Tim Robbins

When Alice Klieg wins the Mega-Millions lottery, she immediately quits her psychiatric meds and buys her own talk show. Alice suffers from borderline personality disorder, but she has what she needs in life. She has an apartment, she has a best friend, and she has tapes of every Oprah Winfrey show. And now, after winning the lottery, she also has 83 million dollars. What she doesn't have is an outlet for the whole world to know who she really is. The TV station cut her off when she tried turning her lottery announcement into a frank discussion of her sexual experiences, but with her money in hand, she's off to LA to convince two struggling TV producer brothers to produce her own TV show. Whatever it costs, she's going to do it. From swan entrances to dog neutering, she is going to introduce the world to Alice. But is the world ready for Alice? —Anne Campbell Alice Klieg is a young woman with psychiatric issues who unexpectedly wins the lottery. Inspired by her idol, Oprah, Alice decides to use her new fortune to start her own television talk show. Nothing proves to be off limits for her eccentric new show. When Alice chooses to stop taking her psychiatric medicine, the quirky show becomes even zanier.

In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for millenniums. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. When a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected for the Corps: Hal Jordan. Hal is a gifted and cocky test pilot, but unlike him, the Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before. With the encouragement of fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), if Hal can quickly master his new powers and find the courage to overcome his fears, he may prove to be not only the key to defeating Parallax he will become the greatest Green Lantern of all.

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. When mankind is about to come to an end, a group of scientists decide to create and populate a city deep underground. The City of Ember is to last for 200 years, after which its inhabitants are to retrieve from a strong box instructions to return to the surface. Over time, however, the message is lost and life in Ember is rapidly deteriorating. Their power supply is failing and food is being rationed. It's left to two young teens to unearth the secret of Ember and to lead the way out. —garykmcd For generations, the people of the City of Ember have languished in a world of artificial lights. But Ember's once powerful generator is failing and the great lamps that illuminate the city are starting to flicker. Now, two teenagers in a race against time must search Ember for clues that will unlock the ancient mystery of the city's existence, and help the citizens escape before the lights go out forever. —Fox Walden At the end of mankind on Earth, scientists build a self-sufficient underground city for a few people in order to preserve the human race for 200 years. They leave instructions for the future generations to return to the surface of the planet in a steel box that should be kept by the Mayors through the generations. However, the instructions are lost and the inhabitants stay in the city that is completely deteriorated. The power generator has problems and the blackouts are longer and more frequent and the city is running out of food that needs to be rationed. On the Assignment Day, teenagers Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) are assigned to work with the pipework and as messenger, but they swap their job positions. Lina, who is the descendant of the seventh Mayor, finds the box of instructions in her grandmother's house and shows it to her friend Doon. They decide to explore the way out of the city and they discover that the corrupt Major and his henchmen are stealing food from the population. When they are hunted by the Major's hoodlums, they must find the way out of Ember to survive and save the populations from the imminent darkness and the end of the city. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa, revolving around a policeman and a young man who carries out solo attacks against the regime. A political thriller: the real-life story of a South African hero's journey to freedom. In the country's turbulent and divided times in the 1980s, Patrick Chamusso is an oil refinery foreman and soccer coach who is apolitical - until he and his wife Precious are jailed. Patrick is stunned into action against the country's oppressive reigning system, even as police Colonel Nic Vos further insinuates himself into the Chamussos' lives.

The film begins with Morgan Freeman's voice saying "No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligence greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, *they* observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us." Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) a container crane operator at New York city port, estranged from his children, is visited by his ex-wife, Mary Ann (Miranda Otto), who drops off their children, Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie (Justin Chatwin), at his house as she is going to Boston to meet her parents. When Robbie takes Ray's car out without his permission, Ray goes out to search for him and notices a strange wall cloud, which starts to send out electromagnetic pulses in the form of lightning. This disables all electronic devices in the area, including cars, forcing Robbie to return. Ray leaves to investigate, telling Manny, the local mechanic, to replace the solenoid on a dead car. Ray reaches the place where lighting struck and finds a hole has appeared in the ground from which a massive machine with three long legs appears. After emerging, the Tripod opens fire with destructive heat-rays, vaporizing bystanders and destroying everything in its path. Ray manages to escape; he packs up his kids and leaves in the vehicle Manny repaired as the Tripod destroys the town. He drives to Mary Ann's house to take refuge that night. Loud and violent explosions occur in their sleep. The next morning, he discovers that the tripods have caused a Boeing 747 to crash into the houses. He meets a news team surveying the wreckage. The sole female member shows him footage of Tripods invading Earth, with the unknown pilots riding down the lightning to the machines and using them to destroy other cities, revealing that they have been preparing this invasion for a long time. Ray flees to join Mary Ann in Boston. Robbie, obsessed with joining the fight against the hostile aliens, tries to leave with the U.S. military, but Ray and Rachel stop him. They are forced to leave their car after a mob attacks them in order to take the vehicle, and survive a Tripod attack while navigating the Hudson River on a ferry. The family then encounters the military preparing an attack on the Tripods. Upon seeing Robbie's determination to join the fight, Ray lets him go with the military. After he disappears, the tripods destroy all military resistance and presumably killing Robbie in the process. The tripods are revealed to be protected by some kind of energy shield that makes them invulnerable to all forms of attack. While escaping, Ray and Rachel are offered shelter and protection by a stranger, Harlan Ogilvy (Tim Robbins), who vows revenge on the aliens after his family was killed upon their arrival. While hiding in Harlan's basement, they witness the Tripods spreading a strange red weed substance over the ground, and avoid detection by aliens who arrive to explore the basement. The following morning, Ogilvy suffers a mental breakdown after witnessing a Tripod harvesting blood and tissue from a human to fertilize the weed. Concerned that Ogilvy's yelling and ranting will attract the Tripods, Ray kills Ogilvy to silence him. Ray and Rachel's hideout is exposed when a probe catches them. Ray cripples the probe using an ax, but Rachel is caught by a Tripod, ironically the same one that Ray saw in the beginning that destroyed the town. While pursuing the Tripod, Ray finds several hand grenades and detonates one of them to attract the Tripod's attention, intending to be captured to try to rescue Rachel. His plan works and he is put into a basket with Rachel and several other prisoners. The aliens try to pull Ray inside the Tripod to be used as fertilizer, but the other prisoners manage to save him. Then, the grenades left by Ray inside the Tripod detonate, causing the Tripod to collapse, and freeing all the captives. Ray and Rachel arrive in Boston, where they notice the red weeds are starting to dry up and die, and the Tripods appear to be dying also. They witness a Tripod acting strangely. Ray notices that a cluster of birds are circling and landing on the machine, indicating its force fields are no longer functioning. Ray alerts nearby soldiers, who attack and destroy the Tripod. Approaching the downed machine, a hatch opens, releasing a copious amount of red weed fertilizer and revealing an alien as it dies. Ray and Rachel reach Mary Ann's parents' (who are portrayed by Ann Robinson and Gene Barry, the stars of the 1953 film version) house and find her and, to their surprise, Robbie, who has survived the attacks. As the camera zooms out, the film ends with Freeman's voice saying, "From the moment the invaders arrived, breathed our air, ate and drank, they were doomed. They were undone, destroyed, after all of man's weapons and devices had failed, by the tiniest creatures that God in his wisdom put upon this earth. By the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to survive among this planet's infinite organisms. And that right is ours against all challenges. For neither do men live nor die in vain."

Brothers Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) never get along with each other, or with their older sister, Lisa (Kristen Stewart). One day, when their father sets off for work, they quarrel yet again while Lisa is in her bedroom upstairs. Danny is banished into the house's basement by older brother Walter for hitting him in the face with a baseball. There he discovers a clockwork-driven space-themed board game called "Zathura". It is a race game, and the objective is to reach a space location called Zathura. At each turn, one of its two markers moves along or back on its track, and the game issues a card (all of which are read primarily by Walter, as Danny cannot read properly) of which the effects happen immediately. The boys start playing the game. When he starts playing, the game produces a card that warns of a meteor shower. After an actual meteor shower occurs in the living room, Walter and Danny realize the game is affecting reality and discover the house floating in outer space. On looking out, one of them sees that it has become night, and that the house is no longer on Earth but on a small rock floating in space. According to the instructions, the house will not return to Earth until the game is finished. During the story, the brothers must overcome their ill will toward one another to survive. Danny and Walter try to tell Lisa, who is in bed, about what happened, but she believes that it is nighttime and refuses to believe the two. When Danny takes his next turn, they receive a card saying that Lisa is frozen in Cryonic sleep, leaving the two brothers to fend for themselves. When Walter takes a turn, a toy-sized robot is brought into existence, but grows larger and becomes programmed to attack him. After being chased through the house, the robot becomes disabled falling into the basement as the house falls into the gravitational field of a star. Without explanation, the house stops falling into that star. When Danny takes another turn, Zorgons, which are lizard-like aliens, appear in a ship from nowhere and attack the house. Amid the chaos, Walter receives a 'Reprogram' card (which he tries to use on the Zorgons to no effect), and Danny receives a card "Rescue stranded astronaut". An Astronaut (Dax Shepard) appears and must be rescued. The Astronaut helps the two to get rid of the Zorgons by turning off all heat in the house, as the Zorgons' vision is thermal and therefore can only see heat signatures. The Astronaut sets a couch on fire and pushes it into space and the Zorgons leave to follow it. The astronaut tells them of the dangers of Zorgons and telling them that they travel the universe to find heat. After an argument, Danny allows the Astronaut to stay to help the two through the rest of the game, much to Walter's disappointment. Returning to the game, Walter notices Danny has illegally moved his piece forward and accuse him of cheating. He forcibly moves it back while berating Danny, resulting in two arguments one before the move and another after that. The game interprets only Walter's action as cheating and the game punishes him by getting him sucked out into space, but he is rescued by the Astronaut, who has a jet-pack. The incident increases the tensions between the two brothers. When Walter takes another turn, he receives a '"Shooting star, make a wish as it passes"' card -which triggers yet another argument ending with Danny angrily throwing the game down- and Walter wishes for a football signed by Brett Favre. Having feared that Walter wished for Danny to not exist, the astronaut tells the two that he played the game with his brother many years ago, and him and his brother also despised each other. The Astronaut received a "Shooting star, make a wish as it passes" card, and wished for his brother to never be born, therefore leaving him stuck in the game. This story prompts both Danny and Walter to reconcile, and the Astronaut promises to protect the two from any future threats in the game. By now, Lisa has come out of her Cryonic stasis. The boys and the Astronaut see her turning up the thermostat to heat the house because she felt cold, and the resulting heat and light draw Zorgon ships back. The Zorgons shoot at the house, further damaging it, and anchor to it with grapples, and suck the game into their ship along with miscellaneous house debris, which they shovel into their ship's engine in order to use them as fuel. Lisa, now knowing what has happened, joins the trio. Danny, Walter, Lisa, and the Astronaut take refuge in a small room upstairs, which was at that point the safest area in the house as the Zorgons boarded the house in the basement. The Astronaut heads downstairs to try to retrieve the game but is forced to return upstairs in vain. Danny reluctantly decides to retrieve the game by heading down the basement via a dumbwaiter, which is large enough for only him (out of the four of them) to fit into, and riskily going through a boarding passage into the Zorgon ship where he frees a group of four-eyed goats to distract one of the Zorgons. He rescues the game at the last moment before it would have been shoveled into a furnace. Meanwhile, a Zorgon arrives upstairs to inspect that part of the house, and at the same time, another Zorgon spots Danny getting into the dumbwaiter. The Zorgon alerts the others and a group of them attacks Danny as he tries to head upstairs. Danny is rescued by Walter, but the two are surrounded on the stairway by Zorgons. The robot, having revived, tries to attack the boys. Walter uses the "Reprogram" card (which he had drawn earlier) on the robot, which then attacks the Zorgons. Of the two Zorgon spaceships, one flees, and another explodes. One Zorgon survives the robot's kamikaze attack and sneaks up behind Walter and Danny as they are wondering where Lisa is. Before the Zorgon can kill them, Lisa crushes and kills it by shoving Danny's piano down on it. Walter, drawing another "Shooting star, make a wish as it passes" card, wishes that the Astronaut had his brother back. A copy of Danny appears. The Astronaut apologizes to the copy of Danny, who appears to be his brother. It is revealed that the Astronaut and his brother are Walter and Danny from an alternate time-line which started when Walter at the first wish card wished otherwise: "I wish my brother had never been born." The Astronaut's brother disintegrates into sparks which enter Danny when the two touch. The Astronaut thanks Walter and tells him to take care of Danny, then touches Walter and turns into a copy of him, which smiles at him and disintegrates into sparks which enter him. Thus, the two time-lines merge, and the future caused by Walter wishing Danny away is erased. Lisa is alarmed to find that she had fallen for an older version of her brother, Walter. In the last throw of the game, the Zorgons, who are now on the warpath against the humans, return with a large fleet, and start blasting the house. Danny scores a move which brings his marker to Zathura, and the Zorgons stop firing. Zathura turns out to be a black hole, which sucks up the Zorgons along with the house, Lisa, Walter and Danny. Moments later, the house is back on Earth, whose structure and furnishings are as they were before the game began and in perfect condition. As the trio's mother arrives to take them to her house, Lisa orders Walter and Danny to never speak of what happened but as they leave, Walter's bike which appeared floating in space several times drops onto the lawn.

Childhood friends Dave, Sean and Jimmy are forced to confront their past when a seemingly senseless murder reawakens the buried trauma of a crime that occurred 25 years ago.

British newlywed Regina Lambert (Thandiwe Newton) lives in Paris with her husband Charlie (Stephen Dillane). She returns home following a short vacation (with her friend Sylvia (Sakina Jaffrey)), determined to divorce Charlie, only to discover their apartment has been stripped bare and that her husband has been murdered. Commandant Dominique (Christine Boisson) is already in the apartment, investigating the crime with Lieutenant Dessalines (Simon Abkarian). Dominique tells Regina that Charles body was found near the train tracks outside of Paris. Charles was an art dealer, as per Regina's knowledge, and is Swiss. But she is shown Charles's many passports with different names. She is told that Charles sold everything in the apartment via 3 auction houses. He got $1.8 MM, which is now missing. Regina is soon being trailed by Lee Il-Sang (Park Joong-Hoon), Lola Jansco (Lisa Gay Hamilton) and Emil Zadapec (Ted Levine). Regina is soon reunited with a mysterious stranger Lewis Bartholomew (introduced as Joshua Peters) (Mark Wahlberg) she met on her holiday. Joshua had met Regina at the airport and given her a lift to her home. He later returned to her home, when she was alone and gave her company. He checks her into a hotel and finds that they are being followed by Dominique. Carson J. Dyle (Tim Robbins) contacts Regina, saying that he is Lewis Bartholomew, and represents the US Govt. He reveals that Charlie helped defense collaboration between UK and US. He shows her a photo of Charlie with Lee, Lola and Emil. 3 years ago, the 4 worked together on a mission (Operation Verify) and the sum involved is $6 MM. Lewis wants Regina to help him to get the money back. He says the trio are after the money as well. Next, Lola approaches Regina at a flea market and says Operation verify involved 46 diamonds. She says Charlie stole the diamonds from his partners. Regina is rescued by Joshua. Back at the hotel, Regina is attacked by Emil, but again Joshua fights him off. When Regina is in the shower, Joshua goes through her bag. She won't reveal that she was approached by Lewis and told by Lee, Emil and Lola. At night, Emil again calls by phone and says that Joshua is in fact Carson J. Dyle, and not to be trusted. He is after the money. Regina asks Joshua to leave. Joshua goes straight to another hotel room, revealing that he is indeed working with Lee, Lola and Emil. Regina calls Lewis and tells him about the events and goes to meet her. Lewis tells him that Dyle was a member of the Special Ops team. He then left the Army and went to work for Charlie. Charlie was the middleman between US Govt and the militia he contracted to carry out missions that US Govt could not sanction. In 1998 Charlie, Dyle, and a team including Lee, Lola and Emil carried $6 MM in 46 diamonds as ransom to an eastern European country, 40 Kms from Sarajevo. The team was ambushed, and Charlie and the trio were the only ones who survived. Dyle died. The survivors hid the diamonds with a plan to extract them together but seems like Charlie broke the pact and got to them sooner. Regina returns and Joshua explains that he is Alexander Dyle, and Carson was his brother who did die in 1998. Regina tries to leave for London by train, but it is also boarded by the trio and Joshua follows. Emil has a heart attack on the train, and it is brought back to Paris. Dominique speaks to Regina alone and says she needs her help to find Charles's killer. Regina goes back to Joshua and the trio, and they go through the contents of her bag and find nothing. They ask about the trip Regina took with Charles to Sarajevo. That night, Regina is attacked by a car driven by Charles's mother. But Lola sacrifices herself and saves Regina. As she dies, she tells Regina to be wary of Dyle. Lee investigates at the flea market (a place where Charles visited before his death). Lee finds that a local trade made a fortune trading in stamps just one day before his death. Lee instantly figures that the envelope in Charles's bag had 3 stamps on it, and the diamonds were converted to stamps. Joshua was tracking Lee and figures out the same thing. Both rush back to the hotel. Regina returns to her room and finds Lee dead. She finds Joshua in her room, ransacking the place and assumes that Joshua killed Lee. Regina runs away from Joshua, who follows. Regina runs into Lewis, and it is revealed that Lewis is in-fact Carson Dyle. Joshua is in fact Lewis Bartholomew (Special Investigator from US Govt). Carson reveals that he survived that night in Yugoslavia. Charles knew Carson was alive but told everyone that he died. Carson was saved by a local farmer. He got better and tracked Charles to Paris. Carson admits to killing Charles. Regina reveals the envelope with the 3 rare stamps. She throws the envelope into the fire. Dominique moves to arrest Carson. Lee is alive and is shocked to see Carson alive. Carson surrenders to Dominique. Regina later visits Lewis at his office and turns over the originals to Lewis, saying that the ones she burnt were laser copies, to take money out of the equation. They get together as a couple. Charles's mother serves food to Carson in prison, and he falls dead shortly thereafter.

Working with his three friends at their new software development company Skullbocks, Stanford graduate Milo Hoffman (Ryan Phillippe) is contacted by CEO Gary Winston (Tim Robbins) of NURV (Never Underestimate Radical Vision) for a very attractive programming position: a fat paycheck, an almost-unrestrained working environment, and extensive creative control over his work. Accepting Winston's offer, Hoffman and his girlfriend, Alice Poulson (Claire Forlani), move to NURV headquarters in Portland, Oregon. Despite development of the flagship product (Synapse, a worldwide media distribution network) being well on schedule, Hoffman soon becomes suspicious of the excellent source code Winston personally provides to him, seemingly when needed most, while refusing to divulge the code's origin. After his best friend, Teddy Chin (Yee Jee Tso), is murdered, Hoffman discovers that NURV is stealing the code they need from programmers around the world including Chin and then killing them to cover their tracks. Hoffman learns that not only does NURV employ an extensive surveillance system to observe and steal code, the company has infiltrated the Justice Department and most of the mainstream media. Even his girlfriend is a plant, an ex-con hired by the company to manipulate him. While searching through a secret NURV database containing surveillance dossiers on employees, he finds that the company has information of a very personal nature about a friend and co-worker, Lisa Calighan (Rachel Leigh Cook). When he reveals to her that the company has this information, she agrees to help him expose NURV's crimes to the world. Coordinating with one of Hoffman's friends (Nate Dushku) from his old startup, they plan to use a local cable access station to hijack Synapse and broadcast their charges against NURV to the world. However, Calighan turns out to be a double agent, foils Hoffman's plan, and turns him over to Winston. Hoffman had already confronted Poulson and convinced her to side with him against Winston and NURV. When it became clear that Hoffman had not succeeded, a backup plan is put into motion by Poulson, the fourth member of Skullbocks (Tygh Runyan), and the incorruptible internal security firm hired by NURV. As Winston prepares to kill Hoffman, the second team successfully usurps one of NURV's own work centers "Building 21" and transmits the incriminating evidence as well as the Synapse code. Winston and his entourage are publicly arrested for their crimes. After parting ways with the redeemed Poulson, Hoffman rejoins Skullbocks.

Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), who was sentenced to death for the murder of a teenage couple, has been on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary for six years. He committed his crimes with Carl Vitello (Michael Cullen), who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. As his scheduled execution date approaches, Poncelet asks Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon), with whom he has corresponded, to help him with a final appeal. Poncelet had written several letters to Helen, and finally Helen agrees to respond to him, and they start a correspondence. Poncelet claims that Jesus visited in his cell. Sister Helen decides to visit Poncelet, who is arrogant, sexist (calls the mother of his own child a bitch) and racist (hates niggers) and does not even pretend to feel remorse. Chaplain Farlely (Scott Wilson) is the prison priest & very orthodox. He does not support Helen's visits to Poncelet as he thinks Poncelet is guilty and is only trying to take advantage of Helen. Poncelet protests his innocence and insists Vitello killed the two teenagers and that he was only doing what he was told under the influence of booze and drugs. Poncelet also shows Helen the pic of his baby girl, whom he has only met once. He says that in 6 yrs, he has learned the law and has even written his own motion of appeal, he just needs a lawyer to file it with the court. Poncelet is convicted for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of Walter Delacroix (Peter Sarsgaard) & Hope Percy (Missy Yager). Helen argues that both Vitello and Poncelet were there and yet Vitello got life, and Poncelet got death. Poncelet is scheduled for execution by the state's new lethal injection machine (1st shot paralyzes you, the 2nd shot explodes the lungs and the 3rd shot stops the heart). Convincing an experienced attorney Hilton Barber (Robert Prosky) to take on Poncelet's case pro Bono, Sister Helen tries to have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Hilton coaches Poncelet for the upcoming pardon board hearing. He says if Poncelet appears to be "human", it will be difficult to kill him. He argues for Poncelet's mother Lucille & his brother Craig Poncelet (Jack Black) to be at the hearing. At the pardon hearing, Hilton argues that Poncelet didn't have money to hire a proper lawyer and was assigned one by the state. He was a tax attorney, who never tried a capital case ever. The Trial lasted 5 days, and the jury took 4 hours to decide. The lawyer raised one objection during the entire trial. The Prosecution argues that Poncelet killed 2 people and their families are suffering too. Poncelet is proven guilty in court in trial, appeals and so on. He is not a good boy. Sister Helen's application for commutation is refused. The board rules to deny clemency and execution is on for 1 week later. After many visits, she establishes a relationship with him. At the same time, she gets to know Poncelet's mother, Lucille (Roberta Maxwell), and the families of the two victims. The victims' families (Earl Delacroix (Raymond J. Barry), Clyde Percy (R. Lee Ermey), Mary Beth Percy (Celia Weston)) do not understand Sister Helen's efforts to help Poncelet and claim that she is "taking his side". They desire "absolute justice" i.e. his life for those of their children. IN course of her support, Helen attracts vilification from her own family, and the wider society, who condemn her actions. Poncelet asks Sister Helen to be his spiritual adviser through his execution, and she agrees. Helen meets Earl who tells him about his memories of his son. Mary tells Helen about how Hope was going to join the air force within a week before she was sexually assaulted and killed. She wanted to serve overseas. That day, she had a date with Walter. Hope didn't return that night and the Percy's called the Delacroixs and learn that Walter didn't return home either. They thought the kids ran away and got married. The bodies were found 6 days later. Hope was nude, and her vagina was torn up. She was stabbed 17 times with the class pin she was wearing. Clyde remembers Poncelet being snug, arrogant and unrepentant at the trial. He even mocked Clyde. Helen starts spending more time with Poncelet as his time nears. She gets him to realize that even white people can be lazy and not just niggers. Poncelet gives interviews on TV praising Hitler and his Aryan supremacy work. He also says that he would like to come back as a terrorist and bomb govt buildings. Helen is livid and tells Poncelet that he is making it very easy for people to kill him. Meanwhile she tries to get Poncelet to realize that parents of the kids who died are also hurting for their loss. Earl's wife files for divorce as she blames Earl for not doing enough. Poncelet is moved to an isolated facility in prep for the execution. Helen is now able to visit him for longer hours in a day. Poncelet is also taken away for measurement (weight, height etc), as part of the official procedures. Helen meets guards and medical staff who will be part of the execution process. Helen encourages him to read the bible as seek redemption in the truth. Poncelet offers to take a lie detector test, but the results are inconclusive as he was feeling stressed about the execution. Governor Benedict (Kevin Cooney) rejects the clemency request as Poncelet is already publicly vilified. Poncelet meets his family the day before the execution. It was a normal meeting, with family exchanging stories about what's going on. Eventually, the family is asked to leave. Helen gets to spend the whole night with Poncelet, the night before the morning of the execution. Helen tells Poncelet to stop blaming, niggers, govt, the world for what happening to him and to start taking some responsibility. Sister Helen tells Poncelet that his redemption is possible only if he takes responsibility for what he did. Just before he is taken from his cell, Poncelet tearfully admits to Sister Helen that he had killed the boy and sexually assaulted the girl, before Vitello killed her. Helen tells Poncelet that the truth has set him free. As he is prepared for execution, he appeals to the boy's father for forgiveness and tells the girl's parents that he hopes his death brings them peace. Poncelet is executed by lethal injection and given a proper burial. The murdered boy's father attends the funeral ceremony; although he is still filled with hate, he soon begins to pray with Sister Helen.

During the film opening, we see a man, presumably Einstein (Walter Mathau) playing a violin, as another man walks past a poster advertising Boyd's comet. We then see Catherine Boyd (Meg Ryan) with her fiance James Moreland (Stephen Fry). She's working on some math referring to the comet. He comments that she's babbling when she tries to tell him a story. The scene cuts back and forth with a group of elderly men arguing about whether time exists. Meg and James are in his convertible when it develops engine trouble. We see Einstein discussing with his friends (the elderly men), whether there are 'accidents' and he says, "I do not believe God plays dice with the universe." Catherine and James pull into a garage, where Ed Walters (Tim Robbins) is arguing with his boss, Bob (Tony Shalhoub), about the car they hear coming into the shop, what make and model it is and what the trouble with it is, based on what they can hear. Bob sends out Ed to check because he sees the couple and assumes they're "college people" meaning they come from Princeton College. As soon as Ed sees Catherine, he falls for her. James, obnoxiously asks if someone there can work on a British engine, and Ed says, "May I look under the bonnet?" James, reassured by the use of the word 'bonnet' consents. Ed looks at it, looks at Catherie and pronounces, "You have no spark." There's clearly a double meaning here, referring to her relationship with James. James insists, "But what's wrong with it?" and Ed adds, "My guess is that you have a short stroke and premature ignition." He turns to Meg Ryan and says, "Does it ever feel that way?" She replies, "I'm sure I don't know what you mean" but it's clear that she gets the double entendre. Ed says he'll go check with his boss about fixing it, and goes in to tell his boss that he's in love, that time and space stopped, that he could see himself kissing Catherine in the future. Ed tells Catherine that fixing the car will take days, and she uses his phone to call a cab, giving the cab company and Ed her address for the invoice. In the process, she leaves behind a pocket watch. There's a brief moment where you see a hand move the watch under some magazines, but whose hand? And is it an accident? Or deliberate? The theme of accident versus deliberate intervention occurs repeatedly in the film. Ed goes to return the pocket watch and discovers that the address is the home of Albert Einstein, who is Catherine's uncle. Ed helps Einstein and his friends retrieve a badminton racket and in the process befriends them. It's clear to them that Ed likes Catherine. Einstein sees that his niece is unhappy with her fiance and wonders how to help Ed date her. She will only date a very intelligent man, and Ed is an auto mechanic. Ed says, "That's easy, lend me your brain for a couple of days." Einstein gets an idea. Einstein and his three friends hatch a plot to make Catherine think that Ed has developed cold fusion as a way to power a rocket to reach the stars so she'll desire him. They help Ed appear hyper-intelligent, helping him present a paper on cold fusion at a symposium and then helping him pass an IQ test administered by Catherine's fiance. Catherine, as a mathematician, is trying to figure out "Ed's" theory on cold fusion, but she struggles with it. Ed wants to tell Catherine he's a fake, but he can't quite seem to. Einstein and his buddies interfere with Catherine's relationship with James, and encourage Ed. James is presented as a sadistic, sexually cold man who puts Catherine down subtly. Of course, there's always a happily-ever-after ending, even though it takes President Eisenhower's appearance in the film, a convertible, a motorcycle, waltz music, engineered automotive troubles and a comet, to make it all come about.

Joey gets 2 days to sell 12 cars to keep his job and keep his girlfriends happy. It gets worse. He's juggling 3 buyers when a guy with a machine gun crashes into the car dealership and takes everybody hostage. Joe's a car salesman with a problem. He has two days to sell 12 cars or he loses his job. This would be a difficult task at the best of times but Joe has to contend with his girlfriends (he's two timing), a missing teenage daughter and an ex-wife. What more could go wrong ?.. a lot, enter a crazy jealous husband with a machine gun.. —Rob Hartill Joey is a car salesman, with an ex-wife, a daughter in trouble, a girlfriend, a married lover, and a 20 thousand dollar debt to the mob... and he's 24 hours away from losing his job! Thank God, all his troubles will go away thanks to a lunatic who takes him as hostage! —Jorge Mota

Reminiscing about his dead son, a Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death. Jacob Singer is trying to make sense of his fractured life and memories. Plagued by hallucinations, flashbacks, and conspiracies, he struggles down a path to enlightenment from these manic strains. With nothing but support from friends and loved ones will he be able to push through the haze of his PTSD. New York postal worker Jacob Singer is trying to keep his frayed life from unraveling. His days are increasingly being invaded by flashbacks to his first marriage, his now-dead son, and his tour of duty in Vietnam. Although his new wife tries to help Jacob keep his grip on sanity, the line between reality and delusion is steadily growing more and more uncertain. —Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net> On 06 Oct 1971, in Vietnam, the American soldier Jacob Singer is wounded by a bayonet during an attack to his platoon. He wakes up in a New York subway while going home late at night after working overtime in the post office. He is divorced from Sarah, lives with his colleague and lover Jezebel in a small Brooklyn apartment and misses his young son Gabe, who died in an accident for which Jacob feels responsible. During the next days, Jacob is chased by demons and finds the army conspiracy against him, while having strange visions during different moments of his life. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

"Crash" Davis (Kevin Costner), a veteran of 12 years in minor league baseball, is sent down to the single-A (advanced) Durham Bulls for a specific purpose: to educate hotshot rookie pitcher Ebby LaLoosh (Tim Robbins, playing a character loosely based on Steve Dalkowski) about becoming a major-league talent, and to control Ebby's haphazard pitching. Crash immediately begins calling Ebby by the degrading nickname of "Meat", and they get off to a rocky start. Thrown into the mix is Annie (Susan Sarandon), a lifelong spiritual seeker who has latched onto the "Church of Baseball" and has, every year, chosen one player on the Bulls to be her lover and student. Annie flirts with Crash and Ebby, but Crash walks out, saying he's too much a veteran to "try out" for anything. Before he leaves, Crash further sparks Annie's interest with a memorable speech listing the things he "believes in", ending with "I believe in long, slow, soft, deep wet kisses that last three days... Good night". Despite some animosity between them, Annie and Crash work, in their own ways, to shape Ebby into a big-league pitcher. Annie plays mild bondage games, reads poetry to him, and gets him to think in different ways (and gives him the nickname "Nuke"). Crash forces Nuke to learn "not to think" by letting the catcher make the pitching calls (memorably at two points telling the batters what pitch is coming after Nuke rejects his calls), and lectures him about the pressure of facing major league hitters who can hit his "heat" (fastballs). Crash also talks about the pleasure of life in "The Show" (Major League Baseball), which he briefly lived for "the 21 greatest days of my life" and to which he has tried for years to return. Meanwhile, as Nuke matures, the relationship between Annie and Crash grows, until it becomes obvious that the two of them are a more appropriate match, except for the fact that Annie and Nuke are currently a couple. After a rough start, Nuke becomes a dominant pitcher by mid-season. By the end of the movie, Nuke is called up to the majors and the Bulls, now having no use for his mentor, release Crash. This incites jealous anger in Crash, who is frustrated by Nuke's failure to recognize all the talent he was blessed with. Nuke leaves for the big leagues, ending his relationship with Annie, and Crash overcomes his jealousy to leave Nuke with some final words of advice. Crash joins another team, the Asheville Tourists, and breaks the minor league record for career home runs. We see Nuke one last time, being interviewed by the press as a major leaguer, reciting the clichéd answers that Crash had taught him earlier. Crash then retires as a player and returns to Durham, where Annie tells him she's ready to give up her annual affairs with "boys". Crash tells her that he is thinking about becoming a manager for a minor league team in Visalia. Both characters end one phase of their lives and begin another, Annie and Crash dancing in her candle-lit living room.

The film begins with Howard the Duck (voiced by Chip Zien), who lives in a parallel universe inhabited by anthropomorphic ducks. Howard spends his days smoking, drinking and reading the latest issue of Playduck. One day, as Howard relaxes in his armchair, it begins to quake violently and propels him out of his apartment building and into outer space. He eventually crosses dimensions and ends up in Cleveland, Ohio. Howard encounters a woman being attacked by thugs and decides to help her out with his unique brand of "Quack Fu". After the thugs scamper, the woman introduces herself as Beverly (Lea Thompson) and decides to take Howard into her apartment and let him spend the night. The next day, Beverly takes Howard to a supposed scientist named Phil Blumbertt (Tim Robbins), whom Beverly hopes can help Howard return to his world. As Phil is revealed to be only a janitor, Howard resigns himself to life on Earth and rejects Beverly's aid. Howard later lands a job cleaning up at a local romantic spa. Due to unfair treatment by his boss, Howard quits the job and returns to Beverly, who plays in a band called "Cherry Bomb". At the club Cherry Bomb is performing at, Howard comes across Cherry Bomb's manager and confronts him when he bad-mouths the band. A fight ensues, in which Howard is victorious. Howard rejoins Beverly backstage and accompanies her back to the apartment, where Beverly elects Howard to be Cherry Bomb's new manager. The two begin to flirt and almost engage in sexual intercourse, but are interrupted when Blumburtt and two of his colleagues, Doctor Walter Jenning (Jeffrey Jones) and Larry (David Paymer), arrive and reveal how Howard came to this world: earlier, the scientists have been working on a dimensional-jumping device that just happened to be aimed at Howard's universe and brought him to Earth when it was activated. They theorize that Howard can be sent back to his world through this same process, so they drive Howard to the lab planning to send him back. However, the device malfunctions upon being used a second time, arousing the possibility of something else being brought to Earth this time around. Around this time, Jenning's body is taken over by a lifeform from another alternate dimension. At a diner, the lifeform introduces itself as the "Dark Overlord" and demonstrates its developing mental powers by assassinating table condiments. Howard then gets into a fight when the truckers in the diner begin to insult him. The fight results in Howard's capture and near-decapitation at the hands of the diner chef. However, the truckers are scared off when the Dark Overlord destroys the cafe and kidnaps Beverly, escaping in an articulated truck. Meanwhile, Howard finds Phil and frees him from a police car. On the run, they discover a light aircraft, which they use to hunt down the Dark Overlord and Beverly. Having returned to the lab, the Dark Overlord ties Beverly down to a metal bed, hoping to transfer another Dark Overlord into her body with the dimension machine. Howard and Phil return to the lab and supposedly destroy the Dark Overlord with an experimental "neutron disintegrator" laser. However, the Dark Overlord reveals itself as a monstrous stop-motion creature, Howard fires the neutron disintegrator at the beast oblitirating it. All the while, the dimension machine is in the process of bringing more Dark Overlords to Earth, leaving Howard with no choice but to destroy the machine. This results in Howard's loss of a ride home, a decision he comes to accept as Earth is now safe. Howard becomes Beverly's manager and hires Phil as an employee on her tour.

Sixteen-year-old Charles Cummings (Jon Cyrer) is obsessed with photography and sets up a shot early one morning on a pier in San Francisco, California. When an arguing couple walks in front of his camera, Charles yells at them to move and is reminded how much he hates taking pictures of people. As soon as the couple leaves, he resumes his shot of the harbor. Arriving back home, Charles encounters Ken (Jeffery Tambor), his mother's latest boyfriend, and makes a snide remark during their introduction. As Charles prepares for school, his mother, Joan Cummings (Ann Wedgeworth), tells her smart-aleck son to show more respect to guests. That evening, Charles examines his photographic negatives from the pier and sees a shot of the woman (Demi Moore) who was arguing with her boyfriend. He is stunned by her beauty and develops enlargements of her face to cover his bedroom wall. However, his inquiries about her identity lead nowhere. Meanwhile, his older brother, Leonard (Peter Frechette), arrives in San Francisco to introduce his latest fiancée, Susan (Elizabeth Daily), and persuades Charles to join them in the North Beach district. There, the underage Charles enters a nightclub using his brother's identification and realizes the band's lead singer is the woman from the pier. He starts snapping photographs of her until a fight ensues as the bouncer tries to eject him. Before police escort him out, Charles learns the woman's name is Laura Victor. The next day, Charles sneaks away from the apartment without his mother noticing and returns to the club. He finds Laura again arguing with her boyfriend, Scott (Scott Getlin), about his decision to abandon the band to become a studio musician. After Scott walks out, Laura persuades club owner Jake Lewis (George Wendt) to give her band a chance to prove their talent without Scott. Charles overhears the conversation while hidden behind the bar and follows Laura from the club as she goes to an aquarium. He shows her the pictures from the pier and offers to take more photographs for her portfolio. Preoccupied with her struggling career, Laura is not interested and says goodbye. However, Charles later finds a way to charm the beautiful singer. He takes Leonard's bachelor party guests to watch her and the new band perform at Jake's club, which would otherwise be empty. Later, Laura stops by Charles's high school to thank him and invites him to her loft for a photography session. When Charles arrives, Laura is depressed over news that Jake has hired another band for the club. Charles lifts her spirits by taking her on his moped scooter to various San Francisco landmarks as backdrops for his photos. At the end of the day, Laura is hungry, but the two have only fifty cents between them. She changes into another outfit and brings Charles along as they sneak into a wedding reception. Laura and Charles drink until they are intoxicated. After observing the two suspiciously, Gus Sosnowski (Hamilton Camp), father of the bride, demands that Charles and Laura pay for everything they have consumed or he will contact police. Charles tells Gus that his date is famous, and arranges for Laura to sing for the guests. Charles photographs Laura on stage as she performs a romantic ballad, impressing the crowd and Gus. Afterward, Charles is even more awed by Laura's talent and encourages her to incorporate more popular standards into her repertoire, but by the time he takes her home, she is again despondent about her future and asks him to leave. Driving home, he gets an idea to jump-start Laura's singing career. Using the cash he has been saving to begin his own photography career in Milan, Italy, Charles buys advertising space on 150 taxi cabs to publicize her image. Instead of job offers, however, Laura receives prank calls or inquiries about her "escort service." On the street, people wave and know her name. She is dumbfounded until she sees an advertisement on the top of a taxi, showing her face and the words, "Laura Victor She's the Best! 555-1012." Furious, she pulls Charles out of class and tells him to get rid of the ads immediately. He tries to explain that he only wanted to help, but she walks away. When Laura later learns from the taxi service that Charles spent $6,000 on the advertisements, she realizes he gave up his Milan trip for her and feels guilty about her reaction. In the meantime, Charles stops by the loft while Laura is away and leaves a note of apology. That night, Jake Lewis visits Laura and shows her a newspaper article reporting the story behind Charles's advertising campaign. Ever since the article was published, mentioning Laura is a singer at the club, Jake has been receiving numerous calls for reservations and is desperate to rehire her. She agrees, and in front of a sold-out audience, Laura focuses on singing ballads, thrilling the crowd as well as a record executive in attendance. Between sets, she hurries off to find Charles and is told by his family that the teenager is missing. She leaves a confidential note for him, which his brother, Leonard, tucks away for safekeeping. Later that night, Leonard searches for his younger brother and finds him passed out in an alley. At Leonard and Susan's wedding, Charles, as best man, finds Laura's note inside the ring box and interrupts the ceremony to proclaim that the singer loves him. He rushes to Laura's loft, and the two embrace. She is excited after signing a contract with Atlantic Records and thanks Charles for making the opportunity possible. However, Charles is disappointed that she must leave for Los Angeles, California, the next day, then becomes angry when she calls him her "best friend." The teenager accuses Laura of playing with his emotions, and rereads aloud her note that ends with the words, "I love you." Crying, Laura is upset that there has been a misunderstanding about their relationship. He asks to kiss her goodbye and is pleasantly surprised when Laura begins to undress. He telephones his mother to say that he will not be returning home that evening. At the airport the next day, Laura assures Charles that many women will love him and gives him a final, passionate kiss. Although at the moment, Charles does not feel he will ever love another woman, the experience with Laura has left him more self-assured, and he finally decides to approach Mona (Jennifer Tilly), a nerdy classmate who has been flirting with him throughout the film to ask her out on a date.