Juliette Lewis

A dysfunctional married couple retreats to a secluded cabin to repair their relationship, but each secretly plots to murder the other.

When a bounty hunter and a band of unlikely heroes pursue a brutal killer, they find themselves in a deadly no-man's-land known as The Thicket. When fierce bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Peter Dinklage) is recruited by a desperate man to track down a ruthless killer known only as Cutthroat Bill (Juliette Lewis), he rallies a band of unlikely heroes including a grave-digging ex-slave and a street-smart woman-for-hire. Together they embark on a perilous quest to track down Cutthroat Bill that leads them into the deadly "no-man's-land" known as... The Thicket.

A woman takes advantage of her growing celebrity status when the police and the public think her dead husband is just missing.

Teenager Maggie Thompson moves with her mother Erica to her Ohio hometown after Erica's husband leaves her. At her new high school, Maggie befriends Haley, Darrell, Chaz, and Andy, who immediately develops a crush on her. They convince Sue Ann "Ma" Ellington, a veterinary technician, to help them buy alcohol because they are underage. Sue Ann anonymously reports the teenagers' activities, but they are released because of the officer's history with Andy's father, Ben. The next day, Sue Ann invites the teenagers to drink in her basement. The next time they go, Sue Ann has decorated her basement and lots of other teenagers show up at her house to party, making her popular among the students. However, her hospitality starts to annoy the group as she continuously harasses them to engage in various activities with her. One night, Sue Ann sees Andy and Maggie kissing and becomes jealous (as she is in love with him, having had a crush on his father, Ben, in high school). She drugs Maggie immediately after and takes her earrings. The next morning, Maggie wakes up and notices her earrings are missing and is badly bruised and cut. Scared, Maggie tells Andy that she does not want to go to her house anymore and that she does not want him to go as well and he agrees. One day to earn the group's trust back, Ma meets with them to tell them that she has pancreatic cancer (which is a lie) and that is why she acts the way she does. As she is talking, Haley notices that she is wearing a bracelet that belongs to a friend of theirs. The girls suspect that Sue Ann has been stealing their jewelry so they go to her house to investigate. They are surprised by Genie, Sue Ann's daughter from a failed marriage, who Maggie thought used a wheelchair, but she is clearly able-bodied. She warns them as Sue Ann arrives home, and they narrowly escape. Ben shows up at Sue Ann's job, to drop off his cat and invites her out for drinks after work. Sue Ann goes home to change and meets him at the bar, where Ben confronts Sue Ann with a tracking device and asks her why his son has been at her house so much. Ben warns Sue Ann to stay away from Andy, calling her pathetic. A flashback reveals that Sue Ann, who had a crush on Ben in high school, performed fellatio on him in a closet. Once she left the closet, it turned out that she had been doing it to another boy and Ben had tricked her. Ben had gotten the entire school to witness the event (including his current girlfriend Mercedes and a young Erica), and Sue Ann suffered devastating humiliation, which she never recovered from. An increasingly unstable Sue Ann runs over Mercedes with her truck, killing her. She kills her boss, draws blood from Maggie's dog Louie, and lures Ben to her house, where she knocks him out. Ben wakes up trapped in her bed; Sue Ann pumps Louie's blood into his body, slashes his wrist, and leaves him to die. Maggie tells her mother the truth about Sue Ann and is grounded. Sue Ann sends Maggie a picture of herself with Andy in her basement at Chaz's birthday party. Hurt that he went back to her house despite promising that he would not go back, she sneaks out of the house to confront him. When she arrives, she notices that everyone has left and that only the original group remain. She tries to get Andy to leave but soon realizes that Andy and the rest of her friends have been drugged. Maggie tries to get help and in the process finds Ben's body. As she stands there in horror, Sue Ann renders her unconscious. Maggie awakens chained in the basement. Sue Ann irons Chaz's stomach, sews Haley's mouth shut, and paints Darrell's face white with industrial paint, because she feels there is only room for one black person in the group, and that is her. Andy awakens, and tries to seduce Sue Ann, as he is well aware that she is in love with him. He tries to trick her by telling her that he loves her and kisses her but she stabs him after knowing that he is lying. An officer arrives and when Maggie screams for help, Sue Ann shoots the officer dead before he can react. She then gathers the four friends around the couch with her and makes Maggie take photos of them together in a crude recreation of what Sue Ann always longed for but never had. Sue Ann then leaves Maggie to be hanged before Genie intervenes. Everyone else wakes up to discover what Sue Ann has done to them but barely have time to react as the house is on fire and need to find a way out. Erica, knowing where Maggie would be, calls her co-worker Stu for help and the two save the teenagers. Sue Ann attempts to throw Genie into the fire, blaming Erica for not stopping Ben from pulling the prank in school. Maggie stabs Sue Ann, saving Genie. The group goes outside and asks what has happened. Sue Ann watches them, particularly Andy who survived the stabbing and is lying down next to Maggie. Sue Ann walks upstairs and lies down next to Ben's body, cuddling with it as the house burns.

A high school girl finds is immersed in an online game of truth or dare, where her every move starts to become manipulated by an anonymous community of "watchers"

After the rib-tickling comedy `Hangover`, director Todd Phillips presents ``Due Date`` starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis as two unlikely companions who are thrown together on a road trip that turns out to be as life-changing as it is outrageous! Downey plays Peter Highman, an expectant first-time father whose wife`s due date is a mere five days away. As Peter hurries to catch a flight home from Atlanta to be at her side for the birth, his best intentions go completely awry when a chance encounter with aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) forces Peter to hitch a ride with Ethan-on what turns out to be a cross-country road trip that will ultimately destroy several cars, numerous friendships and Peter`s last nerve.

Jennifer Aniston stars alongside Jason Bateman in this offbeat comedy as Kassie, a smart, fun-loving single woman who, despite her neurotic best friend Wally`s (Bateman) objections, decides it`s time to have a baby-even if it means doing it by herself..with a little help from a charming sperm donor (Patrick Wilson). But, unbeknownst to her, Kassie`s plans go awry because of a last-minute switch that isn`t discovered until seven years when Wally finally gets acquainted with Kassie`s cute-though slightly neurotic-son.

The film opens with Gray (Jennifer Garner) at the funeral of her fiancé, Grady. They were supposed to be married that day, but due to a boating accident that happened during his bachelor party weekend, he was killed. Gray is very upset and eventually seeks solace by hiding in the bathtub. Meanwhile, one of Grady's friends, Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), has seduced one of the catering staff and takes her into the bathroom, not realizing that Gray is there. Gray is forced to listen to them have sex. Once the caterer leaves, she pulls back the shower curtain, startling Fritz. Gray visits the attorney to determine what will happen to Grady's estate. Grady did not have a will and since she and Grady were not married, she will not inherit his money. The attorney reveals that Grady had an investment account with a million dollars in it, which Gray knew nothing about. She determines that she can no longer afford to rent the house that they had picked out and she was already living in. With help from Grady's friends Dennis (Sam Jaeger) and Sam (Kevin Smith), she puts her things into storage and moves in with them into Grady's old room. Fritz, who lives in L.A., is also staying in the house during his visit. Tensions continue between Gray and Fritz. As Gray investigates Grady's investment account, she finds that every month, he transferred $3,000 out of the account. During the night, a cell phone rings. Gray wakes up Fritz, thinking the phone is his. He says that it's not his and turns it off. At the same time, they realize that the phone must have belonged to Grady. Gray grabs the phone first and turns it on to find ten voicemail messages. She listens to a string of messages from a woman who goes from cautiously concerned to increasingly angry as each message progresses. When Gray researches the phone number, she finds out that the area code is for L.A.. She goes to Fritz for answers, and he reveals that Grady had a son with a woman he met in L.A. and that she depends on the money she received from him to support herself and their son. Fritz tells her that the boy is eight and that the encounter happened before she and Grady were involved. Meanwhile, Gray is further upset when Grady's mother asks for the engagement ring back. Gray refuses and keeps the ring. Eventually, the other woman, Maureen (Juliette Lewis), and her son turn up, trying to get answers about Grady and the money. When Gray encounters them, she realizes that the boy is 3 years old, not 8, so the affair happened while she and Grady were together. Gray confronts Fritz about the revelation. She slaps him and he pins her arms against the wall. They kiss, but part and leave without a word. Gray doesn't want anything to do with Maureen, but the guys are reluctant to send her away. They all spend time together and get to know each other. Sam and Maureen begin to develop a connection. As Fritz and Gray continue to develop their relationship in secret, Dennis reveals that he has feelings for Gray. Gray lets him down easily, but he becomes furious when he finds that Gray and Fritz are an item. Gray tells Dennis that her relationship with Fritz is "less than nothing", not realizing that he is standing by the doorway and can hear her speaking. Fritz determines that Gray doesn't return his feelings for her and he returns to Malibu. Grady's mother insists that the boy have a DNA test before inheriting Grady's money, as he stands to do under Colorado law. The results determine that Grady was not the father. Maureen is devastated, unsure how she will support her child without Grady's money. Gray goes to Grady's mother and tells her that she thinks that Grady must have known that the child wasn't his, but that his money could make a difference in the boy's life. She offers Grady's mother the engagement ring in exchange for her giving Grady's money to Maureen. The group gathers at the dedication ceremony for the peace garden that Dennis has built to memorialize Grady. Grady's mother gives Maureen a certified check. When Gray finds out, she offers the ring back, but Grady's mother tells her to keep it. She says that she never cared about the ring or the money, she just wanted her son back. Dennis decides it's time for him to be on his own, so he moves out of the house. Maureen and her son move in with Sam. Gray determines that she never fully knew Grady, but that she has come to have feelings for the one person that they both could be themselves around, Fritz. At the end of the film Gray goes to Malibu. She goes to Fritz's house and finds him outside at the beach playing fetch with his dog. She throws the ball and the dogs runs after it. Fritz turns around and sees her. She walks toward him and says she should have called then starts rambling. He quiets her by kissing her and says, "What took you so long?" The film ends with Fritz's photographs rolling through the credits.

After running away fails, a terrified woman empowers herself in order to battle her abusive husband. Local waitress Slim Miller discovers that the dream man she married isn't who she thought he was. Slim and her young daughter try to escape (aided by her previous boyfriend), but the now villainous husband pursues her relentlessly. Fearing also for the safety of her daughter, Slim decides that there's only one way out of the marriage: kill him. —Jess <jess.2000@ic24.net>

Parker (Ryan Phillippe) and Longbaugh (Benicio Del Toro) are two born troublemakers who travel anywhere they can to find or steal money any way they can. They realize that a pint of blood can get $50, and a shot of sperm can bring in $3000. So, they head to a fertility clinic. While at a sperm donation facility, they overhear a telephone conversation detailing a $1,000,000 payment to a surrogate mother for bearing the unborn baby of Hal Chidduck (Scott Wilson). They learn that Chidduck's wife is healthy but could not be bothered to carry her own child. The surrogate is always surrounded by bodyguards and is told when to do anything including eating and sleeping. They learn that Dr Allen Painter is attending to the surrogate. Parker and Longbaugh resolve to kidnap the pregnant surrogate, Robin (Juliette Lewis). Their attempts to kidnap Robin at her pregnancy clinic escalate into a shootout with her bodyguards, Jeffers (Taye Diggs) and Obecks (Nicky Katt). After the shootout, in which two other guards and bystanders are killed, the kidnappers escape with Robin and elude Jeffers and Obecks, who are arrested. During the shootout, Parker had a clear shot at both Jeffers and Obecks and decided not to take it, letting them know that he had the shot, and he let them live. As the fugitives' head South, Jeffers and Obecks are bailed out and returned to Chidduck by Joe Sarno (James Caan), a seasoned operative and close friend of Chidduck's. As Sarno begins coordinating Robin's rescue, Longbaugh contacts the surrogate's gynecologist, Dr. Allen Painter (Dylan Kussman), and orders him to a truck stop to examine Robin. Sarno was keeping Painter under observation and follows him as soon as he leaves his clinic. Painter explains that Robin is carrying the child of money launderer Hale Chidduck and his wife, Francesca (Kristin Lehman), who are rich. Painter says that Robin should have the baby within no later than 6 days. Longbaugh makes a deal with Painter that he would come to Mexico when they call him, to induce Robin's labor. After the examination, Painter returns to Chidduck and Painter is revealed to be Chidduck's son. Meanwhile Chidduck is under pressure not to pay the ransom as that would invite the Federal authorities to look into his books and that would be the end of his money laundering business. Joe advises Chidduck to surround the kidnappers and negotiate for Robin, in exchange for their lives. Longbaugh calls and demands a $15 million ransom for the safe return of Robin and the baby. Francesca is having an affair with Jeffers and overhears his and Obecks' plan to recover the baby but kill the kidnappers, Robin, and Painter. Jeffers and Obecks, tempted by the money, begin forming a plan to save the child, keep the $15 million for themselves, and kill everyone under the guise of paying off the kidnappers. As Longbaugh hangs up the telephone outside a Mexican motel, he is approached by Sarno, who offers to pay $1 million if they surrender the pregnant Robin and simply walk away. They commiserate about the state of their underworld professions, filled with characters who "want to be criminals more than they want to commit crimes", and guardedly go their separate ways, but Sarno leaves his associate Abner (Geoffrey Lewis) to watch the kidnappers. Longbaugh declines the offer and returns to his motel room, where Parker and Robin are playing cards. Robin reveals to Parker and Longbaugh that Francesca's embryo failed to implant, and Painter is actually the father of her child. Proceeding with the ransom plan, Jeffers and Obecks realize that Robin is Sarno's daughter. Sarno then returns to Chidduck's home to relay the events and plan the next step. Jeffers and Obecks realize that Sarno is a wild card in this affair, and Jeffers comes to realize that Robin is Sarno's daughter. Jeffers, Obecks and Painter leave to meet with the kidnappers, while Sarno departs separately with the $15 million ransom. At the motel, Parker is having second thoughts on the kidnapping. As he confers with Longbaugh outside the motel room, Robin takes the opportunity to seize a shotgun and barricade herself in the motel room after almost shooting Parker. As sirens are heard in the distance, Parker and Longbaugh hastily escape, and Robin emerges into the parking lot just as Mexican police officers arrive, followed by Jeffers, Obecks and Painter in another car. As Painter and the bodyguards try to persuade Robin to leave with them, the officers pull their guns and order everybody onto the ground. Suddenly, Parker and Longbaugh open fire from a nearby hilltop, igniting a fierce firefight that kills the two officers before Jeffers shoves Painter and Robin into his car and drives off, leaving the dead officers and a wounded Obecks in the motel parking lot. Parker and Longbaugh torture Obecks to gain Robin's location, while Jeffers confines Robin in the room of a secluded Mexican brothel and a mortally wounded Abner notifies Sarno. Jeffers forces Painter to perform a C-section to retrieve the baby, despite Robin's confession that the child was conceived between her and Painter and is not Chidduck's. During the operation, the heavily armed Parker and Longbaugh infiltrate the brothel and search for Robin. The ensuing ambush, which leaves Parker wounded, turns into another standoff, with Jeffers threatening to kill Painter and the baby before Painter kills Jeffers with a hidden gun. Outside the brothel, Sarno arrives with a group of bag men and the $15 million ransom, which they stack in the courtyard. Parker wants to kidnap Robin and Painter again, but Longbaugh, guilt-ridden after seeing her condition, responds: "She's had enough". Despite realizing that the $15 million is bait, Parker and Longbaugh charge headlong into an ambush. All of Sarno's men are killed in the ensuing gunfight. However, Sarno manages to shoot and cripple the already wounded Parker and Longbaugh, and then calls for an ambulance. As a child's cries break the silence, Painter emerges with Robin, newborn baby in her arms. Lying in a pool of blood, Parker and Longbaugh call out to Sarno, informing him that the baby is in fact Robin and Painter's, and thus Sarno's own grandson. Painter wonders aloud if this fact will influence Sarno to let them keep the child. Robin and her baby are then taken away in the ambulance with Painter, Sarno and the $15 million, leaving Parker and Longbaugh to bleed out. Miles away and days later, Chidduck's wife reveals that she's pregnant (possibly from Jeffers, with whom she was having an affair).

After kidnapping a family, the Gecko brothers seek refuge in a Mexican bar, only to face its deadly vampire patrons.

After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but she has a grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter and another grandson living almost on the poverty line. Continuing the story of Aurora Greenway in her latter years. After the death of her daughter, Aurora struggled to keep her family together, but has one grandson in jail, a rebellious granddaughter, and another grandson living just above the poverty line. —R. John Berggren <jberg@nina.pagesz.net> She's back-and as delightfully feisty as ever! The generations grow, but life still spins around Aurora like a cyclone: her rebellious granddaughter wants to run off with Mr. Wrong; a snooty rival has come up with new ways to meddle in Aurora's life; her longtime spinster housekeeper is ready to ditch domestic work for the domestic bliss of matrimony; her great-grandson is like a poison pill; and her shrink is more than eager to cross the line separating client relationships and romantic entanglement. Welcome back Aurora. We've missed you. —Anonymous Determined to keep the promise she made to her late daughter, Aurora Greenway does her best to raise three grandchildren with constant opposition from Emma's best friend Patsy. She visits eldest grandson Tommy in prison, who awaits the possibility of parole, and struggles to break through the hate he harbors since the death of his mother. She also watches younger grandson Teddy struggle to make a living and provide for his budding family. Aurora focuses her hope for a better future towards her youngest Melanie who becomes a rebellious college student whose taste in men is unacceptable by her standards. Aurora comes to terms with the sacrifices she's made for others and ultimately embraces the thought of finding her own happiness. She begins to chronicle her life in an effort to recollect and organize the events that shaped who she is. Through exploring love, experiencing loss, and endearing efforts to bring her family back together, she changes over the years. With help of an old friend, she lays a loved one to rest and finally allows herself to age gracefully into her twilight years. The Evening Star is a touching continuation of a story that shines brightly along with Terms of Endearment. —Keith M. Johnson

The events focus around a crisis hotline business on one crazy night during the Christmas holidays. Philip runs a crisis hotline with Catherine and Mrs Munchnik. That's the easy part, now it gets tricky... Stanley loves evicting people and he evicts Philip. Philip loves helping people and he is loved by Catherine. Catherine is loved by Louie who loves writing songs. Chris loves dancing to songs and loves to wear large dresses. Gracie also loves to wear large dresses because she's pregnant. She loves the baby's father, Felix, who loves to paint. That just leaves Mrs. Munchnik who hasn't been loved by anybody in a very long time. —Tim McSmythurs <Tim.McSmythurs@swindon.ericsson.se> Christmas Eve in Venice Beach, California. A serial strangler is on the loose. A crisis hotline, staffed by three inept counselors, faces eviction. Each of the three is lovelorn. They and their non-profit program need a miracle. Their paths cross those of Gracie and Felix, penniless lovers who are fighting with each other and are about to become parents; Chris, an unhappy man in drag; Louie, their loopy song-writing neighbor; a man walking his dogs; a veterinarian; and, their landlord. A Christmas tree, an elevator, a fruit cake, and a pistol also figure in this night before Christmas. Are any miracles in the offing? —<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Brian Kessler (David Duchovny) is a graduate student in psychology and a journalist, who has written an article about serial killers, which draws interest from a Publisher that offers him a book deal. After the book deal advance is spent, Brian realizes that he needs to start working on finishing his book. His photographer girlfriend Carrie Laughlin (Michelle Forbes) persuades him to move to California, they decide to drive from Pittsburgh to California and visit infamous murder sites along the way. Short on funds, Brian posts a ride-share ad. Meanwhile, sociopathic parolee Early Grayce (Brad Pitt) has just lost his job. His parole officer (Judson Vaughn) learns of this and comes to the trailer park where Early lives with his young girlfriend Adele Corners (Juliette Lewis). Early refuses the officer's offer of a job as a college janitor, saying he wants to leave the state. The officer informs him that, if he does not keep the appointment, he will be returned to prison. Early decides to go to the job interview; and, when he is on his way out, he is confronted by the landlord over non-payment of rent. Early grows violent and spins out in his car, chasing the man all over the park. Early spies the ride-share ad at the college and calls Brian, who agrees to meet him the following day. Early sends Adele ahead and, as revealed later, murders the landlord before joining Adele to wait for Brian and Carrie. Carrie's first response to seeing the rough-hewn couple is to suggest Brian turn the car around and leave, but Brian asks her to give the plan a chance, and she reluctantly agrees. On the road, unknown to his companions, Early murders a man in a gas station bathroom and steals his money. When they arrive at the first hotel, he cuts Adele's hair to match Carrie's. At another hotel, Early invites Brian out to play pool, leaving Adele and Carrie alone together. Adele reveals to Carrie that she is a rape victim and that she views Early as her protector, even though her mother did not approve because Early had just been released from prison. Carrie is alarmed by Brian's growing fascination with Early and nonchalant response to the news that Early has been in prison. She gives him an ultimatum; either they rid themselves of Early and Adele, or she will leave. At the next gas station, Carrie glimpses a newscast with footage of Early and the announcement he is a suspected murderer. Early kills the gas station attendant and continues the trip with the couple as hostages. They encounter two police officers, whom Early shoots. Early orders Brian to finish off one of the wounded officers, but Brian refuses. They next come to the home of an elderly couple. Early beats the man to death, but Adele allows the woman to flee. As Early rushes to find the woman, Adele confronts him and says she wants nothing more to do with him. Early fatally shoots Adele, strikes Brian on the head, and kidnaps Carrie. Brian regains consciousness, and the elderly woman gives him the keys to her truck. Brian arrives at an abandoned nuclear testing site and surprises Early, hitting him in the head with a shovel. Brian finds Carrie bloodied and handcuffed to a bed, having been sexually assaulted. Early, who was only stunned, attacks Brian and they struggle until Early is hit over the head by Carrie. When Early continues the attack, Brian shoots him in the abdomen. Early is not mortally wounded, Brian realizes this and shoots him again, killing him. The film ends with Brian and Carrie in a California beach house. Carrie, who now sports long hair (eschewing the short style that Early had Adele emulate during the trip), tells Brian that a gallery is interested in her art, and he suggests they go out to celebrate. He leaves his tape player on; and Adele's voice is heard, talking about how good Carrie and Brian were to her and Early, and how much their friendship means to her.

In the opening scene, we see an empty bar out in the middle of the desert. The bartender, Jim Doherty (Gary Oldman) starts narrating in voice over as he cleans up and looks through a photo album: "You ever seen a ghost? There's this guy. Comes in here. Every May 1st. Every May 1st, every December 1st. Like clock work. What's he want? Well, frankly, I ain't exactly sure. He had the strangest story to tell. He left this here and I keep it for him. How do I know he'll be back? What's that? A woman was involved? [trying on a ring] Hm, just fits. I was married once myself. Beautiful girl. By the way my name is Jim Doherty. I run this place. His name? Sure. His name is Jack Grimaldi. Hey, there he is now!" In a flashback to some time earlier, we see Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman) (they are one and the same person) driving down a road somewhere in New York City and wearing a neat looking suit. Jim Doherty tells us that "Jack was a romantic guy, big dreams. The problem was, there was always a little daylight between his dreams and his wallet. See, he was a working stiff, 56 grand a year and never made it past Sergeant. And, every day he looked at a little of this, (We see Jack responding to a grisly murder scene; he is a police detective with the NYPD) and then he looked at too much of that (We see Jack on a stakeout watching a guy having sex with two girls.) And all the time he was thinking, huh, I bet you know what he was thinking, dontcha? you'd a done just what he wound up doin' I'll bet. He walked around just like everybody, but inside, he wasn't like anybody." We see Jack come home to his wife and dancing with her in the back yard of their Brooklyn house until late in the night, as Doherty tells us she was his true love and he could've told her anything. We then flash forward to see Grimaldi trying to keep control of a car with blood all over his face, struggling with a woman who is trying to strangle him with her legs from the backseat. Donherty says "Hey wait a minute. I'm getting a little ahead of myself here." and stops the scene, asking the audience "Pretend you didn't see that. Now where was I?" We flash back to where we left off and we're told that Grimaldi's plan is working great, until the day "things started to go wrong." In the next scene, Jack is watching federal agents who are guarding a mobster, Nick Gazzara (Dennis Farina) set to testify against the mob the next day. Nick jokes with the agents telling stories about old jobs while eating dinner. Jack watches from the rooftop across the street until he's sure of the room. He then calls the mob and gives them the information, for which he's paid $65,000 in a drop box. We then see Jack blindfolded playing a guessing game with a teenage girl named Sheri (Juliette Lewis) Sheri tells him she dreamed he had a wife, and it was her. She tells him how happy she is to be with him. And Doherty tells us that "a man don't always do what's best for him, sometimes he does the worst." We see Jack on the couch making out with Sheri. Later, at a restaurant, Jack tells his fellow cops about his secret mistress Sheri and they love the details. They talk about a recent case involving a mobster informant named Frank Malacci, who they're not getting any useful information from, when another cop comes in telling them that Nick Gazzara "got popped" and they suspect a top Russian assassin and ex-KGB agent Mona Demarkov. The cop with the news speculates that without Gazzara, they'll have to get information from DeMarkov. Jack visualizes the scene, when he hears that DeMarkov also killed the agents. Jack Grimaldi meets with his mob connection and complains about the agents dying and how this makes him a cop killer, which wasn't part of the bribe deal. He tells Jack that Mona Demarkov has to be taken out (killed) and offers Jack the job. He concentrates on the money rather than worry anymore about cops possibly getting killed again. He arranges to pick up Mona (Lena Olin) from the police department, ostensibly to drive her to a safe house where the Feds are waiting for her. Jack checks them into a hotel and uncuffs her in the room. He lights her a cigarette and Mona asks him how he'd like to become a rich man. "Well, I've already got my health." he tells her, but listens anyway. She picks up her chair and moves it so she sits down touching his leg with hers. He quickly drops his gun for the sexual opportunity, which she encourages. She reaches for his gun before long, thinking him distracted, but finds he's moved it. The two of them are interrupted by Federal agents who have the room key and walk right in finding Mona and Jack on the floor. Mona starts laughing hysterically. He leaves her to the agents and then tips off the mob to her whereabouts, reminding Sal that the agents don't get hit. Jack goes home to see his wife, Natalie (Annabella Sciorra) She fixes him food and complains that it's too fancy. She pulls a gun on him and says "I don't know Jack, You tell me." before laughing, revealing she's joking. He asks her about the photos she takes, and she tells him she hopes to photograph weddings. He sneaks outside and we see that he keeps all of his "extra" money in a hole in the yard beneath a metal cover. Doherty's voice over tells us that Jack hears "a sucking sound" from the hole and all he can think about is feeding the hole, blocking out thoughts of the casualties it took to make the money. He has a dream that night about Natalie and Mona both holding guns on him. Jack visits with Sheri at her apartment, who dances in lingerie for him. He calls the station to check on homicides, hoping to hear that Mona was killed. Sheri asks "Is it hard yet baby?" and he replies "It ain't easy!" Jack is now at the police station, in the middle of a poker game. Sal (Michael Wincott), another corrupt mob-connected officer, calls him at the station and tells him to come outside. They talk to each other from separate benches and Sal tells him that Mona wasn't there, and his boss, Don Falcone, wants to see Jack tomorrow and Sal advise him that he "better have something for him." He tells him that Falcone thinks he's holding out, and he'll need an address or something. Jack heads to the restroom where his fellow officer, Martie (Will Patton) finds him. Martie is in a panic and he tells Jack that he had picked up Mona Demarkov to transport her for the feds, who suspected someone was working both sides, and Mona took his gun and ran. Martie is afraid that he'll lose his job. Jack pulls up Mona's file and finds a picture of her with mob boss Don Falcone (Roy Scheider) He steals a tape from the file, which tells him that Mona had an arrangement with an FBI agent, which left the agent mentally unstable culminating in his suicide. Jack goes home and checks on his money hole, not realizing that Natalie is watching him from the window. The next day, Jack is escorted to Don Falcone's place where he meets the mob boss face-to-face for the first time. Jack acts outraged accusing Falcone of breaking their deal, reminding him that he said no cops would be killed. Falcone reminds him that he was paid, and says "a life's a life." Jack offers Falcone the money for Mona back, but Falcone won't take it telling him "I don't want the money back. I want Mona Demarkov dead." He tells Jack he's to find her and kill her. Jack refuses by saying that he won't kill her. Falcone responds by telling Jack a story about Robert Lowell meeting Louis Lepke. Lowell, a conscientious objector, being in prison for not killing anyone, and Lepke being in prison for the opposite. When the moral of the story doesn't catch with Jack, Don Falcone reminds him that he can do all sorts of things to him and his family and will if he doesn't deliver. He reminds Jack: "You see, you don't make the deals, Jack. I make the deals, and you're in until I say otherwise." Jack gets back to his life and starts telling himself, "Stay alive, 65 grand, feed the hole." His fellow cops in their regular restaurant, notice he's flustered. He gets a phone call from Mona, who knows he's supposed to kill her by Wednesday. She tells him she's at the hotel, "our room." He meets her there and she asks what Falcone offered him and he tells her $65,000. Mona offers him $325,000 to tell Falcone that he killed her. She tells him they'll find a body and the autopsy will confirm it's her. She shows him a case holding half the amount and promises the other half when he has a death certificate. Jack visits Sheri and she tells him she's leaving, because she doesn't fool around with married men. He tries to convince her to stay. He talks to Natalie next who wants to know why things have gotten worse for them instead of better. Natalie tells him that money is the only thing that lasts, but he acts like he doesn't know what she's talking about. She then asks if he's screwing her sister "or just my niece." She tells him "I don't know what you're doing Jack, but don't bring it back here." A day or two later, the mobsters and cops all show up for Nick Gazzara's funeral, and Falcone takes the opportunity to talk to Jack in private. Falcone orders some of his thugs to rough Jack up and to chop one of his toes off for not killing Mona. Jack protests that it isn't Wednesday, but Falcone doesn't care. With his left foot bandaged, Jack runs home afterwards and gives Natalie the bribe money from the yard, telling her what he'd been doing about being a mob informant, and to go to the Holiday Diner in Phoenix, Arizona and check for him there every six months, May 1st and December 1st. He asks her "Will you be there?" and she says "We're married, aren't we?" He says "That's no answer." and apologizes telling her that he loves her and can't live without her, begging her not to leave him. She tells him she did something at home, to let him know, and it's in the top drawer of the bureau. Jack says "I'll do anything." and Doherty narrates "Do what exactly? Can I tell you what makes love so frightening? It's that you don't own it, it owns you." Jack then drops Sheri off at the subway station telling her also to leave the city, and she begs him to "Say it." He tells her "It's over." and Sheri adds "and you're sorry right, you're so fucking sorry." Jack sits in his car starts writing an apology letter to Natalie, sobbing as he writes. Afterwards we see he's having trouble walking, due to his missing toe. He falls asleep at the waterfront and Mona shows up to meet him in a car. She shows him the last half of the money, and gives her a death certificate and fake ID, telling her she died of a shot to the chest. He asks Mona if she's ever been in love, she doesn't answer but instead wraps a cord around his neck and tries to strangle him. He struggles and gets out of the car and shoots Mona in her left leg. When she still struggles he knocks her out and puts her in the backseat of the car and drives off. We see that she wakes quickly, and reaches her calves up around his neck while he's driving, locking her feet together to choke him. He loses control of the car and hits a post, getting knocked out against the steering wheel. Mona squirms her way out of the car taking her papers in her teeth and running while still handcuffed. Jack Grimaldi checks his house and finds the mobsters have gone through it. He finds a photo album in the top drawer of the bureau and takes it determined not to return there or anywhere familiar. Jack starts watching Sal and finds that he's been meeting with Mona. He hears shots from the apartment where they're meeting and runs to check it out. Thinking he sees Mona moving at the window he shoots her several times, and approaches her to find that he just shot Sheri, who was dressed up in clothes and a wig to look like Mona from behind, as well as tied and gagged to the spot where she was standing. Jack runs off to find Mona, but she returns to the apartment when he leaves. She unties Sheri's corpse and pulls her own severed arm from her handbag, then cuts off Sheri's and replaces it with her own before lighting the place on fire. The next morning Jack reads from a newspaper that Mona was found dead in the fire, just before some thugs find him. They catch him and knock him out while we see Mona outfitting herself with a prosthetic arm. We then see that Jack is cuffed to a bed in the same room and Mona points a gun at him, the scene matching the bad dream he'd had earlier. Mona talks him out for a ride and reveals she has someone in the trunk. She opens it and he sees she has Falcone gagged and tied there. She tells him to dig a grave for Falcone. When he protests, Mona points a pistol at Jack and tells him "dig one grave or two." She pushes Falcone into the hole and has Jack fill it in at gunpoint. When he's buried she fires into the ground and tells Jack that he's a free man. We see shortly afterwards, Mona and Jack at a dance, having a great time. Doherty narrates: "You ever wonder what Hell is like? Maybe it ain't the place you think. fire and brimstone? the Devil with horns poking you in the butt with a pitchfork? What's hell? The time you should have walked, but you didn't. That's hell. Huh, you're looking at it." Mona and Jack are next in a hotel room. Jack counts some money in a suitcase and says "good bye." Mona asks him for "one last dance." before dropping her pants to the floor. "Why not." Jack Grimaldi says. In moments the door opens and the cops show up to arrest Jack Grimaldi. In the back of the squad car, he's given a letter from his fellow officers which reads " Jack, What a pisser. Here we are, fighting the bullshit for fifteen years and now we find out that you're part of the bullshit. What can we tell you? You broke our hearts, you dumbest of fucks. And, we mean that sincerely." Mona has betrayed Jack to the cops for being a mob informant and of the murders of Sheri, Falcone and others. The police bring Jack to the same place at the Brooklyn courthouse he first brought Mona and try to convince him to cut a deal before Mona does, offering him witness relocation protection. He runs into Mona at the courthouse, and sees that they're letting her go for cooperating. She brags to him that even when they had sex, he never got to her. He tells her that during sex, he thought of his wife. Mona then tells him that's too bad because his wife is a dead woman and he's a dead man and laughs at him before walking away. Jack pulls a gun from Cage (James Cromwell) one of the officer's leg holsters and shoots Mona dead. He then puts the gun in his own mouth but finds it's empty. The empty chamber sounds along with the bell ringing at the Diner in Phoenix. He tells us he was given a medal for "defending his fellow officers" along with a new residence and identity. The film comes full circle as we see him Jack now as Jim Doherty at the diner in Arizona, looking through the album of wedding photos on "May 1st, that was five years ago to the day. I guess this is where I came in, to tell you the story of an unlucky guy who fell in love with a hole in the ground; a ghost, haunting his own grave, celebrating every six months with the same party, waiting for the same guest of honor to show. Demarkov? Dead and buried. Everything I had, finito, except that old voice in my head. Some things you never let go of. Of course, Natalie, she wasn't the only guest invited [we see that the photo album has pages for other women] Can't be a party without a crowd. I don't remember much of it really. Don't remember what I said to 'em, or what they said to me back. Don't remember how I felt, but once in a while, I do remember how they looked at me." We see that there are no pictures of him and Mona, although Natalie had made pages for them. He continues "Well, I guess she's not gonna make it, always next time though, right?" He hears the door and jumps when he imagines Mona coming in. He then sees Natalie, but the image fades away. He walks out of the dinner and sits down at the gas pumps outside, narrating; "Maybe you think I'm ready to give up, but that ain't how it is. She could came walking through that door any day, cause even after all of this, I bet she still loves me."

A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a fourteen-year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him. Imprisoned for brutally assaulting a young girl, Max Cady spends his time in jail wisely - reading literature, sculpting his body to perfection and planning his violent revenge on the defence lawyer who put him behind bars. After serving his fourteen year sentence, Cady is released from prison and his rampage begins. —BecksyKane Fourteen long years of incarceration can change a person in more ways than one. And with the sweet taste of newly gained freedom in his mouth and all the time in the world, unrepentant, violent criminal Max Cady sets foot in the tranquil community of New Essex in North Carolina still bearing a grudge: one way or another, flawed defence attorney Sam Bowden is going to pay. Now, as the pitiless psychopath embarks on a relentless mission to test Bowden's limits to the breaking point, the lawyer's defenceless family is about to pay for Sam's sins. But not before the Bowdens learn a thing or two about pain and loss. Sinewy, iron-pumping Max has lived his life like an animal. Is Sam prepared to die like one? —Nick Riganas Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte)is a small-town corporate attorney/"Leave It to Beaver" type family-man. Max Cady (Robert De Niro) is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, bible-quoting, rapist. What do they have in common? Fourteen years, ago Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey, bibliophile Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss. —James Craver Max Cady (Robert De Niro) is a psychopath just released from prison for rape. He is out seeking revenge from his lawyer Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) who he believes deliberately held back important information about his case during the trial, which could have kept him out of jail. He sets off to terrorize Bowden, his wife (Jessica Lange) and even goes after their 15 year old daughter (Juliette Lewis). —Sami Al-Taher <staher2000@yahoo.com>

The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster. It's Christmas time and the Griswolds are preparing a big family celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen and their two kids. Clark's perennial bad luck is aggravated by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon. —Rob Hartill / edited by Hans Delbruck Clark Wilhelm Griswold wants to have a special "Griswold Family Christmas", and after months of careful planning he invites both of his parents, both of his wife, Ellen's parents even his uncle Louis and his senile aunt Bethany. Clark even prepares his house for Christmas with over 20,000 lights and a tree. As Christmas eve comes, Clark will soon realize that a series of unfortunate events will start to unravel for him. Can Clark keep it together and understand the true meaning of Christmas? —John Wiggins After the colossal blunders in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) and National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), well-meaning Clark Griswold wants to have a good old-fashioned Christmas. But it takes more than good intentions to organise the ideal holiday. And this year, Clark will have to work twice as hard to create the perfect illusion. After all, no one can work miracles when unsophisticated relatives crash your party, monumentally defective electronics threaten to blow the house to smithereens, and a cinematic brush with the law jeopardises the celebration. Perhaps one thing can save the day: the Griswolds must work together. But how hard can it be to get into the spirit and host the most memorable Christmas vacation? —Nick Riganas