SlumDogMillionaire(2008)

Story:

In 2006 Mumbai, eighteen-year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a former street child from the Juhu slum, is a contestant on KBC (the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?), and is one question away from the grand prize. However, before the Rs. 20,000,000 question, he is detained and interrogated by the police, who suspect him of cheating because of the unlikelihood that a simple "slumdog" could possibly know the answers. Jamal recounts, through flashbacks, the incidents in his life which provided him with each answer. These flashbacks tell the story of Jamal, his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal), and Latika (Freida Pinto). The story of Jamal's life includes his managing, at age five, to obtain the autograph of Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, which his brother then sells, followed immediately by the death of his mother during the Bombay Riots. Soon after, Salim and Jamal meet Latika, another child from their slum. Salim is reluctant to take her in, but Jamal suggests that she could be the third musketeer, a character from the Alexandre Dumas novel, whose name they do not know. The three are found by Maman (Ankur Vikal), a gangster who tricks and then trains street children into becoming beggars. When Jamal, Salim, and Latika learn Maman is blinding children in order to make them more profitable as singing beggars, they flee by jumping onto a departing train. Latika catches up and takes Salim's hand, but Salim purposely lets go, and she is recaptured by the gangsters. Over the next few years, Salim and Jamal make a living travelling on top of trains, selling goods, picking pockets, working as dishwashers, and pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal, where they steal people's shoes. At Jamal's insistence, they return to Mumbai to find Latika, discovering from one of the singing beggers that she has been raised by Maman to become a prostitute whose virginity is expected to fetch a high price. The brothers rescue her, and Salim draws a gun and kills Maman. Salim then manages to get a job with Javed (Mahesh Manjrekar), Maman's rival crime lord. Arriving at their hotel room, he orders Jamal to leave him and Latika alone. When Jamal refuses, Salim draws a gun on him, and Jamal leaves after Latika persuades him to go away.

Years later, while working as a tea server at an Indian call centre, Jamal searches the centre's database for Salim and Latika. He fails in finding Latika but succeeds in finding Salim, who is now a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed's organization, and they reunite. Salim is regretful for his past actions and only pleads for forgiveness when Jamal physically attacks him. Jamal then bluffs his way into Javed's residence and reunites with Latika. While Jamal professes his love for her, Latika asks him to forget about her. Jamal promises to wait for her every day at 5 o'clock at the CST station. Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but she is recaptured by Javed's men, led by Salim. Jamal loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house, outside of Mumbai. Knowing that Latika watches it regularly, Jamal attempts to make contact with her again by becoming a contestant on the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He makes it to the final question, despite the hostile attitude of the show's host, Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor), and becomes a wonder across India. Kumar feeds Jamal the incorrect response to the penultimate question, and when Jamal still gets it right, turns him into the police on suspicion of cheating. Back in the interrogation room, the police inspector (Irrfan Khan) calls Jamal's explanation "bizarrely plausible", but thinks he is not a liar and allows him to return to the show. At Javed's safehouse, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim, in an effort to make amends for his past behaviour, quietly gives Latika his mobile phone and car keys, and asks her to forgive him and to go to Jamal. Latika, though initially reluctant out of fear of Javed, agrees and escapes. Salim fills a bathtub with cash and sits in it, waiting for the death he knows will come when Javed discovers what he has done. Jamal's final question is, by coincidence, the name of the third musketeer in The Three Musketeers, a fact he never learned. Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim's cell. Latika succeeds in answering the phone just in the nick of time, and, while she does not know the answer, tells Jamal that she is safe. Relieved, Jamal randomly picks Aramis, the right answer, and wins the grand prize. Simultaneously, Javed discovers that Salim has helped Latika escape after he hears Latika on the show. He and his men break down the bathroom door, and Salim kills Javed, followed by Salim's death at the hand of Javed's men. With his dying breath, Salim gasps that God is great. Later that night, Jamal and Latika meet at the railway station and kiss. The movie ends with a dance scene on the platform to "Jai Ho."

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NoCountryForOldMan(2007)

Story:

West Texas in June 1980 is desolate, wide open country, and Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) laments the increasing violence in a region where he, like his father and grandfather before him, has risen to the office of sheriff.

Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), hunting pronghorn, comes across the aftermath of a drug deal gone awry: several dead men and dogs, a wounded Mexican begging for water, and two million dollars in a satchel that he takes to his trailer home. Late that night, he returns with water for the dying man, but is chased away by two men in a truck and loses his vehicle. When he gets back home he grabs the cash, sends his wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) to her mother's, and makes his way to a motel in the next county,[5] where he hides the satchel in the air vent of his room.

Hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) has been hired to recover the money. He has already strangled a sheriff's deputy to escape custody and stolen a car by using a captive bolt pistol to kill the driver. Now he carries a receiver that traces the money via a transponder concealed inside the satchel to Moss's hideout. Bursting into the room at night, Chigurh surprises a group of Mexicans set to ambush Moss and murders them all. Moss, however, one step ahead, has rented the connecting room on the other side, so by the time Chigurh removes the vent cover with a dime to grab the cash, it is already back on the road with Moss.

Tracking the satchel to a border town hotel, Chigurh's pursuit climaxes in a firefight with Moss that spills onto the streets, leaving both men wounded. Moss flees across the border, collapsing from his injuries and waking up in a Mexican hospital. There Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), another hired operative, offers protection in return for the money.

After Chigurh cleans and stitches his own wounds with stolen supplies, he gets the drop on Wells back at his hotel and kills him just as Moss calls the room. Picking up the call and casually raising his feet to avoid the blood on the floor, Chigurh promises Moss that Carla Jean can be saved only by returning the money. Moss remains defiant.

Moss arranges to rendezvous with his wife at a motel in El Paso to give her the money and send her out of harm's way. She reluctantly tells Bell to try to save her husband, but Bell arrives too late. He sees a pickup carrying several men speeding away from the motel and finds Moss lying dead in his room. That night, Bell returns to the crime scene and finds the lock blown out in his suspect's familiar style. The scene shows Chigurh hiding behind the door of a motel room, observing the shifting light through an empty lock hole. His gun drawn, Bell enters Moss's room and notices that the vent cover has been removed with a dime and the vent is empty. In fact, we see that Chigurh was not present in the room when Bell entered, indicative of the aging sheriff's rising sense of anxiety and fear.

Bell visits his Uncle Ellis (Barry Corbin), an ex-lawman. Bell plans to retire because he feels "overmatched," but Ellis points out that the region has always been violent. For Ellis, thinking it is "all waiting on you, that's vanity."

Carla Jean returns from her mother's funeral to find Chigurh waiting. When she tells him she does not have the money, he recalls the pledge he made to her husband that could have spared her. The best he can offer is a coin toss for her life. She refuses to play, instead stating that the choice is his alone. Chigurh leaves the house alone and carefully checks the soles of his boots. As he drives away, he is injured in a car accident. He leaves before the police arrive.

Now retired, Bell shares two dreams with his wife (Tess Harper), both involving his deceased father. In the first dream he lost "some money" that his father had given him; in the second dream, he and his father were riding horses through a snowy mountain pass. His father, who was carrying fire in a horn, quietly passed by Bell with his head down and was "going on ahead, and fixin' to make a fire" in the surrounding dark and cold. When Bell got there, he knew his father would be waiting. Then he woke up.

[edit]

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TheDeparted(2006)

Story:

As a boy living in an Irish neighborhood of Southie, Boston, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is introduced to organized crime through Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). Costello grooms him to become his mole inside the Massachusetts State Police where Sullivan is accepted into the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). Concurrently, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), prior to graduating from the police academy, is recruited by Captain Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) to become an undercover agent to infiltrate Costello's gang. Costigan agrees, requiring him to drop out of the academy and do time in prison on a fake assault charge to increase his street credibility.

Sullivan begins a romance with psychiatrist Dr. Madolyn Madden (Vera Farmiga) who Costigan, coincidentally, sees for his probation. Costigan also develops an intimate relationship with Madolyn, making love to her the night before she moves in with Sullivan. After barely escaping a sting operation, Costello suspects a confidential informant within his organization, resulting in both Costigan and Sullivan becoming aware of each other as counterparts, though not knowing the other's identity. Costello collects the social security numbers of his gang for Sullivan to use police resources to do background checks. He meets Sullivan at an adult movie theatre and gives him the information as Costigan surveils. Costigan then chases Sullivan through Boston's Chinatown to arrest him, but Sullivan evades capture, stabbing an innocent bystander in the process.

Determined to find the informant, Sullivan has Queenan tailed by a unit of troopers when he meets with Costigan in an abandoned building. Costello's mobsters arrive as well, and enter the building and Queenan stalls them to allow Costigan time to escape. Queenan is thrown from the roof for his efforts, landing dead right in front of Costigan as he exits the building. When the mobsters happen upon Costigan as they flee the scene, he pretends he came late to join them on the hit. The trailing state troopers open fire on the mobsters and the ensuing shootout results in casualties on both sides. Later, at one of Costello's safe houses, enforcer Timothy Delahunt (Mark Rolston), who was mortally wounded in the shootout, privately tells Costigan he gave him the wrong address yet Costigan managed to show up late at the correct place. Costigan becomes alarmed at the insinuation, but Delahunt dies before revealing the information to anyone else. When Costello's other enforcer Fitzgibbons (David O'Hara), is unsuccessful in properly hiding Delahunt's corpse, it's revealed that Delahunt was an undercover cop with the Boston Police Department. Costello remains unconvinced, however, suspecting the police are attempting to lull him into dropping his effort to find the true informant.

Now under intense scrutiny, Sullivan is attacked by a suspicious Dignam because of Queenan's death. SIU Commander Captain George Ellerby (Alec Baldwin) places Dignam on leave. Using Queenan's phone, Sullivan reaches Costigan who refuses to abort his mission. Sullivan then learns from Queenan's diary that Costello is an informant for the F.B.I., causing him to worry about his dual identity being revealed. With Costigan's help, Costello is tracked to a cocaine deal, where he and his gang become trapped in a gunfight with police, resulting in most of the mobsters being killed. Confronted by Sullivan with the evidence, Costello admits to being an FBI informant as a means of protecting himself and his illegal business activities. Sullivan then kills Costello and is later commended by the entire department for his actions. With Costello dead, Costigan comes in on good faith, requesting Sullivan restore his true identity. Sullivan agrees and leaves to get the proper documentation, during which time Costigan notices the envelope containing the mobster's social security numbers. He surmises that Sullivan is the mole and flees. Upon returning to his office and concluding he's been found out, Sullivan erases all records of Costigan from the police computer database.

Costigan leaves an envelope with evidence in the care of Madolyn for safekeeping, advising he'll meet with her in two weeks to pick it up. Later, she divulges her pregnancy to Sullivan, but doesn't say who the father is. Madolyn then finds a package with the mail, sent from Costigan with a CD and a phone number for Sullivan. She listens and discovers the CD is recordings of conversations. Sullivan walks in on her and tries to assuage her suspicions, but she locks herself away from him. He hastily contacts Costigan, who informs him Costello recorded every conversation he had with Sullivan, plotting to use them for an immunity deal if he were to be apprehended. Since Costigan was the only person Costello actually trusted, Costello's attorney left Costigan in possession of the recordings and therefore Costigan intends to implicate Sullivan. They agree to meet on the roof of the building where Queenan died.

At the meet, Costigan ambushes Sullivan and assaults and hand-cuffs him at gunpoint. As Costigan had secretly arranged, Trooper Brown (Anthony Anderson) shows up and, upon finding Sullivan in hand-cuffs, draws his gun on Costigan. Costigan attempts to justify his actions by exposing Sullivan as the mole but Brown is skeptical. Using Sullivan as a shield, Costigan leaves with him in the elevator. When he arrives on the ground floor, Costigan is shot point blank in the head by Trooper Barrigan (James Badge Dale). Barrigan then shoots Brown as well and reveals to Sullivan that Costello had more than one mole in the department and suggests they work together to avoid being traded to the FBI. Sullivan waits for Barrigan to turn away then shoots him in the back of the head. Later, during his debriefing, Sullivan blames all mole activity on Barrigan and has Costigan posthumously given the Medal of Merit.

At Costigan's funeral, Sullivan attempts to speak with a distraught Madolyn about the future of her child, but she ignores him. Some time later, Sullivan comes home from grocery shopping and is executed by Dignam, who became aware of his treachery. Dignam, wearing hospital booties and surgical gloves to avoid leaving traces of his presence, calmly exits Sullivan's apartment as a rat crawls along the balcony with the view of the Massachusetts State House in the background.

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Crash(2005)

Set in Los Angeles, the film opens following a car accident involving detective, Graham Waters (Don Cheadle), Ria (Jennifer Esposito), his partner, and Kim Lee. As Ria and Kim Lee exchange racial insults, Waters gets out of the car and investigates the crime scene which had indirectly caused the accident after identifying himself as a detective to the officer in charge. Waters sees the victim's shoe lying on the ground and then stares at something off screen which horrifies him. One day prior, a Persian man, Farhad (Shaun Toub), and his daughter Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) are buying a gun, but the shop's owner refuses to sell to them due to their race. Ultimately, an infuriated Farhad is escorted outside. Dorri completes the purchase and chooses an unspecified type of ammunition, while enduring verbal sexist harassment from the shop owner.

In another part of town, Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser), the local district attorney, and his wife, Jean (Sandra Bullock) are carjacked by Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and Peter (Larenz Tate). Detectives Waters and Ria arrive on the scene of a shooting between two drivers outside of a store. The surviving shooter is a white male identified as an undercover police officer. The detectives learn that the dead shooter, a black male was also a police officer. Afterwards, at the Cabot house, Daniel Ruiz, a Hispanic locksmith (Michael Peña) is changing the locks. He overhears Jean, who is frustrated having felt nervous about the two black men but refrained from saying anything to avoid appearing racist. She instructs Rick to hire another locksmith in the morning, believing Daniel to be a gang member.

LAPD Officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) and his partner, Tom Hansen (Ryan Phillippe) begin their evening patrol. They pull over a Navigator similar to the one carjacked earlier, despite discrepancies in the descriptions. They order the couple, director Cameron Thayer (Terrence Howard) and his wife Christine (Thandie Newton) to exit. Cameron is cooperative, but Christine is argumentative. An angry Ryan sexually molests Christine under the pretense of administering a pat-down. Intimidated, Cameron says nothing. When Ryan finishes, the couple is released without a ticket. The next day, Hansen talks to his superior, Lt. Dixon (Keith David) about switching partners. Dixon, a black man, claims that Hansen's charge of Ryan as a racist could cost both Hansen and Dixon their jobs. Dixon suggests a transfer to a one-man car and mockingly tells Hansen that he should justify it by claiming to have uncontrollable flatulence.

At the Thayers' house, Christine is enraged that Cameron did nothing while she was violated. Cameron insists what he did was correct, and the argument ends with Cameron storming out. At his home, Daniel talks to his daughter, Lara, who is hiding under her bed after hearing a gun shot. To comfort her, Daniel gives her an "invisible impenetrable cloak". He then puts her to bed and then gets a page for another locksmith job. In the carjacked SUV, Anthony and Peter, distracted by their argument about racism, pass a parked white van hitting something. Getting out, they see that they have run over an Asian man. Unsure as to what to do, they eventually pull him out from under the car and dump him in front of a hospital.

At Farhad's shop, Daniel replaces a lock on the shop's back door. He tells Farhad that the door is defective and he needs a replacement. Farhad accuses Daniel of cheating him, and refuses to pay. Daniel crumples up his work order and throws it away, leaving irritated. The next morning, Farhad discovers that his store has been wrecked and tagged with racist graffiti. Later, an insurance adjuster tells Farhad that his insurance won't cover the damage, calling it a case of negligence as he had been advised to replace the door. Farhad vows revenge, but the locksmith company won't tell him Daniel’s name. He later discovers the address through the discarded work order.

Ryan visits Shaniqua Johnson (Loretta Devine), an insurance representative with whom he argued earlier. Apologizing for insulting her in their prior conversation, he explains that his father was diagnosed with a bladder infection but fears the diagnosis is incorrect and that it may be prostate cancer. Ryan wants him to see a different doctor, but is told that their health plan won't cover it. Coldly, Ryan tells of his father's acts as one who employed black workers when others wouldn’t. He explains that his father’s business was destroyed when the city began to show preference to minority owned businesses. He suggests that Shaniqua has benefitted from the same type of affirmative action, and begs her to help his father who lost everything so that people like herself might advance. Insulted, she responds that his father sounds like a good man, and that if he had come to the office she might have approved.

Waters goes to visit his mother, a junkie who lives in a small apartment. She asks him to find his younger brother. Waters promises to find him, and notices the lack of food in the apartment before leaving. Outside, he lies to Ria and tells her his mother wasn't home. In the studio where Cameron works, a white producer suggests that a black actor isn't acting "black" enough. Cameron thinks he's kidding, but decides to re-shoot the scene. Christine then arrives and wants to talk about the previous evening, saying that she resented the loss of his dignity the night before. Cameron refuses to speak about it and she leaves in tears. Christine is involved in a car accident and trapped inside her overturned car. Ryan is one of the officers who responds to the accident. Upon recognizing Ryan, Christine screams for him to leave, but he is able to get her to agree to allow him to rescue her. With the assistance of his partner and spectators, Ryan manages to pull Christine out just as the car bursts into flames. A grateful but confused Christine looks back at Ryan as she is taken away.

Driving alone in his Navigator, Cameron comes to a stop sign. Anthony and Peter try to carjack him, realizing too late that he is black, having previously stated that they never robbed black people. Cameron fights back, drawing the attention of some nearby cops. Peter flees as Cameron and Anthony take off in the car. After a chase, the car is cornered. Furious, Cameron gets out and becomes belligerent, while Anthony hides in the passenger seat. Hansen, who responded to the call, recognizes Cameron and talks him down. When they are released, Cameron calls Anthony an embarrassment and sends him away. Farhad confronts Daniel when he returns home and threatens him with his gun, demanding money. Seeing this, Lara runs out to protect him with her "cloak", just as the shot is fired. Miraculously, the little girl is okay. Daniel carries his daughter away, crying along with his wife as Farhad leaves, confused.

Still distraught over her carjacking and finding her friends unsympathetic, Jean slips and falls down some stairs. She is later taken to the hospital by her Hispanic housekeeper, Maria. Jean, who has berated the woman a number of times, is overcome. She embraces Maria, calling her “my only friend.” While hitchhiking, Peter is picked up by Hansen, who is off-duty. They chat, but then start to argue; Peter claims to appreciate country music and hockey which Hansen interprets as mockery. Peter laughs at a dashboard statuette of Saint Christopher at which point Hansen pulls over and demands that he exit. Believing that his passenger is pulling out a weapon, Hansen shoots and kills him. Peter’s hand falls open revealing his own statuette of Saint Christopher.

The narrative then returns to the movie's opening scene with Waters at the accident scene and Peter is revealed to be Waters' missing brother. Waters’ mother identifies Peter’s body at the morgue and Waters promises to find who is responsible for Peter's death, but his mother tells him she already knows that he killed his brother because he failed to find him as she asked. Dorri comes to see Farhad, who explains what happened. He thinks that the little girl was his angel and tells Dorri it's going to be okay. Dorri removes the pistol and ammunition revealing them to be blanks. Hansen abandons his car and sets it on fire to destroy the evidence of his crime. Cameron later finds it when a few locals are treating it as a bonfire and throws a block of wood into the blaze as it begins to snow. Christine calls him and they forgive each other.

Anthony inadvertently returns to the white van from earlier. Finding the keys still in the door, he drives the van away. Kim Lee (the Asian woman from the crash at the film's opening) arrives at a hospital looking for her husband, the man Anthony and Peter hit. Still coherent, he tells her to cash a check that he has in his wallet. Anthony takes the white van to a chop shop, and finds a number of Cambodian immigrants locked in the back of the van, revealing that the Asian man was in fact smuggling slaves. The shop owner offers $500 for each. Anthony refuses and takes the slaves to Chinatown where he releases them.

Nearby, another minor fender-bender occurs involving Shaniqua and another foreign-born driver. They start insulting each other as the snow falls.

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LordofTheRings(2003)

Story:

The film begins with a flashback revealing Gollum's origin: Once a Stoor-Hobbit named Sméagol, he murdered his cousin Déagol to possess the One Ring, which gradually transformed him into a slimy, wretched creature enslaved to "the precious". Gollum takes Frodo and Sam to Minas Morgul. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Théoden and Éomer meet up with Merry, Pippin and Treebeard at Isengard, now under the Ents' control, where Gandalf concludes Saruman will pose no further threat. They also recover a palantír from the ruins. The group returns to Edoras, where Théoden holds a feast in celebration of the victory at Helm's Deep. Pippin's curiosity gets the better of him, and he looks into the palantír, where he sees a vision of a dead white tree; he is seen and mentally interrogated by Sauron, though Pippin tells him nothing regarding Frodo and the Ring. From this, Gandalf deduces Sauron is planning to attack Minas Tirith, and he rides off there with Pippin. In the meantime, Arwen, on her way to the Undying Lands, has a vision of her son by Aragorn and convinces Elrond to reforge the sword Narsil that cut the Ring from Sauron's finger at the Last Alliance. Sam overhears Gollum's treacherous plans to murder them and take the Ring for himself, but Frodo does not believe him. Gollum plays on this, trying to turn Frodo and Sam against each other.

Gandalf and Pippin arrive at Minas Tirith to find the steward Denethor mourning his son Boromir, and Pippin swears loyalty to him, as Boromir had saved his life at Amon Hen. Gandalf warns Denethor that Sauron is now ready to strike and urges him to call Rohan for aid. Denethor declines, fearing Aragorn and Gandalf plan to depose him. That night, Gandalf and Pippin witness a pillar of green fire rise from Minas Morgul, where the Witch-king of Angmar sends off his army, heralding the start of the war. Frodo, Sam and Gollum begin climbing the Cirith Ungol stairway. The Morgul army, led by the Nazgûl, drives the Gondorians out of Osgiliath. Denethor orders his youngest son Faramir out on a doomed ride to reclaim the city. Faramir and his knights are apparently killed by the masses of Orcs waiting in the ruined city. Meanwhile, Gollum persuades Frodo to send Sam home on the belief he wants the Ring. Back in Minas Tirith, Pippin has begun the long line of beacon signals to Edoras, where Théoden and Aragorn lead the Rohirrim to Dunharrow to prepare for battle. At Dunharrow, Legolas tells Gimli of the legend of the haunted mountain Dwimorberg, which overlooks the camp, as Éomer says 'that mountain is evil'. Aragorn also meets Elrond, who informs him that Arwen is dying and her "fate is now tied to the fate of the Ring" and warns him they are outnumbered by Sauron's army. He also warns him of a fleet of Corsair Ships, that are arriving in Minas Tirith secretly from the south. Elrond presents Aragorn with the newly reforged Andúril and tells him to brave the Paths of the Dead, where he may acquire the help of the cursed Army of the Dead, who owe allegiance to the Heir of Isildur. Éowyn tries to convince him not to go, confessing her love for him, but Aragorn, knowing that Arwen has sacrificed her immortality to be with him, wishes her well and bids her goodbye. Together with Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn ventures into the Paths of the Dead and meets the Army of the Dead at Dunharrow. Aragorn gains the loyalty of the King of the Dead and his men by brandishing the sword Andúril, proving himself as the heir of Isildur. The trio then capture the ships of the Corsairs of Umbar, who Sauron had intended to launch a surprise attack on Minas Tirith. At Dunharrow, Théoden rides off to war with over 6,000 Riders, unaware Éowyn and Merry are part of the army too.

The Morgul army begins the siege of Minas Tirith, and many missiles are traded between Orc catapults and Gondorian trebuchets, while the Witch-king and the other Nazgûl on their Fell Beasts wreak havoc on the city. That night, they break into the city using the enormous battering ram Grond, and the defenders are forced to retreat as legions of Orcs and Trolls swarm into the city. Gollum, meanwhile, betrays Frodo to the monstrous spider Shelob, but Sam returns to fight her off. Sam believes Frodo is dead and takes the One Ring, planning to complete the quest, but when Orcs from the Tower of Cirith Ungol take Frodo, he overhears that he is still alive. At Minas Tirith, Denethor falls into madness and prepares a pyre for him and the unconscious Faramir. Pippin warns Gandalf and together, they save Faramir, though Denethor commits suicide by self-immolation. With much of the lower city aflame, Orcs advancing, and mounting casualties, the Gondorians appear to be finished. As the sun rises, however, Théoden and the Rohirrim arrive and charge into the Orcs, and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields ensues. As the Orcs retreat away from Minas Tirith, Haradrim reinforcements, including huge numbers of Mûmakil and the Witch-king, arrive to reinforce them. The Rohirrim fight bravely in the face of the Haradrim and Orcs, but risk being destroyed before the Gondorians can move out from the city and aid them. During the assault, the Witch-king swoops down upon Théoden, crushing him underneath his horse. Meanwhile, the Rohirrim are facing significant losses at the hands of the Mûmakil when Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and the Dead finally arrive on the captured Corsair ships and counter-attack, routing the Orcs and Mûmakil, while Éowyn and Merry kill the Witch-king. The Gondorians fighting in Minas Tirith are freed, and the Rohirrim are able to escape annihilation. Théoden dies, and Aragorn holds the Dead Army's oath fulfilled, freeing them from their curse.

Sam rescues Frodo from the tower, mostly empty following a fight amongst the Orc garrison over the mithril shirt, and they begin the journey to Mount Doom. Gandalf realises that over 10,000 Orcs stand on the road between Cirith Ungol and Mount Doom, that would make Frodo's journey impossible. Aragorn leads all the men who survived the battle to the Black Gate to distract Sauron and to call out his armies. Sam carries Frodo up to Mount Doom but Gollum attacks them, just as the Men of the West furiously battle the Orcs. Frodo, at the Crack of Doom, succumbs to the Ring's power. Gollum, who been following them, attacks Frodo and bites off his finger, seizing the Ring for himself. Frodo attacks him, and they both fall over the cliff; Frodo grabs the ledge just in time, but Gollum falls into the lava below, along with the ring. The tower of Barad-dûr collapses, and Sauron disappears. The destruction of his form creates an immense shockwave that kills most of the Orcs; the rest perish as the whole of Mordor collapses into a gaping chasm, leaving the men of the West unharmed.

Frodo and Sam are stranded until Gandalf arrives with the Eagles, and they awake in Minas Tirith, finally reuniting with their friends. Aragorn is crowned King, heralding the new age of peace, and is reunited with Arwen. When Aragorn meets the hobbits who bow before him, he stops them and says "You bow to no one". He and the whole of Minas Tirith bow to the Hobbits in honour of their heroics. The hobbits return home to the Shire, where Sam marries his childhood sweetheart, Rosie Cotton. Frodo, however, is traumatized by the effects of the Ring, and leaves Middle-earth with Gandalf, Bilbo, Elrond, Celeborn and Galadriel at the Grey Havens, leaving his account of the story to Sam. Frodo bids goodbye to his friends before boarding the ship, smiling, as the ship sets sail for The Undying Lands. The three remaining hobbits head back to the Shire and Sam is seen greeted by Rosie and his eldest daughter, Elanor. He says the film's final line — "Well, I'm back".

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Chicago(2002)

Story:

Chicago, circa 1927. Naive Roxie Hart visits a nightclub, where star Velma Kelly performs, with Fred Casely, a lover she hopes will get her a vaudeville gig. After the show, Velma is arrested for killing her husband and sister, Veronica, after finding them in bed together. Later, Fred reveals that he lied about his connections in order to sleep with Roxie. She shoots Fred three times. Roxie convinces her husband Amos to take the blame, telling him it was a burglar and that he needn't worry, he'll get off. When the officer points out that the victim is Fred Casely, who sold the Harts furniture, Amos abandons his lie and says Casely was dead when he got home. Roxie is sent to the Cook County Jail.

Upon her arrival, she is sent to Murderess' Row to await trial — under the care of the corrupt Matron "Mama" Morton, who takes bribes and supplies her prisoners with cigarettes and contraband. Roxie meets Velma, and learns the stories behind the other women in Murderess' Row.

Roxie decides that she wants to engage Velma's lawyer, Billy Flynn, and convinces her husband to talk to him. Flynn and Roxie manipulate the press at a press conference, reinventing Roxie's identity to make Chicago fall in love with her. Roxie becomes the new infamous celebrity of the Cook County Jail, much to Velma's disgust and Mama's delight.

Velma, desperate to get back into the limelight, tries to talk Roxie into opening a vaudeville act with her once they get out of jail. In revenge for an earlier mocking, Roxie haughtily refuses, and Roxie and Velma become locked in a rivalry to outdo each other in stardom.

Roxie manages to steal back the limelight by claiming to be pregnant, which is falsely confirmed by a doctor (whom it is implied she seduced). Roxie witnesses the execution by hanging of another inmate who has lost her last appeal, which fuels Roxie's desire to be free. Roxie and Billy plan their strategy to find her innocent using her star power and sympathy vote. Her trial becomes a media spectacle, fed on the sensationalist reports of newspaper reporter and radio personality Mary Sunshine. The trial goes Roxie's way, until Velma shows up with Roxie's diary and, in exchange for amnesty, reads incriminating entries that Roxie claims not to have written. Using some quick talking, Billy manages to get Roxie off the hook and she is proclaimed innocent. However, Roxie's publicity is short lived: as soon as the trial concludes, the public's attention turns quickly to a new murderess. Roxie leaves the courthouse after discovering that Billy wrote the false diary entries, and sent the journal to Velma to get her off death row. Roxie reveals to Amos she faked her pregnancy for the fame. It is implied, but never stated, that Amos leaves her at this point.

With nothing left, Roxie once more sets off to find a stage career, with little success. However, she is soon approached by Velma, also down on her luck, who is willing to revive a two-person act with Roxie. Roxie refuses at first, still not over the hate they shared for each other while in prison, but relents when Velma points out that "there's only one business in the world where that's not a problem" - show business. The two murderesses, no longer facing jail time, finally become the enormous successes they have been longing to be. The film concludes with Roxie and Velma receiving a standing ovation from an enthusiastic audience that includes Mama Morton and Billy Flynn.

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A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Story:

In 1947, John Nash (Russell Crowe) arrives at Princeton University as a new graduate student. He is a recipient of the prestigious Carnegie Prize for mathematics; although he was promised a single room, his roommate Charles Herman (Paul Bettany), a literature student, greets him as he moves in and soon becomes his best friend. Nash also meets a group of other promising math and science graduate students, Martin Hansen (Josh Lucas), Richard Sol (Adam Goldberg), Ainsley (Jason Gray-Stanford), and Bender (Anthony Rapp), with whom he strikes up an awkward friendship. Nash admits to Charles that he is better with numbers than he is with people.

The mathematics department chairman of Princeton informs Nash, who has missed many of his classes, that he cannot begin work until he finishes a thesis paper, prompting him to seek a truly original idea for the paper. A woman at the bar is what ultimately inspires his fruitful work in the concept of governing dynamics, a theory in mathematical economics. After the conclusion of Nash's studies as a student at Princeton, he accepts a prestigious appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), along with his friends Sol and Bender.

In 1953, while teaching a class on calculus at MIT, he places a particularly interesting problem on the chalkboard that he dares his students to solve. He is not particularly interested in teaching and his delusions even cause him to miss the class. When a student, Alicia Larde (Jennifer Connelly), comes to his office to discuss why he did not show up, she also asks him to dinner and the two fall in love and eventually marry.

On a return visit to Princeton, Nash runs into his former roommate Charles and meets Charles' young niece Marcee (Vivien Cardone), whom he adores. Nash is invited to a secret Department of Defense facility in the Pentagon to crack a complex encryption of an enemy telecommunication. Nash is able to decipher the code mentally, to the astonishment of other codebreakers. Here, he encounters the mysterious William Parcher (Ed Harris), who belongs to the United States Department of Defense. Parcher observes Nash's performance from above, while partially concealed behind a screen. Parcher gives Nash a new assignment to look for patterns in magazines and newspapers, ostensibly to thwart a Soviet plot. He must write a report of his findings and place them in a specified mailbox. After being chased by Soviet agents and an exchange of gunfire, Nash becomes increasingly paranoid and begins to behave erratically.

After observing this erratic behavior, Alicia informs a psychiatric hospital. Later, while delivering a guest lecture at Harvard University, Nash realizes that he is being watched by a hostile group of people, and although he attempts to flee, he is forcibly sedated and sent to a psychiatric facility. Nash's internment seemingly confirms his belief that the Soviets are trying to extract information from him. He views the officials of the psychiatric facility as Soviet kidnappers. At one point, he gorily tries to dig out of his arm an implant he received at an unused warehouse on the MIT campus which was supposedly used as a listening facility by the DoD.

Alicia, desperate and obligated to help her husband, visits the mailbox and retrieves the never-opened "top secret" documents that Nash had delivered there. When confronted with this evidence, Nash is finally convinced that he has been hallucinating. The Department of Defense agent William Parcher and Nash's secret assignment to decode Soviet messages was in fact all a delusion. Even more surprisingly, Nash's "prodigal roommate" Charles and his niece Marcee are also products of his mind.

After a series of insulin shock therapy sessions, Nash is released on the condition that he agrees to take antipsychotic medication; however, the drugs create negative side-effects that affect his sexual and emotional relationship with his wife and, most dramatically, his intellectual capacity. Frustrated, Nash secretly stops taking his medication and hoards his pills, triggering a relapse of his psychosis.

In 1956, while bathing his infant son, Nash becomes distracted and wanders off. Alicia is hanging laundry in the backyard and observes that the back gate is open. She discovers that Nash has turned an abandoned shed in a nearby grove of trees into an office for his work for Parcher. Upon realizing what has happened, Alicia runs into the house to confront Nash and barely saves their child from drowning in the bathtub. When she confronts him, Nash claims that his friend Charles was watching their son. Alicia runs to the phone to call the psychiatric hospital for emergency assistance. Nash suddenly sees Parcher who urges him to kill his wife, but Nash angrily refuses to do such a thing. After Parcher points a gun at her, Nash lunges for him, accidentally knocking Alicia and the baby to the ground. Alicia flees the house in fear with their child, but Nash steps in front of her car to prevent her from leaving. After a moment, he tells Alicia, "She never gets old"--referring to Marcee, who, although years have passed since their first encounter, has remained exactly the same age and is still a little girl. Realizing the implications of this fact, he finally accepts that although all three people seem completely real, they are in fact part of his hallucinations.

Caught between the intellectual paralysis of the antipsychotic drugs and his delusions, Nash and Alicia decide to try to live with his abnormal condition. Nash consciously says goodbye to the three delusional characters forever in his attempts to ignore his hallucinations and not feed "his demons". He thanks Charles for being his best friend over the years, and says a tearful goodbye to Marcee, stroking her hair and calling her "baby girl", telling them both he would not speak to them anymore. They still continue to haunt him, with Charles mocking him for cutting off their friendship, but Nash learns to ignore them.

Nash grows older and approaches his old friend and intellectual rival, Martin Hansen, now head of the Princeton mathematics department, who grants him permission to work out of the library and audit classes. Even though Nash still suffers from hallucinations and mentions taking newer medications, he is ultimately able to live with and largely ignore his psychotic episodes. He takes his situation in stride and humorously checks to ensure that any new acquaintances are in fact real people, not hallucinations.

Nash eventually earns the privilege of teaching again. In 1994, Nash is honored by his fellow professors for his achievement in mathematics, and goes on to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his revolutionary work on game theory. Nash and Alicia are about to leave the auditorium in Stockholm, when Nash sees Charles, Marcee and Parcher standing and watching him with blank expressions on their faces. Alicia asks Nash, "What is it?" Nash replies, "Nothing. Nothing at all." With that, they both leave the auditorium.

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Gladiator(2000)

Story:

General Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) leads soldiers of the Roman army to a decisive victory against Germanic barbarians, finally ending a long war on the Roman frontier and earning the esteem of the elderly Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). Marcus is dying and, though he has a son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the emperor wishes to grant temporary leadership to Maximus, with a desire to eventually return power to the Senate. When Commodus is told directly by his father that he will not be appointed emperor, he secretly murders Marcus in a fit of rage and claims the throne.

Maximus realizes the truth about Commodus' patricide but is betrayed by his friend, General Quintus (Tomas Arana), who, albeit reluctantly, instructs the Praetorian guards to carry out Commodus' order to execute Maximus. Soldiers are also sent to murder Maximus' wife (Giannina Facio) and son (Giorgio Cantarini). Maximus manages to escape his assassination, and races home only to find that he was too late to save his family, who have been crucified. After burying them, Maximus is found unconscious by slave traders and taken to Zucchabar, a Roman city in North Africa. There, he's bought by a slave trader named Proximo (Oliver Reed) and forced to fight for his life as a gladiator in arena tournaments. During this time, he befriends the Numidian gladiator, Juba (Djimon Hounsou), and a barbarian from Germania named Hagen (Ralf Möller). Juba proves to be a great comfort to Maximus, encouraging him to have faith he'll be reunited with his family in the afterlife when he dies.

Under the moniker "Spaniard", Maximus gains notoriety through his impressive victories as a gladiator, ultimately reaching the historic Roman Colosseum, where his group is contracted to fight in Commodus' tribute to the Battle of Carthage. In his first event, he skillfully leads a band of gladiators to defeat an opposing force of chariots and archers, earning the crowd's praise through his heroics. Upon being introduced to Commodus in the arena afterward, he reveals his true identity and vengeful intentions to the stunned emperor, who considers having Maximus executed on the spot. However, the crowd votes for him to live and Commodus spares Maximus to appease them. Maximus later survives an indirect attack on his life when he's forced into a match against Tigris of Gaul (Sven-Ole Thorsen), Rome's only undefeated gladiator. Maximus avoids being killed by tigers released into the arena and defeats Tigris, yet refuses to obey Commodus' command to perform the coup de grâce. As a result, he's pronounced "Maximus the Merciful" by the crowd, which furthers Commodus' frustration, as it seems he cannot kill Maximus without losing popular support.

Following the fight, Maximus is met by his former servant Cicero (Tommy Flanagan), who informs him that his army is still loyal to him. Soon thereafter, Maximus conspires with Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), Commodus' sister, and the senator Gracchus (Derek Jacobi), to rejoin with his army and topple Commodus by force. Commodus, however, suspects his sister of betrayal and manipulates her into revealing the plot by indirectly threatening her young son Lucius (Spencer Treat Clark). During Maximus' attempted escape, Commodus' guards attack Proximo's gladiator school. Hagen and Proximo are killed in the attack, while Juba and the survivors are imprisoned. Maximus makes it to the city walls, but Cicero, who was waiting for him with horses, is killed by archers and Maximus is arrested by the guards.

Now desperate to have Maximus killed, Commodus arranges a duel with him in the arena. Commodus acknowledges Maximus as a superior fighter, and then stabs a restrained Maximus in his side with a stiletto before they enter the arena. In the midst of the fight, Maximus forces Commodus' sword from his hands. When Commodus demands a sword from the surrounding guards, Quintus orders them to sheathe their weapons. Commodus produces the hidden stiletto, but Maximus plunges the stiletto into Commodus's jugular, killing him. With his dying words Maximus carries out Marcus Aurelius's commands, calling for Gracchus to be reinstated, the slaves to be freed, and power in Rome to be transferred to the Senate. Maximus dies in Lucilla's arms and his soul wanders into the afterlife with his family. Lucilla reiterates Maximus' wishes, reminding everyone that Maximus was a soldier of Rome and that his memory should be honored. Some time later, Juba, now free, buries Maximus' two small figurines of his wife and son in the ground where Maximus died, promising to see Maximus in the afterlife.

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