Oliver Platt

A heartbroken man attends a spiritual retreat to cleanse himself and fix his broken life. There he meets a fellow lost soul, and together they discover that "the cleanse" releases more than everyday toxins...a lot more.

A New York City crooner plots his comeback. Rattling around in his mansion in the Hamptons, faded Sinatraesque crooner and notorious ladies man Paul Lombard stews over the acclaim that eluded him in his career and the trail of romantic wreckage he left in his wake. Matters are complicated when his punk rocker daughter Jude arrives in need of a place to stay and burdened with problems of her own....including a rivalry with her overachieving sister, her own ruinous love life, and above all, a fraught relationship with her famous father.

A chef who loses his restaurant job starts up a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family.

A widowed science-fiction writer considers adopting a six-year-old outcast who thinks he's an alien from Mars. What's the nature of being a parent and of being a child? David is a widower grieving for two years. He writes science fiction and was considered weird as a boy. He meets Dennis, a foster child who claims to be on a mission from Mars, stays in a large box all day, fears sunlight, and wears a belt of flashlight batteries so he won't float away. David takes the six-year-old home on a trial. His sister and his wife's best friend offer support, but the guys are basically alone to figure this out. Dennis takes things, is expelled, and is coached by David in being normal. Will the court approve the adoption, and will Dennis stay? Can a man become a father and a child become a son? —<jhailey@hotmail.com> Widowed for two years, David Gordon, a successful writer of fantasy fiction, believes it's time to move on with his life by doing what he and his wife Mary were planning on doing before she passed away, namely adopt a child. Partly because of understanding fantasy, not only in writing it but having believed such in his formative years, David is ultimately convinced by Sophie, the manager of the home, that he should consider adopting Dennis, an adolescent who is largely a loner in his belief that he is a Martian, his ultimate mission to make it "home". David gets a reluctant approval from the adoption board to proceed with Dennis, their hesitance in Dennis being classified as special needs and David being single. With help from his sister Liz, who jokes that her own two sons are the spawn of the devil, and his platonic friend Harlee, a landscaper who could be more if he opened his eyes to the possibility, David tries to connect with Dennis, which may be more challenging than he anticipated in Dennis' behavior all in light of his belief of being from Mars, and, by association, what he does to try and make it home. The situation is made more difficult as David has to finish his next book, his contractual obligation in it being the next in his Dracoban series. —Huggo

In Aroostook County, Maine, Fish and Game officer Walt Lawson is scuba diving in Black Lake when he is suddenly attacked and bitten in half by an unknown creature. The next day, Sheriff Hank Keough, Fish and Game officer Jack Wells, and American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Kelly Scott go to the lake to investigate the incident with mythology professor and crocodile enthusiast Hector Cyr joining them. After Kelly and Hank's canoe is flipped over, they discover a severed human toe and a moose head. Meanwhile, Hank's deputy, Burke, has his head bitten off when his boat is attacked while Wells and Cyr are diving. The following day, as Hank and Hector argue, a large brown bear arrives, but a gigantic 30 ft (9.1 m) long saltwater crocodile leaps out of the water, snatches the animal in its jaws, and drags it into the lake. After finding Burke's severed head, Jack, Kelly, and Hank witness Delores Bickerman, an elderly hermit living near the lake, feeding a blindfolded dairy cow to the giant crocodile. She reveals that she has been feeding the reptile for years after the crocodile followed her husband Bernie home and eventually killed him two years ago when he got between the croc and a runaway horse. Afterwards, she was placed under house arrest for initially lying to the police. Hector decides to take Deputy Sharon Gare on a trip in his helicopter and unexpectedly lands it in the crocodile's territory. While he is scuba diving, he is confronted by the creature, but he and Gare escape after distracting it with an inflatable raft. Later, Jack and Hank plan to allow Florida Fish and Game to kill the crocodile when they arrive, but Hector suggests instead that he should lure it out of the water and tranquilize it into unconsciousness. Jack reluctantly accepts the proposal and they use one of Bickerman's cattle, dangled from the helicopter, as bait. After a few hours, the crocodile soon appears and rears up as it lunges at its prey. Hector pulls up and loses the animal, but crashes the helicopter into the lake. The crocodile comes on land and begins to pursue Jack, Kelly, and the group. Kelly is knocked into the lake by the crocodile's tail, but she makes it into the helicopter in time. The crocodile catches up to Kelly and prepares to make its move, but is itself trapped in the helicopter. Jack grabs a gun and shoots it, but the firearm turns out to be a tranquilizer rifle. As Hector comes out of the water, another crocodile attacks and bites him, but Hank blows it up with his grenade launcher. Soon after, Florida Fish and Game officers arrive, where they load the neutralized crocodile onto a truck and take it to Portland, Maine to figure out what to do with it. One week later, Bickerman is shown feeding bread crumbs to many baby crocodiles, revealing the two adults were actually a mating pair. The surviving adult crocodile is later seen tied to the back of a flatbed trailer, speeding down a road somewhere.

The NDR series robot "Andrew" (Robin Williams) is introduced into the Martin family home in April 2005 to perform housekeeping and maintenance duties. Unfortunately, the elder daughter of the family doesn't accept him, and orders him to jump out the window - injuring his mechanisms severely. The father of the household, Richard Martin, holds a family meeting and stipulates that Andrew is to be treated as a human being, and as a member of the family, rather than a household appliance. They then slowly grow to accept Andrew as a functional member of their family unit. But when Andrew accidentally breaks a glass figurine belonging to "Little Miss" Amanda Martin, to whom he is devoted, he carves a similar figurine out of wood. The family is astonished by this sign of original creativity in a robot and Sir Richard Martin takes Andrew to his manufacturer, NorthAm Robotics, to inquire if all the robots are like him. The CEO of the company sees this development as a problem and wishes to scrap Andrew or, as he puts it, "fix him." Deeply angered, Martin takes Andrew home and allows him to pursue his own development: creating masterpiece clocks and other wood items. He also encourages Andrew to educate himself in the humanities and helps him to understand the concepts. When Andrew is damaged, Martin again takes him to NorthAm Robotics for repairs, but stipulates that if they attempt in any way to alter Andrew's Positronic brain, the company would be liable for the projected revenue Andrew's creativity would generate over his operational lifespan - a sum that would bankrupt the company (since his operational lifespan is essentially limitless). Andrew requests that while he is being repaired his face be altered to convey the emotions, he feels but cannot fully express; thus begins Andrew's outward transformation from robot to android. He is told this would cost an exorbitant amount of money, and prints of a check, to which Andrew replies that the sum is roughly one months of his salary. The CEO of NorthAm Robotics balks and mutters that the sum is "more than he makes in a year". "Sir" Richard is gleeful at this, and says it is quite a "good achievement for...what was it he called you last time we were here, Andrew?" "Household Appliance, Sir." "That's right. Household Appliance." After many years, Andrew has amassed enough money to need a legal adviser and bank account. Andrew eventually asks for his freedom, much to Richard's dismay. Deeply hurt, Mr. Martin grants his request, but banishes Andrew from the house so that he can be 'completely' free. In 2048, Andrew sees Richard Martin one last time, on his deathbed. Mr. Martin apologizes to Andrew for banishing him, telling him it was Andrew's right to have his freedom. Andrew sets out to find other NDR series robots and discover if they have also developed personalities of their own. He spends years searching but finds none functioning. Finally, he stumbles across Galatea, an NDR robot that has been given female attributes and is owned by Rupert Burns, son of the original NDR robot designer. Andrew is attracted to Galatea after seeing her dance, but soon discovers that her personality chip was activated. She becomes a source of great annoyance to Andrew: her personality was implanted by the manufacturers, whereas his developed independently of programming. As it turns out, her owner, Burns, has been working to create a more human looking robot on his own, but has been unable to attract funding for the project. Andrew Martin agrees to finance Burns' research and the two join forces to revolutionize robotics - in the course of which they also revolutionize the field of human prosthetic organs. Over the years, he maintains contact with Amanda, grown-up, married, divorced, and with children of her own - who resent Andrew's friendship with their mother. Eventually, Andrew becomes human enough to fall in love with Amanda's granddaughter, Portia, and she with him. Andrew Martin petitions the World Congress to recognize him as human, which would allow him and Portia to be legally married but is rejected on the grounds that so long as he is in effect immortal, he cannot be human. Over the course of the next 100 years, he proceeds to turn himself into a prosthetic human, thus allowing him to age. Andrew again attends the World Congress, now appearing old and frail. The Speaker of said Congress agrees to debate the issue and asks him why he wants this. He replies: "To be acknowledged for who and what I am; no more, no less. Not for acclaim, not for approval, but the simple truth of that recognition has been the elemental drive of my existence, and it must be achieved if I am to live or die with dignity." Andrew Martin is on his death bed, Portia beside him, when the Speaker of the World Congress finally announces on television the court's decision: that Andrew Martin is recognized as the oldest, non-biblical human being in history, aged 200 years old. The Speaker also finally validates the marriage between Portia and Andrew. Andrew dies while listening to the broadcast. Portia orders their nurse, Galatea, now recognizably human, to unplug her, i.e., shut down her life support machine. The movie ends with Portia about to die hand-in-hand with Andrew, as she whispers to him "See you soon."

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.

Nice guy junior exec Peter doesn't play dirty but unfortunately, some of his colleagues do. In comes Kris, his new temp, who is bright and efficient and saves him. She's willing to play dirty for Peter. A cookie company takeover has employees scrambling to make a case for continued employment. An executive's administrative assistant takes paternity leave, and he gets a temp who is too good to be true, doing tasks at a fast pace and doing quite a bit of creative work for the project. The executive starts noticing that all the obstacles to his climb up the corporate ladder are disappearing, including the death of some of his rivals. When his regular admin returns to work, his temp, who has made it clear that she wishes to stay with him, begins her own accelerated climb up the ladder, and he begins wondering if she was responsible for the removal of the obstacles. —Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>

A group of puppies are stolen from a pet store by two thieves. A St. Bernard puppy escapes and sneaks into the Newton family's home. The workaholic father, George Newton, doesn't want the responsibility of owning a dog, but his wife, Alice, and their children, Ryce, Ted, and Emily, convince him. They give him the name "Beethoven" when Emily plays a portion of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on the piano and the dog barks along to it. Beethoven grows into an extremely fat adult dog and helps the children overcome their problems: he helps Ryce talk to her crush, scares off bullies for Ted, and saves Emily's life when she falls into an irresponsible babysitter's swimming pool. George, jealous of the affection Beethoven receives, feels neglected as his family fawns over him. His antics ruin a barbecue he is hosting for Brad and Brie, rude, unpleasant venture capitalists looking to invest in and secretly swindle him out of his car freshener firm. The Newtons take Beethoven to a veterinarian, Dr. Herman Varnick, for a routine medical examination and immunizations. They are unaware that he is involved in unethical and deadly animal experimentation. He speaks to George and tells him of a supposed mental instability among St. Bernards making them potentially dangerous to humans and advises him to watch Beethoven closely for any sign of viciousness. He actually requires large-skulled dogs such as St. Bernards for an ammunition test. Dr. Varnick visits the Newton home under the guise of doing a follow-up exam on Beethoven. He puts fake blood on his arm and hits Beethoven until he leaps on him. He pretends to be in agony, warning George that Beethoven may be turning aggressive and must be euthanized or he will have no choice but to press charges. Emily, who saw Dr. Varnick hit him, protests that the attack was fake, but George, fearing for his family's safety, reluctantly takes him to Dr. Varnick's office. It is on the way there that George discovers his own affections for him: he remembers his father had to take their dog to the vet to be euthanized and he never forgave him for it. He fears that his own family will hate him now for taking Beethoven to be euthanized. When he returns home with the empty leash and collar, his family leaves the dinner table rather than remain with him. After recognizing the children's sadness and having a conversation with Alice, the Newtons go to Dr. Varnick's office, but he lies and claims that Beethoven has already been euthanized. George notices that Dr. Varnick has no bite marks on his arm and punches him. The Newtons follow him to his warehouse. Beethoven breaks free but is recaptured by Dr. Varnick's two associates, Harvey and Vernon, while Alice calls the police. George crashes through the skylight just as Dr. Varnick prepares to shoot Beethoven. Before he can, a captive Jack Russell Terrier bites him in the crotch, causing him to fire a shot in the air. After hearing the gunshot, Ted drives the car through the door and runs it into a cart, launching numerous syringes into Dr. Varnick and sedating him. As the Newtons reunite with Beethoven and free all the captive dogs, they notice Harvey and Vernon trying to escape and send the dogs after them. They escape into a junkyard, only to be attacked by a pack of Dobermans guarding it. Dr. Varnick, Harvey, and Vernon are arrested for animal abuse. The Newtons are praised as heroes by the news and George takes a new liking to Beethoven. Ryce also gets a phone call from her crush. The Newtons then go to sleep, saying good night to Beethoven and all of the dogs they rescued, who are all sleeping in their bedroom.