Madonna

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence. In this cinematic concert, mesmerizing images are plucked from everyday reality, then visually altered with state-of-the-art digital techniques. The result is a chronicle of the shift from a world organized by the principles of nature to one dominated by technology, the synthetic and the virtual. Extremes of intimacy and spectacle, tragedy and hope fuse in a tidal wave of visuals and music, giving rise to a unique, artistic experience that reflects the vision of a brave new globalized world. —Sujit R. Varma

A snooty socialite is stranded on a Mediterranean island with a communist sailor. Amber is 40, beautiful, rich, spoiled, and arrogant beyond measure. Nothing makes this woman happy, including her wealthy but passive husband Tony, a pharmaceutical kingpin. When he takes her on a private cruise from Greece to Italy, she is unimpressed at this impromptu no-frills vacation, and takes out her anger on the ship's first mate, Giuseppe. When a storm leaves the two shipwrecked on a deserted island, however, the tables suddenly turn. —Anonymous

The film begins with Ted the Bellhop (Tim Roth) in a room filled with hotel memorabilia, talking to Sam the Bellhop (Marc Lawrence) about what a bellhop is. It's New Year's Eve. "The Missing Ingredient" begins with a bunch of women (including Madonna and Lili Taylor) converging in the Honeymoon Suite, where there's a huge cauldron in the room's center. The women send Ted to get a bunch of ingredients, mostly from the kitchen. With the ingredients in hand, the women, some of them topless, enact a ritual. They are witches. One says they intend to reverse the spell that turned their goddess Diana into stone in this very room 40 years ago. The witches dance around, then they begin putting ingredients into the huge cauldron. Eva (Ione Skye) was required to get the key ingredient: fresh semen. Alas, instead of keeping the sample, she swallows it. Ted returns to the room. A witch gives him a $50 tip, telling him that he has to make Eva smile. The witches leave Ted alone with Eva, whom Ted tries to entertain by acting silly. Eva says it doesn't matter if she smiles or not, and explains that she and her friends are a coven, as well as the situation with Diana. After Ted resists Eva's advances, she casts a spell on him, causing him to be swept away with her. Ted kisses Eva. Later, we see them kissing some more. Ted leaves the suite as the witches plus one more return. Eva says she's a woman now, telling them that she and Ted did it in the cauldron. The witches continue the ritual. Diana rises from the cauldron in physical form. The second segment is "The Wrong Man." Ted walks into a darkened room 404. The light comes on. A man (David Proval) points a gun in Ted's face. A woman (Jennifer Beals) is tied to a chair and gagged behind the man. The man swallows some pills. He accuses Ted of being the woman's beau. She is the man's wife. Ted says there's a mistake. The man hits Ted in the face with the gun, knocking him down. The man pulls Ted up and says he demands an apology. He puts the gun down and has Ted mouth an apology for saying he f---ed another man. The man tells Ted not to move a nose hair, picking up the gun. The man dances over to the bathroom. The woman mumbles at Ted and he pulls the gag from her mouth. She tells him to untie her. He argues that they're complete strangers, and she says, "it's where we end up that counts." They realize the man is coming back, and Ted puts the gag back into her mouth. The man catches Ted doing this and points the gun at him. He tells Ted to "nibble" on his wife. The man calls Ted "Theodore." Ted corrects him, telling him to call him "Ted." The man says his name is Siegfried. He agrees to call Ted by his chosen name. He then kisses Ted, twitches, says "my heart," and collapses. He tells Ted to get his nitro pills from the bathroom. Ted enters the bathroom and searches the medicine cabinet. He sees the window and worms his body halfway through it. Ted notices a man halfway out of the window above his window. Ted asks the man to call the police. The man twitches and vomits, just missing Ted, who jumps back into the bathroom. Ted exits the bathroom, finding the woman and Siegfried on the floor. He picks the woman up and ungags her. She yells at him to get the nitro pills. Suddenly, Siegfried stands up. He tells them that it was a test, saying he's happy because he knows the woman loves him now. The woman takes a wry attitude, accusing Ted of having sex with her. Ted asks what he ever did to her and Siegfried. The woman mentions that Ted has "a huge cock." Ted denies this. Siegfried tells Ted to show him his cock. The woman does, too. Siegfried tells her to stop talking about Ted's cock. The woman says countless synonyms for the male phallus, driving Siegfried into a fit. Ted sees an opportunity and hurries out of the room. The third segment, "The Misbehavers," starts with Ted answering a call at the front desk. A man (Antonio Banderas) orders a bottle of champagne. His wife (Tamlyn Tomita) combs her and the man's son Juancho's (Danny Verduzco) hair, trying to get the right look. The man takes over combing Juancho's hair, while the wife goes to work on their daughter Sarah's (Lana McKissack) hair. The man and wife finish the kids' hair. The kids go into the other room to watch television. The wife asks the man if they're going to have fun tonight. The man mentions that they could leave the kids in the room with the television set. The man tells the kids that he and his wife are going to leave them alone and to be in bed before midnight. He tells them, "Don't misbehave." Juancho opens a window, saying it stinks in the room. The man comes back in, saying, "Behave." Ted arrives with the champagne. The man gives Ted $500 to check up on the kids every thirty minutes. The man and his wife leave. Ted and Sarah argue a bit as to when the kids should call him. Ted says to call only when necessary, and that if the kids are good, he'll bring them some milk and cookies. He leaves. Sarah tells Juancho that his feet stink. Juancho turns on a station on the TV with a half-naked female dancer (Salma Hayek) dancing. Sarah calls Ted on the phone, telling him to turn "the nudie station" off. The kids keep complaining about the bad smell in the room. Sarah finds a syringe in a drawer and calls Ted to mention it to him. Ted tells her not to bother him again unless it's an emergency. Juancho shakes the champagne bottle until it blows its cork. He drinks some champagne. The kids use a framed picture in the room as a target to throw the syringe at. Ted comes back with milk and saltines, telling the kids that they're going to bed. The kids dislike the saltines. Ted has the kids lie down and tells them to close their eyes. He pulls out some mentholatum ointment. He dabs the ointment over their eyes, telling them not to open them or it will burn. Ted exits the room. Fireworks go off outside the room's window. Sarah walks with her eyes closed to the bathroom and rinses them off. She opens her eyes. She turns on the TV and drinks some champagne. Juancho steps to the bathroom and washes his face off, too. Vexed by the bad smell in the room, the kids get off of the bed. Sarah pulls the bed's top mattress aside and they find a dead woman stuffed in its bottom mattress. Sarah calls Ted, who becomes livid. Sarah tells Ted to get his ass to the room. A discombobulated Ted sees the man walk into the hotel, carrying the passed-out wife. Ted runs to the elevator and goes upstairs. He rushes into the room to find Sarah drinking and Juancho smoking. Ted slaps the cigarette out of Juancho's mouth. Sarah moves the bed's top mattress aside and reveals the dead woman. Ted vomits. He knocks the champagne bottle out of Sarah's hand. Champagne spills from the bottle, and some of it moves toward the lit cigarette on the floor. Ted calls the police, saying there's a "dead whore" in the room. Sarah tells Ted not to call her a dead whore. Ted does it again, so Sarah stabs him in the leg with the syringe. Ted screams, dropping the telephone. He steps on the TV's remote, accidentally changing the TV to the station with the dancing woman. The man gets to the room's door, carrying his wife. Flames erupt around the room due to the champagne catching fire. Ted grabs the dead woman's leg and yanks the syringe out of his thigh. The man walks in to see Ted standing with his hand on the dead woman's leg, along with the syringe in his other hand, Juancho smoking, Sarah holding the champagne bottle, the "nudie station" on the TV, and the room on fire. The man asks, "Did they misbehave?" The last segment is "The Man From Hollywood." Ted knocks on a penthouse door. The formerly tied-up woman from the second segment opens the door and announces that the bellhop is here. Men's voices shout in appreciation and Ted steps into the penthouse. The actor Chester Rush (Quentin Tarantino) struts over to Ted and offers him some Cristal that Ted refuses at first, but later drinks. Chester invites Ted in and introduces him to his friends: the woman whose name is Angela, Norman (Paul Calderon), and Leo (Bruce Willis). Chester notices that a bottle of Cristal has gone flat and goes off on a tirade against his friends for leaving it open. He opens another bottle of the champagne. Chester talks about his movies. Ted shows Chester and Norman the objects he's been asked to bring to the room, which include a block of wood and a sharp hatchet. Leo argues in a bedroom with his wife over the phone, and it ends badly. Leo has a temper tantrum, yelling and cursing. Leo asks Ted if he's seen a TV episode called "The Man From Rio" starring Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen. In the episode, Lorre makes a bet with McQueen that McQueen can't light his cigarette lighter ten times in a row. If McQueen lights his lighter ten times in a row, McQueen gets Lorre's car. If he doesn't, Lorre gets to chop off McQueen's pinky. Leo says Norman has bet his pinky that he can light his cigarette lighter ten times in a row. Either Norman will do it, thus winning Chester's 1964 Chevy Chevelle or not, getting his finger cut off, as in Lorre and McQueen's bet. Ted tells the guys that they're drunk. Norman says they'd probably chicken out if they weren't intoxicated. Chester says in the event that Norman loses his finger, after they put it on ice, it can hopefully be reattached. Chester says the men want Ted to be the finger-cutter, since he's a neutral stranger. Ted says, "I've gotta get out of here" and runs to the door. Chester offers Ted $100 to sit and listen to what he has to say. Ted sits down. Chester stacks a thousand dollars on the counter, and persuasively asks Ted if he'll want to remember for the rest of his life that he refused it for a second's work. Ted agrees to be the finger-cutter. The men get into their positions. Norman gets his thumb on his lighter and flicks it once. It doesn't light, and Ted instantly drives the hatchet through Norman's pinky, severing it. Norman screams in agony. Ted scoops up his money and sashays off, getting onto an elevator. Leo and Chester scramble to get the shrieking Norman and his severed pinky into the elevator.

Jimmy, a washed-up ballplayer, is hired to coach in the All-American Girls Baseball League of 1943 and is drawn back into the game by the heart and heroics of his all-girl team.

Broadway was never brighter and never roared louder than New Year's Eve, 1928, when anything could happen-and did. A four part short story musical co-starring Madonna, Jennifer Grey, and Matt Dillon. This musical is based on four short stories by Damon Runyon. In one tale, gambler Feet Samuels (Randy Quaid) sells his body to science just as he realizes that Hortense Hathaway (Madonna) loves him and that he would rather live than die. In another story, Harriet MacKyle's (Julie Hagerty's) parrot is killed, and she has problems dealing with her loss. Then, there is a gambler, "Regret" (Matt Dillon), who has bloodhounds on his trail when he becomes a murder suspect. Finally, "The Brain" (Rutger Hauer) is bleeding profusely, and his friends search for a way to save his life through a blood transfusion. —Rachaela

Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) is disillusioned New Jersey housewife who is stuck in a passionless marriage with Gary (Marl Blum), the owner of a spa and hot tub company. For emotional escape, Roberta follows the relationships of strangers via personal advertisements in the newspaper. One day during an excursion to a beauty salon for her birthday with Gary's sister Leslie (Laurie Metcalf), Roberta sees an advertisement from a man named Jim "desperately seeking" a woman named Susan. Roberta has been following Jim and Susan's relationship through their cryptic ads for a while and finally decides to show up at the specified time and place of their meeting to catch a glimpse of the couple. Meanwhile in Atlantic City, Susan (Madonna) is in a hotel room with Bruce Meeker, a local gangster, Susan sees Jim's message in the newspaper and decides to return to New York City. Before she leaves, she steals two ornate Egyptian earrings from Meeker's jacket pocket. In the hallway, Susan passes another gangster, Wayne Nolan (Will Patton), who makes note of her appearance, including her unique jacket with a gold pyramid on the back. Arriving in New York, Susan stores her suitcase in a locker at the Port Authority bus terminal. She then goes to a seedy nightclub called The Magic Club, where her friend Crystal (Anna Levine) works as the assistant to a magician. Susan asks Crystal if she could crash at her place for a few days. Crystal agrees. The next day, as Susan makes her way to Battery Park, she spots a newspaper headline announcing that Meeker was murdered shortly after she left the hotel. Roberta goes to the park as well, and watches from afar as Susan and Jim (Robert Joy) reunite. Following the two at a distance, Roberta overhears Jim telling Susan that he has to go to Buffalo with his band. When Susan mentions Meeker's murder, Jim gives her the number of his movie projectionist friend, Dez, in case she runs into any trouble. After Jim leaves, Roberta follows Susan through the streets of the city. When Susan sees a pair of boots she likes in a boutique window, Roberta follows her inside. Susan exchanges her jacket for the boots, and after she leaves, Roberta buys the pyramid jacket for herself. That evening back at her house, Roberta discovers a Port Authority locker key, a newspaper clipping with Dez's phone number, and a Polaroid of Susan in the pocket of her new jacket. By this time, Susan has returned to the store in search of the locker key and leaves her name and phone number in case the new owner of the jacket returns. Roberta decides to put a her own "desperately seeking Susan" advertisement in the personals, asking Susan to meet her at Battery Park regarding the key. Susan and Jim both see the ad, and Jim calls Dez (Aiden Quinn), asking him to go to the meeting point to make sure Susan is safe. Having never met Susan, Dez asks for a description, and Jim mentions the jacket with the pyramid on the back. The next day, when Roberta, wearing Susan's jacket, arrives at Battery Park, Nolan mistakes her for Susan tries to engage her in conversation. Meanwhile, Susan takes a taxicab to the rendezvous but is arrested when she tries to shortchange the cabdriver on the fare. Before getting into the police car, Susan spots Nolan and Roberta. Nolan asks Roberta about her boyfriend in Atlantic City and the earrings. Not knowing what he is talking about, Roberta tries to run away but hits her head on a lamppost, falls unconscious, and loses her purse as it rolls into the water... and this is where the movie really takes off. Roberta awakens to find Dez next to her, but she now has amnesia and cannot remember any details about herself or her life. Assuming that Roberta is Susan based on her jacket, Dez suggests she look in her pockets for any material that could confirm her identity. When she pulls out the newspaper clipping, Dez confirms the phone number written on it is his. He also identifies the locker key as coming from the Port Authority, so he takes Roberta there, hoping the contents of the locker will jog her memory. At the locker, Roberta rifles through the suitcase and finds one Egyptian earring along with an assortment of other material, none of which helps her remember who she is. Dez offers to let Roberta stay in his apartment for the night since she has nowhere to go. Meanwhile, Gary, his sister, Leslie, and Leslie's new boyfriend, Larry, worry about Roberta. Gary has reported Roberta's disappearance to the police and was told that she is probably having an affair. Also, after making bail, Susan goes to the Port Authority and finds her locker where she stored her belongings empty. The next morning, Roberta and Dez go to a cafe for breakfast and Nolan follows. Roberta gets mistaken for Susan by the owner and both she and Dez are denied service and thrown out. Roberta then takes a taxicab to the Magic Club, having found a postcard for it in Susan's suitcase. There, she walks into a job interview by chance and is hired as the magician's assistant after he fires Crystal on account of her myopia and unable to perform without her eyeglasses. Meanwhile, Gary goes to the store where Roberta bought her jacket, and the boutique owner gives Gary Susan's contact information, suggesting maybe they can help each other. Gary calls Susan at Crystal's apartment, and they arrange to meet. That same night, Roberta goes onstage at the Magic Club and fumbles through her routine. In the audience, Nolan notices that Roberta is wearing one of the Egyptian earrings. Elsewhere, Gary and Susan meet at a nightclub, and Susan tells him she thinks Nolan and Roberta are working together to frame Susan for the murder of Meeker. Gary doesn't believe this, and Susan suggests they go back to his place. Outside the Magic Club, Nolan follows Roberta and eventually catches her, but they get into a scuffle and Roberta hits her head once again. The police show up, forcing Nolan to escape. Assuming Roberta is a prostitute, the policemen arrest her and take her to the station. Having regained her memory, she identifies herself as Roberta Glass. Back in New Jersey, Susan shares a marijuana cigarette with Gary while lounging around the Glass' home. When Roberta calls from jail and hears Susan and Gary laughing, she hangs up and calls Dez instead. The next morning, Gary and Leslie get word that Roberta has been arrested, but when they arrive at the police station, she has already been bailed out. When a police officer (Victor Argo) suggests that Roberta's pimp probably paid her bond, Gary refuses to believe that his wife has turned to prostitution. Meanwhile, Roberta and Dez find Dez's apartment ransacked. Dez blames Roberta for all the bad luck he has been having. She gets angry and packs up her suitcase to leave. When the contents of the suitcase spill out onto the floor, Roberta begins to cry and Dez, who still thinks Roberta is "Susan", kisses her. They make love. Meanwhile, back at Gary's house, Susan is seen relaxing at the house when sees a television news story about the theft of two ancient Egyptian earrings, for which Meeker and Nolan are prime suspects. Susan recognizes the earrings as those she took from Meeker. When Gary and Leslie return home from the police station, Susan tells them she knows what is going on. She goes to the Classifieds office and inserts an advertisement into the personals with a message for Roberta. Back at Dez's apartment, Roberta tells him her true identity, but Dez does not believe her, still thinking her to be Susan. Jim arrives, and Dez tells him about the relationship that has developed between him and Roberta; however, Jim does not believe him, saying Susan is not the type to settle down. When they both decide to ask "Susan" to what is going on, Roberta had left. Later, Roberta sits on a bench at Battery Park, unsure what to do now. Then she reads from a discarded newspaper and sees Susan's advertisement, directing her to meet that night at the Magic Club. Jim and Dez also see the message and decide to go to the rendezvous location to confront "Susan". Gary, Leslie, Larry, Dez, Jim, Susan and Nolan all show up that night at the Magic Club. Before the show begins, Jim sees Susan and points her out to Dez, who says that she is not "his Susan". Gary, Leslie, Larry and Dez all recognize Roberta as she appears onstage. At the end of the show, Nolan jumps up from the audience, grabs Roberta's wig and earring, and runs backstage. Dez and Gary both rush over to make sure Roberta is all right. As she tries to explain what has happened, Gary does not seem to believe or even listen to her, so Roberta announces that she will not be going home with him. Meanwhile, Nolan comes across Jim and Susan kissing backstage and puts a gun to Susan's head, taking her hostage to help him escape from the nightclub as the bouncers are now chasing him. He notices that Susan is wearing the other earring. After Nolan and Susan crawl through a window into the women's dressing room, Roberta hits Nolan over the head with a bottle, knocking him unconscious. There, Susan and Roberta officially meet for the first time. Later, Roberta finds Dez in the projection booth at the movie theater where he works. She tells him her real name once again, and as they begin to kiss, Roberta knocks the projector, causing it to malfunction and burn the movie. The audience is outraged, all except Jim and Susan who smile and continue eating their popcorn. Soon after, Roberta and Susan are celebrated as heroes in the newspaper and credited with recovering the stolen earrings.