Beowulf (2007)Thursday, February 14th, 2008 |
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The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel who is terrorizing towns, and later, Grendel’s mother, who begins killing out of revenge. |
Beowulf (2007)Thursday, February 14th, 2008 |
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The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel who is terrorizing towns, and later, Grendel’s mother, who begins killing out of revenge. |
Fountain, The (2006)Thursday, October 18th, 2007 |
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Three stories - one each from the past, present, and future - about men in pursuit of eternity with their love. A conquistador in Mayan country searches for the tree of life to free his captive queen; a medical researcher, working with various trees, looks for a cure that will save his dying wife; a space traveler, traveling with an aged tree encapsulated within a bubble, moves toward a dying star that’s wrapped in a nebula; he seeks eternity with his love. The stories intersect and parallel; the quests fail and succeed. |
300 (2006)Thursday, October 18th, 2007 |
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It is spring 480 BC, Persian King Xerxes, continuing his father Darius’ master plan to conquer the Hellenic city-states, arrives in Hellas. The previous Persian invasion and diplomatic attempts have already turned most northern Hellas tribes and states to the Persian side. But the people of Athens and Sparta, the largest Hellenic powers at the time, feel quite insulted by the Persian emissaries’ request to surrender to Xerxes, and so slay them. In Sparta, King Leonidas consults the local oracle, who gives two options: Either a spartan king will have to be sacrificed, or Sparta will be burned to the ground. A year earlier (481, BC) a Panhellenic consortium of all southern city-states had already recognized the superiority of the Spartan army (the best organized and trained army at the time) and had declared King Leonidas as supreme commander of the combined Hellenic army. It is then decided that a small force should block Xerxes’ way to southern Hellas in the Thermopylae passage. This passage was, at that time, 12 meters wide. The great historian Herodotus, possibly exaggerating, states that there were 1,700,000 Persians (their true number could have been anywhere from 100,000 to 1,000,000) against 7,000 Hellenic hoplites and slaves, including the 300 men of the Spartan King elite guard. King Xerxes waited four days for the Hellenes to be frightened and eventually surrender and was quite astonished by his opponents’ complete apathy. Xerxes tried to convince Leonidas to drop weapons, give up his position, kneel before him and live on as a local governor under Xerxes. King Leonidas replied “molon lave,” which means “Come and get them.” The three-day battle began, with the 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians (the other Hellenes where sent by Leonidas to protect passages to their flanks) slaying thousands of Persians with minimal losses. The whole Persian campaign would have failed if it hadn’t been for Efialtes, who showed Xerxes a secret passage to the Hellenic flanks. After a final battle led by King Xerxes himself, the Hellenic force was slain and their heroism and glory was written forever in history. From the beginning of the battle, the Hellenes buried their dead in the spot where they fell. Then battle signs where made for the dead of each Hellenic faction. For the Pelloponisians, (including the 300 Spartans) the sign generally read (free translation) “In this place 4,000 Pelloponisians fought 30 millions).” For the 300 Spartans (Lakaedaemonians), the sign reads (free translation) “Oh foreigner, tell the Lakaedaemonians that we are buried here obeying their laws,” meaning that they never hesitated and never retreated from the enemy. The impact of the battle was enormous for both sides. The Persians’ morale dropped to zero, and the Hellenes lost their fear for the Persian conqueror and organized their defense. After several successful battles, the Hellenes ultimately defeated the Persian army and repelled their invasion in the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC. |
Troy (2004)Thursday, October 4th, 2007 |
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It is the year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age. Two emerging nations begin to clash after Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnom to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. So they set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy. With the help of Achilles, the Greeks are able to fight the never before defeated Trojans. But they come to a stop by Hector, Prince of Troy. The whole movie shows their battle struggles, and the foreshadowing of fate in this remake by Wolfgang Petersen of Homer’s “The Iliad.” |
Tarzan (1999)Thursday, October 4th, 2007 |
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The movie is about the life of Tarzan. Tarzan was a small orphan who was raised by an ape named Kala since he was a child. He believed that this was his family, but on an expedition Jane Porter is rescued by Tarzan. He then finds out that he’s human. Now Tarzan must make the decision as to which family he should belong to… |
King Ralph (1991)Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 |
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When an accident obliterates the British royal family and most of its branches, a desperate geneological search discovers the next king: Ralph, a sleazy American lounge singer. Can Ralph measure up to the job, even with the help of loyal aristocrat Willingham? |
Road House (1989)Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 |
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Dalton is an expert “cooler” — a barroom bouncer who can break up fights without getting himself killed in the process. Frank Tilghman, the owner of the Double Deuce in Jasper, Missouri, has hired Dalton away from a bar in Memphis, because Tilghman needs someone who can handle the nightly outbreaks of violence at the Double Deuce, and teach the rest of the Double Deuce’s bouncers how to handle it. There’s even a cage protecting the bar’s band from the customers. The band is led by Dalton’s old friend Cody, who is blind. Dalton is injured on his first night on the job and is treated by Elizabeth “Doc” Clay, the local doctor. Dalton and Doc soon fall in love with each other, and this angers Brad Wesley, a crime boss that Doc was once involved with — and may still be involved with. Wesley is also responsible for a lot of the violence at the Double Deuce, and for some time, Wesley has had the sheriff in his pocket, giving him complete control of the town of Jasper. Wesley is out to get rid of Dalton, who has already made some friends in Jasper — Dalton has rented a room from a man named Emmet, and has befriended local auto parts store owner Red Webster, and has also befriended Pete Stroudenmire, the owner of Stroudenmire Ford, a local car dealership. Wesley, who wants money from these people, has his henchmen burn down Red’s store, run a big foot truck through the showroom of Pete’s dealership, and set Emmet’s home on fire. Dalton is pleasantly surprised when his mentor and old friend, legendary cooler Wade Garrett, arrives in town and helps him beat up the guys who are vandalizing Tilghman’s liquor shipment because Wesley wants to be the one to supply Tilghman’s liquor, and take money from Tilghman. A couple of days after Wade’s arrival, Wesley has Wade murdered in order to get a point across to Dalton. In retaliation, Dalton storms Wesley’s mansion, with every intention of freeing the town from Wesley. |
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)Friday, May 4th, 2007 |
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Intrepid British archaeologist Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) has made perhaps the most important archaeological discovery in history: an orb that leads to the mythical Pandora’s Box. Unfortunately, the orb falls into the hands of Jonathan Reiss (Ciarán Hinds), an evil scientist who deals in killer viruses and hopes to sell the secrets of the box as the ultimate weapon. Recruited by British Intelligence to get the orb back from Reiss, Lara recruits Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), a British marine turned mercenary (and her former love interest) to help. The two embark on an adventure that spans continents in an attempt to regain the orb… |
Edge, The (1997)Monday, April 2nd, 2007 |
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Billionaire Charles Morse accompanies his supermodel wife Mickey to photo shoot at Alaska. The shoot is to be made by fashion photographer Robert Green. To find specific Indian for the shoot, they fly to even more distant location, where their small plane crashes into a lake. To survive in the woods full of man-killing bears they need each other, but the smarter of the men - Charles is suspicious that Robert is having an affair with his wife. |
Scorpion King, The (2002)Friday, March 16th, 2007 |
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In an ancient time, predating the pyramids, the evil king Memnon is using the psychic powers of his sorceress Cassandra to fortell his great victories. In a last ditch effort to stop Memnon from taking over the world, the leaders of the remaining free tribes hire the assassin Mathayus to kill the sorceress. But Mathayus ends up getting much more than he bargained for. Now with the help of the trickster Arpid, tribal leader Balthazar and an unexpected ally, it’s up to Mathayus to fufill his destiny and become the great Scorpion King. |