Beyond the Universe, 2022

Beyond the Universe, 2022 is a film about a young and talented pianist named Nina who dreams of playing with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. However, her life takes a toll when she is diagnosed with lupus, a disease that attacks the body’s tissues and organs. Nina’s health deteriorates, and she needs a kidney transplant to survive. Amidst her struggles, she finds love and support from Gabriel, a young doctor. Gabriel helps Nina overcome her insecurities and fight for her dream. The film revolves around their romance and Nina’s journey to fulfill her musical aspirations. 

TRAILER

PLOT

Talented pianist Nina Soares started playing at eight, and wanted to join the symphony orchestra from 13. At that age she collapses during an important recital, and is soon diagnosed with lupus.

Now a young adult, Nina discovers the lupus has damaged her kidneys so severely they are working at under 10%, so is put on a kidney donor list and must undergo four hours of dialysis three times a week. There are over 14,000 people before her on the list.

After a month, Nina is scheduled to start dialysis. That morning, she sees the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra is seeking a piano soloist. After teaching a lesson at the music conservatory, Nina is warily OK to practise after hours, but her work mustn't suffer.

Nina plays piano in the train station by the hospital, as Gabriel is passing through on his bike. Mesmerized, he crashes into the piano. Unimpressed, Nina stops, heading to the hospital.

Gabriel is a resident doctor at Nina's hospital. There, he is constantly brightening up patients' days. Gabriel and fellow resident Yuri compare notes on their crushes, one the chance encounter in the station and the other through an app.

The next day Nina finds Gabriel on her medical team, and is surprised by the strong connection they have. Initially she is very pessimistic, but he insists she keep fighting. Gabriel finds her a practise piano when the conservatory fires her, then rushes her across town to apply for the audition.

Hospital director Doctor Alberto summons Gabriel, who is also his son, reminding him of his Hippocratic oath, because of Nina. The young adults end up making a trade, he teaches her to cycle while she teaches him to play piano, afterwards they go dancing and kiss.

During her long dialysis sessions, Nina befriends Amanda, who's under the same treatment. An optimist, she attributes her attitude to her daughter. Observing the chemistry between Nina and Gabriel, she predicts her young friend's outlook might be improving.

Although the pain from the lupus makes her hands ache, Nina practises through the pain and gets to the first audition. Initially pausing after a shooting pain, she powers through and passes to the second round. Gabriel invites Nina to a celebratory dinner.

Yuri, also Gabriel's roommate, preps dinner. His love interest Tulio arrives before Nina, and he mildly irritates Gabriel, who gets them to leave so he can be alone with Nina. She spends the night, and in the morning he tells her about a hike he does annually to honor his mother, his inspiration who died of cancer when he was 13.

Alberto confronts Gabriel about secretly getting tested to donate his kidney to Nina, which Gabriel then shares with her the negative result. Although he'd planned to attend Nina's second audition, Gabriel unexpectedly has to do clinic hours. He crashes his bike hurrying to get there, just as she collapses at the piano.

Nina wakes three days later in the hospital, dejected. When she realizes Gabriel might lose his residency due to their inappropriate doctor-patient relationship, she gets discharged without telling him. Finding her at home, Nina pessimistally doesn't want to request an appeal with the orchestra or stay together. She suggests he apologize to the disciplinary hearing committee.

When Nina tells Amanda what happened, she calls her an idiot for not fighting for Gabriel. So, she goes to his hearing and convinces them to keep him on, taking full responsibility for their interaction. Gabriel then gets Nina to go to the hospital, allegedly for Amanda's birthday. The chapel is set up with a piano, so she performs for one of the orchestra's jurors, who offers her another audition.

Gabriel soon leaves for his annual hiking trip, but first gives Nina his mother's lucky necklace to protect her. On the top of the mountain, he suffers a great fall. Although rushed to the hospital, Gabriel contracts a subdermal hematoma and passes away in the operating room. Nina and Alberto bond over their grief for Gabriel. The director discovers he is compatible to donate his kidney to her.

One year later, on stage with the São Paulo orchestra, Nina dedicates a song she wrote in Gabriel's honour.

Rating: 10 Stars

Me Time, 2022 - Comedy

Me Time is a 2022 American buddy comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg. The film stars Kevin Hart, Mark Wahlberg, Regina Hall, Luis Gerardo Méndez, and Jimmy O. Yang. It is about a stay-at-home dad as he finds himself with some "me time" for the first time in years while his wife and kids are away. He reconnects with his former best friend Huck for a wild weekend that nearly upends his life.

Me Time was released on August 26, 2022, by Netflix.

TRAILER

PLOT

Best friends since high school, Sonny and Huck stopped meeting up every year on Huck's birthday 15 years ago when Sonny had a near death experience.

Now Sonny is a stay-at-home dad, putting all of his focus on his family. Huck contacts him, as he does every year, for the annual celebration. Not wanting to attend, Sonny finds himself with some "me time" for the first time in years while his wife and kids are away.

After only a few days, Sonny is bored. He plays golf every day but is terrible, partakes of massive amounts of food at a big barbecue a few days in a row but projectile vomits, none of his friends can participate with him so he's lonely and bored and his kids don't seem to miss him.

Sonny ends up going to Huck's wild weekend birthday bash. Arriving at the meeting point, everyone is skinny dipping. Afterwards they load onto Huck's chartered bus and put on matching track suits.

Meanwhile, Sonny's wife Maya and kids get a visit at the place her parents have taken them to from her wealthy client Armando, who Sonny fears is interested in her.

The bus dumps the party group in the desert, where there are communal yurts set up, and the plan is to forage for their food. They are given hardware to do it, so Sonny heads off to do number two. A mountain lion chases him, but he wards it off by stabbing it with an EpiPen, and is nicknamed Big Dog.

That evening, when Sonny calls his family, he finds out Armando visited them by seaplane. Maya is offered a big project. Jealous, when he yells they hang up on him.

Stan, Huck's loan shark arrives, seeking the $47,000 owed him. His muscle Dorit breaks Sonny's finger, then burns down the site. Once everyone goes, Sonny stays behind to help Huck salvage what they can. Huck confesses he's fallen on hard times and is lonely.

On their way back to LA in an Uber, Sonny spots Armando's. The three break in and pull off some gross pranks, but inadvertently hit one of his tortoises. All is caught on camera.

Sonny offers his house for Huck to continue his birthday celebration, as his family is still away. Someone shares a party notification via social media, and it becomes a rager. Seal comes, and Sonny jams with him. Just as the party is at the most out of control the family shows up, and Maya leaves with the kids. She asks him to clear out and stay away for a bit.

While they are separated, Sonny tries to make amends, apologizing to Armando and working hard on the talent show. As the closing act Dash, Sonny's son, has a meltdown declaring he hates the keyboard. Realising he's been selfish and overcontrolling, he apologizes to everyone, encouraging all who want to perform.

Sonny chases down Huck, convincing him to join him in a party planner company.

Rating: 10 Stars

Ticket to Paradise - Romantic Comedy of the wedding of David and Georgia's daughter in Bali

Ticket to Paradise is a 2022 romantic comedy film starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts as a divorced couple who team up to sabotage the impending wedding of their daughter in Bali. The film is directed by Ol Parker and written by Parker and Daniel Pipski, while Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd, Maxime Bouttier, and Lucas Bravo also star.

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PLOT

David and Georgia Cotton are a divorced couple who hate each other and regret their marriage, which ended 20 years earlier. Their daughter Lily graduates from college, and goes on vacation to Bali with her friend and fellow graduate Wren. While snorkeling off the coast, their tour boat leaves them behind, and they are rescued by a young Balinese seaweed farmer named Gede. That night, Lily and Gede hit it off. A month later, Lily emails David and Georgia to let them know that she and Gede are getting married and are staying in Bali permanently, giving up her legal career before it begins. David and Georgia form a truce to try and convince Lily that she is rushing into things and making the same mistake they did. Their pilot on the flight to Bali turns out to be Paul, Georgia's boyfriend, who arranged to work this flight, and returns to visit Georgia in Bali a few days later as a surprise.

David and Georgia give their verbal blessing to Lily and Gede, but secretly plan a "Trojan horse" strategy to sabotage the wedding from within. Their scheme includes stealing the couple's wedding rings, which the couple quickly replaces. Gede immediately suspects David and Georgia, but hides his suspicions from Lily. While carrying out this plan, David and Georgia begin to mend fences with each another. They also get to know Gede and his large extended family and see that he really cares for Lily. Paul shows up and surprises Georgia with a series of marriage proposals, the first of which is interrupted by a snake bite at the temple of Tanah Lot, and the second is prevented by an accidental head-butt.

When Lily discovers the stolen rings, she demands that they get on board with the wedding or go home. She also confronts Gede, who simultaneously confesses his harbored suspicions toward David and Georgia stealing the rings. David and Georgia realize that they will lose Lily forever if they do not support her decision and offer their support. The wedding proceeds in accordance with Balinese custom. As the couple prepares to ceremonially stab a dagger through a pandan-leaf mat to complete the bond of marriage, Gede pauses the ceremony to ask David and Georgia to give their blessing sincerely this time, offering not to go through with it unless they agree. David stands up and says the couple has their blessing, but that they do not really need it, and if he and Georgia had listened to all of their own detractors (David's friends and Georgia's parents, respectively), they never would have had Lily. Despite how their marriage turned out, they are both happier in a world with Lily in it. Lily and Gede are touched, complete the ceremony and get married.

On the morning after the wedding, Georgia tells Paul that she cannot marry him, and they end their relationship. David and Georgia toy with romance again, even kissing each other once, before pulling away and laughing about it. David, Georgia and Wren exchange tearful goodbyes with Lily and board a boat to leave. David and Georgia consider their romantic prospects again, debating aloud whether they are too old to feel young again and when they might return to Bali. In a flash, they both decide to stay, jumping off the boat to return to the dock.

Rating: 10 Stars

The Interview, 2014 - Dave Skylark is the host of the talk show "Skylark Tonight" and will interview Kim Jong Un North Korea Supreme Leader

The Interview is a 2014 black comedy-action political satire film super interesting produced and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in their second directorial work, following This Is the End (2013). The screenplay was written by Dan Sterling, based on a story he co-wrote with Rogen and Goldberg. The film stars Rogen and James Franco as journalists who set up an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Randall Park), and are then recruited by the CIA to assassinate him. The film is inspired by a 2012 Vice documentary.

Rogen and Goldberg developed the idea for The Interview in the late 2000s, with Kim Jong Il as the original assassination target. In 2011, after Kim Jong Il's death and Kim Jong Un's succession as the North Korean leader, Rogen and Goldberg redeveloped the script with the focus on Kim Jong Un's character. The Interview was first announced in March 2013, at the beginning of pre-production. Principal photography was in Vancouver from October to December 2013. The film was produced by Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital and Rogen and Goldberg's Point Grey Pictures, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.

In June 2014, the North Korean government threatened action against the United States if Sony released the film. As a result, Sony delayed the release from October to December and reportedly re-edited the film to make it more acceptable to North Korea. In November, the computer systems of Sony were hacked by the "Guardians of Peace", a cybercrime group which may be connected with the North Korean government.The group also threatened terrorist attacks against theaters showing the film. This led to major theater chains opting not to release the film, and Sony instead releasing it for online digital rental and purchase on December 25, 2014, followed by a limited release at selected theaters the next day.

In December 2014, South Korean singer Yoon Mi-rae revealed that the film used her song "Pay Day" without permission, and that she was taking legal action. Yoon Mi-rae and her label Feel Good Music reached a settlement with Sony Pictures Entertainment on May 13, 2015.

The Interview grossed $40 million in digital rentals, making it Sony's most successful digital release and earned an additional $12.3 million worldwide in box office ticket sales on a $44 million budget. It received mixed reviews for its humour and subject matter, although a few critics praised the performances of Rogen, Franco, Park and Diana Bang.

TRAILER

PLOT

Dave Skylark is the host of the talk show Skylark Tonight, where he interviews celebrities (including Eminem and Rob Lowe) mainly about personal topics. The broadcast is interrupted by news reports about North Korea concerning its leader Kim Jong Un and the nuclear weapons. After Skylark and his crew celebrate producer Aaron Rapaport's 1,000th episode, Rapaport is upset by a producer peer, who criticizes the show as not being a real news program. He voices his concern to Skylark, urging change. Skylark agrees and later discovers that Kim Jong Un is a fan of their show, prompting Rapaport to arrange an interview for him. Traveling to the outskirts of Dandong, China, to receive instructions from the North Korean chief propagandist Sook-yin Park, Rapaport accepts the interview on behalf of Skylark.

Following Rapaport's return, CIA agent Lacey shows up, requesting they assassinate Kim with a transdermal strip of ricin via handshake to prevent the country from launching a nuclear missile at the West Coast; they reluctantly agree. Skylark carries the strip inside a pack of gum. Upon arrival in Pyongyang, they are greeted by Sook and taken to the palace. They are introduced to Kim's personal security officers Koh and Yu who are immediately suspicious of the duo; when Koh finds the strip, he chews it, mistaking it for gum. After making a secret request for help, Lacey airdrops them two more strips via an UAV, but to get it back to their room, Rapaport has to evade a Siberian tiger and hide the container in his rectum before getting caught by security.

The next day, Skylark meets Kim and spends the day playing basketball, hanging out, riding in his personal tank and partying with escorts. Kim convinces Skylark that he is misunderstood as both a cruel dictator and a failed administrator, and they become friends. At a state dinner, Koh has a seizure from the ricin poisoning, accidentally shooting Yu before dying. The next morning, Skylark feels guilty, discarding one of the ricin strips and thwarts Rapaport's attempt to poison Kim with the second strip. After a dinner mourning the deaths of the bodyguards, Skylark witnesses Kim's malicious self as he threatens war against South Korea, the West and everyone who tries to undermine him. Skylark leaves and discovers that a nearby grocery store is fake, realizing Kim has been lying to him. At the same time, during an attempt to seduce Rapaport (who still has the ricin strip on his hand), Sook reveals she despises Kim and apologizes for defending the regime. Skylark returns and tries to get Sook's support to assassinate Kim, but she disagrees, suggesting to instead ruin his cult of personality and show the North Korean people the dire state of the country. The trio secretly devise a plan to expose him on air and arm themselves with guns. Before the broadcast begins, Kim gives Skylark a puppy as a symbol of their friendship.

During the internationally televised interview with Kim, Skylark addresses increasingly sensitive topics (including the country's food shortage and US-imposed economic sanctions) and challenges his need for his father's approval. Meanwhile, Sook and Rapaport take over the control booth to fend off Kim's guards trying to cut off the broadcast. Despite his initial resistance, Kim eventually cries uncontrollably, soiling himself after Skylark sings "Firework" by Katy Perry (knowing of Kim's fondness of her music), ruining his reputation. Enraged at Skylark's betrayal, Kim shoots him and vows to get revenge by launching the nuclear missile. Skylark, whose bulletproof vest saves him, regroups with Rapaport and Sook to escape (alongside the puppy) with the help of a guard. The trio hijacks Kim's tank to get to their pickup point, killing several more guards in the process. Kim chases the group in a helicopter but is shot down and killed by Skylark before he can issue the command to launch the missile.

With the missile launch thwarted, Sook guides Skylark and Rapaport to an escape route, explaining that she has to return to Pyongyang to maintain security. The two are later rescued by SEAL Team Six officers disguised as North Korean soldiers. Back in the US, Skylark writes a book about his experience in North Korea, Rapaport returns to work as a producer (and maintains contact with Sook via Skype), while North Korea becomes a denuclearized democracy with Sook as an interim leader.

Rating: 10 Stars

The Adam Project 2022 Netflix - In a dystopian 2050, fighter pilot Adam Reed steals a time jet to escape to 2018 to save his wife Laura.

 The Adam Project is a 2022 American science-fiction action comedy film produced by Skydance Media, Maximum Effort, and 21 Laps Entertainment for the Netflix streaming service. It was directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay written by Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Addison Tusing, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener and Zoe Saldaña.

Production on the film first began in 2012 with Tom Cruise attached to star. The film then fell into development hell until Netflix acquired the distribution rights. Filming commenced in November 2020 and wrapped in March 2021. The Adam Project began a limited "one night only" theatrical release on March 9, 2022 followed by its digital release on Netflix on March 11. The film received mixed reviews with praise for the performances, action sequences, visual effects, and its inspiration from movies of the 1980s, as well as criticism for the writing and storyline.

TRAILER

PLOT

In a dystopian 2050, fighter pilot Adam Reed steals a time jet to escape to 2018 to save his wife, Laura. In the process, he gets injured and crash-lands in 2022. Following the death of his father Louis a year previously, a 12-year-old Adam is bullied at school, gets suspended for fighting in school, and is distant from his mother Ellie. When he is home alone one night, he finds the injured future Adam. The younger Adam refuses to trust the stranger, but future Adam inadvertently mentions the names of both the younger Adam and his dog, Hawking. The younger Adam soon realizes that the stranger in front of him is his future self.

Due to a safety feature preventing him from flying because of his injuries, Adam must bring along the younger Adam and use his DNA to enter his jet. They both are soon attacked by Maya Sorian, the leader of the dystopian world, and her assistant Christos, but are saved by Laura, who had faked her death and stayed off-grid in an unknown location. After surviving the attack and comparing notes, Laura and the Adams realize that after the invention of time travel by Louis and his subsequent death, Sorian had monopolized the discovery. During her visit to 2018, Laura learned Sorian frequently came and advised her past self in order to secure her future wealth and power. To protect her secret, Sorian ordered Laura's death. Although Laura survived the assassination attempt, destruction of her time jet left her stranded in the past. The sudden arrival of Sorian's goons interrupts the reunion, and Laura fights off the attack long enough for the two Adams to escape to 2018.

In 2018, the Adams meet Louis in an attempt to enlist his help, but their father refuses any assistance out of concern for the effect on the time stream. That night, Sorian meets and warns her past self about Adam. Meanwhile, the Adams share their common feelings about their father in a motel. The next day, they both set off to destroy the time travel machine. On arrival at Sorian Technologies, they are attacked by Sorian's soldiers, but are unexpectedly saved by Louis, who has changed his mind and agrees to guide them. Louis reveals that destroying the machine will not destroy time travel as long as Sorian has his algorithm with all the math and constraints to control the process. Meanwhile, 2050 Sorian captures the younger Adam.

Although Louis and 2050 Adam remove a memory unit with the algorithm, both Sorians arrive and threaten 2022 Adam as leverage to coerce Louis into surrendering the algorithm. 2050 Adam stalls and allows 2022 Adam to escape from Sorian by pushing her gun away, but an errant bullet damages the seal restraining the electromagnetic field, causing it to grow to limitless values. The Reeds try as much as they can to stop them, but the older Sorian threatens to kill Louis. Adam warns that her bullets are armor-piercing, but Louis remains adamant. Seeing no other way, Sorian shoots at Louis, but the path of the bullet is altered by the electromagnetic field and hits 2018 Sorian instead, killing her and wiping both Sorians out of existence.

The Reeds barely manage to escape the facility's implosion and reach home, where they reconcile by playing a game of catch before the Adams return to their respective times. In 2022, the younger Adam lives in a new timeline where he never got suspended, has let go of his anger, and gives his mother a hug via an "echo". Sometime in the future, an older and much happier Adam meets Laura during a flight training lecture where she realizes, to Adam's amusement, she has entered the wrong building on the campus. Adam offers to walk her to her building, stating that he has got time, and they depart together.

Rating: 10 Stars

Great comedy: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spanish: Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is a 1988 Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas. The plot follows actress Pepa, who, after her lover Iván leaves without explanation, sets out to find the reason, and comes across an array of eccentric characters, including Iván's son from a previous relationship and her best friend Candela, who has been held captive by a Shiite terrorist cell.

TRAILER

PLOT 

Television actress Pepa Marcos is depressed because her boyfriend Iván has left her. They are voice actors who dub foreign films, notably Johnny Guitar with Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden. Iván's sweet-talking voice is the same one he uses in his work. About to leave on a trip, he has asked Pepa to pack his things in a suitcase he will pick up later.

Pepa returns home to find her answering machine filled with frantic messages from her friend, Candela; she rips out the phone and throws it out the window onto the balcony. Candela arrives; before she can explain her situation, Carlos (Iván's son with Lucía, his previous lover) arrives with his snobbish fiancée Marisa. They are apartment-hunting, and have chosen Pepa's penthouse to tour. Carlos and Pepa figure out each other's relationship to Iván; Pepa wants to know where Iván is, but Carlos does not know. Candela tries to kill herself by jumping off the balcony.

A bored Marisa decides to drink gazpacho from the fridge, unaware that it has been spiked with sleeping pills. Candela explains that she had an affair with an Arab who later visited her with some friends. Unbeknownst to her, they are a Shiite terrorist cell. When the terrorists leave, Candela flees to Pepa's place; she fears that the police are after her. Pepa goes to see a lawyer whom Carlos has recommended.

The lawyer, Paulina, behaves strangely, and has tickets to Stockholm. Candela tells Carlos that the Shiites plan to hijack a flight to Stockholm that evening and divert it to Beirut, where they have a friend who was arrested. Carlos fixes the phone, calls the police, hangs up before (he believes) they can trace the call, and kisses Candela. Pepa returns; Lucía calls and says that she is coming over to confront her about Iván. Carlos says that Lucía has recently been released from a mental hospital. Pepa, tired of Iván, throws his suitcase out (barely missing him); he leaves Pepa a message.

Pepa returns to her apartment and hears Carlos playing Lola Beltrán's "Soy Infeliz". She throws the record out the window, and it hits Paulina. Pepa hears Iván's message, rips out the phone and throws the answering machine out of the window. Lucía arrives with the telephone repairman and the police, who traced Carlos' call. Candela panics, but Carlos serves the spiked gazpacho. The policemen and repairman are knocked out, and Carlos and Candela fall asleep on the sofa; Lucía aims a policeman's gun at Pepa, who figures out that Iván is going to Stockholm with Paulina and their flight is the one the terrorists are planning to hijack. Lucía says that she faked being sane when she heard Iván's voice dubbed on a foreign film. She throws the gazpacho in Pepa's face, and rushes to the airport to kill Iván.

Pepa chases her in a cab with her neighbour, Ana. At the airport, Lucía sees Iván and Paulina at security and aims her gun at them. Pepa thwarts the murder attempt by rolling a luggage cart at Lucía, before fainting. Iván rushes to Pepa's aid and apologises for the way he has been treating her, offering to talk things out with her. Pepa, however, declares it is now too late and leaves. She returns to her home, which is a mess. Pepa sits on her balcony, where Marisa has just awakened. The women chat, sharing a moment of tranquility, and Pepa finally reveals what she wanted to tell Iván: she is pregnant.

Rating: 10 Stars (The movie is super fun!)

Great Comedy with the "The Wedding Ringer, 2015

The Wedding Ringer is a 2015 American buddy romantic comedy film directed and co-written by Jeremy Garelick. It stars Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, and Kaley Cuoco.The film was produced by Adam Fields, Will Packer Productions and Miramax, distributed by Screen Gems, and released on January 16, 2015.

TRAILER

PLOT

Jimmy Callahan provides best man services, through The Best Man Inc., for guys who don't have the friends needed for a wedding. Doug Harris, a successful tax attorney, and his fiancée Gretchen Palmer are planning their wedding. Frantically needing a best man and groomsmen, Doug contacts Jimmy's company.

Doug needs a "Golden Tux" (seven groomsmen) to match with Gretchen's bridesmaids, which has never been done before. Jimmy agrees to do it for $50,000, all expenses paid.

Three of Jimmy's friends are recruited as groomsmen: Fitzgibbons, a federal prison escapee, Lurch, who has a nagging wife and Reggie, an airport security guard. They interview for the four remaining spots: they choose Kip, sexy with a stutter; Endo, has three testicles; Bronstein, can dislocate and relocate his shoulder; and Otis, can say sentences backwards.

Doug tells Gretchen that "Bic" is a military priest based in El Salvador, and she insists that he also come to the family brunch. There, Doug gets nervous, almost blowing his cover until Jimmy accidentally sets Gretchen's grandmother on fire. In the emergency room, Jimmy lies to Gretchen's father Ed, that they used to play football. So he challenges them to a match with some of his old college teammates.

Doug meets his groomsmen, all with fake identities based on the last names of famous Los Angeles sports figures—Plunkett, Rambis, Garvey, Alzado, Drysdale, Carew, and Dickerson. Jimmy takes Doug and the groomsmen on fake photo shoots of skydiving, scuba-diving, etc..

When Doug begins to have doubts, they visit Edmundo, who tells him the key is to please Gretchen and her mother Lois and nothing else. To prove how good he is at being a best man, Jimmy takes Doug to a wedding where the best man makes a terrible speech. After, they have drinks and show off their dance moves. Jimmy tells him how he gave an excellent best man speech for an acquaintance which led to his career as a wedding ringer. Doug explains that he moved a lot with his parents, so he never got to make friends. When his parents died, Doug took over the business, and work consumed him, leaving him without friends and therefore a best man. Jimmy drives Doug home, and reiterates that they are in a business relationship, and Doug, although hurt, agrees.

At Doug's outrageous bachelor party he is introduced to Nadia, who tries to seduce him, but Doug instead befriends her. A prank involving peanut butter, a dog and a blindfolded Doug's goes awry, requiring the groomsmen and Nadia to rush him to a hospital. When he wakes up the next day, Nadia kisses him goodbye, she hints she would like to know him better. Later, the groomsmen play football with Ed and his college football friends, including Joe Namath, John Riggins, and Ed "Too Tall" Jones. A mud bowl ensues, Ed blows out his knee on the last play and the wedding party team wins.

At the rehearsal dinner, Gretchen's bridesmaids sing a song, while Doug's groomsmen create a slideshow of the fake pictures they took, winning Gretchen over. That night, she notices the Bic razors and Mitchum deodorant in the cabinet, and recognizes the last names of the groomsmen and deduces the scheme. Asking Doug about it, he brushes it off, saying she is paranoid, to which she reluctantly agrees.

On the wedding day, the family priest cancels, so Doug suggests that Jimmy officiate. At the reception, Jimmy congratulates Gretchen, who exclaims that the wedding is a disaster as her zipper is torn, her grandmother has third degree burns, her dad's knee is blown out, the food is bad, and she doesn't love Doug (saying she only married him because he is nice and can easily afford her lavish lifestyle). Doug overhears, telling Jimmy that he can't go through with it, but Jimmy dismisses this.

As Jimmy gives his best man speech, Doug stops him, revealing they aren't really married as "Bic" is not a real priest, nor are his groomsmen who they claim to be. Gretchen is livid that her wedding is ruined. Ed's college friends make peace with Doug and Jimmy and tell them they were good players. Jimmy gets a date with Gretchen's sister, Allison. As they leave, Doug pays Jimmy his $50,000 fee and they accept each other's friendship. Jimmy then has the idea to cash in Doug's first class honeymoon tickets to Tahiti, going instead on a guys trip, along with Nadia (who is now with Doug).

Rating: 10 Stars

The Best of Me, 2014 film - A history of Dawson who faces problems of an abusive father, finds a true love and a new father

NICHOLAS SPARKS 

The Best of Me film

General Information
Premiered	October 17, 2014
Starring	James Marsden as Dawson Cole Luke Bracey as young Dawson Michelle Monaghan as Amanda Collier Liana Liberato as young Amanda
Budget	$26 million
Box Office	$35,926,213

TRAILER

The Best of Me is an American romantic drama film directed by Michael Hoffman and written by Will Fetters and J. Mills Goodloe, based on Nicholas Sparks' 2011 novel of the same name. The film stars James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan with Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato.

Shooting began on March 6, 2014 in New Orleans. The film was released on October 17, 2014 by Relativity Media. Previews in selected test markets were shown on October 15.

PLOT

The film -- the story of Dawson and Amanda -- moves between alternate scenes of the couple's relationship in 1992, and their current separate lives. 

Dawson Cole works on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. An explosion on the job nearly kills him, throwing him into the water, but miraculously he survives. After his recovery months later, Dawson learns that his close friend and surrogate father—Tuck—has died, so he returns home for the first time in almost twenty years to carry out Tuck's final wishes, with the deceased's appointed lawyer.   

When he arrives at Tuck's house, Dawson is surprised to find that Tuck arranged also for Dawson's high school girlfriend, Amanda, to join him. It seems that Tuck's intention was to heal some old hurt between them. However, Amanda is now married. Dawson was born into a notorious criminal family with its abusive father. In flashbacks, it is revealed that as a teenager, he once left his father's home and stayed overnight in the garage of Tuck Hostetler, a local mechanic who had recently lost his wife, allowed Dawson to live with him and eventually considered him as his own son.   

Dawson and Amanda attended the same high school and began dating, soon falling in love. On the afternoon of the prom, Dawson's father and brothers beat Tuck. Dawson, angered, goes to his father's, intending to kill him with Tuck's rifle. However, as they scuffled, Dawson's cousin, an expectant teenage father, was unintentionally killed. Thus, in exchange for a lighter sentence, Dawson testifies against his own father and brothers. Since Dawson would not be paroled for at least four years, he cut ties with Amanda, forcing her to prefer college over waiting his release.   

After Tuck's death, Amanda and Dawson meet with his lawyer and learn that they are to scatter Tuck's ashes at a cottage he owned with his wife. Later, Dawson and Amanda spend a passionate night together. They have lunch and discuss their plans, during which he is reminded how she insisted but refused at the time to visit him at prison. The following day, Amanda decides to return to her family and her strained marriage, to fulfill her family commitments.   

When Amanda goes home, Dawson remains at Tuck's to restore the garden. However, she later decides to split up with her husband, and she leaves Dawson a voicemail expressing her love. Before anything more can happen between them, Dawson is attacked and almost killed by his brothers, having been almost pushed in front of a moving train. He knocks them out, but after calling 911, he was spotted by his father across the railroad tracks and is shot dead.   

Meanwhile, Amanda gets a call that her son has been in a car accident. On arriving at the hospital, the doctor tells her he needs a heart transplant. That same night, as a donor was found, Amanda had a dream of Dawson sitting at her bedside, and when awoken by the doorbell rung, it's her mother, who came to tell her that Dawson had been shot and killed by his father.   

One year later, Amanda gets a call from her son telling her he found out the donor's name and that maybe she knew him: Dawson Cole. Shocked and happy upon hearing this, she drives back to the house Tuck had left them. It is there that Amanda reads the letter Dawson had left her, telling her how much he loved her. She proceeds to take a walk through the garden Dawson had beautifully arranged for her before he died.  

Rating: 10 Stars

Soul Man, 1986 - Comedy: Young Man disguises himself as black to get into Harvard

Soul Man is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Steve Miner and written by Carol L. Black. C. Thomas Howell stars as a white male law student who pretends to be black in order to qualify for a scholarship. Its title refers to the song of the same name by Isaac Hayes and David Porter; the original soundtrack includes a version performed by Sam Moore and Lou Reed.

PLOT

Mark Watson is the pampered son of a rich family who is about to attend Harvard Law School along with his best friend Gordon. Unfortunately, his father's neurotic psychiatrist talks his patient into focusing on his own happiness instead of spending money on his son. Faced with the prospect of having to pay for law school by himself, Mark decides to apply for a scholarship, but the only suitable one is for African Americans only. He decides to cheat by using tanning pills in a larger dose than prescribed to appear as an African American. Watson then sets out for Harvard, naïvely believing that black people have no problems at all in American society.

However, once immersed in a black student's life, Mark finds out prejudice and racism truly exists. He meets a young African American student named Sarah Walker, whom he at first only flirts with; gradually, however, he genuinely falls in love with her. In passing, she mentions that he received the scholarship she was in the running for at the last minute. Due to this, she not only has to handle her classes but work as a waitress to support herself and her young son George.

Slowly, Mark begins to regret his decision as he continues to experience problems because of his skin tone. He gets arrested by a cop who assumes that he is a thief because he is driving an expensive car, is put on the receiving end of many hurtful racial stereotypes by white people and finds himself subjected to sexual harassment by his landlord's daughter, Whitney, who is eager to explore what she perceives to be the "exotic" thrill of sleeping with a black man.

After a chaotic day in which Sarah, his parents (who are not aware of his double life), and Whitney all make surprise visits at the same time, Mark drops the charade and publicly reveals himself to be white. He is surprised to find that many are willing to forgive him for the charade after considering his reasons for doing so, but Sarah is furious. Mark has a private conversation with his professor. He has learned more than he bargained for, admitting that he still doesn't know what it is like to be black because he could have changed back to being white at any time.

Because Mark must forfeit his scholarship, his father agrees to loan him the money for school, but with exorbitant interest. He goes to Sarah and begs for another chance, to which she agrees after Mark stands up for her and George when two male students tell a racist joke in front of them.

Rating: 10 Stars (Super Fun)

Don't worry Darling - The housewife Pugh suspects a sinister secret being kept from its residents by the man who runs the place (Pine).

 Don't Worry Darling is a 2022 American psychological thriller film directed by Olivia Wilde from a screenplay by Katie Silberman, based on a spec script by Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke, and Silberman. The film stars Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, and Chris Pine. The film follows a housewife (Pugh) living in an idyllic company town who begins to suspect a sinister secret being kept from its residents by the man who runs it (Pine).

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PLOT

Alice and Jack Chambers are a married couple who live in Victory, California, an idealistic desert company town in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Every day, the men leave for work at Victory Headquarters in the surrounding desert, in which their wives are discouraged from entering or even asking about their husbands' work. The women enjoy luxuries and lounging while caring for their homes during the men’s absence.

Alice spends her days with other wives, including her best friend Bunny. One resident, Margaret, has become an outcast after experiencing a mental breakdown and taking her son into the desert, resulting in his apparent death, although she claims Victory took him from her as punishment for breaking the rules. At a party hosted by Victory's enigmatic founder, Frank, Alice witnesses Margaret's husband attempt to give her medication after an outburst. Alice and Jack then have sex in Frank's bedroom, but she notices Frank secretly watching.

Riding the trolley across town, Alice sees a plane crash in the desert and rushes to help. She stumbles onto Headquarters in the desert and touches one of its mirror-like windows, experiencing surreal hallucinations about another life before waking up at home that night. In the following days, she experiences increasingly strange occurrences and receives a phone call from Margaret, who claims to have seen the same things. After brushing off Margaret, Alice witnesses her slit her own throat and fall from her roof. Before she can reach Margaret's body, Alice is dragged away by men in red jumpsuits who work for Frank and experiences strange visions.

Jack dismisses Alice's claims and says Margaret is simply recovering from a household accident, corroborated by the town physician, Dr. Collins, who makes a house-call at their residence. He prescribes medication for Alice, which Jack declines, and she steals Margaret's heavily redacted medical file from his briefcase. Alice becomes increasingly paranoid, and during a company celebration where Frank gives Jack a promotion, she breaks down in the bathroom. Comforted by her friend Bunny, Alice attempts to explain her suspicions, but Bunny reacts angrily, accusing Alice of jeopardizing their livelihood in Victory.

Alice and Jack invite their neighbors to dinner, with Frank and his wife, Shelley, as special guests. In private, Frank confirms Alice's suspicions and taunts her by saying he hopes she continues to challenge him. Spurred by his confession, she attempts to expose him over dinner, but Frank makes her appear delusional to the other guests, causing Jack grief over her deteriorating mental state. In the aftermath, Alice begs Jack to leave Victory, to which he feigns agreement, but he instead has her taken away by Frank's men. Dr. Collins forces Alice to undergo electroshock therapy, during which she sees visions of herself in the 21st century, struggling to make ends meet as a surgeon named Alice Warren and living with the unemployed, lazy, and disgruntled Jack.

After her treatment, Alice is welcomed home and resumes her normal life, but comes to realize the visions are her real memories. Realizing he can no longer conceal the truth, Jack finally admits it: Victory is a simulated world created by Frank, where Jack and the other men lead their version of perfect lives; the women they have forced into the mid-20th century simulation are unaware that their lives, children and Victory itself do not exist. When the men leave for work each day, they are in reality logging out of the simulation for real jobs and to maintain their drugged wives, whose minds stay in the simulation. Jack argues that Alice was miserable in the real world while Victory means they can both finally be happy, but she is infuriated for him putting her in the simulation without her consent. Jack begs her to stay, forcefully holding on to Alice, prompting her to fatally smash a rocks glass over his head, causing his death in both the simulation and reality.

Frank is immediately alerted to Jack's death, while Bunny finds Alice and explains that she has always known Victory was a simulation, but chose to stay to be with her children, who died in real life. She tells Alice that her real body will be killed by Frank's minions, so she must get to Headquarters – the exit portal from the simulation. Alice silently confronts the neighborhood, leading the other wives to become aware, while the husbands panic. Fleeing in Jack's car, Alice is chased by Dr. Collins and Frank's men, maneuvering them into fatally crashing into each other. Meanwhile, Shelley fatally stabs Frank to take control of Victory. Arriving at Headquarters, Alice has a final simulation vision of Jack, then puts her hands on Headquarters just as Frank's men reach her. The screen cuts to black, and Alice gasps for air.

Rating: 10 Stars

Harry & Meghan in a documentary about their Royal and personal life

Harry & Meghan is an American documentary series streaming on Netflix, starring Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. The series has six parts and covers the couple's relationship from their early courtship to their decision to step back as working members of the British royal family and their subsequent activities. It also includes interviews with family, friends, historians, and journalists.

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PLOT

Harry and Meghan share information about the early days of their romance, detailing out their first date and revealing their exchanges via email, their personal nicknames, and photos and footage from their one-week visit to Botswana. They also discuss details about the night before their relationship was made public, during which they attended a Halloween party with Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank. Harry also talks about the impact his mother's death has had on his life and on his relationship with the paparazzi and the press, and draws comparison between her experience and the treatment received by Meghan. Commenting on his mother's 1995 interview, he said he believed his mother was "deceived into giving the interview" but spoke "the truth of her experience". He describes his childhood as being "filled with laughter, filled with happiness and filled with adventure," but states that he had "little help or guidance" after his mother's death. He further discusses his relationship with his other girlfriends and the public pressures put on female members of the royal family, adding that men within the family chose "to marry someone who would fit the mould as opposed to somebody who you perhaps are destined to be with." Harry and Meghan's children, Archie and Lilibet, also appear in the episode.

Doria Ragland sits down for her first public interview since her daughter Meghan and Harry started their relationship. She discusses her daughter's childhood, accompanied by images that show the two together. Harry, referring to headlines such as "(Almost) Straight Outta Compton", claims that at the start of their relationship members of the royal family were wondering why Meghan should be treated differently from other women who married into the family and were harassed by the press and their advice was not to say anything, though he points out the difference between their experience and hers to be "the race element." Meghan reflects on an incident from her childhood when a stranger shouted the N-word at her mother. There are also discussions on Brexit and its impact on the British society. The couple also discusses their experience when their respective parents went through divorce. Meghan details out her surprise at the formality within the royal family, adding that it was not only on the outside but "carried through on the inside." She described herself as a hugger, which she said could be "really jarring for a lot of Brits." The couple also shares details about the night they became engaged, and Harry's proposal at Kensington Palace.

Harry and Meghan discuss their engagement interview, which she describes as a "structured reality show" that was "rehearsed". The couple, as well as Meghan's mother, further discuss their relationship with the media and paparazzi after the couple's romance was made public. There are also discussions on racism in the history of the British Empire. Harry reflects on the moment he was wearing a Nazi uniform at a Halloween party during his youth, something he describes as "one of the biggest mistakes of his life". Harry also discusses the existence of "a huge level of unconscious bias" in the royal family which he claims contributes to its problems, giving Princess Michael of Kent wearing a blackamoor brooch as an example. Meghan explores her relationship with her father Thomas Markle and her paternal side of the family. She mentions that she has not been in touch with her half-sister Samantha Markle for over a decade but is close to Samantha's daughter, Ashleigh Hale. Meghan claims that Hale could not be invited to her wedding in 2018 as advisors thought it would not have been appropriate to invite her but not Samantha. Meghan also talks about her father Thomas staging paparazzi shots before the nuptials.

The episode starts by covering the couple's wedding day. The couple talks about their struggles in their first residence Nottingham Cottage, which they said was too small. Meghan reflects on her first official engagement with Queen Elizabeth II and then discusses her own role in organizing a fundraiser for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. Harry claims there was resentment in the royal family at the popularity of Meghan during their tour of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The episode also compares the coverage received by Meghan and her sister-in-law Catherine during their respective pregnancies. Meghan also discusses her suicidal thoughts and how she was allegedly not allowed to get help. Harry claims the communications offices at the palace work against each other. He talks about his disappointment "to see [his] brother's office copy the very same thing" his father Charles once did. He also talks about their decision not to serve "[their] child up on a platter" by appearing in front of a hospital after he was born. The couple also discusses their tour of Southern Africa, and how Meghan did not expect a part when she was asked about her mental health be used in an ITV documentary.

Harry claims the palace's advice was not to take legal action once Meghan's letter to her father was published by The Mail on Sunday, but they filed a lawsuit after seeking independent legal advice. Meghan's lawyer claims there were "negative briefings" from the palace to "suit other people's agendas". Harry talks about their decision to go to Vancouver Island after talks with his father as they could have more privacy there. The couple also talks about the palace's alleged attempts to block Harry from seeing the Queen in person, and he emphasizes his grandmother was not blindsided as by December 2019 their plans to leave were in the making "for a minimum of two years." Harry discusses the leaking of a letter he had sent to his father, which mentioned he and Meghan "were willing to relinquish [their] Sussex titles." Harry then alleges that his brother William screamed and shouted at him at the Sandringham Summit, while his father said "things that were just simply untrue" and the Queen remained silent. Harry claims that a statement put out on his and his brother's behalf after the meeting, which denied tensions between them, was released without his permission. He emphasizes that the decision to leave was his, not Meghan's. They also suggest that Meghan's half-sister could have been involved in some of the online abuse directed at her. Meghan talks about the death threats she received as a result of hateful content spread on social media platforms.

Tyler Perry talks about how he assisted Harry and Meghan upon their arrival in the U.S. as he offered them somewhere to stay for six weeks, while the royal family still thought they were in Canada. As non-working royals, they no longer had state-funded security. Meghan mentions MailOnline's attempts during the litigation to get access to all text messages on her phone. They also talk about how a group of Meghan's friends, allegedly without her authorization, talked about her letter to her father in a People magazine article before it was published by the Mail. Harry blames Meghan's miscarriage on the actions of the Mail due to the stress they caused. The couple discusses their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, which Meghan says had been a long time in the making. There is also a mention of an investigation into allegations of bullying against Meghan. Meghan confesses that she thought the biggest takeaway from the interview would be about her mental health struggles, but instead it turned into a conversation about race. Harry describes his grandfather Prince Philip as "a man of service, honour and great humour", and said returning to the UK for his funeral was hard because of his family's attitude. The documentary also discusses Jason Knauf's witness statement during Meghan's court case against the Mail, who is the former aide to Harry and his brother William.

Rating: 10 Stars

Away - from their families for three years on the first crewed spaceflight to Mars.

Away is an American science fiction drama streaming television series starring Hilary Swank. Created by Andrew Hinderaker, the show premiered on Netflix on September 4, 2020. In October 2020, the series was canceled after one season. The show portrays the sacrifices an international group of astronauts must make, as they prepare to be away from their families for three years on the first crewed spaceflight to Mars.

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PLOT

Away follows the first crewed expedition to Mars, the Mars Joint Initiative. It features an international crew: a Chinese chemist, a world-leading British botanist with no previous experience in space, a Russian cosmonaut with the most experience in space, an Indian medical officer who is second in command, and American commander Emma Green. Emma's husband trained as an astronaut along with her, and might have commanded the mission but for a medical condition he cannot be part of the mission. 

The three-year mission launches from the Moon; however, several crew members do not trust Emma's ability to command because of her response to a crisis situation at the very beginning of the mission.

The series is described as being "about hope, humanity and how ultimately, we need one another if we are to achieve impossible things."

Main Cast

• Hilary Swank as Emma Green, a NASA astronaut who is commander of the mission and ship Atlas. She is also the wife of Matt Logan and the mother of Lex.
• Josh Charles as Matt Logan, Emma's husband, Lex's father, and a NASA engineer who supports Emma's mission at NASA's mission control center in Houston. He was an astronaut, grounded due to having cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM).
• Vivian Wu as Lu Wang, a Chinese astronaut who is a chemist and who had an affair with CAPCOM Mei Chen. Lu is in a loveless marriage with her husband; they have a son together.
• Mark Ivanir as Misha Popov, Russian cosmonaut and the Atlas engineer. He is the world's most experienced space traveler, who sacrificed his relationship with his family to his career. He is estranged from his adult daughter because he was in space when his wife died.
• Ato Essandoh as Kwesi Weisberg-Abban, a Jewish British-Ghanaian botanist and rookie astronaut. He was born in Ghana and raised in England by adoptive parents, after his birth parents died.
• Ray Panthaki as Group Captain Ram Arya, the mission's Indian second-in-command pilot and a medical officer. He is estranged from his family.
• Talitha Bateman as Alexis "Lex" Logan, Emma and Matt's teenage daughter.

Rating: 10 Stars