cryptexcode/MPST huggingface dataset:
Welt am Draht

Plot synopsis:
It is the present day. Cybernetics and Future Science's (Institut für Kybernetik und Zukunftsforschung) new supercomputer hosts a simulation program that includes an artificial world with over 9,000 "identity units" who live as human beings, unaware that their world is just a simulation. Professor Vollmer (Adrian Hoven), who is technical director of the program, is apparently on the verge of an incredible secret discovery. He becomes increasingly agitated and anti-social before dying in a mysterious accident. His successor, Dr. Fred Stiller, has a discussion with Günther Lause, the security adviser of the institute, when the latter suddenly disappears without trace, before passing on Vollmer's secret to Stiller. More mysterious still is the fact that none of the other IKZ employees seem to have any memory of Lause.
Meanwhile, one of the identity units in the simulation attempts suicide. This unit is deleted by Stiller's colleague Walfang, to keep the simulation stable. To investigate the reasons for the suicide, Stiller contacts the contact unit of the simulated world. The unit, called Einstein, is the only identity unit who knows about the simulation, and this is necessary to run the program. In an attempt to become a real person, Einstein switches his mind into Walfang's body while the latter is in contact with the simulated world. Einstein gives Stiller an explanation for the mysteries, vanishing memories, and vanishing persons. He tells him that the real world is nothing else but a simulation of a real world one level above.
This knowledge causes Stiller to slip into insanity. The other "real" people interrogate Stiller, and he is threatened with death, incarceration, and involuntary commitment. Stiller is finally able to convince Hahn, the IKZ psychologist, of his theory. The latter soon dies in an accident that is pinned on Stiller, marking him as the suspected murderer of both Hahn and Vollmer.
Stiller flees and searches for the necessary contact unit who can connect the "real" world with the real world a level above. He survives several assassination attempts and discovers the contact is Eva, Vollmer's daughter, with whom he had once had a romance. Eva tells him he was modeled on the real Fred Stiller, a person whom Eva loved, but became mad with power from directing the simulation in the world above. While Stiller is programmed to die in an ambush, Eva switches the minds of the two Stillers and brings the simulated Stiller into the real world.

Tags: sci-fi

Review:
Message in a Bottle

Plot synopsis:
Theresa Osborne, a former reporter, works as a researcher for the Chicago Tribune. On a trip to Cape Cod, she finds a mysterious, intriguing love letter in a bottle in the sand, addressed from Garret to Catherine. She is fascinated by it and comes into possession of two more letters by the same person, eventually tracking down the man who wrote them, Garret Blake. He refurbished a boat called Happenstence with his wife before her death and he lives quietly on the Outer Banks of North Carolina near his father, Dodge.
Theresa and Garret become better acquainted, but she does not reveal her knowledge of the love letters. Along with the literal distance between them — they live hundreds of miles apart — there is another problem: Garret cannot quite forgive Catherine for dying and leaving him.
Theresa's career flourishes as the romantic "message in a bottle" tale is told in print, without naming names. Garret makes a trip to Chicago to visit Theresa and her young son. Their new love grows, until one day Garret finds his letters in a drawer in Theresa's apartment. Garret angrily confronts Theresa and, after a night of explanations, he goes home by himself.
A year later, Dodge tracks down Theresa. He informs her that his son Garret has died at sea in a storm while attempting to rescue someone else. A bottle with a message inside was found on his boat. Theresa realizes that it was written the night before Garrett's last sailing. In it, he apologizes to Catherine and says that in Theresa he has found a new love, a love he must fight for.

Tags: romantic

Review:
The Innocent

Plot synopsis:
The story is set in the late nineteenth century. Tullio Hermil (Giancarlo Giannini), a wealthy Roman aristocrat married to Giuliana (Laura Antonelli) lives his sexual life with a possessive aristocratic mistress (Jennifer O'Neill), Teresa. However, his interest in his wife Guliana is rekindled when he sees Guliana's happiness after she has begun a love affair with a novelist, Filippo d'Aborio. She becomes pregnant by him. Tullio urges an abortion. She refuses. d'Arborio dies of a tropical infection. Tullio cannot tolerate the healthy male child delivered to Giuliana, although he tries. While the family are at Christmas mass he exposes the baby and it dies, apparently of natural causes. Giuliana, who knows Tullio has murdered the baby, leaves him. Tullio attempts to rekindle his affair with Teresa and takes her to his town house. There they attempt to make love. When she tells him she no longer loves him he shoots himself in the heart and dies. Teresa picks up her belongings and leaves.

Tags: murder

Review:
La tregua

Plot synopsis:
The book starts with the departure of the Germans from the camp. The sick Häftlinge were left on their own after the healthy ones were taken on a death march away from the approaching Red Army. As all the services have left the camp exploration journeys begin in search for food and essential items.
When they arrive the Red Army is shocked by the state of the people in the camp and they provide basic medical aid. All remaining inmates are taken to a hospital in the main camp.
After the protagonist has regained some strength he starts a long journey. First to Kraków, then to Katowice where he stays for some time and works as a pharmaceutic assistant.
The journey continues after weeks westwards to Tarnów, Rzeszów, Przemyśl and into Ukraine: Lviv, Ternopil, Proskurov, Zhmerynka. The plan was to go south to Odessa but instead he had to take the train northwards and arrives at Slutsk (Belarus). From there he walks and rides in a horse cart to Starye Dorogi where he lives inside Krasny Dom and works as a medical assistant.
Then, after weeks, a Russian Marshal, Semyon Timoshenko, came to the displaced persons camp and declared that they can make their way back home now. By train the journey continues southwards and then westwards: Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Germany. After 35 days of travel since leaving Krasny Dom he arrives in his home town Turin, which he had last seen 20 months ago.

Tags: romantic, autobiographical, storytelling, flashback

Review:
Liberdade, Liberdade

Plot synopsis:
Born in the 19th century, Joaquina (Mel Maia/Andreia Horta) is the daughter of revolutionary Tiradentes (Thiago Lacerda). A woman ahead of her time who carries in her blood the fight for freedom in Brazil.
As a child, she witnessed her father’s death after he fought for people’s freedom and was double-crossed by Rubião (Mateus Solano), his sword-arm. She was then taken to Portugal under the care of a revolution sympathizer who adopted her by the name of Rosa. Years later she comes back to Rio, a place of wrongdoing and slave abuse. A great anger at this situation awakens the will to fight she inherited from her father. There she meets Xavier (Bruno Ferrari), a rich Medical school student with a secret revolutionary side to him. Together they will find out they share not only the desire for freedom but a true love for one another.
Then Rubião crosses her path once again. Without knowing she Tiradentes’ daughter, the villain will pursue her to marry him, making her life a living hell. But she will also make strong allies like Virgínia (Lília Cabral), a brothel owner who has always supported the revolution.
It is now in Joaquina’s hands to end the war her father started. And she will not rest until freedom is written on the pages of history, even if it takes her own blood to do it.

Tags: violence, murder, romantic

Review:
Fake History With Politically Correct Standards. The Brazilian Globo network is characterized by sophisticated productions filled with Computer-Graphic-Imagery since approximately ten years ago. They opt for visuals based on sepia tones typical of old photographs. Liberdade Liberdade (Freedom Freedom) adds soft-core pornography to its exaltation of current political correctness. It's a mere by-product of the ideological disease that plagues the 21st century: Politically correctness equals Cultural Marxism. The soap opera aims to reinvent history by placing feminism within colonial Brazil in the 18th-to-19th turn of the century. Joaquina, the protagonist, did exist indeed, but nothing was ever known about her, except that she was the bastard child of the leading rebel Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, nicknamed Tiradentes. OK, it's certainly valid to get fanciful as far as fictitious plots go. But to rewrite history? To emphasize current myths such as feminism and multi-racial sex by mixing them into the old, sad reality of slavery? To be sure, in colonial Brazil there was an actual lack of intimacy between the Republican project of the republican conjurers and the everyday life & common aspirations of overseas subjects of Empress Maria of Portugal. Such national symbols and heroes, like Tiradentes, would only be forged much later on, of course. Not to sound necessarily moralistic, but... Prime-time sexplotation? This is minimally slutty towards any middle-of-the-road, conservative audience. To rent a porn DVD is one thing, to watch a simulacrum of history is another thing, far less commendable, far more arguable.
The Terminator

Plot synopsis:
In 1984 Los Angeles, a cyborg assassin known as a Terminator arrives from 2029 and steals guns and clothes. Shortly afterwards, Kyle Reese, a human soldier from 2029, arrives. He steals clothes and evades the police. The Terminator begins systematically killing women named Sarah Connor, whose addresses he finds in the telephone directory. He tracks the third Sarah Connor to a nightclub, but Kyle rescues her. The two steal a car and escape with the Terminator pursuing them in a police car.
As they hide in a parking lot, Kyle explains to Sarah that an artificial intelligence defense network, known as Skynet, will become self-aware in the near future and initiate a nuclear holocaust. Sarah's future son John will rally the survivors and lead a resistance movement against Skynet and its army of machines. With the Resistance on the verge of victory, Skynet sent a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah before John is born, to prevent the formation of the Resistance. The Terminator is an efficient killing machine with a powerful metal endoskeleton and an external layer of living tissue that makes it appear human.
Kyle and Sarah are apprehended by the police after another encounter with the Terminator. Criminal psychologist Dr. Silberman concludes that Kyle is paranoid and delusional. The Terminator repairs his body and attacks the police station, killing many police officers in his attempt to locate Sarah. Kyle and Sarah escape, steal another car and take refuge in a motel, where they assemble pipe bombs and plan their next move. Kyle admits that he has been in love with Sarah since John gave him a photograph of her, and they have sex.
The Terminator kills Sarah's mother and perfectly impersonates her when Sarah, unaware of the Terminator's ability to mimic victims, attempts to contact her via telephone. The Terminator thus deduces their location, and when they realize he has reacquired them, they escape in a pickup truck. In the ensuing chase, Kyle is wounded by gunfire while throwing pipe bombs at the Terminator. Enraged‚ Sarah knocks the Terminator off his motorcycle but loses control of the truck, which flips over. The Terminator hijacks a tank truck and attempts to run down Sarah, but Kyle slides a pipe bomb onto the tanker, causing an explosion that burns the flesh from the Terminator's endoskeleton. It pursues them to a factory, where Kyle activates machinery to confuse the Terminator. He jams his final pipe bomb into the Terminator's abdomen, blowing the Terminator apart, injuring Sarah, and killing Kyle. The damaged Terminator reactivates and grabs Sarah. She breaks free and lures it into a hydraulic press, crushing it.
Months later, a pregnant Sarah is traveling through Mexico, recording audio tapes to pass on to her unborn son, John. She debates whether to tell him that Kyle is his father. At a gas station, a boy takes a Polaroid photograph of her which she purchases—the same photograph that John will eventually give to Kyle.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
L'argent

Plot synopsis:
Saccard and Gunderman are rival Paris bankers. Saccard sees an opportunity to rescue his failing bank, Banque Universelle, by financing the solo transatlantic flight of Jacques Hamelin, a pioneering aviator, and then capitalizing on his popularity to set up a colonial business project in Guyane. He also hopes to seduce Hamelin's wife Line in his absence. When a rumour circulates that Hamelin has crashed, Saccard exploits the false reports to manipulate shares at the Bourse.
Gunderman disapproves of Saccard and his methods, and has secretly bought shares in his bank as a future weapon against him. The Baroness Sandorf, a former lover of Saccard, acts as a spy to assist Gunderman's interests, and more particularly her own.
Hamelin's work in Guyane becomes an expensive liability, and his failing eyesight prevents him from keeping adequate control of the accounts. Saccard ensnares the naïve Line in mounting debts which compel her to tolerate his attentions. Incited by Sandorf, Line makes a formal complaint about Saccard's financial dealings, which launches an enquiry, and when she discovers how her husband's reputation has been compromised by Saccard she tries to shoot him at a party. Sandorf now restrains her, fearful for her own investments if Saccard were to die. Gunderman sells his shares in Saccard's bank and precipitates its collapse. Saccard is arrested, along with Hamelin who has returned to France. Saccard's duplicity is exposed in court, and through Gunderman's intervention Hamelin is released. Saccard goes to prison, but wastes no time before planning new financial schemes - with the aid of his gaoler.

Tags: murder, prank

Review:
In the Bedroom

Plot synopsis:
The film is set in the Mid-Coast town of Camden, Maine. Matt (Tom Wilkinson) and Ruth Fowler (Sissy Spacek) enjoy a happy marriage and a good relationship with their son Frank (Nick Stahl), a recent college graduate who has come home for the summer. Frank has fallen in love with an older woman with children, Natalie Strout (Marisa Tomei).
Frank is about to begin post graduate school for architecture, but is having second-thoughts and considering staying in town to continue working as a fisherman and, more importantly, to be near Natalie. Natalie's ex-husband, Richard Strout (William Mapother), tries to find a way into his ex-wife and children's lives, going to increasingly violent lengths to get his intentions across to Natalie. Ruth is openly concerned about Frank's relationship with Natalie, while Matt thinks it is only a fling.
Midway through the film, Richard kills Frank during a confrontation at Natalie's house following a domestic dispute. Though equally devastated, Matt and Ruth grieve in different ways, with Matt putting on a brave face while Ruth becomes reclusive and quiet. Richard is set free on bail, paid by his well-to-do family, and both Matt and Ruth are forced to see Richard around town.
The tension between Matt & Ruth increases when they learn that the lack of an eyewitness to Frank's shooting means Richard will instead be charged with accidental manslaughter. An argument erupts between the couple in which each one confronts the other. With the air cleared, the couple is finally able to find common ground in their grief.
Matt then abducts and kills Richard. He and a friend bury the body on the friend's wooded property. Matt returns home to Ruth, who is awake and smoking in bed. She asks him, "Did you do it?" Matt appears troubled and unresponsive. He climbs into bed and then turns away from her. Finally, Ruth gets up to make coffee. Matt rolls over onto his back and pulls a band-aid from a finger he injured hauling traps. Ruth calls from the kitchen, "Matt, do you want coffee?" Matt doesn't answer.

Tags: depressing, murder, bleak, dramatic, violence, flashback, melodrama, revenge

Review:
Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde

Plot synopsis:
Dr. Henry Jekyll dedicates his life to the curing of all known illnesses, however his lecherous friend, Professor Robertson, remarks that Jekyll's experiments take so long to actually be discovered, he will no doubt be dead by the time he is able to achieve anything. Haunted by this remark, Jekyll abandons his studies and obsessively begins searching for an elixir of life, using female hormones taken from fresh cadavers supplied by murderers Burke and Hare, reasoning that these hormones will help him to extend his life since women traditionally live longer than men and have stronger systems. In the apartment above Jekyll's lives a family: an elderly mother, her daughter Susan Spencer, and Susan's brother Howard. Susan is attracted to Jekyll, and he too returns her affections, but is too obsessed with his work to make advances. Once mixing the female hormones into a serum and drinking it, it not only has the effect of changing Jekyll's character (for the worse) but also of changing his gender, transforming him into a beautiful but evil woman. Susan becomes jealous when she discovers this mysterious woman, but when she confronts Jekyll, to explain the sudden appearance of his female alter ego, he calls her Mrs. Hyde, saying she is his widowed sister who has come to live with him. Howard, on the other hand, develops a lust for Mrs. Hyde.
Dr. Jekyll soon finds that his serum requires a regular supply of female hormones to maintain its effect, necessitating the killing of young girls. Burke and Hare supply his needs but their criminal activities are uncovered. Burke is lynched by a mob and Hare blinded. The doctor decides to take the matters into his own hands and commits the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper. Dr. Jekyll abhors this, but Mrs. Hyde relishes the killings as she begins to take control, even seducing and then killing Professor Robertson when he attempts to question her about the murders.
As Mrs. Hyde grows more powerful the two personalities begin to struggle for dominance. Dr. Jekyll asks Susan to the opera, however when he is getting dressed to go out, he unconsciously takes Mrs. Hyde's gown from the wardrobe instead of his own clothes, realizing that he no longer needs to drink the serum in order to transform. Susan is heartbroken when Jekyll fails to take her out to the opera, and she decides to go alone. However, the evil Mrs. Hyde decides that innocent, pure Susan's blood is just what she needs to finally overtake Jekyll's body. She stalks Susan through the dark streets, but Jekyll's will only just manages to thwart Mrs. Hyde's attempt to kill Susan. He then commits one last murder to find a way to stabilize his condition, but he is interrupted by the police after a comment by Hare leads them to realize the similarity between Jekyll's earlier experiments on cadavers and the Ripper murders. As Dr. Jekyll tries to escape by climbing along the outside of a building, he transforms into Mrs. Hyde, who, lacking his strength, falls to the ground, dying as a twisted amalgamation of male and female.

Tags: good versus evil, gothic, murder, flashback

Review:
Yol

Plot synopsis:
Yol tells the story of several prisoners on furlough in Turkey. Seyit Ali (Tarık Akan) travels to his house and finds that his wife (Şerif Sezer) has betrayed him and works as a prostitute. She was caught by her family and held captive for Seyit Ali to end her life in an honor killing. Though apparently determined at first, he changes his mind when his wife starts to freeze while travelling in the snow. Despite his efforts to keep her alive, he eventually fails. His wife's death relieves Seyit Ali from family pressure and he is saved from justice since she freezes but he has an internal struggle and must return to jail.
Mehmet Salih (Halil Ergün) has been arrested for his role in a heist with his brother-in-law, whom he abandoned as he was being shot by police. His in-laws want nothing to do with him, and he is finally forced to tell his wife Emine (Meral Orhonsay) the truth. Emine and Mehmet Salih decide to run away and get on a train. On the train, they get caught in the toilet while having long-awaited sex with each other. They are saved from an angry mob by the train's officers and held in a cabin before being handed over to officials. There, a young boy from Emine's family who boarded the train shoots both Mehmet Salih and Emine.
Ömer (Necmettin Çobanoğlu) returns to his village. Being a border village, it has a struggle with the army due to smuggling. Ömer visits and arranges to cross the border to escape prison. Though Ömer is clearly determined, he gives up after his brother is shot dead while smuggling. Through his brother's death, Ömer has inherited the responsibilities of his brother's wife and children as dictated by tradition.
Each prisoner in the film suffers from a conflict that threatens his freedom, with tradition also imprisoning him.

Tags: violence, romantic, flashback

Review:
Faust

Plot synopsis:
The demon Mephisto has a bet with an Archangel that he can corrupt a righteous man's soul and destroy in him what is divine. If he succeeds, the Devil will win dominion over earth.
The Devil delivers a plague to the village where Faust, an elderly alchemist, lives. Though he prays to stop the death and starvation, nothing happens. Disheartened, Faust throws his alchemy books in the fire, and then the Bible too. One book opens, showing how to have power and glory by making a pact with the Devil. He goes to a crossroads as described in the book's procedure and conjures up the forces of evil. When Mephisto appears at the roadside, he induces Faust to make a trial, 24-hour bargain with the Devil. Faust will have Mephisto's service till the sand runs out in an hourglass, at which time the Devil will rescind the pact. At first, Faust uses his new power to help the people of the village, but they shun him when they find out that he cannot face a cross. They stone him and he takes shelter in his home.
Faust then makes a further deal with Mephisto, who gives Faust back his youth and offers him earthly pleasures and a kingdom, in return for his immortal soul. Mephisto tempts Faust with the vision of a beautiful woman. He then takes him to a wedding feast in Parma, to meet the subject of his vision, an Italian Duchess. Faust departs with her, leaving the Devil to kill her groom. Just as Faust is making love to her the sands run out. He is obliged to seal the deal permanently in order to continue his love-making; he is Mephisto's forever.
Faust soon grows weary of debauchery and yearns for "Home". Here Faust falls in love with an innocent girl, Gretchen, who is charmed into loving Faust by a golden chain left by the Devil.
Faust comes to Gretchen's room. The devil rouses the mother who sees them and drops dead from shock. The devil then incites her soldier brother, Valentin, to run home to catch her lover. Valentin and Faust fight a duel. The Devil intervenes and stabs Valentin in the back. He then goes around town shouting "murder". Faust and Mephisto flee on the back of a hellish steed.
Valentin condemns Faust for his murder and his sister as a harlot in his dying breath. She is put in the stocks and subjected to jeering. The girl has a child (by Faust) and ends up in the streets. In a blizzard she sees a vision of a warm cradle and lays her child down on the snow, where the child dies. Soldiers find her and she is sent to the stake as a murderess. Faust sees what is happening and demands Mephisto take him there. Faust arrives just as the fire has been started to burn his lover. Faust wishes he had never asked to have his youth back. Mephisto smashes the mirror with Faust's reflection and he loses his youth. He runs through the assembled mob towards Gretchen; and it is as an old man that Faust throws himself onto the fire to be with his beloved.
Gretchen recognizes Faust and sees him in her heart as a young man again as the fire consumes them together. Their spirits rise to the heavens. The angel reveals to Mephisto that he has lost the bet because Love has triumphed over all.

Tags: psychedelic, romantic

Review:
J'accuse!

Plot synopsis:
In a Provençal village in the south of France, the villagers welcome the declaration of war with Germany in 1914 and flock to enlist. Among them is François Laurin, a man of jealous and violent temperament, who is married to Édith, the daughter of an upright veteran soldier Maria Lazare. François suspects, correctly, that Édith is conducting an affair with the poet Jean Diaz who lives in the village with his mother, and he sends Édith to stay with his parents in Lorraine - where she is subsequently captured and raped by German soldiers. François and Jean find themselves serving in the same battalion at the front, where the initial tensions between them give way to a close friendship that acknowledges that they both love Édith.
In 1918, Jean is discharged through ill-health and returns to the village, to find his mother dying. Édith reappears from captivity, now with a young half-German daughter Angèle. Her father, Maria Lazare, immediately leaves to avenge the shame to the family name. When François comes home on leave, Jean and Édith fear his reaction to the illegitimate child and try to conceal her from him, which merely revives his jealous suspicions of Jean, and the two men fight. When the truth is revealed, François and Jean agree to seek their vengeance in battle and both return to the front.
In a great battle, in which a mythical figure of Le Gaulois leads on the French forces, François is wounded and dies in the field hospital. Jean, meanwhile, is so shell-shocked that he becomes insane. He returns to the village and gathers the inhabitants together to tell them of his vision on the battlefield: from the graves of the dead, soldiers arise and gather in a great cohort that marches through the land, back to their homes. Jean challenges the villagers to say whether they have been worthy of the men's sacrifices, and they watch in horror as their dead family and friends appear on the threshold. The soldiers return to their rest, and Jean goes back to his mother's house. There he finds a book of his own poems which he tears up in disgust, until one of them, his Ode to the Sun, drives him to denounce the sun for its complicity in the crimes of war. As the sunlight fades from the room, Jean dies.

Tags: anti war, romantic

Review:
The Sorcerers

Plot synopsis:
Dr. Marcus Monserrat (Boris Karloff) is an elderly practitioner of medical hypnosis. He lives with his wife Estelle Monserrat (Catherine Lacey). He has invented a device which would allow him to control and feel another person's experience using the power of hypnosis. They decide any youngster will do as their test subject. Dr. Marcus Monserrat selects and invites Mike Roscoe (Ian Ogilvy) to his house, with an offer of a 'new experience'. He uses the device on Mike and the procedure is successful. He and Estelle can feel everything Mike feels and can also control Mike.
After the procedure, they decide to send Mike away to conduct the experiment over distance. Mike returns to the club where his girlfriend, Nicole (Elizabeth Ercy) is waiting for him. Mike takes Nicole to his apartment and they swim in the pool. Marcus and Estelle are able to experience everything Mike feels. While Marcus wants to publish his work, Estelle wants to make up for lost time and to experience new things. She convinces a reluctant Marcus to continue on with their arrangement with Mike.
Next day, Estelle sees a fur jacket in a store and convinces Marcus to use Mike to steal the jacket. Marcus reluctantly agrees on the condition that they will not do it again. While Mike is at Nicole's apartment Estelle and Marcus make Mike steal the jacket. Mike leaves without informing Nicole, who decides to go a night club with Alan (Victor Henry). Mike successfully steals the jacket despite a cop getting involved.
Estelle realizes that they could do anything they want without any consequences. Estelle wants to experience the thrill of speed. So Estelle and Marcus make Mike borrow Alan's bike and ride very fast with Nicole on the pillion seat. When Alan confronts Mike, Estelle makes Mike assault him and his boss, Ron(Alf Joint). Estelle enjoys the experience but Marcus is shocked. He tries to prevent the fight but Estelle's mind turns out to be stronger. When Marcus confronts Estelle, Estelle assaults Marcus and destroys the experimental device, thereby preventing Marcus from reversing the experiment.
Mike blanks out every time Estelle and Marcus control him. A confused Mike visits his friend Audrey (Susan George), but Estelle makes Mike kill her. Mike then goes to the night club and hooks up with a pop-singer, Laura (Sally Sheridan). Alan and Nicole see Mike taking Laura out of the night club. The couple are dropped off by a taxi in a deserted street where Mike orders Laura to sing. When she fails to follow his instruction, he kills her too.
The following day, Alan tells Nicole he believes Mike might have killed the girls. Alan wants to inform the Police but Nicole convinces him to talk to Mike first. The police track Mike with help of the taxi driver. Alan and Nicole confront Mike about Laura but Mike does not remember anything. Under the influence of Estelle, Mike attacks Alan again and escapes in a car. Police investigators track Mike down and in the ensuing chase, Marcus interferes with Estelle's control. Mike's car crashes and catches fire. Back at the apartment, Estelle and Marcus are both dead due to burn injuries.

Tags: murder

Review:
Goethe!

Plot synopsis:
At the University of Strasbourg in 1772, young Johann Wolfgang Goethe fails his doctoral examination in law and, despite wishing to be a poet, is sent by his father to work in the Reichskammergericht, the imperial law court in the small town of Wetzlar. Set to read old files by his grim chief Kestner, he is befriended by another junior, Wilhelm Jerusalem, who takes him to a dance.
There he sees Lotte Buff, daughter of a widower living in an old manor house outside the town, where she looks after her seven younger siblings. Developing a closer friendship with the attractive and lively young woman, one day he encounters her on a country road. A sudden rain storm forces the two to seek shelter in a ruined castle, where they make love.
Meanwhile Kestner has been negotiating with her father, who is delighted to see his impoverished family helped by the marriage of his eldest girl to a distinguished lawyer. Though not in the least charmed by Kestner, for the sake of the family Lotte reluctantly agrees he may woo her. Unaware of her relationship with Goethe and without mentioning her name, Kestner asks him to be best man. Goethe agrees heartily, and even suggests some good phrases he could use in his wooing.
Accepting Kestner out of duty, Lotte writes to Goethe to tell him their affair is at an end. Before he gets the letter, he sets out for her house with a present, only to find her engagement party in full swing. Returning despondent to his lodgings, he then sees his room-mate Jerusalem blow his brains out in despair over his hopeless love for a married woman. After briefly contemplating suicide himself, he returns to work and publicly insults Kestner, who demands a duel. Given first shot he misses, whereupon Kestner fires wide and has him arrested for illegal duelling.
In jail, Goethe turns these events into a story he calls The Sorrows of Young Werther and sends the manuscript to Lotte as a farewell gift. She sees its qualities and, without telling him, takes it to a publisher. Once Goethe is released from prison, his father takes him home to Frankfurt, where the book has become a sensation and the young author a celebrity.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Margot at the Wedding

Plot synopsis:
Margot (Nicole Kidman) is a successful but self-absorbed writer; it is suggested that she has borderline personality disorder. She brings her 11-year-old son Claude (Zane Pais) to spend a weekend visiting her free-spirited sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) on the eve of her wedding to Malcolm (Jack Black) at their home on Long Island. Margot disapproves of Pauline's choice of fiancé: Malcolm is an unsuccessful musician whom Margot considers "completely unattractive". While in town, Margot will also be interviewed in a local bookstore by Dick Koosman (Ciarán Hinds), a successful author with whom she is collaborating on a screenplay. Dick's teenage daughter Maisy (Halley Feiffer) also visits the house.
Margot and Pauline have an uneasy relationship. Margot disapproves of Pauline's life-choices - besides marrying Malcolm, Pauline is pregnant, a fact that she hasn't shared with Malcolm or her pre-teen daughter Ingrid. Pauline, meanwhile, resents Margot for writing and publishing thinly-disguised stories about her life. She is also incensed when Margot shares secrets told to her in confidence - including her pregnancy. Rather that confront each other, however, Pauline and Margot take out their frustrations on Malcolm and Claude, respectively.
Tensions come to a head twice. Margot's interview goes disastrously wrong when Dick's questions become personal. While Pauline interrogates him about emails he received from one of her 20-year-old students, Malcolm admits he kissed Maisy. Returning to the house, Pauline finds Maisy inside. Though Pauline says nothing, it's obvious to Maisy that Pauline knows the truth. When Dick finds out what happened, he beats Malcolm up. Pauline and Ingrid escape Malcolm and the house with Margot and Claude.
Pauline get into a heated argument, unleashing years of resentment. The next day, Pauline calls Malcolm, intent on breaking up with him. When he begs for forgiveness, however, she gives in and takes him back.
Margot decides to stay with her sister, and puts Claude on a bus to Vermont so he can live with his father. As the bus pulls away with Claude, Margot has a change of heart and chases after it. Taking a seat next to a surprised Claude, Margot catches her breath.

Tags: violence, storytelling, romantic

Review:
The Cross and the Switchblade

Plot synopsis:
The film is based on the true story of David Wilkerson (Pat Boone), a small-town preacher who gets caught in the shadows of a crime-ridden neighborhood in New York City. He encounters the Mau Maus, a gang led by Nicky Cruz (Erik Estrada), and David brings a message of hope to the angry youths. Guided by the street-wise Little Bo (Jo-Ann Robinson), David quickly learns about the neighborhood and how to approach the cynical juveniles. David came to New York City from a Pittsburgh suburb with little money, and is put up in a small street chapel owned by a pastor with a loving family who supports David in his work and offers to help with food and shelter. Cruz at first dismisses Wilkerson as a joke, then as a conspiracy to break up the Mau Maus, serving to only intensify his desire to be rid of the "preacher man". Nicky's girlfriend Rosa prostitutes in order to support her heroin addiction, and later begs David to help her sober her drug habits. David realistically does not think Rosa can handle her heroin problem without medical attention, but agrees to allow the pastor and his wife to have Rosa live with them and stand vigil as she goes through difficult withdrawals. After Rosa is sober, she tries to convince Nicky that David comes to them out of love, but Nicky becomes more and more frustrated. When David tries an attempt to reach out to all gang members in the area through a revival, the pastor convince the NYPD not to survey the area in order to have the gangs think they are left alone. Nicky agrees with Big Cat, the leader of the rival Bishops, that they should rumble at the revival since no one would expect that. However, during David's sermon, his message that no one can be labeled and Christ's death on the Cross reaches Nicky, and he stands up to Big Cat who is ready to attack David. The film concludes by saying that in the question of the Cross and the Switchblade, the Cross proved stronger.
Nicky Cruz would go on to become an ordained minister, preaching the gospel due to the initial efforts of David Wilkerson. In the end they start a center called Teen Challenge to support teens.

Tags: christian film

Review:
Man from Montana

Plot synopsis:
As described in a film magazine, Warren Summers (Peil) and his wife (Lamb) along with their pretty relative Meta Cooper (Rich) go to the town of Green Water to purchase the Bumble Bee mine, which is owned by Duke Fairley (Hart) and Dad Petzel (Berrell). While Duke is out of town Dad sells the mine, receiving worthless stock for it. Duke then heads east to find the swindlers and to see Meta again. Meanwhile, Dad and the boys work an abandoned mine called "The Worm" and strike it rich. Unable to get in touch with Duke, they head east to give him the good news. They end up at the New York docks where they are shanghaied. Duke accompanies Meta across the state line so that she can deliver some stocks for Summers, and Duke is then arrested for taking a girl out of state. Returning to New York, Duke marries Meta which angers Summers and his gang. They kidnap Meta and tell Duke to meet them at a certain hour on the docks and bring a large sum of money to exchange for Meta. Duke goes to the docks but is shanghaied and put on the same boat as Dad and the boys. When they recover, they tell each other of their troubles, and then convince the seamen to take them back to shore. Duke arrives in time to rescue Meta from her crafty relatives, which are then turned over to the law.

Tags: comedy

Review:
Splitting Heirs

Plot synopsis:
The film centres on the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Bournemouth (England), upon which misfortune has fallen throughout history, leading its members to believe the family is cursed. The most recent heir, Thomas Henry Butterfly Rainbow Peace, was left in a restaurant as an infant in the 1960s; by the time his parents remembered him, he had disappeared. Meanwhile, in the 1990s Tommy Patel has grown up in an Asian/Indian family in Southall, never doubting his ethnicity despite being taller than anyone else in the house, fair-haired, blue-eyed, light-skinned—and not liking curry. From the family corner shop he commutes to the City where he works for the Bournemouth family's stockbroking firm, handling multimillion-pound deals.
Tommy is given the job of acting as host to the visiting American representative of the firm, Henry Bullock, who turns out to be the son of the head of the firm, the present Duke. They become friends and the friendship survives Henry becoming the new Duke when his father dies. Circumstantial evidence shows that the true Bournemouth heir is actually Tommy; we see a series of family portraits each of which captures something of Tommy's facial characteristics, and his Indian mother tells him the story of his adoption. He consults the lawyer who dealt with his adoption, Raoul P. Shadgrind, who says Tommy has no hope of proving his claim, but plants the idea of him obtaining his rightful place in the family by getting Henry out of the way; Shadgrind himself then engineers a variety of 'accidents' in the belief that he will share in the spoils as Tommy's partner. The delightfully-complicated love interest comes with Tommy's and Henry's (shared at the same time) lover, later the new Duchess and their (shared at different times) mother, the dowager Duchess. As befits a classical comedy of errors, the final resolution of everyone's doubts and misconceptions leaves everyone living "happily ever after - "well, for a bit, at least..."
The setting for the Duke's stately home in the latter part of the film is Longleat.

Tags: comedy

Review:
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

Plot synopsis:
Several weeks after the events of the first film, FBI agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) has become a celebrity after she infiltrated the beauty pageant on her last assignment. Her fame resulted in her cover being blown while she is trying to prevent a bank heist.
To capitalize on her publicity, the FBI decide to make Gracie the new "face" of the FBI; She is hurt after being dumped by her boyfriend, fellow Agent Eric Matthews (who gets relocated to Miami), agrees to the reassignment.
When FBI Agent Sam Muller gets relocated to New York City from Chicago, Hart immediately despises her. Eventually, the FBI makes Muller Harts bodyguard to Mullers disgust.
Ten months later, she begins appearing on morning television such as Live with Regis and Kelly, The Oprah Winfrey Show and the Food Channel giving out fashion advice and promoting her book.
However, when her friends Miss United States Cheryl Fraser (Heather Burns) and Stan Fields (William Shatner) are kidnapped in Las Vegas, Hart goes undercover to try to rescue then accompanied by Muller, her bodyguard. This puts her at odds with the FBI, as they are unwilling to lose their mascot and are unsure if she's still up to the tasks.
Cheryl and Stan get moved by the kidnappers to the ship at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino which they plan to blow up. Soon afterwards, Hart, Muller and Joel (Diedrich Bader) arrive at the Oasis Drag club where they end up singing Tina Turner and then find out from a Dolly Parton contestant where they are being held and its upto both Hart and Muller to save the day once more.

Tags: violence, humor, satire, comedy

Review:
Saathiya

Plot synopsis:
Aditya (Vivek Oberoi) and his friends are searching for Aditya's wife Suhani (Rani Mukherji). She has been missing for hours, a few days after having a fight with Aditya about their failing marriage. But Aditya now realizes that he loves her more than anything and is devastated that he can't find her.
The film goes into a flashback, where it is seen that Aditya and Suhani meet each other at a wedding. Aditya immediately falls in love with her and pursues her. Suhani at first believes that he is simply flirting with her but later, both realize that they love each other. However, Aditya's rich lifestyle and Suhani's middle-class lifestyle creates a rift between their parents. Aditya and Suhani elope and get married in a small ceremony. At first, they live in their respective homes and keep their marriage a secret. However, when a proposal comes for Suhani's elder sister, the truth comes out. Aditya and Suhani then move to a dilapidated house and start their married life together.
Soon, marital problems threaten to drive them apart. A misunderstanding causes Suhani to think Aditya is having an affair and they get into a major argument. Suhani then gets involved in a car accident. As she is crossing the street, a car hits her, almost fatally injuring her. Aditya has no idea of this and waits for her to return home, happily thinking that they will patch up. Meanwhile, Suhani is in the hospital, on the verge of death.
The film returns to the present, where Aditya has realized that Suhani is missing and is frantically looking for her. It is revealed that Savitri (Tabu) is the one who hit Suhani with her car. Scared to own up, Savitri calls her husband, who is an IAS officer. Her husband, Yeshwant Rao (Shah Rukh Khan), arrives at the hospital and tells the doctor that Suhani is his wife and he wants her operated. Aditya finds out about the incident and reaches the hospital. Suhani falls into an coma. Yeshwant explains to Aditya, and takes the blame and tells him that he had caused the accident. Aditya threatens Yeshwant and leaves. Savitri meets Aditya and tells him that it was she who caused the accident and she is feeling guilty.
The two shed tears together, until Yeshwant comes and picks her up. Soon, Suhani regains consciousness. Aditya runs in and expresses the pain and suffering he went through in the hours of separation. Suhani also expresses her own love and feelings for him. The film ends as Aditya and Suhani finally make up and hug each other on the hospital bed.

Tags: romantic, flashback

Review:
Somebody Up There Likes Me

Plot synopsis:
Rocky Graziano (Paul Newman) has a difficult childhood and is beaten by his father. He joins a street gang, and undergoes a long history of criminal activities. He is sent to prison, where he is rebellious to all authority figures. After his release, he is drafted by the U.S. Army, but runs away. Needing money, he becomes a boxer, and finds that he has natural talent and wins six fights in a row before the Army finds him and dishonorably discharges him. He serves a year in a United States Disciplinary Barracks, and resumes his career as a boxer as a result.
While working his way to the title, he is introduced to his sister's friend Norma, whom he falls in love with and later marries. Starting a new, clean life, he rises to the top, but loses a title fight with Tony Zale. A person he knew in prison finds him and blackmails him into throwing a fight. Rocky fakes an injury and avoids the fight altogether. When he is interrogated by the district attorney, he refuses to name the blackmailer and has his license suspended. His manager gets him a fight in Chicago to fight Zale the middleweight champion, once more. Rocky wins the fight.

Tags: autobiographical

Review:
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy

Plot synopsis:
Two Americans, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, who are stranded in Cairo, Egypt, happens to overhear Dr. Gustav Zoomer (Kurt Katch) discussing the mummy Klaris, the guardian of the Tomb of Princess Ara. Apparently the mummy has a sacred medallion that shows where the treasure of Princess Ara can be found. The Followers of Klaris, led by Semu (Richard Deacon), overhear the conversation along with Madame Rontru (Marie Windsor), a businesswoman interested in stealing the treasure of Princess Ara.
Abbott and Costello go to the doctor's house to apply for the position to accompany the mummy back to America. However, two of Semu's men, Iben (Mel Welles) and Hetsut (Richard Karlan), murder the doctor and steal the mummy just before Abbott and Costello arrive. The medallion has been left behind, though, and is found by Abbott and Costello, who attempt to sell it. Rontru offers them $100, but Abbott suspects it is worth much more and asks for $5,000, which Rontru agrees to pay. She tells them to meet her at the Cairo Café, where Abbott and Costello learn from a waiter that the medallion is cursed. They frantically try to give it to one another (the Slipping the Mickey routine from The Naughty Nineties), until it winds up in Costello's hamburger and he swallows it. Rontru arrives and drags them to a doctor's office to get a look at the medallion under a fluoroscope. However, she cannot read the medallion's inscribed instructions, which are in hieroglyphics. Semu arrives, claiming to be an archaeologist, and offers to guide them all to the tomb. Meanwhile, Semu's followers have returned life to Klaris.
They arrive at the tomb, where Costello learns of Semu's plans to murder them all. Rontru captures Semu, and one of her men, Charlie (Michael Ansara), disguises himself as a mummy and enters the temple. Abbott follows suit by disguising himself as a mummy, and he and Costello rescue Semu. Eventually all three mummies are in the same place at the same time, and the dynamite that Rontru intends to use to dig up the treasure detonates, killing Klaris and revealing the treasure. Abbott and Costello convince Semu to turn the temple into a nightclub to preserve the legend of Klaris and the three criminals who wanted to steal the treasure are presumably arrested.

Tags: cult, murder

Review: