Kate Mara

An expert marksman living in exile, is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the president. Now on the run after being double crossed for the assassination attempt he was trying to prevent, he sets out for the real killer, and the truth. Bob Lee Swagger, one of the world's great marksmen and the son of a Medal of Honor recipient, is a loner living in the Rockies. He's left the military, having been hung out to dry in a secret Ethiopian mission a few years before. He's recruited by a colonel to help find a way that the President of the US might be assassinated in one of three cities in the next two weeks. He does his work, but the shot is fired notwithstanding and Bob Lee is quickly the fall guy. Wounded and hunted by thousands, he goes to ground and, aided by two unlikely allies, searches for the truth and for those who double-crossed him. All roads lead back to Ethiopia. —<jhailey@hotmail.com> A top Marine sniper, who previously abandoned the military after a routine mission gave way to tragedy, is double-crossed by the government after reluctantly being pressured back into service in Training Day director Antoine Fuqua's adaptation of Stephen Hunter's novel Point of Impact. There was a time when Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) was the best trigger-man in the military, but after growing disillusioned with the system, he disappeared without a trace. When high-profile government officials locate him at his remote mountain retreat following an extensive search, Swagger is coerced back into service in order to stop a determined assassin from taking out the President of the United States. In the process of carrying out his mission, however, Swagger suddenly realizes that he has been betrayed when he becomes the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Now wounded and desperate to reveal the culprits behind the conspiracy before it's too late, Swagger sets into motion a revenge plan that will send shock waves rippling to some of the most powerful and corrupt leaders in the free world. Having seen his spotter buddy Donnie Fenn die as disloyal brass abandoned them on mission, US Marine champion sharpshooter Bob Lee Swagger resigned to live in the Wyoming Rockies, alone with his dog. Colonel Isaac Johnson uses his fellow Medal of Honor reputation and patriot appeal to lure Bob back for a short mission: working out how a 'suspected' sniper could kill the president, speaking at public venues. After his report, a second speaking guest of honor, Ethiopian archbishop Desmond Mutumbo, is killed 'by accident,' and a local cop fails to eliminate Bob. Shot twice and on the run, he handcuffs rookie FBI special agent Nick Memphis and steals his FBI car, which he drives into the river after a long chase. Unable to treat his wounds effectively, he drives to Donnie's widow (Sarah Fenn) in Kentucky. She helps sew him up and assists his search for the culprits, later joined by Nick, who faces dishonorable discharge or worse but smells a rat and dares dig for the nasty truth on Johnson's White House ploy (rescued by Bob before a torture team disposes of him, too). Taking on the schemers proves dangerous for all. —KGF Vissers

Huntington, West Virginia is a small town and a river runs through it. Next to the river is a steel mill and a school is situated right next to the steel mill. The school is Marshall University. In the middle of the University is a fountain, where the water is turned off at the exact same time and same day of every year. On the evening of November 14, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 chartered by Marshall University to transport the Thundering Herd football team back to Huntington, West Virginia following their 17-14 defeat to the East Carolina University Pirates, clips trees on a ridge just one mile short of the runway at Tri-State Airport in Ceredo, West Virginia, and crashes into a nearby gully, killing all 75 people on board. Marshall is a school with a proud football tradition and in one instant their entire team, and coaching staff is wiped out. The team loses the game as the last pass in the game made by Marshall, could not be completed at the touchdown line. The coach asks the team to do better. The coach says that winning is the only thing that matters on the field. The deceased include the 37 players. Head coach Rick Tolley (Robert Patrick) and five members of his coaching staff. Charles E. Kautz, Marshall's athletic director. Team athletic trainer Jim Schroer and his assistant, Donald Tackett. Sports information director and radio play-by-play announcer Gene Morehouse. 25 boosters and five crew members. The plane crash landed in a forested area and broke into several pieces. Everything was on fire and there was no chance of anyone surviving. The whole town is impacted by the tragedy. William "Red" Dawson (Matthew Fox), one of the coaching staff, was saved when he gave his seat to another person who had to see his granddaughter perform in school that night. Red Is married to Carole Dawson (January Jones). Since Red's name was on the passenger manifest, he is still declared dead by the papers. The town organizes a funeral for the dead. As the dead are buried, the people of the town find it difficult to move on as the commemorative events continue to roll on. That spring, led by Nate Ruffin (Anthony Mackie), a player who was ill and missed the fatal flight, students rally to convince the board of governors to play the 1971 season. The others include Tom Bogdan (Brian Geraghty) and Reggie Oliver (Arlen Escarpeta). Paul Griffen (Ian McShane) is the father of the star quarterback of the team Chris, who lost his life in the crash. Annie Cantrell (Kate Mara) was dating Paul's son and was on the cheer-leading squad, who traveled back in a car with her friends. Paul works at the steel mill. Chris and Annie are engaged, but Chris was waiting to tell Paul before he died, and hence now Paul had no idea that Annie was engaged to Chris. In the wake of the tragedy, University President Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn) leans towards indefinitely suspending the football program. Paul also counsels Donald that it does not seem right to resume the football program so soon after the tragedy and that the town should not rush back into it. Paul argues that it would not be a game, but a weekly reminder of what the town lost. 28 kids lost both their parents in the tragedy. Donald is ultimately persuaded to reconsider by the pleas of the Marshall students and Huntington residents, and especially the few football players who didn't make the flight, led by Nate Ruffin. Nate rallies the town's younger population and conducts a demonstration in front of Donald's office to demonstrate the a majority of the people want things to return to normal. Dedmon hires Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey) as head coach who, with the help of Red Dawson one of two surviving members of the previous coaching staff, manages to rebuild the team in a relatively short time, despite losing many of their prospects to West Virginia University. Dedmon travels to Kansas City, where he pleads with the NCAA to waive their rule prohibiting freshmen from playing varsity football. This was a rule which had been abolished in 1968 for all sports except for football and basketball, and would be permanently abolished for those sports in 1972. Dedmon returns victorious. Jack Lengyel motivates and leads young players at the same time that he reexamines the Lombardi (Ex coach) creed that winning is the only thing. He uses every trick in the book, including visiting a rival coach for their playbook to prepare his team. The new team is composed mostly of the 18 returning players (three varsity, 15 sophomores) and walk-on athletes from other Marshall sports programs. Due to their lack of experience, the "Young Thundering Herd" ends up losing its first game, 29-6, to the Morehead State Eagles. The loss weighs heavily on Dawson and Ruffin, who had been hurt on the first play of the game. This sets the tongues rolling that it is disrespectful to the dead players to set such an inept team on field. But Lengyel believes in his team & prepares them for their first home game. He sees that the town is still behind its team. The Marshall's pull off a stunning come from behind win & win the town's heart. The Herd's first post-crash victory is a 15-13 win against Xavier University in the first home game of the season, while erasing the painful memories of the crash. Hours after the victory a grief-stricken Coach Dawson remains in the team's locker room, in disbelief over the Herd's first win since the crash. He walks out to a still-full stadium of Marshall fans who share his astonishment and don't want to leave the stadium either. They don't manage to win another game the rest of the season, but their determination to keep the program running delivers huge success in the 80's with 5 championships. All thanks to the courage of those few men who stood up & kept the football going when no one else was willing to do so.

Former superhero Jack is called back to work to transform an unlikely group of ragtag kids into superheroes at a private academy. Former superhero Jack Shepard, also known as Captain Zoom, is called back to work to transform an unlikely group of ragtag kids into a new generation of superheroes. At a privacy academy, he trains Dylan, a 17-year-old boy who can turn invisible; Summer, a 16-year-old girl with telekinetic powers; Tucker, a 12-year-old boy with the power to enlarge any part of his body; and Cindy, a 6-year-old girl with super strength. —Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}

Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is a 15-year-old teen, portrayed as mature beyond his years, traveling home from school for Thanksgiving. He speaks French fluently, quotes Voltaire and finds girls his own age to be too shallow and superficial, as well as too inexperienced in life. When an attractive girl from his school, Miranda Spear (Kate Mara), who is obviously interested in him, approaches Oscar, he politely brushes her off. Oscar confides in his friend Charlie (Robert Iler) that he is in love with a mature woman and plans to win her heart during Thanksgiving break. Oscar arrives at the apartment of his father, Columbia University history professor and author, Stanley Grubman (John Ritter), and stepmother, the passionate cardiologist, Eve (Sigourney Weaver). That evening, the Grubmans hold a party where Stanley introduces him to a girl his age, but Oscar rebuffs her as well while staring at the object of his affection: his stepmother. Oscar tries to open up to her, but the unsuspecting Eve doesn't pick up on any of his advances. Stanley tells him to walk the girl home, but he hails her a cab. Depressed from his failure with the older woman, Oscar goes to a bar with a fake ID and gets drunk. He bumps into Eve's best friend, chiropractor Diane Lodder (Bebe Neuwirth), who offers to take him to her own apartment seeing his current condition. Once there, Diane begins to massage him and they end up making love. Oscar wakes the next morning and has an awkward encounter with Diane's boyfriend, Phil. Back at home, Oscar plans a surprise lunch for Eve but first Stanley inquires about where Oscar spent the night. Oscar makes up a story about meeting Miranda Spear from school. He brings lunch to Eve at her laboratory, where he opens up to her once more, pondering the use of the heart as a symbol for affection. Together, they decide that the liver should be the new symbol for love. Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Stanley, who mentions that Diane will be joining them for dinner. Worried that Diane will tell them about their tryst, Oscar finds Diane at a tea room with several of her friends. All behave as though they know about the previous evening, and most of the women twice his age flirt with him. Oscar makes Diane promise to keep last night a secret from Stanley and especially Eve. At dinner, Diane drinks and behaves coyly. She plays footsie with Oscar and flirts with him in French. After she excuses herself from the table, Oscar follows to confront her. She kisses him while not being totally out of Stanley's view, after which Diane admits to Stanley and Eve that she and Oscar are lovers. The next day, Diane explains to Eve that she found Oscar a charming young man. Eve condemns her for seducing a 15-year-old, but Diane says that many women would have done the same, including possibly Eve. Later that day, Eve and Oscar play a tense round of tennis, lobbing insults at each other, ending up with Oscar getting hit in the head with a ball. Oscar explains that he only did what he did with Diane because he was drunk and she was wearing Eve's scarf. Eve immediately understands that he is in love with her. They share a passionate kiss and Eve eventually breaks away. At the end of Thanksgiving break, Eve and Stanley take Oscar to the train. Eve asks how his liver feels and he replies that it hurts, but is not broken. She also tells him how much he loves his father. On the train, Oscar meets up with Charlie, and runs into Miranda. Miranda quoted Voltaire, "If we do not find something pleasant, at least we will find something new," and looks longingly at Oscar. Charlie notices this and Oscar tells Charlie that Miranda smells nice. Charlie asks about Eve and Oscar states that his obsession with Eve was not as important as it seemed. Charlie doesn't understand his friend, but Oscar smiles as the train rolls on.