Kevin Spacey

Locked inside a mysterious room, an unknown voice commands a woman to complete a few tasks to save her daughter's life. As the challenges grow more difficult, she unleashes hidden powers.

While Lex Luthor plots against him, Superman must face the fact that Lois Lane has moved on, as he goes on a journey of redemption to protect the world he loves from destruction.

A colony of ants, led by the elderly Queen (Phyllis Diller) and her daughter Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), live in the middle of a seasonally dry creek bed on a small hill known as "Ant Island". Dot is Atta's sister. Every summer, they are forced to give food to a gang of grasshoppers, led by Hopper (Kevin Spacey). The food is placed in a heap on a precariously placed rock on the edge of the hill. Mr. Soil (Roddy McDowall) is the ant colony's resident thespian who helps ensure that the food collection lines continue to function without interruptions. Flik (Dave Foley) is a courageous but clumsy inventor ant. Flik is constantly inventing new things for the colony to reduce labor, but his ideas are often shouted down and shunned by the colony, who feel the old-fashioned way of preparing the grasshoppers' "offering" is the only way to do things. Secretly, Flik is attracted to her older sister, Atta, who is next in line for the throne. The only one who seems to believe in Flik is the young Princess of the colony named Dot. Flik was always encouraging to Dot and says that in her is the potential for a future Queen and that she should never give up. Flik inadvertently destroys the food offering with his grain harvester (which he claimed would have sped up harvesting and ensured that the ants save enough for themselves after making an offering to the Grasshoppers). Flik was placing the last harvested food on the offering pile when his machine knocks over one of the stones holding up the offering rock. The food heap is knocked off the hill and falls into the water at the bottom of the hill. Flik was the last one to put his food on the offering stone, while the rest of the ants were inside the anthill waiting for the grasshoppers to collect and offering and leave. When the grasshoppers finally arrive and find nothing, they break into the anthill to terrorize the ants. The leader of the grasshoppers, Hopper, demands that the offering be replenished by the Fall season, and terrorizes Dot Flik comes forward to try and defend her. Hopper then commands that the offering be doubled due to Flik's standing up against them. Hopper promises to return at the end of the season when the last leaf falls. During the meeting, Hopper's dimwitted brother, Molt, lets it slip that Hopper is afraid of birds. The Queen is distraught as the ants needed this time to collect food for themselves. Now the ants have to choose between a battle with the grasshoppers and starvation in the winter. Flik is brought before a tribunal in regard to his causing the trouble. Flik earnestly suggests the ants enlist the help of bigger bugs to fight the grasshoppers. The others think this is a bad idea, until Flik volunteers to look. Atta sees it as a way to get rid of Flik (so that he cannot mess anything up) and sends him off. Leaving the Island is considered a suicide mission by the ants. Flik travels to "the city", which is essentially a heap of trash under a trailer. A motley crew of bugs are performing in a circus led by a flea, PT Flea. The circus isn't well-attended, most of the audience being flies who jeer and cajole the performers, especially when their acts fail. PT, desperate to keep the flies from leaving, announces a new act call "Flaming Death" where his crew will work together to keep him from being burned. The act fails miserably because the bugs can't coordinate their efforts and PT is burned anyway. He fires them all on the spot. The bugs were at a tavern when Francis, the ladybug is harassed by 2 insects from their earlier show. Francis and the fellow bugs stand up to the insects including small gang of flies and their huge member, Thud, forcing them to withdraw. Flik was at the "bug bar" but is pushed back by the crowd and cannot see the bugs running away from the insects. Flik thinks he's found the perfect guardians to help his colony. He pleads his case to the group, saying how he's been looking for bugs with their talent, and asking for their help regarding the incoming group of grasshoppers. The group eagerly accepts, thinking Flik wants them to perform at a dinner theatre and, hoping to avoid trouble from the bar's owner & the flies they fought with, they head off for Ant Island. The bugs include Slim (David Hyde Pierce) a stick bug clown who often becomes a stand-in for stick-like props, Heimlich (Joe Ranft) a gluttonous, German-accented green caterpillar clown who desires to be a butterfly, Francis (Denis Leary) a hot-tempered male ladybug clown who is frequently mistaken for a female, Manny (Jonathan Harris) an elderly, English-accented praying mantis magician, Gypsy (Madeline Kahn) a moth who is Manny's wife, and his lovely assistant, Rosie (Bonnie Hunt) a black widow spider, Tuck and Roll (Michael McShane) twin pill bug performers from Hungary who speak in gibberish and act as cannonballs and dancers and Dim (Brad Garrett) a blue childlike rhinoceros beetle that plays the "ferocious beast". The bugs fly over the dry creek bed and reach Ant Island with Flik. The bugs believe that they have to "perform" their entertainment act for the visiting grasshoppers. During a welcome ceremony after their arrival (Princess Atta is very impressed with Flik for actually returning with fearsome looking bugs), the Circus Bugs and Flik discover their mutual misunderstandings. When the ant kids present a mural in honor of the bugs, they realize that they are supposed to fight the grasshoppers away. Rosie tells Flik that they are circus performers and not warriors as assumed by the ants. Rosie whispers to Flik that they're actually just circus bugs and Flik is horrified, accusing the group of tricking them. When Atta appears, Flik convinces her that the circus bugs will fight for them. The Circus Bugs attempt to leave. Flik begs them to stay as he knows that he will be branded with this mistake for the rest of his life in the colony. Princess Atta could already sense that something was wrong and had followed Flik with the Queen. While fleeing, they rescue Atta's younger sister Dot (Hayden Panettiere) from a bird who had found the insects, thereby gaining the ants' respect as Atta and the Queen were watching from the hill. The bugs work together to distract the bird while they rescue Dot and bring her back to safety on the Island. Francis was injured while fighting the bird and saving Dot. As an honor to him, the Blueberry Scouts (a group of child ants of which Dot is a member) nominates Francis to be their "Den Mother". At Flik's request, the Circus Bugs continue the ruse of being "warriors", thus enabling them to continue enjoying the ants' hospitality. Princess Atta confides her own insecurities with Flik and says that she feels that everybody is just waiting for her to make a mistake. Learning that Hopper fears birds inspires Flik to build a crewed Ornithopter disguised as a bird to scare away the grasshoppers. Atta likes the idea when communicated to her by the warriors and she commits the whole colony to build the device. The bird is constructed from sticks and leaves. Meanwhile, the grasshoppers don't want to return to Ant Island as they don't even like grain. Hopper reminds his gang of the ants' superior numbers, warning them the ants will rebel if not kept in line. Hopper says that the ants outnumber them by 100 to 1. Meanwhile, building the fake bird brings the whole colony together and the ants are in a festive mood. Princess Atta thanks the bugs and Flik for bringing about this change. The ants finish constructing the fake bird. During the subsequent celebration, the Circus Bugs' old supervisor, P.T. Flea (John Ratzenberger), arrives, seeking to rehire them and blowing their cover; the ants exile Flik and the Circus Bugs, and desperately try gathering food for a new offering. The situation is hopeless as the last leaf is about to fall and the ants did not gather any food for the grasshoppers as they were busy building the fake bird. Hopper returns, sees the mediocre offering, and takes over the island. He then demands the ants' own winter food supply, planning to execute the Queen afterward. Overhearing the plan, Dot persuades Flik and the Circus Bugs to return to Ant Island. Flik was demoralized and believed that the fake bird would not work. The bugs remind Flik that he was the one who found them, and his efforts brought the colony together to build the fake bird as well. Flik and the bugs find that Hopper has rounded up all the ants and has taken away all of the colony's collected food supply. After the Circus Bugs distract the grasshoppers long enough (with their Circus act) to rescue the Queen, Flik deploys the bird. It initially fools the grasshoppers, but P.T., who is also fooled, sets the bird on fire. Realizing the deception, Hopper captures Dot and finds out that the fake bird was Flik's idea. Hopper has Flik publicly beaten (who reveals that he knew Hopper's plan to kill the Queen after the food was taken from the colony) and proclaims the ants are lowly life forms who live only to serve the grasshoppers. Flik asserts Hopper actually fears the colony, because he has always known what they are capable of. This inspires the ants and the Circus Bugs to fight back against the grasshoppers, driving all but Hopper and his brother Molt (Richard Kind) away. The ants shove Hopper into the circus cannon to shoot him off of the island, but rain suddenly begins to fall. In the ensuing chaos, Hopper frees himself from the cannon and abducts Flik. The Circus Bugs and Atta pursue, with the latter catching up to Hopper and rescuing Flik, who lures Hopper to the real bird's nest. Hopper threatens to gather more grasshoppers and return the following seasons to annihilate the ant colony. Believing the bird is another fake, Hopper taunts it, until it grabs him and feeds him to its chicks. With the anthill now at peace, Flik improves his inventions to help gather food for the ants. Flik and Atta become a couple and proceed to send Hopper's affable brother Molt and a few ants to help P.T. and the Circus Bugs on their new tour. Atta and Dot become the new Queen and Princess. The ants celebrate their victory and congratulate Flik as a hero. They then bid a fond farewell to the circus troupe.

In early 1950s Los Angeles, LAPD Sergeant Edmund "Ed" Exley (Guy Pearce) is determined to live up to the reputation of his father, famed detective Preston Exley, who was killed by an unknown assailant whom Exley nicknamed "Rollo Tomasi". Already isolated from other officers by his intelligence and career ambitions, he volunteers to testify against them in the "Bloody Christmas" case (6 Mexicans were brought into the station for allegedly beating up 2 officers. The rumors grew through the night till the cops believed one man lost an eye and the other died. They launch a full on assault on the 6 Mexicans while they were in the locker. Exley was locked up as he didn't participate and instead threatened to name everyone in his report) in exchange for promotion to Detective Lieutenant, against the advice of precinct captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell). Exley is very "by the book" and refuses to plant evidence or stage an encounter even when it is clear that the perpetrator is guilty. Plainclothes Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe), whom Exley considers a "mindless thug", is obsessed with viciously reprimanding woman-beaters. White hates Exley due to his partner, Dick Stensland (Graham Beckel), being fired thanks to Exley's testimony in the "Bloody Christmas" case. With crime boss Mickey Cohen (Paul Guilfoyle) imprisoned for 10 yrs for tax evasion while his underlings are being mysteriously killed, Cpt. Smith recruits White to torture out-of-town criminals trying to gain a foothold in Los Angeles to encourage them to leave town. While at a liquor store, White also encounters Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), a hooker resembling Veronica Lake, and former cop Leland "Buzz" Meeks (Darrell Sandeen). Both work for Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), whose Fleur-de-Lis service runs high-end prostitutes altered by plastic surgery to resemble film stars. Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a narcotics detective who moonlights as a technical advisor on Badge of Honor, a TV police drama series. Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), publisher of the Hush-Hush tabloid magazine, tips him off on celebrity criminal activity in order to facilitate high-profile arrests that Hudgens can then feature prominently in his publication. Exley soon investigates a robbery and multiple homicide at the Nite Owl coffee shop. Stensland was one of the victims. Exley and Vincennes track down & arrest three African-American felons for the crime; Exley interrogates them and cleverly gets them to confess that they raped and bled a white girl (but they technically never confessed to the Night Owl murders; White gets the address and is able to rescue the white girl they had been raping (White kills the 4th perpetrator who was holding the girl hostage and plants evidence to make it look like he was shot at, which Exley doesn't appreciate); The perpetrators later escape from police custody and are killed by Exley in a shootout. Exley is decorated for bravery. Although the Nite Owl case appears solved, Exley and White individually investigate further, discovering evidence of corruption all around them. The rape survivor admits that the rapists were with her the entire night, on the night of the Night Owl incident. White begins a relationship with Lynn, and recognizes Nite Owl victim Susan Lefferts (Amber Smith) as one of Patchett's escorts. White is surprised when Patchett tells him that Meeks no longer works for him. Lefferts' mother tells White that Stensland was Susan's "boyfriend"; He smells something odd in the Leffert house; White searches the crawl space under the mother's house and finds Meeks' corpse. He then interrogates Johnny Stompanato (Paolo Seganti), Mickey Cohen's ex-bodyguard, who says Meeks was trying to sell a large stash of heroin he had stolen. Exley finds that White was looking around the Night Owl files and follows him to the Leffert house. After White leaves, he brings Meeks body to the morgue for identification and asks for Vincennes's help. Hudgens, with Vincennes' knowledge, paid struggling actor Matt Reynolds (Simon Baker Denny) to engage in a homosexual tryst with District Attorney Ellis Loew (Ron Rifkin) with the intent to set Loew up for arrest and public humiliation. After Reynolds is found murdered, a guilt-ridden Vincennes joins Exley's investigation to find the killer. Vincennes & Exley follow White and find out that he met Stompanato and that he is seeing Lynn as well. Exley and Vincennes find that they body belonged to Meeks, an ex-cop. Vincennes looks at his old files in the archives. Exley goes over to Lynn to find out why she has been fucking White. Lynn seduces Exley and he starts fucking her, only for Hudgens to take photos of them having sex (on Patchett's instructions, who was concerned when both Vincennes and Exley came over to his house for interrogation on Leffert and Reynolds).. Vincennes later confronts Smith with evidence that Meeks and Stensland worked together under Smith's command a decade earlier, and dropped an investigation on Patchett, who had Hudgens photographing businessmen with hookers in a blackmail scam. Smith suddenly shoots Vincennes, who dies after murmuring "Rollo Tomasi", a name that Exley told him in confidence. The next day, Exley's suspicions are aroused when Smith asks him who "Rollo Tomasi" is. During an interrogation of Hudgens, Smith arranges for White to see photos of Lynn having sex with Exley, which sends White leaving in a rage to find him. At the police station, White and Exley fight, but stop when both realize that Smith is corrupt. They deduce that Stensland killed Meeks over the stolen heroin, and that the Nite Owl killings were to allow Smith to kill Stensland. The three African-Americans were framed by evidence planted by Smith's men. Finally collaborating together, Exley and White interrogate Loew, and learn that Smith and Patchett (aided by Hudgens' blackmail photos of Reynolds with Loew) have been taking over Mickey Cohen's criminal empire (Reynolds had heard the whole thing and hence was killed), and that the killings were because of Smith tying up loose ends. They later find Patchett and Hudgens murdered. They manage to save Lynn before Smith and his goons get to her. Smith lures Exley and White into an ambush. After the pair kill Smith's hit-men in a gunfight, White and Smith wound each other. Exley holds Smith at gunpoint, but when Smith tries to surrender to arriving police, Exley shoots him dead (against his own principles). At the police station, Exley explains what he, Vincennes and White learned about Smith's corruption. The LAPD thus decides to protect their image by saying Smith died a hero in the shootout, whilst awarding Exley a second medal for bravery. Outside city hall, Exley says goodbye to Lynn and White before watching them drive off to Lynn's home in Arizona.

A murder trial brings a Mississippi town`s racial tensions to the flashpoint and amidst the frenzy, an idealistic young attorney mounts a stirring courtroom battle for justice.