In a distant galaxy eons before the creation of the mythical planet known as Earth, vast civilizations have evolved, and ruling the galaxy is an interstellar Empire created from the ruins of an Old Republic that held sway for generations. It is a time of civil war, as solar systems have broken away from the Empire and are waging a war of rebellion. During a recent battle techical schematics for a gigantic space station, code named The Death Star, have been unearthed by Rebel spies, and a young woman who is a dissident member of the Imperial Senate, under the cover of a diplomatic mission to the planet Alderaan, is trying to smuggle these plans to the Rebellion. But her spacecraft is attacked by a vast warship of the Empire and seized. The dissident Senator is captured, but the plans for the Death Star are nowhere to be found. While soldiers of the Empire search the nearby planet Tatooine, a series of incidents sweeps up a young desert farmer with dreams of being a fighter pilot in the Rebellion, as he winds up with the Death Star plans and also the assistance of an elderly hermit who once served as a warrior of an ancient order whose chosen weapons were powerful energy swords known as light sabers. The pair recruit a cynical interstellar smuggler and his outsized alien copilot with an ancient freighter heavily modified for combat to help them reach Alderaan - but the planet is obliterated and now the foursome must rescue the young woman held prisoner by the Empire and lead an attack by the Rebellion against the Death Star before it can annihilate all hope of restoring freedom to the galaxy.
Heralded as one of the all-time great theatrical releases, "12 Angry Men" focuses on a jury's deliberations in a capital murder case. A 12-man jury is sent to begin deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of an 18-year-old Latino accused in the stabbing death of his father, where a guilty verdict means an automatic death sentence. The case appears to be open-and-shut: The defendant has a weak alibi; a knife he claimed to have lost is found at the murder scene; and several witnesses either heard screaming, saw the killing or the boy fleeing the scene. Eleven of the jurors immediately vote guilty; only Juror No. 8 (Mr. Davis, played by Henry Fonda) casts a not guilty vote. At first Mr. Davis' bases his vote moreso for the sake of discussion after all, the jurors must believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty. As the deliberations unfold, the story quickly becomes a study of the jurors' complex personalities (which range from wise, bright and empathetic to arrogant, prejudiced and merciless), preconceptions, backgrounds and interactions. That provides the backdrop to Mr. Davis' attempts in convincing the other jurors that a "not guilty" verdict might be appropriate.
In 1950-something New York, an adventuresome free-lance photographer finds himself confined to a wheelchair in his tiny apartment while a broken leg mends. With only the occasional distraction of a visiting nurse and his frustrated love interest, a beautiful fashion consultant, his attention is naturally drawn to the courtyard outside his "rear window" and the occupants of the apartment buildings which surround it. Soon he is consumed by the private dramas of his neighbors lives which play themselves out before his eyes. There is "Miss Lonelyhearts," so desperate for her imaginary lover that she sits him a plate at the dinner table and feigns their ensuing chat. There is the frustrated composer banging on his piano, the sunbathing sculptress, the shapely dancer, the newlyweds who are concealed from their neighbors by a window shade, and a bungling middle-aged couple with a little yapping dog who sleep on the fire escape to avoid the sweltering heat of their apartment. ...And then there is the mysterious salesman whose nagging, invalid wife's sudden absence from the scene ominously coincides with middle-of-the-night forays into the dark, sleeping city with his sample case. Where did she go? What's in the trunk that the salesman ships away? What's he been doing with the knives and the saw that he cleans at the kitchen sink?
When the world is ruled by apes, one particular group discovers a mysterious rectangular monolith near their home, which imparts upon them the knowledge of tool use, and enables them to evolve into men. A similar monolith is discovered on the moon, and is determined to have come from an area near Jupiter. Astronaut David Bowman, along with four companions, sets off for Jupiter on a spaceship controlled by HAL 9000, a revolutionary computer system that is every bit mankind's equal, and perhaps his superior. When HAL endangers the crew's lives for the sake of the mission, Bowman will have to first overcome the computer, then travel to the birthplace of the monolith.
The Empire is more than halfway through construction of a new Death Star - almost twice as big, but more than twice as powerful. When completed, it will spell certain doom for Luke Skywalker and the Rebels. Han Solo is a prisoner of crime lord Jabba the Hutt, and Princess Leia soon finds herself in the gangster's hands. Luke Skywalker, aided by C-3PO and R2-D2, makes his way into Jabba's palace, hoping to secure his friends' freedom. But the Hutt has no intention of doing so and tries to kill them all. After escaping from Jabba and the sands of Tatooine, they regroup with the Rebel fleet, which is massing for an attack against the new satellite battle station at Endor. Lando Calrissian is pressed into action to lead the Rebel fighter attack, while Han is put in charge of a group of soldiers to take out the shield generator protecting the Death Star. Luke, however, surrenders to Vader's soldiers on Endor, and is taken in front of Vader's boss - the Galactic Emperor - on the Death Star for final corruption to the Dark Side of the Force. The fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers ambushes the Rebels, cutting them off. Worse, the new Death Star begins turning its giant laser on the Rebel carriers. It appears that nothing will stop the Empire's triumph - unless things start to change quickly...
Stingy old Ebenezer Scrooge is known as the meanest man in London. He overworks and underpays his humble clerk, Bob Cratchit, whose little son, Tiny Tim, is crippled and may soon die. He also has nothing to do with his nephew, Fred, because his birth cost the life of his beloved sister. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge has a haunting nightmare. He is visited by three ghosts and is given one last chance to change his ways and save himself from the grim fate that befell his business partner, Jacob Marley.
Ferris Bueller has played hooky numbers of times, and this time he's got the entire school and more believing he is on the verge of death. On this special day off, Ferris invites his friend Cameron Fry and girlfriend Sloane Peterson to his day of fun, while taking Cameron's father's precious Ferrari for transportation. All the while, the principal Ed Rooney is determined to prove Ferris is faking his illness and Ferris's agitated sister Jeanie also has a goal to catch Ferris off guard. Ferris enjoys his day with his friends, until the mileage of the Ferrari reads one too many miles driven and Cameron has a blow out.
A hilarious spoof documentary chronicles the ups and downs of the British heavy metal band Spinal Tap that tried to make it big in the United States 17 years ago. Once famous and now almost forgotten, the group, comprised of lead singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McLean), co-lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), returns to the U.S.A. for a concert tour in support of their 12th album 'Smell the Glove'.
Based on the true story of Australian pianist David Helfgott, this delightful movie charts the early and traumatic early years. Telling the story in flashback we see David as he grows up and into a child prodigy while his father abuses him and his siblings with the memory of his childhood in Europe and the loss of his family in the concentration camps. David finally breaks away from his father and goes away to study overseas, he later suffers a breakdown and returns to Australia and a life in an institution. Many years later he is released and through several twists of fate (in reality even more unlikely than film portrays) he starts playing a piano in a bar before finally returning to the concert hall.
In the heart of the nation's capital, in a courthouse of the U.S. government, one man will stop at nothing to keep his honor, and one will stop at nothing to find the truth.
Tom Cruise embodies the novice, inspired and self-reliant lawyer named Daniel Kaffee who defends two Marines accused of the colleague murder at the Guantanamo military base. From many points this process seems unambiguous, but the more our attorney digs, the more strange facts come to light. In this military drama he tries to find the real offenders at any cost, confronting the high and mighty, risking his life, career and trying to overcome his biggest fears.
After the death of her husband, Anna Owens moves from England to Siam with her son Louis to become a teacher for the children of the king of Siam. She finds Siamese customs to be quite different from English ones, which brings her often in conflict with the king. However, after some time they find themselves getting along much better.
When a new princess is born to King Stefan & his wife, the entire kingdom rejoices. At a ceremony, three good fairies - Flora, Fauna & Merryweather - bestow gifts of magic on the child. But an evil sorceress named Maleficent shows up, and because of a rude remark by Merryweather, she places a curse on the princess - that she will die on her 16th birthday after touching a poisoned spinning wheel. Merryweather tries to undo the damage by casting a spell that will allow the princess - named Aurora - to awake from an ageless sleep with a kiss from her true love. The fairies take Aurora to their cottage in the woods to keep her away from the eyes of Maleficent, and raise her as their own child, named Briar Rose. On her 16th birthday Aurora meets Prince Phillip, the son of a king whose own kingdom will soon merge with King Stefan's - and falls in love. Maleficent manages to kidnap the Prince and her horrible prophecy is fulfilled when she tricks Aurora into touching a spinning wheel created by Maleficent herself! Realizing that the Prince is in trouble, the 3 good fairies head to Maleficent's castle at the Forbidden Mountain, and spring the Prince loose. But the Prince soon finds himself up against Maleficent's army of brutes, and the power of Maleficent's evil spells - which include a thorn forest as thick as weeds around King Stefan's castle, and a fight against Maleficent when she turns herself into a dragon! Is the Prince strong enough to withstand the powers of the evil sorceress?
Somewhere in the desert. A car speeds like crazy along the roads. Suddenly, the driver loses control and sails off a cliff. Four other vehicles are near, they stop to help. The dying man narrates the drivers of a fortune in cash, $350,000, which he has hidden below a giant "W" in Santa Rosita, some 200 miles away. The four drivers and their respective passengers can't decide on how to share the future fortune, and suddenly a wild race to Santa Rosita develops. While one party manages to rent a plane (from 1916), the others face different problems like tire damage, untrustworthy lifts, deep water, drunken millionaires, a British adventurer, little girl's bicycles, and last but far not least a mother-in-law from hell and her imbecile son. While the folks slowly travel towards the goal, they are being watched. Who ever said that nobody else knew about the fortune?
Jimmy Rabbitte, just a tick out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan. Song by song, gig by gig, the Commitments start their climb to the top: Dublin gets soul. But internal strife also builds: Deco is insufferable, Joey's a Casanova, and Jimmy may lack the seasoning to hold things together. Will the Commitments slip away?
The biopic comedy relates the story of Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey), a famous American entertainer, actor and performance artist who was able to stir any audience. An eccentric, extraordinary person and an enigmatic comedian, he gave bizarre performances making the audience empathize with him, hate him or wonder at his escapades. He made them show their emotions, as opposed to just sitting in front of a TV and swallowing cheap jokes. The movie takes a profound look at Kaufman's art as well as his personal life and his relationship with his girlfriend Lynne Margulies (Courtney Love), his best pal and partner Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti), and his manager George Shapiro (Danny DeVito).
Chased by school bullies, reprimanded by his father for daydreaming too much Bastian is lost in his own world. Bastian escapes school bullies one rainy day by hiding in an old used book store. After explaining his predicament to the old clerk Bastian notices a large leather bound book with a symbol of two snakes intertwined into an emblem. Soon after the clerk warns Bastian that this book is not for him Bastian, rushes away with it "borrowing" it, while the clerk is in another room. Taking refuge in the attic of his school Bastian opens the book, and a world of fantasy. Learning that the wonderous, beautiful land of Fantasia is being destroyed by a terrible "Nothing" Bastian is taken deeper into the story. Soon discovering the ChildLike Empress is deathly ill, the cause; she needs a new name. A young warrior named Atreyu is called and Bastian follows his adventures, unknowing that he, himself is slowly being written into the mysterious book. Soon realizing that he is now written in the book Bastian realizes that the only one who can save Fantasia is him.
A mock documentary which traces the criminal career of Virgil Starkwell from his childhood through his incarceration for bank robbery. Along the way we learn much about Virgil's childhood, his musical (and moral) education, and the vagaries of his relationships with women.
Working-class hairdresser Susan White (Julie Walters) who calls herself Rita - that is her favourite writer's name - is intent on changing her life for the better. She is determined to have a proper education and enters Open University. Needing a tutor, she selects Dr. Frank Bryant (Michael Caine), Professor of English literature. Depressed after his divorce and his failed attempt to become a poet, he seeks comfort in a bottle of whisky. Furthermore, Frank is bored with teaching students who are able to speak about literature only in clichés and platitudes. Rita's arrival breaks the monotony of his daily existence – she is literally a breath of fresh air for him. Excited by her impulsive approach to life and by Rita herself, Frank comes to realize that though Rita lacks education, she is more intelligent than anyone else at college.
Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie's arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate's own invention. The Blake Edwards style of slapstick and song originated with this movie. A dedication to Laurel and Hardy appears at the beginning of the film. Edwards' tribute to Stan and Ollie can be seen most clearly in the interaction between Professor Fate and his cohort Max, as well as in the operatic Pottsdorf pie fight.
Grand Duchess Gloriana XII (Peter Seller), the ruler of the tiny European duchy of Grand Fenwick, convokes the Parliament and Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy (Peter Seller) to discuss the coming financial collapse of their government. The economy, dependent almost exclusively on exporting their wine, Pinot Grand Fenwick, to the USA, is on the brink of bankruptcy as the State of California begins producing a cheaper version, Pinot Grand Enwick. The scheming Prime Minister comes up with the idea of declaring war on the USA, losing, and then accepting foreign aid.
