Mia Kirshner

LAPD Detectives Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) are paired as partners after engaging in a boxing match to raise funds for the department & to generate publicity for a city vote on a proposal to increase policemen salaries by 8%. After gaining the upper hand and flooring Lee, Bucky ends up losing the fight and 2 of his front teeth. Lee is well known detective in the department and introduces Bucky to Deputy District Attorney Ellis Loew (Patrick Fischler) & Chief Thad Green (Troy Evans). Lee introduces Bucky to his girlfriend Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson), and the trio becomes inseparable. The duo arrest many known mob bosses and become famous. Lee notices the growing closeness between Kay and Bucky. Bucky is shocked when Kay tells him she isn't sleeping with Lee, and later tries to seduce him, but he refuses. He also discovers that Kay has been branded with the initials "BD", for Bobby DeWitt, the gangster whose arrest and conviction for a big bank robbery made Lee's career (Kay testified against Bobby). Bobby is scheduled to be released from Prison in late Jan 1947. Soon after, on January 15, 1947, Elizabeth Short's (Mia Kirshner) dismembered body (all her internal and reproductive organs have been removed and her mouth was carved in the manner of a smile) is found and she is dubbed "The Black Dahlia" by the press. Both detectives become obsessed with solving the case. On that day, the duo were apprehending Baxter Smith, the associate of a known sexual predator Nash in a nearby building and were involved in a shootout. Lee saved Bucky's life, and Baxter ends up dead. Nash didn't kill Elizabeth as his victims were all young black girls. Cleo A. Short (Kevin Dunn), Elizabeth Short's Father works at a local diner and has an alibi for the day and time on which Elizabeth was killed. Cleo says Elizabeth was fascinated by the military types and was a bit of a tramp. Bucky learns that Elizabeth was an aspiring actress who appeared in a pornographic film and hung out with lesbians. He goes to a lesbian nightclub and meets Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank), who looks very much like Elizabeth. Madeleine, who comes from a prominent family, tells Bucky that she was 'very close' with Elizabeth (They had sex once) but asks him to keep her name out of the papers in exchange for sexual favors. She introduces him to her wealthy parents (Emmett (John Kavanagh) and Ramona (Fiona Shaw), sister Martha (Rachel Miner)) almost immediately, to confirm her alibi. Ramona doesn't like Emmett and says he married her for her father's money. She calls Bucky one of Madeleine's male whores and says she wont be insulted like this, in front of a common policeman. While having sex, Madeleine tells Bucky that her dad is corrupt (using old film-sets to build firetrap housings) and that's how he made his money in LA.. It is suggested that Madeleine is very concerned about her image and that she knew Elizabeth looked like her and that she acted in Porno films. That could be a motive to kill her. Lee's obsession leads him to become erratic and abusive toward Kay. After Lee and Bucky have a nasty argument (Lee locates the sexual predator Nash and ends up killing him) about a previous case, Bucky goes to Lee and Kay's to apologize, only to learn from Kay that Lee was responding to a tip about Bobby DeWitt (Richard Brake). Bucky finds DeWitt in the atrium of a building before he is gunned down by Lee, then sees a man garrote Lee before a second figure steps out and slits Lee's throat. Lee and the man holding the garrote fall over the railing to their deaths several floors below. The grief of losing Lee propels Bucky and Kay into having sex. The next morning, Bucky finds money hidden in Lee and Kay's bathroom. Kay reveals that she had been DeWitt's girlfriend and that he abused her. Lee rescued Kay, stole DeWitt's money, and put DeWitt behind bars. When Dewitt was about to be released, his snitch, who introduced Kay to Lee, demanded $10,000. The snitch was Baxter Smith. Lee had eliminated him, in the garb of the Nash shootout. Bucky now realizes Lee was there that night to kill DeWitt and leaves, furious, to return to Madeleine, where he notices photo of Georgie, Emmett's business associate, and a painting of a leering clown. Kay follows him and she is appalled to see Madeleine's striking resemblance to the Dahlia. Bucky starts putting the pieces together and remembers props in another movie matched the set in Elizabeth's pornographic film. The end credits thanked Emmett Linscott, Madeleine's father, and Bucky digs deeper into a story Madeleine told about him using old film sets to build cheap firetrap housing. In an empty house below the Hollywoodland sign built by Emmett, Bucky recognizes the set that was used in Elizabeth's film. He finds evidence in a barn on the property that Elizabeth was killed and butchered there, as well as a drawing of a man with a Glasgow smile. The drawing matches the painting in Madeleine's home and the gruesome smile carved into Elizabeth's face. Bucky confronts Madeleine and her father in their home and Madeleine's mother, Ramona, reveals that she killed Elizabeth. She confesses that Madeleine was not fathered by Emmett but rather by his best friend, Georgie (William Finley). She says Georgie became infatuated while watching Elizabeth film the pornography. Ramona was disturbed by the idea of George having sex with someone who looked so much like his own daughter, and lured Elizabeth to the house and killed her. Before Bucky can decide what to do, Ramona shoots herself. A few days later, remembering something Lee said during the investigation, Bucky visits Madeleine's sister Martha (Rachel Miner) with some questions. He learns that Lee knew about Madeleine and Elizabeth, and blackmailed Madeleine's father to keep it secret. Bucky finds Madeleine at a seedy motel, and she admits to being the one who slit Lee's throat. Although she insists that Bucky wants to have sex with her rather than kill her, he tells her she is wrong and shoots her dead. Bucky goes to Kay's house and she invites him in and closes the door.

In the stereotypical high school community of John Hughes High in Southern California, attractive Priscilla (Jaime Pressly) (mainly based on Taylor Vaughan (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) from She's All That, Big Red (Lindsay Sloane) and Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) from Bring It On, and Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) from American Beauty), a popular cheerleader, separates from her talented football star but slacker boyfriend, Jake Wyler (Chris Evans) (("The Popular Jock"), mainly based on the characters Zack Siler (played by Freddie Prinze Jr.) from She's All That and Jonathan Moxon (played by James Van Der Beek) from Varsity Blues). After Jake discovers that Priscilla is now dating timid and weird Les (Riley Smith) (("The Beautiful Weirdo"), mainly based on Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley) from American Beauty) just to spite him. Jake claims that given the right looks anyone can be prom queen, one of Jake's friends, Austin (Eric Christian Olsen) (("The Cocky Blond Guy"), mainly based on Dean Sampson, Jr. (Paul Walker) from She's All That and Steff McKee (James Spader) from Pretty in Pink), makes a bet with him to turn Janey Briggs (Chyler Leigh) (("The Pretty Ugly Girl"), mainly based on the characters Laney Boggs (played by Rachael Leigh Cook) from She's All That, Katerina Stratford (played by Julia Stiles) from 10 Things I Hate About You, and Andie Walsh (played by Molly Ringwald) from Pretty in Pink), a "uniquely rebellious girl," into the prom queen. Priscilla takes in Sandy Sue (JoAnna Garcia) (("The New Girl in School"), mainly based on Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) from Grease) as the new cheer girl in her group. Sandy has Tourette's syndrome. Jake is traumatized by events on the football field last season, when he went against his coach, to give the ball to a rookie during an end game play, and the rookie got clobbered by 2 defenders, splitting his body right down in half. Janey talks to her dad if she should go out with Jake, given that he has ignored her for 6 yrs. Her dad says yes, only if Jake is in it for the sex. Jake goes by Catherine's advice to win over Janey, but things go wrong (he punches Janey's brother Mitch when Mitch punches Jake after he saves Mitch from bullies. Jake sings a song "Janey's got a gun", which gets her arrested. He invites Janey home for a snack, and then proceeds to come out naked covered in whipped cream, and Janey leaves in disgust) Jake attempts to court Janey's love, but faces adversity from his own sister, Catherine (Mia Kirshner) (("The Cruelest Girl") mainly based on Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) from Cruel Intentions and Mackenzie Siler (Anna Paquin) from She's All That), who is sexually attracted to him; Janey's unnoticed admirer and best friend, Ricky Lipman (Eric Jungmann) (("The Obsessed Best Friend"), mainly based on Duckie Dale (Jon Cryer) from Pretty in Pink); and memories from his past football career. Catherine eventually assists her brother by "drastically" altering Janey's appearance (which is simply removing her glasses and ponytail), instantly making her drop-dead gorgeous. Meanwhile, Janey's younger brother, Mitch (Cody McMains) (("The Desperate Virgin"), mainly based on Kevin Myers (Thomas Ian Nicholas) from American Pie and Simon Boggs (Kieran Culkin) from She's All That, as well as John Bender (Judd Nelson) from The Breakfast Club), and his friends Ox (Sam Huntington) (("The Sensitive Guy"), mainly based on Oz (Chris Klein) from American Pie) and Bruce (Samm Levine) (("The Wannabe"), mainly based on Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) from The Karate Kid, Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) from American Pie and Kenny Fisher (Seth Green) from Can't Hardly Wait), make a pact to lose their virginity by graduation despite still being in their freshman year. Mitch tries to impress his longtime crush, the beautiful yet perverted Amanda Becker (Lacey Chabert) with a love letter. Bruce says that he does not have a chance with her, mockingly stating, "Keep dreaming!" Jake takes Janey to a party after her "transformation". There Catherine hooks up with a 60+ years old woman who is a new student at the high school. Meanwhile Priscilla drops a bottle of water on Janey and calls her a loser. She cries and goes home. Jake goes after her and tries to console and kiss her in her basement. Later, the next day, Jake asks Janey out for prom, and she is also nominated for Prom Queen. As the prom draws near, Jake draws infamy among his peers after he fails to lead his football team to victory at the state championship game the year before (he blows the last pass). The situation is further worsened when Austin tricks Jake into telling Janey about his bet to spite Priscilla by pretending to whisper the secret bet in Janey's ear, causing her to immediately leave Jake in anger. During prom night, Austin and Janey go together; a jealous Jake and Catherine have a dance-off with Austin and Janey, with Catherine dancing in a sexual manner. Janey runs off crying. Meanwhile, Mitch and his friends are having a lousy time at the prom until Amanda (Lacey Chabert) (("The Perfect Girl"), mainly based on Amanda Beckett (Jennifer Love Hewitt) from Can't Hardly Wait) arrives and Mitch gives her the letter (to which she responds that she does not have sex with every loser who does such, but will give them hand jobs), horny Bruce hooks up with the equally horny international student Areola (Cerina Vincent) (("The Foreign Exchange Student"), mainly based on Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth) from American Pie), and Ox later hooks up with Catherine after sharing a romantic and rather odd connection. Jake is awarded prom king and the principal (George Wyner) reads out that the votes for prom queen are tied. Everyone thinks that it is between Janey and Priscilla, but they are shocked to find that Kara (Samaire Armstrong) and Sara Fratelli (Nectar Rose), conjoined twins, win prom queen. During the traditional prom king and queen dance, Janey supposedly left with Austin to go to a hotel. Jake goes to the hotel room where he finds Austin having wild sex with a girl but is shocked to find that it is Priscilla and not Janey, while Les videotapes them with his pants down. Austin tells Jake that Janey "ran home to her daddy." Jake coldly punches Austin and Priscilla, knocking them unconscious for their part in Janey's humiliation. He then punches Les for "being really weird" (he also punches a plastic bag that happens to be floating next to Les); afterwards he runs to Janey's house only to learn from her father that she is going to Paris for art school. Jake arrives at the airport and confronts her before she can board the plane but uses a plethora of cliched lines from other films (such as She's All That, Cruel Intentions, American Pie, The Breakfast Club, American Beauty, 10 Things I Hate About You, Can't Hardly Wait, and Pretty in Pink) to convince her to stay home in America. His final (and only original) speech suggests they would be better off separated, but Janey mistakenly believes he is quoting The Karate Kid, and she decides to stay with him. In a mid-credits scene, Janey's father Mr. Briggs (Randy Quaid) drunkenly assaults himself with pies in his kitchen. In a post-credits scene, an earlier seen Albino Folk Singer (Joy Gohring), a student with an Afro and with a guitar, reveals that she has become blind and calls out for assistance upon completing her song, while an audience member calls for another to assist in stealing her guitar.

Anna (Marceau) is a wife and mother who has an affair with the handsome Count Vronsky (Bean). Based on the novel by Tolstoy. Anna is a young and elegant wife of Mr. Karenin, who is wealthy and old. She meets the handsome Count Vronsky. Anna and Vronsky fall in love with each other, and he comes to be with her in St. Petersburg. They are very happy together and make a great looking couple, but soon their happiness gets under social pressures. Anna is hopelessly begging Mr. Karenin for a divorce, but he wants to keep the mother of their child. She has another baby born from her lover Vronsky. Conflict between her untamed desires and painful reality causes her a depression and suicidal thoughts. —Steve Shelokhonov

A distraught man inadvertently takes a group of children hostage in a museum while a hungry, seasoned reporter tries to resurrect his career covering the story. Sam Baily, upset over losing his job, takes a natural history museum hostage. Max Brackett, journalist, is in the museum when this occurs and gets the scoop. The story spreads nationwide, and soon it is all anyone talks about. The story itself is the news, not the reason why or the real people behind it. —<freckles@vivid.net>

In Los Angeles, mechanic Ashe Corven and his eight-year-old son Danny are murdered by notorious drug kingpin Judah Earl after they witness a gang of Judah's henchmen murdering a fellow drug dealer. The two are then dumped into a harbor. Sarah from the first film is now an adult, working in a tattoo parlor by day, and painting surreal images of death and resurrection in her apartment at night. She is haunted by disturbing dreams about Ashe and Danny, and after a day's work in the tattoo parlor, Sarah is visited in her apartment by a large crow as she contemplates a ring that Eric Draven gave her years before. Sarah follows the crow to the harbor at night on All Saints' Day, and witnesses Ashe's resurrection and frantic escape from his watery grave. She takes him to her apartment. When Sarah tells Ashe he is dead, he panics and runs screaming into the night, ending up at his own home, where he relives the final moments of his life. Sarah arrives there to find Ashe brooding, and she explains that he has been resurrected by the Crow so he can exact revenge on the criminals who killed him and Danny. With the guidance of the crow, Ashe starts killing Judah's henchmen, one by one. Ashe first visits Spider-Monkey in a drug warehouse and interrogates him as to who else was involved in the murders. Ashe then kills him by blowing up the building. Another of Judah's lackeys, Nemo, is spending the night at a peeping booth. Ashe appears in the booth, and kills him, leaving a doll stuffed in his pants with a paper crow in his mouth. Judah has in his employ a blind prophetess named Sybil who is able to ascertain Ashe's link to Sarah and to the crow that is the source of his powers. Judah captures Sarah in order to draw Ashe to him and steal his power. One of the murderers, Kali, goes to Sarah's apartment to draw Ashe out. While battling her, Ashe realizes that Kali is the one who killed Danny; enraged, he throws her against a wall that breaks her leg, and then out a window, leaving a crow-shaped blood pattern. Ashe then pursues Judah's right-hand-man, Curve, in a motorcycle chase. Ashe shoots Curve's motorcycle, which blows up and throws Curve onto the road. Ashe then drags Curve into the nearby river, leaving him to die as local parishioners cast down flower petals in the shape of a crow. On the day of the annual Day of the Dead festival, Judah captures the crow and impales its wings with knives before killing it. He then ingests the crow's blood, stealing Ashe's power. Suddenly mortal, Ashe nearly dies from the shock, but is revived after seeing a vision of Danny telling him to keep fighting. Ashe must now attempt to rescue Sarah by seeking out Judah in his lair, an abandoned church. Judah gets the best of the weakened Ashe in the ensuing fight. Judah ties a rope around Ashe and savagely whips him, intending to hang him. Sarah rushes up and stabs Judah in the forehead, causing Judah to drop Ashe. Judah pulls out the knife and starts moving toward Ashe. Sarah gets in the way, and Judah stabs her in the stomach. Ashe gets up and impales Judah on a metal pipe, but this does not kill Judah either. While Judah is still impaled, Ashe calls upon a murder of crows, which devour Judah. Sarah dies in Ashe's arms, a tableau reminiscent of a painting she had completed earlier in the film. Ashe returns to death, knowing that he can rest in peace with Sarah, and his son.