Q: Build a movie plot around this: What did the government say went into melt-down as a cover-up? An experimental nuclear reactor
A: In 1947 New Mexico, a radio operator receives a bizarre signal, coming from Roswell. He decides to investigate the signal's origin and goes out to follow it, never to be seen again. Present day and the same signal is received from the South Pole and then retransmitted from the Falkland Islands to the United States. A satellite image captures an unknown object sitting on the Antarctic snow. Cryptologist Julian Rome (James Spader), a teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, is invited to investigate the mystery. He is sent to an Antarctic research base, which includes a huge greenhouse of genetically modified plants being studied by the scientists. They find what appears to be an alien vehicle frozen in a huge block of ice. The unknown object is shaped like a shell or pod and is emitting the mysterious encrypted signal. Once it is freed of the ice, Julian discovers that it has a powerful static electric charge on its surface and painfully shocks anyone who touches it.Julian tries to decrypt the signal (which soon proves to be: "Do not open!"), while another team works to open the alien shell. They succeed in cutting off the lid, which allows a viscous alien liquid to pour out. An alien also escapes and at the same time an airborne virus sealed in the shell kills four members of the scientific team by melting them from within. The virus also kills all the plants, making them wilt and turn brown. The virus has an unusually high speed of transmission and extreme virulence. It kills anyone within a few minutes of exposure.The government is aware of the alien virus and the global risk that it poses. They ask a Russian nuclear submarine to fire a nuclear missile at the base before the threat can spread. As the submarine nears its firing position, Julien manages to communicate with the alien, before it is unfortunately killed by one of the survivors. Julian realizes that if any of the survivors leave the base alive, the lethal alien virus will cause a pandemic destroying all life on earth. Just a few...

Q: Build a movie plot around this: Who plays d.b. Norton? Edward Arnold
A: Infuriated at being told to write one final column after being laid off from her newspaper job, Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) prints a letter from a fictional unemployed "John Doe" threatening suicide on Christmas Eve in protest of society's ills. When the letter causes a sensation among readers, and the paper's competition suspects a fraud and starts to investigate, editor Henry Connell (James Gleason) is persuaded to rehire Mitchell, who schemes to boost the newspaper's sales by exploiting the fictional John Doe. From a number of derelicts who show up at the paper claiming to have written the original letter, Mitchell and Connell hire John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), a former baseball player and tramp in need of money to repair his injured arm (by Bonesetter Brown), to play the role of John Doe. Mitchell starts to pen a series of articles in Doe's name, elaborating on the original letter's ideas of society's disregard for people in need.Willoughby gets $50, a new suit of clothes, and a plush hotel suite with his tramp friend "The Colonel" (Walter Brennan), who launches into an extended diatribe against "the heelots", lots of heels who incessantly focus on getting money from others. Proposing to take Doe national via the radio, Mitchell is given $100 a week by the newspaper's publisher, D. B. Norton (Edward Arnold), to write radio speeches for Willoughby. Meanwhile, Willoughby is offered a $5,000 bribe from a rival newspaper to admit the whole thing was a publicity stunt, but ultimately turns it down and delivers the speech Mitchell has written for him instead.[3] Afterward, feeling conflicted, he runs away, riding the rails with the Colonel until they reach Millsville. "John Doe" is recognized at a diner and brought to City Hall, where he's met by Bert Hanson (Regis Toomey), who explains how he was inspired by Doe's words to start a "John Doe club" with his neighbors.The John Doe philosophy spreads across the country, developing into a broad grassroots movement whose simple slogan is, "Be a better...

Q: Build a movie plot around this: who is allows them to finish the case off-the-books? Ershon allows them to finish the case off-the-books.
A: Detective Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) is a mild-mannered forensic accountant and was a pimp in the past. Hot-tempered detective Terry "Yankee Clipper" Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) has been partnered with Allen ever since he mistakenly shot Derek Jeter during the World Series. Allen and Terry receive no respect from the other officers, particularly detectives Martin (Rob Riggle) and Fosse (Damon Wayans, Jr.). All but Terry idolize cocky detectives Chris Danson (Dwayne Johnson) and P. K. Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson), who are considered the city's best policemen even though they frequently cause millions of dollars in property damage catching petty criminals. During a pursuit, Danson and Highsmith leap to their deaths after misjudging their ability to survive a fall, which causes the precinct to wonder why they did it and who will take their place.Allen and Terry investigate a scaffolding permit violation by multi-billionaire Sir David Ershon (Steve Coogan) but wind up uncovering a much bigger plot by Ershon to cover his losses to his client Lendl Global. Lendl CEO Pamela Boardman (Anne Heche) hires a team of mercenaries led by Roger Wesley (Ray Stevenson) to make sure Ershon pays her back. During their investigation, Allen confides in Terry about how he ran a college dating service in his past, though he denies that he was a pimp. When Allen's life spiraled out of control, he was sent to the hospital where he met his future wife Sheila (Eva Mendes), and he promised Sheila that he would never get out of control again. When Sheila tells Allen that she is pregnant, Allen reverts to his old dark personality, and she kicks him out. Meanwhile, Terry unsuccessfully attempts to reconnect with his ex-fiancee Francine (Lindsay Sloane), who had walked out on him due to his temper.Their investigation comes to a halt when Ershon's attorney, Don Beaman (Andy Buckley), learns of Ershon's plan to cover his losses, leading Wesley to kill him and make it look like a suicide. Angered at their lack of progress, Capt. Gene Mauch...

Q: Build a movie plot around this: How old do the Ekdahl children appear to be? Eleven and seven
A:
This is essentially a four act play. In the first act we meet the Ekdahl family -- large, joyous, prosperous. Then Oscar (Allan Edwall), father of Alexander (Bertil Guve) who might be 11 and Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) who might be 7, dies.In act two, Oscar appears to his children. Alexander asks why he doesn't go off to Heaven. Oscar replies that he doesn't want to leave those he lived with. The children's mother remarries in less than a year, going to a strict Bishop Edvard Vergerus' (Jan Malmsjo) house with none of her furniture, none of the children's toys, and an optimism that she can make a good thing of it despite his powerfully controlling personality. Alexander learns from the ghost of the Bishop's first wife that she and her children died trying to escape after having been locked up for days. They climbed out a window but failed to make it across the cold fast-flowing stream that separates the back of the house from the town. Alexander tells this to a servant who repeats it to the Bishop. The Bishop must discredit this story, and demands retraction. Then he locks up the boy.In act three, Isak (Erland Josephson), a family friend, arrives at the house, ostensibly to buy a chest, but actually to smuggle the children out of the house (in the chest!). During this escape, the ghosts of his former family appear to the Bishop. The children are kept for the moment in Isak's house, where Alexander meets Ismael Retzinsky (Stina Ekblad) whose paranormal abilities help Alexander start a fire in the Bishop's house, a fire that is fatal to the hated step-father.In the final act, mother (Ewa Froling) and children are back in the warm comfort of their extended family's house. Gustav (Jarl Kulle), the late Oscar's brother, gives a toast in which he summarizes the play. Without mentioning ghosts explicitly, he says there are things we know and should enjoy, such as food and dance, and many more aspects of life of which we are ignorant.