cryptexcode/MPST huggingface dataset:
Berserker

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with a voice-over by "Barek" who refers to a pagan legend. According to the saga Odin was spurned by Brunhilda. The irate pagan god chained her to an altar in Asgard, surrounded by a ring of eternal fire. He decreed that only a pure-hearted man could overcome the supernatural flames and save the alluring valkyrie. Her saviour's fate should then be connected to hers forever. As Barek explains, he and his only brother learned about this as little boys and craved more and more to rescue the legendary beauty as they grew older.
As it is later on successively revealed by flashbacks, Boar eventually couldn't resist anymore and entered the ring of fire. Hereby he suffered severe burns. Barek followed him into the fire and remained wondrously unharmed. He unchained the valkyrie and persuaded her to save Boar's life. Unfortunately her bite turned Boar into a cannibalic Berserker.
When their father, Viking leader Thorsson is in need of reinforcements because he is in war with the "Army of the Nord", he joins an alliance with the Berserkers who are now led by Boar. Following their combined campaign they fight each other. Thorsson uses fire against the otherwise immortal Berserker Boar. Barek cannot bear see his brother burning and calls Odin for help. Odin complies with Barek's request but from now the fates of Barek, Boar and Brunhilda are interlinked by a timeless curse.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
Dangerous Curves

Plot synopsis:
Pat Delaney is working in a circus as one of the female bareback riders. She is in love with Larry Lee, an arrogant trapeze artist and the circus' biggest act. He does not seem to notice her, though, as he is used to being adored by tons of women. He is in a relationship with Zara, a manipulative vamp.
Larry's boss warns him about Zara, explaining that he has been incurring a lot of debts since he began dating her and that his act is no longer as powerful as in the past. One day, Pat and Larry get acquainted and she intimates that she has feelings about him and that they should do an act together. Although he makes clear that his heart belongs to someone else, he convinces the circus manager to give Pat a try on the wire.
Later that day, Pat catches Zara having a date with another man, Tony. When she tells Larry about the affair, he madly confronts Zara and threatens to beat up Tony. He is interrupted by the notion that he has to perform, but he is unable to concentrate and falls off the tight-rope. He is taken to the hospital and soon recovers, but then goes missing from the circus. He refuses to come back and spends his time getting drunk instead. When he finds out that Zara and Tony have left the circus and are now struggling to get work, he sympathizes with them. Upon finding out that he is not planning on returning to the circus, Pat is determined to convince him to do otherwise. Together they form an act, but it soon becomes clear that Larry has lost his talent.
Pat has trouble breaking through his distant behavior, but she convinces him to teach her how to walk a tight-rope. During this progress, he finds his talent again and urges Zara to come back to work on the greatest tight-rope act in history. When Pat finds out, she feels used and confronts Larry with an outburst before leaving in tears. The circus manager tries to comfort her and offers her her own wire act. Meanwhile, Larry is left behind by Zara, who turns out to have married Tony. On the night of her premiere, a drunken Larry tells Pat about his failure. As she tries to comfort him, she misses her premiere and is fired. Larry has collapsed in the meanwhile and Pat decides to pose as him on stage. When Larry awakens, he shows his gratitude and kisses her.

Tags: intrigue

Review:
Naya Daur

Plot synopsis:
The film is set in post-independence India, where industrialization is slowly creeping in. The focus is on tongawallahs who earn their living transporting people on tongas (horse carts). Their livelihood is threatened when the son of a rich landlord (Jeevan) begins operating a bus service in the town, which he subsidizes heavily with the sole intention of first driving the tongawallahs out of the town and then making profits.
Dilip Kumar plays one of the tongawallahs, who petitions the landlord over this injustice. Jeevan's character proposes a competition to decide which service is the best: The bus or the Tonga? It is decided that there will be a race between the vehicles. If the bus wins, the tongawallahs will not complain further. If the Tonga wins, the bus service will stop. This competition was a farce from the start since nobody could dream that a horse cart could beat a machine. Kumar, however, accepts the challenge to everybody's surprise. His logic is that they would be driven to starvation if the bus service continues. This race at least gives them an opportunity to try to do something.
The rest of the tongawallahs do not share his hope. They blame him for his foolishness. In the end, he is left alone with nobody's support except his sweetheart, played by Vyjayanthimala. As the movie unfolds, a hopeless situation begins to turn around because of the way the people come together. Mishap after mishap occurs, but nothing can deter the determined. The highlight of the film is definitely the heart-stopping final race where the underdog wins.

Tags: cult

Review:
Bombai Ka Babu

Plot synopsis:
Babu and Malik are two inseparable friends who live in a small town in India. One day they decide to play a prank and steal something but get caught. While Malik's dad came to bail out and stand as surety for him, Babu has no one to do so and ends up in the juvenile centre. When the two grow up, Malik becomes a Police Inspector, while Babu takes to crime and ends up in jail. When he is released from the jail, he goes to meet his partner-in-crime, Bali, and together they start planning the next heist. Malik meets Babu and tells him to straighten his ways. But Babu had already tried that and ended up being falsely accused of stealing a necklace belonging to his employer's wife. Nevertheless, Babu does inform Bali that he will not be taking part in any crime. Thereafter, Bali and his men are arrested and they blame Babu for ratting on them. Bali is released on bail. When Babu meets him, an argument ensues leading to a fight and Bali is killed. A fearful Babu flees Bombay and lands up in Jogendra Nagar in Northern India, where he meets a man named Bhagat who asks him to masquerade as Kundan, the sole heir of a wealthy man named Shahji. When Babu refuses, Bhagat threatens to notify the Police. Babu becomes Kundan and makes his way into the hearts of Shahji, his wife Rukmani and daughter Maya. Babu gets enough cash to pay off Bhagat in small installments but Bhagat becomes greedy and wants Babu to steal all the cash and jewellery and abscond. Babu is reluctant to steal from the kind people. To make matters worse, he has fallen in love with Maya - apparently his 'sister'. Caught between a rock and a hard place - no matter what move Babu makes - he will surely end up trapping himself - not only with Bhagat, but with his new found family as well as the police - who are now hot on his trail.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Simon Birch

Plot synopsis:
Simon Birch believes that God made him for a special, heroic purpose. Simon and his best friend Joe Wenteworth are both outcasts in their tiny New England town: Joe is the illegitimate son of the town beauty, and Simon, at age 12, is so small that he still plays the infant Jesus in the church Christmas pageant. In the summer of 1964, friendship is put to the test when Little League Simon hits a foul ball that strikes and kills Joe's mother. Together, they try to find out who Joe's father is. Just as they succeed, the time comes for Simon to fulfill the destiny he believes in. A situation arises that demands a hero - a very small hero.
When Joe and Simon were riding a bus, the bus crashed into a lake. Joe got everybody out but Simon drowned with the bus. When Simon is in the hospital, he gets a visit from Joe who also is in the hospital. Simon dies, but Joe will remember that he will always be his best friend in his heart.

Tags: dramatic, philosophical, sentimental

Review:
Stellet Licht

Plot synopsis:
Silent Light begins with a long tracking shot of the sun rising over a beautiful plain. The protagonist Johan, his wife Esther, and their children sit silently saying grace, after which each member of Johan's family departs from their home except for him. Once he is alone, he stops the clock on the wall and breaks down crying. Johan goes to work and discusses with a colleague that he is having an affair with a single woman by the name of Marianne; he makes it clear that his wife knows about the affair. Johan leaves work to meet Marianne in a field, and they begin to kiss. In the next scene, Johan's children are bathing and playing along a riverbank while he and his wife watch. They call one of their children over to bathe her, and as they are doing so, Esther begins to cry.
Johan tells his father about the affair, but when they step outside to discuss it, the scene shows winter. No explanation is provided for the change of season. Johan's affair with Marianne continues; they have sex in a local hotel while Johan's children wait in a van with a stranger - someone whom Marianne seems to know and trust. As Johan is driving in his car with Esther, she confronts him about the affair. She says she is going to vomit and forces him to stop the car. She runs off taking a blue umbrella, telling him not to follow. She breaks down crying along the side of a field, has what the doctor later describes as "coronary trauma," and dies.
At her wake, friends and family are there to provide comfort. Johan visits the body, says his goodbyes, and goes outside for air. Marianne suddenly shows up at the wake and asks if she can spend a moment with Esther's body, which Johan allows. Marianne enters the room, slowly kisses Esther's body on the lips, and drops a tear on her cheek. Esther appears to return to life as Johan's father sets the clock on a nearby wall. Johan breaks down again, before one of his daughters says that "Mum wants to see him." Marianne leaves silently as Johan prepares to enter the room in which Esther waits. The final few minutes of Silent Light are another tracking shot, with the sun setting.

Tags: absurd, psychedelic, alternate reality, cult

Review:
Human Nature

Plot synopsis:
Most of the film is told as flashback: Puff (Rhys Ifans) testifies to Congress, Lila Jute (Patricia Arquette) tells her story to the police, while a dead Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins) addresses an unseen audience in the netherworld.
Lila is a woman with a rare hormonal imbalance which causes thick hair to grow all over her body. During her 20s, Lila decides to leave society and live within nature where she feels free to exist comfortably in her natural state. She writes a successful book about her naked, savage, happy, and free life in the woods embracing nature. Then, at age 30, strong sexual desire causes her to return to civilization and have her hair removed in order to find a partner.
The partner she finds is Dr. Nathan Bronfman, a psychologist researching the possibility of teaching table manners to mice. Lila and Nathan go hiking in the woods one day. Lila sights a naked man in the woods who has believed himself to be an ape his entire life. Lila discards her clothes and chases him until he's cornered on a tree branch. The man falls off the branch and fall unconscious as Nathan comes along. Nathan brings this man to his lab where the man is named Puff. This name is after his French research assistant, Gabrielle's (Miranda Otto) childhood dog. We discover later from her phone call to an unknown person that she is actually an American with a fake French accent. First with the help of Gabrielle and later with Lila’s help, Nathan performs extensive manner training on Puff, so that he can speak and go through the motions of appreciating high culture, though he still has difficulty controlling sexual urges.
To demonstrate his success, Nathan takes Puff on tour. Puff secretly drinks heavily and patronizes prostitutes. Meanwhile, Nathan and Lila's relationship deteriorates and Nathan has an affair with Gabrielle. Eventually Lila decides to take Puff back into the forest to undo his manner training and return him to his natural state.
Lila and Puff live naked in the woods together until Nathan finds them one day and Puff kills Nathan. Lila turns herself in as the murderer and asks Puff to testify on the waywardness of humanity before he returns to his home in the forest.
After the reporters and spectators leave, Puff comes back out of the forest and gets into a car with Gabrielle. They both drive off to get food (she still speaks with a French accent).
At the end of the film, there is a philosophical passage read while the credits appear. It is an excerpt of William of Ockham from Opera Theologica in which Ockham explains his theory of intuitive cognition. "Intuitive cognition is such that when some things are cognized, of which one inheres in the other, or one is spatially distant from the other, or exists in some relation to the other, immediately in virtue of that non-propositional cognition of those things, it is known if the thing inheres or does not inhere, if it is spatially distant or not, and the same for other true contingent propositions, unless that cognition is flawed or there is some impediment."

Tags: comedy, psychological, murder, flashback, psychedelic, satire

Review:
Scream Bloody Murder

Plot synopsis:
As his father works on a tractor, young Matthew turns it on and kills him with it, damaging his own left hand in the process. Matthew is subsequently placed in a psychiatric hospital, and his mangled limb is replaced with a hook. At the age of eighteen, Matthew is released from the asylum, and returns home, discovering that in his absence his mother has married a neighbor named Mack Parsons. Matthew, who harbors incestous feelings for his mother despite his aversion to sex, dislikes Parsons, and one night he murders him with an axe. Matthew's mother discovers what her son has done, and when an argument breaks out between them, Matthew knocks her to the ground, and she dies due to hitting her head on a rock.
In the morning, a distraught Matthew hitches a ride with a young couple, whom he also kills, beating in the man's head with a rock and drowning the woman in a roadside stream. Matthew eventually reaches a town, where he makes the acquaintance of a painter and prostitute named Vera, who reminds Matthew of his mother. Matthew becomes obsessed with Vera, to the point of slitting the throat of one of her clients, a drunken sailor, in a jealous rage. Wanting to impress Vera and give her a better life, Matthew bluffs his way into a mansion, where he smothers the owner with a pillow, hacks the maid to death with a cleaver, and beheads the pet dog.
Matthew brings Vera to the mansion, but when she continually refuses his offers to live with him, he grows enraged, and takes her prisoner. Matthew tries to make Vera accept her new life, but she defies him at every turn, even after he bludgeons a doctor (who dropped by to see the house's owner) in front of her. One day, while trying to convince Matthew that she needs a bath, Vera realizes that he is disgusted and disturbed by sexuality, and she uses this to her advantage. Vera intimidates Matthew into trying to have sex with her, and while he is distracted, she stabs him with a loose door hook and tries to escape, but Matthew catches her and rips her throat out with his hook.
With Vera dead, Matthew becomes completely unhinged and runs through town, chased by hallucinations of his victims. Matthew breaks into a church, and as the phantoms surround him, he uses his hook to kill himself.

Tags: grindhouse film, murder, cult, horror, violence, insanity

Review:
Ponette

Plot synopsis:
Before the film begins, Ponette's mother dies in a car crash, which Ponette herself survives with only a broken arm (she consequently must wear an arm cast). Following her mother's death, Ponette's father (Xavier Beauvois) leaves the young girl with her Aunt Claire (Claire Nebout), and her cousins Matiaz (Matiaz Bureau Caton) and Delphine (Delphine Schiltz). Ponette and her cousins are later sent to boarding school. There the loss of her mother, becomes even more harsh and painful when she is mocked on the playground for being motherless. Not yet having come to terms with her mother's death, Ponette searches for her. Ponette becomes increasingly withdrawn, and spends most of her time waiting for her mother to come back. When waiting alone fails, Ponette enlists the help of her school friend Ada (Léopoldine Serre) to help her become a "child of God" to hopefully convince God to return her mother. In the end, Ponette visits a cemetery and cries for her mother, who suddenly appears to comfort her and ask her to live her life and not be sad all the time. Her mother says she cannot keep coming back, so Ponette must move on and go be happy with her father. Then it appears that her mother gives her a sweater that she did not bring to the cemetery, and her father comments when he sees her that "I haven't seen that sweater in a while".

Tags: psychedelic, humor

Review:
Jyu oh sei

Plot synopsis:
Three hundred and fifty years have passed since humans first settled the Balkan star system, located approximately 150 light years from Earth, where a number of planets have been terraformed to resemble Earth. Two 11-year-old twins, Thor and Rai, live on the space colony Juno until they come home to find their parents have been murdered. The unknown assassins drop Thor and Rai on Chimaera, a secret planet used as a penal colony. Thor learns about Chimaeran society's four "Rings" and how to leave Chimaera by becoming the Beast King from Zagi, who rescued Thor and Rai after they immediately run into trouble on the planet. Thor proceeds to the Ochre Ring where he gets swept up into that Ring's politics and winds up defeating its Top, bringing him closer to becoming the Beast King. After several years Thor faces off with Zagi who has violently taken over the Blanc ring and is determined to rule over and change Chimaeran society. Their encounter ends with an uneasy truce and a plan to force Juno to negotiate with Thor. When Thor finally meets Odin, the President of Juno, the mystery of Thor's and Chimaera's secret origins are revealed. Odin tells Thor he is a genetically engineered human created from the DNA of all the previous Beast Kings. His mother Eve was the lead researcher at the facility where he was created, and was a surrogate mother to him. Thor's genes adapt to survive under any circumstances, so they mimicked Eve's physical appearance. This is the reason Thor appeared to be Rai's twin. Odin also reveals no new children are being born in the colonies, and that Thor is humanity's last hope for survival. Finally, Odin reveals a long-kept secret: that Earth was destroyed by an asteroid collision long ago, and humanity cannot return there, so they must adapt to survive in the Balkan Star System. However, Odin's plans involve dissecting Thor in order to mass-produce more genetically engineered humans capable of surviving in Balkan, and terraforming Chimaera, which would kill the planet's current inhabitants. With the help of Third, Thor stops the terraforming process, though Third dies in the process. Thor returns to Chimaera to live with Chen, Zagi and the rest of the planet's inhabitants.
In the end, it is revealed that Thor's genes have adapted once again, causing him to take on Third's physical appearance. He and Chen appear to be together. He adopts an orphan girl they both found, naming her "Tiz", saying it means hope.

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
The Salt of the Earth

Plot synopsis:
Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas) is a miner's wife in Zinc Town, New Mexico, a community which is essentially run and owned by Delaware Zinc Inc. Esperanza is thirty-five years old, pregnant with her third child and emotionally dominated by her husband, Ramon Quintero (Juan Chacón).
The majority of the miners are Mexican-Americans and want decent working conditions equal to those of white, or "Anglo" miners. The unionized workers go on strike, but the company refuses to negotiate and the impasse continues for months. Esperanza gives birth and, simultaneously, Ramon is jailed for assaulting a union worker who betrayed his fellows. When Ramon is released, Esperanza tells him that he's no good to her in jail. He counters that if the strike succeeds they will not only get better conditions right now but also win hope for their children's futures.
The company presents a Taft-Hartley Act injunction to the union, meaning any miners who picket will be arrested. Taking advantage of a loophole, the wives picket in their husbands' places. Some men dislike this, seeing it as improper and dangerous. Esperanza is forbidden to picket by Ramon at first, but she eventually joins the line while carrying her baby.
The sheriff, by company orders, arrests the leading women of the strike. Esperanza is among those taken to jail. When she returns home, Ramon tells her the strike is hopeless, as the company will easily outlast the miners. She insists that the union is stronger than ever and asks Ramon why he can't accept her as an equal in their marriage. Both angry, they sleep separately that night.
The next day the company evicts the Quintero family from their house. The union men and women arrive to protest the eviction. Ramon tells Esperanza that they can all fight together. The mass of workers and their families proves successful in saving the Quinteros' home. The company admits defeat and plans to negotiate. Esperanza believes that the community has won something no company can ever take away and it will be inherited by her children.

Tags: violence

Review:
Wandafuru raifu

Plot synopsis:
Koreeda's After Life is set in a small mid-20th century social-service-style office, acting as a waystation, where the souls of the recently deceased are processed before entering heaven. "Heaven," for the film, is a single happy memory from one's life, re-experienced for eternity, which each of the deceased must choose within their seven days at the waystation..
Every Monday, a new group of recently deceased people check in, and the "social workers" in the lodge explain to each guest their situation. The newly-dead have until Wednesday to identify the single happiest memory. For the rest of the week, the workers at the institution work to design and replicate each person's chosen memory, thereby replicating the single happiest moment of that person's life. This moment is staged and filmed.
At the end of the week, the recently deceased watch the films of their recreated happiest memories in a screening room. As soon as each person sees his or her own memory, he or she vanishes to whatever unknown state of existence lies beyond and takes only that single memory with them.
The story pays most attention to two of the "counselors," Takashi (Arata) and Shiori (Oda). Takashi has been assigned to help an old man, Ichiro (played by Naito Taketoshi), select his memory. Takashi reviews videotape of Ichiro's life and learns that Ichiro had married Takashi's former fiancée after Takashi had been killed during World War II. Takashi has Ichiro assigned to another counselor, but is still troubled by his memories, causing both him and his quasi-romantic interest Shiori to re-examine their (after-) lives.

Tags: romantic, alternate reality, home movie

Review:
Hellraiser: Deader

Plot synopsis:
Investigative reporter Amy Klein (Kari Wuhrer) is sent to Bucharest at the behest of Charles (Simon Kunz), her boss, to investigate the origins of a video tape depicting the ritualistic murder—and subsequent resurrection—of a member of a cult calling themselves "The Deaders". In Bucharest, Amy tracks down the return address of the VHS and discovers the corpse of a girl, named Marla, who had sent the tape holding a puzzle box, the Lament Configuration. Amy returns to her hotel and opens the box which summons Pinhead (Doug Bradley), although this is apparently all a dream. She visits some of the Bucharest subculture on a train where she meets Joey, who warns her about her the Deaders and notices that Amy has a 'self destructive thing'.
Amy pursues leads, ultimately tracking down Winter LeMarchand (Paul Rhys), the leader of the cult. Winter is the descendant of the toymaker who designed the puzzle box, which can open a portal to a realm populated by the Cenobites, hedonistic entities that experiment in forms of extreme sadomasochism. Winter believes that as the heir to the LeMarchand name, it is his birthright to access the realm of the Cenobites and become their master.
However, Winter has been unable to open the box himself. Believing that it takes an individual whose life circumstances have brought them to a nihilistic point beyond life-or-death, Winter founded the Deaders, attracting emotionally vulnerable individuals, murdering them, and resurrecting them with necromancy in the hopes of creating someone who can open the box. Winter kills and resurrects Amy, resulting in her experiencing an extended waking dream including a bloody bathroom scene and going to see Joey once again on the train. Amy also relives physical and sexual abuses from her childhood by her drunken, abusive father and young Amy eventually murdered him by stabbing him in the stomach with a large kitchen knife.
Coming back to reality in the Deaders' compound, Amy successfully opens the box and summons the Cenobites. Their leader, Pinhead, expresses disdain for Winter and his family and denies that any mortal could ever control the Cenobites. Pinhead and the Cenobites then slaughter all of the Deaders before indicating to Amy that she is now indebted to them by opening the box. Pinhead tells Amy her father has been waiting for her in the Cenobite realm. Rather than be taken back to the Cenobite realm, Amy kills herself by stabbing herself in the stomach with a large kitchen knife. After that, the box starts to close and an electrical charge surges out from the box, sending the Cenobites back to hell, and causing the house to explode.
Charles is watching a news report on the incident. Unaware of Amy's whereabouts, Charlie's secretary brings in a new female journalist and Charles talks about showing her a tape that might interest her. The film ends with the reporter holding up the Lament Configuration, which has been recovered from the collapsed building.

Tags: good versus evil, violence, flashback

Review:
The Nesting

Plot synopsis:
New York City novelist Lauren Cochran (Robin Groves) suffers from agoraphobia and, in a bid to overcome her ailment, she rents a stately Victorian mansion in the country from a scientist, Daniel Griffith (Michael Lally) and his ailing grandfather, Colonel Lebrun (John Carradine). A series of strange occurrences begin once Lauren moves in; when she meets Col. Lebrun, he suffers a stroke at the sight of her, and she suspects that the house may be haunted after suffering bizarre dreams of women lounging around the house. She also feels she has seen the home before, and realizes an illustration of it appears on one of her novels, entitled The Nesting.
One day, while investigating the turret at the peak of the house, Lauren becomes trapped outside on the window ledge, and has a vision of a woman inside. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Webber, arrives at the house, and is killed while attempting to save her. Several days later, Lauren is attacked by Frank Beasley, a handyman, at the house. Amidst the attack, he begins to levitate, and flees the house in terror; he has a vision of two women's corpses lying in his truck, and he flees into the woods, and stumbles into a pond, where he is dragged under and drowns.
Lauren, bothered by the events occurring in the house, visits a local man, Abner Welles, to ask about the house after having heard Frank mention his name. Abner, a drunk with a bad reputation in town, becomes erratic and violent when she inquires about the house's history, and chases her away in his car. The two get into a car accident, and Lauren flees on foot and hides in a barn. Abner finds her, and attempts to attack her with a pitchfork, but it is torn from his hands by an unseen force. Lauren then stabs him through the head with a scythe, killing him.
Lauren's visions in the house become increasingly bizarre, and she begins having precognitive dreams. It is revealed by Col. Lebrun to Daniel that the home was a former brothel during World War II, and that several men in town murdered the prostitutes in the home and dumped their bodies in the nearby pond.
At the house, Lauren has an intense hallucination, in which she meets Florinda (Gloria Grahame), the madame of the brothel, and it is revealed that she is Florinda's granddaughter, and, as an infant, was the lone survivor of the murders in the home. At the end of the film, she experiences a vivid hallucination in which her manuscript begins burning, and she witnesses Frank's truck crash into the house, and catch fire. At the end of the vision, she comes back to reality, and stumbles out of the house at dawn.

Tags: paranormal, revenge, suspenseful, murder, violence

Review:
Death of a Gunfighter

Plot synopsis:
In the town of Cottonwood Springs, Texas at the turn of the century, Marshal Frank Patch is an Old West style lawman in a community determined to be modern. When Patch kills drunken Luke Mills in self-defense, the town decides it is time for the marshal to resign. But Patch refuses, reminding the citizens that when he took he job, the agreement was he could have it as long as he wanted. Afraid of Patch because of his knowledge of their misdeeds in the town's wilder days, the city fathers then decide the only way to remove Patch from office is by violence.
Patch humiliates one of town's councilmen, a cowardly shopkeeper, by slapping him. The man plans to kill Patch, but when Patch faces him down, he turns the gun on himself. The man's son swears revenge, supported by local leaders. They plot to ambush Patch. Aware that he will probably be killed, Patch marries his long-time girlfriend, the local brothel madame. The marriage is on the same day as the shopkeeper's funeral, after which Patch's death is planned. The dead man's son attempts to kill Patch on his own, but is shot by Patch. Patch explains to the dying youth that his father had murdered a man many years ago. Patch covered it up because he had agreed to raise the dead man's child. Patch pursues one of the instigators of the plot to kill him. He wounds and captures him, but then insists on going back out, knowing he will be gunned down. He is shot by hidden gunmen on the rooftops.

Tags: revenge, murder, violence

Review:
Daruvu

Plot synopsis:
The film's story is similar to fantasy films like Yamaleela, Yamudiki Mogudu, Yamagola and Yamadonga.
Bullet Raja (Ravi Teja) is a small-time crook with a good heart. He bumps into Swetha (Taapsee Pannu) at a function and falls in love with her, but She is already engaged to Harbour Babu (Sushant Singh), a powerful local goon. One day, using Swetha's dance master Vidya Balan (Brahmanandam), Bullet Raja and Swetha manage to run away from Babu to reach a hilltop, but Babu tracks them down and is severely beaten by Bullet Raja. At the last moment, Babu uses his Scorpio car to hit Bullet Raja off the hill-top. Bullet Raja clings on to a branch growing on the hill, but slips off it and falls down, yet still manages to survive. Just then, Chitragupta (M. S. Narayana) changes the story and the car that was stuck on the edge of the hill falls down on top of Bullet Raja and as he was crushed, the Scorpio car blasts, thus killing him.
Bullet Raja heads to Yamalokam where he realizes that his life has unjustly been terminated by Chitragupta, and so he picks up a fight with Yamadharma Raja (Prabhu). A helpless Yamadharma Raja gives Bullet Raja three options. Either he could be a Chinese warrior who was to die 2 days later, a terrorist who also has the same life span, or greedy, evil and corrupt Home Minister Ravindra (also Ravi Teja), who decides to turn over a new leaf after he realizes the affection and support the public has for him, but he is killed by his associates Balram (Sayaji Shinde), Shantaram (Avinash), and Pavitrananda (Raghu Babu). Thus, Bullet Raja decides to enter Ravindra who seemed the most normal among them. After Bullet Raja enters into Ravinder's body, he confronts Ravindra's and his own enemies and fulfills the wishes of his mother Parvathamma (Jayasudha) and his followers.

Tags: murder

Review:
Good Day for a Hanging

Plot synopsis:
Eddie Campbell (Robert Vaughn) watches a stagecoach as it rides toward a Nebraska town. Other members of his gang are waiting there to rob the bank. Ben Cutler (Fred MacMurray), owner of the stage line, is on board, and is returning home to be wed to Ruth Granger (Margaret Hayes).
During the holdup, a bank teller is killed. Ben joins the posse. His daughter, Laurie (Joan Blackman), is in love with Eddie and doesn't believe him to be truly bad. Eddie shoots the Marshal, however. He is wounded by Ben and brought back to town to stand trial.
Ben, who had once been a lawman but gave up the profession after his daughter was born is offered a temporary job as Marshal. Selby (Edmon Ryan), a publicity-seeking lawyer who defends Eddie, insinuates that Ben was just acting in vengeance because his client had been intimate with Ben's daughter. Ben punches him for this slur on Laurie's character.
Eddie is found guilty due to Ben's eyewitness testimony. He is sentenced to hang. Townspeople begin to have their doubts, even Ruth, partly due to Eddie's manipulation of their emotions. Laurie tries to smuggle a gun to Eddie's cell, but her father finds it.
Ben must ride to the state's capital after a plea for clemency from the governor is made. As soon as he is gone, Eddie's gang busts him out of jail. He physically assaults Laurie, revealing his true nature. Ben returns just in time, though, and shoots a fleeing Eddie atop the gallows.

Tags: murder

Review:
The Edge of Love

Plot synopsis:
The story is based loosely on real events and real people, drawing on David N. Thomas' book Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow.
During the London blitz of World War II, nightclub singer Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley) runs into her first love, the charismatic Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys). Their feelings for each other are rekindled, despite the fact that Dylan is now married to and has a child with the spirited Caitlin Macnamara (Sienna Miller). In spite of their initial rivalry, the two women become best friends and, drinking heavily in wartime London, the three get along well.
At this time, William Killick (Cillian Murphy), a British Army officer smitten with Vera, pursues her; both Vera and Caitlin are intrigued by his steadfast, gallant personality, although it contrasts with Vera's rebelliousness. William notices her closeness with Dylan, but doesn't seem particularly concerned by it; he and Vera even lend the struggling poet some of their savings. He and Vera fall in love and marry, but soon afterwards William is called up to join the fight against the German invasion of Greece.
Vera discovers shortly after he leaves that she is pregnant; she's upset that motherhood will lose her independence, but cannot bring herself to abort William's child. She later gives birth to their son, and she and the Thomases move to the Welsh seashore to raise their children in two small neighbouring cottages, where Vera and Caitlin's friendship grows ever closer. One day, however, Dylan draws Vera into an affair. Dylan and Caitlin's marriage has long been distorted by their multiple infidelities, but Dylan- recalling a sexual encounter he and Vera had when she was 15 years old - sees her as his soulmate.
William (now a Captain), scarred by the horrors of the war, eventually returns home where Vera notices his emotional distance and instability. In his disquiet, William comes to suspect his wife's infidelity and confronts her about it; Vera also confesses the truth to Caitlin, who is furious with her for lying to her. Severely drunk one evening, and angry with Dylan's friends and their ignorant remarks on the war, William wanders out at night and fires multiple shots into the Thomases' house, though he hits no one; Vera manages to talk him down, and the next morning he seems to return to his former self. However, he is soon arrested and taken to trial.
During the trial, Dylan testifies against William by exaggerating the facts, stating he believed William was not only sober, but also that William intended to kill him, his wife, and his child. The jury finds William innocent of intent to murder, and he returns home. He accepts his new role as a father, and he and Vera forgive each other, rekindling their relationship. Soon afterwards, the Thomases move out of their cottage. During the farewell, Vera restores her friendship with Caitlin, but never speaks with Dylan again, unable to forgive him for testifying against her husband.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Shinbone Alley

Plot synopsis:
A New York City poet named Archy (Eddie Bracken) attempts suicide only to come back as a cockroach. As he learns how to write poetry by hopping on typewriter keys, he grows used to his new life and becomes infatuated with Mehitabel (Carol Channing), the singing alley cat. She instead goes out with the tomcat Big Bill (Alan Reed) When Big Bill dumps Mehitabel, Archy confronts her about her wild ways in general and her affinity for bad boy tomcats in particular. She momentarily agrees; however, self-appointed theatre maestro cat Tyrone T. Tattersall (John Carradine) promises to make her a star and becomes her next lover. Archy attempts and fails suicide again. In the theatre, Mehitabel holds up her end of the deal in getting food for Tyrone, but he kicks her off the stage. Archy and Big Bill watch her, and Mehitabel gets back together with Big Bill. Back to his typewriter, Archy channels his frustration in calling the other insects and spiders to revolution. He immediately drops the scheme when he hears the news that Mehitabel has kittens, and Big Bill has left the scene again.It's a rainy evening, and Archy points out to Mehitabel, that her kittens, who are inside a cover less trashcan, are floating away from her, and the two of them rescue the kittens, however, a moody Mehetabel, chases Archy away for interfering with her private business. Archy persuades Mehitabel to give up her life as an alley cat and support the kittens with a "job" as a house cat.
Later, however, when Archy comes to visit her in the upscale house, with her visibly changed by the experience, she reminds him that social class now separates them from being friends and kicks him out—regretting it later. Archy gets drunk and meets several ladybug street walkers who find his love poems about Mehitabel. Big Bill makes fun of him. One day, Mehitabel returns to Shinbone Alley and sings and dances again like her old self. After having tried to reform her, Archy realizes he liked Mehitabel for her wild ways all along and accepts her for "being what she has to be," content to be just friends.

Tags: romantic, psychedelic, philosophical

Review:
Makdee

Plot synopsis:
Life in Chunni's village is all peace and quiet, and great fun. She fools the villagers including her parents with her impersonation of her twin sister, Munni.
In the village, there is a mansion that is said to be haunted and legend goes that a witch called Makdee (Shabana Azmi) resides there. The legend has it that whosoever wanders into the mansion, comes out as an animal! No one in the village dares to enter the mansion.
Things are going fine for Chunni until the day one of her pranks gets quite out of hand. Chunni, her sister and her friend Mughal-e-azam are constantly at the odds with the local butcher, Kallu (Makarand Deshpande). Once Kallu chases Munni, Chunni's docile twin to the mansion mistaking her for Chunni in a fit of rage. As a result of this, Munni, her docile sister, enters the mansion, where presumably the witch has turned the little girl into a hen. Chunni is hysterical when she discovers this. She runs from pillar to post to get help, but her credibility is at an all-time low and the entire village refuses to believe her, so Chunni finally enters the haunted mansion alone to search for her sister.
In the mansion she comes face to face with the witch, she pleads with the witch to let her poor little sister go, as it was no fault of hers. But the witch asks her to strike a deal. She will turn Munni back into a human only if Chunni can acquire for her hundred hens in exchange.
All of a sudden, Chunni is confronted with the biggest challenge of her life.
Chunni's school master visits the mansion but a small puppy is seen exiting the mansion and people presume the witch has turned him into a puppy. Mughal-e-azam after spotting the puppy realizes it is his pet dog that had entered the mansion and has disappeared ever since. Its then Chunni realises that all this was just a ruse. Makdee is not a witch and she does not really turn humans into animals; she merely locks them up and has some plans of her own. All the people locked up are finally freed and the village finds a new hero in Chunni.

Tags: prank

Review:
Any Day Now

Plot synopsis:
Rudy Donatello (Alan Cumming) is a struggling musician and drag performer in a gay nightclub in 1979 West Hollywood, where he meets Paul Fleiger (Garret Dillahunt), a closeted district attorney. Returning home to his apartment, Rudy finds Marco (Isaac Leyva), a 14-year-old with Down syndrome, left alone after his mother, Marianna (Jamie Ann Allman), had been arrested. Rudy takes in the abandoned boy, but Family Services intervenes and takes Marco to foster care. Rudy enlists Paul to help him gain custody of Marco; and the two visit Marianna in prison to coax her into signing the temporary guardianship papers, which she does. All is well as Rudy and Paul become Marco's guardians; but, when Rudy and Paul's relationship is called into question by the court system, the two men find themselves spiraling into a legal battle to become the legal and permanent guardians of the fascinating boy who showed them both the real joy of what it means to be a parent. After having their home (Marco's living environment) evaluated, the men are put in front of a judge (Frances Fisher) who is to decide what's best for the child. The evaluation comes back positive, and it is decided that Rudy and Paul are great parents for Marco. However, just as the court is about to rule in favor of the men, Marco's mother is released from prison. She takes back custody of Marco, leaving Rudy and Paul without their son. Marco is heard saying as he is taken back to his mother's apartment, "this is not my home, this is not my home." As expected, Marianna returns to her old ways (using drugs, sleeping around, etc.) and fails to take care of Marco. One night as she is having sex, Marianna tells Marco to step outside of the apartment. Marco begins to wander the streets in search of Paul's house (his true home). However, Marco is unable to find the house and dies outside, alone. The movie ends with a letter/monologue from Paul. The letter, which contained Marco's obituary, was sent to all who doubted the couple as Marco's parents. The hope was for them to realize the mistake they made that ended in this boy's untimely death.

Tags: queer, storytelling, home movie

Review:
Teesra Kaun

Plot synopsis:
The story revolves around a train journey in Howrah-Bombay Mail. Three Bollywood-stricken, Nagpur-based slackers, Vijay Verma, Bingo Nagpurkar, and Khoka Ganguli, board the Howrah-Bombay Mail, to head to Bombay to watch a cricket match, and to meet Bollywood megastar Mithun Chakraborty. During this trip, they drink a lot of alcohol. Vijay notices that the people in the next room in his train coach, are a couple with an attractive young woman. He goes over to introduce himself, and finds that the man calls himself Mr. C.K. Kadam, and the young woman's name is Manjula. Vijay wants to change his seat, so that he can near Manjula, but unfortunately that seat is taken up by a young man, Pankaj Nigam. Vijay attempts to forcibly take the seat from Pankay, and a fight ensues, and Vijay is asked to leave them alone. During a stopover, Pankaj leaves the train, and when the train starts, Mr. Kadam finds that Manjula has been killed. The police begin their investigation, and they have two suspects namely, Pankaj Nigam, and Vijay Verma. They also find out that Pankaj is not who he claims to be, and that his real name is Sanjay Chopra. Further investigations prove that neither Vijay nor Pankaj could have possibly murdered Manjula, leaving the police, Vijay and his friends on one hand, and Sanjay Chopra, to hunt for the third suspect, the one who actually killed Manjula, and the one who may also kill anyone who stands in his/her way.

Tags: murder

Review:
Courage Mountain

Plot synopsis:
In 1915, during World War I, Heidi, now 15 years old, still lives on the Swiss Alps with her grandfather. She receives an invitation from Madame Jane Hillary, the headmistress of Brookings School for Girls in Italy, to join her school. Heidi has the means to go, as she has just received an inheritance from her friend Klara's grandmother. Grandfather wants Heidi to make the most of the opportunity so she will be able to take care of herself when he is gone. Though initially reluctant, when she learns that her sweetheart Peter has joined the army, she accepts the invitation. Heidi is at first unable to adapt to modern life at the school, often clashing with her more sophisticated classmate Ursula. Heidi's only friend is Ilsa who often stands up for Heidi whenever she is bullied by Ursula and her snobby cohorts, though she has the kind support of Madame Hillary who like her originally came from a more modest background.
Italian troops arrive at the school with a letter from the Governor and commandeer the building for use as a military post. All the girls are fetched by their families except for four: Heidi, Ursula, Ilsa and Gudrun. Hillary is happy to care for the four girls, but the unscrupulous owner of the town orphanage, Signor Bonelli, claims the girls. Hillary is forced to give them up as Bonelli has the support of the Governor. The four girls find that the orphanage is a run-down and cruel place that uses forced labor. Heidi wants to escape, but Ursula insists that Madame Hillary will come for them. Hillary's attempt is blocked by Bonelli. Heidi eventually learns through another orphan, Clarissa that they can escape through the drain. The four Brookings girls, Clarissa, and another orphan named Giovanni escape and hitch a ride on a cart for the countryside.
Signor Bonelli chases after them and catches Giovanni. The five girls escape through the forest and head for the mountains to cross over into Switzerland, briefly crossing paths with soldiers that are traveling on horseback. Hillary learns of the girls' sighting through the soldiers and, knowing that Heidi would lead the girls to her grandfather, decides to go to the Alps herself. Grandfather learns of the girls' crossing through Peter, and asks that he find and bring them across safely.
The girls go through the mountains and are found by Peter, who has brought them food. He leaves them the next morning to get a sled, and while he is gone, Signor Bonelli catches up with them. To protect his secrets, he intends to fake an accident in which all the girls fall off the mountain. Heidi calls Peter, and he arrives in time to save them and Signor Bonelli is killed falling off a mountain during a struggle with Peter. The group cross the mountains, Heidi is reunited with Grandfather, and the Brookings girls are reunited with Hillary. Grandfather, Hillary, Peter and all the girls share a Christmas dinner. Clarissa is to be adopted by Grandfather, Signor Bonelli's orphanage is closed, but war is still on. Peter declares he has to leave, but he promises to return to Heidi.

Tags: good versus evil, sadist

Review: