cryptexcode/MPST huggingface dataset:
Pistol Whipped

Plot synopsis:
Matt Conner is an unemployed, drinking deadbeat. Once he was a police officer who lived with his wife Liz and his daughter Becky. Then, his partner disappeared, along with a large stash of police-impounded money. Due to the fact that Matt was an avid gambler, he was the prime suspect for the crime, but his colleague Steve lied that he and Matt were playing poker, thus giving him an alibi. Since the police still suspected Matt of the crimes, he was thrown off the police force. Matt's wife files for divorce and marries Steve. Matt's daughter Becky stays with Steve while Matt spends his time gambling and heavily drinking.
Some time later, Matt's markers from extended gambling are mysteriously picked up. Eventually the collector, called the "Old Man", sends him a messenger named Blue. Matt is told that he must work off his debt as a hitman for the Old Man's vigilante organization. He begins to receive contracts to kill criminals who avoid arrest with their money and influence.
Matt deals with his first assignments without much difficulty. Matt also surprisngly learns that his new girlfriend Drea is also an operative for the Old Man, like Blue. Later, Matt is ordered to kill Steve. He refuses and confronts Blue, the Old Man, and Drea with the assignment. Matt is told that Steve is actually a dirty cop who deals with criminals; Matt refuses to believe this. Elsewhere, Steve kills an innocent chaplain because in a prior confession to the priest Matt had talked about his history with Steve. Steve uses this to frame Blue for the crime. When Matt returns to the church, he swears that he'll avenge the clergyman's death, despite Steve's urgent requests to stay out of the situation. Unwilling to heed Steve's request, Matt is then arrested by Steve for being a "material witness" and released after two hours because Steve hopes to find the Old Man and kill Matt and Blue through following Matt. Still, Matt and Blue manage to escape. At the priest's funeral, which Matt later attends, Steve and his associates plan to kill Matt.
After the funeral ends, a standoff ensues between Matt and Steve. It is revealed that Steve stole the confiscated money and murdered Matt's partner out of fear that he would blow the whistle on Steve's operations. Blue and Drea show up to support Matt, much to the surprise of Steve, and a gunfight ensues. As a trump card, Steve reveals that he is holding Becky hostage, and threatens to kill her if Matt doesn't back down. Drea is able to free Becky while Matt and Blue fight Steve's associates. Blue is mortally wounded and says his goodbyes to Matt before passing. Matt and Steve confront each other once more and Matt successfully kills Steve.
Much later, Becky and her father are shown to be reunited and spending more time together than before. The camera cuts to Matt praying in the church as Drea walks in to give Matt his next assignment from the Old Man.

Tags: revenge, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
Nowhere Boy

Plot synopsis:
The drama tells the story of John Lennon's teenage years from 1955 to 1960.
John was separated from his mother, Julia Lennon, when he was five. He was brought up by his aunt and uncle, Mimi and George Smith, as their own son. He learns the truth at George's funeral, becomes curious and seeks out his mother. John becomes obsessed with rock 'n' roll music during a visit to Blackpool with Julia.
When John is suspended from school, Julia offers to let him stay at her house during school hours so that Mimi won't discover his suspension. Julia teaches John how to play the banjo. Mimi discovers their arrangement and demands that it stop, but John refuses and moves in with Julia. A week later, John overhears an argument between Julia and her husband, and he decides to return to Mimi.
John tells Mimi that he wants to start a rock 'n' roll band and she buys him a guitar. John organizes some of his friends into a band which he names the Quarrymen. They play their first gig at a village fete. After the show, John meets Paul McCartney, who auditions for the band with the song "Twenty Flight Rock". Paul is accepted into the band and he and John begin writing songs together. The Quarrymen soon become very popular. John meets Paul's friend, George Harrison, who also auditions. George is accepted into the band as lead guitarist.
Julia holds a birthday party for John at her home. After the party, John confronts her about his missing father, Alf Lennon, and asks why Julia gave him up. He also confronts Mimi, who tells him that Julia cheated on Alf and refused to work on the marriage. Alf allowed 5-year-old John to decide whom he wanted to live with, and John chose his father. Alf planned to move with John to New Zealand, but when Julia abandoned the family John was torn by his devotion to his mother. Without the time or money to legally determine custody, Mimi assumed custodianship of John and raised him as her son. John is upset by this revelation, and leaves in anger.
John moves out to live on his own. Over time, John accepts his past and Julia and Mimi become friendly. When Julia is hit and killed by a car, however, John is consumed by an anger that he cannot overcome.Two years later, John asks Mimi for his passport so that he can travel to Hamburg with his newly formed band, The Beatles. Mimi asks John to call her as soon as he arrives in Hamburg. The film ends with the caption, "John phoned Mimi as soon as he arrived in Hamburg...and every week thereafter for the rest of his life."

Tags: tragedy, adult comedy, flashback

Review:
Willow Creek

Plot synopsis:
Set in Humboldt County, California, Jim is a Bigfoot believer whose idea of a romantic getaway is to head deep into Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California, video camera in tow, trying to shoot his own Bigfoot footage at the site of the Patterson–Gimlin film. That 1967 fragment of footage purporting to show a Sasquatch striding along a dry sandbar beside Bluff Creek became a key artifact in the cryptozoology community, and Jim dreams of nothing more than setting foot on the actual location where it was shot. His long-suffering girlfriend, Kelly, agrees to tag along for the ride, despite the fact that she thinks Bigfoot has about as much chance of being real as leprechauns.
The two stop off first in Willow Creek, the Bigfoot capital of the world and home to an annual Bigfoot festival, where various locals talk to Jim's camera, warning them to keep out of the woods, singing ballads about Bigfoot, and generally enjoying their 15 minutes in the spotlight while Jim and Kelly have a blast, cracking wise amidst all the touristy Bigfoot kitsch on display. At a restaurant they notice a missing woman on a poster on the wall and make fun of it before dismissing it as an everyday occurrence. When they strap on packs and head into the forest via a two-hour drive down a dirt road, they start to feel like they might be in over their heads. Well, Kelly does, at least. Jim, as he approaches what he considers hallowed ground, is in heaven.
That night they are awakened by mysterious sounds echoing through the woods, and whooping vocalizations that might be Bigfoot, but that might also be locals pranking them. The noises grow closer and less human-like and their imagination begins to wander when the noises become surreal and hits their tent. They become spooked and decide to leave the site at dawn. Jim discovers a gray, bloody strand of hair he believes may be evidence of Bigfoot's existence. They wander in circles through the thick California woods whilst hearing the same noises they heard the night before. They become frustrated and get lost by a river bank very similar to the river bank in the Patterson-Gimlin footage they sought to find the whole trip. A whooping, angry noise rustles the bushes behind Kelly scaring her into running. As night grows in they are confused and lost in the dark at the end of the movie, Jim and Kelly encounter an overweight, naked woman, bearing strong resemblance to the missing woman on the carton and an unseen creature attacks them, killing Jim and moving on to Kelly, whose cries for help are heard in the distance. Her fate is ultimately unknown but implied she is taken as a "forest bride" like the other missing woman used by Sasquatch to procreate. The movie ends with three whooping vocalizations also heard in the distance.

Tags: boring

Review:
Les triplettes de Belleville

Plot synopsis:
The story focuses on Madame Souza, an elderly woman raising her young grandson, Champion. Souza notices her grandson is sad and lonely, hinted as due to the loss of his parents, so she first tries to get him interested in the piano. When this fails, she buys him a puppy named Bruno to cheer him up. Although he is initially happy, he quickly becomes melancholic once again. After discovering that Champion has a keen interest in road bicycle racing, because it is implied that Champion's deceased parents were cyclists, she buys him a tricycle. Years later, Champion becomes a professional cyclist with Souza as his coach.
Eventually, Champion enters the Tour de France but during the race, he and two other riders are kidnapped by two French mafia henchmen and brought to the bustling metropolis of Belleville.
Souza and Bruno follow the men, but lose their trail soon after reaching the city. Lost and with no way to find Champion, Souza has a chance encounter with the renowned Belleville triplets, music hall singers from the 1930s, now elderly women turned improvisational musicians. The sisters take Souza to their home and over time she becomes a part of their group. Meanwhile, the mafia boss drugs the kidnapped cyclists and employs a mechanic to build a stationary cycling machine for the racers to race on — to create their own mini Tour de France for gambling.
At a fancy restaurant, the Triplets and Souza perform a jam session using a newspaper, refrigerator, vacuum and bicycle wheel as instruments. The mafia boss who kidnapped her grandson happens to be in the same restaurant and, with the help of Bruno, Souza realizes he has Champion. She tails one of the Mafia's minions the next day and discovers their scheme. That night, several mob bosses and their henchmen arrive at the mafia hideout and place bets on the riders (one of whom falls off his bicycle from exhaustion, at which point the bookmaker shoots him as one would an injured horse). Madame Souza, Bruno and the triplets then infiltrate the hideout and sabotage the contraption, unbolting it from the ground and turning it into a pedal-powered vehicle on which they all escape. The mob henchmen pursue them, but are all thwarted amidst the chase. The film ends with the motley group riding on out of Belleville, and a flashforward to an elderly Champion reflecting on the adventure, as told to him by the then-deceased Souza.

Tags: boring, murder, whimsical, cult, psychedelic, satire, romantic

Review:
Manfish

Plot synopsis:
Inspector Warren of Scotland Yard flies into Jamaica and is taken to the headquarters of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Exchanging credentials with a Jamaican Inspector, Warren reveals he has come to seek the extradition of a wanted criminal known as "The Professor". Surprised when the Inspector refuses to extradite the Professor, the Jamaican Inspector recounts a story told in flashback.
Devil may care adventurer Brannigan has won the ship Manfish and its first mate Swede in a poker game but keeps away from the Manfish's creditors. During a drunken evening out Brannigan is attracted to a woman sitting with an older man called "the Professor" with the two brawling over her. During the brief fracas Brannigan notices the Professor is wearing an unusual heavy ring of a skull and cross bones.
The next day the Manfish is at sea engaging in a turtle hunt. Two divers from the ship find a skeleton underwater holding a bottle. Brannigan swims to the skeleton and grabs the bottle. He breaks it open on board finding a ripped piece of paper dated 1793 with nonsensical French written on it, but inside the bottle is the same ring that the Professor wears.
Tracking down the Professor, Brannigan persuades him to tell what he knows revealing it is half of a document by the pirate Jean Lafitte with the professor holding the other half.
Fearing for his life but clever and greedy, the Professor translates the map to reveal a treasure is on the island of Hispaniola but the Professor insures his safety by destroying the map and memorising the contents. Once on the island a treasure worth £25,000 is recovered but the Professor promises it is a drop in the ocean compared to another treasure buried later by Lafitte that the Professor says he can locate.

Tags: murder

Review:
Power Rangers Jungle Fury

Plot synopsis:
For over 10,000 years, a spirit of pure evil known as Dai Shi has been locked away and safely guarded by the Pai Zhua - The Order of the Claw - a secretive Kung Fu clan. The Pai Zhua select their three top members, Jarrod, Theo, and Lily, to become the new guardians of Dai Shi. Unfortunately, Jarrod's arrogant and bullying nature led to him being excluded, so a rookie named Casey is chosen to take his place instead.
During the initiation ceremony Jarrod returns and attacks Master Mao, inadvertently breaking the vessel containing Dai Shi's essence as he does so. The freed Dai Shi kills Master Mao and takes over Jarrod's body who then escapes. The trio are sent to the city of Ocean Bluff to seek their new master, and find him to be a man named RJ - chef and owner of "Jungle Karma Pizza". After testing them RJ grants them the powers and abilities of Jungle Power Rangers, making them Earth's only hope to stop Dai Shi - who along with his Lieutenant Camille, other henchmen, and army of undead Rinshi warriors is attempting to take over the world and allow animals to rule over humans.
Initially RJ acts only as Sensei and trainer to the Power Rangers, but as the series progresses he joins their ranks as the Wolf Ranger. During this time they are also joined by Dominic who studied with RJ, and Fran - originally a customer then employee of Karma Pizza. Dominic joins as the Rhino Power Ranger, and Fran is enlisted to watch the monitors and advise of Rinshi attacks while RJ is with the other Power Rangers. Eventually, Camille is targeted by henchmen Scorch and Snapper who are jealous of her popularity with Dai Shi - although in reality it is Jarrod's own human spirit fighting against the Dai Shi she is attracted to. As a result, she turns against both them and Dai Shi, enabling Jarrod to throw off its spirit control and the two join the Power Rangers who use their animal spirits finally to defeat Dai Shi and its forces.
In the epilogue Jarrod goes back to the Pai Zhua to begin his training again, followed by Camille who later returns as a Power Ranger in her own right. Lily, Theo, and RJ remain at Karma Pizza. Dominic and Fran backpack around the world, and Casey becomes a teacher at the Pai Zhua - with Jarrod and Camille among his students.

Tags: good versus evil

Review:
Wanted

Plot synopsis:
Radhe (Salman Khan), a gangster with a mysterious past, kills others for money. He meets Jhanvi (Ayesha Takia) while she's doing fitness training and instantly falls in love with her. Even though their first meeting leads Jhanvi to think negatively about Radhe, she later begins to reciprocate his feelings. However, Talpade (Mahesh Manjrekar), a selfish and perverted Inspector, lusts after Jhanvi and tells her to marry him with the threat that he would rape Jhanvi's mother (Prateeksha Lonkar) if she decides to go against his decision. Talpade is tipped off about Radhe's existence by Jhanvi's landlord. Talpades tries to threaten Radhe but ends up getting frightened of Radhe after getting outsmarted by Radhe .
Gani Bhai (Prakash Raj), an international don, arrives in India for an assassination and hires Radhe. Two gangs, Datta Pawle's (Raju Mavani) and Gani Bhai's, fight for the biggest part of Mumbai. Due to this, Commissioner Ashraf Khan (Govind Namdeo) decides to make Mumbai free of crime. He arrests Gani Bhai, who makes various attempts to contact Radhe, however, in vain. Ashraf Khan is blackmailed to release Gani Bhai, after his men release an explicit video of his daughter online after kidnapping her. Under the influence of drugs, his daughter reveals a mission that involves an IPS officer, Rajveer Singh Shekhawat, murdering Gani Bhai. Since Rajveer Shekhawat's identity is difficult to decipher, Gani Bhai holds his father, Shrikant Shekhawat (Vinod Khanna), captive. Shrikant proudly tells him about his son, without revealing his true identity. Gani Bhai mistakes Ajay (Inder Kumar), Radhe's adopted brother, for Rajveer Shekhawat and kills him. Gani Bhai realises his mistake and pressures Shrikant to reveal Rajveer's identity. Shrikant is murdered by Gani Bhai after he refuses to tell him. His son, Rajveer Shekhawat, who is revealed to be Radhe, arrives at the place of his father's death. Radhe is infuriated and decides to avenge the deaths of his father and brother. Through threatening Talpade, he locates Gani Bhai. After an intense combat, Radhe finally manages to kill Gani Bhai and his co-conspirator Talpade.

Tags: western, violence

Review:
Lovelorn

Plot synopsis:
Nazım, a primary school teacher, returns to Istanbul from his posting in the east . He temporarily takes on a job as a taxi driver with the help of his friend Atakan. One night he picks up Dünya, a singer at a club and after striking up a friendship, becomes her driver. While Nazım is waiting for Dünya to finish her performance one night, she is attacked by a man. Dünya is injured, and is rushed to the hospital by Nazım.
Dünya reveals that he is her ex-husband Halil, who wants to take away their daughter Melek. Nazım takes Dünya and Melek into his home but Halil continues to stalk them. Halil reveals to Nazım that he still loves Dünya and wants to remarry her to start over a new life. After he gives his word, Dünya and Melek leave with them. Meanwhile, Nazım faces up to his failed obligations to his own children Mehmet and Piraye.
One day, Nazım gets a phone call from Dünya asking for protection from Halil who has gone back to his old ways. Nazım travels to meet Dünya at the otobus terminal, but Halil gets wind of this and confronts them there. Halil asks Dünya to sing a folk song to him for the last time, before he would let her go. Halil is euphoric when he hears Dunya singing passionately, but then realises that it isn't directed at him, but at Nazım. Halil becomes enraged and shoots Dünya. He then turns the gun on himself, after leaving Melek in Nazım's care.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Long zhi ren zhe

Plot synopsis:
In Japan of the Tokugawa Ieyasu period, a young ninja named Genbu wantonly kills samurai and other government officials, leaving his clan to face the blame. When they hunt him down, Genbu and his wife Akane sail to China both to escape their wrathful kinsmen and for Genbu to complete revenge by finding the last man he holds responsible for his father's death.
That man, Fukusa, leads a peaceful life as a mirror maker under the name of Uncle Fu. He has a young protégé, Sun Jing, a smug martial artist who constantly tries to prove himself by taking up every opportunity to fight. Jing also constantly teases his lecherous servant Chee and takes few things very seriously. When he sees his surrogate father attacked, Jing immediately rushes to his aid, but during several clashes he finds out that he and the ninja are evenly matched.
It is revealed that Genbu's father was not killed by his clan members; he died as a hero in a rebellion instead. Ashamed of his own cowardice in escaping to China years before following that attempted uprising, Fu makes peace with Genbu. But before their final encounter, Fu took poison to restore his honor by his own death. Fu asks Genbu to kill him in order to spare him the last agony, which promptly leads to a misunderstanding between Genbu and Jing. The two battle each other to the top of Jing's family temple and finally settle their differences just in time to face The Magician, a spiritual boxer whose son Jing has insulted in the course of the movie.
The film ends with Jing and Genbu killing the Sorcerer, with some unwitting assistance from Akane and Chee. The latter promptly tempts fate by claiming the better part of the credit for this victory, prompting Genbu and Jing to teach him a lesson.

Tags: revenge

Review:
Naniwa erejî

Plot synopsis:
Sumiko Asai (Yoko Umemura) is the owner of the Asai Drug Company. He is unhappily married with a nagging wife, who unashamedly visits the theatre with his male colleagues. Mr Asai tries to get one of his employees, telephone operator Ayako Murai (Isuzu Yamada), to meet him for dinner. She discusses this after work with a male colleague (and apparently boyfriend), Mr Nishimura, revealing that her father is in serious difficulties: unemployed and threatened with arrest after embezzling 300 yen.
After an argument at home she decides to take up Mr Asai's offer and become his mistress. She quits her job and lives alone in a modern apartment block, bored and waiting for Mr Asai. When they attend a Bunraku puppet show, Dr Yoko calls them out. His wife greets them, furious that they are having an affair. However, Mr Fujino, a business acquaintance of Asai intervenes, lying that Ayako was his date, not Asai's.
Ayako accidentally meets Mr Nishimura and explains her geisha-like attire as being due to now working in a beauty salon. She is told that her father is now working at her old company for Mr Asai. Mr Nishimura asks to marry her and she runs off in embarrassment. Due to a misunderstanding, the doctor goes to Mr Asai's house when he is told Asai is ill and the wife guesses that he is with Ayako and tracks him down in his sick-bed with Ayako tending him. Mrs Asai demands that the affair ends and it does, but Ayako has paid her father's debt and keeps her apartment.
Ayako learns that her brother needs 200 yen for his tuition fees and sends the money, acquiring it from her new admirer, Mr Fujino. She leaves Fujino once she has the necessary 200 yen and contacts her old love, Nishimura, confessing everything to him and hoping they can still marry. Mr Fujino comes to her door, demanding she returns the 200 yen, but Ayako responds with disrespect and he leaves, saying there will be trouble.
The police then interview Ayako and Nishimura. Ayako hears Nishimura say that he never wanted to marry her and was dragged into the affair, and he is released. As it is her first offence, she is also released without charge, but into the care of her father. At their home, Hiroshi is there and Ayako joins them and tries to make conversation. Her sister says she can no longer go to school due to the story being in all the papers. Her brother calls her a delinquent and says she should leave. Ayako leaves into the night and stops at a bridge. The doctor passes and she asks if there is a cure for female delinquency. He answers in the negative and walks off.

Tags: tragedy

Review:
In Too Deep

Plot synopsis:
Amy and Dan have to decide how much they're willing to risk, and what they are. Ian and Natalie Kabra's mother, Isabel, joins the hunt, as she could not stand the mistakes her children have made. The Kabras send the Cahills an 'invitation' to a meeting at a dock in Australia. Amy can't decide which Lucian to trust – the cloying Isabel Kabra, or the serious, but deadly, Irina Spasky. Irina stops following Isabel and helps Amy with the clue hunt. She turned away from Isabel because she lost her boy, Nikolai, when she was on a mission. Amy's life is threatened by Isabel who holds her out to shark infested waters, but she escapes thanks to Hamilton Holt, who helped her because of their previous alliance in The Black Circle. Amy and Dan are briefly distanced from each other when Irina talks (when she is about to die) and tells Amy and Dan`s about their parents being murdered in front of Dan (Amy had been too filled with grief to tell Dan that their parents were murdered)
Amy and Dan continue their search to find out that Bob Troppo was actually Ekaterina agent Robert Cahill Henderson, who came devastatingly close to finding all 39 clues in his Indonesian lab. His work was destroyed by the Krakatoa eruption and he fled to Australia. Amy and Dan find a note written by him, a strange poem seemingly pointing to the clue. The Cahills discover the clue – water – with the help of Alistair Oh. However, Isabel Kabra sets the house they are staying in on fire, and Irina Spasky chooses to save Amy, Dan, and Alistair at the price of her own life. The book ends with Amy and Dan thinking that they now are doing the clue hunt for their parents.

Tags: neo noir, murder

Review:
The Shock Doctrine

Plot synopsis:
The book has an introduction, a main body and a conclusion, divided into seven parts with a total of 21 chapters.
Part 1 begins with a chapter on psychiatric shock therapy and the covert experiments conducted by the psychiatrist Ewen Cameron in collusion with the Central Intelligence Agency. The second chapter introduces Milton Friedman and his Chicago school of economics, whom Klein describes as leading a laissez-faire capitalist movement committed to creating free markets that are even less regulated than those that existed before the Great Depression.
Part 2 discusses the use of "shock doctrine" to transform South American economies in the 1970s, focusing on the coup in Chile led by General Augusto Pinochet and influenced by a prominent group of Chilean economists that had been trained at the University of Chicago in the Economics department, funded by the CIA, and advised by Milton Friedman. Klein connects torture with economic shock therapy.
Part 3 covers attempts to apply the shock doctrine without the need for extreme violence against sections of the population. Klein says that Margaret Thatcher applied mild shock "therapy" facilitated by the Falklands War, while free market reform in Bolivia was possible due to a combination of pre-existing economic crises and the charisma of Jeffrey Sachs.
Part 4 reports on how Klein thinks the shock doctrine was applied in Poland, Russia, South Africa and to the tiger economies during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Part 5 introduces the "Disaster Capitalism Complex", where the author claims that companies have learnt to profit from disasters.
Part 6 discusses the use of "Shock and awe" in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent occupation of Iraq, which Klein describes as the most comprehensive and full-scale implementation of the shock doctrine ever attempted.
Part 7 is about winners and losers of economic shock therapy – how small groups will often do very well by moving into luxurious gated communities while large sections of the population are left with decaying public infrastructure, declining incomes and increased unemployment.
Conclusion is about the backlash against the "shock doctrine" and economic institutions which, in Klein's view, encourage it – like the World Bank and IMF. South America and Lebanon post-2006 are shown in a positive light, where politicians are already rolling back free-market policies, with some mention of the increased campaigning by community-minded activists in South Africa and China.

Tags: violence, historical, murder

Review:
Down Terrace

Plot synopsis:
Upon release from prison, Bill (Robert Hill) and his son Karl (Robin Hill) arrive home at Down Terrace in Brighton. With the help of his wife Maggie (Julia Deakin), Bill decides to find the rat in his criminal operation and a tale of recrimination, betrayal and murder ensues. Meanwhile, Karl grows increasingly edgy and uncomfortable with his dysfunctional family. When Karl's girlfriend Valda shows up pregnant, Karl announces that they plan to get married, but his parents disapprove and demand that he get a paternity test. Bill's employee Garvey tells Karl that Valda dated Garvey's brother for a while recently, which enrages Karl; Karl murders Garvey and enlists his uncle Eric's help in secretly burying the body. Worried about Garvey's unexplained disappearance and that a hitman, Pringle, might talk about a previous attempt on Garvey's life, Bill orders Eric to murder Pringle and his mother, leaving his three-year-old son fatherless. Eric himself is poisoned by his sister Maggie because she doubts his loyalty. The carnage attracts Jony, a London gangster, who tells Bill that the lack of subtlety and stability has put Karl and his family at risk; Maggie promises to rein in Bill. Karl, who suspects that his parents have murdered Eric, accuses them of making deals with the police after he hears a death-bed confession from Berman, their lawyer. Eventually, Valda talks Karl into murdering his parents: Karl shoots his father to death, and Valda stabs his mother.

Tags: comedy

Review:
Felidae

Plot synopsis:
Francis, an intelligent and cynical cat, is moved to a gloomy, dilapidated house with his owner Gustav Löbel, an architect and erotic novelist. During Francis's exploratory tour of the house, he discovers a cat's corpse. At the crime scene, he meets and befriends Bluebeard, a foul-mouthed, one-eyed Maine Coon.
Soon, Francis discovers another body and the fact that his house's top floor is the meeting site of a sect of cats led by Joker; the members of the sect worship an entity named Claudandus and perform ritualistic suicide by throwing themselves in an electric current. When Francis's cover is blown, he is chased through the city's rooftops. He escapes through a skylight and meets a blind cat named Felicity, who supplies Francis with information on the Claudandus sect. The next day, Bluebeard takes Francis to Pascal, an elderly and tech-savvy cat who has taken to meticulously maintaining a list of feline deaths in the area, though which Francis learns that Felicity is the latest victim. That night, Francis is haunted by a nightmare in which Gregor Mendel leaves him with riddles.
During a rodent hunt, Francis discovers a video recording that documents the top floor's previous use as an experimental laboratory that was devoted to the research and development of a tissue adhesive that would close wounds in an instant. The test subjects largely consisted of stray cats. However, the serums usually failed, causing the animals to suffer painful deaths. The one cat who survived the experiments was christened by the lab's technicians as "Claudandus", Latin for "He who should or must be sealed". However, Claudandus eventually murdered the project's lead technician, leading to the escape of the other strays and the closure of the lab. Claudandus subsequently became a martyr figure.
Francis gradually traces the neighborhood cats who descended from the strays involved in the experiments and is confronted by Pascal, who reveals himself to be Claudandus. In his pursuits, he saw an opportunity to create a breed of cat that would correspond to the primal ancestor of all domestic cats and be capable of wiping out humanity. The murdered cats, now including Joker, were deemed unworthy of breeding with the pure females that Claudandus had engineered. An additional obstacle in Claudandus's plot is the fact that he is terminally ill with stomach cancer. Although Claudandus deems Francis an ideal successor, Francis defies Claudandus's ambition and attempts to delete the data that Claudandus had gathered. The ensuing fight between the two results in a fire. Francis kills Claudandus in the struggle and flees the scene with an injured Bluebeard.

Tags: horror, psychedelic, cult, murder, violence

Review:
127 Hours

Plot synopsis:
Mountaineer and adventurer Aron Ralston begins hiking at Utah's Canyonlands National Park. On foot, he befriends hikers Kristi and Megan, and shows them an underground pool. After swimming, Aron parts ways with the hikers, and continues through a slot canyon in Blue John Canyon. While climbing down, he slips and falls, knocking a boulder which smashes his right hand and wrist against the wall. Stuck, he tries calling for help but realizes that he is alone. He begins recording a video diary to maintain morale, chipping away parts of the boulder in order to free himself and to keep warm at night. He rations his food and water, in order to survive the ordeal. He sets up a pulley using his climbing rope in a futile attempt to lift the boulder.
Days after being trapped, Ralston considers using his pocket knife to cut himself free, but finds the dull blade unable to cut bone. With no water, he is forced to drink his urine. His videos become desperate and depressed and he hallucinates about escape, relationships, and past experiences including a former lover, family, and Kristi and Megan. During one of the hallucinations, he realizes that his mistake was that he didn't tell anyone where he was going. He thinks that it was destiny that the boulder trapped him.
Using his knowledge of applying torque, Ralston fashions a crude tourniquet out of CamelBak tube insulation and uses a carabiner to tighten it. He then slowly amputates his arm successfully. He wraps the stump of his arm to prevent exsanguination and takes a picture of the boulder. He then rappels down a 65-foot rockface using his other arm and drinks rainwater from a small pond. He meets a family on a day hike, who alert the authorities to Ralston's presence, and a Utah Highway Patrol helicopter, already dispatched, arrives to bring him to a hospital.
The epilogue sequence reveals that he got married and started a family; he continues to be a climber and a canyoneer, and he now leaves a note saying where he has gone.

Tags: dramatic, suspenseful, psychological, flashback

Review:
The Black Room

Plot synopsis:
In a Tyrolean castle in the late 18th century, twin sons, Gregor and Anton, are born to the de Berghmann baronial family. The baron is concerned: an old prophecy in the family states that the younger brother shall kill the elder in the Black Room of the castle.
Some years later in 1834, it is revealed that the Baron Gregor (Boris Karloff) has become a depraved ruler who murders the wives of local peasants. His brother, Anton (also played by Karloff), who cannot use his right arm and has spent much of his life traveling Europe, returns to the castle for a visit, but refuses to believe the rumors he hears about Gregor. The kindly Anton becomes popular with the villagers and the castle staff, being the exact opposite of his brother. At the same time, Gregor's attempts to woo Thea (Marian Marsh), daughter of family advisor Colonel Hassell, fail noticeably before both her admiration for Anton and her true love for young Lieutenant Albert Lussan (Robert Allen).
When the castle servant Mashka (Katherine DeMille) disappears after being seen with Gregor, the locals form a mob and enter the castle, confronting the baron. Gregor agrees to abdicate, and give power to his brother, who has become popular. After the papers are signed to relinquish his baronetcy to Anton, he lures his unsuspecting brother to the Black Room, kills him, and throws him into the pit where the dead bodies of Mashka and his other victims are kept. Gregor now assumes Anton's identity, and prepares to wed Thea, whose father supports their union. Lt. Lussan angrily and threateningly objects to the Colonel; Gregor kills the Colonel and easily frames the Lieutenant, who is found guilty and sentenced to death.
Only Anton's mastiff recognizes that the baron is not his master, and the dog pursues Gregor when he travels to town for his wedding. Meanwhile, Lussan escapes his cell and meets secretly with Thea, who urges him to flee. He refuses, however, and the wedding ceremony begins in the town cathedral. As the stately ceremony draws to a close, the priest asks for any who object to the union to "speak now or forever hold their peace", and the dog attacks "Anton", who defends himself with his supposedly paralyzed right arm. Standing thus revealed, Gregor flees. The townspeople gathered for the wedding form a mob in a matter of seconds. The dog, followed by the mob, which includes Lussan, pursues Gregor to the castle, where he attempts to hide in the Black Room. The mob discovers where he is and begins to batter open the secret door. Before they can gain passage, however, the dog squeezes through and throws himself on Gregor, who falls backward into the pit and onto the knife still held in his murdered brother's crippled hand. Thus, the prophecy is fulfilled.

Tags: murder

Review:
Psychosis

Plot synopsis:
In 1992, a group of young Anarchists seeking to preserve the local wildlife are brutally murdered. The killer is later found collapsed by a river due to wounds he'd sustained while attempting to kill the lone surviving anarchist.
The movie flashes forward 15 years as successful crime novelist Susan moves into a nearby house with her husband David, who have purchased the house in hopes of it helping her with her writing. Susan is quickly made uneasy as she witnesses the house's gamekeeper Peck having enthusiastic sex in the woods and then later exposing himself to her. She also begins to witness strange visions in the house, all surrounding bloody bodies, the killer from earlier in the film, and people who appear one moment and disappear the next. It is later revealed that Susan had previously suffered a mental breakdown due to seeing and hearing things that were never there, which was part of the reason for the house's purchase.
After David leaves for a "business trip" (quickly revealed to be an excuse to indulge in incredibly raunchy affairs), Susan is drugged and taken advantage of sexually by Peck. The next day Susan confides in the local priest about her past mental illnesses and her fears of her new home. The priest has a psychic examine the house, only for the psychic to declare that there are no presences currently in the house.
Immediately after the psychic and the priest are escorted outside by her husband, Susan witnesses a series of brutal murders involving all of the people she had earlier seen in her visions throughout the film. These visions end up destroying what little sanity Susan has left, resulting in her accidentally killing Peck as he was checking up on her. Upon discovering what she has done, Susan is sent to a mental institution to spend the rest of her days.
The movie then shows that Susan had been channeling her visions into her latest book, which has become an instant bestseller. David is shown receiving the money from her book and it is implied that he had married Susan only for her money and that Peck's actions were done in an attempt to get blackmail material for the divorce. David then goes back to the house one last time to finalize the sale to its new owner, where we are then shown all of the people Susan had witnessed during her stay in the house. He is then gruesomely murdered by the killer Susan had been seeing all along (who had been incarcerated but escaped), revealing that her visions had never been due to insanity, rather because she'd been having visions of the future murders that would happen in the house.

Tags: paranormal, flashback

Review:
Mulawin

Plot synopsis:
=== Plot ===
Long ago, in the dense forests of the Philippines, there lived a race of "bird-men" called Mulawin, men and women with feathers and wings like an eagle's. In those days, this noble and peace-loving race freely interacted with human beings, although they never moved too far away from the forest because it is from trees that bird-men draw their strength. But, as the human population grew in number, the people's demand for territory and resources also increased. They deforested more and more of the lands that were the Mulawin's home, and the bird-men were forced to seek refuge high in the mountains, away from greedy humans.
Despite what they suffered from the common people, the Mulawin would not harm them in return; they wanted only to preserve their way of life as best they could without coming into conflict with men. However, a splinter group soon formed with quite different intentions. This group broke away from the main tribe and became the Ravena, a fierce new race of bird-men with black and red plumage and a fearsome appearance. The Ravena's sole ambition was and is to subdue both the Mulawin and human beings.
The Mulawin founded a new home for themselves, naming it Avila, whereas the Ravena called their own realm, Halconia. At this time, the Queen of the Diwata (fairies) presented the Mulawin with two gifts: the Molave tree and the bird, Balasik. The Molave tree is the most treasured possession of the Mulawin, for if it is lost or destroyed, Avila will also lose its power and be conquered by the Ravena. The Balasik is a magical bird. Like an oracle, it knows and always speaks the truth. What is more, it is like an alchemical elixir of life: it gives youth and strength to whoever owns it. Although the Balasik rightfully belongs to the Mulawin, this clever bird pledges allegiance to no one.
Time passed on, and human beings and Mulawin grew to distrust one another. The Mulawin, fearing their own extinction at the hands of men, saw the latter only as selfish and destructive to the environment. For their part, humans made no distinction between the Mulawin and the Ravena. They taught their children to fear and despise both races of bird-men, even though it was only the Ravena who would attack and prey upon humans. As humans encroached more and more into the territories of the bird-men, Mulawin and Ravena alike fled farther away and were seen less and less often. Hence, people came to regard the idea of bird-men as nothing more than a myth, an old wives’ tale to frighten naughty children.
Now, it was foretold by the Balasik bird that a savior was about to be born. One who would unite the races of men and the Mulawin against the forces of evil. But before the child could be identified, the Ravena stole the Balasik from the Mulawin. With Balasik went the knowledge of the savior's identity to the kingdom of Halconia.
That is how the hero and the heroine's journey begin.

Tags: fantasy

Review:
New Rose Hotel

Plot synopsis:
Set in the near future, huge megacorporations control and dominate entire economies. Their wealth and competitive advantage reside in the human capital of their employees and the intellectual property they produce. Corporations jealously guard their most valuable employees and go to great expense to keep them safe and happily productive. There is little point in traditional corporate espionage as new products are developed at a lightning pace; there is no time to capitalize on the intelligence acquired from a rival firm, it will be obsolete before it can be used.
The story follows two corporate extraction agents, who perform the new version of corporate espionage, grabbing scientists and engineers from rival firms. Given the level of protection offered, extracting them from a company is a highly dangerous affair. In the story, the narrator and his partner Fox have joined up with a new associate, Sandii, in an attempt to extract an extremely talented biologist from a hot new German research company. The company's security is superb, and the attempt takes considerable time to plan.
After successfully extracting the scientist, Sandii disappears. The scientist begins work at his new company in a secret lab in Africa, only to learn he has been infected by a deadly disease that kills him and everyone else in the lab. Realizing they have been betrayed, Fox and the narrator run, their bank accounts wiped out by their now-former employer. Convinced the two are behind the whole affair, Fox is killed in retaliation and the narrator goes into hiding. The story takes place a week after the events, in run-down capsule hotel in Japan, the New Rose Hotel. The narrator spends his time waiting for assassins to arrive, pining over Sandii, and contemplating suicide.
"New Rose Hotel" presents a bleak future as extrapolated from contemporary economic and social trends. Set in the Sprawl, the same period and universe as Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, it is solidly cyberpunk in its style and vision.

Tags: flashback, murder, sci-fi

Review:
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

Plot synopsis:
The game starts with a conversation between two men in the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. They travel to a remote laboratory operated by Dr. Ort-Meyer, finding everyone inside dead. A review of the security footage shows a man in a suit killing several guards and orderlies. Recognizing the man as Agent 47, one of the men decides to hire him.
With all evidence of his existence erased, 47 decides to leave his life as a contract killer and retreats to a Sicilian church owned by Father Emilio Vittorio, taking a job as a humble gardener. One day, 47 agrees to attend one of Vittorio's confessions, seeking forgiveness. Shortly afterwards, a car arrives at the church and Vittorio goes to shoo it away. Instead, the occupants abduct him and leave a note demanding a ransom of $500,000. Unable to pay such a large sum, 47 contacts the ICA (International Contract Agency) and agrees to perform a contract killing in exchange for information on the whereabouts of Vittorio. He gets information from the Agency that Vittorio has been taken to a cell in the basement of the Villa Borghese, a local Mafia hideout.
47 infiltrates the Villa Borghese and kills his target, but fails to find Vittorio; thereafter, he steals a car and escapes. To repay his debt to the Agency, 47 accepts several contracts in Russia. Upon completing them, he negotiates a deal with his employers for both a payment raise and any information on Vittorio. Eventually, he gives up his search, believing his friend to be dead. Returning to his previous profession, he carries out a number of hits in countries such as Russia, Japan, Afghanistan, Malaysia, and India.
Eventually, 47 learns that Vittorio's kidnapping was an elaborate setup by Sergei, the brother of one of 47's five fathers, to lure him out of retirement. He also learns that all of his targets were individuals who were involved in the sale of a nuclear warhead to Sergei's gang, and that the items he was sometimes ordered to "retrieve" were the components of two additional nuclear missiles. The warheads possessed key signature software that would disguise them as American-made, and therefore bypass the American missile defense system. Sergei, who intends to sell the missiles, needed to eliminate everyone involved in the deal, and therefore arranged for 47 to take the contracts. Learning this, 47 pursues Sergei, who has taken Father Vittorio hostage inside his church.
47 kills Sergei and his men, and frees Vittorio. Vittorio gives 47 his rosary and begs him to give up his path of violence and death. 47 decides that he is incapable of finding inner peace and leaves the rosary on the church door, formally returning to the ICA.

Tags: violence

Review: