The Cleopatra

Two generals most had the power in the Roman empire, Julius Caesar and Markus Antonius, to yield to Cleopatra. He became the legend, menginspirasi he wrote the book, the drama, and dozens of operas. So many people felt so many people knew Cleopatra, without really knew who and how the queen's Egyptian noose in fact. Cleopatra not Egyptians. He the descendants of the Ptolemy dynasty that came from Macedonia. The Ptolemy dynasty had the power in Egypt for three centuries after the Egyptian subjugation by Alexander the Great. Cleopatra was pharaoh Ptolemic first that studied the Egyptian language. He also pharaoh finally Egypt, because after his death, Egypt became one of the provinces in the Roman empire.
according to the history note that was made by the Greek writer, Plutarch (that also wrote the story lived Archimedes) in his book of Life of Anthony was depicted by Cleopatra “benar-correctly did not record, outside biasa” and “kecantikan him not duanya”. However from Cleopatra's picture that was gotten to ten currency coins that were made in his government's period, be difficult to say Cleopatra pretty. His neck was fat, his nose was bent, his ears were long, and his chin stuck up. High his body then only 1,5 metre …. So, what made Cleopatra be like this enchanted? Cleopatra's beauty was di’dalam’, not in tampilan ‘luar’ him. He could speak in nine languages. His brain was sharp. His charisma was strong. His policy was astonishing. He was educated high, and had extraordinary grandeur since early. Plutarch wrote “Percakapan him captured extraordinary … ” and “Perbincangan him tempted. The character is, that merasuk in his action like that enchanted was not said. The sound from his voice was sweet … “. He was so interesting, so as “Plato acknowledged four praise kinds, but Cleopatra had thousands.
Cleopatra was not pretty, but he succeeded in controlling the heart of two people who most had the power in his period, Julius Caesar and Markus Antonius. Caesar said, “Tidak had blood in vena him, apart from sun blood. Hathor that was sweet remained in the eyes and mortar lututnya”. Cleopatra inherited the Egyptian kingdom that was bankrupt. Sebegitu the bankruptcy, until could not print the gold coin, and only made the coin from metal that was not so good his quality. That was the reason often was not found the coin with the picture himself. He built troops, made Egypt strong, maintained peacefulness in negri him, and the success pitted opponents of the strength against each other so as to wage war their peers personally. The Egyptian capital, Alexandria, was the city that most advanced in the world at the time. The city had the health service, the big library, the extraordinary lighthouse, and was a centre of the culture and interesting knowledge the person from all over the world.
Unfortunately, forensic knowledge can not show to us Cleopatra's face. Napoleon seized much treasure from France, including the case of the mummy Cleopatra. Most treasure was returned to Egypt, but the case of the mummy Cleopatra was unintentionally left. During the 1940 's, the French workers found the case of his mummy, and threw his contents to the place of the disposal …. Cleopatra's beauty not in tampilan physical him, but as the icon in the love legend, then the painters, the writer of the drama, and the manufacturer must have of the film put forward Cleopatra that was pretty lovely. The film “Cleopatra” that was made during 1963 put forward the actress was prettiest in the period, Elizabeth Taylor. The film that was made beforehand, like “Antony and Cleopatra”, give Cleopatra's role to Florence Lawrence, while Helen Gardner performed Cleo in the film “Cleopatra, The Quin of Egypt”. Elizabeth, Florence, and Helen were not wrong still was actresses was prettiest in his day. Apparently, the world still believe in that the woman that enchanted must had paras pretty lovely …
For the women who were not lucky to be blessed with the slim body slender, sparkling white people, and the face shone like the full moon, not need to restless. Imitate Cleopatra. Be the clever woman, wise, and had personal grandeur. Certainly the world will be on our hands …..

Cleopatra Film

Cleopatra is a 1963 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Mario Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall and Martin Landau. The music score was by Alex North. It was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Leon Shamroy and Jack Hildyard.

Cleopatra chronicles the struggles of Cleopatra VII, the young Queen of Egypt, to resist the imperialist ambitions of Rome.

Production

The film is infamous for nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox. Originally budgeted at $2 million^[2], it was made at a cost of $44 million — the equivalent of $295 million in 2007 dollars (see the list of most expensive films to produce), making the movie the third-most costly ever produced worldwide and the second most expensive in United States after Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which has a budget of US$300,000,000 (accounting for inflation in each case). This was partly due to the fact that the film's elaborate, complicated sets, costumes and props had to be constructed twice, once during a botched shoot in London and once more when the production relocated to Rome.

Filming began in London in 1959. Mankiewicz was brought into the production after the departure of the first director (Rouben Mamoulian), who had in mind African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge for the lead role.^[3] He inherited a film which was already $5 million over budget and had no usable footage to show for it. This was in part because the actors originally hired to play Julius Caesar (Peter Finch) and Marc Antony (Stephen Boyd) left due to other commitments. Mankiewicz was later fired during the editing phase, only to be rehired when no one else could piece the film together.

Elizabeth Taylor was awarded a record setting contract of $1 million. This amount eventually swelled to $7 million due to the delays of the production, equivalent to over $47 million today. Taylor became very ill during the early filming and was rushed to an emergency room where a tracheotomy had to be performed to save her life. The resulting scar can be seen in some shots. All of this resulted in the film being shut down. The production was moved to Rome after six months as the English weather proved detrimental to her recovery, as well as being responsible for the constant deterioration of the costly sets and exotic plants required for the production (the English sets were utilised for the spoof Carry On Cleo). During filming, Taylor met Richard Burton and the two began a very public affair, which made headlines worldwide. Moral outrage over the scandal brought bad publicity to an already troubled production.

The cut of the film which Mankiewicz screened for the studio was six hours long. This was cut to four hours for its initial premiere, but the studio demanded (over the objections of Mankiewicz) that the film be cut once more, this time to just barely over three hours to allow theaters to increase the number of showings per day. As a result, certain details are left out of the film, such as Rufio's death.^[4] Mankiewicz unsuccessfully attempted to convince the studio to split the film in two in order to preserve the original cut. The film has been released to home video formats in its 243-minute premiere version, and efforts are under way to locate the missing footage (some of which has been recovered).

The arduous process and enormous cost of completing Cleopatra resulted in the end of the sword and sandal epic.

Plot

The film opens with Julius Caesar defeating Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey flees to Egypt, where he hopes to enlist the support of the young Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra, as he was on good terms with their father.

Caesar pursues Pompey and arrives in Alexandria in early October 48 BC. He meets Ptolemy and the boy's advisers, who seem to do most of the thinking for him. As a gesture of 'goodwill', the Egyptians present Caesar with the severed head of Pompey, but Caesar is not pleased. As Caesar settles in at the palace, Apollodorus arrives disguised as a rug peddler, bearing what he says is a gift from Cleopatra. When a suspicious Caesar unrolls the rug, he finds Cleopatra concealed within. After a short conversation, Cleopatra leaves for her chambers with an escort of Roman soldiers. Later, she returns to spy on Caesar and witnesses him suffer an epileptic seizure. Days later, she warns Caesar that her brother has surrounded the palace with his soldiers and that he is vastly outnumbered. Caesar is unconcerned and insists that he can hold them at bay for the time being.

Caesar orders the Egyptian fleet burned so he can gain control of the harbor. The fire spreads to the city, burning many buildings, including the famous Library of Alexandria. Cleopatra angrily confronts Caesar, but he refuses to pull Roman troops away from the fight with Ptolemy's forces to deal with the fire. In the middle of their spat, Caesar begins kissing her to silence her. They are interrupted by news that Ptolemy's troops are attacking one of the palace gates. The Romans hold and the armies of Mithridates arrive to reinforce the Roman legions.

The following day, Caesar passes judgment regarding the conflict between Ptolemy and Cleopatra. He sentences Ptolemy's lord chamberlain to death for arranging an assassination attempt on Cleopatra, and rules that Ptolemy and his tutor shall be sent out to join Ptolemy's now vastly outnumbered troops, where it is certain that both will die.

Cleopatra is crowned Queen of Egypt. Soon after, Cleopatra promises to bear Caesar sons. She dreams of ruling the world with him. When their son Caesarion is born, Caesar accepts him publicly, which becomes the talk of Rome and the Senate.

Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) confronts Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison)

Caesar now returns to Rome for his triumph, while Cleopatra remains behind in Egypt. Two years pass before the two see each other again. After he is made dictator for life, Caesar sends for Cleopatra. She arrives in Rome in a lavish procession and wins the adulation of the Roman people. The Senate grows increasingly discontented amid rumors that Caesar wishes to be made king, which is anathema to the Romans.

On the Ides of March, the Senate is preparing to vote on whether to award Caesar additional powers. Despite warnings from his wife Calpurnia and Cleopatra, he is confident of victory. However, he is stabbed to death by various senators as he is making his way to the Senate.

After the funeral pyre, Octavian is named as Caesar's heir, not Caesarion. Realizing she has no future in Rome, Cleopatra returns home to Egypt. Caesar's assassins, among them Cassius and Brutus, are killed at the Battle of Philippi. Marc Antony establishes a second triumvirate with Octavian and Lepidus. They split up the empire: Lepidus receives Africa, Octavian Spain and Gaul, while Antony will take control of the eastern provinces. However, the rivalry between Octavian and Antony is becoming apparent.

While planning a campaign against Parthia in the east, Antony realizes he needs money and supplies, and cannot get enough from anywhere but Egypt. After refusing several times to leave Egypt, Cleopatra gives in and meets him in Tarsus. Antony becomes drunk during a lavish feast. Cleopatra sneaks away, leaving a slave dressed as her, but Antony discovers the trick and confronts the queen. They soon become lovers.

Octavian uses their affair in his smear campaign against Antony. When Antony must later return to Rome to address the situation brewing there, Octavian traps Antony into a marriage of state to Octavian's sister, Octavia. Cleopatra flies into a rage when she learns the news.

When Antony next sees Cleopatra, he is forced to humble himself publicly. She demands that a third of the empire be awarded to Egypt in return for her aid. Antony acquiesces and divorces Octavia. Octavian clamors for war against Antony and his "Egyptian whore". The Senate votes for war and Octavian murders the Egyptian ambassador, Cleopatra's tutor Sosigenes, on the Senate steps.

Richard Burton as Marc Antony

The war is decided at the Battle of Actium. Seeing Antony's ship burning, Cleopatra assumes he is dead and orders the Egyptian forces home. Antony follows, leaving his fleet leaderless and soon defeated. Cleopatra somehow manages to convince Antony to retake command of his troops and fight Octavian's advancing army. However, Antony's soldiers have lost faith in him after Actium and abandon him during the night; Rufio, the last man loyal to Antony, is killed. Antony tries to goad Octavian into single combat, but is finally forced to flee into the city.

When Antony returns to the palace, Apollodorus, not believing that Antony is worthy of his queen, convinces him that she is dead, whereupon Antony falls on his own sword. Apollodorus then takes Antony to Cleopatra, and he dies in her arms. Octavian captures the city and Cleopatra is brought before him. He wants to return to Rome in triumph, with her as his prisoner. However, realizing that her son is also dead, she arranges to be bitten by a poisonous asp.

Cast

• Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra
• Richard Burton as Marc Antony
• Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar
• Carroll O'Connor as Servilius Casca
• Roddy McDowall as Octavian, alias Augustus
• Martin Landau as Rufio
• Hume Cronyn as Sosigenes
• Andrew Keir as Agrippa
• Kenneth Haigh as Brutus
• George Cole as Flavius
• Pamela Brown as the High Priestess
• Cesare Danova as Apollodorus
• Francesca Annis as Eiras
• Richard O'Sullivan as Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII
• Gregoire Aslan as Pothinus

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_(1963_film)

The Flock film

The Flock is a 2007 thriller film directed by Andrew Lau, the co-director of the Infernal Affairs trilogy. The film, which marks his first English-language film, stars Richard Gere and Claire Danes.

Plot

A hyper-vigilant employee of the Department of Public Safety (Richard Gere) checks on registered sex offenders. While training his young female replacement Allison Lowry (Claire Danes), he must track down a missing girl (Kristina Sisco) whom he is convinced is connected to a paroled sex offender he's investigating. Working against the clock they unravel the twisted details to track the potential killer.

These are his last working days, because he has been fired for not working according to the rules.

Cast

• Richard Gere - Agent Erroll Babbage
• Claire Danes - Allison Lowry
• Ed Ackerman - Louis Kessler
• Dwayne L. Barnes - Vincent Denniso
• Avril Lavigne - Beatrice Bell (Suspect's Girlfriend)
• Ric Maddox - Det. Martin Ryder
• Paul McGowen - Det. Grant P. Stockdale
• Russell Sams - Edmund Wells
• Matt Sanford - James Ray Ward
• Carmen Serano - Colette
• Kristina Sisco - Harriet Wells
• KaDee Strickland - Viola
• Ray Wise - Robert Still

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flock_(film)

The Bank Job 2008

The Bank Job is a 2008 British crime film directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Jason Statham, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The producers allege that the story was prevented from being told because of a D-Notice (now known as a DA-Notice) government gagging request, allegedly to protect a prominent member of the British Royal Family.^[3][4] According to the producers, this movie is intended to reveal the truth for the first time,^[5] although it includes significant elements of fiction and the extent to which it represents historical fact is difficult to determine.

The premiere was held in London on 18 February 2008, and the film was released in the UK on 28 February 2008.

Plot

Petty-criminal-gone-straight Terry Leather (Jason Statham) owns a failing car-sales garage and is being harassed by two debt-collectors. His old girlfriend Martine (Saffron Burrows) offers Terry a chance to earn enough money to never worry about debt again: a bank robbery in Baker Street, London. Terry gathers a bunch of petty-criminal friends to help execute the plan. They lease a shop two lots away from the bank and start digging a tunnel underneath the middle shop (a chicken fast-food restaurant) in order to reach the underground bank vault. Terry employs Eddie (Michael Jibson), a worker in his garage, as a "watchman" with a walkie-talkie to sit on the roof of the building opposite and keep a look out for trouble.

What they don't know is that Martine, who has been caught smuggling heroin into Britain and desperately wants to avoid jail, is setting them up on behalf of MI5, which wants the contents of a certain safe deposit box (No. 118) within the bank. This safe deposit box contains compromising photos of a female member of the British Royal Family (identified in the film as Princess Margaret) participating in a threesome. The photos are in a box belonging to a black militant who calls himself Michael X; he is using the photos to avoid trouble with the Metropolitan Police, and MI5 is desperate to keep the photos out of circulation.

As Terry and his crew dig, their radio chatter draws the attention of a local amateur radio operator, who listens in on the conversation and realises he's overhearing a bank robbery in progress. He calls the police, but with a ten-mile radius to search and a lack of concrete details, they fail to pin the robbery down.

After they have broken in and begin looting the vault, Martine goes for the deposit-box with the photos. A suspicious Terry opens the box with her and, upon seeing the pictures, knows that Martine has a hidden agenda. In addition to those photos, further photos of a number of high-ranking government officials are found, at the top a senior MP in compromising positions in a local S&M brothel. The robbers pocket these with the money and other valuables. Terry arranges for alternate transportation "to be safe", throwing off MI5 who had intended to immediately intercept them.

Guy (James Faulkner) and Bambas (Alki David), leave with their share of the spoils. When Terry confronts Martine over the photos, she explains their predicament. Meanwhile, the robbery is discovered, and the police — both corrupt ones receiving payoffs and honest ones — start their investigation. MI5 is likewise searching. Lew Vogel (David Suchet), a local club owner, is worried about the contents of his ledger, which lists every payoff he's made to the police, which by chance also was stolen during the robbery. He also phones Michael X to inform him that his box containing the royal 'portraits' has gone missing. Michael X starts to get suspicious of Gale Benson, a British spy who has befriended his brother and gone with the family to Trinidad.

The club owner manages to find one of the robbers, Dave (Daniel Mays) and tortures him for information with a sandblaster. When he eventually tells Vogel everything, Vogel goes to the garage where Terry worked and kidnaps Eddie, who was the lookout during the robbery, taking him to the same secret location and tying him down. At the same time, the senior MP is shown the photos of himself in the brothel, and agrees to try to help absolve the robbers of all wrongdoing and give them safe passage out of the country. Meanwhile, MI5 issues a D-Notice forbidding the press from reporting on the heist any longer. Police simultaneously release recordings from the walkie-talkie conversations, in the hope that someone will recognize the voices. These recordings are heard on the radio by Terry's family.

The club owner's accomplice eventually shoots Dave in the head and threatens to shoot Eddie also unless he gets his ledger book (with incriminating info about payoffs) back. Lew makes an agreement with Terry, agreeing to meet him at Paddington Station in London. During this time as well, Guy and Bambas are murdered by unknown people, and Michael X kills Benson in Trinidad. Terry has Kev give the same instruction to the officer in charge of the investigation, citing knowledge of corrupt officers under his control. He also convinces the club owner to go to Paddington Station at the same time, offering him the book with details of corrupt officers in return for the safe return of his mechanic. This results in a large meeting of all of the involved parties at the same time.

Terry stands on the platform waiting for the others, while Martine meets up with Tim Everett, her original contact within MI5, on a bridge overlooking the scene. The club owner and his corrupt police accomplices arrive with the mechanic, but recognize MI5 agents present and run. At the same time, the head of MI5 arrives (with Lord Mountbatten), handing over the documentation and passports that Terry bargained for, in return for the photos of the princess. Terry then chases the fleeing club owner and his henchmen. He starts to attack the club owner, and then fights with one of the aides, knocking them both out. The second aide appears with a gun, but Terry manages to avoid the shots and knock him out with a brick hastily dislodged from a wall.

The police officer in charge of the investigation then arrives, and sees the robbers being arrested. He speaks with the MI5 officers present, who direct police to let the robbers go. Terry gives the ledger to the police officer before he, Kevin, and Eddie go away. Vogel and the corrupt officers are arrested instead. Everett personally supervises Michael X's arrest in Trinidad and Tobago and has Benson's remains exhumed for reburial in Britain.

The final scenes have Terry and Martine say good-bye, and Terry and his family enjoying a relaxed and carefree life on a small sailing yacht of their own, near some sunny beach.

The epilogue states that the revelations about the brothel forces many government officials to resign. Scotland Yard starts investigating the corrupt officers named in the ledger. Michael X was hanged in 1975 for Benson's murder and his personal files are kept hidden in the British National Archives until 2054. Vogel gets imprisoned eight years for crimes that were unrelated to the robbery. The murderers of Guy and Bambas have never been found. About GBP 4 million worth of materials and money was stolen from the robbery. At least 100 safety-deposit box owners did not claim insurance nor identify their items in the boxes.

Production

Screenshot illustrating how a special outdoor set was constructed for production of the film

The film is in part based on historical facts. A gang tunnelled into a branch of Lloyds Bank at the junction between Baker Street and Marylebone Road, in London, on the night of 11 September 1971 and robbed the safe deposit boxes there. The robbers had rented a leather goods shop named Le Sac, two doors down from the bank, and tunnelled a distance of approximately 40 feet (12 metres), passing under the intervening Chicken Inn restaurant.^[4]

Robert Rowlands, a radio ham operator, overheard conversations between the robbers and their rooftop lookout. He contacted police and tape recorded the conversations, which were subsequently made public. The film includes lines recorded by Rowlands, such as the lookout's comment that "Money may be your god, but it's not mine, and I'm fucking off."^[6] After four days of news coverage, British authorities issued a D-Notice, requesting that news coverage be discontinued for reasons of national security, and the story disappeared from newspapers. The purpose for the D-Notice was never disclosed, and its existence was not confirmed until recently.^[4]

The film's producers claim that they have an inside source, identified in press reports as George McIndoe, who served as an executive producer.^[7] The film's claims that the issuance of the D-Notice was because a safe deposit box held sex pictures of Princess Margaret, and the possible connection to Michael X (whose governmental file purportedly is secret until 2054), are apparently based on information provided by McIndoe, though it is not clear what is the basis of his information or how specific it is supposed to be. The film makers apparently have acknowledged that they made up the character Martine, and The New Yorker's conclusion that it is "impossible to say how much of the film's story is true" appears to be correct.^[8]

Part of the filming took place on location at the offices of Websters, 136 Baker Street where the rooftops were actually used for lookout purposes. The majority of outside shots, namely shots including the bank and adjacent shops, were done on a specially constructed set of Baker Street, to retain an authentic feel of the period and to allow for greater control of visible elements.

Cast

US Release Poster

Actor	Role
Jason Statham	Terry Leather
Saffron Burrows	Martine Love
Richard Lintern	Tim Everett
Stephen Campbell Moore	Kevin Swain
James Faulkner	Guy Singer
Craig Fairbrass	Nick Barton
Daniel Mays	Dave Shilling
Alki David	Bambas
Michael Jibson	Eddie Burton
David Suchet	Lew Vogel, club owner
Peter Bowles	Miles Urquhart
Peter de Jersey	Michael X
Keeley Hawes	Wendy Leather
Hattie Morahan	Gale Benson
Christopher Owen	Lord Mountbatten

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bank_Job

The Quarantine Film

The television reporter of Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and cameraman him (Steve Harris) was assigned to cover the activity of the Los Angeles city firefighters. When coming the task call for the fire extinguishers, Angela and cameraman him then went along as well as to the location. Their arrival there, evidently the police has been in the place of this incident. Suspected of having a woman that tertular an illness that was not yet known by authorities. The woman who was infected that afterwards attacked the resident who lived in the apartment and caused the disturbance.

When trying to leave this apartment, Angela realised that all the apartment has in quarantine by the government side. All the communication channels including, the telephone, the TV, and the internet were severed up until the deadline that was not yet known. Really was isolated from the outside world, Angela and all that entered the quarantine must fight to be able to go out safely. QUARANTINE this could be still being the film remake fastest that had been made. His original film personally just was released by the end 2007 then and in a period less than one year remake him has circulated. When you could see his original version could be QUARANTINE this will not be too interesting because the director decided to make this film same precisely with his original version.

For a film that functioned to intimidate, this film was classified as enough successes. This success in fact was not free from the taking trick of the picture that seemed to be taken from the camera cameraman in this film. Results, the film that seemed to be made like documentary this was still being felt more real although sometimes rather annoying also saw the camera that always wobbled be proper for when we saw the video produced by the documentary recorder. Although being simple enough, this trick in fact was potent enough for you to allow this film to flow automatically. Several films from the genre that was same like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and CLOVERFIELD also used the trick that was same to achieve this effect. And could be mentioned that only this the only main pillar of the horror film directed by the director John Erick Dowdle this.

From the side of the story, could be mentioned that the idea of the foundation of this film already basi because of many horror films beforehand that also carried the idea of the similar foundation. Made the location of the film be closed in one area that was not too wide indeed gave the effect thriller that was quite strong. Films thriller other like P2 or SAW also made use of this 'crowded space' as the mainstay weapon to give nuances was 'shackled' that usually causes the feeling of panic. However of course should not hope many matters of acting of his players. The film from this kind indeed was not made show off the acting capacity. While his players could put forward the frightened expression and could scream as strongly as possible then was enough already.

Quarantine 2008 film

Quarantine is a 2008 American horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle and starring Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez , Greg Germann, Steve Harris and Johnathon Schaech . The film is a remake of the Spanish horror film REC.^[4] Shot in the cinéma vérité style, it was released on October 10, 2008 by Screen Gems Pictures. The film features no incidental music, being "scored" with sound effects.^[5]

Plot

The film opens with reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott Percival (Steve Harris) doing a report on the night shift of a Los Angeles fire station. Angela and Scott are introduced to firefighters Fletcher (Johnathon Schaech) and Jake (Jay Hernandez), whom they will be following for the evening.

A medical emergency at an apartment complex is reported and the night shift is sent in. Yuri (Rade Serbedzija), the building manager, explains that a woman has been screaming, but is now silent. They are joined by two police officers, James (Andrew Fiscella) and Danny (Columbus Short), in the lobby. They are led to the apartment of Mrs. Espinoza (Jeannie Epper), the source of the screaming. Yuri unlocks the door when she does not answer, and a dog runs out. Within the apartment, Espinoza is struggling to breathe, covered in blood, and foaming at the mouth. She bites James in the neck, severely wounding him, before being subdued by Fletcher. The others take James downstairs to get medical assistance, but find the building sealed shut by the authorities. Fletcher falls from the top floor, bitten, breaking his leg. Lawrence (Greg Germann), a veterinarian, tends to the injured men.

Danny and Jake go upstairs to subdue Espinoza, where they find the cleaning lady dead in her apartment. Danny shoots Espinoza when she charges at them. They all return to the lobby, meeting Sadie (Dania Ramirez) on the way. By this time, all exterior windows and doors are being sealed, and cell phones are being jammed. Anyone who attempts to leave is forced back at gunpoint. Jake believes they are being quarantined due to a nuclear, biological, or chemical emergency. Danny and Jake round up the tenants and bring them to the lobby, including Elise (Stacy Chbosky), who is displaying the same symptoms as Espinoza.

While Fletcher, James, and Elise are treated by Lawrence, Angela begins interviewing tenants. One little girl, Briana (Joey King), is sick. Briana claims that she has a dog named Max who was sick and taken to an animal hospital. Lawrence states that the symptoms of those infected are similar to rabies, only much more fast-acting.

Downstairs, Fletcher shambles into the lobby on his severely broken leg, but Danny injects him with a sedative, while Angela and Scott notice Bernard and Sadie sneaking away, looking for a TV to try to discover what is happening outside. Espinoza's infected dog appears and attacks one of the tenants. They reach Bernard's apartment and turn on the news, where the chief of police claims that everyone has been evacuated from the building, just before the power is shut off. The group is then attacked by Elise, whom Scott kills with his camera.

Danny rounds everyone up in the textile shop and states that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agents are coming in to give blood tests. The residents are also told that anyone who is not infected will be released. Lawrence points out that the only way to test for rabies is through a brain sample, not a blood test, but Danny insists on following procedure. After a roll call, Yuri reveals that the penthouse apartment of the building is being rented by a man from Boston who is absent.

The CDC agents arrive and examine the infected victims, taking a brain sample from Fletcher. Fletcher breaks his restraints and attacks one of the agents. Danny, Jake, and the other agent escape, leaving Lawrence locked in the room with the infected. Lawrence gets infected, the textile shop is locked and the surviving CDC agent is forced to explain the situation: Briana's dog was brought to a vet with an unknown illness and infected all the animals there. The dog was traced back to the apartment building; Briana's fever is then called into question, and she bites her mother before running upstairs. Briana's mother, who is now hysterical, is handcuffed to the stairwell.

Danny is bitten by Briana, and many of the survivors downstairs are bitten as well. The survivors lock themselves in an upstairs room. The surviving CDC agent has been bitten and runs away to keep from infecting the others. He is locked in an adjacent room while the others try to figure out what to do. Sadie is also bitten but Bernard pleads with the others not to kill her. Bernard cuts through a window seal to call for help, but is killed by a sniper. Yuri reveals that they can escape through a basement passage into the sewers; however, the keys are in his apartment. He is then killed by the infected CDC agent. His wife is then killed by Sadie, who has succumbed to the infection.

Angela, Scott, and Jake make their way to Yuri's apartment to get his keys, avoiding and killing several infected while doing so. Jake is bitten along the way, and the infected Danny chase Angela and Scott into the penthouse apartment. Within, they find newspapers with articles related to a doomsday cult. They discover that the man from Boston, who was renting the penthouse, was a member of it. One of the articles tells how the cult broke into a military biological facility to steal the virus. A noise from the attic prompts Scott to investigate, and he finds an infected boy. The boy destroys the light on Scott's camera, so he turns on the night vision. Angela and Scott then see an emaciated man (Doug Jones) emerge from another room. He walks past them initially but attacks Scott when Angela inadvertently makes a noise. Angela watches through the night vision of the camera as the infected man eats Scott. The man then attacks her, causing her to drop the camera. The final shot is of Angela crawling back to the camera only to be dragged into the darkness, screaming.

Cast

• Jennifer Carpenter as Angela Vidal
• Steve Harris as Scott Percival
• Jay Hernandez as Jake
• Johnathon Schaech as George Fletcher
• Columbus Short as Danny Wilensky
• Rade Serbedzija as Yuri Ivanov
• Greg Germann as Laurence
• Bernard White as Bernard
• Dania Ramirez as Sadie
• Marin Hinkle as Kathy
• Joey King as Briana
• Denis O'Hare as Randy
• Jeannie Epper as Mrs. Espinoza
• Doug Jones as Thin Infected Man

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine_(2008_film)

Made of Honor : When the Friendship became the Love

The love could grow because of being used to it together. At least so that happened to Tom (Patrick Dempsey). Tom was a person playboy that often gonta-substitute for the girlfriend. The appropriate face and Tom's athletic posture always succeeded in tempting the heart of women who were met by Tom. On the other hand Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), the intimate friend Tom, was the type of the romantic woman and hoped for the arrival of the man who always was his dream. Hannah wanted immediately to marry but still not found the man that be suitable that he hope for. Once, Hannah must go to Scotland for 6 weeks, because of receiving the task from his place worked. Since Hannah's trip, Tom felt lonely. Uptil now he had not had the friend was as good as Hannah that always was ready to become the friend for Tom. Tom finally realise that what uptil now he regarded only friendships evidently was the love. Be certain of what he felt, Tom then was planned to deliver this to Hannah a return from Scotland later.
Now Hannah available in Scotland met Colin McMurray (Kevin McKidd), a millionaire from Scotland there. Several times met, their relations were then increasingly close. Colin had finally revealed the feeling of his love for Hannah and had asked for Hannah in order to become his wife. Evidently Hannah then felt the same way and was prepared to marry Colin. Hannah will in fact plan to reside in Scotland after his marriage later. Not played Tom's disappointment when hearing this news. Hannah will in fact ask Tom to become his colleague during the marriage later. Seriously Tom granted his friend's request although Tom evidently had the other intention. Tom hoped could stop Hannah's marriage by being present during the marriage later.
There was the impression was 'forced' when watching this film. It was final that the story could have been guessed from the start of the story and made the duration of the film for the length of 90 minutes more seem like only was waiting for time then. Tom's character that was played by Patrick Dempsey then seem like unreal. How could it be that the person with the level of the egoist was as high as Tom could change in a period less than Hannah's 6 temporary weeks that spent time 10 years expected Tom's love to be able to change in a period less than 6 weeks also. Despite this, the 'relations' impression that was established between Tom and Hannah was convincing enough and was glad being watched. For only an entertainment, this film of the comedy drama indeed more than just entertained. There was a message about relations between humankind that tried to be sent by the director and the writer of the text.

Made of Honor 2008

Made of Honor (Made of Honour in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Australia) is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Paul Weiland and written by Adam Sztykiel. It was produced by Neal H. Moritz and was released by Columbia Pictures in North America on May 2, 2008. The film includes the last ever screen appearance of Sydney Pollack.

Synopsis

Tom and Hannah met at Cornell University in 1998 when he accidentally slipped in her bed thinking she was his lover, Monica. He was impressed by her honest personality and how she did not fling herself at him.

Ten years later, Tom (Patrick Dempsey) is very successful. He has become wealthy from his invention of the "coffee collar," has plenty of guy friends, and a new girl every week. Hannah has remained his friend. It is obvious that she is crazy about him, even as he takes her for granted.

Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) goes to Scotland on an acquisition trip for her museum and Tom realizes he feels empty without her. He becomes dissatisfied with his relationships with other women and decides to tell Hannah his feelings when she returns. However, when Hannah comes back, Tom learns that she has become engaged to wealthy Colin (Kevin McKidd) and that the two plan to move back to Scotland. Hannah asks Tom to be her "maid" of honor and he agrees so he can try to stop the wedding and win Hannah back.

While in Scotland, Tom plans to tell Hannah he loves her. They share a passionate kiss at her bachelorette party, then break away. Hannah then gets whisked off by her bridesmaids. That night, Hannah goes up to Tom's room to talk to him. But before she arrives, Hannah's cousin, who Tom broke up with, comes into Tom's room and attempts to seduce him. Hannah walks in right as Hannah's cousin is on top of Tom. Tom and Hannah have an argument, and Tom leaves for home. On his way back, he decides to stop the wedding. On horseback he makes it to the chapel just in time, and kisses Hannah, who decides to cancel the marriage and marry Tom.

Cast

• Patrick Dempsey as Thomas "Tom" Bailey Jr.
• Michelle Monaghan as Hannah
• Kevin McKidd as Colin McMurray
• Kadeem Hardison as Felix
• Chris Messina as Dennis
• Richmond Arquette as Gary
• Busy Philipps as Melissa
• Kathleen Quinlan as Joan
• Sydney Pollack as Thomas Bailey Sr.
• James Sikking as Reverend Foote
• Kevin Sussman as Tiny Shorts Guy
• Beau Garrett as Gloria
• Hannah Gordon as Duchess McMurray
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck as Herself
• Whitney Cummings as Stephanie
• Brandon Saario as Paul
• Enen as Pet Dog
• Murray McArthur as Driver in Scotland

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_of_Honor

The Tropic Thunder Film

If you go see Tropic Thunder this weekend, don't be late. The four fake ads that open the movie are perhaps the apex of its considerable comic invention. After a sleazy pitch for an energy drink called Alpa Chino's Booty Sweat, we're treated, or subjected, to trailers for three abysmal-looking upcoming movies titled Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown, The Fatties: Fart 2, and Satan's Alley (that last being a kind of medieval remake of Brokeback Mountain, in which closeted monks played by Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire furtively fondle each other's rosaries).
These trailers are not only uproarious in their own right; they serve as nifty exposition tools for Ben Stiller (directing for the first time since the 2001 Zoolander), who can now plunge us into his deranged universe without needing to provide back stories for the four main characters. We learn that Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), purveyor of Booty Sweat, is a rapper trying to break into acting. Tugg Speedman (Stiller), aka the Scorcher, is a fading action star hoping to move into serious roles. The flatulent star of the Fatties franchise, Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), is also in quest of acting cred, though his heroin habit stands in his way. And Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr.) is an Australian method actor who submerges himself in his characters to a disturbing degree.
As the real movie (or is it?) opens, these four Hollywood brats find themselves in a Southeast Asian jungle, shooting a war epic under the direction of Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), who, in turn, is subject to the whims of tyrannical studio head Les Grossman (Tom Cruise, oh my God, Tom Cruise—but more on that later). The project is quickly going south—four days into shooting, report the tabloids, it's already a month behind schedule—and Grossman is threatening to shut the whole thing down. In a desperate meeting with Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), the Vietnam vet whose memoir inspired the film, Cockburn agrees to try shooting "guerilla-style": He'll strand his actors in the jungle with hidden cameras, terrify them with faked explosions (rigged by the movie's tech guru, Cody, played brilliantly by Danny McBride), and film them as they make their way back to civilization without cell phones, assistants, masseuses, or other perks of the trade.

In addition to the fake perils Cody has set out for them, the actors fall prey to some real ones: A local drug gang led by a teenage warlord (Brandon Soo Hoo) mistakes the Americans for DEA agents and starts hunting them through the jungle. Internecine struggle begins among the team of thespians as the credulous Speedman insists this is all part of the filmmakers' plan while the marginally smarter Lazarus tries to lead the group to safety.

Did I mention that Downey's character is in blackface this entire time? Well, not exactly blackface; with DeNiro-like intensity, Lazarus has undergone a surgical skin-darkening procedure to prepare himself for the plum role of an African-American soldier. The fact that his fellow cast member, Jackson's Alpa Chino, is an actual black man in a much smaller role bothers Lazarus not at all. In one of the movie's funniest scenes, he enfolds the younger actor in a brotherly embrace while intoning a speech about race relations that begins, "Over 400 years ago …" and culminates in a solemn recitation of the lyrics from The Jeffersons' theme song. Anyone walking into Tropic Thunder looking to be offended by Downey's minstrel turn will soon find that the movie is two steps ahead. His role is no one-note, let's-shock-the-audience race joke—it's a densely layered little study of American racial anxiety. In an ongoing gag, Lazarus never breaks character; even when his life is in peril, he maintains his soul-brother voice and tone of mau-mauing self-pity. Obsessed with authenticity, he's the biggest phony there is.

Robert Downey Jr. knocking a role like this out of the park is no surprise. But who could have foreseen Tom Cruise nearly stealing the movie in a fat suit, a prosthetic nose, a skinhead wig, and an Austin Powers-style mat of chest fur? Cruise is always at his best when he's skewering some unpleasant aspect of his own persona; thus, the crazed motivational speaker he played in Magnolia was a career high point, and the supremely crude Les Grossman is another. Maybe as the head of United Artists, Cruise really does spew vicious obscenities on the phone and engage in triumphant hip-hop dances in an underground bunker of an office. At any rate, never has a role so cannily taken advantage of Cruise's compact, thumblike body shape—that is, his physical resemblance to a penis. As Les Grossman, he's a literal and figurative dick, and it's the role of a lifetime.

Source : http://www.slate.com/id/2196991/

Tropic Thunder 2008

Tropic Thunder is a 2008 American action satire comedy film directed and produced by Ben Stiller and written by Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. as a group of prima donna actors making a Vietnam War film when their fed-up writer and director decides to drop them in the middle of a jungle, forcing them to portray their roles without the comforts of a film set. The film was produced by DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Stiller had the idea for the film while playing a small part in Empire of the Sun and later brought on Theroux and Cohen to help him complete the script. After the film was greenlit in 2006, filming took place in 2007 on the Hawaiian island of Kauai over 13 weeks and was later deemed the largest film production in the island's history. Tropic Thunder had a massive marketing promotion, including posting faux websites for the characters and their fictional films, airing a fake television special, and selling the fictional energy drink advertised in the film, "Booty Sweat".

Released in the United States on August 13, 2008, it received generally good reviews with 83% of reviews positive and an average normalized score of 71%, according to the review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively. It earned $26 million in its North American opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first three weekends of release. The film grossed $180 million in theaters before its release on home video on November 18, 2008.

Plot

During the filming of Vietnam veteran John "Four Leaf" Tayback's (Nick Nolte) memoir Tropic Thunder, the actors—fading action hero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), five-time Academy Award-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and drug addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black)—behave unreasonably (with the exception of newcomer supporting actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel)). Production is going poorly: rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is unable to control the actors while filming a large war scene and just five days into shooting, filming is reported to be a month behind schedule. Cockburn is ordered by studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) to get the production back on track or risk having it shut down.

Acting on Tayback's advice, Cockburn drops the actors into the middle of the jungle, where he has installed many hidden cameras and special-effect explosions rigged so he can film "guerrilla-style". The actors have guns that fire blanks, along with a map and a scene listing that will guide them to the helicopter waiting at the end of the jungle route. Unbeknownst to the actors and the production, the five actors have been dropped in the middle of the Golden Triangle, the home of the heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang. Shortly after the group is dropped off, the actors are stunned to see Cockburn blown up by a land mine. Speedman, believing Cockburn faked his death, attempts to convince the other actors that it was a hoax. The gang, believing the actors are DEA agents, ambush the actors. The actors scare away the gang and Speedman persuades Chino, Portnoy, and Sandusky that Cockburn is alive and that they are still shooting the film. Lazarus is unconvinced that Cockburn is alive, but joins the other actors in their trek through the jungle.

When Tayback and pyrotechnics operator Cody Underwood (Danny R. McBride) attempt to locate the now-dead director, they are captured by the gang, at which point Tayback is exposed as a fraud when Underwood pulls off his prosthetic hooks to reveal fully functioning arms. Meanwhile, the actors continue to forge through the hostile jungle. After Lazarus and Sandusky discover that Speedman is leading them in the wrong direction, the four actors, tired of walking through the jungle and hoping to be rescued, part ways from Speedman who leaves by himself to follow the film's scene listing.

The next day, Speedman is captured by several members of Flaming Dragon and is taken to their heroin factory. Believing it is the prisoner-of-war camp from the script, he continues to think he is being filmed. The gang discovers that he is the star of the box office bomb Simple Jack and force him to reenact it several times a day. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Speedman's agent, Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey), is trying to negotiate with an uninterested Grossman an unfulfilled term in Speedman's contract that entitles him to a TiVo. Flaming Dragon calls the two and they demand a ransom from them, but Grossman instead curses out the gang. Despite the threats he made to the Flaming Dragon, he then tells Rick that they can benefit more by collecting the insurance claim on Speedman's death, even offering the agent a share of the profits along with his own personal Gulfstream V.

The actors stumble upon Flaming Dragon's heroin factory. After seeing Speedman being tortured, they plan an ambush based on the film's script. Lazarus impersonates a farmer bringing in a captured Jeff, distracting the armed guards so Chino and Sandusky can sneak in to where the captives are held. After the gang notices inconsistencies in Lazarus' story, the actors open fire on the gang, temporarily subduing them. When the gang realizes that the suspected DEA agents are only actors using guns filled with blanks, they begin firing on the actors.

Chino, Portnoy, Sandusky, and Lazarus locate Speedman and attempt an escape in Underwood and Tayback's recaptured helicopter. After rejoining with Tayback and crossing a bridge that Underwood has previously rigged to detonate, they meet up with Underwood at the helicopter. Speedman asks to remain behind with the gang which he considers his "family", but he quickly returns with the murderous gang in hot pursuit. Tayback detonates the bridge just in time for Speedman to reach safety, but as the helicopter takes off, the gang fires an RPG at their helicopter. Rick unexpectedly stumbles out of the jungle carrying a TiVo box and throws it in the path of the RPG, saving them all. Footage from the hidden cameras is compiled into a feature film, Tropic Blunder, which ends up becoming a major critical and box office hit and a multiple-Academy Award winner.

Cast

• Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman: Compared to a young Sylvester Stallone,^[3] he is the highest-paid, highest-grossing action star ever due to his Scorcher franchise. He now has a current reputation of appearing in nothing but box office bombs, and after a failed attempt at portraying a serious role in Simple Jack, he joins the cast of Tropic Thunder in an attempt to save his career, taking on the role of Four Leaf Tayback.
• Robert Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus: An Australian multiple Academy Award-winning method actor, Lazarus had a controversial "pigment-changing" surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the African American character Sergeant Lincoln Osiris. Lazarus refuses to break character under any circumstances while filming and during the majority of the shoot and only speaks in his character's Black English, much to the annoyance of co-star and genuine African-American, Alpa Chino. Lazarus's Satan's Alley faux trailer about two gay priests at an 18th century Irish monastery parodies films like Brokeback Mountain and Downey's own scenes with Tobey Maguire in Wonder Boys.^[4][5]
• Jack Black as Jeff Portnoy: Compared to Chris Farley,^[3] he is a drug-addicted comedian-actor well known for playing multiple parts and the frequent use of flatulence in films. In the film-within-a-film, he plays a raspy-voiced soldier named Fats. Portnoy's The Fatties: Fart 2 faux trailer, about a family (with each member played by Portnoy) which enjoys passing gas, spoofs Eddie Murphy's portrayal of multiple characters in films such as Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.^[6][7][8]
• Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky: A young, unknown actor who is the only one of the cast who has read the script and book and attended a boot camp before the film, to play a young soldier named Brooklyn. He serves as the straight man, being the only actor without an internal conflict or insecurity.
• Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino: A rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting, portraying a soldier named Motown, while promoting his "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar and energy drink, "Booty Sweat". He accidentally reveals himself to be gay during a conversation with the other actors revealing he is dating Lance Bass. His name is a play off of Al Pacino.^[9][10]
• Nick Nolte as John "Four Leaf" Taylor: The author of Tropic Thunder, a memoir of his war experiences on which the film-within-a-film is based, who hatches the idea to drop the actors in the middle of the jungle. When he is captured by the Flaming Dragon gang, it is revealed he lied about being a war veteran and losing his hands. Tayback claims he wrote the memoir as a tribute to the soldiers who served in the war.
• Tom Cruise as Les Grossman: The foul-mouthed and hot-headed studio executive behind Tropic Thunder.
• Danny McBride as Cody Underwood: The film's choleric explosives expert. He assists Tayback and Cockburn in dropping the actors into the jungle. He idolizes Tayback and is disillusioned and enraged when he discovers Tayback lied about his military service.
• Matthew McConaughey as Rick "Pecker" Peck: Tugg Speedman's extremely devoted agent and best friend.
• Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn: The inexperienced British film director who is unable to control the actors in the film. After dropping them in the jungle to finish the film, he is killed when he steps on a land mine.
• Bill Hader as Rob Slolom: Assistant and right-hand man to Les Grossman.
• Brandon Soo Hoo as Tran: The young leader of the Flaming Dragon gang. He was compared to Karen National Union guerrilla leaders Johnny and Luther Htoo.^[11]
• Reggie Lee as Byong: The second-in-command of the Flaming Dragon gang.
• Trieu Tran as Tru: Another Flaming Dragon member who dresses in drag for the re-enactment of "Simple Jack" and remains such for the rest of his screen-time.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_Thunder