Len Cariou

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents director Eli Roth's reimagining of the classic 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of Chicago violence as it's rushed into his ER - until his wife and college-age daughter are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts for his family's assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media's attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel...or a grim reaper. Fury and fate collide in the intense, action-thriller Death Wish.

Author Michael Enslin, who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences, checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel in New York City, settles in, and soon confronts genuine terror. Author Mike Enslin specializes in paranormal investigations writing books along the line of the 10 best haunted hotels in America and so on. He receives an anonymous postcard in the mail telling him not to stay in room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York City. His attempts to make a reservation there are unsuccessful and he is told that it isn't available - ever. His research reveals that there have been a number of very strange deaths in that room dating as far back as the hotel's opening 95 years ago. The hotel is forced to accept him but the manager, Gerald Olin, begs him not to stay there. In his opinion, the room is evil and no one has ever been able to stay in there for more than an hour. Enslin scoffs at the warning and is soon in the room - from which he soon becomes desperate to leave. —garykmcd Hacked off with his miserable life, the quasi-successful author of spine-chilling ghost stories, Mike Enslin, makes a living debunking supernatural events by visiting sites of reported paranormal activity. Profoundly cynical, Enslin receives an anonymous postcard warning him not to check into the mysterious room 1408 of Manhattan's Dolphin Hotel, of course, only to spark his suspicious interest. Intrigued, Mike chooses to ignore the hotel manager's insistent warnings of the evil room's grave dangers--and after packing his spirit-detecting gear--he boldly enters a secret realm of bizarre occurrences and surreal instances. Will Room 1408 make for an excellent final chapter in sceptic Mike's new novel? —Nick Riganas Supernatural writer Mike Enslin is the author of two successful books on supernatural phenomena. As research for his latest book, Enslin is determined to check out the notorious room 1408 in a New York City hotel by personally staying as a guest in the fabled room. He believes that 1408 is just a myth perpetuated by stories and rumors that Enslin has collected for his past works. However, hotel manager Mr. Olin has strong objections to Enslin's stay and only warns him of possible danger to come. Enslin is determined to go anyway. But what Mike Enslin is about to experience is no myth, as 1408 truly is a room where the guests don't check out by noon. —mystic80

Famed mystery writer, Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) is confronted by a mysterious stranger outside his house. This stranger calls himself John Shooter (John Turturro) and claims that Mort has stolen an idea for a story from him. Mort says he can prove he wrote his first, but whilst Mort waits for the evidence to appear, Shooter starts to become more and more violent. At first, Mort regards Shooter as mentally ill and throws away the book. But his housekeeper (Joan Heney) takes it out of the garbage believing it was his and instead of throwing it away again he cannot stop thinking about it, and finally reads it. It is almost exactly like his own novel, with different names and sentence arrangements. The movie follows Mort's struggles to prove conclusively to Shooter and to himself that he has not plagiarized the story. Shooter continually harasses Mort and later kills his dog, an Australian Cattle Dog named Chico. As the story progresses, Mort hires a private investigator (Charles S. Dutton) and asks the help of the local sheriff, Dave Newsome (Len Cariou), who doesn't believe him. The investigator asks if there are any witnesses, and Mort remembers a local man saw them together. But Shooter then murders both the investigator and the man and leaves them in a car. Mort then pushes the car into the river, since he thinks the murders will be pinned on him. Shooter also burns down the house of Mort's soon-to-be ex-wife. Mort is convinced that Ted is the culprit responsible for the burning. Mort eventually locates the magazine that proves he published "Secret Window" before Shooter wrote "Sowing Season." He goes to the post office, where he gets the magazine. But when he gets out of his car, the sheriff approaches him with a smirk asking him if he could ask a few questions. Mort then leaves. But when Mort gets the magazine, he finds that his story has been cut out. Mort's inner voice tells him that since the magazine was sent to him in a sealed UPS package, Shooter could not have tampered with it. Prompting from his own conscience leads Mort to the realization that Shooter is not real, only a figment of Mort's imagination brought so vividly to life through undetected dissociative identity disorder to personify the dark side of Mort's personality and to commit acts that Mort himself feels he could not commit (murder and arson). (This scene includes the moment where Mort sees his back, instead of his front, reflected in the mirror above the mantelpiece - much like Magritte's 1937 painting La reproduction interdite). During this revelation, his concerned wife drives up to his cabin, and at that instant he changes his persona from the well-meaning Mort to the murderous Shooter. When his wife walks in he is gone. She starts searching the house for Mort and finds an almost empty bottle of Jack Daniels on a table. We later learn that when influenced by Jack Daniels, Mort's second personality "Shooter" comes alive. All over the walls she sees inscriptions of the word "shooter". She realizes after Mort reveals himself that "shooter" actually means "shoot her". After she realizes this she tries to run away but Mort is too quick for her. He then kills his wife and her lover, Ted (Timothy Hutton), with a shovel and buries them in a garden where he later plants a crop of corn. Afterwards, Mort changes profoundly - his writer's block is finally over and his passion for life returns. The movie, however, ends on a rather sinister note. The local sheriff informs Mort that he knows what he did and as soon as they find the bodies, he'll go to prison. Mort dismisses the statement nonchalantly, and replies that "The ending is the most important part of the story. This one is very good. This one is perfect." It is then revealed to the audience that the bodies are buried under the corn field.

The movie opens with shots of a large building in Omaha, NE, called the Woodmen Building. Actuary Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) is sitting in his dull, gray office watching the clock until it hits five. There are packed boxes all around him, implying that this is his last day at work. The clock hits five and Warren solemnly grabs his coat, turns out the lights and leaves. In the next scene, Warren is driving at night in the rain with his wife Helen to a steakhouse where his retirement party is being held. The affair is rather quiet and solemn, with the new guy replacing Warren offering a tribute and telling Warren to feel free to come down to the office any time, mentioning that he may need some help with Warren's old accounts. Warren's best friend and co-worker Ray, who is obviously inebriated, delivers an impassioned speech for his friend. Warren appears touched at the sentiment and excuses himself. He retreats to the other side of the restaurant where the bar is and orders a drink. It's obvious he is not happy to retire. When Warren and Helen return home, their daughter Jeannie calls to wish Warren well. They discuss her upcoming wedding. Before bed, Helen remarks to Warren that she wishes he would try to be more friendly to Jeannie's fiancé. In the days following Warren's retirement, he is not sure what to do with himself. Helen surprises him with breakfast in their newly purchased Winnebago, saying how much fun they are going to have traveling the country. Warren doesn't appear enthused, but puts on a smile for his wife. A visit back to the office to visit his replacement doesn't go well; the new guy brushes him off, and Warren is taken aback by it. As he leaves the building, he passes a dumpster and discovers all of his old files have been thrown away. When he gets home, however, he tells Helen that the visit went well and that the new guy needed his help. Days pass and Warren spends his time sitting in front of the TV feeling sorry for himself. As he's flipping channels he comes across a commercial for a Third World relief fund where people can "adopt" a young African child (trivia: that's Angela Lansbury's voice in the commercial). Warren makes the call. After some more days of loafing and moping around, Warren receives his packet in the mail. He has "adopted" a young Tanzanian boy named Ndugu. He is advised in the letter to write to the young boy, so he does. In the letter (done in voiceover, which is very funny), he tells Ndugu about his life, how he's been married for 42 years... and soon the letter spirals into a rant about how he was cast aside by Woodmen, how his wife is starting to annoy him, and how his daughter is about to marry a loser waterbed salesman named Randall. He goes off to mail the letter, and his wife tells him not to dilly-dally. Next we see Warren heading into a Dairy Queen, where he gets some ice cream. He comes home to find Helen unconscious on the floor. She has died. Jeannie and Randall fly in for the funeral; Warren is very happy to see her but is rather stiff toward Randall, who is just emotional over the death. After the funeral Warren's friend Ray is sobbing violently (somewhat important later). Jeannie and Randall stay for a while at Warren's house. Warren asks Jeannie to stay longer, implying that he'd like for her to take care of him, but Jeannie is adamant about getting back to Denver to plan the wedding. Warren is upset that Jeannie still wants to go through with it; he thinks she should postpone because of Helen's death, but Jeannie insists her mother would want her to get married. Jeannie then rails on Warren for buying a cheap casket, saying that Helen deserved more. Eventually Jeannie and Randall leave for Denver, telling Warren they'll see him in a few weeks. Warren writes another letter to Ndugu about Helen's death, taking back all the bad things he said about her previously. This is done in a voiceover as Warren goes through her makeup, putting on her cold cream, and going through her closets. He then opens a shoebox and finds several to letters to "My darling Helen" which were not written by him. He looks closely at the signature and realizes who his wife had an affair with. In a rage, he sweeps all of Helen's belongings into boxes and throws them into a local recycling bin. Then he drives to a barber shop. Seconds later, Ray comes out and Warren confronts him with the letters. Ray tries to explain that the affair happened 25-30 years ago, but Warren clumsily punches him anyway and drives off in a rage. Warren decides since there's nothing left at home for him, he will go to Denver early. He loads up the Winnebago and takes off. Within a few hours he calls Jeannie at a gas station pay phone to say he's coming. Jeannie freaks out, and insists he go home until it's time to come for the wedding. Warren is very upset as he hangs up, feeling unneeded. He decides to take a leisurely pace, and in another letter to Ndugu, he tells of his pathetic adventures visiting the site of his childhood home-- which is now a tire store-- and his old fraternity at the University of Kansas, where the current frat brothers do not connect with him. He goes on to visit an arrowhead museum and ruminate about Native Americans, then buys some Hummel figurines like his wife collected. He's finishing the letter to Ndugu in an RV campground just as there's a knock on his door. John Rusk, another Winnebago enthusiast, greets him and invites him over to dinner with him and his wife Vicki. John and Vicki turn out to be two unbearably perky people from Wisconsin; Warren is perplexed by them at first, but later he warms up to them. After dinner, John leaves to get some more beer, while Vicki shows Warren pictures of their family. When they are alone, Vicki makes an observation that Warren is a sad person. Warren admits this and breaks down a little bit. When he tries to kiss Vicki, she shrieks and kicks him out of her camper. Warren goes back to his Winnebago and takes off into the night, passing a confused John on the road. In an deserted spot, Warren sits on top of his Winnebago with lighted candles and the Hummels, talking to Helen and wondering what he did to drive her into an affair. He asks her forgiveness for not being a good enough husband, and sees a shooting star. The next morning he takes off, leaving the candles and figurines on the roof. One by one they slide off the roof as he drives. Warren eventually arrives in Denver at the house of Randall's mother, Roberta (the wonderful Kathy Bates). Roberta's house is full of odd decorations which match her dotty personality. She is very outgoing and Warren seems somewhat frightened of her. Jeannie and Randall arrive, and Warren tries to get Jeannie alone to tell her to call off the wedding, but she is too busy. Dinner is a tense event. Roberta and Randall's father (her ex) Larry (an almost unrecognizable Howard Hesseman) snipe at each other. Randall's brother Duncan acts like a zombie, and Warren is watching everything and wondering why he is there. After dinner he finally gets Jeannie alone and begs her not to marry Randall, saying she deserves better. Jeannie tears into him, saying he was never there for her in the past but now wants to run her life. She says she will marry Randall, and Warren will come to the wedding and deal with it. Warren is very hurt at her behavior. Warren is given Randall's old room, equipped with a waterbed. He looks around to see Randall's honorable mention trophies and participant certificates (to enhance just how average the guy is). Warren wakes up the next morning with his back out of whack from sleeping on the bed. Jeannie thinks he's faking it and is furious. Roberta becomes Warren's nursemaid. Very funny scene follows as Roberta feeds him soup for lunch and goes into detail about Jeannie and Randall's sex life. Warren is very uncomfortable, and Roberta gives him some Percodan to get him through the rehearsal. At the rehearsal, Warren is completely stoned but gets through it and the dinner. Roberta takes him home and puts him in the hot tub. Here Warren is finally relaxed, until Roberta comes out. She disrobes and goes down into the tub with him (she's completely naked, he's wearing swim trunks). Roberta slowly hits on Warren, making him so distraught that he soon leaves to retreat to his Winnebago, where he spends the night. The next day is the wedding, which goes off without a hitch. Warren is restrained throughout the whole ceremony and reception. After Randall's best man gives the speech, he hands the mic over to Warren. Jeannie appears nervous, but Warren goes into a speech, then pauses. He mentions Helen dying and delivers an impassioned speech about how Helen wanted to see Jeannie happy. He then offers a nice tribute to Roberta and Larry, as well as Larry's wife, and even finds something nice to say about Duncan. The crowd applauds and Warren retreats immediately to the men's room to control himself. The reception goes on gaily. Another letter to Ndugu in voiceover as Warren drives home. He writes about the wedding and how Jeannie and Randall are in Orlando on his nickel, and that there's nothing he can do about her life anymore. On his trip home east, Warren stops at a museum and marvels at the courageous journeys pioneers had made going west, prompting him to ponder what he has accomplished in the direction of his life. He is depressed that he hasn't made one bit of difference to anybody, that he hasn't done anything important. He returns home; the house is a mess and there's a huge pile of mail behind the door. Warren quietly collects everything and goes to his den to sift through it. He finds a letter from a nun who works at Ndugu's orphanage, and she explains that Ndugu cannot yet read or write, but he enjoys Warren's letters, and he likes to paint. A picture by Ndugu for Warren in enclosed in the letter, and Warren unfolds it to see two smiling stick figures holding hands (one child and one adult, apparently Warren and Ndugu). Warren breaks down and cries, realizing that he indeed has made a difference in somebody's life.

In Trieste, Italy, Lieutenant Colonel Austin Travis (Steven Seagal) leads an unsuccessful U.S Special Forces raid on a Chechen mafia safe house to recover a stolen Soviet nerve agent called DZ-5 (also known as VX Gas). During the raid one of his men is killed, and the nerve agent is nowhere to be found, leaving the mission a bust. Three months later, Dr. David Grant (Kurt Russell), a U.S. Army intelligence expert, is informed that terrorist leader El Sayed Jaffa was abducted from his daughter's wedding by an unknown entity and anonymously delivered to U.S authorities. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber walks into a luxurious London, England restaurant and blows himself up after warning people to listen to the sound of Al Tha'r. That same day, Oceanic Airlines Flight 343, a Boeing 747-200, leaves Athens, Greece, bound for Washington, D.C., with over 400 passengers on board, including U.S. Senator Mavros (J.T Walsh), and a disguised Nagi Hassan (David Suchet), El Sayed Jaffa's deputy director. Soon after take-off Hassan and his men, having sneaked weapons on the flight, hijack the plane and sends a message under the name Al Tha'r demanding Jaffa's release. An armed deputy U.S Airline Marshal (Richard Riehle) who is on the plane but unable to prevent the hijack quickly conceals his badge and gun to avoid being identified and compromise the security of the passengers. Jean (Halle Berry), a flight attendant takes a huge risk by getting rid of the passengers manifest and lying to Hassan to conceal the Marshal's presence. Meanwhile, David Grant is called away from a tuxedo and gown party to a meeting at the Pentagon to plan an operation to retake the plane. While the secretary of defense and everyone else around the table, including Austin Travis who despises Grant and holds him responsible for the failed mission in Italy, agrees that they must plan for a ground strike on the terrorists as soon as the plane lands, Grant doubts Hassan's demands, suspecting he engineered Jaffa's capture himself, and intends to use the plane to detonate a bomb loaded with the DZ-5 nerve agent into U.S. airspace. Grant strongly advises the secretary not to let the plane reach U.S airspace, much less touch U.S soil. He also reveals that the name used by the terrorists, Al Tha'r, is an ancient Arabic form of the word "revenge". Not willing to destroy the plane and it's 400 passengers without proof that the plane is truly a threat to the United States, The Pentagon opt to send Travis's team on a mission to infiltrate Oceanic Airlines Flight 343 mid-air using the experimental airplane "Remora F117x" invented by DARPA engineer Dennis Cahill (Oliver Platt). Travis requests Grant's presence on the plane for live intel, somehow knowing that Grant is deathly afraid of flying. Grant and Cahill both agrees to join Travis's team to intercept the plane. The Remora intercepts and docks with the 747 in mid-air. The boarding is only partially successful though due to strong turbulence, causing the team's bomb specialist "Cappy" (Joe Morton) to fall and break his neck. Grant boards the plane to assist Cappy just as the 747 pulls up, over stressing the Remora's docking tunnel. Travis sacrifices himself by closing the 747's hatch before it decompresses, saving his team but killing him and destroying the Remora. On the plane, the surviving team members, "Rat"(John Leguizamo), "Cappy", Louie (B.D Wong), and Baker ( Whip Hubley), along with Grant and Cahill reassess their situation: Cappy is alive but immobilized, having fractured some vertebrae. They only have access to half their gear, no sleeping agent and, most importantly, no radio and no communication equipment, leaving the Pentagon completely unaware of their survival. With limited options, the team, now under Rat's command, use spy cameras and microphones to observe, locate and assess the terrorists while covertly searching the plane for the suspected DZ-5 bomb, with the aim of neutralizing it before storming the cabin. During his search for Hassan, Grant accidentally compromises himself to Jean, who keeps quiet about it despite Hassan's suspicions about her. The team finally locates the bomb and Grant is proven right when they find out the bomb has enough DZ-5 to take out half the Eastern seaboard on its own. Cappy analyzes the bomb and reveals it has a barometric detonator, meaning it will detonate upon landing, but assures his team he knows how to neutralize it. They call upon Cahill to assist Cappy, who is still immobilized, with the bomb while Grant and the others take positions all around the plane to hit it as soon as the bomb is neutralized. Cappy guides Cahill and successfully disarms the bomb. He advises his team that the bomb is secured, but just as they're about to attack, Cappy calls off the attack, having found that the bomb has a remote-controlled trigger and someone is testing it, meaning someone on the plane can still detonate the bomb at any moment. Cappy then succumbs to the pain meds he was given earlier and loses consciousness. Meanwhile Jaffa, released by U.S officials in an attempt to resolve the situation, calls Hassan from a private jet to tell him he is free and on his way to Algeria, and extends an offer from the U.S government to acquiesce to all of Hassan's demands in exchange for releasing the hostages. Hassan, while rejoicing in his leader's freedom, informs Jaffa that his mission is not finished as he intends to strike a sword deep into the infidels. Jaffa tries to reason with Hassan but he abruptly ends the call, forcing the Secretary of defense to order an air strike on the plane, having received no updates from Travis' team. Following the phone call, Hassan is confronted by his second in command who is challenging Hassan on his decision not to divert the plane back to Algeria now that their leader is free. Hassan reveals their real mission is to strike a deathblow to their enemies which his lieutenant disagrees with. Hassan assaults and kills his lieutenant and then orders the others back to their position. Grant, having overheard the whole exchange, realizes Hassan's men are unaware of the bomb and Hassan's true intentions. He also aptly deduces that the bomb's trigger-man is not Hassan or one of the armed terrorists, but a sleeping agent hiding amongst the passengers. Grant and the team decide to look for the passenger with cameras hooked to the main cabin while Cahill will attempt to figure out how to neutralize the remote detonator. Just as Cahill is about to execute his own theory and cut a wire, Cappy awakens to stop them and resumes working the bomb with Cahill while Grant rejoins the team to look for the secret trigger-man whom Grant is certain will be Jean-Paul Demou, one of Jaffa's men believed to have built the bomb. Grant uses a camera and having bypassed the plane's phone system to secretly communicate with Jean whom he trusts in assisting them with finding the trigger-man. While he's giving her instructions, she gets attacked and threatened by Hassan who points his gun at her but she's able to lie her way out of it. After catching her breath, she agrees to help Grant. She also takes a moment to covertly advise the Marshal about the presence of soldiers on the plane. While going around, tending to the passengers' needs, she spots a passenger with an electronic device that looks just like what Grant described to her so she silently communicates the seat number to Grant. Back in the cargo area, Cappy and Cahill seems to be making progress with the bomb when a random remote check from the trigger-man causes Cahill to panic and cut several wires he wasn't supposed to touch. The bomb not blowing up and seeming still fully functional make Cappy realize they are working on a decoy. The real bomb's computer is underneath the one they've been working on all along. Meanwhile, the U.S air strike has finally reached the plane and are attempting to divert it from its course by threatening to attack. Hassan refuses to divert and calls upon Senator Mavros who offered himself earlier to negotiate in an attempt to boost his political popularity for the upcoming elections. Mavros asks to speak with the President of the United States directly but is denied by the Secretary of defense. He is then killed by Hassan in a demonstration of his ruthlessness. The plane getting too close to the fail safe line, the Secretary of defense has no choice and orders the fighter jets to attack the plane. Luckily, Grant intercepted the exchange and is able to communicate with the fighter jets through Morse code from the tail lights, that they are on board, requesting an extra ten minutes to neutralize the bomb and retake the plane, despite already crossing into U.S. airspace. As soon as the Secretary overhears the team's mission code as part of the message, he agrees to give them ten minutes through a coded message of his own. Knowing they need to act now, the team gathers behind Grant to allow Cahill and Cappy five more minutes with the bomb and then attack no matter what. Out of desperation, Grant abandons his position and contacts Jean to use her help to enter the main cabin in an attempt to take out the suspected trigger-man by surprise, but he turns out to be an innocent passenger. Grant is then proven right once more by spotting Jean-Paul Demou, sitting on the plane. He shoots the remote away from him and engages him in an intense brawl. Hassan attempts to shoot Grant, but is himself shot by the federal air marshal. The commandos storm the cabin as a firefight ensues. Grant struggles to wrestle the remote detonator from Demou's grip while Baker and Rat gun-down several terrorists. Louie assists Grant by fatally shooting Demou and eliminating the remaining terrorists. Demou, however, manages to arm the bomb before dying, and stray bullets from a terrorist's weapon pierce a passenger window causing explosive decompression and killing three passengers. The bomb is disarmed just in time by Cappy and Cahill as the plane regains stable flight. Grant confronts Hassan and shows him that the bomb is neutralized. In a final act of desperation, a wounded Hassan sprays the cockpit with bullets, killing the pilots, before being shot and killed by Rat. With the pilots dead, over 400 lives on the line and a bomb on-board, aerophobic Grant, despite his limited flying experience and never having flown solo, assumes control of the plane and attempts to land it at the designated runway but misses the approach to Dulles International Airport, forcing him to go around. Knowing he's not good enough to turn the plane around and try another approach, Grant recognizes the area surrounding his training airfield, and decides to head there instead. The landing is sloppy and quite damaging as the airfield was never meant for a 747 but fortunately, none of the damages and impact triggers the bomb and Grant is finally able to safely land onto a sand berm at the runway's safety area, and the passengers are safely evacuated. Having finally exit the plane, Grant witnesses the bomb squad taking away the bomb and Cahill gives him his lucky straw that helped defused the bomb before departing in search of the biggest drink available. Grant then witnesses Cappy getting loaded unto an army ambulance along with the rest of the commando who stops to respectfully salute him before departing. He is then joined by Jean who asks him who he is. Just as he's about to answer, an FBI agent approaches him, addressing Grant by his official title of Doctor Grant and advises him he is being summoned by the Pentagon which causes Jean to leave but Grant calls her back and invites her to a coffee date, which she agrees as long as he is not flying. They both laugh and get into a car on their way to the Pentagon.

Witty character study of three couples who vacation together each season. After one divorces, feelings of betrayal and more spawn criticisms of one another, but things that unite them are stronger than those which might pull them apart. Middle-aged couples Jack and Kate Burroughs, Nick and Anne Callan, and Danny and Claudia Zimmer are best friends who do everything together. As couples, they have weathered the flood of divorces that has beset their other friends. When one of the six decides to make a change in life, the other five are forced to examine their marriages, their friendships with one another, the true meaning of love, and their own personal foibles. Over the course of one year, the movie is set against the backdrop of four vacations they take together, one in each of the four seasons, with Antonio Vivaldi's associated suite of music introducing each. By their fourth vacation together, Jack feels that they need to "clear the air." —Huggo