaving the hospital, they pass by a park that Dan remembers from when he was little. They pass a wall and notice that it has the names of firemen, policemen, or anyone else who has given their life to save another person. They get on the bus and continue their conversation. We learn that Dan is a wanna-be writer who daylights as an obituary writer. The young American woman introduces herself as 'Alice Ayres'. She claims that she is a stripper from New York City who has come to London to leave a bad relationship. They finally arrive at Dan's office. He says goodbye and starts to leave and then turns around. When asked if he has a girlfriend, he says "yes". One Year Later. Dan is having his photo taken in a small artist studio by Anna (Julia Roberts). Dan and Alice are living together, and Dan has written a novel about his romantic life with Alice. Anna is taken his photo for the dust jacket of his recently published book. Anna is an American photographer who mainly takes portraits of strangers. She mentions that she likes to go to the aquarium and possibly take photos of people there. She reveals to Dan that she's currently separated from her husband. He learns that shes read his book and likes it. They kiss one another and she learns that he's got a girlfriend and the book is based on her. She ends the kiss at the point, while he's professing that he likes her a lot and needs to see her. She tells him to get over it. At this point the doorbell buzzes and its Alice, who has come to meet Dan having just gotten off her job at a local coffee shop. He lets her up to the studio where she and Anna meet (Note: Alice's hair is slightly longer and is now in its natural medium brown color). Alice asks Anna to take her photograph and Dan leaves so the two of them can be alone. She begins to take her photo and Alice reveals that she heard their conversation on the intercom when she was downstairs. She turns away and Anna begins to apologize. Alice turns back with tears in her eyes and yells at Anna to take the picture. A little later, Dan is in his apartment on his computer. He's in a sex chat room and has logged on as a woman for a joke. He meets another man on the web whose name is Larry (Clive Owen). He's a dermatologist and a sex addic logging on while at work. When he asks Dan for a name, he tells him 'Anna'. They write some hot and heavy stuff back to one another and Dan offers to meet Larry in person as a joke. He tells him to meet him at the aquarium. Larry goes there the next day and Anna is there as a coincidence. He approaches her and they discover that Dan has played a joke on him. He's embarrassed, she's amused, and they start to hit it off. Four months later. Dan and Alice are getting ready to go to Anna's art exhibition. We also learn that Dan's father has just passed away, and Dan is going to the funeral in the countryside after the art exhibition. Alice wants to go with him and support him, but he wants to be alone. They go to the exhibition and see the photo that Anna took of Alice with tears in her eyes. While Alice is looking at it, she meets Larry. They have a brief discussion where Alice and Larry have a mild flirtation, and she learns that Larry and Anna are dating when she comes over and greets Larry. During the conversation between the four of them, Dan is clearly still infatuated with Anna, and she tells him and Alice how she and Larry met, and that they call him 'cupid'. We also learn that Dan's book failed and he is once again an obituary writer. A little later, Dan puts Alice in a taxi cab outside the building, pretending that he's heading straight to the funeral, when actually he goes back to talk to Anna again. Another Year Later. Dan comes into his apartment at first telling Alice that he's been at a business dinner. Finally, he admits that he's been seeing Anna and that they've been having an affair since the evening at the art exhibition. At the same time, Anna is in her apartment with Larry. They are married now and Larry has just returned from a business trip. She doesn't tell him anything at first. Larry says he can't stand lying to her and admits that he slept with a prostitute on his trip. She simply tells him it's OK and then it comes out that she's been having an affair with Dan. Larry is furious and asks her why she bothered to marry him. She says she tried to end it with Dan when she and Larry decided to get married, but it started up again. Larry wants explicit details about her and Dan and she gives them to him. He's furious and tells her to leave. Back at Dan's apartment, Alice is heartbroken and in tears. Dan tries to comfort her and apologizes for hurting her. She leaves the apartment and he has no idea where she's gone. Six Months Later. Larry enters a strip club for a drink and he spots Alice, who's working there as a stripper wearing a skimpy top, G-string and a pink wig. He arranges a private dance with her in room. She gives him one willingly. Afterwards, she flirts and smiles and tells him her name is 'Jane Jones' as part of the act. Larry is torn up about his recent divorce proceedings from Anna and gets frustrated that Alice plays with him and won't take him seriously. He says he wants to sleep with her and she tells him "no". Then he asks for a more intimate look at her, she does what he asks. A Few Months Later. Anna is rushing to meet Dan at a music concert. She apologizes for being late. They sit to have a drink and we learn that she met Larry earlier in the day to have him sign the divorce papers. A few moments later, Dan guesses that Anna slept with Larry that day, and he was right. A flashback shows the meeting earlier, and Larry saying that he will sign the divorce papers if she'll sleep with him one last time, she agrees. Anna says she did it to end the whole thing and that all Larry got was her body. Dan is still upset. Another Few Months Later. Dan storms into Larry's office and angrily reveals that Anna has left him and is back with Larry. Dan tries to confront him and claim that this is all Larry's fault, when Larry reveals that Anna never did file the divorce papers. She is back with Larry because she's doomed to be in rocky relationships because she's a depression junky, but he loves her all the same and wants to be with her. Larry is at first angry with Dan and then begins to pity him because Dan is truly heartbroken and starts to cry. He tells Dan to go back to Alice, and Dan reveals that he doesn't know where she is. Larry tells him about the strip club and assures him that he didn't sleep with Alice when he saw her there. As Dan is leaving, Larry tells Dan that in truth, he did sleep with Alice. Dan goes to the strip club and sees Alice dancing on the stage. They both make eye contact with each other and seem to appear happy to see each other once again. Alice and Dan are in a hotel room near Heathrow Airport. They seem really happy together. She's planning to return to New York and has decided to take him with her as a treat. Alice notes that this is the day when they first met on that London street corner which was four years ago, and Dan remarks how time flies by so fast. Dan asks Alice if she slept with Larry, and she tells him that she didn't. He demands to know the truth. Eventually he leaves the room to get cigarettes and asks Alice for the truth when he gets back. He turns around on his way out and returns to Alice with a flower. She tells him that she's not in love with him anymore. She tells him she stopped loving him just now because he kept pressing about Larry. Finally she admits the truth: she and Larry did sleep together that night after they ran into each other at the strip club. Dan tells her he has known all along and has forgiven her already. He tells her that it doesn't matter and he loves her, but she's fed up and tells him to leave. She starts yelling at him and he slaps her. Shocked by this outburst of violence, Dan leaves the hotel room. Alice arrives back in New York by herself. At the same time, Dan has remained in London. He passes the park from the first day they met and notices one of the names on the wall is 'Alice Ayres'. Back in New York, when "Alice" is going through immigration, we see that her real name on her passport is Jane Jones (the name she had given Larry when he had pressed her for her real name in the strip club). Jane/Alice walks down a busy street in New York, and then she crosses a street against the "Don't Walk" signal, reminding us of the opening scene when she carelessly crossed a street in London, was struck by a taxi, and met Dan. Nonetheless, she is back in her home country, to face an uncertain future... alone.

At the film's inception Jude Law plays a young man named W. P. Inman at a provincial North Carolina town. He meets Ada (Nicole Kidman) and is at the fledgling stages of a relationship with her when he marches off to war as a Confederate soldier. The film opens early in the morning of July 30, 1864. Confederate troops are entrenched outside Petersburg during its siege. The teen-aged Oakley (Lucas Black) is handing out clothes from a wheelbarrow while Inman reads letters from Ada. The soldiers are tired and bored. Most are seasoned veterans who have been fighting for over three years. But meanwhile Union engineers are filling a mine under the Confederate trenches with gunpowder barrels while above, hundreds of Union troops are waiting to attack. Suddenly back at the Confederate siege works, a rabbit hops into the trench. Just as one of the men is about to capture it the ground rises from under him and there is a huge explosion. The Union lit the barrels and most of the trench exploded. As Inman and Oakley get up dazed from the blast, they see Union troops charging at them. As the Union charge, they run right into the crater where the trench used to be and are trapped in a kill zone. The Confederates fire down at them, but the fighting becomes hand to hand and Oakley is pulled down in by a Union soldier and Inman goes after him. Before Inman can reach him, Oakley is bayoneted but survives. Inman shoots the Union soldier with a LeMat revolver he finds and pulls Oakley out of the chaos. The battle ends with a decisive Confederate victory. As the Confederates are cleaning up after the battle, Inman comforts Oakley as he is pulled to the hospital on a cart. Later that day Oakley dies in the hospital with Inman and Stobrod Thewes (Brendan Gleeson) beside him. The next night, Inman, Swimmer (Jay Tavare) and his platoon are sent out to kill surviving Union troops trapped behind the lines. During the raid other Confederate troops open fire killing several Confederates and wounding Inman. While lying in the hospital he has letters read to him from Ada. Inman then decides to desert and go home to Cold Mountain. On his journey he meets the corrupt preacher Reverend Veasey (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who is trying to kill his pregnant lover. After Inman dissuades him, he joins Inman on his journey. They help a young man named Junior (Giovanni Ribisi) butcher his cow and join him and his family for the feast. Junior leaves the house after the feast, and the women in Junior's family seduce Veasey, and Junior's wife, Lila, tries to seduce Inman. Junior returns home with the Confederate Home Guard and both Inman and Veasey are taken prisoner. While the home guard officers attempt to hide from a group of Union soldiers, Inman is able to escape with a wound. An old and wizened woman (Eileen Atkins) care for him and feeds him. He then meets a young widow named Sara (Natalie Portman) who is raising her infant child alone. After staying a night with her, three Union soldiers arrive demanding food. Sara rushes Inman away to avoid his being killed, but he hides only a few feet away from the house. Two of the soldiers harass Sara and leave her baby in the cold, though one (Cillian Murphy) attempts to keep the baby warm. The lead soldier attempts to sexually assault Sara but is killed along with the other soldier by Inman. The kindhearted soldier is shot by Sara. Parallel with Inman's adventures, the film follows Ada's wartime experiences. Ada is a city woman who only recently moved to the rural farm named Black Cove. She met Inman on her first day at Cold Mountain and had a brief romance with him the night before he left for the army. Shortly after Inman leaves, her minister father (Donald Sutherland) dies, leaving her alone on the farm and with little prospect for help, as the young, able-bodied men are off at war. She is completely inept at working the farm, having been raised to become a southern lady and is struggling to survive at the farm. She manages to survive thanks to the kindness of her neighbors, one of whom eventually sends Ruby Thewes (Renee Zellweger) to her. Ruby is a young woman who has lived a hard-scrabble life and is very adept at the tasks needed to run the farm. Ruby lives at the farm with Ada and together, they take the farm from a state of disaster to working order. During this time, Ada writes constant letters to Inman in hopes of meeting him again and renewing their romance. The two women form a close friendship and become each other's confidantes. They also are friends with the Swangers (James Gammon and Kathy Baker), who live down the road from Black Cove. It is at the Swangers' well that Ada "sees" a vision of Inman coming back to her in the snow along with a flock of crows. During the war, Ada and Ruby, and other members of their community, have several tense encounters with men who are members of the Home Guard. This branch of the Home Guard is led by Teague, whose grandfather once owned much of Cold Mountain. He and his deputies hunt deserters partially with the goal of Teague seizing their land. Teague also lusts after Ada. Although the purpose of the Home Guard was to protect the south and its citizen population from the North, they have become violent vigilantes who hunt and often kill deserters from the Confederate Army and terrorize citizens they believe are housing or helping the deserters, including the Swangers' sons, who by torturing their mother they coax out of hiding to be killed. Esco Swanger - the family patriarch - is also killed in protection of his sons. Ruby's estranged father Stobrod (Brendan Gleeson), also a Confederate deserter and a violin player, arrives and reconciles with her. He convinces her to make a coat for his intellectually devoid banjo player Pangle (Ethan Suplee). Ruby also finds herself drawn to mandolin player Georgia (Jack White). While camping, Stobrod, Pangle and Georgia are cornered by the Home Guardsmen led by Teague. Pangle unintentionally reveals the band as the deserters Teague is seeking. Georgia is hidden a few feet away and witnesses the shooting of Pangle and Stobrod. He informs Ruby and Ada, who rush to the campsite to find Pangle dead and Stobrod injured. They decide to stay at some cabins in the woods to avoid Teague and his men. It is at this moment that the two-story lines re-converge when Inman finally reaches Cold Mountain and is almost killed by Ada before she recognizes him. They later consummate their love and spend the night together. The Home Guardsmen, however, soon find the couple in the mountain and determine to kill Inman, as they know he's a deserter. While fighting off the hunters, Inman is shot by the young and violent Bosie (Charlie Hunnam) but manages to kill him as well. Ada goes to him and finds him just as she saw in the well earlier when he was coming back to her. He dies in her arms. The film ends several years later with Ada, Ruby and their families celebrating Easter. Ruby has married Georgia, and the two have an infant child. Her father Stobrod is revealed to have survived, and it is revealed that Ada's night with Inman had given her a child, Grace Inman.

In a future world of runaway global warming and awe-inspiring scientific advances, humans share every aspect of their lives with sophisticated companion robots called Mechas. But when an advanced prototype robot child named David is programmed to show unconditional love, his human family isn't prepared for the consequences. Suddenly, David is on his own in a strange and dangerous world. Befriended by a streetwise Mecha, David embarks on a spectacular quest to discover the startling secret of his own identity.

In September 1942, Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), a shepherd from the Ural Mountains who is now a soldier in the Red Army, finds himself on the front lines of the Battle of Stalingrad. Stalingrad is the last major city standing between the rampaging German forces and Moscow. Khrushchev orders the city to be held at all costs. Stalingrad as a city stands in ruins as neither army is willing to retreat. If Germany wins Stalingrad, they will control the rich oil fields of Central Asia. Troops are brought to the other side of the Volga River in freight trains and are then crammed into flimsy boats and are made to cross the Volga River without any fire cover. The Volga River is heavily bombarded by German artillery fire and fighter planes. Several boats perish in the attempt. Any soldiers who attempt to jump into the water are shot down by the propaganda officers who are on each boat. The docks of Stalingrad are littered with bodies of soldiers crippled in the war. Soldiers are forced into a suicidal charge without a rifle but with ammunition (half the soldiers were given a rifle, and the other half were given one pallet of ammunition (with 5 bullets) and were instructed to scrounge for supplies from other dead soldiers), the charge comes under heavy German fire from machine guns & tanks around the city. If the Soviet soldiers try to retreat, they are shot down by their own seniors who do not allow them to return to Soviet lines. The German loudspeakers ask Soviet soldiers to surrender as the Germans would treat them better than their own officers. Vassili hides among a pile of corpses, while a tank shell incapacitates a car. The occupant, Commissar Danilov, takes cover in the same heap of corpses and finds a rifle. Vassili reveals himself, advising the commissar not to fire until an explosion covers the noise. Danilov gives the rifle to Vassili, who, to the former's astonishment, is able to kill five German soldiers in less than a minute. Vassili uses impressive marksmanship skills taught to him by his grandfather from a young age to save himself and commissar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes). Together, Vassili and Danilov return to the Soviet base outside Stalingrad. Nikita Khrushchev (Bob Hoskins) arrives in Stalingrad to coordinate the city's defenses and demands ideas to improve morale. While the other commissars suggest more severe discipline and terror, Danilov, now a Senior Lieutenant, suggests that the people need figures to idolize, and publishes tales of Vassili's exploits in the army's newspaper that paint him as a national hero and propaganda icon. Vassili is transferred to the sniper division, and he and Danilov become friends. They also both become romantically interested in Tania (Rachel Weisz), a citizen of Stalingrad who has become a Private in the local militia. Danilov has her transferred to an intelligence unit away from the battlefield and ostensibly to make use of her German skills in translating radio intercepts. With the Soviet snipers taking an increasing toll on the German forces, German Major Erwin Konig (Ed Harris) is deployed to Stalingrad to take out Vassili and thus crush Soviet morale. A renowned marksman and head of the German Army sniper school at Zossen, he lures Vassili into a trap and takes out two of his fellow snipers, but Vassili manages to escape. When the Red Army command learns of Konig's mission, they dispatch his former student Koulikov (Ron Perlman) to help Vassili kill him. However, Konig tricks Koulikov into revealing his position and kills him with a very skillful shot, shaking Vassili's spirits considerably. Khrushchev pressures Danilov to bring the sniper standoff to a conclusion. When Tania requests to be reassigned to the sniper division, Danilov asks Vassili to discourage her. Vassili attempts to do so but relents when Tania tells him how her Hebrew parents were murdered by the Germans. Danilov recruits young local boy Sacha Fillipov (Gabriel Thomson), who idolizes Vassili and does small jobs for the Germans in exchange for food, to act as a double agent by passing Konig false information about Vassili's whereabouts, thus giving Vassili a chance to ambush the Major. Vassili sets a trap for Konig and manages to wound him, but during a second attempt Vassili falls asleep after many hours and his sniper log is taken by a looting German soldier. The German command takes the log as evidence of Vassili's death and plans to send Konig home, but the Major does not believe that Vassili is dead. General Friedrich Paulus confiscates Konig's dog tags to prevent Soviet propaganda from profiting if Konig is killed and identified. In turn, König gives the general a War Merit Cross that was posthumously awarded to his son, a lieutenant in the 116th Infantry Division who was killed in the early days of the battle. Konig tells Sacha where he will be next, suspecting that the boy will tell Vassili. Tania and Vassili have meanwhile fallen in love. That night, Tania secretly goes to the Soviet barracks and makes love with Vassili. The jealous Danilov disparages Vassili in a letter to his superiors. Konig spots Tania and Vassili waiting for him at his next ambush, confirming his suspicions about Sacha. He kills the boy and hangs his body from a pole to bait Vassili. Vassili vows to kill Konig and sends Tania and Danilov to evacuate Sacha's mother (Eva Mattes) from the city, but Tania is wounded by shrapnel en route to the evacuation boats. Thinking her dead, Danilov laments his jealousy for Vassili and his resulting disenchantment with the communist cause. Finding Vassili waiting to ambush Konig, Danilov intentionally exposes himself in order to reveal the Major's position and is killed. Thinking he has killed Vassili, Konig goes to inspect the body, but realizes too late that he has fallen into a trap and is in Vassili's sights. He turns to face Vassili, who then kills him. Two months later, after Stalingrad has been liberated and the German forces have surrendered, Vassili finds Tania recovering in a field hospital.

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.

Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is a young man struggling to make a living in late 1950s New York City using his "talents"; forgery, lying and impersonation. One day, while working as a restroom attendant at a fancy Manhattan hotel, he meets a Princeton graduate who bribes him to work at an alumni party at playing the piano because the Princeton guy just broke his hand and cannot play. Ripley accepts. While playing piano at a cocktail party, Ripley is approached by wealthy shipbuilder Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn), who mistakenly believes that Ripley went to Princeton with his son, Dickie, because Ripley is wearing the borrowed Princeton blazer. Greenleaf recruits Ripley to travel to Italy and persuade Dickie to return to the United States, for which he will pay Ripley $1,000. Ripley accepts the proposal, even though he did not attend Princeton and has never met Dickie. Ripley's personal life is soon revealed after the party where he lives in a small, two-room apartment in a rundown part of the city. His home town and origins are unknown. It is implied that several years earlier, Ripley came out as a homosexual to his parents who reacted by throwing him out of their house and severing all ties with him. Now alone, Ripley struggles to get by without family support as well as search for his one true love as an outlet for his loneliness. Upon arriving by ship in Europe, Ripley meets a young and wealthy textile heiress named Meredith Logue (Cate Blanchett). During their brief conversation he impulsively pretends to be Dickie, later commenting in voice-over that "it is better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody." Shortly after his arrival in Italy, Ripley fakes a chance encounter on the beach with Dickie (Jude Law) and his fiancee, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), and attempts to convince Dickie that the two met at Princeton. Ripley later visits Dickie and Marge and discloses that Dickie's father paid him to travel to Europe and persuade Dickie to return home. This revelation infuriates Dickie; he declines the invitation and suggests Ripley go back to America and inform his father that he has no intention of ever returning. Ripley instead insinuates himself into Dickie's life under the pretext of being a fellow jazz lover. The two concoct a scheme for Ripley to wring additional funds from Herbert Greenleaf by regularly mailing letters suggesting Dickie is wavering and will likely return to America if Ripley can remain in Italy and continue applying pressure. On a jaunt to Rome, Ripley meets Dickie's friend Freddie Miles (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who treats Ripley with barely concealed contempt. A local girl, whom Dickie had impregnated, drowns herself after he refuses to help her financially; this sends Dickie into a downward spiral. He begins getting tired of Ripley, resenting his constant presence and suffocating dependence. Ripley's own feelings are complicated by his desire to maintain the opulent lifestyle Dickie has afforded him, and his growing sexual obsession with his new friend. As a good-will gesture before Ripley returns to America, Dickie invites Ripley to sail with him for a last trip to San Remo, where Dickie is shopping for a new residence. While at sea, Ripley suggests he return to Italy the following year and the two become housemates. Dickie dismisses Ripley's plan, informs him that he intends to marry Marge and admits he has grown weary of Tom. Upset by this news, Ripley confronts Dickie about his behavior and lashes out in rage, repeatedly hitting Dickie with an oar, killing him. Ripley holds Dickie's dead body as the boat slowly drifts to shore. To conceal the murder, Ripley scuttles the boat with Dickie's body aboard before swimming ashore. When the hotel concierge mistakes him for Dickie, Ripley realizes he can assume Dickie's identity. He forges Dickie's signature, modifies his passport and begins living off Dickie's trust fund. He uses Dickie's typewriter to communicate with Marge, making her believe that Dickie has left her and has decided to stay in Rome. He checks into two separate hotels as himself and as Dickie, passing messages via the hotel staff to create the illusion that Dickie is still alive. His situation is complicated by the reappearance of Meredith, who still believes that he is Dickie. Ripley rents a large apartment and spends a lonely Christmas buying himself expensive presents. Freddie tracks Ripley to his apartment in Rome through the American Express office, expecting to find Dickie. Freddie is immediately suspicious of Ripley as the apartment is not furnished in Dickie's style, while Ripley appears to have adopted Dickie's hair-style and mannerisms. On his way out, Freddie encounters the building's landlady who refers to Ripley as "Signor Dickie" and remarks on the piano music constantly emanating from the apartment. Freddie notes that Dickie does not play piano and goes back to confront Ripley who attacks Freddie, hitting him over the head with a heavy statue, murdering him. Ripley carries the heavy body to Freddie's car, drives to the woods, abandoning the vehicle and leaving Freddie's corpse lying on the ground in a creek, where it is quickly discovered. Ripley's existence then becomes a cat-and-mouse game with the Italian police and Dickie's friends. Ripley eludes imminent capture and clears himself by forging a suicide note addressed to Ripley in Dickie's name. He then moves to Venice and rents an apartment under his real name. Though trusted by Dickie's father, Ripley is disquieted when Mr. Greenleaf hires American private detective Alvin MacCarron to investigate Dickie's disappearance. Marge suspects Ripley's involvement in Dickie's death and confronts him after finding Dickie's rings in Ripley's bathroom. Ripley appears poised to murder Marge but is interrupted when Peter Smith-Kingsley (Jack Davenport), a mutual friend, enters the apartment with a key Ripley had given him. At the climax, Marge, Dickie's father, and MacCarron all confront Ripley at his apartment in Venice, but luck seems to stay with Ripley; MacCarron, after uncovering certain sordid details about Dickie's past, reveals to Ripley that Mr. Greenleaf has requested the investigation be dropped. MacCarron will not share his revelations with the Italian police and asks Ripley to promise to do the same. In exchange for his candor, and implications made in Dickie's suicide note, Herbert Greenleaf intends to transfer a substantial portion of Dickie's trust fund income to Ripley. Marge is dismayed at the resolution, furiously accusing Ripley of involvement in Dickie's disappearance before Greenleaf and MacCarron drag her away. Alienated with them and Ripley, Marge leaves to return to America. Now lovers, Ripley and Peter go on a cruise together, only to discover that Meredith is also on board. Ripley realizes that he cannot prevent Peter from communicating with Meredith and discovering that he has been passing himself off as Dickie. Peter and Meredith know each other and would certainly meet at some point on the voyage. He cannot solve this dilemma by murdering Meredith, because she is accompanied by her family. Ripley enters Peter's room and suggests the two remain below deck for the duration of the cruise, but quickly dismisses this idea as he cannot offer Peter a legitimate reason for doing so. Ripley sobs as he strangles Peter to death, throws his body overboard, then returns to his own cabin, where he sits alone. Although Tom Ripley knows that he has gotten away with his crimes and will never be brought to justice, he has sadly resigned himself to a solitary life without love or acceptance.

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

In "the not-too-distant" future, where genetic engineering of humans is common and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class, Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is conceived and born without the aid of this technology. Suffering from the nearly eradicated physical dysfunctions of myopia and a congenital heart defect, as well as being given a life expectancy of 30.2 years, Vincent faces extreme genetic discrimination and prejudice. The only way he can achieve his life-long dream of becoming an astronaut is to break the law and impersonate a "valid", a person with appropriate genetic advantage.[4] He assumes the identity of Jerome Eugene Morrow (Jude Law), a former swimming star who, despite a genetic profile "second to none", won only a silver medal in a high-profile competition. He then attempted to commit suicide by jumping in front of a car, but again fell short of his goal in that he only succeeded in paralyzing himself from the waist down. However, as the incident occurred outside the country, no one knows of his newly acquired disability. Thus, Vincent can "buy" his identity with no one the wiser. Though he requires orthopedic surgery to increase his height, persistant practice to favor his right hand instead of his left, and contact lenses to replace his glasses while matching Jerome's eyes, he can use his "valid" DNA in blood, tissue and urine samples to pass any genetic test - as long as he takes extreme measures to leave no traces of his identity as an "in-valid". But, where he was once an object of scorn and pity, he is now a perpetrator of an unspeakable fraud. Legally, exposure would only subject him to fines, but socially the consequences would be far more extreme - he is now a heretic against the new order of genetic determinism. Vincent is now a "borrowed ladder" (a reference to the ladder structure of an un-coiled DNA strand) or in harsher language, a de-gene-erate. With Jerome's impressive genetic profile he easily gains access to the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation (his interview consists entirely of a urine test), the most prestigious space-flight conglomerate of the day. With his own equally impressive determination, he quickly becomes the company's ace celestial navigator. But a week before Vincent is scheduled to leave for Saturn's moon Titan, the mission director is murdered, and evidence of Vincent's own "in-valid" DNA is found in the building in the form of an eyelash. The presence of this unexpected DNA attracts the attention of the police, and Vincent must evade ever-increasing security as his mission launch date approaches and he pursues a relationship with his co-worker Irene Cassini (Uma Thurman). After numerous close calls, the investigation eventually comes to a close as Director Josef (Gore Vidal) is arrested for the murder by the lead detective covering the investigation (Alan Arkin). The Director reveals that he murdered the mission director in order to buy time for the mission to launch, because the window of opportunity for the launch is only open once every seventy years, and that it is now too late to stop the launch. However, just as Vincent appears to be in the clear, he is confronted by one of the detectives, who is revealed as Vincent's estranged brother, Anton (Loren Dean). Anton tries to convince Vincent to go with him for protection before Vincent is found out. However, it soon becomes apparent that Anton is acting more out of insecurity and is more concerned with how Vincent had managed to get the better of him, despite his supposed genetic superiority. Vincent and Anton settle their competition as they did when they were children, by seeing who could swim out into the ocean farthest. As he did once before when they were young, Vincent manages to beat his brother, and, once again, saves him from drowning. This is simply because he refused to save any strength to swim back - he is willing to risk everything to succeed. Conversely his brother worried about preserving enough strength to swim out and return again, and these fears kept him from testing his true limits. Anton: "Vincent! How are you doing this, Vincent? How have you done any of this? We have to go back!" Vincent: "It's too late for that, we're closer to the other side." Anton: "What other side? Do you want to drown us both" Vincent: "You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton. I never saved anything for the swim back." As the day of the launch finally arrives, Jerome bids Vincent farewell and says that he intends to travel too. He reveals that he has stored enough genetic samples to last Vincent two lifetimes. Overwhelmed and grateful, Vincent thanks Jerome for "lending" him the identity that has allowed his success at Gattaca. Jerome replies, however, that it is he who should be grateful, since Vincent lent Jerome his dreams. As Vincent moves through the Gattaca complex to the launch site, he is stopped for an unexpected DNA test. Vincent reluctantly agrees to take the test, even though he has none of Jerome's genetic material to hide his identity. The test result uncovers Vincent's "in-valid" status, and the doctor, Lamar (Xander Berkeley), reveals that he has known Vincent's true identity all along, saying: "For future reference, right-handed men don't hold it with their left. Just one of those things". Lamar then alters the test result to allow him to proceed regardless, confessing that his son admires Vincent, and wants to be an astronaut just like him, despite an unforeseen genetic defect that would already rule him out. As the shuttle lifts off, Jerome is shown committing suicide inside his home incinerator, wearing his silver medal, which turns gold in the flames. The story centers on the irony of the perfect Jerome failing to succeed despite being given every advantage while the imperfect Vincent transcends his deficiencies through force of will and spirit. A milder version of the disorder that afflicts Vincent prevents Irene from taking part in space flight. This dichotomy shows how the eugenic policy in Gattaca and the world in which it is set adversely affect the humanity of both Vincent and Jerome, as well as the "invalid" and "valid" humans they represent. A coda, cut from the final film, lists various people who have succeeded despite genetic deficiencies (and would be excluded in the modern society of Gattaca), such as Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln.