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Kamis, 31 Mei 2012

Alexander Graham Bell - Biography

In 1876, at the age of 29, Alexander Graham Bell invented his telephone. In 1877, he formed the Bell Telephone Company, and in the same year married Mabel Hubbard and embarked on a yearlong honeymoon in Europe.
Alexander Graham Bell might easily have been content with the success of his telephone invention. His many laboratory notebooks demonstrate, however, that he was driven by a genuine and rare intellectual curiosity that kept him regularly searching, striving, and wanting always to learn and to create. He would continue to test out new ideas through a long and productive life. He would explore the realm of communications as well as engage in a great variety of scientific activities involving kites, airplanes, tetrahedral structures, sheep-breeding, artificial respiration, desalinization and water distillation, and hydrofoils.

Albert Einstein

A
lbert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich, where he later on began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor's degree. During his stay at the Patent Office, and in his spare time, he produced much of his remarkable work and in 1908 he was appointed Privatdozent in Berne. In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911 Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in the following year to fill a similar post. In 1914 he was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. He became a German citizen in 1914 and remained in Berlin until 1933 when he renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton*. He became a United States citizen in 1940 and retired from his post in 1945. After World War II, Einstein was a leading figure in the World Government Movement, he was offered the Presidency of the State of Israel, which he declined, and he collaborated with Dr. Chaim Weizmann in establishing the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Einstein always appeared to have a clear view of the problems of physics and the determination to solve them. He had a strategy of his own and was able to visualize the main stages on the way to his goal. He regarded his major achievements as mere stepping-stones for the next advance. At the start of his scientific work, Einstein realized the inadequacies of Newtonian mechanics and his special theory of relativity stemmed from an attempt to reconcile the laws of mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. He dealt with classical problems of statistical mechanics and problems in which they were merged with quantum theory: this led to an explanation of the Brownian movement of molecules. He investigated the thermal properties of light with a low radiation density and his observations laid the foundation of the photon theory of light. In his early days in Berlin, Einstein postulated that the correct interpretation of the special theory of relativity must also furnish a theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his paper on the general theory of relativity. During this time he also contributed to the problems of the theory of radiation and statistical mechanics. In the 1920's, Einstein embarked on the construction of unified field theories, although he continued to work on the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, and he persevered with this work in America. He contributed to statistical mechanics by his development of the quantum theory of a monatomic gas and he has also accomplished valuable work in connection with atomic transition probabilities and relativistic cosmology. After his retirement he continued to work towards the unification of the basic concepts of physics, taking the opposite approach, geometrisation, to the majority of physicists. Einstein's researches are, of course, well chronicled and his more important works include Special Theory of Relativity (1905), Relativity (English translations, 1920 and 1950), General Theory of Relativity (1916), Investigations on Theory of Brownian Movement (1926), and The Evolution of Physics (1938). Among his non-scientific works, About Zionism (1930), Why War? (1933), My Philosophy (1934), and Out of My Later Years (1950) are perhaps the most important. Albert Einstein received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities. During the 1920's he lectured in Europe, America and the Far East and he was awarded Fellowships or Memberships of all the leading scientific academies throughout the world. He gained numerous awards in recognition of his work, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1925, and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1935. Einstein's gifts inevitably resulted in his dwelling much in intellectual solitude and, for relaxation, music played an important part in his life. He married Mileva Maric in 1903 and they had a daughter and two sons; their marriage was dissolved in 1919 and in the same year he married his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal, who died in 1936. He died on April 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey. Source: nobelprize.org

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

n a cloudless night in Narnia, under an eclipse of its moon, inside a dark and forbidding castle, the Lady Protectress Prunaprismia (Alicia Borrachero) gives birth to a son. Down the hallway, General Glozelle (Pierfrancesco Favino) brings this happy news to Prunaprismia's husband, Lord Protector Miraz (Sergio Castellito). Miraz then tells Glozelle to follow earlier orders: to kill young Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), the rightful King of Narnia, tenth in line from Caspian I ("The Conqueror"), who first led his Telmarine forces to invade and conquer Narnia, hundreds of years before. But Caspian's loyal and devoted "professor," Doctor Cornelius (Vincent Grass), will not allow that to happen. He rouses Caspian from his sleep and hustles him into his armoire--the back of which opens to a secret corridor [an obvious reference to an armoire on a different world that opened into a radically different secret passageway]. Just as Caspian closes the armoire door behind him, Glozelle enters, with several men armed with crossbows, who then discharge their crossbows into Caspian's empty bed, and succeed only in filling the air with goose feathers. After which, Cornelius hurriedly assists Caspian to dress for a long ride, with his sword buckled on. The last thing that Cornelius gives Caspian is an ornate ivory horn, with the advice to blow it only at an hour of dire need--and that "everything you know is about to change." Caspian escapes the palace and rides into the Shuddering Woods, with Glozelle and his summary-execution detail in hot pursuit. As Cornelius told him to expect, Caspian's pursuers do not care to follow him into the Shuddering Woods at night. Caspian then falls off his horse after colliding with an overhanging tree limb, and is set upon by two creatures, the nature of which he does not immediately recognize: dwarves, one redheaded (Peter Dinklage) and one black-haired (Warwick Davis). As they approach, the redhead sees Glozelle's detail, draws his sword, and rushes to meet them, telling his mate to "take care of him." As the black-haired dwarf approaches, Caspian grabs the horn and blows a long, loud note before the dwarf knocks him senseless. But the peel of that horn carries across the dimensions--to 1942 London, where Susan Pevensie (Anna Popplewell) is trying to avoid a schoolboy who is trying to strike up a conversation, when her sister Lucy (Georgie Henley) summons her to the Strand Underground station. Inside, on the platform, Peter (William Moseley) has gotten into yet another pointless fight, and soon his brother Edmund (Skandar Keynes) leaps into the fray to come to Peter's aid, before two Home Guardsmen arrive, whistles blasting, roaring at everyone to "Break it up!" and "Act your age!") As the four sit down together on a platform bench, Peter complains bitterly about being treated like a kid--he who had been a High King as recently as a year before. Edmund reminds him that they *are* kids, and Susan has just told him that they ought to reconcile themselves to a life in England--when Lucy cries out, complaining that something has pinched her, and Peter and Edmund suspect each other of pinching one another. Suddenly Susan realizes that magic is at work. They all hold hands--and as an Underground train passes, the very walls of the Underground tube flake away and then dissolve, leaving the four standing, not in a tube train station, but in a shallow cavern near a sandy beach under a sunlit sky. The children shuck off the outer coats of their school uniforms and play in the shallow water--and then Edmund wonders where they are. Peter is confident that they are back in Narnia, but Edmund does not recall that Narnia had ruins in it. He is looking up at the obvious ruins of a castle built high on a promontory overlooking the beach. The children climb the promontory and investigate the ruins--and finally they all realize that these are the ruins of Cair Paravel, where once they had reigned jointly after fighting a major battle. Back at the Telmarine castle, Glozelle and his troops return from a sortie with a body draped over a horse. Miraz is eager to confirm the death of Caspian, but Glozelle stops him and shows him that he has brought back, not the body of Caspian, but a creature of an entirely different order: the red-headed dwarf who had challenged Glozelle, on foot and armed only with a sword (actually, more like a long knife for a human), in the Shuddering Woods. An acrimonious council session begins with Lord Sopespian (Damian Alcazar) insisting that Miraz is not a man to be trusted. Miraz walks in, apologizing for being late, and then takes some pointed accusations from Lords Scytheley (Simon Andreu), Donnon (Predrag Bjelac), and Sopespian to the effect that Caspian is missing, on the very night that Miraz' son was born. Miraz answers with an easy scapegoat: Caspian, he says, has been abducted by Narnians. As "proof," he orders Glozelle to lead in the red dwarf, bound and gagged, and then charges that the Narnians, whom all Telmarines had supposed to be extinct, have been breeding steadily, waiting for an opportunity to attack the conquering Telmarines. Miraz then brazenly swears to find Caspian and "finish what our ancestors began" if he has to cut down every tree in the Shuddering Wood. Back at Cair Paravel, Edmund detects the signs of an artillery barrage, the first sign that Narnia was in fact invaded, hundreds of years ago in Narnian time. The children investigate further, and find that the royal treasure room is still inviolate. With the aid of Edmund's new electric torch, the Pevensies find four trunks containing all their royal costumes and their original weapons and other accouterments--except that Susan's horn is missing. Lucy is a little sad as she realizes that every friend they had on Narnia is now long since dead. Peter buckles on his sword, takes up his silver shield with the red lion ramping up and facing the viewer, and announces that the four need to find out what has been happening on (and to) Narnia in what is now obviously an absence of centuries. They don't have long to search. A small wooden rowboat, rowed by two Telmarine soldiers, comes down to the mouth of the Great River. Inside is the red dwarf, whom they are about to throw into the water when suddenly an arrow buries itself in their boat. An angry young woman (Susan) yells, "Drop him!" The soldiers throw the dwarf into the water--and as Peter and Edmund rush into the water to draw him out, Susan shoots one of the soldiers, causing the other to abandon their boat. The dwarf at first isn't very grateful to them--until he realizes that he is in fact addressing the "Kings and Queens of old." By way of demonstration, Peter allows the dwarf, named Trumpkin, to fight a short bout with Edmund. Edmund takes a little while to get his sklls back but handily disarms Trumpkin, thus removing all doubt. "Maybe that horn worked after all!" he says. Deep in the Shuddering Woods, Caspian wakes up and overhears the black-haired dwarf, named Nikabrik, and a talking badger named Trufflehunter (Ken Stott) discussing his fate. Caspian tries to fight Nikabrik, but Trufflehunter silences both of them and calmly asks Caspian to identify himself, which Caspian does. His story--that he is running away from his uncle who is probably nothing less than a usurper, impresses Trufflehunter, but does not impress Nikabrik nearly as much. Caspian prepares to leave, but Trufflehunter stops him and informs him of the true nature of the ivory horn he was carrying. At the castle, Miraz angrily confronts Cornelius with the bright red arrow recovered from the body of one of his soldiers, and asks about Queen Susan's horn. Cornelius knows that his life is forfeit--but also that Caspian has done exactly as Cornelius expected. Aloud, he reveals that the Narnians believed that it could summon the Four Kings and Queens. Miraz, clearly not satisfied, orders Cornelius arrested--and Lord Sopespian, noticing, strikes up a frankly mutinous conversation with Glozelle. But Miraz doesn't give Sopespian long enough to dwell on such matters. He orders Glozelle to go to Beruna, taking a number of troops with him, to reinforce Sopespian's forces who have been building a bridge spanning the Great River at that point. "We must find Caspian before 'they' do," says Miraz, who then tells Sopespian that he needs a (classified) history lesson. Trumpkin and the four children row up-river, as Trumpkin tells them that the trees never talk anymore, that "Aslan" apparently abandoned them with the four children seemingly did, and that many of the Talking Beasts of Narnia don't know how to talk anymore. (In fact, Trumpkin must kill a large bear that almost kills Lucy.) In the Shuddering Woods, Caspian, Nikabrik and Trufflehunter set out to find other Narnians. Trufflehunter would much prefer that Caspian wait for the old Kings and Queens, but Caspian is in a hurry. Then Trufflehunter smells out a Telmarine search party, and the three must run for their lives. But before the Telmarines can kill them, they are killed themselves by a creature too small to see that obviously strikes from below, with deadly efficiency. Then this creature leaps out of the ferns that cover the ground in the forest, bowls Caspian over, draws a tiny sword, and shouts, "Choose your last words carefully, Telmarine!" This creature is Reepicheep (Eddie Izzard), who is actually a mouse! Reepicheep is inclined to kill Caspian out-of-hand, but Trufflehunter tells him to put away his weapon, because Caspian is the one who blew the horn--a revelation that gives Reepicheep pause. That is when a party of centaurs arrive, saying that the horn is why they have gathered. At another part of the forest, Peter insists on leading the party along a pathway that Trumpkin insists is a dead end. In fact, he is looking for a crossing that no longer exists--because the River Rush has eroded for itself a canyon where a crossing once existed. Suddenly Lucy looks across the gorge, and spots Aslan, the leonine God-king of Narnia (Liam Neeson)! But no one will believe her, because no one but she can see Aslan. With one exception: Edmund is inclined to accept anything that Lucy says, because "the last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking pretty stupid." That night, Caspian confronts a gathering of angry Narnians who debate whether to accept Caspian as a friend, or kill him out-of-hand. Reepicheep scathingly asks Nikabrik whether he remembers that his people once fought under the command of the ancient White Witch; Nikabrik says that he would do so again in preference to accepting Telmarine rule, or even an alliance. Trufflehunter scathingly tells Nikabrik that the other Narnians should be grateful that neither he nor anyone else can bring the White Witch back, and then asks whether he would have Caspian turn against Aslan. That sets off another round of angry catcalling. In the end, Caspian wins their favor by pointing out that he is a rightful king, and can bring about a lasting peace between Telmarines and Narnians. The lead centaur, Glenstorm, then tells the assembly that an astronomical conjunction has convinced him that the time is right for just such an alliance as Caspian offers. With Trufflehunter, the centaurs, and Reepicheep and his murine tribe to support him, Caspian gains the trust of the minotaurs and other Narnian creatures and is acknowledged as their leader. The Pevensies and Trumpkin travel to the Ford of Beruna, but discover it occupied with a combat-engineering crew, led by Sopespian and Glozelle. They are building a bridge, cutting down many trees, and also building four huge trebuchets (a very intricate ballista, or boulder-throwing weapon). The implications are staggering--and Susan suggests that this wouldn't be a good place to cross after all. The five then return to the spot where Lucy saw Aslan, and ask her to tell them *exactly* where she "thought [she] saw him." After protesting their patronizing attitude, Lucy abruptly falls through a layer of loose ground cover--to what turns out to be the beginning of a ledge that they can use to work their way down to the river and cross it. That night, Susan awakens Lucy to ask her why she, Susan, couldn't see Aslan when Lucy can. Lucy doesn't know why only she can see Aslan. Susan reveals that she had finally gotten used to the idea of living in England, and the transition is actually difficult--mainly because their experience in Narnia will not last. The two girls fall asleep--but then Lucy, perhaps in a dream, sees a live dryad (which they have not seen in those woods since their return), and then sees Aslan, now standing much taller than he did before. Aslan tells her only, "Things never happen in the same way twice." At that moment, someone stepping on a twig awakens Lucy, who finds herself back in camp with her brothers and sister. Then she sets out on her own, and thinks she sees Aslan again--but Peter silences her and shows her that she is seeing an armed minotaur. Peter gets closer to investigate--and another young man attacks him with a sword! Before they can harm one another, Lucy cries out to them to stop--because she realizes that this man is a friend, and is accompanied by a large group of unmistakeable Narnians. Surprisingly, they see centaurs, fauns, satyrs, minotaurs, badgers, and wolves--all on the same side, whereas 1300 years ago they had been enemies--and a new kind of Narnian: talking mice. (Lucy might or might not remember that a group of mice freed Aslan from his bonds at the Stone Table after he had submitted to a ritual sacrifice; in fact Aslan granted to mice the power of speech as a reward.) Then Peter realizes whom he's talking to: Caspian, the Telmarine prince-in-exile. Now Caspian, Peter, the other three Pevensies, Trufflehunter, Glenstorm, and Reepicheep (whom Lucy inadvertently offends when she calls him "cute"), have a round of mutual introductions and the beginnings of a war council. The united party, with many Narnians in tow, then sets out for their stronghold: Aslan's How, built atop the ancient Stone Table site. There Glenstorm's centaurian tribe greets Caspian and the four Pevensie children by erecting an arch of swords. At the bridge site, Miraz interrogates Glozelle after an unknown raiding party (actually Reepicheep and his band of mice) have stolen enough weapons and armor for two regiments, and left this message: "You were right to fear the woods. X." (The X is for Caspian the Tenth.) Miraz then effectively demands that Glozelle pick a number of his men to have executed for sleeping on watch, or whatever charge would explain the losses in materiel; Glozelle says that he will prefer three for that punishment. Miraz then announces that Caspian has turned renegade--or, as we might say, gone native--and "Narnia is in need of a new king." Caspian, Peter, and their party reach Aslan's How and take up residence there, passing under an arch of swords upheld by Glenstorm and his many sons and cousins. Susan and Lucy are most fascinated by another find deep in the How: the original Stone Table, still in the cracked-in-two condition in which they left it when Aslan was originally resurrected from the dead. There they see fresco portraits of the four of them, and of Aslan--but Peter, unimpressed, declares, "I think it's up to us now." Peter knows that they have already been discovered--because a faun sentry has already reported seeing a Telmarine cavalry scout appear briefly at the edge of the woods and then ride off. Peter then outlines his plan: to attack the Telmarine castle, while the troops normally guarding it are out looking for them or preparing to move against Aslan's How. Caspian protests, saying that no one has ever successfully captured the castle, and that they ought to hold out where they are. Peter will have none of it. "This isn't a fortress; it's a tomb," he says--and could as easily say that one does not withstand siege without hope of a relief army, and that the best defense is offense. Lucy's is the only voice of reason: they ought to seek Aslan, rather than believing that the only alternatives are "dying here, or dying there." Sadly, the massive raid on the castle ends badly. Caspian is able to rescue Doctor Cornelius, his old professor--but then wastes crucial time confronting Miraz and his wife over the death of his father. Miraz frankly admits his role in killing King Caspian IX, a revelation that embarrasses him in front of Prunaprismia--but that does not mitigate Caspian's failure to open the castle gate at a crucial time. Result: half of the invading force ends up killed, trapped and helpless and dying under a hail of crossbow bolts, while the other half can only watch helplessly before they must get away themselves. Glenstorm, in particular, sees at least half his sons killed in the action, and must break this terrible news to his wife when Peter and Caspian's battered forces return to the How. Lucy alone does not participate in the invasion, and is available to administer her powerful medicinal cordial to the wounded (including Trumpkin, whose wound would have been fatal without it). But Peter and Caspian get into a bitter argument about failed plans, and whether Telmarines have any rightful place in Narnia at all. Edmund is the only person who can stop Peter and Caspian from killing each other in a duel at the very gate of Aslan's How. As Miraz now has himself crowned King and accepts multiple troop pledges from the various feudal lords of Beruna, Tashbaan, Ettinsmoor, and the island of Galma, Nikabrik suggests to Caspian that he put his trust in another, more ancient power that once kept Aslan himself at bay. He introduces Caspian to a werewolf (Tim Hands) and a hag (Klara Issova), who inform him that they have between them reserves of endurance--and hate--that none can match, and can guarantee Miraz' death, and more. The hag then proceeds to draw a circle with her overgrown fingernail, and then draw out what looks like the broken-off half of a crystal sceptre, while chanting a harsh-sounding mantra. She then raises her voice and plants the sceptre on one edge of the circle. Whereupon an icy block forms in mid-air, and inside the block appears none other than Jadis (Tilda Swinton), the ancient and long-dead White Witch (and original owner of the sceptre, which once had the power to petrify any object--or creature--it touched before Edmund cleaved it in battle with the Witch). "One drop of Adam's blood, and you free me, and then I am yours, my king," says Jadis, with all the seductiveness she can muster. Nikabrik and the werewolf then lay hold of Caspian, and the hag slashes his left palm to force him to contribute the blood. Suddenly Peter, Lucy, Edmund, and Trumpkin arrive and fight with Nikabrik, the werewolf, and the hag. Nikabrik almost kills Lucy before Trumpkin kills him. Edmund acquits himself best of all, by drawing the werewolf away and killing it with a single slash. Peter shoves Caspian aside and confronts Jadis--and that is a mistake, because Peter is now inside the circle. Jadis turns her charm on Peter, saying, "You know you can't do this alone." Before Peter can succumb to her charms himself, the icy monolith cracks, then shatters. Then Peter beholds Edmund, who has stabbed the block with his sword. Edmund waits a few seconds for Peter to thank him--a thing that Peter has never made a habit of doing--and finally says, "I know: you had it sorted." This is, of course, the second time that Edmund has rescued Peter from almost-certain death at the Witch's hands. (On the earlier occasion, of course, Jadis stabbed Edmund--who now has exacted revenge in kind.) At last Peter realizes how mistaken he has been, and finally accepts Lucy's insistence that she can recognize Aslan and find him again. He complains that Aslan ought to have offered him proof, and Lucy suggests that perhaps Aslan was waiting for the Pevensies to prove themselves to him. Caspian, for his part, has a heart-to-heart talk with Cornelius, who tells him that he always looked for Caspian to be "that most noble contradiction: the Telmarine who saved Narnia." Miraz' troops cross the now-completed bridge over the Great River, and arrive at the How--hundreds of them, with four trebuchets in tow. Now Peter announces his next plan: to send Susan and Lucy to ride deep into the Shuddering Wood to seek Aslan, because only Aslan can help them now. Caspian then advises Peter that Miraz has one more weakness: as king, he must satisfy the traditions and expectations of his people. One of them--deciding a battle by single combat--might buy them some time. Accordingly, Edmund, dressed in his original royal armor, walks boldly to Miraz' camp and delivers a written challenge from Peter to Miraz to engage him in single combat. Miraz' lords, using a little too much charm, suggest that Miraz is "within his rights" to refuse. Miraz is inclined to do anything but--because he will not back down in front of these men. This, of course, is exactly what Lord Sopespian wants--a fact that Miraz, on the occasion of the duel, clearly recognizes. Susan and Lucy depart, astride Caspian's faithful war-charger. Caspian offers to give Susan back her ivory horn, but Susan declines, saying, "You might need to call me again"--a declaration that causes Lucy to ask her sarcastically what she means by that. Susan has neither time nor inclination to explain such a thing as romance to a little sister still too young to understand it. As Peter and Miraz engage one another among some ruins outside the How, Susan and Lucy ride part-way into the woods, and then Susan sends Lucy on alone, and turns to meet a Telmarine patrol with her bow and arrows. Susan kills three Telmarines and risks dying anyway when Caspian shows up at the last minute, rescues her, and brings her back to the How. Peter and Miraz manage to bloody one another, and then Peter asks for five minutes' respite, of which Miraz grants three. Peter and Edmund have a chance to make up for lost time, and Susan assures them that Lucy got through, with a little help from Caspian. Miraz, for his part, is irritated with Sopespian for not intervening earlier in the fight--a highly illegal thing that Miraz had asked Sopespian to do, but which Sopespian is disinclined to do, though not for any honorable reason. The two leaders clash once again, and Peter finally defeats Miraz. Instead of killing him outright, Peter hands his sword over to Caspian, saying that Miraz' life is not his to take. Caspian is willing to spare Miraz, but will hand over the sovereignty back to the Narnians. But Sopespian kills Miraz, using one of Susan's red arrows (which he probably stole from Dr. Cornelius' library after Miraz had rammed it into a drawing of the Ancient Kings and Queens), and cries treachery. This causes the Telmarines to launch a full-scale assault on the How. Glozelle orders a cavalry charge while the artillerymen start a continuous barrage with their mechanized trebuchets. The Narnian forces manage to delay the Telmarines by undermining the ground under their horse's hooves, and then having a contingent of archers (under Susan's command) shoot a hail of arrows on the enemy cavalry after they fall into the sinkhole they have created, while Caspian and Glenstorm lead a cavalry charge into the Telmarines' rear. Then Sopespian sends in his infantry, and the defeat of the Narnians seems inevitable, especially after the artillerymen send their boulders crashing into the gate of the How, sealing it. But Lucy is able to get into the woods close enough for Aslan to meet Lucy--and pounce on another pursuing Telmarine patrol. "And now I think your friends have slept long enough. Don't you?" Aslan asks--and with a roar, he awakens the trees of Narnia from their thirteen-hundred-year slumber. And so, at the last instant, Caspian has fallen into the sinkhole, where Glozelle, halberd in hand, is about to impale him--and hesitates. Before he can decide which side he really wants to be on, an animated tree root thrusts itself out of the ground behind him, picks him up, and pulls him into an overhang, knocking him senseless. As Peter helps Caspian back onto ground level, the trees, fully animated, walk onto the field by their roots and turn the tide of battle. One rock cast by a trebuchet knocks down one tree, which collapses and dies--but then another tree extends a long root to topple the trebuchet and crush it. With that, Peter, Caspian, Susan, and Edmund lead a countercharge, and the Telmarines fall back. Sopespian withdraws his troops to the bridge, thinking that that might prove a more defensible position. Peter, Caspian, Edmund, and Susan pursue them, of course. Then, at the bridge, Sopespian is surprised to find himself confronted, first by a little girl (Lucy) armed with nothing more than a small dagger, and then by a tall lion, which ambles up to the bridge as though he owns the world. Sopespian orders a charge--and then Aslan, taking the measure of his enemy for about five seconds, lets out another roar. This time he awakens the god-like personification of the river, which nearly drowns Sopespian's troops--and does drown Sopespian himself, after lifting the bridge off its moorings, with Sopespian and his horse still standing on it. After that, the Telmarine troops surrender their weapons to the Narnians. Aslan and Lucy receive Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Caspian. "Rise, Kings and Queens of Narnia--all of you," says Aslan, making clear to a suddenly diffident Caspian that he will well and truly be the next king of Narnia, on Aslan's direct authority. Then the little band of mice bring Reepicheep forward on a litter. Lucy revives Reepicheep with her medicinal cordial, and Reepicheep bows before Aslan--before noticing that he has lost his tail. Aslan teases him about being overly concerned about his honor--but restores the tail anyway, after the other mice show their willingness to cut off theirs to spare their chief any humiliation. Finally Aslan asks Trumpkin to step forward, and roars at him as if to demonstrate that Aslan does in fact exist and is definitely someone to reckon with. Aslan leads Caspian and the four Pevensie children through the Telmarines' capital city, whose inhabitants greet them all with cheers and garlands, and then into the castle, which from now on will have a far less gloomy aspect. Subsequently, Caspian calls an assembly of all the Telmarines, and announces that from now on, Narnia will be a Narnian-Telmarine federation, and that any Telmarines not willing to accept that may return to "the land of our forefathers." But this is not the big island of Telmar on Narnia itself--rather, it is an island on our familiar earth, where the Telmarines' ancestors, who were a crew of pirates, were shipwrecked on an island holding a portal to the Narnian world. Glozelle, who has recovered from being dazed at the battle, offers to go first, followed by the dowager queen Prunaprismia and her newborn son. When they appear to disappear through the portal that Aslan creates, the other Telmarines express skepticism, and Reepicheep offers to lead eleven mice through the portal to serve as an example. That is when Peter announces that he and his siblings will go through the portal, because Caspian must now take charge. Furthermore, Peter and Susan will not return to Narnia again, though Edmund and Lucy will. Susan says good-bye to Caspian, saying that a romance between them would never have worked, because "I am about thirteen hundred years older than you are." And so the four step through the portal--and find themselves back on the railway platform of the Strand Underground station, where they board the next train. The only one to offer a regret is Edmund, who realizes that he has left his electric torch behind in Narnia.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

When the Pevensie family are evacuated out to the country, they are unaware of the adventure they will encounter. During a game of hide and seek, the youngest daughter, Lucy (Henley) discovers a wardrobe which transports her to the land of Narnia. Covered in snow, Narnia is full of weird and wonderful creatures, but is watched over by the evil White Witch, Jadis (Swinton). When all four Pevensie children end up through the wardrobe, they discover that it was meant to be, as two daughters of Eve and two sons of Adam must join with the mighty lion, Aslan (Neeson) to defeat the evil White Witch. Written by FilmFanUk Based on the classic novel by 'CS Lewis' . Four London children are sent to a professor's country home in order for protection during World War II. There they find a magic wardrobe which leads to a mystical land called Narnia, which is being ruled by an evil witch. To defeat the witch, they must join forces with Aslan, the lion God of Narnia. Written by Brett Walter Based on the 2nd in the series of books by 'CS Lewis' , "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the film tells the story of 4 children who go to live with an old professor during the war. One day, while playing hide and seek, Lucy, the youngest of the children, finds a wardrobe which leads to a magical land called Narnia. However Narnia is being ruled by the evil White Witch who has made it snow for 100 years and according to an old prophecy, Edmund, Lucy, Peter and Susan are the "chosen ones" who will defeat the Witch. They are assisted by the true ruler of Narnia, the lion, Aslan. With the good Narnians on their side all 4 children must now defeat the witch using all their strength and fulfill their destinies to become the new kings and queens of Narnia. Written by x_baby angel Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are deported from London to the house of an eccentric professor during World War II. They find life in the house extremely dull, until Lucy discovers a wardrobe that leads to a magical world called Narnia, where animals can talk and all are ruled over by the wise and benevolent lion Aslan. The others don't believe her at first, but soon all of them go through the wardrobe and discover all is not well in Narnia. The land is being kept in a perpetual winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis, who turns anyone who doesn't obey her into stone. The children join Aslan and the animals loyal to him in an attempt to vanquish Jadis. Written by rmlohner During the German air raids of WWII, the four Pevensie children - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - are sent out of London to take shelter at the country home of eccentric Prof. Digory Kirke, who happens to be the owner of a curious wardrobe. Peering into this wardrobe one day, Lucy finds herself in the snowy land of Narnia, which is mired in never-ending winter thanks to the magic of the evil White Witch, who has proclaimed that it will be always winter but never Christmas in the mystical land. Eventually the other Pevensies find themselves in Narnia, and the four children learn that they alone are the key to breaking the Witch's eternal winter. But while three of them trudge through the snow with some helpful Beavers to join forces with Aslan, the mighty Lion, the fourth takes a more treacherous path and falls in league with the Witch.

Twilight

Seventeen-year-old Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) has decided to leave sunny Phoenix, Arizona, to spend some time with her father Charlie Swan (Billy Burke), the chief of police in the perpetually cloudy and rainy city of Forks, Washington, on the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula, so that her mother Renée (Sarah Clarke) and her minor league baseball-playing stepfather Phil Dwyer (Matt Bushell) can go on the road together for spring training and perhaps even move to Jacksonville, Florida. Bella's relationship with her father is cool, even though she hasn't seen him in several years. When she arrives in Forks, he surprises her with the gift of a red pickup truck he purchased from his best friend, Billy Black (Gil Birmingham). Bella remembers making mudpies with Billy's son Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and looks forward to having at least one friend at Forks High School, until Jacob reminds her that he is a Quileute Indian and goes to school on the Reservation. Not to worry. On her first day of school, Bella is befriended by Eric Yorkie (Justin Chon), the school's "eyes and ears", and he introduces her to some of the other students. Everything is looking cool so far. Cool, that is, until she meets Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). Edward is one of five foster kids adopted by Dr Carlisle Cullen (Peter Facinelli) and his wife Esme (Elizabeth Reaser). There's also Alice (Ashley Greene) and Emmett (Kellan Lutz) Cullen and the twins, Rosalie (Nikki Reed) and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) Hale. From the moment Edward lays eyes on Bella, he can't stop scowling at her. When Bella is assigned as Edward's lab partner in Biology and he storms out the door when the bell rings, Bella is puzzled as to what she could have done to anger him. When she overhears him in the office attempting to transfer out of Biology, she decides to confront him and ask him what is his problem. However, she doesn't get the chance because Edward is absent for the next several days. When Edward does return to school, he seems changed. He introduces himself to Bella and asks her about herself, her family, and whether or not she likes the cold, rainy climate in Forks. Bella notices that his eyes seem a different color than previously, and he answers awkwardly before walking away. Later that day, as Bella is about to get into her truck, another car careens out of control in the school parking lot. Within seconds, Edward has crossed the lot, pulled Bella out of the way, and seemingly stopped the car with his bare hand, leaving Bella more puzzled than before. When she tries to ask Edward how he did it, he simply chalks it up to an "adrenalin rush" and refuses to talk about it. Further, he says that they probably shouldn't even be friends. That doesn't stop Bella from asking Edward to be her date when the kids decide to go surfing at La Push Beach on the Indian Reservation, but Edward doesn't show. When the kids are joined on the beach by Jacob Black and two of his friends from the Reservation and they learn that Edward Cullen was supposed to be Bella's date, one of Jacob's friends remarks, "The Cullens don't come here." Later, Bella asks Jacob what was meant by that remark, and Jacob tells her of a Quileute legend that says the Quileutes are descended from wolves whereas the Cullens are descended from an enemy clan. The legend also goes that the Quileutes and the Cullens made a pact that required the Cullens to stay off Quileute land in exchange for the Quileutes keeping it secret what the Cullens really were. Bella googles Quileute legends and notices that there is a bookstore in Port Angeles that sells several books on Quileute legends, so she goes along with her new friends, Jessica Stanley (Anna Kendrick) and Angela Weber (Christian Serratos), when they decide to go shopping in Port Angeles for their prom dresses. After purchasing her books, Bella heads to the restaurant where she planned to meet Jessica and Angela for dinner before heading back to Forks. Along the way, however, she is stopped by four guys with no good on their minds. Suddenly, Edward drives up, forces the guys to back off, and orders Bella to get into the car. When Edward and Bella finally join Jessica and Angela, the girls have already eaten. Edward offers to see that Bella gets some dinner and then to drive her back to Forks, so Jessica and Angela take off, giving Bella and Edward a chance to talk privately. Edward reveals that he was following Bella because he has developed very protective feelings towards her. He also lets it slip that he could read what was in the minds of those low-lifes and that he can read just about anyone's mind...except for hers. On the drive back to Forks, Bella accidentally touches Edward's hand and is amazed at how cold it is. As they pass the Forks Police Department, they see several police cars, including that of Bella's father, with their lights flashing. Dr Cullen's car is also there, so Bella and Edward stop to see what's happening. They learn from Carlisle that the body of Waylon Forge, a good friend of her father, was just found lying in a boat, dead from what looks like an animal attack, this being the second animal attack to happen near Forks. Later, after Bella has returned home with her father, she starts paging through the books she purchased and comes across a Quileute legend about "The Cold One." Googling it, she learns that "The Cold One", aka Apotamkin, is a fanged creature, described as undead, immortal, possessing incredible speed, strength, and cold skin. It is said to drink human blood and variously equated with other legends about vampires. The next day, Bella confronts Edward with her findings. He doesn't deny it. He takes her to the top of a mountain, out of the cloud bank, and shows her how a vampire's skin sparkles in the sunlight. He explains how the Cullen family has learned to live on animal blood and consider themselves "vegetarian vampires." Still, I am a killer, he says, and admits that he's never wanted a human's blood as much as he wants hers. I don't care, Bella replies. Edward goes on to explain that Carlisle turned him in 1918 when he was dying of Spanish influenza and that Waylon was killed by some other vampires...not the Cullens. The relationship between Bella and Edward progresses to the point where Edward decides to take Bella home to meet his family. All of the Cullens are super-welcoming to Bella...except for Rosalie, who is concerned that the relationship between Edward and Bella may end badly (i.e., Edward will end up harming Bella), implicating the entire family and forcing them to move again. However, Edward is super careful not to lose control when he's around Bella, and the relationship continues to grow. One rainy afternoon, Edward takes Bella out to play baseball with his family. In the middle of the game, three figures come walking out of the mist. Fearfully, the Cullens regroup, hiding Bella behind him. The intruders are the rogue vampires who have been feasting on humans, including Waylon Forge. They introduce themselves as Laurent (Edi Gathegi), Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre), and James (Cam Gigandet) and ask whether they can join the Cullens for a game. Thinking quickly, Carlisle agrees, saying that some of the family were leaving, and Laurent and the others can take their places-- a cue for Edward to get Bella safely away before she is detected. Everyone moves back into the field to take their places. But suddenly, the wind shifts so that James catches Bella's scent and realizes that there is a human in their midst. "You brought a snack," he sneers and heads toward Bella. Edward jumps between them. Laurent backs off and agrees to leave, taking James and Victoria with him. "Get Bella out of here," Carlisle warns Edward. As they quickly drive away, Edward explains to Bella that James is a tracker. Now that he's got her scent, he won't give up until he has her. Bella's only salvation is, if they can get to James first, rip him apart, and burn the pieces. Edward's plan is to catch a ferry to Vancouver, B.C.; but Bella insists on going home first, against Edward's better judgement. They plan a ruse to get Bella quickly in and out of the house without her father knowing what's happening. When Bella gets home, she runs into the house and slams the front door, shouting, "It's over!" at Edward. She then informs her father that she's got to get away from here...now! She packs a nightbag and, against her father's protests, gets in the truck (where Edward is waiting), and they drive away. Unfortunately, James has already tracked Bella to Charlie's house and is on their trail. First, they stop at the Cullens' house, where Laurent has shown up to warn them about James and Victoria. The plan now is for Alice and Jasper to drive Bella south, while the others, including Rosalie and Esme dressed in Bella's clothes, attempt to create a false trail through the woods. It doesn't take long, however, for James to realize that he's been duped. When James changes his course, Alice senses the change and has a vision of James heading to a ballet studio in Phoenix where Bella once took lessons. While Jasper and Alice check them into a hotel in Phoenix, Bella gets a call on her cellphone from her mother, frantically worried about her. Suddenly, James comes on the line and informs Bella that he got her Phoenix address from Forks High School and arrived there just as her worried mother also got there. If Bella wants to save Renée's life, she must ditch Jasper and Alice and meet James in her old ballet studio. Bella takes a taxi to the studio; but, when she gets there, she finds that it was a trick. James got an old movie from her house, and it was only Renée's voice Bella was hearing. James then taunts her further by threatening to film their "time together" to break Edward's heart. As the camera rolls, James bats Bella around the room, then breaks her leg. Suddenly, Edward shows up, having gotten there faster than the others because of his greater speed. With their vampire strength, James and Edward toss each other around the room, breaking mirrors and windows with the impact of their bodies. At one point, James manages to swoop down in Bella and bite her arm. Just then, Carlisle, Alice, Emmett, and Jasper show up. Alice races to Bella's side, while Carlisle pulls Edward off James, telling him that Bella needs him more. Overpowered by the smell of Bella's blood, Alice asks Carlisle to take over for her. While Carlisle bends over Bella, Alice breaks James' neck; and she, Jasper, and Emmett start a fire to burn his body. Carlisle says that Bella's femoral artery is severed and she's losing a lot of blood...but even more important is the fact that she's been bitten, and the vampire venom has begun to affect her. Edward has a decision to make...either let the change happen or suck out the venom. Edward refuses to allow the change, so he decides to suck out the venom even though it means that he might not be able to stop. When Bella awakens, she is in the hospital, her mother at her side and Edward asleep in a chair. Bella claims not to remember anything that happened, so Renée tells her how Edward and his father came down from Forks to persuade her to return; and, when Bella went to see them at their hotel, she tripped, fell down two flights of stairs, broke her leg, went through a window, and lost a lot of blood. When Renée leaves to get Charlie, who's waiting in the hospital cafeteria, Edward "wakes up". He tells Bella that they took care of James and that Victoria ran off. Then he lowers the boom. He wants Bella to move to Jacksonville with her mother so that she can't be hurt anymore by her association with him. Bella refuses. Bella moves back to Forks with her dad. With her leg still in a cast, Bella attends the prom with Edward. When Edward goes off to park the car, Jacob sits down next to Bella. He tells her that his father wants her to break up with Edward and that he sent a warning: "We'll be watching you." Bella laughs. Later, as Bella and Edward dance in the gazebo, she asks him why he didn't let her turn. "If you just let the venom spread," she says, "I could be like you by now." She informs him that she's made the decision to be with him forever and offers him her neck. Edward bends over to bite her neck but ends up simply kissing it. "Is it not enough just to have a long and happy life with me?" he asks. "For now," Bella replies. From a window overlooking the gazebo, Victoria watches Bella and Edward kiss. She turns away, lets down her hair, and smiles to herself. Source: imdb.com

AVATAR

Opening scene: a camera sweeps high across the treeline of a lush, green world. Intercut is a sequence of images of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a crippled war veteran and former Marine. He wakes up in a giant spaceship on its way to Pandora, a lush Earth-like moon orbiting Polyphemus, a blue planet similar to Jupiter. He is one of a large number of passengers, all waking up after almost six years of cryosleep en route to Pandora. Drifting out of his sleeping pod in zero G he's tended by the ship's staff. He opens his locker, which is marked SULLY T. Then, through voice-over and flashback with hospital and military officials, we learn that Jake has a deceased twin brother -- Tom, a scientist -- who was to be part of a high-level program overseen by corporate and military strategists. Because Jake and his brother are an exact genetic match, he was presented with a unique opportunity: take over his brother's contract with a corporate-military entity and travel light years away to an outpost on the previously glimpsed world, Pandora. Acknowledging the notions of "being free" and having a "fresh start," Jake agrees to the deal as his brother's body is cremated. Now being transported from the spaceship to Pandora via a shuttle, Jake is one of many soldiers and civilian personnel about to touch down on Pandora, some 4.3 light years from Earth. We catch views of the base and its construction and immense mining machines digging up the soil in a large quarry as Jake ponders his new role. The passengers are all instructed to wear a full-face breathing mask since the atmosphere of the planet will not support human life; 20 seconds of exposure to the poisonous atmosphere of the planet causes unconsciousness, with death occurring about four minutes later. While the other passengers disembark and take their first steps onto the base, called "Hell's Gate," which is surrounded by a huge perimeter fence. Jake follows them in his wheelchair, earning the moniker "Meals on Wheels" from a few haughty Marines. He acknowledges through voice-over that he lost the use of his legs during one of his tours of duty on Earth, and while a spine can be fixed, that "takes money," which is tough to come by in the present economy. Jake goes immediately to a military briefing where Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is addressing the assembled soldiers and a few civilians who have come along. He reminds them they're "not in Kansas any more," and he tells them about Pandora's indigenous population, the Na'vi. Quaritch, sporting a heavy set of scars on the side of his head, says they are "hard to kill" and practically everything "out there" will try to kill you. And, while it's his job to keep his people alive, he says he will not succeed in this task -- "not with all of you." If they wish to survive, he continues, they will have to follow "Pandora rules." Jake goes to a science lab where he meets biologist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) and Dr. Max Patel (Dileep Rao), two members of the Avatar Program. As Jake gets his first look at his own avatar, we learn about the program itself: humans are unable to breathe Pandora's air, but the Avatar Program enables a human to link with their own avatar, a genetically-bred human-Na'vi hybrid, and function as if they were a Na'vi native. In his avatar body, Jake will be able to walk again and breathe the atmosphere. Jake and Norm enter the science department just about the time Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the program's science lead, awakens in a specially designed pod that links her to her avatar and flips open the top. Norm says to Jake he hears she likes "plants better than people." She arises from her pod and converses in Na'vi with Norm. Satisfied with Norm's command of the language, she turns to Jake. She tells him she needs his brother Tom, the PhD who trained 3 years for the Pandora mission, but she doesn't need him, since Jake has no lab experience and has never been linked to an avatar. Grace storms off to the base's control room to confront Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), base commander and representative for the Resources Development Administration, an organization that oversees all military and other personnel on the colony. He tells her Jake will serve as a security escort on her team while they're on the planet's surface. Grace tells Parker she needs a researcher, not a "jarhead dropout." She doubts Jake will be of any use to her botanical research. Parker replies, "Grace, you know how much I enjoy these conversations with you," but in this case he disagrees, saying they "lucked out" with Jake. Since he's a perfect genetic match for the avatar intended for his twin brother, they can use his military skills in an avatar body toward the overall objective of the operation -- mining the mineral unobtanium, a potent source of energy that sells for many millions a kilo, and can bring cheap power back to a dying Earth. Parker tells Grace one way to help accomplish this objective is to win the hearts and minds of the natives, to obtain their cooperation. Grace argues that many of the Na'vi have been killed by the military under the auspices of Selfridge's operation. Back in the lab next morning, Jake and Norm are linked to their avatars for the first time. Jake, in his avatar, wakes up in a different room with other avatars and staff. Within a few moments, Jake is making his handlers nervous because, overjoyed with his ability to move his legs again, he is moving too quickly and trying to walk, the first time he has been able to do so since becoming a paraplegic. The human lab workers cannot stop him; a Na'vi is over 10 feet tall, sometimes closer to 12 feet, and far stronger than humans. When his long tail knocks over instruments, a staff member tells him to stop and lie down again. Jake ignores him and bursts out of the room and into the daylight. He finds himself in a recreation area where other avatars are playing sports and staff, in their protective gear, are performing various duties. Jake meets Grace's avatar, who, better-tempered than human Grace, accompanies Jake to the barracks where he is eventually encouraged to rest. Before he lies down to sleep, Jake inspects his neural queue, a long appendage that looks like a braid of hair. At the end of his queue is a cluster of hidden tendrils. When the avatar sleeps, the link is broken and Jake himself awakens. Jake later meets Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez), a retired Marine pilot with whom he'll spend several weeks getting used to his avatar and exploring Pandora. Jake will serve as the door gunner on her crew. Jake reunites with Col. Quaritch, who is lifting weights. The Colonel tells Jake he's looked up his service record and was impressed with what he accomplished on some of his tours, including one in Venezuela. The Colonel warns Jake about the dangers awaiting him on Pandora. He also states his belief that the Avatar Program is a joke but that it offers an opportunity for a unique reconnaissance mission: If Jake can find out and tell the Colonel what he wants to know about the natives (how to persuade them to move away from the unobtainium ore deposits and how to hit them hard if they won't), the Colonel will see to it that Jake gets the surgery he needs to regain use of his legs. Because, the Colonel says, he takes care of his own. The Colonel climbs into an AMP suit -- a bipedal exoskeleton used for missions on Pandora -- and moves off. Relinked with his avatar, Jake flies over Pandora's surface in Trudy's gunship, along with Grace, Norm, and others. The team lands in a forest, where Grace and Norm begin to take samples of the flora and make measurements. Jake is distracted by his surroundings and wanders into a field of helicoradian flowers, which are quite tall and shrink at Jake's touch. Trouble arrives when a titanothere -- a heavily-armored dinosaur-like creature -- confronts Jake. Grace orders him to stand his ground and not shoot, or else the animal will get angry and charge. His armor is too thick for guns to have any effect anyway. Jake successfully holds his ground, but only because a larger creature, a thanator, has approached him from behind and has caused the titanotheres to retreat. The thanator then turns to Jake. Grace tells him to run, and he's pursued by the thanator in a chase that separates Jake from his crew. He loses his gun and is downed by the animal, but frees himself by releasing his backpack. Ultimately, the chase leads to a waterfall, where Jake jumps to safety, leaving the thanator alone above him. Jake's crew searches for him but Trudy says they'll have to return to base since night ops are not allowed. Grace says he won't last the night. It's now night and we see Jake sharpening a long stick into a spear Jake is being watched from above, this time by a Na'vi. The Na'vi aims an arrow at Jake and is about to shoot, but decides against it when small, ethereal, luminescent creatures land on her bow. (Later we learn they are "very pure spirits," also known as the "seeds of Eywa", the Na'vis all-powerful god.) The archer retreats. Jake is stalked by a pack of viperwolves. He dips the end of his spear into a combustible pitch-like liquid. He lights the end and uses it as a a torch against the viperwolves, who encircle him, teeth bared, jaws gnashing. The animals attack Jake; he fights back, kills some, and is taken down by others. Then the archer who was observing Jake joins the battle on his side. She kills some viperwolves and causes the rest to flee. She tenderly puts out of their misery some whimpering wounded animals and says prayers over them. Jake attempts to thank her for helping him fight off the attackers. She meets his thanks with scorn, tells him all this is his fault, that they did not need to die, and that he should "go back" to where he came from. Jake asks if she feels that way, why she helped him. "You have a strong heart. No fear," she explains. "But stupid!" Jake attempts to follow his rescuer up into a tree, asks for her help, and says he wants to learn. He's repulsed and told to "go back," that sky people can't be taught. Just then, the seeds of Eywa reappear and start to land on Jake. He asks what they are. "Very pure spirits," she replies, and Jake is covered by them, making an impression on his companion. When the seeds drift off, she relents and tells him to come with her. As Jake tries to keep up with his rescuer, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), he is felled by a bolo thrown by a patrol of Omaticayan warriors. Their leader is Tsu'Tey (Laz Alonso), next in line to the throne and the man Neytiri is expected to marry. Neytiri stops them from harming Jake by telling them "there has been a sign from Eywa." Tsu'Tey tells his men to "bring him" along to "tashik" (father, approximate spelling) and "eywa" (mother). Jake is presented to Neytiri's parents, Eytukan (Wes Studi) and Mo'at (CCH Pounder), who are the king and queen of the tribe, respectively. Jake tells the elders that he is a warrior -- a "dreamwalker" -- and his intention is to learn from them. Mo'at tastes Jake's blood from a wound on his forehead and decrees it is the will of Eywa for him to live with the Omaticaya, and for Neytiri, however reluctantly, to be his teacher in their ways and customs. After a ritual gathering, Jake is brought to his bed, a leaf high up in the "Hometree" that encircles him like a cocoon. As he falls asleep, human Jake is revived. At morning chow, all the scientists, including Grace, are focused on everything Jake has to say. Norm seems very disappointed and sullen; he was Grace's original choice to bond with the Omaticaya. Even the military and corporate reps have warmed to Jake. Hometree sits atop a massive deposit of unobtainium so Jake appears to be their best shot at convincing the Omaticaya to move -- or advising the Colonel on how to force them to do so. He's informed that he has three months to achieve his objective before the bulldozers arrive. The next scenes revolve around avatar Jake's training with Neytiri and human Jake's reports on his experiences via the videolog he dictates after every day's activity. He bonds with his direhorse, an important animal to the Na'vi. Jake must learn to mount the animal and connect his neural queue to its antenna. Human Jake continues to report on the Hometree's infrastructure and other Na'vi details. Sensing that Jake is being manipulated by Quaritch, Selfridge and the rest of the military section of the mining operation, Grace decides to take her operation "out of Dodge." She moves them into the Hallelujah Mountains, a remote region of immense, floating islands that are sacred to the Na'vi and are also rich in unobtanium. Grace wants her turf away from the RDA officials and military types at the base. In his next videolog, Jake discusses his language lessons and says his time with the Na'vi is like "field-stripping a weapon." Enough repetition and you can't help but learn it. This is intercut with scenes of his continued training with Neytiri, who teaches him about the Na'vi-forest connection. She tells Jake that all energy is borrowed and one day we have to give it back. Jake seems to comprehend this, and as he says a prayer for an animal he hunted and just killed, Neytiri says that he is ready for an important rite of passage: to bond with and ride a "declan" -- a flying mountain banshee. To reach the banshee's nesting grounds, Jake must accompany Neytiri, Tsu'Tey and two other Na'vi trainees to the highest region of the Hallelujah Mountains. Several factors (the height, the ferocity of the untamed banshees) make this a dangerous lesson, but Jake's lack of fear and successful bond with his banshee earn him the grudging respect of the Na'vi warriors present, even Tsu'Tey. He makes the bond with the tendrils in his queue, and as he rides the flying animal he remarks that he's not much of a horseman but he was "born to do this." Jake, Neytiri, and the others ride together to the Tree of Souls, the most sacred place to the Na'vi. While flying on a hunting sortie, Jake and Neytiri are suddenly pursued and attacked by a creature known to the Na'vi as toruk, a giant and brightly-colored flying mountain banshee with murderous intentions toward everything that flies. Neytiri says its name means "last shadow" -- the toruk's shadow, once seen, is usually the "last shadow one ever gets to see," as its attack is almost always fatal. Back at Hometree, Neytiri shows Jake the skeleton of a precursor of the present toruk. She tells him the last person to ride a toruk was her grandfather's grandfather, who used the animal to unite the five Na'vi tribes in a time of great sorrow. Such a person would earn the title Toruk Mato, "Rider of the Last Shadow." When Jake comes back to his human form, it's clear he's been changed by this latest experience, for he says, "out there is the real world ... in here is the dream." The Colonel comes over to him to tell him his mission is accomplished and he's to return to Earth that day. And good to his word, the Colonel has arranged for Jake to get the treatment he needs to regain use of his legs. Jake wishes to delay his departure because he says he's right at the point at which he's to be initiated into the tribe and accepted as one of them, and then would have the status to negotiate with the Na'vi to relocate. The Colonel acquiesces. Jake attends a Na'vi ceremony, where he learns the Na'vi believe that every person can be born twice. Neytiri leads Jake to a place of prayer, the "tree of voices," where they use their queues to bond with the tree. Neytiri tells Jake he can make a bow from the tree ... and that he can choose a woman. Jake tells Neytiri that he has already chosen her, and she says that she has chosen him. They sleep together under the tree and Jake wakes up back in the lab. In the morning, Neytiri awakens to falling trees, then the presence of bulldozers. Soldiers are advancing as the forest falls around Neytiri, who is dragging and carrying Jake to safety. When he finally revives, Jake climbs onto one of the bulldozers and tries to stop it, eventually blinding its camera system and drawing some gunfire. Other Na'vi warriors arrive, while the Colonel, reviewing films back at the base, recognizes Jake in his avatar form as the person who tried to stop their mission. The bulldozers continue their operation, wiping out the sacred ground. At Hometree, the Na'vi want war. Grace and Jake argue against it. There's an intense debate. Tsu'Tey tries to kill Jake, having learned that Jake and Neytiri are mated for life. Jake declares he is a Na'vi and deserves the right to speak. Suddenly, both Grace and Jake's avatars fall unconscious as the links between them and their human forms are abruptly broken by the enraged Colonel. Grace and Jake face off with RDA and military brass. Grace reveals that Pandora's trees form a network that has more neural connections than exist in the human brain and that the Na'vi can tap into that network. Consequently, the Omaticaya will never leave Hometree. Parker and the Colonel discuss options. Gas out the Na'vi ... turn gunships on Hometree ... Jake lobbies to return to the Omaticaya to try to convince them to leave, and he's granted one hour to achieve that objective. Jake and Grace are not welcomed back. Neytiri rejects Jake. Both are bound and left behind by the Omaticaya, who are preparing to fight against the humans, who have arrived in a large fleet of flying ships. The fleet launch gas canisters into Hometree and the surrounding area. As the battle escalates, most of the weaponry is targeted at the root structure of Hometree, which is toppled by a series of explosions and heavy artillery. Many Omaticaya are killed. Mo'at frees Jake and Grace and asks them to save the tribe. Jake arrives and is rejected again by Neytiri when he tries to console her. Neytiri's father Eytukan is killed by a large piece of shrapnel; his dying wish is for Neytiri to take his sacred bow and assume leadership of their people. The destruction seems endless, and, suddenly, Jake and Grace return to their human bodies and are promptly placed under arrest for treason. Norm is also arrested for trying to prevent soldiers from disabling their avatar forms. Some time has passed, and, Hometree having fallen, the Na'vi gather at the Tree of Souls. Trudy arrives at the cell which holds Jake, Grace, and Norm. She dupes their guard by saying she wants nothing to do with them, only to knock out the guard an instant later. In the attempt to flee the base in Trudy's ship, Grace is shot and wounded by the Colonel. The team flies to the remote lab in the floating mountains. Jake returns to his avatar body. The hopeful reunion with the Omaticaya is not to be, initially. Jake is an outcast, an alien. So he makes a bold decision. He realizes that to regain the trust of the Na'vi, he has to take things to a higher level. He summons his banshee and sets off to find the toruk. His strategy is simple but can result in death; Jake believes that the toruk never looks for an attack above himself and thus he can be approached that way. Jake jumps off his banshee and onto the back of the toruk. We next see him arrive riding the toruk at the Tree of Souls in the middle of an Omaticayan ceremony. Jake successfully bonded with toruk. The Omaticaya are stunned to see their greatest legend come true. Jake dismounts and makes his way through the crowd of Na'vi, who, awed, part before him. When he reaches Neytiri, each holds out an arm to the other and she says "I see you." Tsu'Tey, who is now tribe leader, concedes Jake's new role of Toruk Mato. He accords Jake much respect. Jake convinces Mo'at to help Grace, who is dying. Mo'at begins the preparations, which involve getting Grace's human and avatar bodies in place at the Tree of Souls. The idea is to permanently transfer Grace's consciousness to her avatar. Mo'at lets it be known that Grace must pass through the eye of Eywa, and that the great mother might choose to let her pass through to her avatar self, or she might opt to have Grace remain with her. The ritual is not successful, though before she dies, Grace tells Jake that she has seen Eywa. Jake, heartbroken and furious, speaks as Toruk Mato and says it's time to 'send a message' to the sky people that this is their, the Na'vi's, land. But to do so, they first must go to each of the Na'vi clans to ask them to come and fight as one. The human military have picked up the infusion of Na'vi into the area, from a few hundred to 2000 within a day. At this rate, the Colonel says as he addresses his troops, the Na'vi will soon total 20,000, at which point their perimeter will be overrun. Rather than let that happen, he continues, they must stage a pre-emptive attack while they still can. Their plan is to turn a space shuttle into the carrier of a massive bomb. Their target is the Tree of Souls, and the attack is planned for 0600 the next day. They believe that if they destroy the Tree of Souls, the Na'vi will go away and never come near this place again. Jake is busy rallying the Omaticaya. At the Tree of Souls, he asks Eywa to look into Grace's memories, and stresses that humankind killed their mother (Earth), the entity that protects the balance of life. Neytiri appears and tells Jake that Eywa does not take sides. The story jumps to the day of the final battle. The military forces are close and the bombship is moving toward the Tree of Souls. The united Na'vi force begins to arrive from the sky and on the ground. Jake on his toruk, Tsu'Tey, and other warriors engage in battle with the military aircraft, mainly Scorpion assault ships. Casualties mount on both sides. The gunships have unmatched firepower, but are no match for the declans, who grab hold of them and smash them against each other.. A flurry of main-character action: Jake, riding the toruk, is pursued and shot at by Col. Quaritch's ship; Trudy arrives and opens fire on the Colonel's command ship; Neytiri's banshee is shot down and killed; Norm's avatar is mortally wounded and he jumps back to his human form; Tsu'Tey takes on the bombship and is killed in the attempt; Trudy dies when her ship is blown up. Neytiri watches this action from the ground. Jake attempts to contact Tsu'Tey and is unsuccessful, as is his attempt to reach Trudy. Meanwhile, the bombship closes in on the Tree of Souls. Jake tells Neytiri via communicator to disengage from the fight. Suddenly, through what's left of the surrounding forest, a battalion of Titanotheres, Pandora's heavily armored dinosaur-like animals, arrives and engages the Earth forces. They quickly lay waste to infantry and soldiers in AMP suits. Neytiri observes this and tells Jake that his prayer to Eywa for help has been heard as the animals rout the humans on the ground. Jake and his toruk take to the sky to confront the bombship as the military's ground forces retreat in disarray. Jake grenades the bombship. It begins to fall and burn and crashes in flames and explosions well away from the Tree of Souls. Jake also throws explosives into vulnerable parts of the command ship. It begins to burn and go down. Col. Quaritch puts on an AMP suit and jumps free of the command ship before it disintegrates in a ball of flames. He makes his way to the temporary camp set up by Grace and the others when they moved operations away from the base. Human Jake, of course, is inside the camp and linked to his avatar. Quaritch, set on killing Jake, is now attacked by a thanator that carried Neytiri to the site, Neytiri having bonded with the animal. With the aid of his AMP suit the Colonel kills the thanator and Neytiri is trapped underneath it. Before the Colonel has a chance to kill Neytiri as well, avatar Jake arrives. The two engage in combat, the Colonel in his AMP suit and Jake as his avatar, armed only with a piece of pipe. Jake smashes the suit's plastic canopy, the Colonel pops it off, dons a breathing mask, and, before he moves off toward the structures that house the pods, asks Jake how it feels to have betrayed his race. "You think you're one of them? Time to wake up," he taunts, as he smashes into the mobile lab, looking for Jake's pod and intent on destroying it and human Jake. The battle resumes. Jake is grabbed by an arm of the AMP suit and hangs from his queue before the Colonel. Meanwhile, Neytiri has almost freed herself. The Colonel now moves Jake closer to him and reaches for his knife, intending to finish Jake by slitting his throat. But Neytiri shoots an arrow at the Colonel that penetrates deeply into the center of his chest. The Colonel reels, now unable to continue his attack on Jake. Neytiri's second arrow lodges right next to the first. It brings him in the AMP suit to the ground. However, much damage has been done to the lab, which is leaking oxygen. Human Jake is awake but having difficulty both breathing and trying to get a mask on. Neytiri arrives and helps Jake on with his mask. Cradling human Jake, she says, "I see you." Cut to the former military base, which is now under Na'vi control. Most of the remaining humans are being marched into a shuttle to be shipped back to Earth; however, a selected few Earth people, such as Norm and Dr. Patel, are invited to stay on Pandora. Jake signs off in his final videolog, where we learn that he has chosen to transfer his consciousness to his avatar for good. In a ceremony similar to Grace's, Jake passes through the eye of Eywa ... and wakes up in his avatar with Neytiri watching over him. Source: imdb.com

Johnny English Reborn

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is learning martial arts in Tibet as penance for an earlier disastrous mission in Mozambique. His Tibetan guru and mentor, Ting Wang, is actually an MI7 sleeper agent: their employers have requested Johnny's services. Johnny returns MI7's London headquarters (now Toshiba British Intelligence) and is assigned by new boss "Pegasus" (Gillian Anderson) to stop a plot to assassinate the Chinese premier during scheduled talks with the Prime Minister. Johnny also meets with friend and fellow agent Simon Ambrose (codenamed "Agent One") and MI7's resident inventor, Patch Quartermain. He is also assigned a junior agent, Tucker, to accompany him. In Macau, his Chinese contact is murdered in a casino, but English discovers a poker chip in the man's hand with the address of ex-CIA agent Fisher (Richard Schiff) in Hong Kong. Fisher reveals that he is a member of 'Vortex', a secret cabal of assassins, who also sabotaged his mission in Mozambique. Vortex's power lies in a secret assassination weapon which require three metal keys to unlock, of whom Fisher has one. Fisher is killed by an assassin, (Pik-Sen Lim), dressed as a cleaner, but English manages to chase down and incapacitate the killer accomplice and recover the key. While bragging with Tucker about the success of his mission on a flight back to London, the key is stolen by a member of vortex disguised as a steward. English is humiliated in front of the Foreign Secretary and Pegasus at the latter's estate when it is discovered that the case is empty. English proceeds to assault Pegasus's mother twice, both times mistaking her for the killer cleaner. Kate Sumner (Rosamund Pike), MI7's behavioral psychologist engages in an "off-hours" session with English, prompting him to recall the previous events of his failed mission in Moazambique and recall the identity of the second member of Vortex as a result, Karlenko (Mark Ivanir), a Russian agent. A golf match is arranged between Karlenko and English, whose unsubtle attempts to elicit information from Karlenko cause him to order English's death. However, Karlenko is critically injured by the cleaner lady assassin. English and Tucker hijack Karlenko's private helicopter, but he succumbs to his wounds, though not before revealing that Vortex's last agent is a member of MI7. In a meeting at M17, Ambrose reveals that the Swiss government have agreed to lend them their fortress 'Le Bastion', allowing the talks to continue. Ambrose and English dine together, informing Ambrose that he knows a mole is present in MI7. Ambrose prepares to gun down English until English reveals he does not know who the traitor is. Tucker confronts Ambrose in the bathroom stalls at gunpoint, claiming Ambrose is the mole, as he is shown pictured with Karlenko on his computer, until English orders him to leave. Ambrose convinces Johnny into believing that Patch Quartermain is the traitor. English, unaware that Simon is the mole, entrusts him with the key. Afterwards, Ambrose contacts Pegasus and tells her that Johnny English is the traitor. English confronts Patch in a church, discovering that he has been framed and set up. Johnny escapes MI7's clutches on Patch's highly advanced wheelchair, equipped with retractable armrest-mounted pistols and high speed settings. Johnny goes to Kate's house and convinces her that he is not the traitor. Kate scrutinizes footage of the Mozambiqu mission and realizes that the behavior of Shambal's bodyguard seemed abnormal and out of place. They find out that Vortex is using a drug called timoxeline barbebutenol that allows people to be controlled for a brief time before they die of heart failure. Ambrose, the only surviving member of Vortex, plans to use the drug to kill the premier in exchange for 500 million USD. Ambrose arrives at Kate's apartment to take her to the airport. After Simon leaves, English discovers that the killer cleaner is present in Kate's apartment. She attempts to kill him using a chainsaw built into her vacuum cleaner, but Johnny uses a garbage chute to escape. English confronts Tucker in the latter's bedroom and convinces Tucker to embark with him on a new mission. English and Tucker attempt to sneak into a heavily-guarded fortress in the Swiss Alps, where the premier is to be assassinated. English inadvertently activates a distress beacon, (mistaking it for a rappel device) which alerts the armed guards to their presence. English has Tucker 'pretend' to attack him, with his subordinate faking his death with a pistol. English is put into a body-bag, and the two manage to gain access to the building. Tucker attacks the armed guards escorting them while English attempts to hop over to Pegasus's office. English finds Pegasus just before she attempts to drink the spiked drink in which the drug is present and convinces her Amrbose is the traitor. English, however, drinks it instead, rendering him vulnerable to Ambrose's commands. Pegasus is knocked unconscious by English, as ordered by Ambrose. Ambrose orders English to kill the premier using a pistol disguised as a tube of lipstick. English attempts to resist the effects of the drug using his monastery teachings. Johnny engages in a relentless fight with himself while Tucker attempts to interrupt Ambrose's frequency used to communicate with English. English gets ready to kill the Chinese premier, before Tucker finally disrupts the frequency, replacing it with radio station which causes Johnny to dance to the music. The effects of the drug wear off and English seemingly dies of heart failure. However, Johnny is revived by Kate, who kisses him on the lips, which causes his heart rate to escalate. Johnny attempts to chase after Simon, jumping off the building and using a parachute to safely descend to the snow. English hijacks a snow-mobile and chases after the MI7 traitor. Eventually, Johnny catches up to Simon, who is using a gondola lift. The two fight, with English using his teachings to endure several kicks to the groin. Johnny manages to eventually obtain Simon's pistol, yet falls off the car. Ambrose tries to shoot English, which culminates with English pulling out his supposedly bulletproof umbrella, but which actually shoots a rocket at the cable-car, killing Ambrose. English is knighted, but, during the ceremony, he finds out that the Queen is the killer cleaner in disguise, and she tries to kill him yet again. He chases after her and violently hits her on the head with a tray, only to find out, when the guards bring the real killer inside, that he has attacked the real Queen. In the post-credits scene, English is seen making a takeaway for Kate Summers to the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

Mr. Bean's Holiday

It is raining and dreary in London. The waterlogged Mr. Bean has fortunately won first prize in a church raffle: a train trip to the French Riviera and new video camera. After taking the Eurostar to Paris, Bean arrives at the Gare du Nord station and casually films Sabine (Emma de Caunes), who has stopped to give a street performer money. Comic confusion at the station's taxi stand results in Bean's arriving at the wrong next stop. He sets off for the correct station -- walking through traffic on the ChampsÉlysées -- only to find himself the angry object of the paparazzi when he obscures their intended target, the arrogant film director Carson Clay (Willem Dafoe). Finally arriving at Gare Du Lyon, Bean misses his train to Cannes. He passes time at a restaurant, where he is served a platter of langoustine (which he eats complete with shell) and oysters so repellant that he tips them into a woman's handbag.
On the platform, he asks a Russian named Emil (KAREL RODEN) to film him on holiday. Emil obliges, but is left standing on the platform as the train pulls away with his son, Stepan (Max Baldry), stuck on the shuttle with Bean. At the next station, Stepan leaves the train with Bean's camera. Just as Bean follows him, however, the train departs with Bean's bag onboard. Emil passes on a fast train, holding a sign with a partially obscured number and his destination of "Cannes." Bean and Stepan board the next train south to catch him, but (of course) Bean realizes he has lost his wallet. The ticketless two are quickly ejected from the train. The following morning, well-meaning Bean and mischievous Stepan turn to street performance at a local market to earn money. The audience loves their two-man show, and throws coins at the urchins. Things are finally looking up as Bean spots a bus to Cannes. Naturally, Bean's ticket flutters away while Stepan is driven away. That night, Bean sleeps in a hay cart and wakes to find himself in a quaint French village. An explosion and soldiers in the square cause Bean to spring into action. Just as he wrestles a Nazi and "rescues" a café girl, Carson Clay -- shooting a commercial -- angrily shouts, "Cut!" Meanwhile, the clueless Bean unwittingly sets the director up to unleash an explosive that blows up the set. It's time to get out of there, "tout de suite." Sabine, on her way to Cannes, assumes the hitchhiking Bean is a filmmaker and explains she is going to attend the premiere of her new film. At a motorway café, they meet up with Stepan. The three of them continue south in Sabine's Mini Cooper, with Sabine assuming Stepan is Bean's son and Stepan believing Sabine is Bean's girlfriend. At a fuel station, Bean's photograph is broadcast on television as the suspected abductor of Stepan. As Sabine's picture also flashes on the screen, she makes an escape plan. On being stopped at a police roadblock, Bean and Stepan disguise themselves, and Sabine explains she is late for her premiere and the police offer an escort. They arrive at the Palais des Festivals in time for the premiere of Sabine's film, and Bean and Stepan sneak into the auditorium -- where the film is playing to a fidgety, bored audience. Onscreen there is a flash of Sabine, but her part has been largely cut. The ingenious and gallant Bean slips into the projection box, plugs in his camera and projects his holiday video on screen. As guards enter the booth, Bean escapes through the window. While the guards race toward Bean, Stepan appears and is happily reunited with Emil. The thrilled audience applauds, believing "Carson Clay's" new film a masterpiece. Amidst all the chaos (and Clay's undeserved bows), Bean glances out of a doorway and spies the beach. At last, his whimsical journey is complete. Source: movieweb.com

Rabu, 16 Mei 2012

17 Again

17 Again is a 2009 American comedy film directed by Burr Steers. It is the story of 37-year-old Mike (Matthew Perry) who becomes a 17-year-old high school student (Zac Efron) after a chance accident. The film was released in the United States on April 17, 2009. In 1989, 17 year-old Mike O'Donnell learns from his girlfriend Scarlett that she is pregnant during the start of his high school championship basketball game. Moments after the game begins, he abandons the game and goes after Scarlett. Twenty years later, Mike finds his life stalled. Scarlett has separated from him due to his regrets about abandoning college, forcing him to move in with his geeky and wealthy best friend since high school, Ned Gold. At his job we see another reason for his frustration as he is significantly older than most of his co workers and he passed over a promotion he deserves in favor of a much younger female worker, he gets fired from his job (after smashing his boss's bluetooth against the wall) and his high school-age children Maggie and Alex want nothing to do with him. Later, while visiting his high school to reminisce, an encounter with a mysterious janitor transforms Mike into his 17 year-old self. Given the chance to re-live his youth, Mike enrolls in high school posing as Mark Gold, Ned's son, and plans to go to college with a basketball scholarship. As he befriends his children, however, Mike comes to believe that his mission is to help them. Mike comforts Maggie when her boyfriend Stan, the captain of the basketball team, dumps her. With his help, Alex overcomes Stan's bullying to obtain a place with Mike on the basketball team and the girlfriend he desires. Through their children Mike spends time with Scarlett, who is attracted to his remarkable resemblance to her husband in high school. Mike has difficulty resisting his desire for her despite the relationship's apparent inappropriateness. At the same time, he must fend off Maggie's amorous advances (completely unaware that he is her father). Meanwhile, Ned courts Jane Masterson, the high school principal who shares a mutual interest in The Lord of the Rings. Mike soon realizes that Scarlett is the "best decision" he had ever made and finally realizes that his own selfishness has driven his family away tries to re-unite with her and unsuccessfully explains to her that he is actually Mike, her husband. On the day of the court hearing to finalize Scarlett and Mike's divorce, Mike makes one last attempt to win her back (as Mark) by reading a supposed letter from Mike. He states that although he couldn't set things right in the beginning of his life, it doesn't extinguish the fact that he still loves her since that day. After he exits, Scarlett notices that the "letter" is actually the directions to the courtroom and she begins to grow curious. During a high school basketball game, Mike reveals himself to Scarlett. As Scarlett once again runs away down the hall, Mike decides to chase her down once more, but not before handing the ball off to his son so he can have the scholarship. Mike is then transformed back into his 37 year-old self and is reunited with Scarlett. Meanwhile, Ned and Jane begin dating and Mike is hired as the high school's new basketball coach.

Up

Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film to do so.[3] The film was director Pete Docter's second film, the first being 2001's Monsters, Inc., and features the voices of Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson, and Jordan Nagai. It is Pixar's tenth feature film and the studio's first to be presented in Disney Digital 3-D,[4] and is accompanied in theaters and DVD releases by the short film Partly Cloudy.[5] The film centers on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America by floating in a house. The film has received universal critical acclaim, with a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes (the best reviewed wide-released film of 2009 on the site), and grossed over $731 million worldwide,[2] making it Pixar's third-most commercially successful film, behind Finding Nemo and Toy Story 3. Up won Golden Globe Awards for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, making it the second animated film in history to receive such a nomination, following 1991's Beauty and the Beast.[6] Up was awarded the Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score in 2010. Young Carl Fredricksen is a shy, quiet boy who idolizes renowned explorer Charles F. Muntz. He is saddened to learn, however, that Muntz has been accused of fabricating the skeleton of a giant bird he had claimed to have discovered in Paradise Falls, Venezuela, South America, and was fired. Muntz vowed to return to Paradise Falls and not return until he had captured a specimen alive to clear his name. One day, Carl befriends an energetic and somewhat eccentric tomboy named Ellie, who is also a Muntz fan. She confides to Carl her desire to move her "clubhouse"—an abandoned house in the neighborhood—to a cliff overlooking Paradise Falls, making him promise to help her. Carl and Ellie eventually get married and grow old together in the restored house, working as a toy balloon vendor and a zookeeper, respectively. When they are told by a doctor that they are unable to have children, they save for a trip to Paradise Falls, but repeatedly end up spending the money on more pressing needs. An elderly Carl finally arranges for the trip, but Ellie suddenly becomes ill and dies, leaving him alone. Some time later, Carl is still living in their house, now surrounded by urban development, but he refuses to sell. He ends up injuring a construction worker over damage done to his mailbox. He is evicted from the house by court order due to being deemed a "public menace", and is ordered to move to a retirement home. However, Carl comes up with a scheme to keep his promise to Ellie: he turns his house into a makeshift airship, using thousands of helium balloons to lift it off its foundation. A young member of the "Wilderness Explorers" (a fictional youth organization) named Russell becomes an accidental passenger, having pestered Carl earlier in an attempt to earn his final merit badge, "Assisting the Elderly". After surviving a thunderstorm, the house lands near a large ravine facing Paradise Falls. Carl and Russell harness themselves to the still-buoyant house and begin to walk it around the ravine, hoping to reach the falls before the balloons deflate. They later befriend a tall, colorful flightless bird (whom Russell names "Kevin") trying to reach her chicks, and then a dog named Dug, who wears a special collar that allows him to speak. Carl and Russell encounter a pack of dogs led by Alpha, and are taken to Dug's master, who turns out to be an elderly Charles Muntz. Muntz invites Carl and Russell aboard his dirigible, where he explains that he has spent the years since his disgrace searching Paradise Falls for the giant bird. When Russell innocently reveals his friendship with Kevin, Muntz becomes disturbingly hostile prompting Carl, Russell, Kevin and Dug to flee, chased by Muntz's dogs. Muntz eventually catches up with them and starts a fire beneath Carl's house, forcing Carl to choose between saving his home or Kevin. Carl rushes to put out the fire, allowing Muntz to take the bird. Carl and Russell eventually reach the falls, but Russell is angry with Carl. Settling into his home, Carl discovers photos of their married life in Ellie's childhood scrapbook and a final note from his wife thanking him for the "adventure" and encouraging him to go on a new one. Reinvigorated, he goes to find Russell, only to see him sailing off on some balloons to rescue Kevin. Carl empties the house of his furniture and possessions and pursues him. Russell is captured by Muntz, but Carl boards the dirigible in flight and frees both Russell and Kevin. Muntz pursues them around the airship, finally cornering Dug, Kevin, and Russell inside Carl's tethered house. Carl lures Kevin out through a window and back onto the airship with Dug and Russell clinging to her back, just as Muntz is about to close in; Muntz leaps after them, only to snag his foot on some balloon lines and fall to his death. Snapped from its tether, the house descends out of sight through the clouds, which Carl accepts as being for the best. Carl, Russell and Dug reunite Kevin with her chicks, then fly the dirigible back to the city. When Russell's father misses his son's Senior Explorer ceremony, Carl proudly presents Russell with his final badge for assisting the elderly, as well as a personal addition: the grape soda cap that Ellie gave to Carl when they first met (which he dubs the "Ellie Badge"). Meanwhile, Carl's house is shown to have landed on the cliff beside Paradise Falls, as promised to Ellie. During the credits, a series of photographs shows Carl enjoying his latest adventure: living an active life as a surrogate grandfather to Russell