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] | Three beggars operate in the port of Papeete on Tahiti. They are Herrick, a failed English businessman; Davis, an American sea captain disgraced by the loss of his last ship; and Huish, a dishonest Cockney of various employments.
One day an off-course schooner carrying a cargo of champagne from San Francisco to Sydney arrives in port, its officers having been killed by smallpox. With no-one else willing to risk infection, the U.S. consul employs Davis to take over the ship for the remainder of its voyage. Davis brings the other two men, along with a plan to steal the ship and navigate it to Peru, where they will sell the cargo and vessel and disappear with the money.
Once at sea, Davis and Huish start drinking the cargo and spend almost all of their time intoxicated. Herrick, whose conscience is severely troubled by the plan but feels he has no other way to escape poverty, is left alone to manage the ship and three native crew members, despite having no seafaring experience.
Several days later the would-be thieves discover they have been victims of a fraud: most of the cargo is not champagne but merely bottles of water. Evidently the shipper and the previous captain had intended to sink the ship deliberately and claim the full value of the "champagne" on insurance.
Now sober, Davis discovers that his rushed preparations and drunkenness leave the ship with insufficient food to reach Peru. The only port they can reach without starving is Papeete, where they would surely be imprisoned for their actions.
They sight an unknown island, where they discover an upper-class Englishman named Attwater. Attwater, a devout Christian, has been harvesting pearls here for many years with the help of several dozen native workers, all except four of whom have recently also died of smallpox.
The three men hatch a new plan to kill Attwater and take his pearls, but Herrick's guilt-stricken demeanour and Huish's drunken ramblings soon betray them. Attwater and his servants force them back onto the ship at gunpoint. Unable to live with himself, Herrick jumps overboard and tries to drown himself. Failing even in this, he swims to the shore and throws himself on Attwater's mercy.
The next day, Huish proposes a final plan which shocks even the unscrupulous Davis: they will go to meet Attwater under a flag of truce, and Huish will disable him by throwing acid in his face. Attwater is suspicious, realises what is going on, and forces Huish to fatally spread the vitriol on himself. Attwater threatens to kill Davis as well, but forgives him and tells him, "Go, and sin no more."
Two weeks later, the surviving men prepare to leave the island as Attwater's own ship approaches. Davis is now repentant and fervently religious to an almost crazed degree, and he urges the atheist Herrick to join him in his faith. |
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] | The film opens with newsreel footage, including the farewell address in 1961 of outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower, warning about the build-up of the "military-industrial complex". This is followed by a summary of John F. Kennedy's years as president, emphasizing the events that, in Stone's thesis, would lead to his assassination. This builds to a reconstruction of the assassination on November 22, 1963. New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison subsequently learns about potential links to the assassination in New Orleans. Garrison and his team investigate several possible conspirators, including private pilot David Ferrie (Joe Pesci), but are forced to let them go after their investigation is publicly rebuked by the federal government. Kennedy's suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is killed by Jack Ruby, and Garrison closes the investigation.
The investigation is reopened in 1966 after Garrison reads the Warren Report and notices what he believes to be multiple inaccuracies. Garrison and his staff interrogate several witnesses to the Kennedy assassination, and others involved with Oswald, Ruby, and Ferrie. One such witness is Willie O'Keefe (Kevin Bacon), a male prostitute serving five years in prison for soliciting, who reveals he witnessed Ferrie discussing a coup d'ĂŠtat. As well as briefly meeting Oswald, O'Keefe was romantically involved with a man called "Clay Bertrand". Jean Hill (Ellen McElduff), a teacher who says she witnessed shots fired from the grassy knoll, tells the investigators that Secret Service threatened her into saying three shots came from the book depository, revealing changes that were made to her testimony by the Warren Commission. Garrison's staff also test the single bullet theory by aiming an empty rifle from the window through which Oswald was alleged to have shot Kennedy. They conclude that Oswald was too poor a marksman to make the shots, indicating someone else, or multiple marksmen, were involved.
Garrison meets a high-level figure in Washington D.C. who identifies himself as "X" (Donald Sutherland). He suggests a conspiracy at the highest levels of government, implicating members of the CIA, the Mafia, the military-industrial complex, Secret Service, FBI, and Kennedy's vice-president & then president Lyndon Baines Johnson as either co-conspirators or as having motives to cover up the truth of the assassination. X explains that the President was killed because he wanted to pull the United States out of the Vietnam War and dismantle the CIA. X encourages Garrison to keep digging and prosecute New Orleans-based international businessman Clay Shaw for his alleged involvement. Upon interrogating Shaw, the businessman denies any knowledge of meeting Ferrie, O'Keefe or Oswald, but he is soon charged with conspiring to murder the President.
Some of Garrison's staff begin to doubt his motives and disagree with his methods, and leave the investigation. Garrison's marriage is strained when his wife Liz (Sissy Spacek) complains that he is spending more time on the case than with his own family. After a sinister phone call is made to their daughter, Liz accuses Garrison of being selfish and attacking Shaw only because of his homosexuality. In addition, the media launches attacks on television and in newspapers attacking Garrison's character and criticizing the way his office is spending taxpayers' money. Some key witnesses become scared and refuse to testify while others, such as Ferrie, are killed in suspicious circumstances. Before his death, Ferrie tells Garrison that he believes people are after him, and reveals there was a conspiracy around Kennedy's death.
The trial of Clay Shaw takes place in 1969. Garrison presents the court with further evidence of multiple killers and dismissing the single bullet theory, and proposes a Dealey Plaza shots scenario involving three assassins who fired six total shots and framing Oswald for the murders of Kennedy and officer J. D. Tippit but the jury acquits Shaw after less than one hour of deliberation. The film reflects that members of that jury stated publicly that they believed there was a conspiracy behind the assassination, but not enough evidence to link Shaw to that conspiracy. Shaw died of lung cancer in 1974, but in 1979 Richard Helms testified that Clay Shaw had been a part-time contact of the Domestic Contacts Division of the CIA. The end credits claim that records related to the assassination will be released to the public in 2029. |
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] | The Asgardian Loki encounters the Other, the leader of an extraterrestrial race known as the Chitauri. In exchange for retrieving the Tesseract,² a powerful energy source of unknown potential, the Other promises Loki an army with which he can subjugate Earth. Nick Fury, director of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and his lieutenant Agent Maria Hill arrive at a remote research facility during an evacuation, where physicist Dr. Erik Selvig is leading a research team experimenting on the Tesseract. Agent Phil Coulson explains that the object has begun radiating an unusual form of energy. The Tesseract suddenly activates and opens a wormhole, allowing Loki to reach Earth. Loki takes the Tesseract and uses his scepter to enslave Selvig and a couple of agents, including Clint Barton, to aid him in his getaway.
In response to the attack, Fury reactivates the "Avengers Initiative". Agent Natasha Romanoff is sent to Calcutta to recruit Dr. Bruce Banner to trace the Tesseract through its gamma radiation emissions. Coulson visits Tony Stark to have him review Selvig's research, and Fury approaches Steve Rogers with an assignment to retrieve the Tesseract.
In Stuttgart, Barton steals iridium needed to stabilize the Tesseract's power while Loki causes a distraction, leading to a confrontation with Rogers, Stark, and Romanoff that ends with Loki's surrender. While Loki is being escorted to S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor, his adoptive brother, arrives and frees him, hoping to convince him to abandon his plan and return to Asgard. After a confrontation with Stark and Rogers, Thor agrees to take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier, the Helicarrier. There Loki is imprisoned while Banner and Stark attempt to locate the Tesseract.
The Avengers become divided, both over how to approach Loki and the revelation that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to harness the Tesseract to develop weapons as a deterrent against hostile extraterrestrials. As the group argues, Barton and Loki's other possessed agents attack the Helicarrier, disabling its engines in flight and causing Banner to transform into the Hulk. Stark and Rogers try to restart the damaged engine, and Thor attempts to stop the Hulk's rampage. Romanoff fights Barton, and knocks him unconscious, breaking Loki's mind control. Loki escapes after killing Coulson and ejecting Thor from the airship, while the Hulk falls to the ground after attacking a S.H.I.E.L.D. fighter jet. Fury uses Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers into working as a team. Stark and Rogers realize that for Loki, simply defeating them will not be enough; he needs to overpower them publicly to validate himself as ruler of Earth. Loki uses the Tesseract, in conjunction with a device Selvig built, to open a wormhole above Stark Tower to the Chitauri fleet in space, launching his invasion.
The Avengers rally in defense of New York City, the wormhole's location, but quickly realize they will be overwhelmed as wave after wave of Chitauri descend upon Earth. Banner arrives and transforms into the Hulk, and together he, Rogers, Stark, Thor, Barton, and Romanoff battle the Chitauri while evacuating civilians. The Hulk finds Loki and beats him into submission. Romanoff makes her way to the wormhole generator, where Selvig, freed of Loki's control, reveals that Loki's scepter can be used to shut down the generator. Meanwhile, Fury's superiors attempt to end the invasion by launching a nuclear missile at Midtown Manhattan. Stark intercepts the missile and takes it through the wormhole toward the Chitauri fleet. The missile detonates, destroying the Chitauri mothership and disabling their forces on Earth. Stark's suit runs out of power, and he falls back through the wormhole just as Romanoff closes it. Stark goes into freefall, but the Hulk saves him from crashing to the ground. In the aftermath, Thor returns Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard, while Fury expresses confidence that the Avengers will return if and when they are needed.
In a mid-credits scene, the Other confers with his masterÂł about the failed attack on Earth. In a post-credits scene, the Avengers eat in silence at a shawarma restaurant. |
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] | In Cleveland, 1972, Russell Stevens Jr. is the son of a drug addicted, alcoholic man. His father tells his son never to be like him. Stevens then witnesses his father getting killed while robbing a liquor store. He swears that he will never end up the way he has.
Twenty years later, in Cincinnati, 1991, Stevens is now a police officer. Officer Stevens is recruited by DEA Special Agent Gerald Carver to go undercover on a major sting operation in Los Angeles, claiming that his criminal-like character traits will be more of a benefit undercover than they would serve him as a uniformed policeman. Stevens poses as drug dealer "John Hull" in order to infiltrate and work his way up the network of the west coast's largest drug importer, Anton Gallegos and his uncle Hector Gúzman, a South American politician. Stevens relocates to a cheap hotel in LA and begins dealing cocaine.
One day Stevens is arrested by the devoutly religious L.A.P.D. Narcotics Detective Taft and his corrupt partner Hernández, when he buys a kilogram in a set-up by Gallegos' low-level street supplier Eddie Dudley. At his arraignment, Stevens discovers that he was sold "baby laxative" (mannitol) instead of cocaine and his case is dismissed. Stevens' self-appointed attorney David Jason, who is also a drug trafficker in Gallegos' network, rewards Stevens' silence with more cocaine and introduces Stevens to Felix Barbossa, the underboss to Gallegos. Felix realized that Eddie was working with the LAPD, which results in Felix killing him and enlisting Stevens as Eddie's replacement.
Stevens develops a romance with Betty McCutcheon, the manager of an art dealership which serves as a front to launder Jason's drug money profits. When one of Stevens' dealers is murdered by a rival dealer named Ivy, Stevens kills him and is awarded a partnership in Jason's new business venture; distribution of a synthetic chemical variant of cocaine. It turns out that Felix is working with Detective Hernández who pressures him into giving him more arrests. Felix immediately gives up Stevens, Jason, and Betty, since he views them as expendable and wants to kill Jason because of his business venture. Carver knows about the upcoming bust, but refuses to interfere forcing Stevens to violate orders and stop it himself. At the deal, Stevens exposes Felix as a police informant, which results in a vengeful Jason killing him.
Gallegos comes to personally meet with Jason and Stevens and informs them that they have inherited Felix's $1.8 million debt. Later that same day, Stevens meets with Carver to tell him about his meeting with Gallegos. Instead Carver pulls a gun on Stevens and orders him to surrender his weapon and get in his car. Angrily Stevens disarms Carver and forces him to reveal what's happening behind the scenes. Carver admits that the State Department is leaving Gallegos and Guzman alone because Guzman may someday be useful as a political asset to them. Stevens' disillusionment reaches its conclusion and he abandons his undercover status vowing to take down Gallegos and Guzman alone.
Stevens and Jason learn that Gallegos is going to kill them anyway, so instead of paying Gallegos, Jason and Stevens cleverly kill him and steal a van storing over a $100 million of Gallegos' cash. Jason and Stevens invite Guzman to a shipyard and offer to return 80% of Gallegos' money if he agrees to invest the remaining 20% in their synthetic cocaine distribution operation. Detective Taft, who has been tailing Stevens, interrupts the deal but is unable to arrest Guzman because of his diplomatic status. Guzman flees the scene before Taft's backup arrives. Taft orders Stevens to surrender, but is shot and wounded by Jason. Stevens reveals to Jason that he is a police officer but Jason ignores this information and cajoles him into joining Jason and abandoning the dying Taft. Jason kills Taft, despite Stevens' pleas to let him go. Stevens then reaffirms himself as a police officer and attempts to arrest Jason, but is forced to kill him when Jason draws his gun.
Afterwards, Carver leverages Stevens by threatening to charge Betty with several bank fraud violations. In exchange for his favorable testimony of Carver, the DEA, and their sting operation, Stevens can prevent Betty's prosecution. Stevens agrees, but during his testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee, he produces a video tape of the incriminating conversation with Guzman at the shipyard, thus potentially ruining Guzman's and Carver´s career. Later he contemplates what to do with the $11 million of Gallegos' money that he secretly kept. |
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] | It is June 1940, during the Battle of France. After five-year-old Paulette's parents and pet dog die in a German air attack on a column of refugees fleeing Paris, the traumatized child meets 10-year-old Michel DollĂŠ whose peasant family takes her in. She quickly becomes attached to Michel. The two attempt to cope with the death and destruction that surrounds them by secretly building a small cemetery among the ruins of an abandoned watermill, where they bury her dog and start to bury other animals, marking their graves with crosses stolen from a local graveyard, including one belonging to Michel's brother. Michel's father first suspects that Michel's brother's cross was stolen from the graveyard by his neighbour. Eventually, the father finds out that Michel has stolen the cross.
Meanwhile, the French gendarmes come to the DollĂŠ household in order to take Paulette. Michel cannot bear the thought of her leaving and tells his father that he would tell him where the stolen crosses are, but in return he should not give Paulette to the gendarmes. His father doesn't keep his promise: Michel destroys the crosses and Paulette ends up going to a Red Cross camp, but at the end of the movie is seen running away into a crowd of people in the Red Cross camp, crying for Michel and then for her mother. |
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] | Early one morning, Martha flees from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains led by an enigmatic leader, Patrick. She phones her sister Lucy, eventually asking for her help. Lucy picks up Martha at a nearby bus station and takes her to a lake house in Connecticut which Lucy shares with her husband, Ted. Martha tells Lucy only that she had been living with her boyfriend in the Catskills, leaving out all mention of the cult. During the following days, Martha continues to exhibit unusual behavior, with little regard for the commonly accepted societal boundaries of American culture.
In a flashback, Martha is seen meeting Patrick for the first time. He declares that she "looks like a Marcy May." It is explained to Martha that the group is working toward being self-sufficient on their farm. Later, Martha awakens in the middle of being raped by Patrick, and afterward another woman assures her that she was "lucky" to have Patrick as her first sex partner. Later, he sings Jackson C. Frank's song "Marcy's Song" in front of the group, and now addresses Martha as Marcy May. The cult members are shown swimming naked together at a waterfall.
At the lake house, Martha walks into Lucy and Ted's room while they are having sex and gets into bed with them. A horrified Lucy explains that this is not "normal" behavior, and Ted is furious about the incident. Martha continues to struggle with the return to her old life.
In another flashback to her time on the farm, Martha introduces a new girl, Sarah, to life on the farm. She explains that they all help out with Katie and Patrick's baby. When Sarah comments that all the infants in the community are boys, Martha ominously replies that "he only has boys". Martha later prepares Sarah for her "special night" with Patrick, presumably the same ritual of rape that Martha experienced. The preparation includes drinking a drugged drink.
During another flashback while teaching Martha to shoot, Patrick asks her to kill a sick cat to prove that she is "a teacher and a leader," but she refuses. He then asks her to shoot another cult member; she refuses to do this as well. One night, Martha, Watts, and Zoe break into a house and steal valuables. In another scene, several cult members have sex in one room while Patrick watches from a stairway.
In the present, Martha becomes increasingly paranoid that the cult is watching her. Lucy continues to struggle to understand what has happened to Martha. Ted suggests they seek help for Martha, telling Lucy that she needs to be moved to a mental health facility.
In a flashback, Martha, Watts, and Zoe break into another house but are found by the owner. They start to leave, but Patrick appears and confronts the owner, questioning whether he will call the police. The man orders the group out and promises not to call the police, but the elder female member of the group, Katie, stabs him in the back. They quickly leave, with Martha clearly in shock. Martha is later shown answering the phone, using the name "Marlene Lewis" â a name that all the women use on the phone to conceal their identities. Martha struggles in the aftermath of the attack, and Patrick tries to convince her that death is actually a good thing.
After a nightmare at the lake house, Martha attacks Ted in her confusion. This leads Lucy to confront Martha, making it clear she must leave and informing her that they will pay for her treatment. Martha coldly states that Lucy will be a "terrible mother."
The next morning, Martha goes swimming in the lake and sees a man watching her from the opposite shore. Ted and Lucy then drive Martha to her treatment facility when the same man from the lake runs in front of Ted's car. He gets into a car parked on the side of the road and appears to follow them. Martha nervously looks back as they drive on, but doesn't say anything. |
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] | The novel begins with David moving to a new house at the base of some beautiful mountains. The next day, rather than settle into the new house, he decides to climb the mountains. Upon reaching the summit, he encounters the Phoenix. At first they are frightened of each other, as the Phoenix had been chased by a Scientist for several weeks and David had, of course, never seen anything like the Phoenix before. The Phoenix seems quite flattered by David's attentions, and takes a shine to him. Thus, the Phoenix decides that he should educate David about the various legendary creatures in the world to round out his knowledge. But years of hiding from scientists have made the Phoenix's wings flabby, and David has to coach the rather comical bird on his flying.
The first adventure in the Phoenix's curriculum for David involves seeing the Gryffins, said to be the friendliest of three similar races: the Gryffins, Gryffons, and Gryffens). On this journey, they first meet a Witch who goads the Phoenix into a race, which he later wins. Though David never actually meets a Gryffin on his first journey, the Phoenix attempts to talk to a lazy Gryffen. But they get captured by the violent and arrogant Gryffons, who sentence the Phoenix to death for bringing humans into their magic world.
After escaping the Gryffon Cave through combined ingenuity, the Phoenix keeps his appointment with the Witch. David returns home to meet the unpleasant Scientist visiting his parents. David's evasiveness makes the villain suspicious. David warns the Phoenix as he unceremoniously shows up later that night, exhausted from his race. The two friends begin implementing various plans to avoid the Scientist, firstly by finding some buried treasure with the help of a gruff, but friendly Sea Monster, and spending the gold coins on magic items to foil the Scientist's plot to capture the rare bird.
While visiting the magical world to buy necessities, David has a brief adventure with a prankster Leprechaun, meets a cantankerous potion-selling Hag, and even makes friends with a Faun, who races and plays with the boy before joining his people for an alluring dance in the Forest. However, the Phoenix rescues David from remaining too long in this world, which could absorb those beings who are not magical.
Using their collected magical items, the Phoenix and David sabotage the Scientist's equipment and frighten him into leaving townâat least for the moment. However, the old Phoenix celebrates his 500th birthday, and soon reveals he must "bow to tradition," and build himself a pyre of cinnamon logs. David tearfully complies with his friend's wishes, buying the necessary items from town.
Unfortunately, the Scientist shows up and follows David up the mountain trails. The Phoenix is reborn, but as a hatchling, does not yet comprehend its peril. David appeals to the young Phoenix, who dimly recognizes a friend, and flies away to avoid captivity. David watches as the Old Phoenix's token, a blue feather, changes to a golden hue. |
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] | Events take place in a fictional country called Laurania, located somewhere on the Mediterranean sea, which is similar to Italy or Spain, but with an overlay of Victorian England. Laurania has an African colony which can be reached via the Suez Canal. It has been a republic for many years, and has a well established constitution. Five years previously (stated to be in 1883) the country was split by a civil war, as a result of which General Antonio Molara became President and Dictator. Unrest has arisen because of Molara's refusal to restore parliamentary rule, and the final events of his dictatorship are described in the book.
The story opens with a description of the capital and fast-moving political events there. Molara has bowed to popular pressure for elections, but intends to do so on the basis of a grossly amended electoral register. Savrola is seen as the leader of the revolutionaries, deciding what they are to do, and presiding over conflicting factions with differing aims. Despite the unrest, society still proceeds on the surface in a genteel course, with state balls and society events. Molara decides to ask his young and beautiful wife, Lucile, to attempt to seduce Savrola and discover anything she can about his plans. Unfortunately for him, Lucile finds herself attracted to Savrola and her loyalties become confused.
Events move from political manoeuvring to street fighting when a rebel army invades Laurania. While Savrola knows about the army and intended invasion, he has poor control over it, so the invasion has started without his knowledge or proper preparations. Both sides scramble for a fight, as Molara finds the country's regular troops refuse to obey his orders. He is obliged to despatch most of the loyal Republican Guard from the capital to oppose the invaders, leaving him with a much reduced force to hold the capital. Fierce street fighting takes place in the capital between the revolutionaries of the Popular Party and the Republican Guard. The revolution culminates in the storming of the Presidential Palace and the death on the steps of his palace of General Molara. The revolutionary allies start to break apart in the face of a threat by the Lauranian navy (which remains loyal to the president), to bombard the city unless Savrola is handed over to them. The council of public safety decides the most expedient position would be to agree to this, but Savrola escapes attempts to arrest him and flees with Lucile. The city is subsequently bombarded when Savrola is not produced, and the last scene is of Savrola watching the destruction from outside the city. |
408 | [
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] | Several weeks after returning to Kansas from the Land of Oz, Dorothy Gale looks out of her bedroom window and sees a bright and beautiful rainbow on the horizon. She notices that the rainbow is approaching her and Toto as both of them run towards it. Dorothy starts to see Glinda the Good Witch who tells Dorothy that she must return to Oz so that she can save Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. Dorothy and Toto reclaim the silver shoes as they find a note from Glinda and Princess Ozma stating that the silver shoes can take her to the Land of Oz and back for the Impassable Desert has taken away much of their power.
Dorothy and Toto arrive in the Land of Oz where the items that Dorothy has in her pocket are a small mirror, a safety pin, a glass bottle, and four of Aunt Em's home-made oatmeal cookies. Dorothy and Toto were wondering which direction should they take when they encounter a molasses-covered owl named Wiser. Wiser tells Dorothy that she is in Gillikin Country and tells her to head to Candy County and ask the Great Royal Marshmallow that rules over Candy Country. Arriving at Princess Gayelette's palace, Dorothy and Toto encounter the castle's Jester who welcomes them. The Jester tells them that Princess Gayelette and Prince Quelala have gone missing, adding that they disappeared during a party at the palace which had become haunted and points them in the direction of the castle. When Dorothy and Toto enter the palace, they find a wand that belonged to the Wicked Witch of the West lying on the table.
Dorothy reminds the Jester that jesters are supposed to make people happy causing the Jester to freeze in his tracks as the Wicked Witch of the West's ghost urges the Jester to turn Dorothy into a china doll. The Jester gives up the wand as the Wicked Witch of the West's ghost fades away. Thus, the spell is broken and everyone is returned to normal. Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Toto rejoice now that the spell is broken. When the Cowardly Lion asks Dorothy on what she plans to do with the Wicked Witch of the West's wand, Scarecrow and Tin Man plan to keep the wand locked up in a case until they can give it to Glinda and Princess Ozma.
Dorothy returns to Kansas where they reunited with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. The three of them then see a rainbow in the twilight sky which Dorothy hasn't seen before. Dorothy knows that is must be Princess Ozma, Glinda, and the Wizard of Oz's way of saying goodbye to her. The rainbow shimmered over the prairie with all the bright and true colors of the Land of Oz. |
409 | [
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] | Beverly Sutphin appears to be a typical suburban housewife living with her dentist husband, Eugene, and their teenage children, Misty and Chip, in the suburbs of Baltimore. However, she is secretly a serial killer, murdering people over the most trivial of perceived slights, including mere faux pas.
During breakfast, Detectives Pike and Gracey arrive to question the family about the vulgar harassment of their neighbor, Dottie Hinkle. After the police and her family leave, Beverly disguises her voice to make obscene phone calls to Dottie, because Dottie stole a parking space from Beverly. Later that day, Mr. Stubbins, Chip's math teacher, becomes Beverly's first known murder victim after he criticizes Chip's interests and questions the boy's mental health and family life, as well as berating her parenting; Beverly runs him over with her car, and is witnessed by Luann Hodges, a young woman smoking marijuana nearby. The next day, Misty is upset when Carl Pageant stands her up for a date. Beverly spots Carl with another girl at a swap meet and murders him in the bathroom with a fireplace poker.
Eugene discovers that Beverly has hidden a collection of serial killer memorabilia beneath their mattress. That evening at dinner, Chip comments that his friend Scotty thinks that she is the killer. Beverly immediately leaves in her car, prompting the family to rush to Scotty's house for fear that Beverly plans to kill him; however, Beverly has actually gone to kill Eugene's patient Ralph Sterner's wife, Betty, who called Eugene away to treat her husband's chronic toothache on a Saturday. She stabs Betty with scissors borrowed from Rosemary, and causes an air conditioner to fall on Ralph, who caught her killing his wife. Meanwhile, the rest of the family arrive at Scotty's house only to find him in his room masturbating to an old porn video.
That Sunday, police follow the Sutphins to church and a news report names Beverly as the suspect in the murders of the Sterners. The church service ends in pandemonium when a suspicious sound causes everyone to panic and flee the church. Police detectives confirm that Beverly's fingerprints match those at the Sterner crime scene and attempt to arrest her, but she escapes. She hides at the video rental store where Chip works, but a customer, Mrs. Jensen, argues with Chip over paying a fee for failing to rewind a videotape and calls him a "son of a psycho". Beverly follows Mrs. Jensen home and bludgeons her to death with a leg of lamb while she sings along to "Tomorrow" on her rented copy of Annie. Scotty witnesses the attack through a window, Beverly sees him, and a car chase ensues. Catching him at a local club, Hammerjack's, Beverly sets Scotty aflame onstage in front of a deranged crowd during the set of an all-girl band called Camel Lips. The Sutphin family arrive, as do the police, and Beverly is arrested.
Beverly's trial becomes a national sensation. The media dub her "Serial Mom", Chip hires an agent to manage the family's media appearances, and Misty sells merchandise outside the courthouse. During opening arguments, Beverly's lawyer claims that she is not guilty by reason of insanity, but she fires him and proposes to represent herself, citing various law books she has read to her prosecutor's dismay. The judge reluctantly agrees and the trial begins. Beverly proves to be extremely skilled and formidable in defending herself, systematically discrediting nearly every witness against her by; using trick questioning to incite Dottie to contempt of court by repeated obscenities, finding a transsexual-themed magazine in Detective Gracey's trash, invoking judging a person by what they choose to read proves nothing, badgering Rosemary into admitting she doesn't recycle, and fanning her legs repeatedly at pervert Marvin Pickles, whose over-arousal causes him to commit perjury. The only witness she does not discredit is Luann Hodges, who cannot provide a credible testimony due to being under the influence of marijuana. During a second detective's crucial testimony, the entire courtroom is distracted by the arrival of Suzanne Somers, who plans to portray Beverly as the heroine of a television film.
Beverly is acquitted of all charges, stunning her family, who vow to "never get on her nerves". Throughout the trial, Beverly has been displeased that a juror (Patty Hearst) is wearing white shoes after Labor Day. Beverly follows her to a payphone and fatally strikes her in the head with the receiver. Suzanne Somers then angers Beverly into an outburst by trying to pose for a picture that will show Beverly's "bad side", just as the juror's body is discovered.
The film ends with a close-up of Beverly's wicked smile and a caption stating that Beverly "refused to cooperate" with the making of the film. |
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] | Speed Racer is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been automobile racing. His parents Pops and Mom run the independent Racer Motors, in which his brother Spritle, mechanic Sparky, and girlfriend Trixie are also involved. As a child Speed idolized his record-setting older brother, Rex Racer, who was killed while racing in the Casa Cristo 5000, a deadly cross-country racing rally. Now embarking on his own career, Speed Racer is quickly sweeping the racing world with his skill behind the wheel of his brother's cars, the Mach 5 and his own Formula One car the Mach 6, but remains primarily interested in the art of the race and the well-being of his family.
E.P. Arnold Royalton, owner of conglomerate Royalton Industries, offers Speed an astoundingly luxurious lifestyle in exchange for signing to race with him. Speed is tempted but declines due to his father's distrust of power-hungry corporations. Angered, Royalton reveals that for many years the key races have been fixed by corporate interests, including Royalton himself, to gain profits. Royalton takes out his anger on Speed by having his drivers force Speed into a crash that destroys the Mach 6 and suing Racer Motors for intellectual property infringement. Speed gets an opportunity to retaliate through Inspector Detector, head of a corporate crimes division. Racer Taejo Togokahn says that he has evidence that could indict Royalton but will only offer it up if Speed and the mysterious masked Racer X agree to race on his team in the Casa Cristo 5000. Taejo says that a win could substantially raise the stock price of his family's racing business, blocking a Royalton-arranged buyout. Speed agrees but keeps his decision secret from his family, and Inspector Detector's team makes several defensive modifications to the Mach 5 to assist Speed in the rally.
After they drive together and work naturally as a team, Speed begins to suspect that Racer X is actually his brother Rex in disguise. His family discovers that he has entered the race and agree to support him. With the help of his family and Trixie, Speed defeats many brutal racers who have been bribed by fixer Cruncher Block to stop him, and overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles to win the race. However, Taejo's arrangement is revealed to be a sham, as he was only interested in increasing the value of his family's company so that they could profit from Royalton's buyout. An angry Speed hits the track that he used to drive with his brother, and confronts Racer X with his suspicion that he is Rex. Racer X removes his mask, revealing an unfamiliar face, and tells Speed that Rex is indeed dead. Speed returns home, where Taejo's sister Horuko Togokahn gives him Taejo's automatic invitation to the Grand Prix, which Taejo had rejected. The Racer family bands together and builds the new Mach 6 in 32 hours.
Speed enters the Grand Prix against great odds: Royalton has placed a bounty on his head that the other drivers are eager to collect, and he is pitted against future Hall of Fame driver Jack "Cannonball" Taylor. Speed overcomes a slow start to catch up with Taylor, who uses a cheating device called a spearhook to latch the Mach 6 to his own car. Speed uses his jump jacks to expose the device to video cameras, causing Taylor to crash. Speed wins the race, having successfully exposed Royalton's crimes. While Racer X watches it is revealed in a flashback montage that he really is Rex, who has faked his death and undergone plastic surgery to change his appearance as part of his plan to save his family and the sport of racing. He chooses not to reveal his identity to his family, declaring that he must live with his decision. The Racer family celebrates Speed's victory as Speed and Trixie kiss, and Royalton is sent to jail. |
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] | On Christmas Eve, New York City Police Detective John McClane arrives in Los Angeles. He aims to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly, at the Christmas party of her employer, the fictional Nakatomi corporation. McClane is driven to the party by Argyle, an airport limousine driver. While McClane changes clothes, the party is disrupted by the arrival of Hans Gruber and his heavily armed terrorists: Karl, Franco, Tony, Theo, Alexander, Marco, Kristoff, Eddie, Uli, Heinrich, Fritz, and James. The group seizes the tower and secures those inside as hostages, except for McClane, who manages to slip away.
Gruber singles out Nakatomi executive Joseph Takagi, and says he intends to teach the corporation a lesson for its greed. Away from the hostages, Gruber interrogates Takagi for the code to the building's vault. Gruber admits that they are using terrorism as a distraction while they attempt to steal $640 million in bearer bonds in the vault. Takagi refuses to cooperate and is murdered by Gruber. McClane, who had been secretly watching, accidentally gives himself away and is pursued by Tony. McClane manages to kill Tony, taking his weapon and radio, which he uses to contact the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). As Sgt. Al Powell is sent to investigate, Gruber sends Heinrich and Marco to stop McClane, who kills them both. Powell arrives and is greeted by Eddie, who is posing as a concierge; he finds nothing strange about the building. As Powell turns to leave, McClane drops Marco's corpse onto his patrol car and shoots at him to get his attention. Powell summons the LAPD, who surround the building. McClane takes Heinrich's bag containing C-4 explosives and detonators.
James and Alexander use anti-tank missiles to knock out a SWAT Greyhound armored car, but before they can finish its destruction, they are killed when their building floor is blown up by C-4 that McClane dropped. Holly's coworker Harry Ellis attempts to mediate between Hans and McClane for the return of the detonators. McClane refuses to return them, causing Gruber to murder Ellis. While checking explosives attached to the roof, Gruber is confronted by McClane. Gruber passes himself off as an escaped hostage and is given a gun by McClane. Gruber attempts to shoot McClane but finds that the gun is unloaded. Before McClane can act, Karl, Franco, and Fritz arrive. McClane kills Fritz and Franco, but is forced to flee, leaving the detonators behind.
FBI agents arrive and take command of the police situation outside, ordering the building's power be shut off. The loss of powerâas Gruber had anticipatedâdisables the vault's final lock. Gruber demands that a helicopter arrive on the roof for transport, and the FBI prepare to double-cross him by sending helicopter gunships to take down the terrorists. However, McClane discovers that Gruber's true intention is to detonate the explosives on the roof, to fake the deaths of his men and himself so they can escape with the bearer bonds, a plan that would also kill the hostages. Meanwhile, Gruber sees a news report by intrusive reporter Richard Thornburg that features McClane's children, and deduces that McClane is Holly's husband. The criminals order the hostages to the roof, but Gruber takes Holly with him to use against McClane. McClane defeats Karl in a fight, kills Uli, and sends the hostages back downstairs before the explosives detonate, destroying the roof and the FBI helicopter.
Theo goes to the parking garage to retrieve their getaway vehicle but is knocked unconscious by Argyle, who had been trapped in the garage throughout the siege. A weary McClane finds Holly with Gruber and his remaining men, and knocks Kristoff unconscious. McClane surrenders his machine gun to spare Holly, but then distracts Gruber and Eddie by laughing, allowing him to grab a concealed handgun (holding his last two bullets) taped to his back. McClane shoots Gruber in the shoulder and then kills Eddie with his final shot. Gruber crashes through a window, and while he momentarily saves himself by grabbing Holly's watch, McClane removes it and Gruber falls to his death.
McClane and Holly are escorted from the building and meet Powell in person. Karl emerges from the building disguised as a hostage and attempts to shoot McClane, but is gunned down by Powell. Argyle crashes through the parking garage door in the limo. Thornburg arrives and attempts to interview McClane, but is punched by Holly. McClane and Holly are then driven away by Argyle. |
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] | Henry Hill says, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster", referring to his idolization of gangsters in his 1950s blue-collar, predominantly Italian-American neighborhood in East New York, Brooklyn. Wanting to be part of something significant, Henry quits school and goes to work for them. He is able to make a living for himself and learns the two most important lessons in life: "Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut", the advice given to him after being acquitted of criminal charges early in his career.
Henry is taken under the wing of local mob leader, Paul "Paulie" Cicero and his associates: James "Jimmy the Gent" Conway, who loves hijacking trucks; and Tommy DeVito, an aggressive armed robber with a temper. In late 1967, they commit the Air France Robbery. Enjoying the perks of their criminal life, they spend most of their nights at the Copacabana carousing with women. Henry meets and later marries Karen, a Jewish woman from the Five Towns area of Long Island. Karen is initially troubled by Henry's criminal activities but is soon seduced by his glamorous lifestyle.
On June 11, 1970, Billy Batts, a mobster in the Gambino Crime Family, insults Tommy about being a shoeshine boy in his younger days. Enraged, Tommy and Jimmy attack and kill him. Knowing their murder of a made member would mean retribution from the Gambino crime family, which could possibly include Paulie himself being ordered to kill them, Jimmy, Henry, and Tommy cover up the murder. They transport the body in the trunk of Henry's car and bury it upstate. Six months later, Jimmy learns the burial site will be developed, forcing them to exhume the decomposing corpse and move it.
Henry sets up his mistress, Janice Rossi, in an apartment. When Karen finds out about their relationship, she tries to confront Janice at the apartment building and then threatens Henry at gunpoint at home. Henry goes to live in the apartment with Janice, but Paulie mediates and directs him to return to Karen after completing a job for him; Henry and Jimmy are sent to collect from an indebted gambler in Florida. However, they are arrested after being turned in by the gambler's sister, a typist for the FBI. Jimmy and Henry receive ten-year prison sentences.
In prison, Henry sells drugs smuggled in by Karen to support his family on the outside. After his early release in 1978, Henry further establishes himself in the drug trade, ignoring Paulie's ban on drug trafficking, and convinces Tommy and Jimmy to join him. Jimmy and a lot of Henry's associates commit the Lufthansa heist at John F. Kennedy International Airport, stealing $6 million. However, after a few members buy expensive items and the getaway car is found by police, Jimmy has most of the crew killed. Tommy is eventually killed in retribution for Batts' murder, having been fooled into thinking he would become a made man.
By May 11, 1980, Henry is a nervous wreck from cocaine use and insomnia. He tries to organize a drug deal with his associates in Pittsburgh, however he is arrested by narcotics agents and jailed. After being bailed out, Karen tells him she flushed $60,000 worth of cocaine down the toilet to prevent FBI agents from finding it during their raid, leaving the family virtually penniless. Feeling betrayed by Henry's dealing drugs, Paulie gives him $3,200 and ends any association with him. Facing federal charges, and realizing Jimmy plans to have him killed, Henry decides to enroll in the Witness Protection Program. He gives sufficient testimony to have Paulie and Jimmy arrested and convicted. Forced out of his gangster life, Henry now has to face living in the real world. He narrates: "I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook".
Subtitles explain that Henry was subsequently arrested on drug charges in Seattle, Washington, but has been clean since 1987. He and Karen separated in 1989 after twenty five years of marriage. Paul Cicero died in Fort Worth Federal Prison of respiratory illness in 1988 at age 73. Jimmy, in 1990, was serving a twenty-year-to-life sentence in a New York State prison. |
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] | In the summer of 1972, Vada Sultenfuss is an 11-year-old tomboyish girl and a hypochondriac. Harry Sultenfuss, Vada's father, is an awkward widower who does not understand his daughter, so he constantly ignores her. His profession as a funeral director has led his daughter to develop an obsession with death. Vada regularly tends to her grandmother, âGramooâ, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and whose wandering mind likewise affects Vada. Her Uncle Phil lives near by and frequently stops by to help the family.
Vada hangs out with her best friend Thomas J. Sennett, an unpopular boy her age who is allergic to "everything." However, other girls tease the two, thinking they are more than just friends. Thomas J. often accompanies Vada when she visits the doctor, who assures her that she is not sick and that she has no chicken bone stuck in her throat.
Vada's summer begins well. She befriends Shelly DeVoto, the new makeup artist at her father's funeral parlor, who provides her with guidance. She also develops a crush on her fifth-grade school teacher, Mr. Bixler, and hears about an adult poetry writing class that he is teaching. Vada steals some money from the cookie jar in Shelly's trailer to cover the cost of the class. When advised to write about what is in her soul, Vada fears that she killed her mother, who died two days after giving birth to her. Soon things start to fall apart.
When Harry and Shelly start dating, this affects Vada's attitude towards Shelly. One night, Vada follows Harry and Shelly to a bingo game and brings Thomas J. along to disrupt it. On the Fourth of July, when Shelly's ex-husband Danny arrives, Vada hopes that he is there to take Shelly back, but to no avail. Vada becomes even more shocked when Harry and Shelly announce their engagement at a carnival, which she contemplates into running away with Thomas J.
Vada is starting to see changes within herself, as she is running around screaming that she is hemorrhaging. Shelly politely explains to Vada that her first period is a completely natural process. As Vada realizes this only occurs with girls, she doesn't want to see Thomas J., who happens to come by shortly afterward. A couple of days later though, Vada and Thomas J. are sitting under a tree by the river, where they share an innocent first kiss.
Vada and Thomas J. come across a bee hive hanging from a tree, which Thomas J. decides to knock down. Vada loses her mood ring in the process, so they start looking for it, but the search is cut short as the bees start swarming, making them run away. Thomas J. later returns by himself and finds the ring. Unfortunately, because he kicked the bee hive beforehand, the bees begin to swarm Thomas J. just as he finds the ring, so it is too late for him to escape. Thomas J. dies from the attack, due to being allergic to bee stings.
Harry is left to deliver the tragic news to Vada, which devastates her so much that she will not even leave her bedroom. When she attends Thomas J.'s funeral, her emotions become so strong that she runs away. Vada hurries to Mr. Bixler's house, wanting to stay with him, and discovers that he is about to get married to someone else. She then runs to her and Thomas J.'s hangout spot near the tree to reflect on what has happened. When Vada returns home, everyone is relieved, including Shelly, whom Vada begins to accept as her future stepmother. Her grief also manages to mend the rift between her and her father. Harry explains to Vada that her mother's death wasn't her fault and things like that can happen without explanation.
Toward the end of summer, Vada and her father see Mrs. Sennett, who still struggles with her son's death. She gives Vada her mood ring back that Thomas J. had found and Vada gives Mrs. Sennett some comfort. On the last day of writing class, Vada reads a poem summoning the loss of her best friend before going out to spend time with her new friend Judy. |
414 | [
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] | The House of the Wolfings is a romantically reconstructed portrait of the lives of the Germanic Gothic tribes, written in an archaic style and incorporating a large amount of poetry. Morris combines his own idealistic views with what was actually known at the time of his subjects' folkways and language. He portrays them as simple and hardworking, galvanized into heroic action to defend their families and liberty by the attacks of imperial Rome.
Morris's Goths inhabit an area called the Mark on a river in the forest of Mirkwood, divided into the Upper-mark, the Mid-mark and the Nether-mark. They worship their gods Odin and Tyr by sacrificing horses, and rely on seers who foretell the future and serve as psychic news-gatherers.
The men of the Mark choose two War Dukes to lead them against their enemies, one each from the House of the Wolfings and the House of the Laxings. The Wolfing war leader is Thiodolf, a man of mysterious and perhaps divine antecedents, whose ability to lead is threatened by his possession of a magnificent dwarf-made mail-shirt which, unknown to him, is cursed. He is supported by his lover the Wood Sun and their daughter the Hall Sun, who are related to the gods. |
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] | At the top of Mount Munch lives a group of people known as the Hyups. One of their numbers, a Munchkin named Bini Aru, discovered a method of transforming people and objects by merely saying the word "Pyrzqxgl". After Princess Ozma decreed that no one could practice magic in Oz except for Glinda the Good Witch and the Wizard of Oz, Bini wrote down the directions for pronouncing "Pyrzqxgl" and hid them in his magical laboratory.
When Bini and his wife are at a fair one day, their son Kiki Aru, who thirsts for adventure, finds the directions and afterwards transforms himself into a hawk and visits various countries outside the land of Oz. When he alights in the land of Ev, Kiki Aru learns that he needs money to pay for a night's lodging (versus Oz, where money is not used at all) and changes himself into a magpie to steal a gold piece from an old man. A sparrow confronts the then-human Kiki Aru with knowledge of the theft, and Kiki says that he did not know what it was like to be wicked before, he is glad that he is now. This conversation is overheard by Ruggedo, the Nome who was exiled to the Earth's surface in Tik-Tok of Oz, and he sees through Kiki Aru's power a chance to get revenge on the people of Oz.
Kiki changes himself and Ruggedo into birds and they fly over the Deadly Desert into the Land of Oz. They enter Oz as animals to escape detection by Glinda and to recruit an army of conquest from the country's wild animal population. When they first appear in the Forest of Gugu in the Gillikin Country, Kiki changes himself and Ruggedo into Li-Mon-Eags (fictional creatures with the heads of lions, the bodies of monkeys, and the wings of eagles as well as having the tails of donkeys) and lies that they've seen the people of the Emerald City plan to enslave the animal inhabitants of the Forest. Ruggedo claims that they the Li-Mon-Eags will transform the animals into humans and march on the Emerald City and transform its inhabitants into animals, driving them into the forest. Ruggedo proves their power (for Kiki's the only one who knows "Pyrzqxgl") by having Kiki transform one of the leopard king Gugu's advisors, Loo the unicorn, into a man and back again. Gugu offers to meet with the leaders of the other animal tribes to decide on this matter of invasion.
Dorothy and the Wizard arrive with the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger in the Forest of Gugu during this council of war with a request for monkeys to train in time for Ozma's upcoming birthday party. Ruggedo recognizes his old enemies and inspires Kiki to begin transforming people and animals left and right â including Ruggedo, whom Kiki turns against by transforming him into a goose, a transformation that the Nome most fears because as a goose he might lay an egg. (In Baum's universe, all eggs are deadly poison to nomes.)
The Wizard, whom Kiki transformed into a fox, follows the Li-Mon-Eag with his magic bag, the transformed Kiki, deep into the forest where he begins transforming monkeys into giant human soldiers. However, Kiki makes them so big that they cannot move through the trees. The Wizard, however, heard how to correctly pronounce "Pyrzqxgl" and first stops Kiki and Ruggedo by transforming them into a walnut and a hickory nut. Then the Wizard resumes his rightful form and changes Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, and Gugu back to their forms, and he agrees to change the soldiers back into monkeys. The Wizard recruits several of the grateful monkeys and shrinks them down to bring back to the Emerald City and train.
On arriving there, Dorothy and the Wizard are dispatched to a magic island where Cap'n Bill and Trot went to get a magic flower for Ozma's birthday. However, the island itself causes anything living that touches it to take root there, and that is how the sailor and his friend are found when Dorothy and the Wizard arrive. The Wizard uses "Pyrzqxgl" to change Cap'n Bill and Trot into honeybees which narrowly avoid being eaten by the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger. When they are human again, Cap'n Bill retrieves the flower by strapping a wood plank onto his good leg, walks with that and his wooden leg onto the island, and retrieves the flower.
Back at the Emerald City, Ozma and her friends celebrate her birthday (though without quite the pomp and fanfare from The Road to Oz) and then decide how to deal with the evil magicians transformed into nuts. The Wizard uses "Pyrzqxgl" to change them back to Kiki Aru and Ruggedo and make them thirsty enough to drink the Water of Oblivion, which will make them forget all that they have ever known. The now-blank slate Kiki Aru and Ruggedo will live in the Emerald City and learn to be good and kind. |
416 | [
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] | American and Russian Special Forces capture General Ivan Radek (J端rgen Prochnow), the dictator of a rogue terrorist regime in Kazakhstan that possessed stolen Soviet nuclear weapons, threatening to start a new Cold War. Three weeks after the mission, U.S. President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) attends a diplomatic dinner in Moscow, during which he praises the capture and insists the United States will no longer negotiate with terrorists. Marshall and his entourage, including his wife Grace (Wendy Crewson) and daughter Alice (Liesel Matthews), and several of his Cabinet and advisers, prepare to return to the United States on Air Force One. In addition, a number of members of the press corps have been invited aboard, including Russian terrorists and Radek loyalists disguised as journalists led by Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman).
After takeoff, Secret Service agent Gibbs (Xander Berkeley), who has been a mole, enables Korshunov and his men to obtain weapons and storm the plane, killing many of the other agents and military personnel before taking the civilians hostage. Marshall is raced to an escape pod in the cargo hold while pursued by Korshunov's men but they are too late to capture him as the pod is ejected. Instead, Korshunov storms the cockpit and prevents the plane from making an emergency landing at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, and secures Grace and Alice separately from the other hostages. Several F-15s escort Air Force One as Korshunov has it piloted towards Radek-loyal airspace.
Unknown to Korshunov, Marshall, a Vietnam War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, has remained hidden in the cargo hold instead of using the pod and begins to observe the loyalists using his military training. Marshall manages to kill some of Korshunov's men and then uses a satellite phone to make contact with his Vice President Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close), letting his staff know he is alive. Korshunov, believing that only a rogue Secret Service agent is in the cargo hold, contacts Bennett and demands Radek's release, threatening to kill a hostage every half hour. Marshall and military advisors devise a plan to trick Korshunov to take Air Force One to a lower altitude for a mid-air refueling, giving time for the hostages to parachute safely off the plane. As a KC-10 tanker docks with Air Force One, Marshall helps to kill another loyalist and escorts the hostages to the cargo hold, where most parachute away; Marshall insists on staying to rescue his family. Korshunov discovers the deception and forces Air Force One away, causing the fuel to ignite, destroying the tanker; the shock wave disrupts the escape process, and Korshunov is able to stop Marshall, Chief of Staff Lloyd Shepherd (Paul Guilfoyle), Major Caldwell (William H. Macy), and Gibbs from escaping.
With the President and his family under his control, Korshunov forces Marshall to contact Russian President Petrov and arrange for Radek's release. Bennett is urged by Defense Secretary Walter Dean (Dean Stockwell) to declare the President incapable under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, so as to override Radek's release, but she refuses. While Korushunov and his men celebrate the news of Radek's release, Marshall breaks his bonds and kills Korshunov's last two henchmen before strangling Korshunov and throwing him off the plane when Korshunov tries to escape himself. Marshall races back to lift his order, and Radek is subsequently killed when he attempts to escape.
Marshall and Caldwell direct the plane back to friendly airspace, accompanied by the F-15s, only to be quickly tailed by a second batch of Radek loyalists piloting MiG-29s. Marshall is able to evade most of the missile launches; although one F-15 pilot sacrifices himself to intercept a remaining missile, the resulting explosion damages Air Force One's tail, and the 747 start to lose altitude. A standby U.S. Air Force Rescue HC-130 is called to help, sending parajumpers on tether lines to help rescue the survivors. Marshall insists that his family and the injured Shepherd be transferred first. When there is time for only one more transfer, Gibbs reveals himself as the mole, killing Caldwell and the parajumper. Marshall and Gibbs fight for control of the transfer line, and Marshall manages to grab and detach it at the last minute. Air Force One crashes into the Caspian Sea, killing Gibbs. The HC-130 airmen reel Marshall in, who is safely reunited with his family. The HC-130 is subsequently renamed "Air Force One" as it flies back to friendly airspace. |
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] | The novel begins with an overview of the main character's background. Louis Lambert, the only child of a tanner and his wife, is born in 1797 and begins reading at an early age. In 1811 he meets the real-life Swiss author Madame de Staël (1766–1817), who – struck by his intellect – pays for him to enroll in the Collège de Vendôme. There he meets the narrator, a classmate named "the Poet" who later identifies himself in the text as Balzac; they quickly become friends. Shunned by the other students and berated by teachers for not paying attention, the boys bond through discussions of philosophy and mysticism.
After completing an essay entitled Traité de la Volonté ("Treatise on the Will"), Lambert is horrified when a teacher confiscates it, calls it "rubbish", and – the narrator speculates – sells it to a local grocer. Soon afterwards, a serious illness forces the narrator to leave the school. In 1815, Lambert graduates at the age of eighteen and lives for three years in Paris. After returning to his uncle's home in Blois, he meets a woman named Pauline de Villenoix and falls passionately in love with her. On the day before their wedding, however, he suffers a mental breakdown and attempts to castrate himself.
Declared "incurable" by doctors, Lambert is ordered into solitude and rest. Pauline takes him to her family's château, where he lives in a near coma. The narrator, ignorant of these events, meets Lambert's uncle by chance, and is given a series of letters. Written by Lambert while in Paris and Blois, they continue his philosophical musings and describe his love for Pauline. The narrator visits his old friend at the Villenoix château, where the decrepit Lambert says only: "The angels are white." Pauline shares a series of statements her lover had dictated, and Lambert dies on 25 September 1824 at the age of twenty-eight. |
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] | Trevor Garfield is an African American high school science teacher at Roosevelt Whitney High School, a high school in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Dennis Broadway, a gangster student to whom he had given a failing grade threatens to murder him, writing the number 187 (the California police code for homicide) on every page in a textbook. The administration ignores the threat, and Dennis ambushes Garfield in the hallway, stabbing him in the back and side abdominal area multiple times with a shiv.
Fifteen months after surviving, Garfield, now a substitute teacher, has relocated to John Quincy Adams High School in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, but trouble starts again when he substitutes an unruly class of rejects, including a Chicano tag crew by the name of "Kappin' Off Suckers" (K.O.S.). Their leader, Benito "Benny" Chacón, a felon attending high school as a condition of probation, makes it clear to Garfield that there will be no mutual respect.
The tension mounts when a fellow teacher, Ellen Henry, confides that Benny has threatened her life, an action against which the administration of the school refuses to take action, fearing legal threats. After Benny murders a rival tagger in cold blood, he disappears, and Benny's unstable tag partner, César, takes over as leader. When César steals Garfield's family heirloom watch, the principal is more concerned about a lawsuit and refuses to take action. Ellen and Garfield develop a close friendship that approaches the beginnings of a relationship, but is stymied by Garfield's destabilizing behavior and his confrontations with the K.O.S.. Garfield's past garners the unwanted admiration of Dave Childress, an alcoholic history teacher who carries guns at the school.
The conflict between Garfield and the K.O.S. escalates with the killing of Jack, Ellen's dog. César, after spraying cartoon graffiti depicting a dead dog, is shot with a syringe filled with morphine attached to the end of an arrow. He passes out, and wakes up to find one of his fingers cut off. César recovers the finger and it is reattached, with the letters "R U DUN" ("are you done?") tattooed as a warning.
A student Garfield has tutored, Rita Martínez, a Chicana, faces abuse from both the K.O.S. and Childress, and drops out. The school administration is mired in bureaucracy and unable to intervene. After Benny is found dead in the Los Angeles River, apparently of a drug overdose, it is revealed that Garfield took matters into his own hands, killing Benny and severing César's finger. Garfield lets Ellen leave as she disavows his actions.
The K.O.S. plan to murder Garfield. At Garfield's house, the gang forces Garfield into a contest of Russian roulette with César. The latter's resolve is shaken as Garfield talks about the lost-cause lifestyle he has led. Hesitating at his turn, César watches as Garfield, offering to take his turn for him, takes the revolver and shoots himself in the head. Driven by his sense of honor and ignoring the protests of his horrified friends, César insists on taking his rightful turn and ends up killing himself .
On graduation day, Rita, who completes her studies along with former K.O.S. member Stevie, offers a tribute to Garfield by reading an essay about him. The essay incorporates the theme of the Pyrrhic victory and Ellen leaves the school. |
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] | Aging gangster Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero is introduced to a jewel thief named Donnie Brasco. Donnie impresses Lefty by threatening a diamond dealer whom Donnie suspects of selling Lefty a fake ring. Lefty teaches Donnie the rules of the Mafia and introduces him to several "made men" including Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, and Nicholas Santora, as well as caporegime Alphonse âSonny Redâ Indelicato to whom Lefty owes money and is disliked by Sonny Black.
Donnie Brasco is actually Joseph D. Pistone, an undercover FBI agent. His wife hates his job, and the couple have heated arguments throughout the film. At home, Joseph's behavior becomes more and more like the criminal he pretends to be.
After the Bonanno family's street boss is killed, Sonny Red assumes the new position. Sonny Black is promoted to captain, angering Lefty, as he provided for Sonny Black's family while the latter was in prison. As the crew runs a series of successful shakedowns and hijackings in Brooklyn, Donnie collects more information for the FBI.
Due to Joseph's success at infiltrating the Mafia, a man from Washington, Dean Blanford, takes an interest in the case. He asks Joseph to incorporate a Miami-based FBI agent, Richard "Richie" Gazzo, into the operation. Joseph is reluctant but convinces Sonny Black and crew to meet Richie in Miami.
In Miami, Donnie and Lefty plan to run Richie's club on their own and attempt to impress Florida mob boss Santo Trafficante Jr. with a yacht trip. However, Sonny Black reaches out to Trafficante first, angering Lefty, especially when Sonny Black tells Donnie to work for him and run the club as an unofficial made man. Donnie reconciles with Lefty when Lefty's son nearly dies of a drug overdose. On its opening day, Sonny Black's club is raided by Miami police on orders from Trafficante himself, who was in allegiance with Sonny Red. Suspecting the latter is responsible, the crew, without Donnie, kill Sonny Red and two rival gangsters, as well as Nicky Santora (who, Sonny Black suspects, tipped off Sonny Red about the club). With Sonny Black the new street boss, Donnie is tasked with finding and killing Sonny Red's son, Bruno.
One last dispute between Donnie and his wife becomes physical. Joseph hits his wife and is then remorseful: "I am not becoming like them, Maggie, I am them."
Knowing he will have to end his case and make arrests, Donnie tries convincing Lefty to escape his criminal life. Lefty confronts Donnie about working with the FBI. If Donnie does not kill Bruno, Lefty will kill Donnie. Before either murder can be committed, FBI agents rush in to arrest both potential killers. FBI agents reveal Donnie's true identity to Sonny Black and the crew. Lefty walks off to his implied death for letting Donnie infiltrate the gang, and Joseph is awarded with a $500 check and medal for his work. |
420 | [
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] | Georgie Burgess, seven and a half years old, lives in Tampa Florida. His mother and her boyfriend abuse him savagely, but he keeps their beatings a secret. He gets in trouble at school and hasn't learned to read, but he loves looking at a book with pictures of flowers.
Georgie's life changes after he wins a rosebush at a supermarket contest. After his mother's boyfriend beats him severely, police remove Georgie from his dangerous home, and his unplanted rosebush comes with him. Georgie is placed temporarily with Mrs. Sims, a cashier from the supermarket. But as his social worker and the judge find a home for him, Georgie is increasingly worried about finding a home for his rosebush.
When Georgie is placed in a Catholic boys' boarding school, he is convinced that his rosebush belongs in the garden of the neighbors across the road. Though principal Sister Mary Angela tries to convince Georgie to plant it elsewhere, Georgie sneaks out at night to plant his rosebush there. The next morning, however, the infuriated neighbor, Molly Harper, rips the bush out of her garden and returns it to the school, demanding to see the principal.
Georgie returns to the garden with the bush and discovers that while planting his rosebush in the dark, he has accidentally crushed the lilies planted for Molly Harper by her husband. Mrs. Harper confronts Georgie and threatens to burn his rosebush if he plants it again, but she softens upon glimpsing the infected wounds on Georgie's back left by the abuse of his past.
During the confrontation, Georgie becomes ill and lapses into unconsciousness. While Georgie is delirious with fever, Mrs. Harper arranges to have the rosebush replanted in her garden and visits Georgie often. However, with her angry threat still in his mind, Georgie is unable to forgive Mrs. Harper and refuses to see her.
As Georgie recovers, he forms a friendship with Timothy, whom Sister Mary Angela calls her "public relations" boy. Timothy explains that Mrs. Harper's husband and elder son, Paul, were recently killed in a car accident. Mrs. Harper's grief makes it difficult for her to be around boys the age of her dead son.
Meanwhile, Georgie becomes friends with Mrs. Harper's younger son, Robin, who has severe cognitive impairments, and his grandfather, Mr. Collier. While Mr. Collier helps Georgie learn to read, Georgie tries to teach Robin to speak and feed the ducks. Georgie becomes closer and closer to the Harper family, playing with Robin and joining the gardener as his apprentice, but he is still unable to forgive Mrs. Harper for threatening his rosebush.
After, Georgie takes Robin to the pond to feed the ducks. All the ducks follow Robin, who is holding bread. Robin falls into the pond and drowns. At Robin's grave, Georgie decides to plant his rosebush on Robin's grave, not in the garden. Mrs. Harper and Georgie start to connect over his decision and they head back toward the school.
When Sister Mary Angela holds auditions for the choir, Georgie is proud to find he is a good singer with perfect pitch. When Mrs. Harper, despite struggling with her grief, brings Robin to the chapel to hear the choir, Georgie begins to feel sympathy for her. Nevertheless, he cannot bring himself to join the new dramatics class when he learns that Mrs. Harper will be teaching it. Instead, he watches every class from the audience seats, learning each role by heart from a distance. When another boy backs out, Georgie steps in to play the Mad Hatter opposite Mrs. Harper playing the part of Alice in the tea party scene from Alice in Wonderland. After speaking to her in character, Georgie finds he is able to speak to Mrs. Harper face to face and resolves to ask her the next day if she is his real mother. |
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] | When Nicola Anders (Winona Ryder), the star of out-of-favor director Viktor Taransky's (Al Pacino) new film, refuses to finish it, Taransky is forced to find a replacement. Contractual requirements totally prevent using her image in the film, so he must re-shoot. Instead, Viktor experiments with a new computer program he inherits from late acquaintance Hank Aleno (Elias Koteas) which allows creation of a computer-generated woman which he can easily animate to play the film's central character. Viktor names his virtual actor "Simone", a name derived from the computer program's title, Simulation One. Seamlessly incorporated into the film, Simone (Rachel Roberts) gives a fantastic performance, exactly controlled by Viktor. The film is immediately a huge success. The studio, and soon the world, ask "who is Simone?"
Viktor initially claims that Simone is a recluse and requests her privacy be respected, but that only intensifies media demands for her to appear. Viktor intends to reveal the secret of her non-existence after the second picture. To satisfy demand, he executes a number of progressively ambitious stunts relying on misdirection and cinematic special effects technology. Eventually it escalates to simulated remote location video live interviews.
In one instance, two determined tabloid reporters discover Viktor used out-of-date stock photography as a background during an interview instead of being on that site as claimed and blackmail him into getting Simone to make a live appearance. He arranges her to perform a song at a stadium event appearing in a cloud of smoke and then using flawless holographic technology. The perception of being in person is reinforced with realtime visualization on the stadium's monitors. Simone becomes even more famous, simultaneously becoming a double winner for the Academy Award for Best Actress, tying with herself in the process.
Once the pressure of serving his creation reaches a breaking point for Viktor, he decides to ruin Simone's career as an act of vengeance. Simone's next film, I Am Pig, is her directorial debut and a tasteless treatment about zoophilia intended to disgust audiences, which not only fails to achieve the desired effect of audience alienation, but also serves to foster her credibility as a risk-taking, fearless and avant-garde artist. Taransky's subsequent attempts to discredit Simone by having her drink, smoke and curse at public appearances and use politically incorrect statements similarly backfire, when the press instead begins to see her as refreshingly honest. As a last resort, Taransky decides to dispose of Simone completely by using a computer virus to erase her and dumps the hard drive and floppy disks into a steamer trunk and buries it at sea, then announces to the press she has died of a rare virus contracted on her Goodwill Tour of the Third World. During the funeral, the police interrupt, open the coffin, and find only Simone's cardboard cutout. He is arrested and shown a security camera video where he loads a large trunk on his yacht.
After being charged with her murder, he admits that Simone is not a person, but a computer program. The chest containing the computer data is brought up empty. Viktor's daughter Lainey and ex-wife Elaine enter his studio to try to help. They find Viktor's forgotten virus source disk (Plague) and apply an anti-virus program to eradicate the computer virus. They revive Simone and have her appear on national television laughing while holding up a newspaper headline with her obituary. They pick up a confused Viktor who realizes that his connection with Simone is a life sentence. At the end, Simone and Viktor are remotely interviewed at home about their new (virtual) baby. Simone is concerned about her child's future and decides to enter politics. The film shows how the fake is produced using the chroma key technique.
A post-credits sequence shows Viktor creating fake footage of Simone in a supermarket, which one of her pursuers sees, believing it real. |
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] | The Brothers Bloom, orphaned at a young age, begin performing confidence tricks as young children; Stephen dreams up elaborate scenarios and his younger brother, Bloom, creates trust with the marks. Stephen creates his first con as a way of encouraging his brother to talk to girls.
Twenty-five years later, the brothers are the world's most successful con men. They even have a regular accomplice: Bang Bang, a Japanese explosives expert who rarely speaks. Bloom, however, is dissatisfied with being nothing but an actor in Stephen's schemes. He quits and moves to Montenegro. Three months later, Stephen finds Bloom and convinces him to execute one final con. The brothers will masquerade as antiques dealers and target Penelope Stamp, a rich, socially-isolated heiress who lives alone in a New Jersey mansion.
Bloom and Penelope meet when Bloom purposely runs into Penelope's sports car with his bike. Penelope reveals that she has been alone for most of her life and has picked up an array of strange hobbies such as juggling and kung fu. Bloom senses Penelope's craving for adventure and hints that he is sailing to Europe tomorrow. The next morning, Penelope arrives at the harbor to sail with the brothers to Greece.
On the boat, Melville, a Belgian hired by Stephen, begins the con, telling Penelope that the brothers Bloom are in fact antiques smugglers and he wants their help with a smuggling job in Prague. Penelope is thrilled with the idea of becoming a smuggler and convinces the brothers to accept the job, unaware that this is part of the con. Meanwhile, Bloom and Penelope are becoming attracted to one another, but Stephen warns Bloom that the con will fail if he actually falls in love with Penelope.
At the hotel bar in Prague, Bloom is visited by the brothers' former mentor and current enemy, Diamond Dog. He warns Bloom that Stephen will not be around forever, and tells Bloom he should join him. Stephen arrives and stabs Diamond Dog in the hand with a broken bottle, telling him to stay away.
In Prague, Melville cons Penelope out of a million dollars and flees, according to plan. Penelope still wants to go ahead as an antiques smuggler and steal the rare book that Melville told her about. The brothers tell Bang Bang to set off a small explosive in Prague Castle that will trigger the fire alarm, allowing Penelope to sneak in and steal the book. Instead, Bang Bang accidentally blows up the entire tower, creating panic in Prague. Despite this, Penelope enters the museum and steals the book. She is caught, but somehow convinces the chief of police to let her go.
The team goes to Mexico to complete the con. Bloom, who has fallen in love with Penelope, reveals to her that they are con men and the whole adventure has been a con. Stephen has anticipated his brother's change of heart and written it into his plan. The brothers fight and a gun accidentally discharges, wounding Stephen. Penelope checks out the wound, realizes that it is fake blood, and leaves with a broken heart. Bloom punches Stephen and leaves for Montenegro.
Three months later, Penelope finds Bloom, wanting to be with him and to become a con artist. Unable to deny his love for her but not wanting her to be like him, Bloom meets with Stephen to set up one final con, where they will fake their own deaths. The team goes to St. Petersburg, where they must sell the rare book to Diamond Dog. They are ambushed by Diamond Dog's gang while heading to the exchange. Stephen is kidnapped and held for $1.75 million. Bloom suspects this is just another one of Stephen's tricks; Penelope, just in case, wires the money from her bank account to the mobsters. Bang Bang takes this opportunity to quit working for the Brothers Bloom; as soon as she leaves, her car explodes, leaving Penelope and Bloom uncertain whether she was caught in the blast or faked her death.
Bloom goes into an abandoned theater to make the exchange, and finds Stephen tied up and beaten. Bloom demands that Stephen tell him if this is real or if it is a con. A hit man tosses Bloom a phone, and Diamond Dog confirms that it is real. The hit man attacks them, and Stephen takes a bullet for Bloom and collapses on the floor. Bloom again asks whether this was real, or just the "perfect con." Stephen gets up and assures Bloom that he is fine. Stephen tells Bloom to leave St. Petersburg with Penelope, and that they will meet again.
Bloom and Penelope drive away. After several hours, Bloom discovers that Stephen's bloodstain on his shirt has changed in color from red to brown, indicating that it is not fake blood. Realizing that Stephen has surely died, Bloom breaks down on the side of the road while Penelope tries to comfort him. As they are leaving, Bloom recalls what Stephen had said earlier, "The perfect con is one where everyone involved gets just the thing they wanted"âand that perhaps his brother really pulled off the perfect con. |
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] | Much of the action of this short novel takes place in the rickety old stage-coach — or coucou — of Pierrotin, which regularly carries passengers and goods between Paris and Val-d'Oise. On one such trip from Paris, Comte Hugret de Sérizy, a senator and wealthy aristocrat, is travelling incognito in order to investigate reports that Monsieur Moreau, the steward of his country estate at Presles, is being less than honest in his dealings on the count's behalf with a neighbouring landowner Margueron, a piece of whose land the count wishes to buy.
Among the count's fellow passengers is Oscar Husson, a young good-for-nothing mummy's boy, who is being sent to a friend of his mother's Monsieur Moreau in the hope that a position can be found for him. Also travelling to L'Isle-Adam is Georges Marest, the second clerk of the count's Parisian notary Crottat; Joseph Bridau, a young artist, who is accompanied by his young colleague Léon Didas y Lora, nicknamed Mistigris. The final occupant of the coach is Père Léger, a rich farmer from Val-d'Oise who is leasing the land which the count wishes to buy from Margueron. Léger is hoping to buy it himself and then sell it piecemeal at a significant profit to the count.
To pass the time Georges amuses himself by pretending to be Colonel Czerni-Georges, a young nobleman with a distinguished military career behind him; his fellow travellers are impressed, but the count sees through him and realizes his true identity. Not to be outdone by Marest, the young painter then passes himself off as the celebrated artist Heinrich Schinner. Things become interesting when Oscar joins in and pretends to be a close acquaintance of the Comte de Sérizy and his son. In the course of his boasting, he divulges several private and embarrassing details about the count - details which he could only have learnt from his godparents the Moreaus.
On the journey the count also overhears a conversation in which Léger describes how he and Moreau are conspiring to buy the land the count wants from under his nose and sell it to him at an inflated price.
When the count arrives at Presles he wastes little time dismissing Moreau - not so much for conspiring with Léger as for revealing personal details about the count and his wife to his godson. Oscar is forced to return to Paris and seek a living by some other means.
In time Oscar obtains a license and becomes a clerk in the law office of Desroches in Paris, where he is trained by Godeschal. During this time he renews his acquaintance with Georges Marest, who is actually related to him. For some time Oscar defies everyone's expectations and applies himself diligently to both his studies and his clerkly duties. But Oscar spoils everything by another indiscretion, this one much more serious than the first. At the house of demimondaine Florentine Cabirolle, who was then maintained by Oscar's wealthy uncle Cardot, Oscar gambles away five hundred francs he was given to transact an important legal matter. His hopes ruined for a second time, Oscar is forced to abandon law and enter military service.
Once again, he surprises everybody and becomes a successful soldier. He joins the cavalry regiment of the Duc de Maufrigneuse and the Vicomte de Sérizy, son of the Comte de Sérizy - the same young nobleman Oscar claimed to be acquainted with in the coach on the road to L'Isle-Adam. The interest of the dauphiness and of Abbé Gaudron obtain for him promotion and a decoration. He becomes in turn aide-de-camp to La Fayette, captain, officer of the Legion of Honor and lieutenant-colonel. A noteworthy deed made him famous on Algerian territory during the affair of La Macta; Husson lost his left arm rescuing the mortally wounded Vicomte de Sérizy from the battlefield. Although the vicomte dies shortly afterwards, the Comte de Sérizy is grateful and forgives Oscar for his earlier indiscretion.
Put on half-pay, Oscar obtains the post of collector for Beaumont-sur-Oise.
At the end of the novel, Oscar and his mother are taking the Pierrotin coach to L'Isle-Adam, en route to Beaumont-sur-Oise, and find themselves in the company of several witnesses or accomplices of Oscar's earlier indiscretions: Georges Marest has lost by debauchery a fortune worth thirty thousand francs a year, and is now a poor insurance-broker; Père Léger is now married to the daughter of the new steward of Presles Reybert; Joseph Bridau is now a celebrated artist and married to Léger's daughter; Moreau, whose daughter is riding in another part of the same coach, has risen to high political office.
When Georges begins to blab about the Moreaus, Oscar - who is now the one travelling incognito - rebukes him, reminding him of the dangers of not holding one's tongue in a public conveyance. Georges recognizes him and renews his acquaintance.
In 1838 Oscar becomes engaged to Georgette Pierrotin, daughter of the same Pierrotin who now owns the business that runs the stage-coaches between Paris and Val-d'Oise. At the close of the novel, Balzac draws the following moral:
The adventure of the journey to Presles was a lesson to Oscar Husson in discretion; his disaster at Florentine's card-party strengthened him in honesty and uprightness; the hardships of his military career taught him to understand the social hierarchy and to yield obedience to his lot. Becoming wise and capable, he was happy. The Comte de Sérizy, before his death, obtained for him the collectorship at Pontoise. The influence of Monsieur Moreau de l'Oise and that of the Comtesse de Sérizy and the Baron de Canalis secured, in after years, a receiver-generalship for Monsieur Husson, in whom the Camusot family now recognize a relation.
Oscar is a commonplace man, gentle, without assumption, modest, and always keeping, like his government, to a middle course. He excites neither envy nor contempt. In short, he is the modern bourgeois. |
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] | Opera singer Christine triumphs at the gala on the night of the old managers' retirement. Her old childhood friend, Raoul, hears her sing and recalls his love for Christine. At this time, there are rumors of a phantom living at the Opera and he makes himself known to the managers through letters and malevolent acts. Some time after the gala, the Paris Opera performs Faust, with the prima donna Carlotta playing the lead, against the Phantom's wishes. During the performance, Carlotta loses her voice and the grand chandelier plummets into the audience.
Christine is kidnapped by the phantom and is taken to his home in the cellars of the Opera where he identifies himself as Erik. He plans to keep her there for a few days, hoping she will come to love him. But she causes Erik to change his plans when she unmasks him and, to the horror of both, beholds his noseless, lipless, sunken-eyed face which resembles a skull dried up by the centuries, covered in yellowed dead flesh. Fearing that she will leave him, he decides to keep her with him forever, but when Christine requests release after two weeks, he agrees on condition that she wear his ring and be faithful to him.
On the roof of the opera house, Christine tells Raoul that Erik abducted her. Raoul promises to take Christine away to a place where Erik can never find her. Raoul tells Christine he shall act on his promise the next day, to which Christine agrees. She, however, has pity for Erik and will not go until she has sung a song for him one last time. Neither is aware that Erik has been listening to their conversation and that he has become extremely jealous.
The following night, Erik kidnaps Christine during a production of Faust and tries to force Christine to marry him. He states that if she refuses, he will use explosives (which he has planted in the cellars) to destroy the entire opera house. Christine refuses, until she realizes that Erik learned of Raoul's attempt to rescue her and has trapped Raoul in a hot torture chamber (along with the Persian, an old acquaintance of Erik who was going to help Raoul). To save them and the people above in the Opera, Christine agrees to marry Erik. Erik initially tries to drown Raoul and the Persian, using the water which would have been used to douse the explosives. But Christine begs and offers to be his "living bride", promising him not to kill herself after becoming his bride, as she had both contemplated and attempted earlier in the novel. Erik eventually rescues Raoul and the Persian from his torture chamber. When Erik is alone with Christine, he lifts his mask to kiss her on her forehead, and is given a kiss back. Erik reveals that he has never received a kiss (not even from his own mother) nor has been allowed to give one and is overcome with emotion. He and Christine then cry together and their tears "mingle". Erik later expresses that he has never felt so close to another human being.
Erik allows the Persian and Raoul to escape, though not before making Christine promise that she will visit him on his death day, and return the gold ring he gave her. He also makes the Persian promise that afterwards he will go to the newspaper and report his death, as he will die soon and will die "of love". Indeed, some time later Christine returns to Erik's lair, buries him somewhere he'll never be found (by Erik's request) and returns the gold ring. Afterwards, a local newspaper runs the simple note: "Erik is dead". |
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] | Life in the Iron Mills begins with an omniscient narrator who looks out a window and sees smog and iron workers. The gender of the narrator is never known, but it is evident that the narrator is a middle class observer. As the narrator looks out the windowpane, an old story comes to mind; a story of the house that the narrator is living in. The narrator cautions the reader to have an objective mind, and to not be quick to judge the character in the story he/she is about to tell the reader. The narrator begins to introduce Deborah, Wolfe's cousin. She is described as a meek woman who works hard, and has a hump in her back. Deborah finds out from Janey, that Hugh did not take lunch to work, and she decides to walk many miles in the rain to take a lunch for Wolfe. As she walks up to the mills, Deborah begins to describe it as if it were hell, but she keeps going for Wolfe. When she arrives Wolfe is talking amongst friends and he recognizes her. The narrator explains his affection for her, but also describes his affection as loveless and sympathetic. Hugh finds no time to eat his dinner and goes back to do a day of labor in the mills. Deborah, who is exhausted, stays with Hugh and rests until his shift is over. In the meantime, the narrator further explains that Wolfe does not belong in the environment of the iron mill workers. He is known as "Molly Wolfe" by other workers because of his manner and background in education.
When Wolfe is working he spots men that do not look like workers. He sees Clarke, the son of Kirby, Doctor May who is a physician, and another two men that he does not recognize. These men stop by to look at the working men, and as they are talking and observing, they spot a weird object that has the shape of a human. As they get closer, they see that it is an odd shaped statue built with korl. They begin to analyze it and wonder who created such a statue, one of the workers points at Wolfe and the men go to him. They ask him why he built such a statue and what it represents. All Hugh says is that "She be hungry". The men begin to talk about the injustice of labor force, and one goes as far as to say that Hugh can get out of the meager job he is in, but that he unfortunately cannot help. The men leave, but not before Deborah steals one of their wallets, which has a check for a substantial amount inside. They go back home and Wolfe feels like he is a failure and feels anger towards his economical situation.
Once home, Deborah confesses to stealing from Mitchell, and shamefully gives the money to Wolfe to do with it what he pleases. Wolfe decides to keep the money believing he is deserving of it because after all they are all deserving in God's eyes. The narrator transitions to a different scene with Dr. May reading the newspaper and seeing that Wolfe was put in jail for stealing from Mitchell. The story goes back to Hugh and he is in prison with Deborah. The narrator explains how terrible their situation is, and goes on to give detail of Wolfe's mental disintegration. Hugh ends up losing his mind and killing himself in prison. The story ends with a quaker woman who comes to bless and help with the body of Hugh. She talks to Deborah and promises her that she will give Hugh a proper burial, and come back for her when she is released from jail. |
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] | In 1961, the financially strapped author Pamela "P. L." Travers reluctantly travels from her home in London to Los Angeles to work with Walt Disney at the urging of her agent, Diarmuid Russell. Disney has pursued the film rights to her Mary Poppins stories for twenty years, having promised his daughters that he would produce a film based on them. Travers has steadfastly resisted Disney's efforts because she fears what he would do to her character. However, she has not written anything in a while and her book royalties have dwindled to nothing, so she risks losing her house. Still, Russell has to remind her that Disney has agreed to two major stipulationsâno animation and unprecedented script approvalâbefore she agrees to go.
Travers' difficult childhood in Allora, Queensland, Australia, is depicted through flashbacks, and is the inspiration for much of Mary Poppins. Travers idolized her loving, imaginative father, Travers Robert Goff, but his chronic alcoholism resulted in his repeated firings, strained her parents' marriage, and caused her distressed mother to attempt suicide. Goff died at an early age from tuberculosis when Travers was seven years old.
In Los Angeles, Travers is irritated by what she perceives as the city's unreality and the inhabitants' intrusive friendliness, personified by her limousine driver, Ralph. At the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Travers meets the creative team that are developing Mary Poppins for the screen: screenwriter Don DaGradi, and music composers Richard and Robert Sherman. She finds their presumptions and casual manners highly improper, a view she also holds of the jocular Disney.
Travers' working relationship with Disney and his team is difficult from the outset, with her insistence that Mary Poppins is the enemy of sentiment and whimsy. Disney and his people are puzzled by Travers' disdain for fantasy, given the nature of the Mary Poppins story, as well as Travers' own rich imagination. She particularly objects to how the character George Banks, the estranged father of the children in Mary Poppins' charge, is depicted, insisting that he is neither cold nor cruel. Gradually, they grasp how deeply personal the Mary Poppins stories are to her and how many of the characters were inspired by her past.
The team realize Travers has valid criticisms and make changes, though she becomes increasingly disengaged as painful childhood memories resurface. Seeking to understand what troubles her, Disney invites Travers to Disneyland, which, along with her developing friendship with Ralph, the creative team's revisions to the George Banks character, and the addition of a new song and a different ending, help dissolve Travers' opposition. Her creativity reawakens, and she begins working with the team; however, when Travers discovers that there is to be an animation sequence, she confronts Disney over his broken promise and returns home.
Disney learns that Travers is actually her pen name, taken from her father's given name. Her real name is Helen Goff, and she's actually Australian, not British. This gives Disney new insight into Travers, and he follows her to London. Arriving unexpectedly at her door, Disney tells her that he also had a less-than-ideal childhood, but stresses the healing value of his art. He urges Travers to not let deeply-rooted past disappointments dictate the present. Travers relents and grants Disney the film rights.
Three years later, in 1964, Mary Poppins is to have its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Disney has not invited Travers, fearing how she might react with the press watching. Prompted by Russell, Travers shows up unannounced at Disney's office; he reluctantly issues her an invitation. Initially, she watches Mary Poppins with a lack of enthusiasm, particularly during the animated sequences. She gradually warms to the rest of the film; however, becoming deeply moved by the depiction of George Banks' personal crisis and redemption. |
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] | Luke Skywalker initiates a plan to rescue Han Solo from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt with the help of Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Leia infiltrates Jabba's palace on Tatooine, disguised as a bounty hunter with Chewbacca as her prisoner. Lando is already there, disguised as a guard. Leia releases Han from the carbonite, but she is captured and enslaved. Luke arrives soon afterward but, after a tense standoff with Jabba and a battle with his rancor, is captured. Jabba sentences him, Han and Chewbacca to death, planning to feed them to the Sarlacc, a pit monster. They are taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon, the Sarlacc's nesting ground. Luke, with R2-D2's help, frees himself and battles Jabba's guards. During the chaos, Boba Fett attempts to attack Luke, but Han, temporarily blinded from the carbonite, inadvertently knocks him into the Sarlacc pit. Meanwhile, Leia strangles Jabba to death, and Luke destroys Jabba's sail barge as the group escapes. While the others rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah, where he finds that Yoda is on his deathbed. Before he dies, Yoda confirms that Darth Vader, once known as Anakin Skywalker, is Luke's father, and that "there is another". The ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi confirms that this "other" is Luke's twin sister: Leia. Obi-Wan tells Luke that he must fight Vader again to defeat the Empire. Obi-Wan also warns Luke to keep his emotions in check, as his anger could lead him to the Dark Side.
The Rebels learn that the Empire has been constructing a second Death Star under the direct supervision of the Emperor himself. As the station is protected by an energy shield, Han leads a strike team to destroy the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor; doing so would allow a squadron of starfighters to destroy the Death Star. The strike team, accompanied by Luke and Leia, travels to Endor in a stolen Imperial shuttle. On Endor, Luke and his companions encounter a tribe of Ewoks and, after an initial conflict, gain their trust. Later, Luke tells Leia that she is his sister, Vader is their father, and he must go and confront him. Luke surrenders to Imperial troops and is taken to Vader. Luke tries to convince Vader to turn from the dark side of the Force, but fails.
Vader takes Luke to the new Death Star to meet the Emperor, who is intent on turning him to the dark side. The Emperor reveals that the Death Star is fully operational and the Rebel fleet will fall into a trap. On Endor, Han's strike team is captured by Imperial forces, but a surprise counterattack by the Ewoks allows the Rebels to battle the Imperials. Meanwhile, Lando, piloting the Millennium Falcon, leads the Rebel fleet to the Death Star, only to find that the station's shield is still active and the Imperial fleet is waiting for them. The Emperor tempts Luke to give in to his anger and join him. Luke engages Vader in a lightsaber duel. Vader senses that Luke has a sister and suggests turning her to the dark side. Enraged, Luke overpowers Vader and severs his father's prosthetic right hand. Upon seeing the remnants of Vader's prosthetic, he sees a parallel between himself and Vader, and fears he will become like Vader. The Emperor tells Luke to kill Vader and take his place, but Luke refuses, declaring himself a Jedi as his father had been. On Endor, the strike team defeats the Imperial forces and destroys the shield generator, allowing the Rebel fleet to launch their assault on the Death Star. Simultaneously, the Emperor tortures Luke with Force lightning. Unwilling to let his son die, Vader throws the Emperor down the Death Star reactor shaft, killing him, but is mortally wounded in the process. He asks Luke to remove his mask, and after a brief talk, he dies peacefully.
As the battle between the Imperial and Alliance fleets continues, Lando leads a group of Rebel ships into the Death Star's core and destroys the main reactor. As Luke escapes on a shuttle with his father's body, the Falcon flies out of the Death Star as the station explodes. On Endor, Leia reveals to Han that Luke is her brother, and they kiss. Luke returns to Endor and cremates his father's body on a funeral pyre. As the Rebels celebrate their victory over the Empire, Luke smiles as he sees the ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the redeemed Anakin watching over them. |
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] | In 1965, Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) has dropped out of college, enlisted in the U.S. Army, and volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam. Assigned to Bravo Company in the 25th Infantry Division, near the Cambodian border, he is quickly disillusioned by the difficult environment, and his enthusiasm for the war declines. One night, his unit is set upon by a group of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers, who retreat after a brief confrontation. New recruit Gardner is killed while another soldier, Tex, is maimed by friendly fire. Taylor is scorned by the cruel Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger) for falling asleep during watch, after being implicated by one of the veterans. Taylor eventually gains acceptance from a tight-knit group in his unit whose members socialize in a bunker clubhouse at their base. He finds mentors in King (Keith David) and the loyal Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), and becomes close friends with other soldiers, including Lerner (Johnny Depp), Rhah (Francesco Quinn), Crawford (Chris Pedersen) and Manny (Corkey Ford).
During a patrol, Manny is found mutilated and tied to a post, while two other soldiers, Sal (Richard Edson) and Sandy (J. Adam Glover), are killed by a booby trap in a bunker. As tension mounts, the platoon reaches a nearby village where they discover a supply and weapons cache. Using Lerner as a translator, Barnes interrogates the village chief to determine if his people have been aiding the NVA. Despite the villagers' adamant denials, Barnes coldly shoots and kills the chief's wife. He holds the chief's daughter at gunpoint, threatening to kill her as well, if the villagers do not reveal what they know. Elias arrives and is furious with Barnes' behavior. A physical altercation between the duo ensues, which is ended by the timid platoon commander, Lieutenant Wolfe (Mark Moses), who orders the men to secure the villagers, destroy the enemy supplies, and burn the village down. As they leave, Taylor stops a group of soldiers from gang raping two girls.
When the unit returns to base, Captain Harris (Dale Dye) advises that if he finds out that an illegal killing took place, a court-martial will be ordered. Barnes worries that Elias will testify against him. On their next patrol, the platoon is ambushed and pinned down in a firefight, in which numerous soldiers are wounded, including Lerner and Big Harold (Forest Whitaker). Lerner is taken back to the helicopter landing area, while Lieutenant Wolfe calls in a artillery strike and the incorrect coordinates he provides results in a number of friendly fire casualties. Elias takes Taylor, Crawford, and Rhah to intercept flanking enemy troops. Barnes orders the rest of the platoon to retreat and goes back into the jungle to find Elias' group. Barnes finds Elias alone and shoots him, then returns and tells the others that Elias was killed by the enemy. While the platoon is extracting via helicopter, they glimpse Elias, mortally wounded, emerging from the treeline and being chased by a group of North Vietnamese soldiers, who kill him. Noting Barnes' anxious manner, Taylor realizes that he gave a false account of Elias' wounding.
At the base, Taylor becomes convinced that Barnes is responsible for Elias' death. He attempts to talk his group into fragging the sergeant in retaliation when Barnes, having overheard them, enters the room and mocks them. Taylor assaults the intoxicated Barnes but is quickly overpowered. Barnes cuts Taylor near his eye with a push dagger before departing.
The platoon is sent back to the combat area to maintain defensive positions, where Taylor shares a foxhole with Francis. That night, a major NVA assault occurs, and the defensive lines are broken. Much of the platoon, including Bunny, Junior, and Wolfe, are killed in the ensuing battle. During the attack, an NVA sapper, armed with explosives, rushes into battalion headquarters, making a suicide attack and killing everyone inside. Meanwhile, Captain Harris, the company commander, orders his air support to expend all remaining ordnance inside his perimeter. During the chaos, Taylor encounters Barnes, who is wounded and driven to insanity. Just as Barnes is about to kill Taylor, both men are knocked unconscious by an air strike.
Taylor regains consciousness the following morning, picks up an enemy Type 56 rifle, and finds Barnes, who orders Taylor to call a medic. Seeing that Taylor won't help, Barnes tells him to pull the trigger. Taylor shoots and kills Barnes. He sits and waits until reinforcements arrive and find him. Francis, who survived the battle unharmed, deliberately stabs himself in the leg and reminds Taylor that because they have been twice wounded, they can return home. The helicopter carries the two men away. Overwhelmed, Taylor sobs as he glares down at multiple craters full of corpses, both friend and foe. |
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] | In the metropolis of Champion City, the would-be superhero team of Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller), the Shoveler (William H. Macy), and the Blue Raja (Hank Azaria) attempt to make a name for themselves, but their suspect skills make them ineffective, and they find themselves upstaged by the city's most successful superhero, Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear). However, Amazing is finding that his effectiveness at fighting crime has practically made his job obsolete, and without any worthy adversaries remaining (some of them are either dead, in exile, or still in jail), his corporate sponsors are beginning to pull their funding. To create a need for himself, Amazing uses his alter ego, billionaire lawyer Lance Hunt, to argue for the release of insane supervillain Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush). The plan backfires; once reunited with Tony P (Eddie Izzard) and his Disco Boys, Casanova Frankenstein blows up the insane asylum, captures Amazing, and prepares to unleash a doomsday device: the "Psycho-frakulator", which lethally bends reality. Mr. Furious, while spying on Casanova Frankenstein's mansion, discovers Amazing's capture and informs the others.
After an unsuccessful rescue attempt, the three realize they need more allies, and through word-of-mouth and try-outs, they recruit Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell), the Spleen (Paul Reubens), and the Bowler (Janeane Garofalo). The newly formed team "assaults" Casanova, which only succeeds in annoying him and damaging his car. While drunk from celebrating their victory, the team is nearly killed in retaliation by Tony P and the Disco Boys, but they are saved at the last minute by the Sphinx (Wes Studi). The Sphinx trains them, but his methods annoy Mr. Furious â he has them complete rote team-building exercises and speaks exclusively in Chiasmus. They also seek out mad scientist Doc Heller (Tom Waits), who specializes in non-lethal weaponry, to equip them for their battle.
The group breaks into Casanova's mansion during a gathering of several of the city's gangs; but, while attempting to free Captain Amazing, they inadvertently set off the Psycho-frakulator, killing him instead. Without Amazing, the team despairs of saving the city, but the Shoveler delivers a pep-talk that succeeds in uniting and inspiring them.
With new-found purpose, they assault the mansion and, by making effective use of their negligible superpowers and Heller's weapons, manage to subdue most of Casanova Frankenstein's henchmen. Unfortunately, as the heroes approach Casanova Frankenstein, he reveals that he is holding Mr. Furious' girlfriend Monica (Claire Forlani) hostage, and proceeds to activate the Psycho-frakulator, which begins to wreak havoc upon the city. While the team tries to stop the device, Mr. Furious takes on Casanova Frankenstein. After initially taking a beating, Mr. Furious unleashes his inner rage and manages to fight effectively for the first time. He defeats Casanova Frankenstein, who is thrown into the core of the Psycho-frakulator and killed by its reality-bending powers. The rest of the team helps The Bowler use her bowling ball to destroy the device and escape the mansion as it implodes.
The team is interviewed by reporters, begging to know their team name. As they argue among themselves, one reporter states "Well, whatever you may call them, Champion City will forever owe a debt of gratitude to these 'Mystery Men'," but the others are too busy arguing to hear it. |
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] | Maurice is a Consul at Genes, a Mediterranean town where he has married Onorina the daughter of the only wealthy man into the town, although it seems he was originally extremely reluctant to get married. They are having a dinner party with guests from Paris, and Maurice recounts some of his history.
When Maurice was young, he became secretary to Count Octave. The count was very good to him but seemed very sad and mysterious as if hiding some past misfortune. Eventually Maurice discovers that he had been married, but his wife had left him. She, Honorine, had been brought up with him from a very early age, having been adopted by his parents, and they were devoted to each other. They had become married almost as a matter of course. However after a few months she just disappeared. Octave then discovered she had gone off with an adventurer who had abandoned her, pregnant. She had the child but lived full of remorse, and resisted all attempts of Octave to get in touch with her. Octave is still devoted to her and secretly helps her in her business of flower arranging. However she still refuses to have anything to do with him. The Count therefore gets Maurice to act as a go between, arranging for him to occupy the house next to her, and pose as a misogynistic flower breeder. Eventually Maurice makes contact and indirectly puts the Countâs case. Honorine is still too overcome with remorse and shame. Eventually however she agrees to see the count, and then goes back to live with him.
Maurice has to leave the Countâs company because of the part he played and that is why he became consul. Two years after, he heard of the death of Honorine, and soon after was visited by the Count who had grown old before his time, and who died shortly after departing. The story is full of discussion about the meaning of relationships and Maurice acts throughout as interpreter for the two parties. There is also the implication that he had in fact fallen in love with Honorine himself, which is why he avoided marriage initially. |
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] | The story is told from the point of view of a first-person narrator, about whom little is revealed before the final pages. Before the story itself, an extended meditation appears on the nature of human names, and that of Z. Marcas specifically:
MARCAS! Répétez-vous à vous-même ce nom composé de deux syllabes, n'y trouvez-vous pas une sinistre signifiance? Ne vous semble-t-il pas que l'homme qui le porte doive être martyrisé? Quoique étrange et sauvage, ce nom a pourtant le droit d'aller à la postérité; il est bien composé, il se prononce facilement, il a cette brièveté voulue pour les noms célèbres ... Ne voyez-vous pas dans la construction du Z une allure contrariée? ne figure-t-elle pas le zigzag aléatoire et fantasque d'une vie tourmentée?
MARCAS! say this two-syllabled name again and again; do you not feel as if it had some sinister meaning? Does it not seem to you that its owner must be doomed to martyrdom? Though foreign, savage, the name has a right to be handed down to posterity; it is well constructed, easily pronounced, and has the brevity that beseems a famous name ... Do you not discern in that letter Z an adverse influence? Does it not prefigure the wayward and fantastic progress of a storm-tossed life?
The narrator, Charles, lives with his friend Juste in a large boarding-house populated almost entirely with students like themselves (Charles is studying law and Juste medicine). The sole exception is their middle-aged neighbor, Z. Marcas, of whom they see only momentary glimpses in the hall. They learn that he is a copyist, and living on an extremely small salary. When the students find themselves lacking the funds for tobacco, Marcas offers them some of his own. They become friends, and he tells them the story of his political career.
Recognizing at an early age that he had an incisive mind for politics, Marcas had allied himself with an unnamed man of some fame who lacked wisdom and insight. They became a team, with the other man serving as the public face and Marcas as the advisor. Once his associate had ascended into office, however, he abandoned Marcas, then hired and abandoned him again. Marcas was left poor and unknown, resigned to duplicate the writing of others for very little pay.
Eventually his politician friend seeks his help for a third time. Marcas is dismissive, but the students convince him to give the process one last chance. After three months, Marcas appears at the boarding house again, sick and exhausted. The politician never visits Marcas, who soon dies. The students are the only mourners at his funeral, and – disheartened by the tragedy – leave France. |
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] | The play loosely follows the life of Joan of Arc. It contains a prologue introducing the important characters, followed by five acts. Each dramatizes a significant event in Joan's life. Down into Act IV the play departs from history in only secondary details (e.g. by making Joan kill people in battle, and by shifting the reconciliation between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians from 1435 to 1430). Thereafter, however, the plot is entirely free. Joan is about to kill an English knight when, on removing his helmet, she at once falls in love with him, and spares him. Blaming herself for what she regards as a betrayal of her mission, then, when at Reims she is publicly accused of sorcery, she refuses to defend herself, is assumed to be guilty, and dismissed from the French court and army. Captured by the English, she witnesses from her prison cell a battle in which the French are being decisively defeated, breaks her bonds, and dashes out to save the day. She dies as victory is won, her honour and her reputation both restored.
The play reflects the new nationalism and militarism of the budding nineteenth century, and also the Kantian ideal of the need to subject emotion to moral principle.
The line "Mit der Dummheit kämpfen GÜtter selbst vergebens" (III, 6; Talbot) translates into English as "Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain." This provided Isaac Asimov with the title of his novel The Gods Themselves.
This was the most performed (at least in Germany) of all Schiller's plays down to the Great War. In modern post-war Germany, its militarism is an embarrassment, but the dramatic power of the last two acts keeps the play on the stage. |
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] | Edward Lewis, a successful corporate raider in Los Angeles on business, accidentally ends up on Hollywood Boulevard, in the city's red-light district after being rejected and breaking up with his girlfriend during an unpleasant phone call in which Lewis appears highly controlling; he asked his girlfriend to escort him during his California business trip, but she was offended that he could demand from her whatever he wants, as if she is his 'beck and call girl'. After leaving the party where he had this unpleasant phone call, taking his lawyer's Lotus Esprit luxury car, Lewis encounters a prostitute named Vivian Ward. He stops for her, apparently lost and having difficulties driving the car, asking for directions back to Beverly Hills. It is not clear if he really wants to hire her, or just get help getting back to his hotel. He asks her to get in the car and show him how to return to the Beverly Hills Regent where he is staying. It becomes clear that Vivian knows more about the Lotus than he does, and he lets her drive him to his hotel. Vivian charges Lewis $20 for the ride, and then they separate. He goes to his hotel, and she goes to the bus stop to go back to Hollywood Blvd. Lewis goes back to find Vivian waiting for the bus, and decides to hire her for the night, and then later, to play the role his girlfriend had refused, offering Vivian $3000 to stay with him for the next six days as well as paying for a new, more acceptable wardrobe for Vivian. Edward is visibly moved by her transformation from hooker to sophisticated woman, and begins seeing Vivian in a different light. He begins to open up to her, revealing his personal and business lives.
Edward takes Vivian to a polo match he sponsors in hopes of networking for his business deal. His attorney Phillip begins to suspect Vivian to be a corporate spy. Edward reassures him by telling him how they truly met and Phillip approaches Vivian, suggesting they do business once her work with Edward is finished. Insulted by Phillip and furious that Edward has revealed the secret of who she really is, Vivian wants to end her arrangement with Edward. Edward confesses to feeling jealous of a business associate who has paid Vivian some personal attention during the week. Vivian's straightforward personality is rubbing off on Edward and he finds himself acting contrary to his normal personal and business personalities. Clearly growing closer, Edward flies with Vivian in his private jet to see La Traviata in San Francisco. Vivian is moved to tears by the story of the prostitute who falls in love with a rich man, further edifying Edward's feelings towards Vivian. After the opera Edward appears to have truly fallen in love with Vivian.
Growing extremely fond of Edward, Vivian breaks her "no kissing on the mouth" rule and finds she is falling in love with him. He offers to put her up in an apartment so she can be off the streets but she rejects it, insulted and says this is not the "fairy tale" she dreamed of where a knight on a white horse rescues her.
In meeting with business associates whose company he is in the process of "raiding", Edward changes his mind at the last minute. His time with Vivian has shown him a different way of looking at life and he suggests working together to help save the associate's company rather than tearing it apart and selling it off for a profit. They will build big ships together. That was Edward's dream: to build things, instead of tearing them down. Furious over the loss of so much money, Phillip goes to the hotel to confront Edward, but finds only Vivian. He blames her for changing Edward and attempts to force himself on her. She is fighting him off as Edward arrives just in time to stop Phillip, hitting him while chastising him for his greed. He fires Phillip and then throws him out.
With his business in L.A. complete and his return to N.Y. imminent, Edward tries to persuade Vivian to stay one more night with him because she wants to, not because he's paying her but she refuses. On his way to the airport, Edward re-thinks his life and his unexpected feelings for Vivian. He has the hotel chauffeur detour to Vivian's apartment building where he leaps from the white limo and "rescues her"; a visual urban metaphor for the knight on a white horse rescuing the princess, fulfilling Vivian's childhood fantasy. |
434 | [
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] | Mr. Woodchuck is about the time Twinkle's father sets a trap for a woodchuck that lives near his property. Twinkle goes to see the woodchuck get caught, and has a dream in which she meets the woodchuck and his family. The woodchucks put her on trial for being a human, because humans set cruel traps for the purposes of killing woodchucks. Twinkle is sentenced to be put in a trap herself, and when she wakes up from the dream, she convinces her father never to set traps for animals ever again.
Bandit Jim Crow is about a baby crow with a broken wing that Twinkle adopts for a pet. The crow has an evil nature, and as soon as his wing is healed, he kills the family's chickens and escapes to a section of the forest inhabited by birds. There, Jim Crow starts stealing and eating other birds' eggs, until the birds get Policeman Bluejay to keep Jim Crow in check. Jim then disguises himself with chalk, and continues stealing eggs. All the birds attack the disguised Jim Crow, and blind him. Jim Crow is forced to spend the rest of his life helpless, living off of the kindness of the other birds.
Prairie-Dog Town is about how Twinkle and her friend Chubbins go to have a picnic near a prairie dog village. The prairie dogs talk to the children, and the children are magically shrunk down to prairie-dog size so they can enter the village. Inside, they meet a well-to-do family and the mayor of the prairie dog village. The two children are returned to their normal size, and wonder if the whole adventure was simply a dream. (Compare a similar story, "The Discontented Gopher," in Baum's Animal Fairy Tales.)
Prince Mud-Turtle is about Twinkle finding an unusually-colored turtle and bringing it home with her. She later finds that the turtle is a fairy prince named Melga who was put under a curse by the evil Corrugated Giant, a creature with no bones. With the help of the turtle, Twinkle is able to travel to the giant's castle and restore the prince to his normal form. The prince then defeats the giant, and Twinkle is sent back home.
Twinkle's Enchantment is about Twinkle entering a gulch in order to get some berries. She meets many curious proverb-based creatures, such a Rolling Stone That Gathers No Moss, a Little Learning (which she avoids because it is a dangerous thing), a Weasel that Goes "Pop!", and the Birds of One Feather. She then spends time with a dancing bear, and is invited to a grasshopper's ball. She wakes up.
Sugar-Loaf Mountain is about how Twinkle and her friend Chubbins discover a trap door in Sugar-Loaf Mountain. They find a key and enter inside the mountain, where they find a city peopled by beings made entirely out of sugar of one form or another. They are captured by soldiers and taken to the king, who shows them the sights and introduces them to several high-grade citizens. While leaving, Twinkle and Chubbins accidentally drop the key inside, so no one can ever enter Sugar-Loaf Mountain again. |
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] | The vampire Lestat is awakened from decades of slumber by the sound of a heavy metal band which he proceeds to take over as the lead singer. Achieving international success and planning a massive live concert, Lestat is approached by Marius, and warned that the vampires of the world will not tolerate his flamboyant public profile.
Jesse Reeves, a researcher for the paranormal studies group Talamasca, is intrigued by Lestat's lyrics and tells the rest of the group her theory that he really is a vampire. Her mentor, David Talbot, takes her aside and tells her they know he is and that a vampire called Marius made him. He also shows her Lestat's journal that he recovered and is now in the Talamasca library. In a flashback to his origins, Lestat recalls how he awoke Akasha, the first vampire, with his music. Jesse tracks him down to a London vampire club where he saves and confronts her. She later goes to Los Angeles for the concert and gives him back his journal. The two spend some time together and Lestat shows her both the horrors and the perks of being a vampire. Showing him that she's not scared of him Jesse stays with Lestat as she sees how lonely and miserable he is. She asks him to turn her as she reveals that it's her dream to be a vampire, but he refuses as he won't do it to her. The more time they spend together, the closer they become and soon Lestat and Jesse start to fall in love. Meanwhile, Akasha is awakened by Lestat's new music. She arrives and torches the club, and all the vampires inside, who want Lestat dead.
At the concert in Death Valley, a mob of vampires attack Lestat and Marius. Akasha bursts through the stage and takes Lestat with her as her new King. The two vampires then proceed to have a sort of sexual intercourse in Akasha's home where they mutually feed on one another, during which time Lestat becomes spellbound by Akasha and is forced to obey her. Empowered by Akasha's blood, Lestat and the Queen confront the Ancient Vampires at the home of Maharet, Jesse's aunt, who is an Ancient Vampire. The Ancient Vampires were planning to kill Akasha, to save the human world from demise. Akasha then commands Lestat to kill Jesse, as The Queen sees her both as an enemy and as food, as she is Maharet's mortal niece; Maharet and Akasha became mortal enemies before they were turned. Queen Akasha also wanted to make an example out of Jesse because Jesse dared to stand-up to her and to put fear into the other vampires. Lestat ostensibly obeys the Queen, but afterwards he quickly comes to his senses and is released from her power. He then very angrily turns and begins to drain Akasha's blood with the help of the Ancients. Mael and Pandora are killed by Akasha's power. Armand is almost killed, but is saved as The Queen's powers diminish. Maharet is the last to drink Akasha's blood, and thereby ends up becoming a marble "statue". Maharet then becomes the new Queen Of the Damned.
Lestat then turns and walks to where Jesse is lying lifeless, and cradling her in his arms, gives her his blood, turning her into a vampire. Jesse, now a vampire, and Lestat then return the journal to the Talamasca, and walk away, among mortals, into the night. As they exit it is shown that they are now a couple and hold hands while Marius enters the Talamasca. The film closes with a scene of David reading the journal as Marius's voice catches his attention, cheerfully saying, "Hello, David". |
436 | [
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] | Teenager Grace MacLean (Scarlett Johansson) and her best friend Judith (Kate Bosworth) go out early one winter's morning to ride their horses, Pilgrim and Gulliver. As they ride up an icy slope, Gulliver slips and hits Pilgrim. Both horses fall, dragging the girls onto a road and colliding with a truck. Judith and Gulliver are killed, while Grace and Pilgrim are both severely injured. Grace, left with a partially amputated right leg, is bitter and withdrawn after the accident. Meanwhile, Pilgrim is traumatized and uncontrollable to the extent that it is suggested he be put down. Grace's mother, Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas), a strong-minded and workaholic magazine editor, refuses to allow Pilgrim to be put down, sensing that somehow Grace's recovery is linked with Pilgrim's.
Desperate for a way to heal both Grace and Pilgrim, Annie tracks down a "horse whisperer", Tom Booker (Robert Redford), in the remote Montana mountains. Tom agrees to help, but only if Grace also takes part in the process. Grace reluctantly agrees, and she and Annie go to stay at the Booker ranch where Tom lives with his brother and his brother's family. As Pilgrim and Grace slowly overcome their trauma, Annie and Tom begin to develop a mutual attraction. However, they are both reluctant to act on these feelings – Annie is married and Tom had his heart broken before, when his wife left him because she belonged to the city, not the ranch. Tom also asks Grace to tell him about what happened with her and Pilgrim in order to find out what Pilgrim is thinking. At first, Grace is reluctant, but eventually gathers up her courage, and tearfully tells him about the accident.
The status quo between Annie and Tom is broken when Robert MacLean (Sam Neill), Grace's father and Annie's husband, unexpectedly shows up at the ranch. Annie is increasingly torn by her feelings for Tom and her love for her family. Soon, with Tom's help, Grace finally takes the last step to heal herself and Pilgrim – riding Pilgrim again. As the MacLeans get ready to leave the Booker ranch, Robert tells Annie that he knew he was in love with her more than she loved him, and that if he could be a better father, husband or lawyer then it didn’t matter, he did it all for the love he had for her. He felt that he didn’t need more, he knows she is not sure how she feels about him, and now he wants her to make a choice, and not to come home until she is sure what she wants and that she loves him. Although Annie wishes she could stay with Tom on the ranch, she also knows that she belongs to the city, just like Tom's wife. Annie departs, driving away from the ranch, while Tom watches her go from the top of a hill. |
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] | Gabriel Crasweller, a successful merchant-farmer and landowner, is Britannula's oldest citizen. Born in 1913, he emigrated from New Zealand when he was a young man and was instrumental in building the new republic as one of a group of similar-minded men which included his best friend John Neverbend, ten years his junior, who is now serving his term as President of Britannula. Whereas decades ago Crasweller also voted in favour of the law which introduced the "Fixed Period," he gradually becomes more pensive as the day of his deposition is approaching. Neverbend has long been planning that day and envisaging it as a day of triumph, believing that mankind and civilisation will move an enormous step forward towards perfection. As the originator of the idea, Neverbend also hopes that his name will go down in the annals of history as one of the great reformers. He considers it unfortunate that his friend Crasweller, as the first one to go, does not show any of the signs of old age for which "the Law" was made in the first place: Crasweller is healthy and vigorous, his mental abilities have not started to deteriorate in any way, and accordingly he is more than capable of managing his own affairs and of earning his living.
When all of a sudden Crasweller starts lying about his age and claiming that he was in fact born a year later, Neverbend realises that measures must be taken to ensure the smooth execution of the Law. However, he soon finds out that it has dawned on other elderly citizens as well what the state has in store for them, and that various individuals have come up with all kinds of excuses and plans as to how they are going to oppose their deposition and, eventually, departure. He finds a supporter in Abraham Grundle, one of the young Senators, but is shocked when he realises that Grundle, who is engaged to Crasweller's daughter Eva, only wants to inherit his friend's fortune as soon as possible. But despite this setback, and although both his own son Jack and his wife Sarah turn against him, Neverbend, who has long since passed the point of no return, considers it his duty as President and law-abiding citizen to have Crasweller deposited.
As a man of honour, Crasweller finally yields to Neverbend's arguments and stoically accepts his fate. However, on the very day of his deposition the carriage that is to transport the two men to the College is held up in the streets of Gladstonopolis by British armed forces. They have arrived on a warship of enormous dimensions and, by threatening to destroy the whole city with their "250-lb swivel gun," compel Neverbend to release Crasweller and eventually to step down as President. Britannula is re-annexed by Great Britain, a Governor is installed, and John Neverbend is forced to return to England with them.
During the passage Neverbend commits to paper the recent history of Britannula, finishing it only two days before his arrival in England. He plans to write another, more theoretical book on the "Fixed Period" and to preach to the English about this necessary step in the progress of mankind. However, he realises that he does not really know whether he will be treated with respect in the old country or not, or whether he will ever be able to return to Britannula. |
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] | After spending most of her adult life nursing first her dying uncle, and then her invalid brother Walter, Margaret Mackenzie inherits a significant fortune from Walter at his death. Seeking a place in society, Miss Mackenzie moves to a town called Littlebath, (modeled after Bath, Somerset), and joins a group of Evangelicals centered around the popular local pastor Mr. Stumfold and his wife. At Littlebath she meets three men who are interested in marrying her. One is Samuel Rubb, the business partner of her surviving brother, Tom Mackenzie; another is Mr. Maguire, Mr. Stumfold's curate; and the third is her cousin, Mr. John Ball.
She is soon asked by Mr. Rubb to loan him and her brother 2,500 pounds for business purposes, a deal that turns out badly. Mr. Rubb admits that he has cheated Miss Mackenzie, but his honesty in telling her the truth about his actions allows him to remain a friend and prospective husband. She is invited for a short stay with the Ball family, and while there refuses a marriage proposal from Mr. John Ball. Mr. Maguire asks Miss Mackenzie to marry him when she returns to Littlebath, but she is forced to put him off after finding out that her brother Tom is dying and that she must go to him in London. While in London she refuses Mr. Maguire by letter.
After Tom's death, Miss Mackenzie finds out that there is a problem with her brother Walter's will, and that Mr. John Ball may be the rightful inheritor of the money. He asks her to marry him again while the legal issues are being dealt with by their respective lawyers, and she accepts him. Mr. Maguire interferes with Mr. John Ball, libeling him in an Evangelical newspaper, and visiting London to try to get Miss Mackenzie to marry him instead. The courts eventually decide in favor of Mr. John Ball, who soon becomes Sir John Ball after his father's death. Over objections from his mother, Lady Ball, Sir John and Miss Mackenzie are married and Mr. Maguire is forced to give up his own attempts. Mr. Rubb marries a lodger in Tom Mackenzie's old house, Miss Corza, and Mr. Maguire finds a wife and a new position. |
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] | The tale begins in a farmyard which is home to a duck called Jemima Puddle-duck. She wants to hatch her own eggs, but the farmer's wife believes ducks make poor sitters and routinely confiscates their eggs to allow the hens to incubate them. Jemima tries to hide her eggs, but they are always found and carried away. She sets off along the road in poke bonnet and shawl to find a safe place away from the farm to lay her eggs.
At the top of a hill, she spies a distant wood, flies to it, and waddles about until she discovers an appropriate nesting place among the foxgloves. However, a charming gentleman with "black prick ears and sandy-coloured whiskers" persuades her to nest in a shed at his home. Jemima is led to his "tumble-down shed" (which is curiously filled with feathers), and makes herself a nest with little ado.
Jemima lays her eggs, and the fox suggests a dinner party to mark the event. He asks her to collect the traditional herbs used in stuffing a duck, telling her the seasonings will be used for an omelette. Jemima sets about her errand, but the farm collie, Kep, meets her as she carries onions from the farm kitchen and asks her what she is doing and where she keeps going. She reveals her errand, Kep sees through the fox's plan at once, and finds out from Jemima where the fox lives.
With the help of two fox-hound puppies who are out at walk at the farm, Kep rescues Jemima and the "foxy-whiskered gentleman" (Mr. Tod) is chased away and seen again in The Tale of Mr. Tod. However, the hungry fox-hounds eat Jemima's eggs. Jemima is escorted back to the farm in tears over her lost eggs, but, in time, lays more eggs and successfully hatches four ducklings. |
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] | The film is presented in a nonlinear narrative, cutting back and forth between McCandless' time spent in the Alaskan wilderness and his two-year travels leading up to his journey to Alaska. The plot summary here is told in a more chronological order.
In May 1992, Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) arrives in a remote area just north of the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska and sets up a campsite in an abandoned city bus, which he calls The Magic Bus. At first, McCandless is content with the isolation, the beauty of nature around him, and the thrill of living off the land. He hunts wild animals with a .22 caliber rifle, reads books, and keeps a diary of his thoughts as he prepares himself for a new life in the wild.
Two years earlier, in May 1990, McCandless graduates with high honors from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Shortly afterwards, McCandless rejects his conventional life by destroying all of his credit cards and identification documents. He donates $24,000, nearly all of his savings, to Oxfam and sets out on a cross-country drive in his well-used, but reliable Datsun B210 to experience life in the wilderness. However, McCandless does not tell his parents, Walt (William Hurt) and Billie McCandless (Marcia Gay Harden), or his sister Carine (Jena Malone) what he is doing or where he is going, and refuses to keep in touch with them after his departure, causing his parents to become increasingly anxious and eventually desperate.
At Lake Mead, Arizona, McCandless' car is caught in a flash flood, causing him to abandon it and begin hitchhiking. He burns what remains of his cash and assumes a new name: "Alexander Supertramp." In Northern California, McCandless encounters a hippie couple named Jan Burres (Catherine Keener) and Rainey (Brian H. Dierker). Rainey tells McCandless about his failing relationship with Jan, which McCandless helps rekindle. In September, McCandless arrives in Carthage, South Dakota and works for a contract harvesting company owned by Wayne Westerberg (Vince Vaughn), but he is forced to leave after Westerberg is arrested for satellite piracy.
McCandless then travels on the Colorado River and, though told by park rangers that he may not kayak down the river without a license, ignores their warnings and paddles downriver until he eventually arrives in Mexico. There, his kayak is lost in a dust storm, and he crosses back into the United States on foot. Unable to hitch a ride, he starts traveling on freight trains to Los Angeles. Not long after arriving, however, he starts feeling "corrupted" by modern civilization and decides to leave. Later, McCandless is forced to resume hitchhiking, after he is beaten by the railroad police.
In December 1991, McCandless arrives at Slab City, in the Imperial Valley region of California, and encounters Jan and Rainey again. There, he also meets Tracy Tatro (Kristen Stewart), a teenage girl who shows interest in McCandless, but he rejects her because she is underage. After the holidays, McCandless decides to continue heading for Alaska, much to everyone's sadness. One month later, while camping near Salton City, California, McCandless encounters Ron Franz (Hal Holbrook), a retired man who recounts the story of the loss of his family in a car accident while he was serving in the United States Army. He now occupies his time in a workshop as an amateur leather worker. Franz teaches McCandless the craft of leatherwork, resulting in the making of a belt that details McCandless' travels. After spending two months with Franz, McCandless decides to leave for Alaska, despite this upsetting Franz, who has become quite close to McCandless. On a parting note, Franz gives McCandless his old camping and travel gear, along with the offer to adopt him as his grandchild, but McCandless simply tells him that they should discuss this after he returns from Alaska; then, he departs.
Four months later, at the abandoned bus, life for McCandless becomes harder, and he becomes less discerning. As his supplies begin to run out, he realizes that nature is also harsh and uncaring. In the pain of realization, McCandless concludes that true happiness can only be found when shared with others, and he seeks to return from the wild to his friends and family. However, he finds that the stream he had crossed during the winter has become wide, deep, and violent due to the snow thaw, and he is unable to cross. Saddened, he returns to the bus, now as a prisoner who is no longer in control of his fate and can only hope for help from the outside. In a desperate act, McCandless is forced to gather and eat roots and plants. He confuses similar plants and eats a poisonous one, falling sick as a result. Slowly dying, he continues to document his process of self-realization and accepts his fate, as he imagines his family for one last time. He writes a farewell to the world and crawls into his sleeping bag to die. Two weeks later, his body is found by moose hunters. Shortly afterwards, Carine returns her brother's ashes by airplane from Alaska back to Virginia, in her backpack. |
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] | The setting is the fictional Missouri frontier town of Dawson's Landing on the banks of the Mississippi River in the first half of the 19th century. David Wilson, a young lawyer, moves to town and a clever remark of his is misunderstood, which causes locals to brand him a "pudd'nhead"Â â a nitwit. His hobby of collecting fingerprints does not raise his standing in the townsfolk's eyes, who see him as an eccentric and do not frequent his law practice.
Puddn'head Wilson moves into the background as the focus shifts to the slave Roxy, her son, and the family they serve. Roxy is only one-sixteenth black, and her son Valet de Chambre (referred to as "Chambers") is only 1/32 black. Roxy is principally charged with caring for her inattentive master's infant son Tom Driscoll, who is the same age as her own son. After fellow slaves are caught stealing and are nearly sold "down the river", to a master further south, Roxy fears for her life and the life of her son. First she decides to kill herself and Chambers to avoid being sold down the river, but then decides instead to switch Chambers and Tom in their cribs so that her son will live a life of privilege.
The narrative moves forward two decades, and Tom Driscoll (formerly Valet de Chambre), believing himself to be wholly white and raised as a spoiled aristocrat, has grown to be a selfish and dissolute young man. Tom's father has died and granted Roxy her freedom. Roxy worked for a time on river boats, and saved money for her retirement. When she finally is able to retire, she discovers that her bank has failed and all of her savings are gone. She returns to Dawson's Landing to ask for money from Tom.
Tom meets Roxy with derision and Roxy tells him that he is her son, and uses this fact to blackmail him into financially supporting her.
Twin Italian noblemen visit the town to some fanfare, and Tom quarrels with one. Then at last, desperate for money, Tom robs and murders his wealthy uncle and the blame falls wrongly on one of the Italians. Thereafter the story takes on the form of a crime novel. In a courtroom scene, the whole mystery is solved when Wilson demonstrates, through fingerprints, that Tom is both the murderer, and not the real Driscoll heir.
The book ends in bitter irony. Although the real Tom Driscoll is restored to his rights, his life changes for the worse, for having been raised a slave, he feels intense unease in white society, while as a white man he is forever excluded from the company of blacks.
In a final twist, the murdered man's creditors successfully petition the governor to have Tom's death sentence overturned. Now that he is shown to be black, he is a slave, and as such, is rightfully their property. His sale "down the river" helps them recoup their losses. |
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] | The novel provides a detailed, episodic record of life in the two branches of the wealthy, aristocratic Jia (賈) clan—the Rongguo House (榮國府) and the Ningguo House (寧國府)—who reside in two large, adjacent family compounds in the capital. Their ancestors were made Dukes and given imperial titles, and as the novel begins the two houses are among the most illustrious families in the city. One of the clan’s offspring is made a Royal Consort, and a lush landscaped garden is built to receive her visit. The novel describes the Jias’ wealth and influence in great naturalistic detail, and charts the Jias’ fall from the height of their prestige, following some thirty main characters and over four hundred minor ones. Eventually the Jia clan falls into disfavor with the Emperor, and their mansions are raided and confiscated.
In the novel's frame story, a sentient Stone, abandoned by the goddess Nüwa when she mended the heavens aeons ago, begs a Taoist priest and a Buddhist monk to bring it with them to see the world. The Stone, along with a companion (in Cheng-Gao versions they are merged into the same character), is then given a chance to learn from the human existence, and enters the mortal realm.
The main character of the novel is the carefree adolescent male heir of the family, Jia Baoyu. He was born with a magical piece of "jade" in his mouth. In this life he has a special bond with his sickly cousin Lin Daiyu, who shares his love of music and poetry. Baoyu, however, is predestined to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai, whose grace and intelligence exemplify an ideal woman, but with whom he lacks an emotional connection. The romantic rivalry and friendship among the three characters against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes form the main story in the novel. |
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] | Emily Jenkins (RenĂŠe Zellweger) is a social worker living in Oregon, who is assigned to investigate the family of ten-year-old Lillith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland), as her grades have declined and an emotional rift with her parents has emerged. Emily suspects that the parents have been mistreating Lillith. Emily's fears are confirmed when Lillith's parents try to kill her by gassing her in the oven at home. Emily saves Lillith with the help of Detective Mike Barron (Ian McShane). Lillith is originally sent to a children's home, but she begs Emily to look after her instead. With the agreement of the board, Emily is assigned to take care of Lillith until a suitable foster family comes along. In the meantime, Lillith's parents, Edward and Margaret (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O'Malley) are placed in a mental institution.
Not too long after Lillith moves in, strange things begin to happen around Emily. Two weeks later, another of Emily's cases, a boy named Diego (Alexander Conti), suddenly murders his parents, and Barron informs Emily that somebody phoned Diego from her house the night before the crime. As she is suspected of involvement in the incident, Lillith undergoes a psychiatric evaluation by Emily's best friend, Douglas J. Ames (Bradley Cooper). During the session, however, Lillith turns the evaluation around, asking Douglas what his fears are and subtly threatening him. That night after receiving a strange phone call, Douglas is panicked by a mass of hornets coming out of his body in hysteria and kills himself in his bathroom.
Emily gradually becomes fearful of Lillith, so she heads to the mental asylum for answers from Lillith's parents. They tell her that, far from being truly human, Lillith is actually a demon like-Succubus who feeds on emotion, and that they had tried to kill her in an attempt to save themselves. Lillith's father tells Emily that the only way to kill Lillith is to get her to sleep. Shortly after Emily leaves the asylum, Lillith's mother hallucinates being on fire, and her father is stabbed in the eye after attacking a fellow inmate through whom the voice of Lillith spoke. Barron initially thinks Emily should seek psychiatric help, but is later convinced when he receives a strange phone call in his home from Lillith. He arms himself to help Emily. However, he fatally shoots himself in the head with his shotgun, as Lilith makes him imagine he is being attacked by dogs.
After realizing that her closest colleagues have been eliminated, and that the rest of her cases will be next, Emily serves Lillith tea spiked with sedative. While Lillith is asleep, Emily sets fire to her house, hoping to get rid of her. However, the girl apparently escapes unharmed (from this point on, the audience may wonder whether Lilith is really present or Emily is hallucinating her presence). A police officer offers to escort Emily and Lillith to a temporary place to sleep. As Emily is following the police cars, she suddenly takes a different route and drives her car at a high speed, hoping to bring fear to Lillith. Instead, Lillith forces Emily to relive her childhood memory of her mother driving fast in a rainstorm. Emily fights through the memory, telling herself that it is not real. The image fades, and Lillith appears scared by the fact that Emily was able to fight through her illusion.
Emily drives the car off a pier. As the car sinks, Emily struggles to lock Lillith (now in her demonic true form) in the trunk. Emily then attempts to swim to the surface. The demon grabs Emily's foot to stop her from swimming away but Emily struggles and eventually breaks free, as a trapped Lillith sinks to the bottom. Emily climbs out of the water and sits on the pier. |
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] | Malcolm X follows the life of African-American activist Malcolm X. Rising from a troubled childhood, in which his father, a preacher, is murdered by the Black Legion and his mother is institutionalized for insanity, Malcolm gets a job as a Pullman porter, calling himself Detroit Red. After getting involved with a Harlem gangster named West Indian Archie with whom he has a falling out, Malcolm flees to Boston and decides to become a burglar. He and his best friend, Shorty (played by Spike Lee) are arrested by the police and Malcolm is sentenced to a ten-year prison term. In prison, a fellow inmate, Baines, introduces him to the teachings of the Nation of Islam.
Malcolm begins religious conversion as a disciple of Elijah Muhammad. During this fervent immersion into the Nation of Islam, he becomes an incendiary speaker for the movement and marries Betty Shabazz. Malcolm X preaches a doctrine of separation from white society. However, a pilgrimage to Mecca softens his beliefs, teaching him that Muslims come from all races, even whites, and he endeavors to break free of the strict dogma of the Nation of Islam, with tragic results. He is assassinated on February 21, 1965, in New York City.
In the present day, numerous children of African descent, both in the United States and Africa, declare "I am Malcolm X." Among them, is anti-apartheid activist and future South African President Nelson Mandela who begins quoting one of Malcolm X's speeches. The final scene depicts Mandela's 1990 release from prison and during the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa.... |
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] | A woman arrives in Guernsey, with her son Gilliat, and buys a house said to be haunted. The boy grows up, the woman dies. Gilliat becomes a good fisherman and sailor. People believe him to be a wizard.
In Guernsey also lives Mess Lethierry â a former sailor and owner of the first steamship of the island, the Durande â with his niece Deruchette. One day, near Christmas, when going to church, she sees Gilliat on the road behind her and writes his name in the snow. He sees this and becomes obsessed with her gesture. In time he falls in love with her and goes to play the bagpipes near her house.
Sieur Clubin, the trusted captain of Durande, sets up a plan to sink the ship on the Hanois reef and flee with a ship of Spanish smugglers, Tamaulipas. He gets in touch with Rantaine, a swindler who had stolen a large sum of money from Mess Lethierry many years ago. Clubin takes the money from Rantaine at gunpoint.
In thick fog, Clubin sails for the Hanois reef from where he can easily swim to the shore, meet the smugglers, and disappear, giving the appearance of having drowned. Because of the fog he has mistakenly arrived at the Douvres reef, which is still halfway between Guernsey and France. Left alone on the ship, he is terrified, but he sees a cutter and leaps into the water to catch it. At that moment he is grabbed by the leg and is pulled down to the bottom.
Everybody in Guernsey finds out about the shipwreck. Mess Lethierry is desperate to get the Durande's engine back. His niece declares she will marry the rescuer of the engine, and Mess Lethierry swears she will marry no other. Gilliat immediately takes up the mission, enduring hunger, thirst, and cold trying to free the engine from the wreck. In a battle with an octopus, he finds the skeleton of Clubin and the stolen money on the bottom of the sea.
Eventually he succeeds in returning the engine to Lethierry, who is very pleased and ready to honour his promise. Gilliat appears in front of the people as the rescuer but he declines to marry Deruchette because he had seen her accepting a marriage proposal made by Ebenezer Caudry, the young priest recently arrived on the island. He arranges their hurried wedding and helps them run away on the sailing ship Cashmere. In the end, with all his dreams shattered, Gilliat decides to wait for the tide sitting on the Gild Holm'Ur chair (a rock in the sea) and drowns as he watches the Cashmere disappear on the horizon. |
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] | Kathleen Kelly is involved with Frank Navasky, a leftist postmodernist newspaper writer for The New York Observer who is always in search of an opportunity to root for the underdog. While Frank is devoted to his typewriter, Kathleen prefers her laptop and logging into her AOL email account. Using the screen name 'Shopgirl', she reads an email from "NY152", the screen name of Joe Fox whom she first met in an "over-30s" chatroom. As her voice narrates her reading of the email, she reveals the boundaries of the online relationship; no specifics, including no names, career or class information, or family connections. Joe belongs to the Fox family which runs Fox Books â a chain of mega bookstores. Kathleen runs the independent bookstore "The Shop Around The Corner" that her mother ran before her. The two are shown passing each other on their respective ways to work, revealing that they frequent the same neighborhoods in upper west Manhattan. Joe arrives at work, overseeing the opening of a new Fox Books in New York City with the help of his best friend, branch manager Kevin. Kathleen and her three store assistants, George, Aunt Birdie and Christina open up her small shop that morning.
Following a day with his eleven-year-old aunt Annabel and four-year-old half brother Matthew, Joe enters Kathleen's store to let his younger relatives experience story time. Joe and Kathleen have a conversation that reveals Kathleen's fears about the Fox Books store opening around the corner. He omits his last name and makes an abrupt exit with the children. At a publishing party for New York book business people later that week, Joe and Kathleen meet again, where Kathleen discovers Joe's true identity. She accuses him of deception and spying, while he responds by belittling her store.
The Shop Around the Corner slowly goes under. Kathleen enters Fox Books to discover the true nature of the store is one of friendliness and relaxation, yet without the same dedication to children's books as her shop. Her employees move on to other jobs; as Christina goes job hunting, George gets a job at the children's department at a Fox Books store and Birdie retires.
They are exchanging emails without knowing each others' true identities -- and their respective significant-others' knowledge. In some chance meetings Fox at first conceals his identity and then they clash, without realizing who each is. When they decide to meet, Joe discovers who he has been corresponding with. At first deciding to not meet with her, but then to meet with her without revealing his on-line identity. But, they again clash. Joe soon resumes the correspondence, apologizes, and promises to eventually tell her why he stood her up.
After both break up with their significant others, Joe realizes his feelings towards Kelly, and begins building a face-to-face relationship, still keeping his on-line identity a secret. He arranges a meeting between Kelly and his on-line persona (along with his dog Brinkley), but just before she is to meet this on-line friend, he reveals his feelings for her. Upon arriving at the agreed meeting place, she hears Fox calling to Brinkley, who has run ahead, and sees that her on-line friend is really Fox, and that she loves him, too. |
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] | Prologue: An unnamed narrator tells how he befriended an old "Hispano-American" gentleman who never spoke of his past. His interest piqued, the narrator finally elicits the story.
Venezuela, c. 1875. Abel, a young man of wealth, fails at a revolution and flees Caracas into the uncharted forests of Guayana. Surviving fever, failing at journal-keeping and gold hunting, he settles in an Indian village to waste away his life: playing guitar for old Cla-Cla, hunting badly with Kua-k贸, telling stories to the children. After some exploring, Abel discovers an enchanting forest where he hears a strange bird-like singing. His Indian friends avoid the forest because of its evil spirit-protector, "the Daughter of the Didi." Persisting in the search, Abel finally finds Rima the Bird Girl. She has dark hair, a smock of spider webs, and can communicate with birds in an unknown tongue. When she shields a coral snake, Abel is bitten and falls unconscious.
Abel awakens in the hut of Nuflo, an old man who protects his "granddaughter" Rima, and won't reveal her origin. As Abel recovers, Rima leads him through the forest, and Abel wonders about her identity and place of origin. Abel returns to the Indians, but relations become icy, because they would kill Rima, if they could. Rima often speaks of her dead mother, who was always depressed. Abel falls in love with Rima, but she (17 and a stranger to white men) is confused by "odd feelings". This relationship is further strained because Abel cannot speak her unknown language.
Atop Ytaiao Mountain, Rima questions Abel about "the world" known and unknown, asking him if she was unique and alone. Abel sadly reveals that it is true. However, when he mentions the storied mountains of Riolama, Rima perks up. It turns out that "Riolama" is her real name. Nuflo must know where Riolama is, so a wroth Rima demands Nuflo to guide her to Riolama under threats of eternal damnation from her sainted mother. Old, guilty and religious, Nuflo caves in to the pressure. Abel pays a last visit to the Indians, but they capture him as a prisoner, suspecting that he is a spy for an enemy tribe or consorts with demons. Abel manages to escape and return to Rima and Nuflo. The three then trek to distant Riolama. Along the way, Nuflo reveals his past, and Rima's origin.
Seventeen years ago, Nuflo led bandits who preyed on Christians and Indians. Eventually, forced to flee to the mountains, they found a cave to live in. Hiding in the cave was a strange woman speaking a bird-like language. She was to be Rima's mother (never named). Nuflo assumed the woman was a saint sent to save his soul. Nuflo left the bandits and carried Rima's mother, now crippled for life, to Voa, a Christian community, to deliver Rima. Rima and her mother talked in their magical language for seven years, until Mother wasted away in the dampness and died. As contrition, Nuflo brought Rima to the drier mountains. The local Indians found her queer, and resented how she chased off game animals, and therefore tried to kill her. A mis-shot dart killed an Indian, and they fled Rima's "magic".
In the cave, Rima is eager to enter Riolama valley. Abel reveals sad news: her mother left because nothing remained. She belonged to a gentle, vegetarian people without weapons, who were wiped out by Indians, plague and other causes. Rima is indeed unique and alone. Rima is saddened but suspected it: her mother was always depressed. Now she decides to return to the forest and prepare a life for herself and Abel. She flits away, leaving Abel to fret as he and Nuflo walk home, delayed by rain and hunger. They return to find the forest silent, Nuflo's hut burned down, and Indians hunting game. Abel, exhausted, is again taken prisoner, but isn't killed, as he quickly makes a vow to go to war against the enemy tribe. On the war trail, he drops hints about Rima and her whereabouts. Kua-Ko explains how, thanks to Abel's "bravery", the Indians dared enter the forbidden forest. They caught Rima in the open, chased her up the giant tree. They heaped brush underneath it and burned Rima.
Abel kills Kua-k贸 and runs to the enemy tribe, sounding the alarm. Days later he returns. All his Indian friends are dead. He finds the giant tree burned, and collects Rima's ashes in a pot. Trekking homeward, despondent and hallucinating, Abel is helped by Indians and Christians until he reaches the sea, sane and healthy again. Now an old man, his only ambition is to be buried with Rima's ashes. Reflecting back, he believes neither God nor man can forgive his sins, but that gentle Rima would, provided he has forgiven himself. |
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] | Dr. John Markway narrates the history of the 90-year-old Hill House, which was constructed by Hugh Crain as a home for his wife. She died when her carriage crashed against a tree as she approached the house for the first time. Crain remarried, but his second wife died in the house from a fall down the stairs. Crain's daughter Abigail lived in the house for the rest of her life, never moving out of the nursery. She died calling for her nurse-companion. The companion inherited the house, but later hanged herself from a spiral staircase in the library. Hill House was eventually inherited by a Mrs. Sanderson, although it has stood empty for some time.
Markway wishes to study the reported paranormal activity at Hill House. He secures a lease from Mrs. Sanderson to occupy the mansion for the duration of his investigation; conditional to his acceptance is that he take Luke Sanderson, her heir, with him. Markway has chosen two individuals to accompany himâa psychic, Theodora, also known as Theo, and the meek Eleanor Lance, who experienced poltergeist activity as a child. Eleanor spent her adult life caring for her invalid mother, whose recent death has left Eleanor with severe guilt.
The large, maze-like mansion's walls were constructed with angles slightly askew, resulting in off-center perspectives and doors that open and close by themselves. The immense library contains the ramshackle spiral staircase from which the previous owner hanged herself; the vast conservatory is adorned with eerie statues. During their first night in the house, Eleanor and Theo are terrified by supernatural occurrences outside Theo's bedroom door. Deafening banging is heard against the door and the voice of a young girl is heard echoing with laughter. Despite the turbulence, Eleanor feels a tentative affinity to Hill House.
The team explores the house the next day, discovering a cold spot outside the nursery and encountering other supernatural phenomena. Markway reveals more about the hauntings that have allegedly occurred. Following another night of loud disturbances the team discovers the words "HELP, ELEANOR, COME HOME" on a wall, which causes Eleanor severe distress.
That night, Theo moves into Eleanor's room and they fall asleep in the same bed. Eleanor is awakened by the sounds of a man speaking indistinctly and a woman laughing. Fearful, Eleanor asks Theo to hold her hand and she feels it being crushed. As Eleanor hears the sound of a young girl crying, she shouts at whoever is causing the child pain. Theo awakens with a start and turns on the light. Eleanor then sees that she has moved from the bed to the couch, and realizes that Theo was not the one she felt holding her hand.
The following day Dr. Markway's wife Grace arrives at Hill House to warn her husband that a reporter has learned of Markway's investigation of Hill House. Markway is concerned when Grace announces that she plans to join the group for the duration of the investigation. She demands a bed in the nursery despite her husband's warning that it is likely the center of the disturbances. That night the group experiences loud banging and an unseen force attempting to force its way through the living room in which they are staying. The banging then proceeds to move its way up towards the nursery, where the sounds of it destroying the room are heard. This prompts Eleanor to run towards the source; however Grace is nowhere to be found. Her disappearance is then confirmed the following morning. Eleanor's mental instability worsens as she falls further under the spell of Hill House. She enters the library and climbs the dilapidated spiral staircase. Once she reaches the top, Grace appears unexpectedly at a trap door and the startled Eleanor nearly falls to her death. Markway rescues Eleanor but just misses seeing Grace, who has disappeared back into the house.
Markway becomes alarmed at Eleanor's obsession with Hill House in spite of the dangers it poses for her. Despite Eleanor's pleas to stay, Markway insists that she leave at once and asks Luke to accompany her home. Before he can join her in the car, Eleanor drives off and speeds down the road toward the front gates. She soon feels the steering wheel move by itself and the car advances erratically. At first she struggles to regain control but then surrenders to the unseen force. Suddenly Grace appears from behind a tree and steps in front of the car. Eleanor crashes into the tree and is killed. Luke observes it seemed that Eleanor deliberately aimed the car at the tree, but Markway asserts that something was in the car with her. He notes that the tree that claimed Eleanor's life is the same one that killed the first Mrs. Crain. Theo remarks that Eleanor got what she wantedâto remain with the house. |
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] | Twelve-year-old Josh Baskin, who lives with his parents and infant sister in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, is told he is too short for a carnival ride called the Ring of Fire, while attempting to impress Cynthia Benson, an older girl. He puts a coin into an unusual antique arcade fortune teller machine called Zoltar Speaks, and makes a wish to be "big". It dispenses a card stating "Your wish is granted", but Josh is spooked to see it was unplugged the entire time.
The next morning, Josh has been transformed into a 30-year-old man. He tries to find the Zoltar machine, only to see an empty plaza, the carnival having moved on. Returning home, he tries to explain his predicament to his mother, who refuses to listen, thinking he is a stranger who kidnapped her son. Fleeing from her, he then finds his best friend, Billy Kopecki, and convinces him of his identity by singing a rap that only they know. With Billy's help, he learns that it will take a couple of months to find the machine, so Josh rents a flophouse room in New York City and gets a job as a data entry clerk at MacMillan Toy Company.
Josh runs into the company's owner, Mr. MacMillan, at FAO Schwarz, and impresses him with his insight into current toys and his childlike enthusiasm. They play a duet on a foot-operated electronic keyboard, performing "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks." This earns Josh a promotion to a dream job: getting paid to test toys as Vice President in Charge of Production. With his promotion, his larger salary enables him to move into a spacious luxury apartment, which he and Billy fill with toys, a rigged Pepsi vending machine dispensing free drinks, and a pinball machine. He soon attracts the attention of Susan Lawrence, a fellow McMillan executive. A romance begins to develop, to the annoyance of her ruthless boyfriend and coworker, Paul Davenport. Josh becomes increasingly entwined in his "adult" life by spending time with her, mingling with her friends, and being in a steady relationship. His ideas become valuable assets to MacMillan Toys; however, he begins to forget what it is like to be a child, and he never has time to hang out with his best friend Billy because of his busy schedule.
MacMillan asks Josh to come up with proposals for a new line of toys. He is intimidated by the need to formulate the business aspects of the proposal, but Susan says she will handle the business end while he comes up with ideas. Nonetheless, he feels pressured, and longs for his old life. When he expresses doubts to her and attempts to explain that he is really a child, she interprets this as fear of commitment on his part, and dismisses his explanation.
Josh learns from Billy that the Zoltar machine is now at Sea Point Park. He leaves in the middle of presenting their proposal to MacMillan and other executives. Susan also leaves, and encounters Billy, who tells her where Josh went. At the park, Josh finds the machine, unplugs it and makes a wish to become "a kid again." He is then confronted by Susan, who, seeing the machine and the fortune it gave him, realizes he was telling the truth. She becomes despondent at realizing their relationship is over. He tells her she was the one thing about his adult life he wishes would not end and suggests she use the machine to turn herself into a little girl. She declines, saying that being a child once was enough, and takes him home. After sharing an emotional goodbye with Susan, he becomes a child again. He waves goodbye to Susan one last time before reuniting with his family. The film ends with Josh and Billy hanging out together, with the song "Heart and Soul" playing over the credits. |
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] | The Swoop! tells of the simultaneous invasion of England by several armies — "England was not merely beneath the heel of the invader. It was beneath the heels of nine invaders. There was barely standing-room." — and features references to many well-known figures of the day, among them the politician Herbert Gladstone, novelist Edgar Wallace, actor-managers Seymour Hicks and George Edwardes, and boxer Bob Fitzsimmons.
The invaders are the Russians under Grand Duke Vodkakoff, the Germans under Prince Otto of Saxe-Pfennig – the reigning British monarch of the day was Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha — the Swiss Navy, the Monegasques, a band of Moroccan brigands under Raisuli, the Young Turks, the Mad Mullah from Somalialand, the Chinese under Prince Ping Pong Pang, and the Bollygollans in war canoes.
The initial reaction to the invasion is muted. "It was inevitable, in the height of the Silly Season, that such a topic as the simultaneous invasion of Great Britain by nine foreign powers should be seized upon by the press", but the English are far more interested in cricket and one newspaper placard announces "Surrey Doing Badly" (at cricket), ahead of "German Army Lands in England". And when the Germans begin shelling London — "Fortunately it was August, and there was nobody in town." — the destruction of nearly all the capital's statues, the reduction of the Albert Hall to a heap of picturesque ruins, and the burning of the Royal Academy, earn Prince Otto a hearty vote of thanks from the grateful populace.
The European parties form an alliance and expel the other invaders, but the Swiss soon leave, to be home in time for the winter hotel season, and when Prince Otto and Grand Duke Vodkakoff are offered music hall engagements and the leader of the army of Monaco is not, he takes offence and withdraws his troops.
The two remaining armies are overcome thanks to the stratagems of the indomitable Clarence Chugwater, leader of the Boy Scouts. By causing each commander to become jealous of the other's music hall fees, he succeeds in breaking up the alliance and, in the ensuing chaos, Clarence and his Boy Scouts are able to overcome the invaders.
In The Military Invasion of America, the United States is invaded by armies from Germany, under Prince Otto of Saxe-Pfennig, and Japan, led by General Owoki. Once again it is Clarence Chugwater who saves the day. |
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] | Bob Harris, an aging American movie star, arrives in Tokyo to film an advertisement for Suntory whisky. Charlotte, a young college graduate, is left in her hotel room by her husband, John, a celebrity photographer on assignment in Tokyo. Charlotte is unsure of her future with John, feeling detached from his lifestyle and disillusioned about their relationship. Bob's own 25-year marriage is strained as he goes through a midlife crisis.
Each day Bob and Charlotte encounter each other in the hotel, and finally meet at the hotel bar one night when neither can sleep. Eventually Charlotte invites Bob to meet with some local friends of hers. The two bond through a fun night in Tokyo, welcomed without prejudice by Charlotte's friends and experiencing Japanese nightlife and culture. In the days that follow, Bob and Charlotte's platonic relationship develops as they spend more time together. One night, each unable to sleep, the two share an intimate conversation about Charlotte's personal troubles and Bob's married life.
On the penultimate night of his stay, Bob sleeps with the hotel bar's female jazz singer. The next morning Charlotte arrives at his room to invite him for lunch and overhears the woman in his room, leading to an argument over lunch. Later that night, during a fire alarm at the hotel, Bob and Charlotte reconcile and express how they will miss each other as they make a final visit to the hotel bar.
The following morning, Bob is set to return to the United States. He tells Charlotte goodbye at the hotel lobby and sadly watches her walk back to the elevator. In a taxi to the airport, Bob sees Charlotte on a crowded street and gets out and goes to her. He embraces the tearful Charlotte and whispers something in her ear. The two share a kiss, say goodbye and Bob departs. |
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] | The film opens as the shy, soft-spoken Joel Barish and the unrestrained free-spirit Clementine Kruczynski begin a relationship on a Long Island Rail Road train from Montauk, New York to Rockville Centre. They are almost immediately drawn to each other despite their different personalities, though both had felt the need to travel to Montauk that day. Although they do not realize it at the time, Joel and Clementine are, in fact, former lovers, now separated after having spent two years together. After a fight, Clementine had hired the New York City firm Lacuna, Inc. to erase all of her memories of their relationship. Upon discovering this from his friends Rob and Carrie, Joel was devastated and decided to undergo the procedure himself, a process that takes place while he sleeps.
Much of the film subsequently takes place in Joel's mind during this memory erasure procedure. As his memories are erased, he tries to evade the erasing effects of the procedure by hiding Clementine in remote parts of his unconscious. Joel finds himself revisiting them in reverse. Upon seeing happier times of love with Clementine from earlier in their relationship, he struggles to preserve at least some memory of her and his love for her. Despite his efforts to either hide the memories or wake up and stop the process, the memories are slowly erased. He comes to the last remaining memory of Clementine, the day he first had met her at a beach house in Montauk. As this memory disintegrates around them, she tells him, "Meet me in Montauk."
Separate, but related, story arcs, which revolve around the employees of Lacuna, are revealed during Joel's memory erasure. Patrick, one of the Lacuna technicians performing the erasure, uses Joel's memories and mannerisms to seduce Clementine. Mary, the Lacuna receptionist, is dating the other memory-erasing technician, Stan. During Joel's memory wipe, Mary discovers she had previously had an affair with Dr. Howard Mierzwiak, the married doctor who heads the company, and had agreed to have this erased from her memory when Dr. Mierzwiak's wife found out. On learning this, she asks Stan whether he knew about this, to which he claims that he didn't. Mary then quits her job and steals the company's records, and mails the two former clients their records from Lacuna.
The film returns to the present, after Joel and Clementine have met aboard the train. They both come upon their Lacuna records later that day, and react with shock and bewilderment, because they have no clear memory of having known each other, let alone having had a relationship and having had their memories erased. Joel beckons Clementine to start over; Clementine initially resists, pointing out it could go the same way. Joel accepts this, and they decide to attempt a relationship anyway, starting their life together anew. |
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] | Marijuana-smoking, slacker pizza delivery driver in Grand Rapids Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) has trouble completing the "30 Minutes Or Less" policy and is reprimanded by his boss Chris (Brett Gelman). Nick's school teacher friend Chet (Aziz Ansari) discovers that Nick slept with his twin sister, Kate, (Dilshad Vadsaria) on the night of their high school graduation, causing Nick and Chet to end their friendship. Dwayne King (Danny McBride) and Travis Cord (Nick Swardson), are miserable living under the shadow of Dwayne's domineering father the Major (Fred Ward). Dwayne confides in lap-dancer Juicy (Bianca Kajlich) about his contempt for his father and Dwayne's presumed inheritance. At Travis's suggestion, he and Dwayne devise a plot to kidnap a complete stranger and strap a remote-controlled bomb to his chest. They order a pizza and wait for a driver to come to their hideout. When Nick arrives, Dwayne and Travis assault him and knock him unconscious.
When Nick wakes up, he finds a vest rigged with explosives strapped and buckled onto his torso,with both a timer and a cellular phone-activated trigger. Dwayne and Travis tell him his situation: the bomb will detonate unless he robs a bank within 10 hours. They also threaten to detonate the bomb if Nick bothers the police. He goes to Chet's school job and alerts him the situation, to which he reluctantly accepts. En route to the bank, Nick manages to quit his job and then goes to see Kate for the last time. Nick and Chet hold up the bank and obtain money while the bank manager pulls the alarm, forcing Nick and Chet to flee quickly. Dwayne says he and Travis will meet Nick at an abandoned rail-yard to make the exchange. Dwayne and Travis go to a restaurant instead as Dwayne calls up Juicy to get her hit-man ally and to head to the rail-yard. Juicy and the hit-man Chango (Michael Pe単a) arrive to pick up the money. Nick hands Chango the money and expects Chango to give him the code which will deactivate the bomb. However, Chet appears and strikes Chango with a metal bar while Nick incapacitates Juicy. The two grab the money and escape.
Overly frustrated by the turn of events and when Nick refuses to answer the phone again, Dwayne activates the speed dial number on his phone for the bomb to explode, but Travis alters the numbers. Rethinking their plan,he and Dwayne head to Kate's apartment in their masks and kidnap her. Chango breaks into the Major's house to find information regarding Dwayne's location and finds a hand-drawn map to the scrapyard. While there, the Major attacks him with a pen gun. The Major is then shot by Chango after a struggle. Upon applying some peroxide, Chango uses the information he found in Dwayne's room to head to the scrapyard. Dwayne threatens to kill Kate unless Nick meets up with him at the scrapyard.
At the scrapyard, Dwayne gives Nick the code 69 69 69 to deactivate and unbuckle the bomb with just minutes to spare. Dwayne has them at gunpoint but Nick has Chet fake having a sniper on them by pointing with his laser pointer. After believing him, Dwayne and Travis drop their weapons and leave with the money. However, Nick is knocked out by Chango who now has Dwayne at gunpoint, demanding for the money. Dwayne gives him the money but Chango decides to still kill him and is torched with a flamethrower by Travis. While being burned on the ground, Chango wounds Dwayne and shoots the gas tank on Travis's back, causing it to explode. Nick takes the money and leaves with Kate and Chet. Dwayne chases after Nick and steal the money and when he has Nick at gunpoint his van explodes, seemingly killing him. Nick reveals he reactivated the bomb and put it in Dwayne's van. While Chet looks at the money, it squirts blue dye on his face. In a post-credits scene, Dwayne (who survived the explosion), Travis, the Major recuperating in a wheelchair, and Juicy are seen in an advertisement for their new family business called "Major Tan: Tanning Salon." |
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] | Despite a warning received in the Suq by an elderly desert nomad, Conan stays the night in a cheap tavern in Zamboula, run by Aram Baksh. As night falls, a black Darfarian cannibal enters Conan's small chamber by means of a trick lock to drag him away to be eaten. All of the Darfarian slaves in the city are cannibals who roam the streets at night. As they only prey on travelers, the people of the city tolerate this and stay locked securely in their homes, while nomads and beggars make sure to spend the night at a comfortable distance from its walls. Even worse, Aram Baksh has made a deal with the cannibals - he provides them "fresh meat," while he profits from the belongings of the ill-fated guests of his inn. This night, however, the unfortunate Darfarian attempts to prey on an armed and wary Conan, and pays with his life. Realizing the trap his room is, Conan takes to the Zamboulan streets where he soon runs into a naked woman chasing through the streets after her deranged lover; Conan rescues them from an attack by the cannibals. She tells him that she tried to secure her lover's unending affection via a love potion which instead made a raving lunatic of him. Suggestively promising Conan "a reward" in return for his assistance, they attempt to kill the high priest responsible for the man's madness.
The woman is captured in the attempt, and forced - via hypnotism - to dance before the High priest until she dies. Conan, defeating - quite literally - the strangler Baal-pteor at his own game, rescues her and kills the priest. At the point of claiming his payment, however, she reveals that she is really Nafertari, mistress to the satrap of the city, Jungir Khan (the mad man). Taking an antidote to Jungir, she promises Conan position and wealth.
Conan, however, leaves the city and reveals to the reader that he had recognised them almost immediately. He takes his revenge on the tavern owner Aram Baksh by cutting out his tongue and shearing off his beard to render him mute and unrecognizable, and turning him over to the hungry cannibals to devour - one of the most profound displays of Conan's ironic sense of humor - and leaves the city with gold and the magic ring that started the night's intrigues (and which Conan had stolen from the mad Jungir on their first encounter), with the intent to sell it to another interested party. |
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] | Kym Buchman (Anne Hathaway) is released from drug rehab for a few days so she can go home to attend the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt). At home, the atmosphere is strained between Kym and her family members as they struggle to reconcile themselves with her past and present. Kym's father Paul (Bill Irwin) shows intense concern for her well-being and whereabouts, which Kym interprets as mistrust. Kym also resents her sister's choice of her best friend to be her maid of honor instead of her. Rachel, for her part, resents the attention her sister's drug addiction is drawing away from her wedding, a resentment that comes to a head at the rehearsal dinner, where Kym, amid toasts from friends and family, takes the microphone to offer an apology for her past actions, as part of her twelve-step program.
Underlying the family's dynamic is a tragedy that occurred years previously, which Kym retells at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. As a teenager, Kym was responsible for the death of her younger brother Ethan, who was left in her care one day; driving home from a nearby park, an intoxicated Kym had lost control of the car, driving over a bridge and into a lake, where her brother drowned. The day before the wedding, as Rachel, Kym, and the other bridesmaids are getting their hair done, Kym is approached by a man whom she knew from an earlier stint in rehab. He thanks her for the strength she gave him through a story about having been molested by an uncle and having cared for her sister, who was anorexic. Rachel, hearing this, storms out of the hair salon. The story turns out to be a lie, an apparent attempt by Kym to evade responsibility for her addiction.
The tension between the sisters comes to a head later that night at their father's house, when Kym comes home. Rachel reveals she has never forgiven Kym for their brother's death, and suggests that Kym's rehab has been a hoax since she has been lying about the cause of her problems. Kym finally admits responsibility for Ethan's death and reveals that she had been relapsing in order to cope. She gets into her father's car and leaves. Kym heads to the home of their mother Abby (Debra Winger), hoping to find solace with her. However, a fight breaks out between them, when Kym asks Abby why she left Ethan in her care on the night of his death despite knowing that she was often on drugs, suggesting that Ethan would have been better off in Rachel's care. Abby tells Kym she left Ethan with her because she was good to him and that she thinks Rachel is a hypocrite for her accusations.
When Kym makes it clear she thinks her mother's decision was in part responsible for Ethan's death, Abby becomes furious and punches Kym in the face. Kym hits her mother back and drives off in her father's car. While driving away, Kym begins sobbing uncontrollably because she feels Abby has not accepted appropriate responsibility for her part in the actions which ultimately caused Ethan's death. Kym drives the car off the road in an attempted suicide and crashes into a boulder. Rather than summon help, she spends the night in the car while everyone at home worries about what has become of her. The next morning, the day of the wedding, Kym is spotted in the car by passing joggers, who call the police. The police awaken her and give her a sobriety test, which she passes. She gets a ride home with the driver of the tow truck who is towing the wrecked car. She makes her way to Rachel's room, as Rachel prepares for the wedding.
Seeing Kym's bruised face from the crash prompts her anger of the previous night to vanish, and Rachel tenderly bathes and dresses her sister. Amid a festive Indian theme, Rachel and her fiancĂŠ are wed. Kym is the maid of honor, and is overcome with emotion as the couple exchanges their vows. Kym tries to enjoy herself throughout the wedding reception but continues to feel out of place and is plagued by the dispute with her mother. Ultimately, her mother leaves the party early, despite Rachel's effort to bring the two together, and the feud between Kym and Abby is left unresolved, suggesting Abby's emotional distance and unwillingness to accept responsibility is the root cause of the family's problems. The next morning, Kym returns to rehab. As she is leaving, Rachel runs out of the house to hug her. |
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] | Eddie "Hudson Hawk" Hawkins (Bruce Willis)—"Hudson Hawk" is a nickname for the bracing winds off the Hudson River—is a master burglar and safe-cracker, attempting to celebrate his first day of parole from prison with a cappuccino. Before he can get it, he is blackmailed by various entities, including his own parole officer, a minor Mafia family headed by the Mario Brothers, and the CIA into doing several dangerous art heists with his singing partner in crime, Tommy "Five-Tone" Messina (Danny Aiello).
The holders of the puppet strings turn out to be a "psychotic American corporation", Mayflower Industries, run by husband and wife Darwin (Richard E. Grant) and Minerva Mayflower (Sandra Bernhard) and their blade-slinging butler, Alfred (Donald Burton). The company, headquartered in the Esposizione Universale Roma, seeks to take over the world by reconstructing La Macchina dell'Oro, a machine purportedly invented by Leonardo da Vinci (Stefano Molinari) that converts lead into gold. A special assembly of crystals needed for the machine to function are hidden in a variety of Leonardo's artworks: the maquette of the Sforza, the Da Vinci Codex, and a scale model of DaVinci's helicopter design. Sister Anna Baragli (Andie MacDowell) is an operative for a secretive Vatican counter-espionage agency, which has arranged with the CIA to assist in the Roman portion of Hawk's mission, though apparently intending all along to foil the robbery at St. Peter's Basilica.
Throughout the adventure, Hudson is foiled in attempts to drink a cappuccino. After blowing up an auctioneer to cover up the theft of the Sforza, the Mario Bros. take Hawk away in an ambulance. Hawk sticks syringes into Antony Mario's face and falls out of the ambulance on a gurney, and the Marios try to run him down with the ambulance as his gurney speeds along the highway. The brothers are killed when their driver, startled by the array of syringes in Antony's face, crashes the ambulance. Immediately afterwards, Hawk meets CIA head George Kaplan (James Coburn) and his CIA agents–Snickers (Don Harvey), Kit Kat (David Caruso), Almond Joy (Lorraine Toussaint), and Butterfinger (Andrew Bryniarski)–who take him to Darwin and Minerva Mayflower. Hawk successfully steals the Da Vinci Codex from another museum, but later refuses to steal the helicopter design. Tommy Five-Tone fakes his death so they can escape. They are discovered and attacked by the CIA Agents, and Kaplan reveals that he and his agents stole the piece, and unlike Tommy and Hudson, had no problem killing the guards. Hawk and Tommy cause Snickers and Almond Joy to be killed by their own explosive device, and they escape. Kit Kat and Butterfinger take Anna to the castle where the Macchina dell'Oro is being reconstructed.
A showdown takes place at the castle between the remaining CIA agents, the Mayflowers, and the team of Hudson, Five-Tone, and Baragli. Kit Kat and Butterfinger are betrayed and killed by Minerva. Tommy fights Darwin and Alfred inside Darwin's speeding limo, and Hudson fights George Kaplan on the roof of the castle. Kaplan topples from the castle and lands of the roof of the limo. Alfred plants a bomb in the limo and escapes with Darwin; Tommy is trapped inside and Kaplan is hanging onto the hood. The bomb detonates as the limo speeds over a cliff. Darwin and Minerva force Hawk to put together the crystal powering the machine, but Hawk intentionally leaves out one small piece. When the Mayflowers activate the machine, it malfunctions and explodes, killing Minerva and Darwin. Hawk battles Alfred, using Alfred's own blades to decapitate him. Hawk and Baragli escape the castle and discover Tommy waiting for them at a cafe, having miraculously escaped death. Hawk finally gets to enjoy a cappuccino. |
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] | Six months after the events of the first film, Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) are now a couple. Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) receives a message from Captain Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) of the Logos calling an emergency meeting of all of Zion's ships. Zion has confirmed the last transmission of the Osiris: an army of Sentinels is tunneling towards Zion and will reach it within 72 hours. Commander Lock (Harry Lennix) orders all ships to return to Zion to prepare for the onslaught, but Morpheus asks one ship to remain in order to contact the Oracle (Gloria Foster). The Caduceus receives a message from the Oracle, and the Nebuchadnezzar ventures out so Neo can contact her. One of the Caduceus crew, Bane (Ian Bliss), encounters Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), who takes over Bane's avatar. Smith then uses this avatar to leave the Matrix, gaining control of Bane's real body.
In Zion, Morpheus announces the news of the advancing machines to the people. Neo receives a message from the Oracle and returns to the Matrix to meet her bodyguard Seraph (Collin Chou), who then leads him to her. After realizing that the Oracle is part of the Matrix, Neo asks how he can trust her; she replies that it is his decision. The Oracle instructs Neo to reach the Source of the Matrix by finding the Keymaker (Randall Duk Kim), a prisoner of the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson). As the Oracle departs, Smith appears, telling Neo that after being defeated, he refused to be deleted, and is now a rogue program. He demonstrates his ability to clone himself using other inhabitants of the Matrix, including other Agents, as hosts. He then tries to absorb Neo as a host, but fails, prompting a battle between Smith's clones and Neo. Neo manages to defend himself, but is forced to retreat from the increasingly overwhelming numbers.
Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity visit the Merovingian and ask for the Keymaker, but the Merovingian refuses. His wife Persephone (Monica Bellucci), seeking revenge on her husband for his infidelity, betrays him and leads the trio to the Keymaker. The Merovingian soon arrives with his men. Morpheus, Trinity and the Keymaker escape, while Neo holds off the Merovingian's servants. Morpheus and Trinity try to escape with the Keymaker on the freeway, facing several Agents and the Twins, the Merovingian's chief henchmen. Morpheus defeats the Twins, Trinity escapes, and Neo flies in to save Morpheus and the Keymaker from Agent Johnson. In the real world, Zion's remaining ships prepare to battle the machines. Within the Matrix, the crews of the Nebuchadnezzar, Vigilant and Logos help the Keymaker and Neo reach the door to the Source.
The crew of the Logos must destroy a power plant to prevent a security system from being triggered, and the crew of the Vigilant must destroy a back-up power station. The Logos succeeds, while the Vigilant is bombed by a Sentinel in the real world, killing everyone on board. Although Neo asked Trinity to remain on the Nebuchadnezzar, she enters the Matrix to replace the Vigilant crew and complete their mission. However, her escape is compromised by an Agent, and they fight. As Neo, Morpheus, and the Keymaker try to reach the Source, the Smiths appear and try to kill them. The Keymaker unlocks the door to the Source, allowing Neo and Morpheus to enter and escape from the Smiths, but the Smiths kill the Keymaker while he tries to close the door to the Source. Neo enters a door and meets a program called the Architect, the Matrix's creator.
The Architect explains that Neo is part of the design of the sixth iteration of Matrix, designed to stop the fatal system crash that naturally occurs due to the concept of human choice. As with the five previous Ones, Neo can choose either to return to the Source with his unique code to reboot the Matrix and pick survivors to begin to repopulate the soon-to-be-destroyed Zion, or cause the Matrix to crash and kill everyone connected to it; combined with Zion's destruction, this would mean mankind's extinction. Neo learns of Trinity's situation and chooses to save her instead. As she falls off a building, he flies in and catches her, then by somehow phasing his hand into her body he removes a bullet from her body and restarts her heart. Back in the real world, Sentinels destroy the Nebuchadnezzar. Neo displays a new ability to disable the machines with his thoughts, but falls into a coma from the effort. The crew are picked up by another ship, the Hammer. Its captain, Roland, reveals the other ships were wiped out by the machines after someone activated an EMP too early, and that they found only one survivor afterwardsârevealed to be the Smith-possessed Bane. |
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] | Early in the 21st century, nearly twenty years after the invention of atomic power and ten years after the first lunar landing, the four-man crew of the Ares has landed on Mars in the Mare Cimmerium. A week after the landing, Dick Jarvis, the ship's American chemist, sets out south in an auxiliary rocket to photograph the landscape. Eight hundred miles out, the engine on Jarvis' rocket gives out, and he crash-lands into one of the Thyle regions. Rather than sit and wait for rescue, Jarvis decides to walk back north to the Ares. Just after crossing into the Mare Chronium, Jarvis comes across a tentacled Martian creature attacking a large birdlike creature. He notices that the birdlike Martian is carrying a bag around its neck, and recognizing it as an intelligent being, saves it from the tentacled monstrosity. The rescued creature refers to itself as Tweel. Tweel accompanies Jarvis on his trip back to the Ares, in the course of which it manages to pick up some English, although Jarvis is unable to make any sense of Tweel's language. At first, Tweel travels in tremendous, city-block-long leaps that end with its long beak buried in the ground, but upon seeing Jarvis trudge along, walks beside him.
Upon reaching Xanthus, a desert region outside the Mare Cimmerium, Jarvis and Tweel find a line of small pyramids tens of thousands of years old made of silica bricks, each open at the top. As they follow the line, the pyramids slowly become larger and newer. By the time the pyramids are ten feet high, the travelers reach the end of the line and find a pyramid that is not open at the top. As they watch, a creature with gray scales, one arm, a mouth and a pointed tail pushes its way out of the top of the pyramid, pulls itself several yards along the ground, then plants itself in the ground by the tail. It starts exhaling bricks from its mouth at ten-minute intervals and using them to build another pyramid around itself. Jarvis realizes that the creature is silicon-based rather than carbon-based; neither animal, vegetable nor mineral, but a little of each. The strange combination of a creature produces the solid substance silica and builds itself in with the by-product, then sleeps for an unknown length of time.
As the two approach a canal cutting across Xanthus, Jarvis is feeling homesick for New York City, thinking about Fancy Long, a woman he knows from the cast of the Yerba Mate Hour show. When he sees Long standing by the canal, he begins to approach her, but is stopped by Tweel. Tweel takes out a gun that fires poisoned glass needles and shoots Long, who vanishes, replaced by one of the tentacled creatures that Jarvis rescued Tweel from at their first meeting. Jarvis realizes that the tentacled creature, which he names a dream-beast, lures its prey by projecting illusions into their minds.
As Jarvis and Tweel approach a city on the canal bank, they are passed by a barrel-like creature with four legs, four arms, and a circle of eyes around its waist. The barrel creature is pushing an empty, coppery cart; it pays no attention to Jarvis and Tweel as it goes by them. Another goes by, then a third. Jarvis stands in front of the third, which stops. Jarvis says, "We are friends," and the cart creature repeats the phrase from a diaphragm atop its body, "We are v-r-r-riends," before pushing past him. The next cart creature repeats the phrase as it goes by, and the next.
Eventually the cart creatures start returning to the city with their carts full of stones, sand, and chunks of rubbery plants. Jarvis stands in front of one and refuses to move. The cart creature tweaks his nose hard enough to make him jump aside and yell "Ouch". After that, every cart creature that passes by says "We are v-r-r-riends! Ouch!"
Jarvis and Tweel follow the cart creatures to their destination, a mound with a tunnel leading down below it. Jarvis soon becomes lost in the network of tunnels, and hours or days pass before he and Tweel find themselves in a domed chamber near the surface. There they find the cart creatures depositing their loads beneath a wheel that grinds the stones and plants into dust. Some of the cart creatures also step under the wheel themselves and are pulverized. Beyond the wheel is a shining crystal on a pedestal. When Jarvis approaches it he feels a tingling in his hands and face, and a wart on his left thumb dries up and falls off. He speculates that the crystal emits some form of radiation that destroys diseased tissue but leaves healthy tissue unharmed.
The cart creatures suddenly begin attacking Jarvis and Tweel, who retreat up a corridor which fortunately leads outside. The cart creatures corner them and, rather than save himself, Tweel stays by Jarvis' side facing certain death. The cart creatures are about to finish them off when an auxiliary rocket from the Ares lands, destroying the creatures. Jarvis boards the rocket while Tweel bounds away into the Martian horizon. The rocket returns with Jarvis to the Ares, and he tells his story to the other three. Jarvis is preoccupied with recalling the friendship and bond between Tweel and himself when Captain Harrison expresses regret that they do not have the healing crystal. Jarvis, his mind somewhere else, admits that the cart creatures were attacking him because he took it; he takes it out and shows it to the others. |
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] | The main protagonist, Godwin Peak, is a star student at Whitelaw College, which he won a scholarship to attend. He wins many academic prizes and his future seems promising. Then his Cockney uncle arrives intending to open an eating-house adjacent to the college. Godwin is mortified of being associated with 'trade' and leaves the college rather than face the scorn he expects to receive from his upper-class fellow students.This is indicative of his social aspirations (upwards) and snobbery (downwards).
He moves to London where he abhors the social mores of the lower orders and pines to be accepted into high society where he believes his intellect should place him. He sees writing as a possible entry and pens a fiercely critical article on the Church of England and its attitude to Darwinism. It is published anonymously but not before word of its true authorship has spread within his small circle of friends. These include Christian Moxey, who has an idealised romantic fixation on a married woman (ultimately found to be unrequited), Moxey's sister Marcella has a likewise unrequited crush on Godwin Peak, and Malkin-a flighty Bohemian who has an idea of training an adolescent girl to be a wife worthy of his radical views, and who has formed a relationship with Mrs.Jacox and her daughters to further this plan (ultimately successful).
After submitting the article Peak goes on holiday to the West Country stopping of in Exeter where he encounters the Warricombe family (minor gentry) whose son Buckland he was at Whitelaw with (Peak once visited the family as a child and was smitten by their daughter Sidwell). He trails the family around Exeter until he has an 'accidental' encounter with Buckland and gets invited to their house. He meets Sidwell, now a beautiful and devoutly religious woman, and in a hypocritical volte face Peak declares himself a Christian and whats more his intent to take Holy Orders. This plan would give him two things he desires,an upper class wife and entry into a socially higher class through his vocation. He stays in Exeter to execute his plan and proximity to the Warricombes, especially Sidwell and her father, seems to be getting him closer to his goals.
However Buckland Warricombe distrusts him, seeing him as a social upstart, and seeks out Peak's London friends to ascertain his motives. He meets with the Moxeys and while there Malkin arrives, whose mouth runs away with him, exposing Peak's authorship of the article thus revealing Peak as a fraud and hypocrite. Marcella does not stop Malkin despite knowing the consequences for Peak, as it suits her ends to hamper Peak and Sidwell's relationship. Ironically Marcella is shown to be a better mate for Peak but he is more interested in Sidwell's beauty and social position.
Buckland exposes Peak as a hypocrite and possible fraudster to Sidwell and her father (who liked Peak believing him to be sympathetic to his anti-evolutionary Anglicanism). However Sidwell has fallen in love with Peak and forgives him but Peak feels he cannot stay in Exeter and be shamed by the revelation of his hypocrisy, reminiscent of his leaving college rather than be associated with tradespeople.
They part but keep up a cool, sporadic correspondence for some years. Then Marcella Moxey is killed while trying to prevent a horse being beaten and leaves her considerable wealth to Peak. He reluctantly accepts it (she had previously offered him money but he refused it) and now an independent man of means he proposes marriage to Sidwell. She almost accepts him but out of love and loyalty to her family, and father in particular, she turns him down. Denied his aspiration to marry into society Peak goes on a tour of Europe where he contracts Malaria and dies alone in a Viennese boarding-house. Thus Peak was born, lived and died in Exile. |
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] | In the play's prologue, the god Apollo comes out from Admetus' palace in Pherae (modern Velestino in Magnesia), dressed in white and carrying his golden bow, with the intention of leaving to avoid becoming stained by the imminent death of Alcestis, who is being comforted within. He offers an exposition of the events leading up to this moment. He hails the arrival of Thanatos (Death), who, dressed in black and carrying a sword, has come to the palace in his role as psychopomp to lead Alcestis to the underworld. Thanatos challenges Apollo's apparent defense of Alcestis and accuses him of "twisting slippery tricks" when he helped Admetus cheat death in the first place. Apollo reassures him and, in a passage of swift stichomythic banter, proposes a postponement of Alcestis' death, which is sarcastically rebuffed. "For once," Thanatos concludes, "you may not have what is not yours." Defeated, Apollo leaves angrily, prophesying the arrival of a man (Heracles) who will wrestle Alcestis away from Death. Alone with the audience, Thanatos warns that "this was a god of many words; but words / are not enough," before he summons the doors open with the tip of his sword and slowly enters the palace.
The entry of the chorus, or the "parodos" sequence, follows: a chorus of fifteen men of Pherae, led by a "coryphaeus" (chorus-leader), enter the orchestra of the theatre. The chorus-leader complains that they are in a state of suspense, ignorant of whether they ought to be performing mourning rituals for their queen. The chorus' lyrical ode, to which they dance as they sing, consists of two paired stanzas of strophe and antistrophe. They sing of the silence that greets their search for signs of mourning, the evidence of Alcestis' death. "When goodness dies," they lament, "all good men suffer, too." The chorus-leader concludes by dismissing the chorus' search for hope in the situation: "The King has exhausted every ritual."
The first episode begins with a maidservant, who enters from the palace in tears. When the chorus-leader presses her for news, she gives a confusing response: "She is alive. And dead." Alcestis stands, she explains, at this moment on the brink of life and death. The chorus-leader anxiously confirms that all of the customary preparations have been made for her proper burial. The maidservant joins the chorus-leader in praising Alcestis' virtue. She narrates a long description of Alcestis' prayers and preparations to die earlier that morning, when Alcestis cried over the bridal bed that will destroy her, embraced her sobbing children, and bade all farewell. She describes how Admetus held Alcestis weeping in his arms while her eyes clung to the sight of the last rays of sun she would see. The maidservant welcomes the chorus-leader to the palace and goes inside to inform Admetus of their arrival.
Alcestis, on her death-bed, requests that in return for her sacrifice, Admetus never again marry, nor forget her or place a resentful stepmother in charge of their children. Admetus agrees to this and also promises to lead a life of solemnity in her honour, abstaining from the merrymaking that was an integral part of his household. Alcestis then dies.
Just afterwards, Admetus' old friend Heracles arrives at the palace, having no idea of the sorrow that has befallen the place. Unwilling to turn a guest away, the king decides not to burden Heracles with the sad news and instructs the servants to make him welcome and to keep their mouths shut. By doing this, Admetus breaks his promise to Alcestis to abstain from merrymaking during the period that follows her death. Heracles gets drunk and begins to irritate the servants, who loved their queen and are bitter at not being allowed to mourn her properly. Finally, one of the servants snaps at the guest and tells him what has happened.
Heracles is deeply embarrassed at his blunder and his bad behaviour and he decides to ambush and confront Death when the funerary sacrifices are made at Alcestis' tomb. When he returns, he brings with him a veiled woman whom he tells Admetus he has won in a competition. He asks his host to take her and look after her while Heracles is away on his labours. After much discussion, he finally forces a reluctant Admetus to take her by the hand, but when he lifts the veil, he finds that it appears to be Alcestis, back from the dead. Heracles has battled Death and forced him to give her up. She cannot speak for three days, after which she will be purified and fully restored to life. |
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] | In 1978, con artists Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) have started a relationship and are working together. Sydney has improved Rosenfeld's scams, posing as English aristocrat "Lady Edith Greensly." Irving loves Sydney, though is hesitant to leave his unstable and histrionic wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), fearing he will lose contact with her son Danny, whom Irving has adopted. Rosalyn has also threatened to report Irving to the police if he leaves her. FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) catches Irving and Sydney in a loan scam, but offers to release them if Irving can line up four additional arrests. Richie believes Sydney is English but has proof that her claim of aristocracy is fraudulent. Sydney tells Irving she will manipulate Richie, distancing herself from Irving.
Irving has a friend pretending to be a wealthy Arab sheikh looking for potential investments in America. An associate of Irving's suggests the sheikh do business with Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) of Camden, New Jersey, who is campaigning to revitalize gambling in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but has struggled in fundraising. Carmine seems to have a genuine desire to help the area's economy and his constituents. Richie devises a plan to make mayor Polito the target of a sting operation, despite the objections of Irving and of Richie's boss, Stoddard Thorsen (Louis C.K.). Sydney helps Richie manipulate an FBI secretary into making an unauthorized wire transfer of $2,000,000. When Stoddard's boss, Anthony Amado (Alessandro Nivola), hears of the operation, he praises Richie's initiative, pressuring Stoddard to continue.
Carmine leaves their meeting when Richie presses him to accept a cash bribe. Irving convinces Carmine the sheikh is legitimate, expressing his dislike of Richie, and the two become friends. Richie arranges for Carmine to meet the sheikh, and without consulting the others, has Mexican-American FBI agent Paco Hernandez (Michael Pe単a) play the sheikh, which displeases Irving. Carmine brings the sheikh to a casino party, explaining mobsters are there and it is a necessary part of doing business. Irving is surprised to hear that Mafia overlord Victor Tellegio (Robert De Niro), right-hand man to Meyer Lansky, is present, and that he wants to meet the sheikh. Mafia man Tellegio explains that the business needs the sheikh to become an American citizen and that Carmine will need to expedite the process. Tellegio also requires a $10,000,000 wire transfer to prove the sheikh's legitimacy.
Richie confesses his strong attraction to Sydney but becomes confused and aggressive when she drops her English accent and admits to being from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rosalyn starts an affair with a mobster Pete Musane (Jack Huston), whom she met at the party. She mentions her belief that Irving is working with the Internal Revenue Service, causing Pete to threaten Irving, who promises to prove the sheikh's investment is real. Irving later confronts Rosalyn, who admits she told Pete and agrees to keep quiet but wants a divorce. With Carmine's help, Richie and Irving videotape members of Congress receiving bribes. Richie assaults Stoddard in a fight over the money and later convinces Amado that he needs the US$10,000,000 to get Tellegio, but gets only US$2,000,000. A meeting is arranged at the offices of Tellegio's lawyer, Alfonse Simone (Paul Herman), but Tellegio does not appear.
Irving visits Carmine and admits to the scam, but says he has a plan to help him. Carmine throws Irving out and the loss of their friendship hits Irving hard. The feds inform Irving that their US$2,000,000 is missing, and that they have received an anonymous offer to return the money in exchange for Irving and Sydney's immunity and a reduced sentence for Carmine. Amado accepts the deal and Stoddard removes Richie from the case, which effectively ends his career, dropping him back into obscurity. Irving and Sydney move in together and open a legitimate art gallery, while Rosalyn lives with Pete and shares custody of Danny with Irving. |
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] | Indefer Jones is the aged squire, between seventy and eighty years of age, of a large manor, Llanfeare, in Carmarthen, Wales. His niece, Isabel Brodrick, has lived with him for years after the remarriage of her father, and endeared herself to everyone. However, according to his strong traditional beliefs, the estate should be bequeathed to a male heir.
His sole male blood relative is his nephew Henry Jones, a London clerk. Henry has, in the past, incurred debts that the squire had paid off, been "sent away from Oxford", and generally made a poor impression on his occasional visits to Llanfeare. Nevertheless, Henry is told of his uncle's intention to make him the heir to the estate and is invited to pay a visit. Isabel rejects her uncle's suggestion that she solve his dilemma by marrying Henry, as she cannot stand her cousin. Indefer Jones finds his nephew to be just as detestable as ever. As a result, he overcomes his prejudice and changes his will one final time, in Isabel's favour. Unfortunately, he dies before he can tell anyone.
Finding the document hidden in a book of sermons by accident, Henry vacillates between keeping silent and revealing its location. He is neither good enough to give up the estate nor evil enough to burn the document, fearing disgrace, a long jail sentence and, not least, eternal damnation. Instead, he comforts himself by reasoning that doing nothing cannot be a crime.
Indefer Jones had had his last will witnessed by two of his tenants, but since the will cannot be found despite a thorough search of the house, Henry inherits the estate. However, already extant suspicions are only strengthened by his guilty manner. He endures abuse from everyone; his own servants either quit or treat him with disrespect. He takes to spending hours in the library, where the will is hidden.
The local newspaper begins to publish accounts of the affair that are insulting and seemingly libelous to Henry. It accuses him of destroying the will and usurping the estate from Isabel, whom everybody knows and respects. The old squire's lawyer, Mr Apjohn, himself suspecting that Henry knows more than he lets on, approaches the new squire about the articles, pressuring the unwilling young man into taking legal action against the editor. Henry finds that this only makes things worse. The prospect of being cross examined in the witness box fills him with dread. He realises the truth would be dragged out of him in court.
Mr Apjohn, by clever questioning, gets a good idea about where the will is. Henry knows that time is running out, but once again procrastinates. Mr Apjohn and Mr Brodrick, Isabel's father, visit Henry at home and find the document, despite Henry's ineffectual efforts to stop them. Because he did not destroy the will, Henry is permitted to return to his job in London with his reputation intact and ÂŁ4000, the amount Isabel was bequeathed in the other will. |
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] | No one really knows Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), who lives as a hermit deep in the woods. Rumors surround him, such as how he might have killed in cold blood, and that he's in league with the devil. So the town is surprised when Felix shows up in town with a fat wad of cash, requesting a "funeral party" at Reverend Gus Horton's church for himself. Rev. Horton declines this proposal. Frank Quinn (Bill Murray), the owner of the local funeral parlor in financial trouble, coveting Bush's wad of cash, agrees to advertise a funeral party at which the townsfolk will be invited to tell Felix Bush the stories they've heard about him. To ensure a good turnout, a lottery is organized, with Bush's property as the prize. Many people buy tickets.
Things get more complicated when an old mystery is remembered, involving a local widow named Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek), who was Bush's girlfriend in their youth, and her deceased sister, Mary Lee Stroup (Arin Logan). With the help of a preacher who insists on Bush telling Mattie the truth, Bush tells those gathered at his funeral party (including Mattie) what happened forty years earlier. He reveals his affair with Mattie's married sister, Mary Lee. He confesses to Mattie that it was Mary Lee who was his true love, his only love. They made plans to run away together, and when she didn't arrive at the agreed place, he went to her home to search for her. He discovered that her husband had attacked her with a hammer, knocking her out. The husband threw a kerosene lamp against a wall to set the house on fire and kill himself, the unconscious Mary Lee, and Bush. Bush freed himself from the attacking husband, but as his clothes caught fire, he also saw Mary Lee catch fire. As he went to put the fire out, he felt himself flying through the window, possibly pushed by the husband, and he was unable to re-enter the house to save Mary Lee.
Mattie returns, seeming to forgive Bush. He sees what appears to be the ghost of Mary Lee down the lane. He dies shortly after his funeral party. His actual funeral service is held on a burial plot on his property. Charlie officiates the ceremony, with Reverend Gus Horton, Buddy, his wife and child, Mattie and Frank in attendance. After a short benediction from Charlie, Mattie places a portrait of her sister, Mary Lee on Felix's casket, signifying her forgiveness of his past actions and allowing them to be together, even if only figuratively. The mourners leave Felix's property as his grave is filled. |
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] | The novel, which is intensely autobiographical as Rihani himself immigrated as a child, tells the story of two boys, named Khalid and Shakib, from Baalbek in Lebanon (at the time, the Syrian province of the Ottoman Empire) who migrate together to the United States, coming by ship through Ellis Island and enduring the classic "Via Dolorosa" of an immigrant. They move into a wet cellar in the Little Syria community of Lower Manhattan near Battery Park and begin to peddle counterfeit Holy Land trinkets and religious items throughout the city, a typical Arab endeavor in America. While Shakid, although himself a poet, is focused and accumulates savings through peddling, Khalid becomes distracted and turns away from commercial activity toward frantically consuming Western literature and participating in the New York City intellectual and bohemian scene. At one point, he burns his peddling box, decrying the dishonesty of their sales.
After exhaustion from reckless "bohemian" pursuits, Khalid shifts towards party politics when he is offered the position of a functionary and ward for the Arab community in the machine politics of the city. However, Khalid insists on moral purity in his political work, causing conflict with his "Boss." As a result, he is jailed for a brief time of ten days (Shakid helps secure his release) under the charge of misapplying public funds. The two decide to return to Lebanon before long, and Khalid then shifts back to intense peddling for a time, paying off his accumulated debts and earning funds for return passage.
Describing the result of their return, Christoph Schumann has stated that "the subsequent course of events mirrors the progress of his American experience: spiritual retreat, political activism, and persecution." Khalid soon engages in a series of actions that anger Maronite clerics in his home city. He refuses to attend church services and spreads pamphlets and ideas seen as heretical. Moreover, he presses his wish to marry Najma, a young cousin, but Church leaders refuse to grant consent. As result of the growing conflict, Khalid is excommunicated, Najma is forced to marry another, and Khalid moves to the mountain forests and starts to live as a hermit.
During this period of exile, he contemplates nature and integrates lessons learned in America with his views on the cultural and political dilemmas of the Arab world. He evolves into a self-identified "voice" for the Arabs, and chooses to return to spread his views on liberation from the Ottoman empire and on the importance of religious unity and scientific progress. Khalid travels to different cities engaging in political and spiritual speech, periodically writing letters to Shakib. During his travels, Khalid meets an American Baha'i woman named Mrs. Gotfry with whom he discursively engages on questions of love and religion. He travels to Damascus where he speaks in the Great Mosque about his views of the West and of religious tradition, producing a riot and prompting the Ottoman authorities to pursue his arrest. He flees with Mrs. Gotfry to Baalbek, where he meets Shakib and learns that Najma, along with her young son, is abandoned and now ill. All together (Khalid, Mrs. Gotfry, Najma, her son, and Shakib), they flee to the Egyptian desert to escape the Ottoman authorities. After an idyllic period in the desert of several months, Mrs. Gotfry and Shakib leave. Najma's son, Najid, dies suddenly of an unexpected illness, and Najma relapses and follows him in death in her grief. Khalid disappears and does not contact Shakib; his whereabouts are unknown. |
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] | Rupert Saint Leger inherits his uncle's estate worth more than one million pounds, on condition that he live for a year in his uncle's castle in the Land of the Blue Mountains on the Dalmatian coast. There Rupert tries to win the trust of the conservative mountaineer population by using his fortune to buy them modern arms (from a South American country that has unexpectedly found itself at peace) for their fight against Turkish invasion (the story was written shortly before the Balkan Wars). One wet night, he is visited in his room in the castle by a pale woman wearing a wet shroud, seeking warmth. He lets her dry herself before his fire, and she flees before morning. She visits several more times, all at night, and they hardly speak, but he falls in love with her, despite thinking she is a vampire. He visits the local church and finds her in a glass-topped stone coffin in the crypt. Despite misgivings he declares his love, be she living or undead, and she arranges the marriage in an Orthodox ceremony conducted by candlelight in the church one night, although he still does not know her name, and she says she must still live alone in the crypt for the present.
Soon afterwards, she is kidnapped by a forward party of Turkish troops, and he learns that she, Teuta, is not undead, but the living daughter of the local Voivode, who is currently returning from a visit to America. She had fallen into a trance, and was declared dead, but then revived, and the local leaders and clergy spread a story of vampirism which was more acceptable, after the (mistaken) news of her death, to the uneducated locals than the truth. Living up to this story, she had spent her days in the coffin in the crypt, but during heavy rain when the crypt flooded, came out seeking warmth in the castle in which she had grown up, and knew all the secret entrances, and hence her meetings with Rupert behind locked gates.
Rupert leads a relief force which kills her kidnappers and rescues her. But news immediately arrives that the Voivode has just returned to the country only to be kidnapped by Turks himself. They race back to the coast, and Rupert unloads an aeroplane with a near-silent engine from the munitions ship which has also just arrived, along with sets of bullet-proof clothes. The kidnapped Voivode is tracked to a nearby castle ruin, and Rupert pilots the plane onto the castle wall as if it were a balloon or dirigible, lowers Teuta by rope to her father. He dons a set of the bullet proof clothes which Teuta and Rupert are also wearing, and Rupert hauls both up to the aircraft which he silently flies off. The castle is then attacked by local troops and the Turks defeated.
Teuta subsequently reveals her marriage to Rupert to her father, who welcomes him into the family, and the country. |
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] | Bobby has ties to the local mafia boss, Max, but works as an honest mason for Max's construction projects. He fights in amateur boxing matches on the side, but his career is lackluster (five wins, five losses, one draw). Struggling to support his stripper girlfriend Jessica and her daughter Chloe, Bobby decides to do a mafia job for Max. Against his better judgment, he brings along his ne'er-do-well friend Ricky.
Bobby and Ricky go to New York to act as Max's representatives for a money laundering deal with his East Coast partner, Ruiz. They meet Jimmy, who will be their driver, and Horrace, who is connected to both Max and Ruiz. Ricky and Bobby squabble throughout their trip as Ricky tries to live large while Bobby wants to stay cautious and stick to the letter of Max's instructions. Ruiz has a low opinion of the pair, but sends them off to show his criminal contact, the Welshman, a good time. Gaffing several times along the way, the pair eventually manage to arrange a deal between Ruiz and the Welshman's Westie contacts.
Ricky grows suspicious of Ruiz, and insists that they bring a gun to their meeting with the Westies. Bobby adamantly refuses. On the day of the meet, Ricky has disappeared, but Jimmy insists that Bobby carry on with the meeting. As Bobby begins to grow suspicious of Jimmy, he meets with the Welshman and the Westies. The Westies double-cross Bobby and the Welshman, but Ricky arrives from a side entrance with a gun. A Westie recognizes Ricky's weapon as a starter pistol and a fight breaks out. Jimmy arrives with a real pistol and sends the boys away while he deals with the Westies.
Back in Los Angeles, Bobby severs all business ties with Max. Arriving home, he discovers Jessica in bed with a client and snorting cocaine. Bobby tries to convince Jessica to clean up her act for Chloe's sake, but Jessica refuses. Instead, she asks that Bobby take custody of Chloe and leave. In an epilogue set at Chuck E. Cheese's, we learn that Bobby and Ricky are now raising Chloe together, although the two friends still bicker constantly. |
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] | Two Irish American fraternal twin brothers, Connor and Murphy MacManus, attend a Catholic Mass, where the priest mentions the fate of Kitty Genovese. Later, when Connor and Murphy are celebrating St. Patrick's Day with friends, three Russian mobsters arrive and announce they want to close the pub and take over the land it is built on. A brawl ensues and the next morning, when two of the Russians seek revenge on Connor and Murphy, the mobsters are killed in an act of self-defense.
FBI Agent Paul Smecker is assigned to the case, and finds that the police and local news reporters see the MacManus brothers as heroes. The duo turn themselves in at a police station, where Smecker interviews them. After they retell their incident to Smecker, he declines to press charges and allows them to spend the night in a holding cell to avoid attention from the media. That night, they receive what appears to be a "calling" from God telling them to hunt down wicked men so that the innocent will flourish.
Connor and Murphy resolve to rid Boston of evil men. Connor learns of a meeting of Russian syndicate bosses at a hotel. Having equipped themselves with weaponry from a local underground gun dealer, the brothers quickly kill all nine Russian mobsters, while Rocco, a friend of the brothers and mob errand boy for local mafia boss Giuseppe "Papa Joe" Yakavetta, is sent in on an independent hit as an unknowing throwaway. The next day, Rocco learns that he was betrayed by Papa Joe, the hit amounting to an attempt to have Rocco killed by the nine Russian mobsters as he was sent in with only a six-shot revolver. As a result, Rocco commits himself to help Connor and Murphy. That night, the MacManus brothers and Rocco hunt down an underboss of the Yakavetta crime family, Vincenzo Lapazzi, and kill him.
Concerned he may be a target, Papa Joe contacts a hitman, Il Duce, to deal with them. After killing a criminal that Rocco had a personal hatred for, the three men are ambushed by Il Duce. Although they manage to chase Il Duce away, the three men suffer serious wounds, the most serious being the loss of Rocco's finger. The three return to a safehouse where they cauterize each other's wounds.
Hours later as the police conduct an investigation at the crime scene, the investigation seems futile since the brothers covered their tracks by spraying any blood left behind with ammonia. However, Smecker happens upon the part of the finger lost by Rocco and decides to do an independent investigation to see who was behind the gun battle. Smecker is able to track the evidence down to Rocco and his two allies. This leaves Smecker in a difficult scenario, and struggles with the choice of whether to prosecute the three men, or join them in their cause, as Smecker had become sympathetic towards the brothers' actions. After getting drunk at a gay bar and subsequently getting advice from a reluctant priest, Smecker decides to help the trio.
Later, the brothers and Rocco inform Smecker that they plan to infiltrate the Yakavetta headquarters to finish off the family, but Smecker learns they are walking into a trap. The brothers are captured, and Rocco is shot and killed by Papa Joe, but the brothers are able to free themselves. As Papa Joe leaves his house, Smecker arrives in drag and kills a number of soldiers before being knocked unconscious by Il Duce. As the brothers say their family prayer over Rocco, Il Duce enters the room and prepares to open fire. However, he instead finishes the prayer - revealing he is the brothers' father and deciding to join his two sons in their mission.
Three months later, Papa Joe is sent to trial for a third time. However, the reporters on-scene anticipate his acquittal. The brothers and Il Duce, aided by Smecker, infiltrate the trial after sliding their weapons over the metal detector. Unmasked, they make a speech stating that they intend to eradicate evil wherever they find it before reciting their family prayer and killing Papa Joe. The media dubs the three as "the Saints", and the movie ends with various candid interviews with the public, reflecting on the question "Are the Saints ultimately good... or evil?" |
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] | Junior risk analyst Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley), his more senior colleague Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), and trading desk head Will Emerson (Paul Bettany) watch as human resources staff of their (never-named) firm, along with building security, conduct an unannounced mass layoff right on their trading floor, at the start of an otherwise normal business day. One of the fired employees is Peter and Seth's boss, Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), head of risk management on the floor. Dale attempts to tell his now former employer that the firm should look into what he has been working on, but the contracted human resources staff have no interest other than him quickly leaving the building. While Dale is being escorted out, he gives Peter a USB memory stick with a project he had been working on, telling him to "be careful" just as he boards the elevator.
That night, Sullivan finishes Dale's project and discovers that current volatility in the firm's portfolio of mortgage-backed securities will soon exceed the historical volatility levels of the positions. Because of excessive leverage, if the firm's assets decrease by 25% in value, the firm will suffer a loss greater than its market capitalization. He also discovers that, given the normal length of time that the firm holds such securities, this loss must occur. Sullivan alerts Emerson, who calls floor head Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey).
These now key employees remain at the firm for a series of meetings with progressively more senior executives, including division head Jared Cohen (Simon Baker), chief risk management officer Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), and finally CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons). Cohen's plan is for the firm to quickly sell all of the toxic assets before the market learns of their worthlessness, thereby limiting the firm's exposure, a course favored by Tuld over Rogers's strong objection. Rogers warns Cohen and Tuld that dumping the firm's toxic assets will spread the risk throughout the financial sector and will destroy the firm's relationships with its counterparties. He also warns Cohen that their customers will quickly learn of the firm's plans, once they realize that the firm is only selling the toxic securities.
They finally locate Dale, who had been missing after service to his company phone was deactivated. He has been persuaded to come in with the promise of a generous fee and the threat of having his severance package challenged if he didn't. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Robertson, Cohen, and Tuld were aware of the risks in the weeks leading up to the crisis. Tuld plans to offer Robertson's resignation to the board and employees as a scapegoat.
Before the markets open, Rogers tells his traders they will receive seven-figure bonuses if they achieve a 93% reduction in certain MBS asset classes in a "fire sale". He admits that the traders are effectively ending their careers by destroying their relationships with their clients. Meanwhile, Robertson and Dale sit in an office, being paid handsomely to do nothing for the day; Robertson vigorously defends herself that she warned of the risks although perhaps not loudly enough. Emerson keeps on closing the positions, but his counterparties become increasingly agitated and suspicious as the day wears on. After trading hours end, Rogers watches the same human resources team begin another round of layoffs on his floor. He confronts Tuld in the executive dining area and asks to resign, but Tuld dismisses his protests, claiming that the current crisis is really no different from various crashes and bear markets of the past, and that sharp gains and losses are simply part of the economic cycle. He persuades Rogers to stay at the firm for another two years, promising that there will be a lot of money to be made from the coming crisis. Rogers notices Sullivan meeting with Cohen; Tuld informs Rogers he will promote Sullivan.
In the final scene, Rogers is shown in his ex-wife's front lawn late at night, burying his dog that has died of cancerâthinking that since the dog had spent most of its life there that it should be buried there. His ex-wife comes out and reminds him that he doesn't live there anymore. She reassures him that their son, who is implied to also work on Wall Street, took a hit from the day's trading but will be okay. As the credits roll, Rogers continues to dig. |
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] | Similar to Joseph Conrad's better-known Heart of Darkness, Youth begins with a narrator describing five men drinking claret around a mahogany table. They are all veterans of the merchant navy. The main character, Marlow, tells the story of his first voyage to the East as second mate on board the Judea. The story is set twenty-two years earlier, when Marlow was 20. With two years of experience, most recently as third mate aboard a crack clipper, Marlow receives a billet as second mate on the barque Judea. The skipper is Captain John Beard, a man of about 60. This is Beard's first command. The Judea is an old boat, belonging to a man "Wilmer, Wilcox or something similar", suffering from age and disuse in Shadewell basin. The 400-ton ship is commissioned to take 600 tons of coal from England to Thailand. The trip should take approximately 150 days. The ship leaves London loaded with sand ballast and heads north to the Senn river to pick up the cargo of coal. On her way, the Judea suffers from her ballast shifting aside and the crew go below to put things right again. The trip takes 16 days because of inclement weather, and the battered ship must use a tug boat to get into port. The Judea waits a month on the Tyne to be loaded with coal. The night before she ships out she is hit by a steamer, the Miranda or the Melissa. The damage takes another three weeks to repair. Three months after leaving London, the Judea ships off for Bangkok.
The Judea travels through the North Sea and Britain. 300 miles west of the Lizard a winter storm, 'the famous winter gale of twenty-two years ago', hits. The storm "guts" the Judea; she is stripped of her stanchions, ventilators, bulwarks, cabin-door, and deck house. The oakum is stripped from her bottom seams and the men are forced to work at the pumps "watch and watch" to keep the ship afloat. After weathering the storm they must fight their way against the wind back to Falmouth to be refitted. Despite three attempts to leave, the Judea ultimately remains in Falmouth for more than six months until she is finally overhauled, recaulked, and refitted with a new copper hull. During the laborious overhaul, the cargo is wetted, knocked about, and reloaded multiple times. The rats abandon the reshipped barque and a new crew is brought in from Liverpool (because no sailor will sail on a ship abandoned by rats).
The Judea ships out to Bangkok, running at times 8 knots, but mostly averaging 3 miles per hour. Near the coast of Western Australia, the cargo spontaneously combusts. The crew attempts to smother the fire, but the hull cannot be made airtight. Then they attempt to flood the fire with water, but they cannot fill the hull. One hundred and ninety miles out from Java Head, the gases in the hull explode and blow up the deck; Marlow is hurled into the air and falls on the burning debris of the deck. The Judea hails a passing steamer, the Sommerville, which agrees to tow the wounded ship to Anjer or Batavia. Captain Beard intends to scuttle the Judea there to put out the fire, and then resurface her and resume the voyage to Bangkok. However, the speed of the Sommerville fans the smoldering fire into flames. The crew of the Judea is forced to send the steamer on without them while they attempt to save possibly most of the ship's gear for the underwriters. The gear is loaded into three small boats, which head due north towards Java. Before the crew leaves the Judea, they enjoy a last meal on deck. Marlow becomes skipper of the smallest of the ship's three boats. All the boats make it safely into a Java port, where they book passage on the steamer Celestial, which is on her return trip to England.
The story is loosely based upon reality. One of Conrad's pen-pals, or friends, discovered the secret of the port at which the boats called: the port was Muntok. Conrad became angry with him, calling Muntok 'a beastly hole'. The boats of the real ship reached the safety only after several hours, Marlow was a bit younger than Conrad etc. |
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] | During a late-night beach party on Amity Island, a young woman goes swimming in the ocean. While treading water, she is violently pulled under. The next morning, her partial remains are found on shore. The medical examiner ruling the death a shark attack leads Police Chief Martin Brody to close the beaches. Mayor Larry Vaughn overrules him, fearing it will ruin the town's summer economy. The coroner now concurs with the mayor's theory that the girl was killed in a boating accident. Brody reluctantly accepts their conclusion until another fatal shark attack occurs shortly after. Amid an amateur shark-hunting frenzy, local professional shark hunter Quint offers his services for $10,000. Meanwhile, consulting oceanographer Matt Hooper examines the first victim's remains and concludes the death was from a shark attack.
When local fishermen catch a large tiger shark, the mayor proclaims the beaches safe. Hooper disputes it being the same predator, confirming this after no human remains are found inside it. Hooper and Brody find a half-sunken boat while searching the night waters in Hooper's boat. Hooper examines it underwater and retrieves a sizable great white shark's tooth embedded in the hull. He drops it after finding a partial corpse. Vaughn discounts Brody and Hooper's claims that a huge great white shark is responsible and refuses to close the beaches, allowing only added safety precautions. On the Fourth of July weekend, tourists pack the beaches. Following a juvenile prank, the real shark enters a nearby estuary, killing a boater and causing Brody's oldest son Michael to go into temporary shock. Brody finally convinces a devastated Vaughn to hire Quint.
Quint, Brody, and Hooper set out on Quint's boat, the Orca, to hunt the shark. While Brody lays down a chum line, Quint waits for an opportunity to hook the shark. Without warning, it appears behind the boat. Quint, estimating its length at 25 feet (7.6Â m), harpoons it with a line attached to a flotation barrel, but the shark pulls the barrel underwater and disappears.
At nightfall, the three retire to the boat's cabin and swap stories. The great white returns unexpectedly, ramming the boat's hull and killing the power. The men work through the night repairing the engine. In the morning, Brody attempts to call the Coast Guard, but Quint smashes the radio, enraging Brody. After a long chase, Quint harpoons another barrel into the shark. The line is tied to the stern, but the shark drags the boat backwards, swamping the deck and flooding the engine compartment. Quint severs the line to prevent the transom from being pulled out. He heads toward shore to draw the shark into shallower waters, but the overtaxed engine quits, immobilizing the boat.
With the Orca slowly sinking, the trio attempt a riskier approach: Hooper dons scuba gear and enters the water in a shark-proof cage, intending to lethally inject the shark with strychnine using a hypodermic spear. The shark demolishes the cage before Hooper can inject it, but he manages to escape to the seabed. The shark then attacks the boat directly, crushing the transom and devouring Quint. Trapped on the sinking vessel, Brody stuffs a pressurized scuba tank into the shark's mouth, and, climbing the mast, shoots the tank with a rifle. The resulting explosion obliterates the shark. Hooper resurfaces, and he and Brody paddle to Amity Island clinging to boat wreckage. |
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] | The hero of the book is Neal "Storm" Cloud. Although the story happens in the “Lensman” universe he is not a Lensman. Instead he is a nuclear engineer with an amazingly mathematical mind. He is a high level genius and a lightning calculator. In his universe there is something we have apparently don't have in ours, self-sustaining vortices of atomic energy. These are like a small piece of the heart of a star. A churning vortex of heat and light that slowly grows while consuming whatever it is in contact with. In theory they can be blown out by a precise amount of explosives, placed at an exact spot in the vortex, at exactly the right time. The problem is, it takes the best computers available hours to calculate the factors needed, and only seconds are available to get the correct amount of explosives on target. Also, if you try to blow one out, but don't get the factors right, all you do is split the vortex into many separate vortices and scatter them far and wide, and soon each is as dangerous as the original. Although Storm Cloud, being a nuclear engineer and lightning calculator, should be able to calculate the factors and extinguish a vortex, in practice he can't. It would be very dangerous and Storm has a wife and kids, and putting himself in that kind of danger ties his mind up with worry so much that he just can't do it.
Then things change in a major way. Cloud's family is tragically killed when a misguided attempt blow out a vortex lands one of the fragments right on his house. Devastated by the loss of his family, Cloud takes a leave of absence from the Radiation Lab where he works studying the vortices. As he drives he is struck with an idea for "blowing out" a vortex. It is slightly technical (Smith explains it so it can be easily followed), but the general idea is that Cloud's brain works so fast that he can calculate exactly where the center of the vortex will be at a moment in time and how big an explosive is needed, then hit it with a bomb that is set at the exact strength to actually extinguish the vortex instead of blowing it apart and making more vortices.
This works, and it makes Cloud a very popular guy. As it continues the book tells of Cloud's new job as the universe's one and only vortex blaster. This job takes him from planet to planet where he blows out vortices, matches wits against drug dealers and gangsters, meets new life forms, and acquires a crew for his small scout ship. His adventures are many and varied, and the lifeforms he meets are strange and interesting.
Eventually the Galactic Patrol decides that having only one “Vortex Blaster” is inviting disaster. If something happens to Storm Cloud, they are at the mercy of the loose vortices again. As a result, Dr. Cloud is called back to Tellus (what the Earth is called in Smith's stories) and given a new ship. A specially modified, light cruiser (called Vortex Blaster II ) outfitted to carry everything that is needed to extinguish vortices. He is also introduced to Joan Janowick, the leading computer expert of Civilization. Her job is to build a computer that can reproduce whatever it was that Storm Cloud does and blow out vortices like he can. Working closely with Joan on a series of ever faster computers, his eyes soon turn more and more toward his pretty, super smart, and self-taught psychic co-worker and his heart begins to heal. As they fall in love, he bonds psionically with Joan, a pivotal point in the novel, as this leads him to find and communicate with the pure-energy alien beings that have been unknowingly causing the problems. The original vortices are found to be the incubators that an alien species uses to breed and raise its young! That makes the Vortex Blaster an inadvertent murderer of children, a fact that does cause him anguish. In the end an agreement is reached, the aliens close down the "incubators" and move their offspring to vortices the Patrol has helped set up on uninhabited planets. As the story ends, "Storm" Cloud, the Vortex Blaster, is out of a job. |
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] | In 2017, widespread use of remotely controlled androids called "surrogates" allows everyone to live in idealized forms from the safety of their homes. In contrast to their surrogates, the human operators are depicted as slovenly and homebound. A surrogate's operator is protected from harm and feels no pain when the surrogate is damaged. FBI agent Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) has a strained relationship with his wife Maggie (Rosamund Pike), as a result of their son's death several years before. He never sees her outside of her surrogate and she criticizes his desire to interact via their real bodies.
Tom and his partner, Agent Jennifer Peters (Radha Mitchell), investigate the death of two people who were killed when their surrogates were destroyed at a club. Jarid Canter (Shane Dzicek), one of the victims, is the son of Dr. Lionel Canter (James Cromwell), the inventor of surrogates. Tom and Jennifer determine that a human named Miles Strickland (Jack Noseworthy) used a new type of weapon to overload the surrogates' systems and kill their operators. After locating Strickland, Tom attempts to bring him into custody. Strickland uses the weapon and injures Tom during the chase; Tom inadvertently crash-lands into an anti-surrogate zone known as the Dread Reservation (one of many throughout the United States). A mob of humans eventually destroys Tom's surrogate, forcing him to interact in the world without one. The Dread leader known as The Prophet (Ving Rhames) kills Strickland and confiscates the weapon.
Tom learns from Colonel Brendan (Michael Cudlitz) that the same company manufacturing the surrogates originally produced the weapon under a government contract. It was designed to load a virus that overloads the surrogate's systems, thus disabling it. Unexpectedly, the weapon also disabled the fail-safe protocols protecting surrogate operators. After the first test, the project was scrapped and all but one prototype were destroyed.
Jennifer is murdered and an unknown party hijacks her surrogate. Tom is informed that Andrew Stone (Boris Kodjoe), his FBI superior, supplied the weapon to Strickland and ordered Dr. Canter's assassination for his criticism of surrogate use. Jarid, using one of his father's many surrogates, was killed instead. The Prophet orders the weapon be delivered to Jennifer. During a military raid on the reservation led by Col. Brendan, the Prophet is shot, revealing his identity as a surrogate, with none other than Dr. Canter himself as the operator.
Tom goes to Dr. Canter's home and discovers that he has been controlling not only the Prophet, but Jennifer as well. Using Jennifer's surrogate in FBI Headquarters, Dr. Canter uses the weapon to kill Stone and proceeds to upload the virus to all surrogates, which will destroy the surrogates and kill their operators. Believing his plan to be unstoppable, Canter disconnects from Jennifer's surrogate and swallows a cyanide pill. Tom takes control of Jennifer's surrogate and, with the assistance of the network's system administrator, Bobby Saunders (Devin Ratray), insulates the virus so the operators will survive. Tom can choose to either destroy all surrogates or simply cancel the virus upload. Tom ultimately decides to let the virus permanently shut down surrogates worldwide. People emerge from their homes without their surrogates, confused and afraid.
Tom returns home and shares an emotional embrace with Maggie in her real form. The film ends with an aerial view of the collapsed surrogates along with overlapping news reports of downed surrogates all over the world and how people are now "on their own" again. |
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] | In the first part of the book, Jakob Beer is a 7 year old child of a Jewish family living in Poland. His house is stormed by Nazis; he escapes the fate of his parents and his sister, Bella, by hiding behind the wallpaper in a cabinet. He hides in the forest, burying himself up to the neck in soil. After some time, he runs into an archaeologist, Athos Roussos, working on Biskupin. Athos secretly takes him to Zakynthos in Greece. Athos is also a geologist, and is fascinated with ancient wood and stones. Jakob learns Greek and English, but finds that learning new languages erases his memory of the past. After the war, Athos and Jakob move to Toronto, where after several years Jakob meets Alexandra in a music library. Alex is a fast-paced, outspokenly philosophical master of wordplay. Jakob and Alex fall in love and marry, but the relationship fails because Alex expects Jakob to change too fast and abandon his past. Jakob dwells constantly on his memories of Bella, especially her piano-playing, and they end up divorcing. Jakob meets and marries Michaela, a much younger woman but one who seems to understand him, and with Michaela's help he is able to let go of Bella. Together they move to Greece into the former home of several generations of the Roussos family.
The second part of the book is told from the perspective of Ben, a Canadian professor of Jewish descent who was born in Canada to survivors of the Holocaust. In 1954 the family home in Weston, Ontario is destroyed by Hurricane Hazel. Ben becomes an expert on the history of weather, and marries a girl named Naomi. He is a big admirer of Jakob's poetry and respects the way he deals with the Holocaust, when Ben himself has trouble coping with the horrors his parents must have endured. At the end of the novel, Ben is sent to retrieve Jakob's journals from his home in Greece, where Ben spends hours swimming in Jakob's past. |
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] | Boon opens with an introduction by Wells, calling it "an indiscreet, ill-advised book." Wells pretends to repudiate any public identification with the work: "Bliss is Bliss and Wells is Wells. And Bliss can write all sorts of things that Wells could not do."
As he was to do in The Research Magnificent, Wells creates a literary character (Reginald Bliss) who is making a book out of the literary remains of an author who has recently died (George Boon, a popular author of books and plays). Bliss attributes Boon's death to depression on account of the war. Bliss expresses disappointment that among Boon's papers (kept in "barrels in the attic") he has found "nothing but fragments" and "a curious abundance of queer little drawings," many of which are reproduced'.
The principal text by Boon that he presents is titled The Mind of the Race, which is "the singularly vivid and detailed and happily quite imaginary account of the murder of that eminent littĂŠrateur, Dr. Tomlinson Keyhole." Bliss also recounts conversations about the themes of this work which he has had with Boon and with Edwin Dodd, "a leading member of the Rationalist Press Association, a militant agnostic," and later with an author named Wilkins.
The principal philosophical theme engaged in Boon is whether such a thing as "the Mind of Humanity" can be said to exist, or whether, as Dodd believes, such a notion is "mysticism."
In the unfinished work Boon was planning, a character named Hallery is "fanatically obsessed by this idea of the Mind of the Race," as indeed Wells was himself. He is imagined lecturing unsuccessfully on the subject at a conference on the subject at a seaside villa that Henry James attends. Chapter 4 of Boon is largely a frontal assault on Henry James's late manner, and contains long pastiches of his style. James's belief that a novel should have unity is vigorously attacked, as are his characters ("eviscerated people he has invented" who "never make lusty love, never go to angry war, never shout at an election or perspire at poker," but only "nose out suspicions, hint by hint, link by link"). Chapter 5 mocks other writers, especially George Bernard Shaw, and includes an outline of a paper on "The Natural History of Greatness, with especial reference to Literary Reputations" that shows that some of Wells's critical notions were far ahead of his time. Wells's stand-in Hallery argues for an expansion of the concept of literature that anticipates future critical developments. Chapter 6 analyses the resistance Hallery's quasi-religious concept of the institution of literature inspires, even in Hallery himself. Chapter 7 criticises the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche and lambastes Houston Stewart Chamberlain's pro-German work The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century.
Boon concludes with two humorous symbolic tales entitled "The Wild Asses of the Devil" and "The Last Trump." The latter tale engages theological themes that Wells would soon be developing in a serious vein in God the Invisible King (1917). |
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] | The tale of "The Wonderful Toymaker" begins with a spoiled princess named Petulant, an eight-year-old girl who cannot be pleased at any cost. Her father, the King, gathers his council together to help find a toy for the Princess that will surpass all others. The Prime Minister volunteers his son Martin to find the princess a special toy. Martin talks with Princess Petulant and promises to return in four weeks with an amazing toy.
At the beginning of Martin’s journey he encounters Bobolink, the Purple Enchanter who knows everything. Martin hopes that Bobolink will help him to find his way to The Wonderful Toymaker. However, Bobolink is annoyed about having to provide information about everything to everyone, and is initially reluctant to assist Martin. Martin’s lack of flattery towards him serves as a refreshing change, and Bobolink soon becomes quite eager to help him. Bobolink tells Martin that his next step is to reach the pine dwarfs, warning him to avoid conversation with the creatures or he will be stuck in the country of conversation forever. Martin almost makes it through the country of conversation without a single word, but he becomes distracted and engages in conversation with a fish. Martin’s error forces him to "become conversation," and suddenly he is trapped with no way out. The princess continues to wait patiently but she eventually becomes very upset that Martin has not returned with her toy. The council becomes worried, and contemplates where Martin could possibly be. The Princess, alone and sobbing, is confronted by a pine dwarf who promises to bring her to the waterfall and show her the way to Martin. The Princess stuffs her ears with cotton and begins her journey.
Princess Petulant finally makes it to Martin without speaking a single word, and they are both able to escape. The two run as fast as they can to the toyshop. The Toymaker, so pleased to see them, wishes that they stay and play with him forever. Martin and Princess Petulant play with the best toys they have ever seen, finally satisfying the Princess’ desire for a new toy. Martin and Princess Petulant tell the Toymaker that they are unable to stay and although he is sad, he assists them in their journey home. Upon their return they tell the entire story to a Royal Historian who records it all in the very book in which this story is contained. |
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] | In 1757, Moonfleet is a small village near the sea in the south of England. It gets its name from a formerly prominent local family, the Mohunes, whose coat of arms includes a symbol shaped like a capital 'Y'. John Trenchard is an orphan who lives with his aunt, Miss Arnold. Other notable residents are the sexton Mr Ratsey, who is friendly to John; Parson Glennie, the local clergyman who also teaches in the village school; Elzevir Block, the landlord of the local inn, called the Mohune Arms but nicknamed the Why Not? because of its sign with the Mohune 'Y'; and Mr Maskew, the unpopular local magistrate and his beautiful daughter, Grace.
Village legend tells of the notorious Colonel John "Blackbeard" Mohune who is buried in the family crypt under the church. He is reputed to have stolen a diamond from King Charles I and hidden it. His ghost is said to wander at night looking for it and the mysterious lights in the churchyard are attributed to his activities.
As the main part of the story opens, Block's youthful son, David, has just been killed by Maskew during an attack by the authorities on a smuggling boat. One night a bad storm hits the village and there is a flood. While attending the Sunday service at church, John hears strange sounds from the crypt below. He thinks it is the sound of the coffins of the Mohune family. The next day, he finds Elzevir and Ratsey against the south wall of the church. They claim to be checking for damage from the storm, but John suspects they are searching for Blackbeard's ghost.
Later John finds a large sinkhole has opened in the ground by a grave. He follows the passage and finds himself in the crypt with coffins on shelves and casks on the floor. He realises his friends are smugglers and this is their hiding place. He has to hide behind a coffin when he hears Ratsey and Elzevir coming. When they leave, they fill in the hole, inadvertently trapping him. John finds a locket in a coffin which holds a piece of paper with verses from the Bible. John eventually passes out after drinking too much of the wine while trying to quench his thirst, having not eaten or drunk for days. Later he wakes up in the Why Not? inn - he has been rescued by Elzevir and Ratsey. When he is better, he returns to his aunt's house, but she, suspecting him of drunken behaviour, throws him out. Fortunately, Elzevir takes him in.
But when Block's lease on the Why Not? comes up for renewal, Maskew bids against him in the auction and wins. Block must leave the inn and Moonfleet but plans one last smuggling venture. John feels honour-bound to go with him, and sadly, says goodbye to Grace Maskew, whom he loves and has been seeing in secret, and gets his mother's prayer book as a good luck charm. The excisemen and Maskew are aware of the planned smuggling run but do not know exactly where it will occur. During the landing Maskew appears and is caught by the smugglers. Elzevir is bent on vengeance for his son by killing Maskew, and while the rest land the cargo and leave, he and John keep watch over Maskew. Just as Block prepares to shoot Maskew the excisemen attack. They wound John and unintentionally kill Maskew. Block carries John away to safety and they hide in some old quarries. While there, John inadvertently finds out that the verses from Blackbeard's locket contain a code which will reveal the location of his famous diamond.
Once John's wound heals, he and Block decide to recover the diamond from Carisbrooke Castle. After a suspenseful scene in the well where the jewel is hidden, they succeed in escaping to Holland where they try to sell it to a Jewish diamond merchant named Crispin Aldobrand. The merchant cheats them, claiming the diamond is fake. Elzevir falls for the deceit and angrily throws the diamond out of the window. John, however, knows they have been duped, and suggests they try to recover the diamond through burglary. The attempt fails and, they are arrested and sentenced to prison. John curses the merchant for his lies.
John and Elzevir go to prison for life. Eventually they are separated. Then, unexpectedly, ten years later, their paths cross again. They are being transported, and board a ship. A storm blows up, and by a strong coincidence, the ship is wrecked upon Moonfleet beach. While trying to reach the beach Elzevir helps John to safety, but is himself dragged under by the tide and drowned.
John arrives where he originally started, in the Why Not?, and is reunited with Ratsey. He is also reunited with Grace. She is now a rich young lady, having inherited her father's money. However, she is still in love with John, and they decide to marry. John tells her about the diamond and his life in prison. He regrets having lost everything, but then Parson Glennie receives a letter from Aldobrand. The merchant suffered a guilty conscience, and in an attempt to make amends, has bequeathed the worth of the diamond to John.
John gives the money to the village, and new almshouses are built, and the school and the church renovated. John marries Grace and becomes Lord of the Manor and Justice of the Peace. Their three children grow up and their sons leave home, including their first-born son, Elzevir. But John and Grace themselves have no plans to leave their beloved Moonfleet ever again. |
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] | Hilary Thomas, a screenwriter living in Los Angeles, is attacked in her home by Bruno Frye, a mentally disturbed man whose vineyard in Napa Valley she recently visited. Frye tries to rape her, but she forces him to leave at gunpoint and calls the police. Detective Tony Clemenza tells her that Frye has an airtight alibi as the police called his home and he answered, proving that he couldn't have been anywhere near Los Angeles that night.
The next day Frye returns and attacks Hilary again, this time receiving several stab wounds before escaping. She calls the police and once again meets with Clemenza, who tells her that Frye's body has been found and takes her to the morgue to identify it. Afterward, Clemenza asks Hilary out, and the two begin a romantic relationship.
Hilary is once again attacked by a man who appears to be Frye. "Frye" escapes just before Clemenza arrives and Hilary tells him what happened. After some investigations, Frye's psychologist lets them listen to a tape recording of one of Frye's sessions. Frye talks about identical twins being born with cauls on their faces, and says he read somewhere that this was a mark of a demon.
Frye has been killing women he believes are possessed by the spirit of his dead mother, who abused him and said she would come back from the dead. He believes that Hilary is his mother's latest "host".
Hilary and Tony meet a retired madam who tells them that Leo, Frye's grandfather, brought his daughter, Katherine, there to be cared for after he got her pregnant. Shortly after Leo's death, Katherine gave birth to identical twin boys. The twins were born with cauls on their faces, leading the mentally unstable Katherine to believe they were demons. She raised her sons as if they were one person. They were both called Bruno, and both were rewarded or punished for anything either one of them did.
Finally, Hilary and Clemenza return to Frye's home, where he once again attacks them, before being killed during a struggle with Clemenza. |
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] | Mary Horowitz, a crossword puzzle writer for the Sacramento Herald, is socially awkward and considers her pet hamster her only true friend.
Her parents decide to set her up on a blind date. Mary's expectations are low, as she tells her hamster. Mary is pleasantly surprised when her date turns out to be handsome and charming Steve Miller, a cameraman for the television news network CCN. Steve does not reciprocate her feelings. After an attempt at an intimate moment fails, in part because of her awkwardness and inability to stop talking about vocabulary, Steve fakes a phone call about covering the news out of town. Trying to get Mary out of his truck, he tells her he wishes she could be there.
Mary believes him and decides to pursue him. Mary's obsession gets her fired when she creates a crossword titled "All About Steve". Following her termination, Mary decides to track Steve around the country in the hopes of winning his affection. She is encouraged by CCN news reporter Hartman Hughes, who hopes to use Mary's encyclopedic knowledge in his reports to help himself get a promotion to become an anchor. On the road, Mary annoys some bus passengers so much, the driver abandons her. She hitchhikes with a trucker named Norm, then meets and travels with a pair of protesters, Elizabeth, a ditzy but sweet and likeable girl, and Howard, who sells apples he carves into celebrities. She gradually grows close to the two.
Steve and crew end up covering a breaking news story: an old mine collapsed with numerous deaf children stuck inside. Initially, it appears that the children are rescued. Mary, who arrives on the scene, accidentally falls into the mine shaft as well while making a beeline for Steve. It turns out that not all the children have been rescued, and Mary is trapped with one left behind. Steve begins to realize that Mary, in her own unique way, is a beautiful person. Just as Mary figures a way out, the two are joined by Hartman, who is made to feel guilty by Elizabeth and Howard for getting Mary into this predicament. Mary's rescue plan works, but she lets Hartman take the credit. Mary finally realizes she does not need Steve to be happy. She states, "If you love someone, set him free; if you have to stalk him, he probably wasn't yours in the first place."
After the end credits, a competitive TV reporter, in despair that Hartman got popularity by falling into the mine while trying to save Mary, also jumps into the mine. |
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] | In a small Indiana city, a lone gunman in a parking garage calmly fires into a rush-hour crowd in a public plaza, committing a massacre of five apparently random victims with six shots. The shooter leaves a perfect trail behind for the police to quickly track him down. Evidence from the scene, of a shell case and a quarter bearing the same fingerprints, points clearly to James Barr, a former Army infantry sniper. He is arrested, but will only say two things to the police: "They got the wrong guy," and "Get Jack Reacher for me." Reacher, a former Army military police officer and now a drifter, is 1500 miles away, but sees the news on CNN and gets on a bus to Indiana. Reacher has no job, no home, no car, and a shrinking savings account from his past military pay. Although Reacher has a nomadic existence, what he does have is sharp moral clarity in a modern climate of moral ambiguity.
Instead of clearing Barr, Reacher wants to assist the prosecution in convicting him. Reacher is the last person Barr would want to see for good reason. When Reacher was an investigating military policeman years past, Barr had gone on a killing spree similar to the Indiana shootout, murdering four men during the Gulf War in Kuwait City. Convoluted military politics and a technicality let Barr walk free. Reacher swore he would track the sniper down if he ever tried it again. Reacher believes Barr is guilty, but Barr's sister Rosemary is convinced of her brother's innocence and entreats lawyer Helen Rodin to defend her brother. Helen's father is the district attorney who will prosecute the case. When Reacher arrives in Indiana, Barr has been beaten so badly while in prison that he cannot remember anything about the day of the murders, leaving Reacher to form his own conclusions with the available evidence. The local NBC news reporter, Ann Yanni, is also looking for more information, and Reacher is more than willing to include her in his investigation, in exchange for the use of her car and a guaranteed public expose on the Barr case. Reacher knows that 35 yards, the parking garage shooting distance to the victims, is point-blank range for a trained military sniper like Barr. Reacher also knows the shooter missed one shot on purpose, giving Reacher one shot at the truth.
Reacher drives to Kentucky to the shooting range where the sniper practiced and learns some interesting facts from Gunny Samuel Cash, the former US Marine who owns the shooting range, which make him doubt the solidity of the presumably airtight case against Barr. Cash is unwilling to reveal information or his records to Reacher, but grudgingly agrees to talk if Reacher is able to hit a paper target dead center at 300 yards with one shot. After he succeeds, Reacher is shown 32 sheets of target paper from three years' worth of Barr's practice shootings at his range, every single sheet with dead-on maximum scores.
After the visit to the shooting range, Reacher adds Cash's information to the case evidence. Helen and Rosemary sift through the clues in a riveting analysis and finally get Reacher to conclude that Barr is innocent, which means someone set up Barr as the sniper. Someone is also trying to get Reacher off the case, which formerly seemed a slam-dunk, but is now falling apart. Reacher is teamed with Helen, the young defense lawyer working against her D.A. father with a prosecution team that has an explosive secret of its own. Reacher gets closer to the unseen enemy pulling the strings, leading him to the real perpetrators, a Russian gang masquerading as legitimate businessmen. The gang's 80-year-old capo spent much of his life in one of the infamous Soviet gulags and is known only as the Zec (prisoner). Reacher outwits the mob guards in the Russian gang's fortress, efficiently and brutally dispatching five hoods before confronting the boss and forcing him to come clean on the conspiracy from beginning to end. |
480 | [
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] | Carruthers, a minor official in the Foreign Office, is contacted by an acquaintance, Davies, asking him to join in a yachting holiday in the Baltic Sea. Carruthers agrees, as his other plans for a holiday have fallen through.
He arrives to find that Davies has a small sailing boat (the vessel is named Dulcibella, a reference to Childers's own sister of that name), not the comfortable crewed yacht that he expected. However Carruthers agrees to go on the trip and joins Davies in Flensburg on the Baltic, whence they head for the Frisian Islands, off the coast of Germany. Carruthers has to learn quickly how to sail the small boat.
Davies gradually reveals that he suspects that the Germans are undertaking something sinister in the German Frisian islands. This is based on his belief that he was nearly wrecked by a German yacht luring him into a shoal in rough weather during a previous trip. Davies is suspicious about what would motivate the Germans to try to kill him. Having failed to interest anyone in the government in the incident, he feels it is his patriotic duty to investigate further – hence the invitation to Carruthers.
Carruthers and Davies spend some time exploring the shallow tidal waters of the Frisian Islands, moving closer to the mysterious site where there is a rumoured secret treasure recovery project in progress on the island of Memmert. The two men discover that an expatriate Englishman, Dollmann, is involved in the recovery project. Carruthers realises that Davies is in love with Dollmann’s daughter, Clara. Carruthers and Davies try to approach Memmert. They’re warned away by a German navy patrol boat, the Blitz, and its commander Von Bruning. This makes them all the more sure that there is something more than a treasure dig on the island.
Taking advantage of a thick fog, Davies navigates them covertly through the complicated sandbanks in a small boat to investigate the site. Carruthers investigates the island. He overhears Von Bruning and Dollmann discussing something more than treasure hunting, including cryptic references to "Chatham", "Seven" and "the tide serving". The pair return through the fog to the Dulcibella. There, they find Dollmann and Von Bruning have beaten them and are seemingly suspicious.
Von Bruning invites them to Dollmann's villa for a dinner, where he attempts to subtly cross-examine them to find out if they are British spies. Carruthers plays a dangerous game, admitting they are curious. But he convinces Von Bruning that he believes the cover story about treasure and merely wants to see the imaginary "wreck". Carruthers announces that the Foreign Office has recalled him to England. He heads off, then doubles back to follow Von Bruning and his men. He trails them to a port where they board a tugboat towing a barge. Carruthers sneaks aboard and hides, and the convoy heads to sea.
Carruthers finally puts the riddle together. The Germans are linking the canals and the railways, dredging passages through the shifting sands and hiding a fleet of tugs and barges. The only explanation is that they are going to secretly transport a powerful German army across the North Sea to invade Britain’s east coast. He escapes after grounding the tugboat and rushes back to Davies. He finds him and explains how they must flee before the Germans come after them. They convince Dollmann and Clara to come with them to avoid Dollmann's being arrested by the Germans, who will think he has changed sides again. As they sail across the North Sea, Dollmann commits suicide by jumping overboard, presumably to avoid disgrace and probable arrest for treason.
An epilogue by the "editor" examines the details of a report prepared by Dollmann, outlining his plan for the invasion force. A postscript notes that the Royal Navy is finally taking countermeasures to intercept any German invasion fleet and urges haste. |
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] | Linda Condon is about a wealthy woman—the eponymous heroine—who never learns to have, let alone show, any emotions or, as the narrator puts it, to "lose herself". Although she does not do anybody any harm, in the course of the novel Linda is likened to Siberia, described by her husband as a "woman of alabaster", and calls herself "the most sterile woman alive". Married at 18, she sees herself "in a place of little importance" and at the same time "bound on a journey with a hidden destination". Linda Condon is dedicated to Carl Van Vechten.Linda Condon is raised by her single mother, who denies the girl any information about her absentee father. Mother and daughter live together in a seemingly endless succession of hotels in various regions of the United States, and Linda receives little formal education. While Stella Condon frequently goes out with men of dubious reputation, her daughter, who is always loyal to her shallow and superficial mother, spends her early adolescent days alone in her hotel room or with other guests in the artificial and phony atmosphere of the lobby. Stella Condon does have a suitor, a self-made millionaire and widower of Jewish descent called Moses Feldt, but she explains to Linda that she is not going to repeat past mistakes by getting married again.
However, when Stella Condon realizes the onset of old age and her vanishing beauty, she consents to a marriage of convenience with Feldt. From one day to the next Linda's itinerant life is replaced by life in a palace-like New York mansion together with her mother, Feldt and his two daughters. Already at the early age of 15 Linda experiences a "sense of looking on, as if morning, noon and night she were at another long play. [...] Probably it would continue without change through her entire life."
Through Feldt's daughter Judith and her boyfriend Markue, Linda, not yet 18 years of age, is launched into New York society. At a party she meets Dodge Pleydon, a sculptor many years her senior who is fascinated by the young girl despite, or maybe because of, her frozen charm and subdued behaviour. Her first kiss, which she gets from Pleydon later that night, does not mean a lot to her, so she is hardly moved when he announces his intention to go abroad for an indefinite period of time.
Her life takes a decisive new direction when, after attending a concert, she is approached by her father's sister, who has recognized her immediately because, as she claims, Linda is taking after her father. Naturally curious to learn more about the paternal branch of her family, Linda accepts her aunt's invitation to visit her and her sister in Philadelphia and to stay in the house where her father, now dead, was raised. Her decision to go there leads to an ever-increasing estrangement from her mother. In Philadelphia, Linda is introduced to her aunts' 45-year-old nephew Arnaud Hallet, a lawyer and confirmed bachelor who immediately falls for the girl just like Pleydon before him. Caught between the two men, who both propose to her, Linda eventually decides to marry Hallet, with the fact that he has "a hundred thousand dollars a year" certainly adding to his attraction.
Seven years later, Arnaud and Linda Hallet have two children, Lowrie and Vigné. Remembering her own unhappy childhood spent in hotels, Linda realizes how different from herself her children are being brought up. However, she feels inadequate as a wife and especially as a mother. She sees that both Lowrie and Vigné have inherited their love of books from their father, while she herself has never taken up reading. Also, she regrets not being able to play the piano. And although she is only in her late twenties, she imagines her beauty is fading without finding solace in the "vicarious immortality of children". She believes she has "lost her youth without any compensating gain of knowledge".
Several years pass until Lowrie becomes a law student at university. Vigné follows in her mother's and maternal grandmother's footsteps by getting married at the age of 18. Linda admires her daughter, who with perfect ease has picked an eligible young man, and whose "radiant happiness" is something she has never experienced herself.
When she learns that a public statue created by Pleydon has been destroyed she suddenly feels sympathy and maybe even more for the sculptor, who has always considered her his muse. Considering that Arnaud Hallet has "had over twenty years of her life, the best", Linda leaves him without a word to go and live with Pleydon. Once at his studio, she realizes that there is no way she could stay with that ageing, sickly man whose love for her could never be more than platonic. On the following day, she returns to her husband without ever telling him about her intended betrayal.
At the end of the novel, three years after her aborted decision to live with Pleydon, her son Lowrie marries a college-educated suffragette while Linda Hallet herself, while grieving over Pleydon's death, starts dyeing her hair in a fruitless struggle against time. |
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] | Film producer James Ballard (James Spader) and his wife, Catherine (Deborah Kara Unger), are in an open marriage. The couple engage in various infidelities but, between them, have unenthusiastic sex. Their arousal is heightened by discussing the intimate details of their extramarital sex.
While driving home from work late one night, Ballard's car collides head-on with another, killing its male passenger. While trapped in the fused wreckage, the driver, Dr. Helen Remington (Holly Hunter), wife of the dead passenger, exposes a breast to Ballard when she pulls off the shoulder harness of her seat belt.
While recovering, Ballard meets Remington again, as well as a man named Vaughan (Elias Koteas), who takes a keen interest in the brace holding Ballard's shattered leg together and photographs it. While leaving the hospital, Remington and Ballard begin an affair, one primarily fueled by their shared experience of the car crash (not only do all of their sexual assignations take place in cars, all of Remington's off-screen sexual encounters take place in cars as well). In an attempt to make some sense of why they are so aroused by their car wreck, they go to see one of Vaughan's cult meetings/performance pieces, a re-creation of the car crash that killed James Dean with authentic cars and stunt drivers. When Transport Ministry officials break up the event, Ballard flees with Remington and Vaughan.
Ballard becomes one of Vaughan's followers who fetishize car crashes, obsessively watching car safety test videos and photographing traffic collisions. Ballard drives Vaughan's Lincoln convertible around the city while Vaughan picks up and uses street prostitutes and, later, Ballard's wife. In turn, Ballard has a dalliance with one of the other group members, Gabrielle (Rosanna Arquette), a beautiful woman whose legs are clad in restrictive steel braces and who has a vulva-like scar on the back of one of her thighs, which is used as a substitute for a vagina by Ballard. The film's sexual couplings in (or involving) cars are not restricted to heterosexual experiences. While watching videos of car crashes, Remington becomes extremely aroused and gropes the crotches of both Ballard and Gabrielle, suggesting an imminent mĂŠnage Ă trois. Instead, Vaughan and Ballard eventually turn towards each other and have sex while, later, Gabrielle and Remington have sex with each other.
Though Vaughan claims at first that he is interested in the "reshaping of the human body by modern technology," in fact his project is to live out the philosophy that the car crash is a "fertilizing rather than a destructive event, mediating the sexuality of those who have died with an intensity that's impossible in any other form."
The film's climax begins with Vaughan's death and ends with Ballard being involved in another semi-deliberate car crash, this one involving his wife. Their fetish for car crashes has, ironically enough, had an unusual bonding effect on the Ballards' marriage. As he caresses her bruised body on the grass median near the crash, Ballard and his wife display affection for each other, ending with Ballard saying, "Maybe the next one," possibly implying that the logical end result of their extreme fetish is death. |
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] | The Fifth Queen trilogy has an omniscient narrator. Katharine Howard is introduced in the first book as a devout Roman Catholic, impoverished, young noblewoman escorted by her fiery cousin Thomas Culpeper. By accident, she comes to the attention of the king, in a minor way at first, is helped to a position as a lady in waiting for the then bastard Lady Mary, Henry's eldest daughter, by her old Latin tutor Nicholas Udal. Udal is a spy for Thomas Cromwell, the Lord Privy Seal.
As Katharine becomes involved with the many calculating, competing, and spying members of Henry VIII's Court, she gradually rises, almost against her will, in Court. She is brought more to the attention of the King, becomes involved with him, is used by Cromwell, Bishop Gardiner and Thomas Cranmer as well as the less powerful though more personally attached Nicholas Throckmorton. Her connection to the latter puts her in some peril, as in January 1554 he is suspected of complicity in Wyatt's Rebellion and arrested, during which time Katherine is also briefly implicated.
Katharine's forthrightness, devotion to the Old Faith and learning are what make her attractive to the King, along with her youth and physical beauty. This is in direct contradiction to the way historians view the historical personage herself; that is, as a flighty and flirtatious young woman with few other redeeming qualities. |
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] | After eight months of treatment in a mental health facility for bipolar disorder, Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) is released into the care of his father Patrizio (Robert De Niro) and mother Dolores (Jacki Weaver). His main focus is to reconcile with his estranged wife, Nikki (Brea Bee). She has moved away and obtained a restraining order against him after Pat had found her in the shower with another man and nearly beat him to death. His therapist, Dr. Patel (Anupam Kher), does his best to convince him to keep taking his medication, as a repeat of his violent outbursts might send him back to the clinic. But Pat tells him that he has a new outlook on life: he attempts to see the good, or silver linings, in all that he experiences.
At dinner with his friend Ronnie and his wife Veronica, Pat meets Veronica's sister Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence), a young widow with depression and relationship problems. Sparks fly between Pat and Tiffany and she tries to connect by offering casual sex, but Pat keeps focusing on getting Nikki back. Tiffany tries to get closer to Pat and even offers to deliver a letter to Nikkiâif, in return, he will practice dancing with her (which she does as a therapy) and to partner with her in an upcoming dance competition. He reluctantly agrees and the two begin a rigorous practice regimen over the following weeks. Pat believes the competition will be a good way to show Nikki that he has changed and become a better person.
Patrizio hopes to open his own restaurant and has resorted to illegal bookmaking. Having put virtually all of his money on the outcome of a Philadelphia Eagles game, he asks Pat to attend as a "good-luck charm". Pat asks Tiffany for time off from practice to attend the game. She gives him a typed reply from Nikki, in which she cautiously hints there may be a chance for reconciliation between them if he continues his dance practice. Before he gets into the stadium, Pat gets involved in a fight when some racist fans harass the Indian fans there including his therapist Dr. Patel, and is hauled away by the police. The Eagles lose the game and Patrizio is furious. Tiffany shows up at their house and points out that the way she is "reading the signs," Philadelphia teams do better when she and Pat are together. Convinced, Patrizio makes a parlay with his gambling friend: if the Eagles win their next game and Tiffany and Pat score 5 out of 10 in their dance competition, he will win back double the money he lost on the first bet. Pat is reluctant, and Tiffany, Dolores and Patrizio conspire to persuade Pat to dance in the competition by telling him that Nikki will be there; it is revealed that his parents have secretly supported Tiffany's attempts to get along with him. Pat notices that the letter from Nikki also refers to "reading the signs" and realizes that Tiffany wrote it.
Tiffany, Pat, and their friends and family arrive at the competition on the night of the football game. Tiffany despairs when she finds that Nikki actually is in the audience, invited by Ronnie and Veronica who want Nikki and Pat to reconcile. Tiffany goes to the hotel bar and starts drinking. Pat finds her moments before their dance and drags her onto the dance floor. They begin their routine as the Eagles defeat the Dallas Cowboys. At the conclusion of their set, Tiffany and Pat score exactly 5 points. Amid cheers from friends and family and confused looks from the crowd, Pat approaches Nikki and speaks quietly into her ear. Tiffany sees this and runs off. Pat leaves Nikki behind after a short conversation, and chases Tiffany. He hands her a letter, in which he admits that he knows she forged Nikki's letter and confesses that he loved her from the moment he met her, though it took him so long to come to terms with it. They share a kiss. Patrizio opens a restaurant with the money he has won, Pat and Tiffany become a couple, and both of them are no longer wearing their wedding rings. |
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] | The novel's events occupy eighteen books.
The kindly and wealthy Squire Allworthy and his sister Bridget are introduced in their wealthy estate in Somerset. Allworthy returns from London after an extended business trip and finds an abandoned baby sleeping in his bed. He summons his housekeeper, Mrs Deborah Wilkins, to take care of the child. After searching the nearby village, Mrs Wilkins is told about a young woman called Jenny Jones, servant of a schoolmaster and his wife, as the most likely person to have committed the deed. Jenny is brought before them and admits being the baby's mother but refuses to reveal the father's identity. Mr Allworthy mercifully removes Jenny to a place where her reputation will be unknown. Furthermore, he promises his sister to raise the boy, whom he names Thomas, in his household.
Two brothers, Dr Blifil and Captain Blifil, regularly visit the Allworthy estate. The doctor introduces the captain to Bridget in hopes of marrying into Allworthy's wealth. The couple soon marry. After the marriage, Captain Blifil begins to show a coldness to his brother, who eventually feels obliged to leave the house for London where he soon dies "of a broken heart". Captain Blifil and his wife start to grow cool towards one another, and the former is found dead from apoplexy one evening after taking his customary evening stroll prior to dinner. By then he has fathered a boy, who grows up with the bastard Tom.
Tom grows into a vigorous and lusty, yet honest and kind-hearted, youth. His first love is Molly, gamekeeper Black George's second daughter and a local beauty. She throws herself at Tom; he gets her pregnant and then feels obliged to offer her his protection. After some time, however, Tom finds out that Molly is somewhat promiscuous. He then falls in love with a neighbouring squire's lovely daughter, Sophia Western. Tom's status as a bastard causes Sophia's father and Allworthy to oppose their love; this criticism of class friction in society acted as a biting social commentary. The inclusion of prostitution and sexual promiscuity in the plot was also original for its time, and the foundation for criticism of the book's "lowness".
Sophia's father, Squire Western, is intent on making Sophia marry the hypocritical Master Blifil, but she refuses, and tries to escape from her father's influence. Tom, on the other hand, is expelled from Allworthy's estate for his many misdemeanours, and starts his adventures across Britain, eventually ending up in London. Amongst other things, he joins the army for a brief duration, finds a servant in a barber-surgeon named Partridge (who habitually spouts Latin non sequiturs), beds two older women (Mrs Waters and Lady Bellaston), and very nearly kills a man in a duel, for which he is arrested.
Eventually the secret of Tom's birth is revealed, after a short scare that Mrs Waters (who is really Jenny Jones) is his birth mother, and that he has committed incest. Tom's real mother is Bridget, who conceived him after an affair with a schoolmaster â hence he is the true nephew of Squire Allworthy himself. After finding out about Tom's half-brother Master Blifil's intrigues, Allworthy decides to bestow the majority of his inheritance to Tom. Tom and Sophia Western marry, after this revelation of his true parentage, as Squire Western no longer harbours any misgivings over Tom marrying his daughter. Sophia bears Tom a son and a daughter, and the couple live on happily with the blessings of Squire Western and Squire Allworthy. |
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] | In 1971 a grown Buddy returns to his former family home and reflects back on his youth during The Great Depression when Rose (Laura Dern) came to live with his family in order to escape her miserable life in Birmingham where she was being forced into prostitution. The Hillyers are an eccentric family who take Rose in as a domestic servant. Rose quickly begins to admire Mrs. Hillyer (Diane Ladd) who is working on her doctoral dissertation and whom she learns was orphaned at a young age, just as Rose had been. Rose also develops a crush on the paternal and warm Mr. Hillyer that the three Hillyer children and Mr. Hillyer become aware of while Mrs. Hillyer remains oblivious.
Eventually Rose kisses Mr. Hillyer who at first responds to her advances and then becomes angered at her and rebuffs her. Buddy witnesses Rose and Mr. Hillyer kissing and later, when Rose comes to talk to him at night, he repeatedly tries to grab and massage her breast just as his father had done while he was kissing Rose. Eventually to satisfy his curiosity Rose allows 13 year old Buddy to masturbate her. Afterwards she is apologetic and upset and begs him not to tell anyone.
The Hillyers begin to disagree about Rose's presence in their lives. Mr. Hillyer worries that Rose is too promiscuous and will begin to make their lives miserable but Mrs. Hillyer sees her promiscuity as her way of trying to obtain love and attention.
Strange men begin lurking around the house. Mr. Hillyer attributes this to Rose but she repeatedly denies knowing them. However, Rose is eventually arrested when some of her men begin brawling in a bar and she bites the finger of a policeman. Though the police and Mrs. Hillyer are willing to forgive Rose, Mr. Hillyer insists on firing her, but before he can Rose is hospitalized with pneumonia. The attending doctor reveals that Rose is likely not the poor country girl she portrayed herself as. After she recovers, Rose seems to be on her best behaviour but Mr. Hillyer eventually catches her with a man in her room. He fires her and obtains a position on a dairy farm in Tennessee for her. When he informs Rose she begins crying as she does not want her future child being born on a farm.
Mr. Hillyer believes she is lying about being pregnant and the Hillyers take her to a doctor where they learn that while she is showing signs of being pregnant she actually has an ovarian cyst and is sterile because of untreated gonorrhoea contracted when she was 15. The doctor recommends a hysterectomy in order to control Rose's promiscuous behaviour. While Mr. Hillyer at first agrees to the operation Mrs. Hillyer argues against it and eventually persuades the two men. Rose is treated for her cyst and returns home where she eventually marries her first husband, David, the policeman whose finger she bit. In 1971, Buddy reveals that Rose married three more times and was eventually happy and faithful to her last husband. He goes to talk to his father who tells him that Rose died the previous week. When Buddy begins crying Mr. Hillyer tells him that Rose is a person who will never really die as she will live on forever in their hearts. |
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] | The plot concerns two brothers and their sister, simply called "the Lady", lost in a journey through the woods. The Lady becomes fatigued, and the brothers wander off in search of sustenance.
While alone, she encounters the debauched Comus, a character inspired by the god of revelry (Ancient Greek: Κῶμος), who is disguised as a villager and claims he will lead her to her brothers. Deceived by his amiable countenance, the Lady follows him, only to be captured, brought to his pleasure palace and victimised by his necromancy. Seated on an enchanted chair, with "gums of glutinous heat", she is immobilised, and Comus accosts her while with one hand he holds a necromancer's wand and with the other he offers a vessel with a drink that would overpower her. Comus urges the Lady to "be not coy" and drink from his magical cup (representing sexual pleasure and intemperance), but she repeatedly refuses, arguing for the virtuousness of temperance and chastity. Within view at his palace is an array of cuisine intended to arouse the Lady's appetites and desires. Despite being restrained against her will, she continues to exercise right reason (recta ratio) in her disputation with Comus, thereby manifesting her freedom of mind. Whereas the would-be seducer argues appetites and desires issuing from one's nature are "natural" and therefore licit, the Lady contends that only rational self-control is enlightened and virtuous. To be self-indulgent and intemperate, she adds, is to forfeit one's higher nature and to yield to baser impulses. In this debate the Lady and Comus signify, respectively, soul and body, ratio and libido, sublimation and sensuality, virtue and vice, moral rectitude and immoral depravity. In line with the theme of the journey that distinguishes Comus, the Lady has been deceived by the guile of a treacherous character, temporarily waylaid, and besieged by sophistry that is disguised as wisdom.
Meanwhile, her brothers, searching for her, come across the Attendant Spirit, an angelic figure sent to aid them, who takes the form of a shepherd and tells them how to defeat Comus. As the Lady continues to assert her freedom of mind and to exercise her free will by resistance and even defiance, she is rescued by the Attendant Spirit along with her brothers, who chase off Comus. The Lady remains magically bound to her chair. With a song, the Spirit conjures the water nymph Sabrina who frees the Lady on account of her steadfast virtue. She and her brothers are reunited with their parents in a triumphal celebration, which signifies the heavenly bliss awaiting the wayfaring soul that prevails over trials and travails, whether these are the threats posed by overt evil or the blandishments of temptation. |
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] | The story begins in an Argos port where Conan forcefully demands passage aboard a sail barge, the Argus, which is casting off for southern waters to trade beads, silks, sugar and brass-hilted swords to the black kings of Kush. At first, the captain of the barge objects to his demand to travel without paying for the passage, and Conan threatens him and the crew with his drawn sword. Eventually the captain agrees to let Conan stay on board, since "It would be useful to have a fighting man on the voyage" and eventually Conan and the captain, named Tito, become quite friendly. The captain is soon informed that Conan is fleeing the civil authorities of Argos due to a court dispute in which Conan refused to betray the whereabouts of a casual friend to a fascistic magistrate (although no actual political reference is hinted in Howard's story) and instead drew his sword and killed the magistrate - whereupon he had to swiftly flee. It is emphasized that at this moment Conan was a complete land-lubber, with no previous experience or knowledge of the sea.
Upon reaching the pirate-infested waters of Kush, their trade ship is attacked by the infamous reavers led by Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast. Bêlit and her ebony-skinned warriors slaughter the crew of the Argus, who are no match for the ferocious pirates. Conan tries to rally the crew after the captain was killed, and when the fight becomes clearly hopeless he manages to jump aboard the pirate ship and sell his life dearly. Conan kills many of the pirates, fully expecting to be overwhelmed and killed - whereupon Bêlit suddenly orders her crew to step back and spare Conan, being impressed with the Cimmerian's courage and ferocity (and being sexually attracted to him, as she immediately and forthrightly declares). Bêlit offers Conan the chance to sail with her, be her chosen mate, and help lead her fierce warriors. Oddly smitten by this fiery woman, Conan agrees and, for a time, they raid the Black Coast together brutally pillaging coastal towns and instilling fear into the superstitious natives.
Soon, the Hyborian legends begin that the she-devil of the sea, Bêlit, has found a mate, Conan, an iron man whose wrath is that of a wounded lion. Survivors of butchered Stygian ships curse the name of Bêlit and her Cimmerian warrior with fierce blue eyes.
Sailing up a nameless river, Bêlit and Conan encounter ancient ruins in which is found a lost treasure, a winged monstrosity and skulking hyenas that were once men. Despite the bizarre murders of their crew and the various horrors lurking in the jungle, Bêlit and Conan still find time for a thorough theological discussion, comparing Conan's grim god Crom with Bêlit's more ambiguous Semite deities - all of which they discuss in between continuing their sexual romance which is alluded to by Howard as having sadomasochistic undertones. In a moment of passion, Bêlit promises that even death could not keep her from Conan's side, a promise which she must keep far sooner than she expects.
Despite her intense love for Conan, Bêlit is soon captivated by a cursed jeweled necklace found among the lost treasure which seemingly instills the wearer with a mix of madness and monomania. In such a twisted mental state, Bêlit issues faulty orders. Given the constant bizarre dangers and her own madness, her crew is soon decimated and Bêlit herself is hanged by the winged monster. Driven to rage and now alone, Conan confronts her supernatural murderer. He is on the verge of being slain when the spirit of Bêlit intervenes. Conan slays the winged horror and leaves the ruins in Bêlit's ship with her corpse.
The story closes with Conan giving Bêlit a Viking funeral - setting on fire the ship, with her surrounded by all her treasures - and reflecting upon his loss. |
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] | Tarzan returns to Opar, the source of the gold where a lost colony of fabled Atlantis is located, in order to make good on some financial reverses he has recently suffered. While Atlantis itself sank beneath the waves thousands of years ago, the workers of Opar continued to mine all of the gold, which means there is a rather huge stockpile but which is now lost to the memory of the Oparians and only Tarzan knows its secret location.
A greedy, outlawed Belgian army officer, Albert Werper, in the employ of a criminal Arab, secretly follows Tarzan to Opar. There, Tarzan loses his memory after being struck on the head by a falling rock in the treasure room during an earthquake. On encountering La, the high priestess who is the servant of the Flaming God of Opar, and who is also very beautiful, Tarzan once again rejects her love which enrages her and she tries to have him killed; she had fallen in love with the apeman during their first encounter and La and her high priests are not going to allow Tarzan to escape their sacrificial knives this time.
In the meanwhile, Jane has been kidnapped by the Arab and wonders what is keeping her husband from once again coming to her rescue. A now amnesiac Tarzan and the Werper escape from Opar, bearing away the sacrificial knife of Opar which La and some retainers set out to recover. There is intrigue and counter intrigue the rest of the way. |
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] | Gregory Hilliard Hartley is a young man, brother to the heir of an English estate. When he marries a young lady lower on the social ladder than his father wished, he is expelled from his father's house. He soon travels to Egypt, due to his knowledge of Arabic, and obtains employment with a merchant firm. When the Dervishes attack and destroy his employer's warehouse, he joins the army under Hicks Pasha as an interpreter. The expedition is destroyed, and no news is heard of Gregory.
His wife lives in Cairo, uncertain of his fate. Years pass, and she brings up their young son, also named Gregory, and ensures that he is taught several native languages. When she dies, Gregory is left alone in the world, with a small bank account and a mysterious tin box only to be opened when he is certain of his father's death.
Gregory obtains a position as interpreter in the expedition under Lord Kitchener which is advancing into the Soudan to attack the Dervish forces. He endures many hardships and dangers in the great campaign, and gains high distinction, while continuing his search for his father. Soon, a discovery leads him to a clue, and the tin box, once opened, reveals a surprising discovery about his true identity. |
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] | Mary Lennox is a troubled, sickly, and unloved 10-year-old girl born in India to selfish, wealthy British parents who never wanted her. She is primarily cared for by servants, who pacify her as much as possible to keep her out of her parents' way. She grows into a spoiled and selfish girl. Eventually, there is a cholera epidemic in India which kills Mary's parents and all the servants. Mary is discovered alive but alone in the empty house. She briefly lives with an English clergyman and his family and is then sent to Yorkshire, England, to live with Archibald Craven, an uncle she has never heard of let alone met, at his miserable, isolated mansion called Misselthwaite Manor.
At first, Mary is her usual self, sour and rude, disliking her uncle's large house, the people within it, and, most of all, the vast stretch of moor, which seems scrubby and grey after the winter. She is told that she must stay confined to her two rooms and keep herself amused without much attention. Martha Sowerby, a good-natured maid, tells Mary a story of the late Mrs. Craven and how she would spend hours in a private walled garden growing roses. Mrs. Craven was killed when a tree branch fell on her in the garden, and the devastated Mr. Craven locked the garden and buried the key. Mary is piqued by this story and her ill manner begins to soften. Soon, she comes to enjoy the company of Martha, Ben Weatherstaff the gardener, and a friendly robin redbreast whom she assigns a human personality. Her appetite increases, the bracing air improves her health and she grows stronger as she plays by herself on the moor. Martha's mother buys Mary a skipping rope to encourage this, and Mary takes to it immediately. Mary occupies her time wondering about both the secret garden and the cries she hears at night. The servants claim not to hear the cries.
As Mary is exploring the periphery of the gardens, her robin friend draws her attention to an area of turned-over soil. Mary finds the key to the locked garden, and eventually the door to the garden. She asks Martha for garden tools, which Martha sends with Dickon, her twelve-year-old brother. Mary and Dickon take a liking to each other, as Dickon has a kind way with animals and a good nature. Eager to absorb his gardening knowledge, Mary lets him in on the secret of the garden.
That night, Mary hears the crying again. She follows the noise and, to her surprise, finds a small boy her age living in a hidden bedroom. His name is Colin. She soon discovers that they are cousins: he is the son of her uncle, his mother died when he was a baby, and he suffers from an unspecified spinal problem. Mary visits every day that week, distracting him from his troubles with stories of the moor, Dickon and his animals, and the garden. Mary finally admits she has access to the secret garden, and they decide Colin needs fresh air. Colin is put into his wheelchair and brought outside into the garden, the first time he has been outdoors in years.
While in the garden, the children are surprised to see Ben Weatherstaff looking over the wall on a ladder. Startled and angry to find the children there in Colin's mother's garden, he admits he believed Colin to be a cripple. Colin stands up from his chair and finds that his legs are fine, though weak from disuse for so long.
Colin spends every day in the garden. The children conspire to keep Colin's recovering health a secret so he can surprise his father, who is travelling and still mourning his late wife. As Colin's health improves, his faraway father sees a coinciding increase in spirits, culminating in a dream where his late wife calls to him from inside the garden. When he receives a letter from Martha's mother, he takes the opportunity to finally return home. He walks the outer garden wall in his wife's memory, but hears voices inside, finds the door unlocked, and is shocked to see the garden in full bloom, including his healthy and invigorated son. The servants watch, stunned, as Mr. Craven walks back to the manor and Colin runs beside him. |
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] | One year after the first film, college student Kimberly Corman is headed to Daytona Beach, Florida for spring break with her friends, Shaina McKlank, Dano Estevez, and Frankie Whitman. En route, Kimberly has a premonition of logs falling off a semi, causing a massive car crash that kills everyone involved. She stalls her car on the entrance ramp, preventing several people from entering the highway, including Lottery winner Evan Lewis; widow Nora Carpenter and her fifteen-year-old son Tim; businesswoman Kat Jennings; stoner Rory Peters; pregnant Isabella Hudson; high school teacher Eugene Dix; and Deputy Marshal Thomas Burke. While Thomas questions Kimberly, the pileup occurs. Shaina, Dano and Frankie are killed by a speeding truck, but Kimberly is saved by Thomas.
The survivors are brought to the police station, where they learn about the curse of Flight 180. Later, a chain reaction causes a fire in Evan's apartment which he barely escapes; but when Evan slips the escape ladder falls and impales his eye. Thomas researches the survivors of Flight 180, and discovers that Alex Browning was killed by a falling brick. Kimberly visits Clear Rivers, the last survivor of Flight 180, who is now a voluntary inmate at a psychiatric ward. Clear refuses to help, but while arguing with Kimberly realizes that the survivors are dying in reverse, and warns Kimberly to look out for "signs" of Death. Upon arriving home, Kimberly has a vision of a flock of pigeons attacking her and she and Thomas rush to save Nora and Tim, but they arrive too late and Tim is crushed by a glass pane at a dentist. Clear decides to help and introduces Kimberly Thomas to mortician William Bludworth, who tells them that only "new life" can defeat Death. They believe that if Isabella has her baby it will ruin Death's plan and they will all be safe.
Isabella is accused of driving a stolen van and taken into custody, while the other survivors reunite for safety. After Nora is decapitated by malfunctioning elevator doors, the group leaves to find Isabella, who has gone into labor at the police station, while the policeman on duty rushes Isabella to the hospital in her van. Along the way they discover they have all cheated death twice; had it not been for the survivors of Flight 180 they would all be dead, which explains why the survivors are dying in reverse. Since Thomas saved Kimberly from being hit by the truck, she is last on Death's list.
The survivors' vehicle suffers a blowout, prompting them to swerve onto a farm. The back of the car is penetrated by PVC pipes which injure Eugene, and he is rushed to the hospital. As rescuers arrive at the scene, Brian Gibbons, the son of a farm owner, is nearly killed by a speeding news van, but Rory saves him. Using the Jaws of Life Kat's rescuer accidentally activates the airbag and her head is impaled by a pipe protruding from her headrest. Her cigarette falls out of her hand and into a gasoline leak leading to the news van, causing the van to explode, and sending a barbed wire fence flying through the air, which kills Rory.
Kimberly, Clear and Thomas rush to the hospital, and Kimberly has another vision of Dr. Ellen Kalarjian "strangling" Isabella. After Thomas immobilizes Dr. Kalarjian, Kimberly and Thomas witness Isabella give birth and assume they have cheated death. However, Kimberly has another vision of someone with bloody hands in a submerging van and realizes that Isabella was never meant to die in the pile-up.
Clear searches for Eugene, but accidentally causes his room to explode from an oxygen combustion, killing them both. Kimberly realizes the person in her vision was herself and immerses a van in a lake to drown herself. Kimberly is rescued by Thomas and resuscitated by Kalarjian, which was her actual premonition, granting her new life. Sometime later, Kimberly and Thomas have a picnic with Brian's family and Kimberly's father to celebrate their survival. There they learn of Brian's deterrence from Death when his father tells them he was almost hit by a van, but Rory saved him. The group then see a malfunctioning barbecue grill explode, killing Brian. |
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] | The film depicts the lives and misadventures of two unemployed young actors in late-1969 London. They are the flamboyant alcoholic Withnail and "I" (named "Marwood" in the published screenplay but not in the credits) as his relatively more level-headed friend and the film's narrator. Withnail comes from a privileged background and sets the tone for the friendship. They live in a filthy Georgian flat in Camden Town. Their only company at the flat is the local drug dealer, Danny.
The roommates squabble about housekeeping and leave to take a walk. In Regent's Park, they discuss the state of their acting careers and a possible country vacation, settling on a visit to Withnail's uncle Monty, who has a cottage near Penrith. After a near fight with a large and belligerent Irishman, they return home to prepare for their trip. They visit Monty that evening at his luxurious Chelsea house. Monty is a melodramatic aesthete and Marwood realizes he is homosexual. The three briefly drink together as Withnail casually lies to Monty about his acting career and lies that Marwood went to Eton. Before leaving, Withnail arranges to borrow the cottage.
The countryside is beautiful, but the weather is cold and often inclement, the cottage is without running water or light, they have no food and the locals are unwelcoming â in particular a poacher, Jake, whom Withnail offends. They see Jake prowling around their cottage. Marwood suggests they leave for London the next day. Withnail in turn demands that they share a bed in the interest of safety, but Marwood refuses. During the night, Withnail becomes paranoid that the poacher is going to come after them and climbs under the covers with Marwood, who angrily leaves for a different bed. Hearing the sounds of an intruder breaking into the cottage, Withnail again joins Marwood in bed. The intruder turns out to be Monty, who has been stranded with a punctured tyre.
Monty has brought supplies and persistently comes on to Marwood. He offers to take them into town to get fitted into rubber boots, but they end up spending the money he gave them on drinks. Monty is hurt, though he puts it out of his mind quickly during a boozy round of poker. Marwood is terrified of what else Monty might try on him and wants to leave immediately. After much argument, Withnail insists on staying. Late in the night, Marwood keeps trying to evade Monty but he eventually corners him in the guest bedroom. Monty reveals that Withnail, when arranging to borrow the cottage, had told Monty that Marwood was a closeted homosexual and that he himself had rejected Marwood's advances. Marwood claims that Withnail is the closeted one and that the two of them have been in a committed relationship for years. He claims that Withnail is only rejecting him because Monty is around, and that this is the first night that they haven't slept together in years. Monty, a romantic, accepts this explanation and apologizes for coming between them. In private, Marwood furiously confronts Withnail and insists that he will pay.
The next morning, Marwood finds that Monty has left for London, leaving note of apology wishing them happiness together. They continue to argue about their behaviour and Monty. When Marwood receives a telegram about a callback from an earlier audition, he insists they return to London.
As Marwood sleeps, Withnail drunkenly speeds and swerves until pulled over by the police. Withnail is arrested for driving under the influence, and tries to falsify his urine sample. The pair return to the flat to find Danny and a stranger named Presuming Ed squatting there. Marwood calls his agent and discovers that he is wanted for the lead part in a play. The three, and Presuming Ed, get high smoking a huge cannabis joint. The celebration ends when Marwood learns they have received an eviction notice for unpaid rent, while Withnail is too high to care.
Marwood prepares to leave for the station, turning down Withnail's request for one last drink. In Regent's Park in the rain, Marwood confesses that he will miss Withnail, but does not allow him to accompany him further to the station. Bottle of wine in hand, Withnail declaims "What a piece of work is a man!" from Hamlet to an uncomprehending pack of wolves behind a fence in the London Zoo. The camera watches as he turns and walks away into the gloomy distance, swinging the bottle, as the credits start to roll. |
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] | Villette begins with its famously passive protagonist, Lucy Snowe, age 14, staying at the home of her godmother Mrs. Bretton in "the clean and ancient town of Bretton", in England. Also in residence are Mrs. Bretton's son, John Graham Bretton (whom the family calls Graham), and a young visitor, Paulina Home (who is called Polly). Polly is a peculiar little girl who soon develops a deep devotion to Graham, who showers her with attention. But Polly's visit is cut short when her father arrives to take her away.
For reasons that are not stated, Lucy leaves Mrs. Bretton's home a few weeks after the Polly's departure. Some years pass, during which an unspecified family tragedy leaves Lucy without family, home, or means. After some initial hesitation, she is hired as a caregiver by Miss Marchmont, a rheumatic crippled woman. Lucy is soon accustomed to her work and has begun to feel content with her quiet lifestyle.
During an evening of dramatic weather changes, Miss Marchmont regains all her energy and feels young again. She shares with Lucy her sad love story of 30 years previously, and concludes that she should treat Lucy better and be a better person. She believes that death will reunite her with her dead lover. The next morning, Lucy finds Miss Marchmont dead.
Lucy then leaves the English countryside and goes to London. At the age of 23, she boards a ship for Labassecour despite knowing very little French. She travels to the city of Villette, where she finds employment as a bonne (nanny) at Mme. Beck's boarding school for girls. (This school is seen as being based upon the Hégers' Brussels pensionnat). After a time, she is hired to teach English at the school, in addition to having to mind Mme. Beck's three children. She thrives despite Mme. Beck's constant surveillance of the staff and students.
"Dr. John," a handsome English doctor, frequently visits the school because of his love for the coquette Ginevra Fanshawe. In one of Villette's famous plot twists, "Dr. John" is later revealed to be John Graham Bretton, a fact that Lucy has known but has deliberately concealed from the reader. After Dr. John (i.e., Graham) discovers Ginevra's unworthiness, he turns his attention to Lucy, and they become close friends. She values this friendship highly despite her usual emotional reserve.
We meet Polly (Paulina Home) again at this point; her father has inherited the title "de Bassompierre" and is now a Count. Thus her name is now Paulina Home de Bassompierre. Polly and Graham soon discover that they knew each other in the past and renew their friendship. They fall in love and eventually marry.
Lucy becomes progressively closer to a colleague, the irascible, autocratic, and male chauvinist professor, M. Paul Emanuel, a relative of Mme. Beck. Lucy and Paul eventually fall in love.
However, a group of conspiring antagonists, including Mme. Beck, the priest Père Silas, and the relatives of M. Paul's long-dead fiancée, work to keep the two apart. They finally succeed in forcing M. Paul's departure for the West Indies to oversee a plantation there. He nonetheless declares his love for Lucy before his departure and arranges for her to live independently as the headmistress of her own day school, which she later expands into a pensionnat (boarding school).
During the course of the novel, Lucy has three encounters with the figure of a nun — which may be the ghost of a nun who was buried alive on the school's grounds as punishment for breaking her vow of chastity. In a highly symbolic scene near the end of the novel, she discovers the "nun's" habit in her bed and destroys it. She later finds out that it was a disguise worn by Ginevra's amour, Alfred de Hamal. The episodes with the nun no doubt contributed substantially to the novel's reputation as a gothic novel.
Villette's final pages are ambiguous. Although Lucy says that she wants to leave the reader free to imagine a happy ending, she hints strongly that M. Paul's ship was destroyed by a storm during his return journey from the West Indies. She says that, "M. Emanuel was away three years. Reader, they were the three happiest years of my life." This passage suggests that he was drowned by the "destroying angel of tempest."
Brontë described the ambiguity of the ending as a "little puzzle." |
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] | An elderly woman tells her granddaughter a bedtime story of where snow comes from, by telling her the story of a young man named Edward who has scissors for hands. As the creation of an old Inventor, Edward was a human-like boy who was in the penultimate stage of work. The Inventor homeschooled Edward, but suffered a fatal heart attack and died just as he was about to fasten hands on Edward.
Local Avon saleswoman Peg Boggs visits the decrepit Gothic mansion on the hill where Edward lives. She finds Edward alone â at first startled, but, upon realizing he means well and is virtually harmless, takes him to her home. Edward becomes friends with Peg's young son Kevin and her husband Bill. He later falls in love with the Boggs' beautiful teenage daughter Kim, despite her initial fear of him.
Peg's neighbors are impressed by Edward's adept hedge-trimming and hair-cutting skills, though an eccentric religious fanatic named Esmeralda and Kim's overbearing boyfriend Jim are fearful and contemptuous of him. Joyce, an ageing, unfaithful housewife in the Boggs' neighborhood, has become fascinated with Edward and suggests that Edward open a hair-cutting salon with her. While examining a proposed site, she attempts to seduce him in the back room, causing Edward to leave in a panic, and Joyce rumoring of him trying to rape her.
Wanting money for a van, Jim takes advantage of Edward's ability to pick locks to break into his parents' house to steal from his wealthy but bullying father. The burglar alarm sounds and everyone except Edward flees after he is trapped by the automatic locks triggered by the alarm, despite Kim's insistence that they return for him, as the police have him arrested. He is released when a psychological examination reveals that his isolation allowed him to live without a sense of reality and common sense. Upon questioning by Peg, Edward takes full blame for the robbery, and is scrutinized for his behavior, believed to have committed the robbery as earlier he was denied a bank loan for his hair salon. During Christmas, Edward is cast out by almost everyone except the Boggs family. When Edward returns home, he reveals that he knew it was Jim's house and that he did it because she asked him to, much to Kim's shock.
While the family is setting up Christmas decorations, Edward creates a large angel ice sculpture (modelled on Kim). The shavings create an effect of falling snow, which Kim dances under. Jim arrives and calls out to Edward, startling him, resulting in Edward accidentally cutting Kim's hand. Jim accuses Edward of intentionally harming her and attacks him which causes Kim who is finally fed up with Jim's jealousy towards Edward to break up with him. Edward runs away, wandering the neighborhood in a rage, ruining one of his earlier hedge works, pokes a hole in the tire on someone's car, and trims a bush in Esmeralda's front yard into the shape of the devil. However, when a shaggy puppy comes near, Edward calms down, smiles at the dog and give it a trim. While Peg and Bill search for Edward, he returns and finds Kim alone in the Boggs' house. She asks Edward to hold her, but he is afraid that he will hurt her again â she pulls his arms around her and they embrace. Jim returns to the Boggs' house in a drunken rage to confront Kim, forcing his friend to drive his van while inebriated. Kevin is almost run over, but Edward pushes him out of the way, cutting Kevin's arms and face, causing witnesses to think he is attacking him. Jim then attacks him furiously and Edward cuts Jim's right arm. When the police arrive, Edward flees to the mansion as the neighbors pursue.
Kim runs to the mansion, reuniting with Edward. Jim follows her and attacks them with a handgun, beating Edward severely, who refuses to fight until Jim strikes Kim across the face when she intervenes. Edward stabs Jim in the stomach and pushes him to fall out of a window to his death. Kim confesses her love for Edward and they share a kiss before saying goodbye. Kim tells the townspeople that Edward and Jim fought each other to death and tells them that the roof caved in on Edward, showing them a discarded scissor-hand from the Inventor's lab. The neighbors return home with Joyce feeling guilty for framing Edward and causing the neighbors to hate him.
The elderly woman finishes telling her granddaughter the story, revealing that she is Kim and saying that she never saw Edward again. She chose not to visit him because decades have passed and she wanted him to remember her the way she was in her youth. She believes that Edward is still alive, immortal because he is artificial, and because of the winter "snow" that Edward creates by carving ice sculptures that scatter shavings over the neighborhood, and remind her of dancing in the snow long ago. |
496 | [
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] | The novel is divided into three volumes.
Part One (Chapters 1 to 15): Gilbert Markham narrates how a mysterious widow, Mrs Helen Graham, arrives at Wildfell Hall, a nearby mansion. A source of curiosity for the small community, the reticent Mrs Graham and her young son Arthur are slowly drawn into the social circles of the village. Initially Gilbert Markham casually courts Eliza Millward, despite his mother's belief that he can do better. His interest in Eliza wanes as he comes to know Mrs Graham. In retribution Eliza spreads (and perhaps creates) scandalous rumours about Helen. With gossip flying, Gilbert is led to believe that his friend Mr Lawrence is courting Mrs Graham. At a chance meeting on a road Gilbert strikes the mounted Lawrence with a whip handle, causing him to fall from his horse. Though she is unaware of this confrontation, Helen Graham still refuses to marry Gilbert, but when he accuses her of loving Lawrence she gives him her diaries.
Part two (Chapters 16 to 44) is taken from Helen's diaries, in which she describes her marriage to Arthur Huntingdon. The handsome, witty Huntingdon is also spoilt, selfish and self-indulgent. Before marrying Helen he flirts with Annabella, and uses this to manipulate Helen and convince her to marry him. Helen, blinded by love, marries him, and resolves to reform him with gentle persuasion and good example. After the birth of their only child, however, Huntingdon becomes increasingly jealous of their son (also called Arthur), and his claims on Helen's attentions and affections.
Huntingdon's pack of dissolute friends frequently engage in drunken revels at the family's home, Grassdale, oppressing those of finer character. Both men and women are portrayed as degraded. In particular, Annabella, now Lady Lowborough, is shown to be unfaithful to her melancholy but devoted husband.
Walter Hargrave, the brother of Helen's friend Milicent Hargrave, vies for Helen's affections. While he is not as wild as his peers, he is an unwelcome admirer: Helen senses his predatory nature when they play chess. Walter tells Helen of Arthur's affair with Lady Lowborough. When his friends depart Arthur pines openly for his paramour and derides his wife.
Arthur's corruption of their son â encouraging him to drink and swear at his tender age â is the last straw for Helen. She plans to flee to save her son, but her husband learns of her plans from her diary and burns the artist's tools with which she had hoped to support herself. Eventually, with help from her brother, Mr Lawrence, Helen finds a secret refuge at Wildfell Hall.
Part Three (Chapters 45 to 53) begins after Gilbert's reading of the diaries. Helen bids Gilbert to leave her because she is not free to marry. He complies and soon learns that she has returned to Grassdale because her husband is gravely ill. Helen's ministrations are in vain, and Huntingdon's death is painful since he is fraught with terror at what awaits him. Helen cannot comfort him, for he rejects responsibility for his actions and wishes instead for her to come with him to plead for his salvation.
A year passes. Gilbert pursues a rumour of Helen's impending wedding, only to find that Mr Lawrence, with whom he has reconciled, is marrying Helen's friend Esther Hargrave. Gilbert goes to Grassdale, and discovers that Helen is now wealthy and lives at her estate in Staningley. He travels there, but is plagued by anxiety that she is now far above his station. He encounters Helen, her aunt and young Arthur by chance. The two lovers reconcile and marry. |
497 | [
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] | In 2035, Lunar Industries has made a fortune after an oil crisis by building Sarang Station, an automated lunar facility to mine the alternative fuel helium-3 from Moon rocks, rich in the material. The facility is fully automated, requiring only a single human to maintain operations, oversee the harvesters, and launch canisters bound for Earth containing the extracted helium-3. Currently, Sam Bell nears the end of his three-year work contract at Sarang Station. Chronic communication problems have disabled his live feed from Earth and limit him to occasional recorded messages from his wife Tess, who was pregnant with their daughter Eve when he left. His only companion is an artificial intelligence named GERTY, who assists with the base's automation and provides comfort for him.
Two weeks before his return to Earth, Sam suffers from hallucinations of a teenage girl. One such image distracts him while he is out recovering a helium-3 canister from a harvester, causing him to crash his lunar rover into the harvester. Rapidly losing cabin air from the crash, Sam falls unconscious in the rover.
Sam awakes in the base infirmary with no memory of the accident. He overhears GERTY receiving instructions from Lunar Industries to prevent him from leaving the base and to wait for the arrival of a rescue team. His suspicions aroused, he manufactures a fake problem to persuade GERTY to let him outside. He travels to the crashed rover, where he finds his unconscious doppelg채nger. He brings the double back to the base and tends to his injuries. The two Sams start to wonder if one is a clone of the other. After a heated argument and physical altercation, they together coerce GERTY into revealing that they are both clones of the original Sam Bell. GERTY activated the newest clone after the rover crash, and convinced him that he was at the beginning of his three-year contract.
The two Sams search the facility, discovering a secret vault containing hundreds of hibernating clones. They determine that Lunar Industries is unethically using clones of the original Sam Bell to avoid the cost of new astronauts. The elder Sam drives past the interference radius in a second rover and tries to call Tess on Earth. He instead makes contact with Eve, now 15 years old, who says Tess died "some years ago." He hangs up when Eve tells her father (offscreen, identified as "Original Sam" in closed captioning) that someone is calling regarding Tess.
The two Sams realize that the incoming "rescue" team will kill them both if they are found together. The newer Sam suggests sending the other to Earth in one of the helium-3 transports, but the older Sam, with his health declining, knows that he will not live much longer (he has learned that the clones are designed to "break down" at the end of the 3-year contract, their bodies disposed of under the guise of sending them back to Earth). He suggests the younger Sam leave instead. The older Sam plans to die by the crashed rover so Lunar Industries will not suspect anything until it is too late.
The younger clone orders GERTY to revive a seventh clone to greet the rescuers. Following GERTY's advice, the younger Sam reboots GERTY to wipe its records of the events. Before leaving, the younger clone programs a harvester to crash and wreck a jamming antenna, thereby enabling live communications with Earth. The older Sam, back in the crippled rover, remains conscious long enough to watch the launch of the transport carrying the younger Sam to Earth.
The transport arrives at Earth, and over the film's credits, news reports describe how Sam's testimony on Lunar Industries' activities has stirred up an enormous controversy, and the company's unethical practices have plummeted the company's stock. |
498 | [
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] | Convenience store robber Herbert I. "Hi" McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) and police officer Edwina "Ed" (Holly Hunter) meet after she takes the mugshots of the recidivist. With continued visits, Hi learns that Ed's fiancĂŠ has left her. Hi proposes to her after his latest release from prison, and the two get married. They move into a desert mobile home, and Hi gets a job in a machine shop. They want to have children but Ed is infertile, and they cannot adopt because of Hi's criminal record, despite the fact that Ed is a police officer. Devastated, Ed resigns her job. The couple learns of the "Arizona Quints," sons of locally famous furniture magnate Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson); Hi and Ed kidnap one of the five babies, whom they believe to be Nathan Junior.
Hi and Ed return home and are soon visited by Hi's cellmates, Gale and Evelle Snoats (John Goodman and William Forsythe), who have just escaped from prison. Under the brothers' influence, Hi is tempted to return to his felonious ways. Their problems get worse when Hi's supervisor, Glen (Sam McMurray), proposes wife swapping and Hi assaults him. That night, Hi decides to steal a package of diapers for the baby, but gets carried away and starts to rob the convenience store. Ed sees this and, furious, drives off without him. Hi is then forced to flee on foot from the convenience store, chased by two police officers and an armed cashier, who attempt to shoot him down, as well as a pack of neighborhood dogs, but he manages to outrun and lose them. Ed eventually picks him up, leading to a tense ride home.
At the McDunnough residence the next day, Glen approaches Hi to fire him, and reveals that he has deduced Junior's identity because of the newspaper article he read about Junior missing, and blackmails Hi, threatening to turn him over to the police unless Glen and Dot get custody of Junior. Gale and Evelle overhear this conversation and turn on Hi, tying him to a chair and taking Junior for themselves. Gale and Evelle leave with plans to rob a "hayseed" bank with Junior in tow. When Ed comes home, she frees Hi and the two arm themselves and set out together to retrieve the child. En route, Ed suggests that they should end their marriage after recovering the boy. Meanwhile, Nathan Arizona Sr. is approached by the bounty hunter Leonard Smalls (Randall "Tex" Cobb) who offers to find the child for $50,000. Nathan Sr. declines the offer, believing that Smalls himself is his son's kidnapper. Smalls decides to recover the child anyway to sell on the black market. He begins tracking Gale and Evelle and learns of their bank robbery plans.
Gale and Evelle rob a bank but leave Junior there as they make their getaway. One of the bank's anti-theft dye canisters explodes in their loot sack, blocking the car's windows and incapacitating them. At the bank, Smalls arrives for Junior just ahead of Ed and Hi. Ed grabs the baby and flees; Hi is able to fend Smalls off for a while, but eventually finds himself at Smalls' mercy when Smalls punches Hi in the face several times. As Smalls throws Hi to the ground and prepares to kill him, Hi holds up his hand to reveal that he has pulled the pin from one of the hand grenades on Smalls' vest. Smalls attempts to get rid of the grenade, but he cannot get it off in time and is blown to pieces when the grenade explodes and sets off all his weapons.
Hi and Ed sneak Junior back into the Arizona home and are confronted by Nathan Sr. After Nathan Sr. learns why they took his son, he understands the couple's predicament and decides not to turn them over to the police. He counsels them: when Hi and Ed say that they are splitting up, he advises them to sleep on it. Hi and Ed go to sleep in the same bed, and Hi has a dream about Gale and Evelle reforming after returning to prison; Glen gets his due from a Polish-American police officer after "telling one Polack joke too many"; and Nathan Jr. gets a football for Christmas from "a kindly couple who wish to remain unknown", later becoming a football star. The dream ends with an elderly couple (implied to be Hi and Ed) together enjoying a holiday visit from a large family of children and grandchildren. |
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] | Tancred, Lord Montacute, the novel's idealistic young hero, seems destined to live the life of any conventional member of the British ruling class. Dissatisfied with his life in fashionable London circles, he instead leaves his parents and retraces the steps of his Crusader ancestors to the Holy Land, hoping there to "penetrate the great Asian mystery" and understand the roots of Christianity. He meets the beautiful Eva, daughter of a Jewish financier, and becomes involved in the political machinations of her foster-brother, the brilliant Fakredeen, a Lebanese emir. At Fakredeen's instigation Tancred is kidnapped and held captive, but is nevertheless allowed to visit Mount Sinai. Here he has a vision of an angel who tells him he must be the prophet of "the sublime and solacing doctrine of theocratic equality", a concept which Disraeli leaves somewhat hazy. Tancred falls ill, and is released at the instigation of Eva, who nurses him back to health. She teaches him about the glories of Mediterranean civilization and the debt that Christianity owes to Judaism. Tancred, in love with Eva and utterly convinced that she is right, proposes marriage, but the romance is broken off when his parents appear to reclaim their son and take him back to England. |
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