cryptexcode/MPST huggingface dataset:
One Way Passage

Plot synopsis:
Dan Hardesty (William Powell) is an escaped murderer, sentenced to hang. In Hong Kong, he meets Joan Ames (Kay Francis), a terminally-ill woman, in a bar. They share a drink, then Dan breaks his glass, followed by Joan. Police Sergeant Steve Burke (Warren Hymer) captures Dan when he leaves (though out of sight of Joan) and escorts his prisoner aboard an ocean liner crossing the Pacific to San Francisco. On board, Dan jumps into the water in a bid to escape, dragging a handcuffed (and non-swimmer) Steve with him, but spots Joan among the passengers and changes his mind. Once the ship is underway, he persuades Steve to remove his handcuffs. Dan and Joan fall in love on the month-long cruise, neither knowing that the other is under the shadow of death.
By chance, two of Dan's friends are also aboard, thief Skippy (Frank McHugh) and con artist "Barrel House Betty" (Aline MacMahon), masquerading as "Countess Barilhaus". The countess distracts Steve as much as she can to help Dan. Just before the only stop, at Honolulu, Steve has Dan put in the brig, but he escapes with their help and goes ashore. Joan intercepts him and they spend an idyllic day together. When they drive back to the dock, Dan starts to tell her why he cannot return to the ship, only to have her faint. Dan carries her aboard for medical help, forfeiting his chance. Later, Joan's doctor tells Dan about her condition and that the slightest excitement or shock could be fatal.
Meanwhile, the "countess" has spent so much time with the policeman that a romance blooms between them. When they near the end of the voyage, he awkwardly proposes to her. She tells him her true identity, but he still wants to marry her. As Steve and Dan get ready to disembark, a steward overhears the grim truth and, when Joan comes looking for Dan, tells her. The two lovers part for the last time without letting on they know each other's secret, and Joan collapses after Dan is out of sight.
They had agreed to meet again on New Year's Eve, a month later. At the appointed time and place, a bartender is startled when two glasses on the bar break with no one around.

Tags: tragedy

Review:
Top Dog

Plot synopsis:
The film opens as two white nationalists destroy an apartment complex in which most of the residents are minorities. Veteran police officer, Sgt. Lou Swanson, and his police dog, Reno, investigate the crime and realize the explosives are military in style. Their investigation takes them to the harbor, where they find a ship loaded with weapons. They are discovered and shot. Lou dies, but Reno survives.
Maverick cop Jake Wilder (Chuck Norris), is called by police captain Ken Callahan (Clyde Kusatsu), who requests Jake to take over the case. Jake is angered that he has to work with Reno, despite Reno proving himself capable through a battle training scenario.
Meanwhile, Neo-Nazis are trying to smuggle weapons across the border from Mexico. It is implied that they murdered their Mexican arms dealers. They are stopped by the Border Patrol and try to escape, but their car is destroyed in the process.
Jake and Reno survive an assassination attempt at Jake's home. Afterwards, Jake is visiting his mother, who reveals that Adolf Hitler's birthday will be the following day. Jake realizes this a clue, and takes off running. The police department works with the sheriff's office, as well as the FBI in determining where the Neo-Nazis are going to hit. One officer reveals that on Hitler's birthday (April 20), the Pope, and several other of his esteemed bishops will host the Coalition for Racial Unity.
As the Neo-Nazis hitmen are practicing for their attack, the leaders are revealed not to be just one white supremacist group, but an alliance of several including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, and the Church of the Creator. They plan to use their attack on the Coalition for Racial Unity as an opportunity to unite all the Neo-Nazi groups in the US, as well as the world.
Jake discovers the location of the warehouse where the Neo-Nazis are located. He and Reno go undercover and manage to steal a piece of evidence that could be used to convict the Neo-Nazi leaders. They are discovered and Jake orders Reno to flee with the evidence. Wilder subdues several radicals during the following fight, however he is finally captured, after a dozen attackers confront him at all once, and he's then hit on the head with a blunt object. He wakes up to find that he is tied up and the Neo-Nazi plan is now under way. Reno finds Jake, and eats away his rope bindings, just before a Neo-Nazi has the chance to kill him. Jake is able to call the police chief and tells him that the plan is in motion.
The police, FBI, CTU, and Sheriff's Department arrive as the Coalition for Racial Unity is attacked and in a gun battle many Neo-Nazis are killed. The Pope and his Bishops get in their bulletproof car, but it is rigged to explode. Wilder defuses the bomb, while Reno goes after the Neo-Nazi leader. Wilder chases after him as well, and after a vicious fight, manages to subdue him. Reno is set to attack the Neo-Nazi leader, who confesses to killing Reno's former veteran cop owner. Just before Reno can attack the leader, Lou's grandson, Matthew, arrives to stop him.

Tags: violence, murder, flashback

Review:
Mr. Majestyk

Plot synopsis:
Vince Majestyk (Charles Bronson) is a farmer, a former U. S. Army Ranger instructor and Vietnam War veteran, who owns and operates a watermelon farm in rural Colorado. He needs to harvest his crop in order to keep the farm financially solvent.
A small-time hoodlum, Bobby Kopas (Paul Koslo), attempts to coerce Majestyk into a protection racket of using unskilled drunks to harvest his watermelon crop. Majestyk runs Kopas off with his 12 gauge Winchester Model 1200 shotgun and hires skilled Mexican migrant workers, including Nancy Chavez (Linda Cristal), a crops picker union leader. They begin a relationship. Kopas brings assault charges against Majestyk, resulting in the farmer being arrested and held in the local jail.
In jail, Majestyk meets and annoys Frank Renda (Al Lettieri), a notorious mob hit man being transferred to a higher-security prison. Renda's men try to break him out of police custody during a prisoner transport by bus. In the escape attempt, Majestyk drives off in the bus with Renda still in handcuffs. Majestyk plans on trading Renda to the police in return for being released to finish his harvest. Renda offers his captor $25,000 for his freedom, but Majestyk just wants to get back and pick his melons.
With the help of his girlfriend Wiley (Lee Purcell), Renda escapes from Majestyk. He meets up with his right-hand man Lundy (Taylor Lacher) and plans his revenge on Majestyk. Renda is advised to fly to Mexico to elude a police dragnet looking for him, but he wants revenge. He tells his men to find the "melon picker" so that he can have the satisfaction of killing him personally.
Majestyk turns the tables. He sets a trap at Renda's cabin hideout. Renda betrays his own men, leading to Lundy's death. He attempts to use Kopas as bait to lure out Majestyk, but Kopas aids Majestyk instead. In a final showdown, Majestyk kills Renda, and Kopas and Wiley are arrested.

Tags: comedy, suspenseful, neo noir, murder, cult, violence, good versus evil, revenge

Review:
Golden Yeggs

Plot synopsis:
When Porky finds a golden egg in his henhouse, it was revealed that one of the geese laid it. But, knowing full well about what happened to the goose that laid the golden egg (a reference to Aesop's Fables), the goose tells Porky that Daffy laid it. After finding out about the fame Daffy got for laying the egg, Rocky and his gang hustle him back to their den and demand more output. Daffy tries to stall for time, at one point asking for surroundings that would make him more comfortable. Rocky and his henchmen oblige, but then demand the egg.
Daffy tries to stall for time, but is given five minutes to lay his egg or else. The duck tries various ways to escape his predicament, but is stopped at every turn. When time runs out, the gangsters stalk Daffy...only to find he really has laid a golden egg.
Daffy is relieved that he met Rocky's demand and will be allowed to go free...until Rocky escorts the duck into a room containing dozens of egg crates and orders him to lay enough to fill them, much to Daffy's despair, causing him to faint.
=== Alternative Ending ===
When this cartoon was used in The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, a new ending was used. Instead of Daffy fainting, Bugs Bunny, alias Elegant Mess (a parody of Eliot Ness), arrives with the police to bust Rocky and his gang. At the same time, Daffy tiredly carries out Rocky's orders. Naturally, Rocky and his gang are arrested and Daffy is taken to a hospital on a stretcher. Bugs asks Daffy if he needs anything and Daffy requests for a proctologist immediately.

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
The Flintstones: On the Rocks

Plot synopsis:
Several years after the events of the original series, Fred and Wilma's marriage is in serious jeopardy, as Wilma is growing tired of Fred's attitude, especially while Barney and Betty are enjoying a happy life well into their marriage, to the point that a visit to a family therapist results in a physical altercation between Fred and Wilma. On Fred and Wilma's anniversary, which they both forgot, the Rubbles arrange a trip to Rockapulco in an attempt to save the Flintstones' marriage.
Shortly after their arrival, a thief, Xavier, steals a diamond from a jewelry store and is chased by the guard into the same hotel the Flintstones and Rubbles are staying at. In the ensuing chaos, Xavier's bag is switched with Wilma's, and he immediately begins plotting to get the diamond back. At first, things do not improve between Fred and Wilma, to the point that Wilma lashes out at Fred and very nearly decides to divorce him, but she stumbles across the diamond in her suitcase and, assuming that Fred bought it as a surprise present, quickly makes up with him. Capitalising on the circumstances, Fred goes along with the charade, but their newfound passion is short lived, as Fred's demeanour slowly puts Wilma off again. While spying on Wilma, Xavier notices this and masquerades as a suave Englishman in order to woo Wilma by inviting her to dinner. Wilma accepts the invitation and spends time with Xavier.
Fred, feeling guilty, decides to make it up to Wilma, but catches her from afar with Xavier and is heartbroken, and he starts to drink himself silly while speaking with another attractive woman at the bar. Wilma rebuffs Xavier's advances out of loyalty to Fred, but changes her mind when she sees him with the lady. While dancing, however, Xavier reveals his true intentions and attempts to take the diamond from Wilma, who was wearing it as a necklace. A chase ensues throughout the ballroom with Fred, Barney and Xavier each trying to get the diamond, but it eventually falls into Wilma's hands, prompting Xavier to abduct her and flee in his car. The ensuing car chase eventually leads to a bridge above a volcano, where Xavier threatens to kill Wilma if she does not hand the diamond over. Fred appears and gives a passionate speech about how he has not realised until now that even though he was not rich enough to buy the diamond, he is still the richest man in the world just by having Wilma as his wife.
Wilma subdues Xavier and he is arrested by the lady who Fred spoke with at the bar, who is revealed to have been a policewoman on Xavier's trail. With their marriage restored, Fred and Wilma enjoy the rest of their trip, while Barney and Betty begin to bicker about their own marriage after seeing the passion Fred and Wilma ultimately displayed for each other. Over the end credits, Dino, who was assigned by Fred to guard their home, is revealed to have made a complete mess and left the home in the hands of his friends before leaving on his own trip.

Tags: psychedelic, alternate history

Review:
XXY

Plot synopsis:
Alex Kraken is a 15-year-old intersex person, with both male and female genitals, who has been living as a girl and using medicines to suppress masculine features, such as a beard, and to attempt to have more feminine features. However, recently Alex has stopped taking her medication.
Alex's parents moved with her from Argentina to a village by the sea in Uruguay, to avoid the city society's discriminatory views. Her father, Néstor Kraken, is a marine biologist who has written a book on sexuality and makes a living treating wounded animals found by fishermen. Her mother, Suli, invites friends from Argentina: a surgeon, his wife and teenage son Álvaro. The purpose, unknown to Néstor and Alex, is to discuss the possibilities of sex reassignment surgery, of which Suli hopes Alex will be female as per her wishes to her birth.
Alex directly tells Álvaro that she would like to have sex with him. Alex seduces Álvaro and begins to have anal intercourse with him (with her as the penetrative partner). Álvaro is surprised, but does not stop Alex; however Nestor catches sight of them through the door and Alvaro rushes out feeling conflicted and still in a panic at the unexpected reversal in sexual roles. When Alex later apologizes, Álvaro reveals that he liked it.
Later, three curious boys from the village sexually assault Alex by forcibly pulling down her pants to see her genitals. Néstor realizes that reporting this to the police would cause the whole village to know about Alex's condition. However, Alex decides that it does not matter. Alex also decides that she does not want to resume taking medicines or have an operation. She says, "What if there is nothing to choose?"

Tags: queer

Review:
Cardinal

Plot synopsis:
A newly ordained Irish Catholic priest, Stephen Fermoyle (Tom Tryon) returns home to Boston in 1917. He discovers that his parents are upset about daughter Mona (Carol Lynley) having become engaged to marry a Jewish boy, Benny Rampell (John Saxon). Mona seeks Stephen's counsel as a priest.
Concerned about the young priest's ambition, the archbishop (John Huston) assigns Stephen to an out-of-the-way parish, where it is hoped he will learn humility. There he meets the humble pastor, Father Ned Halley (Burgess Meredith), observing the unpretentious way he lives his life and treats his parishioners. Father Halley is very sick with multiple sclerosis. Fermoyle learns humility from him and his housekeeper, Lalage (Jill Haworth).
Stephen and his Irish Catholic family will only permit Mona to marry her Jewish fiance, Benny, if he becomes a Catholic or agrees to raise any children as Catholic. Benny does not agree and leaves to serve in World War I. Mona runs away and becomes promiscuous. She becomes pregnant out of wedlock. Stephen, his brother and Benny find Mona in agony because her pelvis is too small for a large baby. She is taken to the hospital where the doctor tells Stephen that the head of the baby must be crushed to save Mona. Stephen will not allow the doctor to do this. According to Catholic doctrine, the baby may not be killed. Mona dies giving birth to the child Regina.
Stephen is transferred to Europe and made a monsignor, but is unsure how committed he is to a life in the clergy and travels to Vienna, Austria, taking a two-year sabbatical. There he meets and enters into a relationship with a young woman, Annemarie (Romy Schneider). Stephen does not violate his vows.
Stephen's vocation calls him back to Rome and the church. The Vatican returns him to the United States on a mission, to assist a black priest, Father Gillis (Ossie Davis) in the American South who is opposed by the Ku Klux Klan. After successfully handling that assignment, Stephen is sent back to Austria to persuade a cardinal there not to cooperate with the Nazis, with a threat of a world war looming over all. He and the cardinal ultimately must flee for their lives. After the success of the missions the Vatican sent him on, he was consecrated as a Bishop.
On the eve of World War II, a ceremony is held in which Stephen formally becomes a cardinal, pledging to dedicate the rest of his life to his work.

Tags: sadist

Review:
Everything You Want

Plot synopsis:
Abby Morrison has lived a sheltered life. She has an imaginary boyfriend Sy since she was five; it was all because she never had her parents and real friends with her. However, she is an artist with a passion to paint and usually make paintings of Sy. When she agrees to tutor her roommate's cynical cousin Quinn, she finds herself attracted to him. He felt jealous for her boyfriend; because he didn't know about the reality. However, Abby ignores the attraction, in order to focus on Sy. Abby's parents invite Quinn for thanksgiving day where her mother mentions Abby's imaginary friend, which makes Quinn think that she made all of it up as an obstacle for their relationship. He stopped talking and meeting with her, but he gradually became miserable. Abby also realized that she should get rid of Sy and face reality. She asks Sy to leave for good and for the very first time she joins her parents in their weird work (decorating the tombstones they made for themselves). Quinn,after seeking advice from his roommate and cousin, searches for Abby and while looking for her in a club he once took her to, he finds a portrait of himself painted by Abby and notices an image in the background of Abby at the rink. He finds her there and kisses her.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Evil Dead: Hail to the King

Plot synopsis:
The game takes place eight years after the events of Army of Darkness. After regaining his job at S-Mart and beginning a new relationship with fellow employee Jenny, Ashley "Ash" Williams begins suffering from recurring nightmares about the Necronomicon and the Deadites, which haunt him for years. Wanting to help him, Jenny decides to take Ash back to Professor Knowby's old cabin to help him face his demons.
However, shortly after arriving, Ash's possessed severed hand appears and plays Knowby's old cassette containing the Necronomicon's incantation once again. Despite Ash's attempts to stop it, the evil once again awakens in the woods, smashing through the window and kidnapping Jenny. When Ash goes to grab an axe above the mirror, his evil twin, Bad Ash exits the mirror and knocks him unconscious. After awakening, Ash quickly goes out to the workshed and reassembles his chainsaw-hand before going out to stop the Necronomicon and save Jenny.
After reading some of Professor Knowby's notes, Ash learns of a priest named Father Allard, whom Knowby was working with to decipher the Necronomicon and send the evil back to where it came. Upon consulting Father Allard at his church, Ash departs to gather the five missing pages from the Necronomicon and the Kandarian Dagger, the latter of which he obtains from a possessed Annie Knowby in the cabin's fruit cellar. After the two come across a possessed Jenny, Father Allard use the pages and the dagger to create a portal and exorcise the demons from Jenny's body. However, Allard then reveals himself to be Bad Ash in disguise, who promptly kidnaps Jenny and jumps into the portal with Ash in hot pursuit, the two arriving in an Arabian village in the 9th century.
Ash finally catches up with Bad Ash, who intends to let Jenny be consumed by the Dark Ones and cross over into this world while Bad Ash will kill Ash and use him as a 'calling card'. The two fight, with Bad Ash transforming into a giant scorpion-like deadite. Nonetheless, Ash still defeats him and manages to uses the pages of the Necronomicon to pull Bad Ash into the portal. With Jenny now free from possession, Ash uses another of the spells to open a portal and send them back home.
Upon arriving, Ash and Jenny discover to their horror that they've arrived in a version of Dearborn, Michigan that is ruled by the Dark Ones. Seeing several various necronomicon books in a shop window, Ash screams as the game ends.

Tags: violence

Review:
The Young Savages

Plot synopsis:
Danny diPace (Stanley Kristien), Arthur Reardon (John Davis Chandler) and Anthony "Batman" Aposto (Neil Nephew) are members of a street gang named the Thunderbirds in New York City in East Harlem. They have an ongoing turf war with a Puerto Rican gang called the Horsemen. The three Thunderbirds unleash a knife attack on Roberto Escalante (José Pérez), a blind member of the Horsemen and stab him to death. They are caught and arrested, and during questioning by the police, assistant district attorney Hank Bell (Burt Lancaster) discovers one of the boys is the son of Mary diPace (Shelley Winters), an ex-girlfriend.
Back at the office of the district attorney Dan Cole (Edward Andrews), Bell admits he knows the mother of one of the suspects in the killing. Despite objections, he is not taken off the case and admits that he grew up in the same neighborhood. In a conversation with his wife Karin (Dina Merrill), Bell admits that his father changed his name from Bellini (Belani in the book) to Bell because he wanted to conceal his background and where he grew up, a deception Bell had found advantageous in pursuing his career and marrying a Vassar girl. At the funeral for Roberto Escalante, Bell is confronted by his ex-lover who tells him that her son promised he would never join a gang. Bell then sets out to find the facts about the killing, meeting one by one with all the families and gang members involved. He learns not only the intricacies of the case, but is shocked at his own capacity to kill when he is attacked by a gang, making him realize his hard-won character in the school of hard knocks is not immune to these forces. From a different angle, illustrating the limitations of a privileged education and upbringing, his wife finds her idealistic empathy for those caught in a web of circumstance is challenged when she is attacked by gang members in an elevator.
The drama evolves to consider many aspects of the crime: gangs, poverty, ethnic bias, parental incapacity to deal with forces far beyond their control, and politics. The three boys tried for the murder illustrate how personal qualities of morality, mental capacity, conformity, and psychosis fit into a squalid ethnically diverse setting compartmentalized by demeaning stereotypical beliefs. The milieu in which all life is on trial, including not only the perpetrators' surroundings, but the failure of larger society to take much interest in the underlying issues. When the trial concludes with different sentences for each boy tailored to their natures, the mother of the victim asks Hank Bell accusingly if justice had been served, and Bell answers unhappily that a great many people bear a responsibility for her son's death.

Tags: murder

Review:
Blade: The Series

Plot synopsis:
In the pilot, Krista Starr returns from military service in Iraq to learn that her twin brother, Zack, has died under mysterious circumstances. Her investigation reveals that Zack was a "familiar" - a kind of indentured servant who agrees to do a vampire's bidding in the hopes that his "master" will eventually reward him with eternal life. Krista's search for her brother's killer soon brings her face to face with Blade, as well as with the killer himself, Marcus Van Sciver. Marcus is a powerful vampire and high-ranking member of the House of Chthon. Smitten with Krista, Marcus decides to turn her into a vampire by injecting her with his blood. Krista is then approached by Blade, who injects her with the same serum he uses to control his own vampire instincts, and offers her a chance to help him avenge her brother's death and bring down Marcus and the House of Chthon, and revealed that Zack was trying to do a sting operation with Blade. The two form a reluctant partnership.
The remainder of the season follows Krista's attempts to maintain her cover in the House of Chthon, all the while struggling with her growing predatory nature, and Marcus's (supposed) efforts to develop a "vaccine" that will render vampires immune to all their traditional weaknesses; sunlight, silver, garlic, etc. It is later revealed that Marcus's true purpose is to create a virus called the Aurora Project that will specifically target "purebloods," the ruling vampire class, and leave the turnbloods (normal vampires like Chase and Marcus, who were once human) unscathed. He eventually unleashes his weapon in the series finale, surprisingly enough with Blade's help.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
40 Days and 40 Nights

Plot synopsis:
Matt Sullivan (Josh Hartnett) and his roommate, Ryan (Paulo Costanzo), are co-workers at a San Francisco dot-com company. Matt is obsessed with his ex-girlfriend, Nicole (Vinessa Shaw), and his obsession repeatedly causes him problems during attempted one-night stands. He has trouble moving on, since Nicole broke up with him. He confides his sexual problems to his brother, John (Adam Trese), who is training to become a Catholic priest. In an attempt to fix his problems, Matt vows to abstain from sexual stimulation, including masturbation, for the 40 days and 40 nights of Lent. John warns Matt that chastity is not easy; meanwhile, Ryan starts a popular office pool to bet on how long Matt can last.
Matt meets Erica (Shannyn Sossamon), a cyber nanny, and they begin to date. They face many challenges in their relationship, including her discovery of his celibacy vow and Matt's continuing feelings for Nicole. Matt's co-workers make many unsuccessful attempts to persuade him to have sex in order to win the pool, and as the days pass Matt's obsession with sex grows. At one point he angrily grabs a pornographic magazine from an office desk and begins to march towards a toilet stall in order to masturbate, but his co-workers stop him and convince him to maintain his pledge.
Despite the range of increasingly powerful cultural incentives to sex and orgasm surrounding Matt—scantily-dressed women, billboards, et cetera—Matt's commitment holds, and begins to frustrate a lot of the people around him who had fully expected him to break it long before he could get close to his goal. In the meantime, Erica and Matt are falling in love, and they plan a special encounter for the 40th night to celebrate his successfully completing his vow. On the 40th day, a newly single Nicole learns of the betting pool, makes a large bet and then rapes Matt while he is asleep.
Erica subsequently believes Matt dishonored his vow and was unfaithful to her, but Matt wins Erica back by reminding her of the special moments they shared during their relationship. The two reconcile in Matt's bedroom for many hours, with his co-workers making a new betting pool on the duration of their stamina. Upon seeing this, he kicks them out of his apartment and shuts the door.

Tags: romantic, comedy, adult comedy, flashback

Review:
Love Exchange

Plot synopsis:
When romance is dead,
Everything turns terrible and destructive.
A man and a woman are found dead inside a car. Zita Sit Chi-Yiu (Anita Yuen) learns that the man is her husband, Dick Ling Ho-Leung (Eddie Kwan), and the woman is called Bonnie Fong Cheuk-Ling (Angela Tong). While Zita is devastated by her husband's death, she is also heartbroken to come to know that he had an affair. Mike Yiu Lap-Tin (Michael Miu), a friend of Dick from school, shows up out of the blue and he cares a great deal about her. Later, Zita discovers that Mike, who works for a security firm, is in fact Bonnie's husband and that he is not a friend of Dick in the least.
The death of Dick also left Zita without a source of income. Fortunately, Dick's boss, Anson Tsu Yeuk-Yue (Power Chan) has found Zita a job at the insurance company they work at. Although her supervisor, Jackie Ching Ngo-Yee (Crystal Tin), means to make things difficult for her, Zita takes it all. This makes Jackie change her view on Zita and the two have become good friends. Zita wants to get over her pain and stand on her own two feet but Mike is determined to find out about the truth of Dick and Bonnie's deaths. Zita has no choice but to give him a hand. However, the deeper they dig into the case, the more mysterious they find it. Zita cannot even judge who is friend and who is foe.

Tags: pornographic

Review:
Number One with a Bullet

Plot synopsis:
Nick Barzack ("Berserk"), an irrational, unkempt and unpredictable cop, and Frank Hazeltine, his cultured, polite, and suave partner, follow a circuitous and highly circumstantial trail of clues, evidence, witnesses, and accomplices through Los Angeles. Barzack pauses only briefly for his mother, but repeatedly for his ex-wife. Hazeltine is almost too busy with every attractive woman he sees to pay attention to the thugs trying to kill him and his partner. But despite these distractions, Nick's dogged determination to get the man behind the dope scene eventually pays off.
The ladies' man Hazeltine and the borderline psychotic Berzack are narcotics detectives with a long history of wild behavior and effective work. Following Nick's hunch, they attempt to trace a new drug "black tar" to its source, beginning at a church fair which ends with Nick and his suspect in an armed standoff in drag. To calm the community, Nick and Frank are sent out of town to pick up a snitch, who is killed en route before naming his boss.
Nick tries to relieve his own stress by beating up a street pusher, then ends up in his ex-wife's arms, but she wants nothing to do with him. His mother's nagging only serves to remind him of why he's so driven. Frank relaxes with Zen and random women, but is inevitably interrupted by Nick's sick sense of humor and drive to get his man.
Following a lead from a fence, they use an addict to locate the hit-man who killed their snitch (and then the addict), but another hitter puts an end to their investigation. While on forced vacation, they interrogate the pusher Nick encountered earlier, who puts them onto a big deal going down soon. When their surveillance is interrupted and the kingpins nearly escape, followed by attempts on both of their lives and Nick's ex, they realize they're fighting a mole in their own department. Nick cracks, and threatens his suspected drug lord without evidence, and is suspended. But with help from Nick's mom and the fence, they set a plan in motion to expose the mole and the real ringleader.

Tags: violence

Review:
Uncomfortably up close and personal.. I live far outside this world, so where the cameras went into the neighborhoods where the shootings occurred felt a little dangerous - even one of the subjects commented he needed to get out of there before his shooters came back to finish the job. The subtext of children in images throughout was chilling, and the sprinkling of medical insights provided depth without deviating from the main storyline. I didn't expect myself to experience any sympathy, but I did and found myself trying to justify those feelings. Carefully and thoughtfully told stories woven together - a must see especially for anyone who thinks this subject is too far from their world.
Knockin' on Heaven's Door

Plot synopsis:
Two patients (Martin Brest and Rudi Wurlitzer) meet in a hospital, just after learning that both have an untreatable disease. They start talking about their death that is to come very soon. When they find a bottle of tequila, Martin finds out that Rudi has never seen the sea. Martin tells Rudi that all they talk about in Heaven is how beautiful the sea is.
Drunk and still in their pajamas, they steal a baby blue Mercedes-Benz W113 classic roadster and go for their last mission - to see the sea. The car belongs to a crime boss. They rob several small shops, only to find that there is a million dollars in cash in the trunk of their car.
As they progress closer to their goal, police along with gangsters start the hot pursuit. Eventually, the two friends find themselves trapped in the middle of a countryside road by police units on one side and gangsters on the other, pointing their guns at each other. The stand-off finally erupts into a big shoot-out while the two make a desperate escape through the corn field. After that, Martin buys a pink Cadillac of the same model as the one which Elvis Presley presented to his mother. His wish is to give the same present to his own mother. As he fulfills the wish, they get ambushed by police near Martin's mother's house. Martin pretends to have a seizure and falls on the ground. He is taken to the hospital in an ambulance with Rudi sitting by his side. En route, Martin and Rudi hijack the vehicle to continue their quest. On the way to the ocean they stop by a brothel, where Rudi wants to fulfil his wish to have sex with two women at the same time. By coincidence, the brothel is owned by the boss whose money they had found in the car they have stolen at the beginning of the journey. They are seen by the two gangsters who were after them throughout their journey. The gangsters take Rudi and Martin to their boss who asks them for money they should return. Martin says that the money was spent and sent to various people which drives the criminal boss insane. Enraged, the boss points a gun at them ready to shoot, but Curtiz, the most influential criminal to whom the money was meant to be delivered, comes in. After a short talk he says “Then you better run, before you run out of time”. The capo goes on talking about that in heaven everybody would be talking about the ocean. Curtiz spares their lives and lets them go.
The film ends as Martin and Rudi arrive at the ocean’s shore. They walk to the sandy beach and Martin falls dead on the ground. Rudi imperturbably sits down beside his friend, facing the ocean and watching the surf.

Tags: comedy, humor

Review:
Blondes at Work

Plot synopsis:
Lieutenant Steve McBride (Barton MacLane) is in trouble with his boss, who suspects him of leaking police information to his girlfriend reporter Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell). Torchy and Steve have an argument because Torchy keep getting story after story for her newspaper. They agreed that they will not exchange information about any police cases in the future. And Torchy is told by her boyfriend to lay off the latest murder case that his handling; the killing of Marvin Spencer and the heir to the Bon Ton department store. Marvin was seen being escorted into a cab by his friend Maitland Greer (Donald Briggs) just moments before he was found dead in his room at the Park Plaza Hotel.
With Torchy's latest story of Marvin's murder hitting the front page of the newspaper, McBride's boss Capt. McTavish (Frank Shannon) orders him to keep information away from Torchy. Capt. McTavish isn't really concerned about Torchy getting her hands on top secret police information, he is secretly working for Torchy's rival newspaper, The Daily Express, who wants Torchy's access to top secret police investigation cut off. Maitland is arrested for Marvin's murder. Torchy finds a clue which led her to Louisa Revelle (Rosella Towne) the woman who was with Marvin the night he was stabbed. She admits to Torchy that Maitland was present that night and is upset with his arrest for murder, but will not reveal any more information. Torchy decides to eavesdrop on the trial's jury from a nearby supply closet. She overhears the jury's decision to declare Maitland guilty, and out-maneuvers both Capt. McTavish and the Daily Express into thinking that the jury verdict is going to be innocent. To their surprise, Maitland is found guilty, which has the newspaper's editor red-faced.
At the same time, Torchy breaks the story in an extra edition in her own newspaper, before the verdict is announced in court. However, the judge sentences her to jail for contempt. Steve visits Torchy a few days later and has her released from jail. He informs her that after the verdict was announced, Louisa confessed to the crime; she stabbed Marvin when he threatened to shoot Maitland, who has become her new lover. Steve says that it looks like self-defense and speculates that both Louisa and Maitland will be cleared. Torchy is disappointed because she didn't have time to write the story and have it make the front page. Steve tells her that he filed the story for her, before the other newspapers and once again Torchy scoops them all.

Tags: murder

Review:
Double Tap

Plot synopsis:
Leslie Cheung plays Rick Pang, a shooting champion who is also a gun expert who tinkers with his pistols and modified its magazine to perfect his technique known as 'double tap' which is the terminology for a shooter placing two shots in the same exact spot, to maximize marksmanship in any competition.
In a shooting competition, he goes up against another experienced top cop who is just as comfortable on the pistols as Rick, named Miu. Unfortunately, the competition was marred by a depressed day trader, a friend of Miu, who lost much in the stock market and threatened the safety of the contest, wounding the shooting supervisor, another of Miu's friends. Rick was forced to kill him with his trademark double tap as the former approaches Colleen and Vincent. Miu took note of this astounding technique in the post-mortem while Rick's experience from this encounter was strangely exciting to him and he discovers his lust for murdering others in cold blood.
As further murders were committed by an unknown gunman with the similar 'double tap' technique, the list of possible candidates by the police was narrowed down to just a few candidates but Miu was utterly convinced that Rick was also behind all those heinous crimes and hauls him up for investigation. Although Rick was released after an interrogation (having had no solid evidence incriminating him), Miu continued to pursue him and pressurise Rick to an extent that the murderer was suddenly possessed by rage and decided to take the law in his own hands. Rick went to his favorite shooting range and lay in wait for his pursuers. Arming himself with live rounds for his modified pistol, he engaged in a fierce gunfight with the cops and escaped at the first possible opportunity.
It later transpired that Rick was indeed haunted by his earlier murder at the competition but his insatiated lust for murder was further fuelled by his obsession with the 'double tap' technique as he sought to perfect it. Further, he has inadvertently discovered a new use for his pistols: to kill those who opposed him and those who pushed him to the brink.

Tags: comedy, neo noir, murder, flashback, good versus evil, romantic, tragedy, revenge

Review:
Barbershop

Plot synopsis:
On a cold winter, Calvin Palmer, Jr. (Ice Cube) decides he has had enough of trying to keep open the barbershop his father handed down to him. He cannot borrow, revenues are falling, and he seems more interested in get-rich-quick schemes to bring in easy money. Without telling his employees, or the customers, he sells the barbershop to a greedy loan shark, Lester Wallace (Keith David), who secretly plans to turn it into a strip club.
After spending a day at work, and realizing just how vital the barbershop is to the surrounding community, Calvin rethinks his decision and tries to get the shop back - only to find out Wallace wants double the $20,000 he paid Calvin to return it, and before 7 pm that day. Right after he admits to the employees that he sold the barber shop, and that it would be closing at the end of the day, the police arrive to arrest one of the barbers, named Ricky (Michael Ealy). He is accused of driving his pickup truck into a nearby market to steal an ATM, but the ATM thief, JD (Anthony Anderson), a cousin of Ricky's, is revealed to be actually the one who committed the crime after borrowing Ricky's truck. Because this is, potentially, Ricky's 'third strike', he could be sentenced to life in prison. Calvin uses the $20,000 from Lester to bail Ricky out of jail, yet Ricky is still angry, as JD set him up.
Calvin reveals that he found a gun in Ricky's locker in the barbershop and shows it to him. They stop the car and Ricky throws the gun into the river, proving that he does not want to get into any more trouble. Then they both go to confront Lester. Lester, as well as JD and his best friend Billy (Lahmard Tate) (who were still trying to pry the ATM open and took it to Lester's place without his knowledge) are confronted by Calvin and Ricky. They demand Lester give the barbershop back. Lester is angered and orders his bodyguard Monk to pull out his gun. The police arrive just in time to save Calvin and Ricky, but JD and Billy are arrested. Calvin and Ricky see the ATM, and get a $50,000 reward for returning it to police. They get the money, and the barbershop reopens with even better business than before. In the meantime, Calvin's wife, Jennifer (Jazsmin Lewis), has given birth to a baby boy.

Tags: entertaining, blaxploitation

Review:
Born Innocent

Plot synopsis:
Christine 'Chris' Parker (Linda Blair) is a 14-year-old runaway who, after getting arrested one too many times, is sentenced to do time in a girls' juvenile detention center, which doubles as a reform school for the girls. It is slowly revealed that Christine Parker comes from an abusive home; her father (Richard Jaeckel) would beat her on a regular basis, which caused Chris to run away many times. Her mother (Kim Hunter) is just as troubled as Chris is; unfeeling, sitting in her recliner, watching television and smoking cigarettes all day, and in complete denial as to what her husband is doing. Only Chris' older brother Tom (Mitch Vogel) is aware of the abuse, but he is powerless to help Chris out, as he has his own family to care about and look after. While the movie had a morality play tone, calling attention to the harsh conditions of juvenile detention centers, it also blames society for Christine's downfall.
Throughout the movie, Chris' social worker Emma Lasko (Allyn Ann McLerie) never realizes that her dysfunctional parents caused her to run away and the juvenile justice system focused all the blame and punishment on Christine for her bad behavior. With the exception of one dedicated counselor, named Barbara Clark (Joanna Miles), the reform school personnel were mostly apathetic and allowed an unhealthy, destructive culture to fester in the school. Despite Barbara's attempts to help Christine talk about her problems, she is powerless as Chris refuses to open up to her or anyone else about her problems at home.
After Chris is investigated for starting a riot at the reform school after a pregnant detainee miscarried due to the abuse by the staff, she calmly maintains that she had nothing to do with any of the events that happened. In the final shot, Barbara looks on helplessly as she sees Chris, an innocent, intelligent, decent girl, now fully transformed into a violent, pathological, manipulative, vengeful and cold person, no longer having any guilt or remorse for her actions, who will most likely become an adult criminal when released upon turning legal age.

Tags: melodrama

Review:
Dolls

Plot synopsis:
The film features three primary sets of characters, each within their own distinct story:
A young man (Matsumoto, played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) who rejects his engagement to his fiancée (Sawako, played by Miho Kanno) to marry the daughter of his company's president. When his former fiancée attempts suicide and ends up in a semi-vegetative state, he takes her out of the hospital and they run away.
Another young man (Nukui, played by Tsutomu Takeshige) is obsessed with the pop-star Haruna (played by Kyoko Fukada); he blinds himself when she is involved in a disfiguring car accident.
An aged yakuza (Hiro, played by Tatsuya Mihashi), who tries to meet a girlfriend from his youth (played by Chieko Matsubara).
These stories do have some incidental visual cross-over with each other in the film, but are mostly separate. The first story is the one on which the film centers. The film leads into it by opening with a performance of Bunraku theatre, and closes with a shot of dolls from the same. The performance is that of "The Courier for Hell" by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, and it alludes to themes that reappear later in the film. Because the rest of the film itself (as Kitano himself has said) can be treated as Bunraku in film form, the film is quite symbolic. In some cases, it is not clear whether a particular scene is meant to be taken literally. The film is also not in strict chronological order, but there is a strong visual emphasis on the changing of the seasons and the bonds of love over the progression of time (Matsumoto and Sawako spend most of the film physically connected by a red rope).

Tags: romantic, psychedelic

Review:
Scorpio

Plot synopsis:
Cross (Burt Lancaster) is an experienced but retiring Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent and assassin who is training free-lance hit-man Jean Laurier (Alain Delon) (alias "Scorpio") to replace him. Cross is teaching him as much about protecting himself from his patrons and never trusting anyone as how to get away clean.
The CIA tells Scorpio to kill Cross for suspected treason and collaboration with the Russians. Scorpio is threatened with jail on a false narcotics charge if he doesn't cooperate. Scorpio follows Cross' trail across Europe. Cross intends to bring his wife out from the country and get out from the spy-business. His covers are blown and CIA loses men.
In a failed break-in at Cross's home, CIA agents shoot and kill his wife Sarah (Joanne Linville), causing Cross to go back to America. He rejects protection from his Russian ally Zharkov, whose agency wants to know secrets he knows as a senior field agent. Zharkov helps Cross to cover his tracks and reach America. Cross successfully evades capture by the CIA and manages to kill the CIA director responsible for his wife's death. CIA wants Cross' head on a platter and contracts Scorpio again for the same.
The new CIA director and Scorpio's handler, Filchock shows him evidence that Cross might have collaborated in the past with other foreign agents and was able to make a hefty sum from it. Scorpio comes to know his girlfriend Susan is working with Cross.
Enraged by this perfidy, Scorpio corners Cross and Susan and kills his girlfriend instantly without remorse. However, Cross says she was a Czech courier and he is just a middleman between their agency for staying in the game and didn't betray Scorpio. Scorpio finishes off Cross after hearing his last words of wisdom. Moments later, Scorpio is also assassinated, as Cross said he would be, when "They" were done with him. The viewer is left to speculate on who is behind Scorpio's death.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
The Texican

Plot synopsis:
The town of Rimrock, Arizona is run by political boss Luke Starr (Broderick Crawford). When one of Starr’s henchmen wishes to escape from Starr he meets with the editor of the town newspaper, Roy Carlin (Víctor Vilanova) to ask his help. Starr discovers the meeting and he and his loyal henchmen shoot the both of them; spreading the story that the two killed each other in a gunfight.
Roy Carlin’s brother Jess (Audie Murphy) is a former Texas sheriff now living in semi-retirement with his girlfriend in Mexico. He has a price on his head for unstated crimes done in the United States but earns income and beats the boredom of his quiet life by capturing fugitive American criminals and turning them over to American lawmen who return them across the border.
When Jess finds out the story of his brother he throws the quiet life away to bring his brother’s killer to justice as he knows Roy never carried a firearm. On the way he is unsuccessfully ambushed by bounty hunters and has to escape without his saddle.
Stopping off at a ranch he thinks is vacant, he leaves money for a saddle but is held at gunpoint by the ranch owner Sandy (Luz Márquez). Sandy changes her opinion on Jess when she discovers he has left money that is four times the value of the saddle.
Riding into Rimrock, Jess unsuccessfully tries to find out information on his brother’s death. The new editor of the paper asks Jess to stay to eliminate Luke Starr and his band. Jess explains that in the past when he was a sheriff in the same town where his brother was a newspaper editor they cleaned up the town but found out the hard way that the men who replaced those they got rid of were much worse.
After fist and gun fights, Jess is finally able to establish proof of Luke’s involvement when he finds a decorative concho that leather worker Sandy is able to identify as one that came off Luke’s gunbelt.

Tags: western, revenge, violence

Review: