Retribution 2023 starring Liam Neeson

Retribution is a 2023 action thriller film directed by Nimród Antal and written by Chris Salmanpour. The film stars Liam Neeson, Noma Dumezweni, Lilly Aspell, Jack Champion, Embeth Davidtz and Matthew Modine.

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PLOT

Matt Turner works as a financier at Nanite Capital under his friend and CEO Anders Muller and lives with his wife, Heather, and two children, Emily and Zach, in Berlin. While driving his kids to school, Matt receives a call from an unknown number with a distorted voice who says that there is a bomb under his seat, which is already armed when Matt sits on it. The bomb is triggered by both pressure plates placed on all the seats and a radio frequency. He also threatens to detonate the bomb if Matt tries to get help. Matt finds the device and he is forced to follow the bomber’s instructions in order to keep them alive.

The bomber forces Matt to watch Sylvain, the latter’s client who is also receiving a bomb threat, being killed in an explosion when a panicked Sylvain’s girlfriend attempts to escape. The bomber tells Matt to call Heather to retrieve €50,000 at his safety deposit box at the bank. After Heather retrieves it, the bomber changes the plan by telling her to give the money to the man in a blue suit. When she does, the police arrive and arrest the man.

After seeing the news implicating Matt for the bombing, Europol agent Angela Brickmann calls him, who tries to convince her of his innocence and orders the signal to be jammed. The bomber reveals to Matt that he and Anders have a €208 million slash fund from the clients deposited on Matt’s “emergency collateral account” in a bank in Dubai. He arranges Matt to meet Anders at the power plant. Arriving there, the bomber forces Matt to order Anders to liquidate his collateral account. Despite Anders reluctantly complying, the bomber orders Matt to kill Anders with a revolver in exchange for his life and his children. When Matt refuses, the bomber blows up Anders’s car; the shrapnel injures Emily’s leg.

After a police chase, Matt is eventually surrounded by them with Angela and Heather arriving at the scene. The bomb squad safely removes Zach and Emily, who is then treated for her injuries, after they realized that the pressure plate is only located under Matt’s seat. Interrogating Matt, Angela suspects the bombing might be related to the heist. After talking to Heather for the last time, Matt drives away and evades the police, determined to find the bomber by himself. Matt demands the bomber to meet him in person if he wants the money.

The bomber is revealed to be Anders all along. Anders reveals that he wanted to make Matt a fall guy for the series of bombings to cover up his scheme of embezzling €208 million wired into his crypto account. To end this, Matt deliberately crashes his car, causing it to cling on the side of a bridge. Matt unlocks his seat belt and falls into the river, allowing the bomb to activate and killing Anders. Angela and the police arrive at the scene, with Angela nodding at Matt before allowing him to walk free.

During the credits, the news reports state that the bombings were part of the heist perpetrated by Anders, and Matt cooperates with the Europol to resolve the incident.

Rating: 10 Stars

History of the life of Florence Foster Jenkins 2016 - starring Maryl Streep The Opera Disaster of Florence Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins is a 2016 biographical film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Nicholas Martin and Julia Kogan. It stars Meryl Streep as Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress known for her generosity and poor singing. Hugh Grant plays her manager and long-time companion, St. Clair Bayfield. Other cast members include Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Nina Arianda.

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PLOT

In 1944, Florence Foster Jenkins is a New York City socialite heiress who founded the Verdi Club to celebrate her love of music. St.Clair Bayfield, a British Shakespearean actor, is her manager and long-time companion. Florence lives in a grand hotel suite, while Bayfield lives in an apartment with his mistress, Kathleen Weatherley. Florence suffers from long-term syphilis, contracted from her first husband.

Florence decides to resume singing lessons after she sees Lily Pons in concert with Bayfield. She hires pianist Cosmé McMoon, who is shocked by her terrible singing, but Bayfield and vocal coach Carlo Edwards, the assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, pretend she is wonderful. Bayfield warns McMoon of dire consequences if he criticizes her.

Bayfield arranges a small recital, handpicking the attendees. Loyal Verdi Club members watch respectfully, but others barely contain their laughter. Encouraged by her good reviews, she arranges to make a recording at Melotone as a Christmas gift for members of the Verdi Club. Florence gives McMoon a copy and recalls that Bayfield was an unsuccessful actor and that she hid negative reviews from him. She also informs McMoon of her history as a piano player and teacher, having once played for the President as a child. McMoon realizes that Florence is not as musically inept as he had thought.

Florence and McMoon write and perform original songs together. One song is broadcast on the radio, to the horror of Bayfield and Kathleen, though many listeners find it comedic and enjoy it. Florence informs Bayfield that she has booked Carnegie Hall for a performance and will give away a thousand tickets to soldiers. Bayfield fails to dissuade her. He gets into a fight with a group of men laughing at Florence and McMoon's song at a bar. Kathleen, resenting the lack of attention, leaves him.

McMoon confides to Bayfield that he fears that the recital will humiliate him and ruin his career. Bayfield replies that he gave up his acting career to support his wife and urges McMoon do the same for his friend. With Bayfield playing emotional blackmail on McMoon's every heartstring, McMoon reluctantly agrees to accompany Florence, though fully expecting to flop spectacularly at Carnegie Hall.

The concert is packed and attended by celebrities such as Cole Porter and Tallulah Bankhead. McMoon arrives late which unnerves Florence, but Bayfield and McMoon encourage her to go on – Florence then writes McMoon into her will backstage before the two go out onto the stage. When Florence begins singing, the soldiers laugh and shout. Her supporters and friends, however, scold them and cheer for her to keep singing. She continues her performance. However, New York Post columnist Earl Wilson tells Bayfield he will write a damning review and refuses his bribes.

Bayfield, with McMoon's help, buys every copy of the New York Post in the neighborhood and throws them away. Despite their best efforts Florence hears about the review, retrieves a copy of the review from a trash can, and is so upset she collapses and becomes severely ill. As she is dying in bed, Florence imagines herself singing beautiful opera, and takes a bow with McMoon and Bayfield to a standing ovation. She tells Bayfield that though people may say she could not sing, no one can say she did not sing.

Rating: 10 Stars

Love is in the Air, 2023 is an Australian romantic comedy.

Love Is in the Air is a 2023 Australian romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Adrian Powers. Starring Delta Goodrem as a seaplane pilot flying in the north Australian tropics who falls in love with the man sent to shut down her business.

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PLOT

Dana Randall is the pilot for the tiny Queensland company which aids people in the remote area, both for the people living there and for visiting tourists. Her dad Jeff chides her for blowing off high-paying visitors to transport a resident's dog to the vet, as their bills are mounting.

William Mitchell is sent all the way from London by ITCM Financial, his father Duncan's UK investment firm, to the tropics of Australia to shut down Fullerton Airways. He'd researched companies they have been backing, and pinpoints the small, flailing, family-run seaplane business as ideal for liquidation as it lacks income. He's given a week to visit the company, go over their financials in person and return to the board meeting to shut them down, proving to his father he's ready to move up in the company.

Nikki, Fullerton's airplane mechanic, pushes Dana to find time to date but she insists she's too busy. The next morning, Jeff warns them a rep from ITCM Financial is coming for an inspection. Dana is asked to pick up Will from the ferry, and initially they have a testy relationship. She is quick to defend their remote air support, although Jeff tries to downplay it.

Dana whizzes Will around to a community off the coast of far-north Queensland to deliver parcels to people in need, which she visits every two weeks as otherwise they'd be totally cut off. Again they convince him to accompany her on her rounds a second day. This time the engine kicks out, but luckily Dana manages to keep her cool and she fixes the problem.

Afterwards, having drinks in Fullerton, Dana's ex Heath sees her chemistry with Will and both he and Nikki encourage her to pursue him. So, they spend time together while crossing the tarmac, star-gazing and sharing.

A third day of helping Dana, and Will's father loses patience with him. Will tries to convince Duncan that they were wrong to want to write off the small aeronautical company, but Nikki overhears. Dana is chewing out over the news when confirmation of an impending cyclone reaches them.

Will helps Dana find an injured Jeff, who'd been trying to help others seek safety against the cyclone. The three-person staff of Fullerton Airways hole up with Will in the hangar's storage room to wait out the storm. He pledges to fight for their company at his headquarters, as he cares about Dana.

The next morning, after the storm has passed, Will helps Dana deliver emergency supplies to many remote locations. Working hard all day, by nightfall she has made peace with him. However, as they're closing up the hanger for the night, Jeff announces that ITCM Financial has sent an e-mail, shutting them down immediately.

William has returned to London and has been unsuccessful in swaying the board. Dana arrives unannounced, armed with a plan to revamp and expand Fullerton Airways. In response to Duncan's negative response, Will resigns and offers himself to Dana to aid them in their expansion.

ITCM Financial backs their endeavour, and Fullerton Airways is shown to have expanded and now has a more professional look, with Will happily installed there with the company and Dana, as the two had fallen for each other.

CAST

• Delta Goodrem as Dana Randall
• Joshua Sasse as William
• Roy Billing as Jeff
• Steph Tisdell as Nikki
• Simon Brook McLachlan as Heath
• Daniela Pizzirani as Serena
• Mia Grunwald as Michelle
• Hugh Parker as Duncan
• Dante Surace as Packers Bay Resident
• Richard Wheeler as Packers Bay Resident

Rating: 10 Stars

My big fat Greek Wedding, 2023

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is a 2023 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Nia Vardalos. The third installment in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise, the film stars Vardalos, John Corbett, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone, Lainie Kazan, and Andrea Martin. It is the first entry not to star Michael Constantine (who died in 2021) and Bess Meisler. Filming took place in Athens, Greece, from June through August 2022.

The film was released in the United States on September 8, 2023, by Focus Features. 

Amiable and sunny if often unamusing, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 repeats much of what audiences loved the first time. 

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PLOT

The film follows the Portokalos family as they journey to Greece for a sort of family with his three friends reunion after the death of Gus which was still quite raw within the family.

Toula Portokalos - Miller is still happily married to her husband Ian who has recently retired from teaching, of course their daughter Paris is just a typical college student trying to find her way through the world while being pursued by the handsome Aristotle via a setup by the ever present Aunt Voula.

Maria is part of the story but behind the scenes as she is now battling Dementia and is being cared for by Athena and Yianni as well as Nick as he has moved back into the family home after his separation.

So once the family receives the invitation from the mayor of Vrisi (Gus’ village) they all head off for the voyage of discovery which brings them back to their homeland.

On Arrival they meet Victory, she is the mayor of the village who is a distant relative and then on the way through Athens they see all the beautiful sights then stop off to have a ceremonial swim as they have made it to the homeland.

During this process they discover new relatives that they did not know existed like Gus’ illegitimate son (Peter) and grandson via his old flame Alexandra (the grumpiest woman in the village).

Also Gus had a parting wish that when the family returned home to Greece they would take his journal with them to give to his childhood friends.

And there is a wedding after all it’s in the title - but it’s not who you might want it to be.

And this is where Paris and Aristotle affirm their commitment and agree to take the relationship slowly.

So once the party is over they all head back to America and bring Peter with them to meet Maria and welcome him into the family.

CAST

Nia Vardalos as Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos

John Corbett as Ian Miller

Louis Mandylor as Nick Portokalos

Elena Kampouris as Paris Miller

Lainie Kazan as Maria Portokalos

Andrea Martin as Theia Voula

Gia Carides as Cousin Nikki

Joey Fatone as Cousin Angelo

Maria Vacratsis as Theia Freida

Elias Kacavas as Aristotle

Melina Kotselou as Victory

Alexis Georgoulis as Peter

Stephanie Nur as Qamar

Gerry Mendicino as Uncle Taki

Stavroula Logothettis as Athena

Peter Tharos as Yianni

Kathryn Haggis as Marianthi

Jayne Eastwood as Mrs. White

Kathryn Greenwood as Marge

Tannis Burnett as Edie

Rating: 10 Stars