Sunday, August 27, 2023

Terminator Salvation Post-Apocalyptic Skynet's machine are fighting humans

Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American military science fiction action film directed by McG and written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. It is the fourth installment of the Terminator franchise, serving as sequel to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), but also as a soft reboot. This is the only Terminator film to date not to feature Arnold Schwarzenegger, though his likeness briefly appears digitally. Instead, it stars Christian Bale and Sam Worthington with Anton YelchinMoon BloodgoodBryce Dallas HowardCommonMichael Ironside, and Helena Bonham Carter in supporting roles. 
In a departure from the previous installments, Salvation is a post-apocalyptic film set in the year 2018. It focuses on the war between Skynet's machine network and humanity, as the remnants of the world's militaries have united to form the Resistance to fight against Skynet. Bale portrays John Connor, a Resistance fighter and central character, while Worthington portrays cyborg Marcus Wright. Yelchin plays a young Kyle Reese, a character first introduced in The Terminator (1984), and the film depicts the origins of the T-800 Terminator. After troubled pre-production, with the Halcyon Company acquiring the rights from Andrew G. Vajna and Mario Kassar, and several writers working on the screenplay, filming began in May 2008 in New Mexico, and ran for 77 days.




TRAILER



PLOT 

In 2003, Dr. Serena Kogan of Cyberdyne Systems convinces death row inmate Marcus Wright to sign over his body for medical research following his execution. Sometime later, the automated Skynet system is activated and becomes self-aware; perceiving humans as a threat to its existence, it starts a nuclear holocaust to eradicate them in the event known as "Judgment Day". 

In 2018, John Connor orchestrates an attack on a Skynet base, where he discovers prisoners and schematics in a laboratory for incorporating living tissue into a new type of Terminator, which he recognizes as the T-800 model. John survives an explosion on the base, which is destroyed. Following John's departure, Marcus emerges from the base's wreckage and begins walking toward Los Angeles.  

John returns to the Resistance headquarters located aboard a nuclear submarine and is briefed by General Ashdown that the Resistance has discovered a hidden signal containing a code protocol that they believe can initiate a shutdown of Skynet's machines. The Resistance plans to launch an offensive against Skynet's headquarters in San Francisco. 

It is decided among the Resistance that the offensive will commence in four days, due to an intercepted kill list created by Skynet, which plans to kill the Resistance's leaders within the same time frame. 

John learns he is second on this list, following Kyle Reese. The Resistance leaders do not understand Kyle's importance, but John knows that Kyle will eventually travel back in time and become his father and realizes that Skynet has learned this.  Arriving at the ruins of Los Angeles, Marcus encounters Kyle and a mute child named Star during a skirmish with Skynet's machines. Kyle and Star are subsequently abducted and taken prisoner by Skynet. 

Two Resistance A-10 airplanes are shot down while trying to intercept a machine transport. Marcus locates downed pilot Blair Williams, and they make their way to John's base, where Marcus is wounded by a magnetic land mine. Attempting to save his life, the Resistance fighters discover that Marcus is a cyborg, with a cybernetic endoskeleton and a partially artificial cerebral cortex. 

Although Marcus insists that he is human, John and his wife Kate suspect that Marcus has been sent to execute them, and John orders him to be killed. Blair helps Marcus escape. During the pursuit, Marcus saves John's life from Skynet's hydrobots and the two make a bargain: Marcus will enter Skynet's headquarters in San Francisco to help John rescue Kyle and the other prisoners if he lets him live. 

John pleads with General Ashdown to delay the offensive so he can formulate a plan to extract the human captives, but Ashdown refuses and relieves John of his command. However, the Resistance disobeys Ashdown's orders and instead awaits John's signal. Marcus enters the base, interfaces with the computer, and disables perimeter defenses so that John can release the prisoners. Marcus learns from Skynet (which assumes the form of Dr. Kogan on a screen) that he was resurrected by it to lure John to the base; when the Resistance launches its attack, John will be killed, achieving Skynet's goal. The hidden signal that the Resistance received earlier is revealed to be a ruse, and Skynet uses it to track down and destroy the Resistance command submarine.  

Refusing to accept his fate, Marcus tears out the hardware linking him to Skynet and leaves to aid John. John locates Kyle and Star, but they are ambushed by a T-800 Terminator. As Kyle and Star escape, Marcus appears and fights the T-800 while John rigs together nuclear fuel cells to destroy the facility. Marcus is soon outclassed in strength and temporarily disabled until John comes to his aid, after which John is stabbed through the chest by the T-800 from behind. 

Marcus destroys the T-800 by tearing its head off and he, John, Kyle, and Star are airlifted out. John detonates the explosives, destroying a stockpile of Skynet's weapons, including the T-800s, with the base.  

At a field hospital, John's injury is deemed terminal, so Marcus offers his heart for transplantation, sacrificing himself to save John. 

As he recovers, John radios to other Resistance fighters that, although this battle has been won, the war continues.  

RATING: 10 STARS 

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Don't look up An Asteroid is entering Earth's orbit and threatens to hit the planet

Don't Look Up is a 2021 American apocalyptic political satire black comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Adam McKay from a story he co-wrote with David Sirota. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Leonardo DiCaprioJennifer LawrenceRob MorganJonah HillMark RylanceTyler PerryTimothée ChalametRon PerlmanAriana GrandeScott MescudiHimesh PatelMelanie LynskeyCate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep

The film tells the story of two astronomers attempting to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will destroy human civilization. The impact event is an allegory for climate change, and the film is a satire of government, political, celebrity, and media indifference to the climate crisis.




PLOT

Kate Dibiasky, a doctoral candidate in astronomy at Michigan State University, discovers an unknown comet. Her professor, Doctor Randall Mindy, confirms that it will collide with Earth in approximately six months and is large enough to cause a global extinction event. NASA verifies the findings, and Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe, head of their Planetary Defense Coordination Office, accompanies Dibiasky and Mindy to present their findings to the White House. However, they are met with apathy from President Janie Orlean and her Chief of Staff Jason Orlean, who is also her son.

Oglethorpe encourages Dibiasky and Mindy to leak the news to the media, which they do so on The Daily Rip, a popular morning talk show. When hosts Jack Bremmer and Brie Evantee treat the topic lightly, Dibiasky loses her composure and angrily rants about the threat. Mindy receives public approval for his looks, while Dibiasky becomes the subject of negative memes for her on-air behavior. Actual news about the comet's threat receives little public attention, and the danger is denied by Orlean's NASA Director Jocelyn Calder, a top donor to Orlean with no background in astronomy. When news of Orlean's sex scandal with her Supreme Court nominee Sheriff Conlon is exposed, she distracts from the bad publicity by finally confirming the threat and announcing a project to strike and divert the comet using nuclear weapons.

The mission successfully launches, but Orlean abruptly aborts it when Peter Isherwell, the billionaire CEO of BASH Cellular and another top donor, discovers that the comet contains trillions of dollars worth of rare-earth elements. The White House agrees to commercially exploit the comet by fragmenting and recovering it from the ocean, using technology proposed by BASH in a scheme that has not undergone peer review. Orlean sidelines Dibiasky and Oglethorpe while hiring Mindy as the National Science Advisor. Dibiasky attempts to mobilize public opposition to the scheme but gives up under threat from Orlean's administration. Mindy becomes a prominent voice advocating for the comet's commercial opportunities and begins an affair with Evantee.

World opinion is divided among people who believe the comet is a severe threat, those who decry alarmism and believe that mining a destroyed comet will create jobs, and those who deny that the comet even exists. When Dibiasky returns home to Illinois, her parents kick her out of the house and she begins a relationship with a young man named Yule, a shoplifter she meets at her retail job. After Mindy's wife confronts him about his infidelity, she returns to Michigan without him. Mindy questions whether Isherwell's technology will be able to break apart the comet, angering the billionaire. Becoming frustrated with the administration, Mindy finally rants on national television, criticizing Orlean for downplaying the impending apocalypse and questioning humanity's indifference.

Cut off from the administration, Mindy reconciles with Dibiasky as the comet becomes visible from Earth. Mindy, Dibiasky, and Oglethorpe organize a protest campaign on social media, telling people to "Just Look Up" and call on other countries to conduct comet interception operations. Simultaneously, Orlean starts an anti-campaign telling people "Don't Look Up". Orlean and BASH cut Russia, India, and China out of the rights for the comet-mining deal, so they prepare their own joint deflection mission, only for their spacecraft to explode. As the comet becomes larger in the sky, Orlean's supporters start turning on her administration. BASH's attempt at breaking the comet apart goes awry, and everyone realizes that humanity is doomed.

Isherwell, Orlean, and others in their elite circle board a sleeper spaceship designed to find an Earth-like planet, inadvertently leaving Jason behind. Orlean offers Mindy two places on the ship, but he declines, choosing to spend a final evening with his friends and family. As expected, the comet strikes off the coast of Chile, causing a worldwide disaster and triggering an extinction-level event. The shockwave strikes Mindy's house, killing everyone inside.

In a mid-credits scene, the 2,000 people who left Earth before the comet's impact land on a lush alien planet 22,740 years later, ending their period of suspended animation. They exit their spacecraft naked and admire the habitable world; however, Orlean is suddenly killed by a bird-like predator, one of a pack that surrounds the planetary newcomers.

In a post-credits scene back on Earth, it is revealed that Jason managed to survive the impact. He records himself, declaring himself the "last man on Earth" and asking any viewers to "like and subscribe".

RATING: 10 STARS

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Monte Carlo Selena Gomez has a Rich "Double" and get into a big mess

Monte Carlo is a 2011 American adventure-romantic comedy film based on Headhunters by Jules Bass. It was directed by Thomas Bezucha. Denise Di Novi, Alison Greenspan, Nicole Kidman, and Arnon Milchan produced the film for Fox 2000 Pictures and Regency Enterprises. It began production in Harghita, Romania on May 5, 2010. Monte Carlo stars Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy as three friends posing as wealthy socialites in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The film was released on July 1, 2011. It features the song "Who Says" by Selena Gomez & the Scene and numerous songs by British singer Mika. Monte Carlo received mixed reviews from critics, and earned over $39 million on a $20 million budget. Fox Home Entertainment released Monte Carlo on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 18, 2011.





PLOT

Grace Bennett is a New York University-bound, Texas high-school student who works as a waitress in a restaurant with her high school dropout, best friend Emma Perkins to earn money for a post-graduation trip to Paris, France. Grace's stepfather pays for her uptight older stepsister Meg Kelly to join them, and Emma goes to Paris despite her boyfriend Owen's marriage proposal.

The trip quickly proves to be a disappointment; the girls discover they were ripped off, with a cramped hotel room and a tour that moves too fast for anyone to appreciate anything properly. After missing the bus and being left behind by their tour guide at the Eiffel Tower, the three girls seek refuge from the rain in a posh hotel. The hotel staff and paparazzi mistake Grace for the spoiled celebutante British heiress Cordelia Winthrop-Scott, Grace's double, who leaves rather than stay to attend an auction for a Romanian charity to which she is to donate a Bvlgari necklace. Despite Meg's protests, the three girls spend the night in Cordelia's suite and fly to Monte Carlo with Cordelia's luggage the next day.

At the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, the girls meet Theo Marchand, the son of the philanthropist hosting the charity. Theo is cold towards the three because he loathes Cordelia's spoiled nature. He escorts them to a ball, where Grace successfully fools Cordelia's aunt Alicia and Emma dances with Prince Domenico. Meg reunites with Riley, an Australian backpacker she briefly met in Paris. They find they have things in common and spend time together before he leaves for Italy. Meanwhile, Owen decides to travel to Paris in search of Emma.

When Grace participates in a polo game, Alicia discovers the impersonation because of Grace's different riding style. After calling the real Cordelia confirms her suspicion, Alicia believes Grace is a lookalike that Cordelia hired to take her place while she parties. However, after Alicia threatens her to expose the impersonation, Grace convinces her not to endanger the charity auction, and Alicia agrees to keep quiet.

Theo grows attracted to "Cordelia's" frank personality, while Domenico invites Emma to a party on a yacht. Emma dresses up for the party in the Bulgari necklace but meets Meg on the way, and Meg takes the necklace for safekeeping but later forgets about it, accidentally leaving it in Riley's backpack. At the party, Emma becomes disillusioned by Domenico's arrogance toward the waitresses.

After seeing Emma in the newspaper account of Grace's appearance at the ball, Owen goes to Monte Carlo. Cordelia also arrives there and sees Grace in the newspaper. Finding the necklace is missing, she calls the police. The girls are in search for Riley after Meg tells Grace and Emma that he is leaving on a train to Italy, but later on he shows up at the hotel with the necklace to return to Meg. They find Cordelia in the suite, and when Cordelia threatens to withdraw the necklace from the auction, the girls panic and tackle her to the couch. When the police come to the door, they muffle her screams, and Grace covers for them. They tie Cordelia to a chair and gag her by stuffing an apple in her mouth, so Grace can take her place at the auction while Emma watches Cordelia. Owen arrives to the hotel in France and finds Emma at the suite, and they reconcile.

Cordelia eventually escapes and reveals Grace's fraud at the auction. She demands Grace's arrest, but after Grace's sincere public confession, Alicia bids the unexpectedly large amount of €6 million for the necklace to save her. When Cordelia still insists on the arrest, the inspector observes that there is legally no crime; Cordelia has no evidence that Grace did anything wrong now that the necklace has been returned, she can't prove when Grace was posing as her without compromising her own recent actions, and Cordelia can't force legal action just because she's upset about the situation. After the auction, the three girls leave and go on their separate ways. Meg decides to join Riley on his global travels around the world while Owen and Emma return to Texas, marry, and move into their own home. Theo and Grace reunite at the Romanian school, which the former runs and the latter volunteer-teaches.

RATING: 10 STARS

A perfect pairing Lola and Max found each other in a remote place in Australia

A Perfect Pairing is a 2022 American romantic comedy film. The film follows the story of Lola, an LA-based wine executive. Stuart McDonald directs the film and Victoria Justice stars as Lola while Adam Demos appears as Max. The film was released on May 19, 2022 on Netflix. The film is described as a fun watch made for lovers of wine and girlboss success stories.






PLOT

LA-based wine executive Lola feels underappreciated by her boss Calder at Mythos, who pays no attention to her ideas. A chef, knowing of her frustration, introduces her to a little-known wine of an Australian company which has yet to go international.

Lola secretly tells her workmate Audra about the Vaughn winery, who then pitches them to their boss behind Lola's back. So, she starts up her own company and flies to Australia to secure the potential client.

Initially signing up for their AirBNB accommodation, Lola immediately tries to pitch Hazel, who quickly turns her down. Discovering they are short a hired hand, she volunteers to work on the client's sheep farm under station boss Max to prove her moxie.

Thrown into the manual labor, Lola's workmates haze her, and she oversteps with excessively long showers and blowing the circuit breaker. She learns to mend fences, to not mix differently tagged sheep, to load a manure spreader but after five days she has given up.

On the way into town to catch a flight, Max's truck breaks down. So, on the way back to the farm, Max tells Lola that she shouldn't give up. As she has the night to mull it over, she is inspired by a book about the farm's matriarch. Lola fixes the hot water heater, and gradually earns the trust of her fellow hired hands.

Lola finally participates in the 'hands' evening gathering, showing she has a good singing voice. After a day she finally helps with shearing, at night she invited into the family's pool by Max. Later, he and Hazel, over a game of pool, discuss Lola's proposal to export with her company, revealing that Max is Hazel's brother.

Lola and Max visit the Vaughn vineyard and then camp overnight. After a tour and fence-mending together, that night they finally show their feelings to one another. The next morning, Max reveals the secret that he is a Vaughn, his sister's silent partner, upsetting Lola. Feeling betrayed, on return to the sheep farm, she discovers her former boss and Audra negotiating with Hazel to sign a contract to import Vaughn wines to the US. Calder tries to lure her back, but she is unwavering.

Months later, Lola is back in California now working with Audra again with her tiny wine distribution company. Max appears at Lola's wine expo stand, declares his feelings and that his winery has dropped Calder's company for hers and that he wants to be with her. They reconcile and return to Australia to celebrate station hand Sam's wedding.


Rating: 10 Stars


Outlaw King, 2018

Outlaw King is a 2018 historical action drama film, co-written, produced, and directed by David Mackenzie. Chris Pine stars as Scottish kin...