Rurouni Kenshin (Japanese: るろうに剣心 Hepburn: Rurōni Kenshin?) 2012 Japanese film

Rurouni Kenshin (Japanese: るろうに剣心 Hepburn: Rurōni Kenshin?) is a 2012 Japanese film adaptation of the manga of the same name originally written by Nobuhiro Watsuki. Directed by Keishi Ōtomo, the film stars Takeru Satoh and Emi Takei. The film focuses on fictional events that take place during the early Meiji period in Japan, telling the story of a wanderer namedHimura Kenshin, formerly known as the assassin Hitokiri Battōsai. After participating in the Bakumatsu war, Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin.

Rumors circulated of a live action adaptation of the manga before it was announced. The Sankei Sports newspaper adds that the staff aims to release the film internationally and eventually make a series. This will be the first live-action adaptation of the manga. During the production, Nobuhiro offered his ideas for the movie, which were used in the filming. The film was distributed internationally by Warner Bros.

Rurouni Kenshin was theatrically released on August 25, 2012 in Japan, grossing over $36 million in that country and over $60 million worldwide as of November 2012. It was released in DVD on December 26, 2012.The film has been licensed for distribution in over 60 countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia. The movie premiered in North America as an opening selection for the 2012 LA EigaFest in December 14, 2012.

As the Imperialist forces celebrated their victory in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, the participant Hitokiri Battōsai walks away from the battlefield, abandoning his sword. But, the Battōsai's old katana is not left alone. It is claimed by one of the fallen, Udo Jin-e.

A decade later, Saitō Hajime and his fellow policemen investigate the murder of an undercover cop supposedly by the hands of the Battōsai. But, Saitō is not convinced and suspects Takeda Kanryū, a wealthy, but cruel businessman.

Meanwhile, the former Hitokiri Battōsai (now calling himself Himura Kenshin) arrives in Tokyo. While roaming its streets, he meets Kamiya Kaoru, the owner of her late father's Kendo school. With her dojo's name smeared by one bearing the name of Battōsai, she attacks him believing him to be the famed killer, but is proven wrong when Kenshin reveals he only carries a sakabatō (逆刃刀?, "reverse-blade sword").

Elsewhere, a woman Takani Megumi forced to make opium for Takeda Kanryū, escapes and turns to the police for a safe haven after witnessing the deaths of the other opium makers. However, Udō Jin-e, under the service of Kanryū, hunts her down, slaying everyone in the police station. Luckily, she escapes in the ensuing chaos.

Kaoru crosses paths with Jin-e, the actual perpetrator for killing under her dojo's style of swordsmanship. Utterly no match for him, she is injured in the fight, but Kenshin appears out of nowhere and saves her. Jin-e immediately realizes Kenshin's hidden identity as the true Battōsai, before a swarm of policemen rush onto the scene, giving Kenshin and Kaoru a chance to flee. Kaoru leads Kenshin to her dojo where they would be safe.

Next, a group of thugs under Takeda Kanryū attempt to take over the dojo. After revealing his identity as the former Battōsai, Kenshin beats down the entire gang without killing a single one before the police arrive. Kenshin blamed himself on the incident and got himself arrested help Kaoru's dojo from being blamed for the violence. Soon, Saitō recognizes him and releases him. After his release, he is greeted by Kaoru who knows Kenshin is not the Battōsai who had defamed her dojo and takes him back to the dojo. Kenshin afterward moves in with Kaoru and her only student, the boy Myōjin Yahiko.

Still running on the streets for her life, Megumi runs into Yahiko who helps hide her and brings her to the dojo where she is introduced to everyone. Kaoru treats everyone to a sukiyaki dinner at the Akabeko restaurant, only to have the occasion spoiled by Kanryū coming and offering to hire Kenshin, who humbly declines. Here, he is challenged by Sagara Sanosukefor the job and they leave the establishment to fight.

Later that evening, Jin-e goes on a killing spree leaving many corpses for the police to find the following day. Kenshin witnesses the horror, as well as a woman mourning the death of her lover. This invokes a memory for Kenshin from his years as an assassin when he witnessed a woman mourning a man that he had killed, a sword fight that left a scar on his face. Later that night, a masked man working for Kanryū warns Megumi of coming dangers.

The next day the people around the dojo fall ill from rat poison contaminating the community wells. Megumi suspects it's Kanryū's doing and helps by providing medication for the victims. Angry at Kanryū, Megumi attempts to kill him, but fails and is, instead, held hostage by the wealthy drug-dealer. Besting all his men, Kenshin and Sanosuke attack Kanryū's mansion in hopes of rescuing Megumi. Saitō assists them to subdue Kanryū, who is armed with a Gatling gun. They rescue Megumi, but discover that Jin-e, the fake Battōsai and Kanryū's man, has kidnapped Kaoru.

Kenshin pursues Jin-e. To further provoke Kenshin, Jin-e uses a special technique that paralyzes Kaoru's lungs and can only be undone with his death. After an intense battle, Kenshin critically injures Jin-e by shattering his elbow with his scabbard. Before Kenshin could land the killing blow, Kaoru overcomes the paralysis and stops Kenshin from killing Jin-e. Jin-e commits suicide, telling Kenshin before his last breath that he who lives by the sword must die by the sword, a re-occurring theme, counter to Kenshin's vow never to kill again.

Kenshin, tired and wounded, carries the unconscious Kaoru back to the dojo. They rest, in the care of Megumi and Yahiko. Upon waking up, Kaoru does not see Kenshin and goes in search for him. She finds him carrying back some vegetables, and is relieved of her fear that he may have left permanently.

CastTakeru Satoh as Himura Kenshin, a former assassin turned wanderer who has made a vow never to kill again.
Emi Takei as Kamiya Kaoru, the owner of a Kendo school left to her by her father.
Munetaka Aoki as Sagara Sanosuke, a street fighter who befriends Kenshin.
Teruyuki Kagawa as Takeda Kanryū, a ruthless businessman bent on controlling organized crime.
Yu Aoi as Takani Megumi, one of Kanryū's forced opium-makers, though from a famed family of doctors and healers.
Koji Kikkawa as Udō Jin-e, one of Kanryū's men, and a survivor of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi.
Gou Ayano as Gein, another of Kanryū's men.
Genki Sudo as Inui Banjin, another of Kanryū's men.
Taketo Tanaka as Myojin Yahiko, Kaoru's only student at the dojo.
Yosuke Eguchi as Saitō Hajime, a former member of the Shinsengumi who now works for the Meiji government as a police officer under the name of Fujita Gorō.
Eiji Okuda as Yamagata Aritomo, a ranking member of the Meiji government and Saitō's superior.

ProductionOn June 28, 2011, a live-action film adaptation was announced. Produced by Warner Bros., with actual film production done by Studio Swan, the film was directed by Keishi Ōtomo and stars Takeru Satoh (of Kamen Rider Den-O fame) as Kenshin, Munetaka Aoki as Sanosuke Sagara and Emi Takei as Kaoru. The film was released on August 25, 2012, and the staff "aims to release the film internationally and eventually make a series.

After choosing Takeru Satoh as the lead, Producer Shinzō Matsuhashi commented, "Satoh has the looks and stature to be a proper Kenshin." Watsuki added that when this project was just starting, he and his wife were discussing who should play Kenshin, and decided that Satoh topped the list.

Satoh later commented, “The role of Kenshin is that of a well-known character, therefore, I think fascinating acting is needed. I would like to create the Kenshin image with the staff, while staying true to the details. I will try my best, so please look forward to it.”

Nobuhiro Watsuki praised on Satoh being cast for the role: “When this project just started, my wife and I were talking about who would suit the role of Kenshin, and Satoh Takeru-san was the one who came up on our mind first. So, when it was confirmed (that Satoh will be taking the role), I was surprised, but was also very happy. I’m looking forward to seeing his wonderful acting.”

ReleaseRurouni Kenshin was theatrically released on August 25, 2012 in Japan. The film was released in South Korea for theBusan International Film Festival on October 5, 2012. Released for Spain in the annual Sitges Film Festival on October 10, 2012. The film debuted in Hong Kong on December 6, 2012. It was also theatrically released in the Philippines on December 5, 2012 (SM Cinema) gaining second place in the Philippine Box Office on its first week.

It was released in DVD on December 26, 2012. The film has been licensed for distribution in over 60 countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Limited edition came in a special box, with special digipack, a soundtrack, and a Rurouni Kenshin notebook. Other content also include cast and staff commentary, TV spots, behind-the-scenes, and all the trailers included, plus One OK Rock's PV of their song "The Beginning".

The film was released in North America in December 14, 2012 for the LA EigaFest 2012 and was held in conjunction with the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The director, Keishi Ōtomo, attended the premiere and opening red carpet ceremony. In addition to Rurouni Kenshin, the 2012 line up features some of the films to come out of Japan over the last year. A special screening of four selected short films will be presented in collaboration with the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia.

The film was screened in the UK at October 4, 2013.

Total Recall 2012 American science fiction action film

Total Recall is a 2012 American science fiction action film directed by Len Wiseman. The screenplay by Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback was based on the 1990 film of the same name, which was inspired by the 1966 short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick. The film starsColin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho, andBill Nighy. It centers upon an ordinary factory worker who accidentally discovers that his current life is a fabrication predicated upon false memories implanted into his brain by the government. Ensuing events leave no room for doubt that his true identity is that of a highly trained secret agent. He then follows a trail of clues to gradually recover more suppressed memories and reassumes his original vocation with renewed dedication. Unlike the first film and the short story, the plot takes place on Earth rather than a trip to Mars and exhibits more political overtones. The film blends American and Asian influences, most notably in the settings and dominant populations of the two nation-states in the story: the United Federation of Britain (Western Europe) and the Colony (Australia).

The film was first announced in 2009 and was released in North America on August 3, 2012, grossing over $198 million worldwide. The film was released to mixed reviews. It received praise in certain areas such as its action sequences but the film's lack of humor, emotional subtlety and character development drew the most criticism.

At the end of the 21st century, Earth is devastated by chemical warfare. What little habitable land remains is divided into two territories, the United Federation of Britain (UFB, located on mainland Europe) and the Colony (Australia). Many residents of the Colony travel to the UFB to work in factories via "the Fall", a gravity elevator running through the Earth's core. A Resistance operating in the UFB seeks to improve life in the Colony, which the UFB views as a terrorist movement.

Colony citizen Douglas Quaid has been having dreams of being a secret agent, aided by an unknown woman. Tired of his factory job building police robots with friend Harry, he visits Rekall, a virtual entertainment company that implants artificial memories. Among the choices Rekall salesman Bob McClane offers Quaid are the memories of a secret agent. An emblem of rekall is stamped onto his arm. Just as Quaid is starting to be implanted, McClane discovers that he already has real memories of being a covert operative. As McClane starts to question Quaid about the memories, UFB police officers burst in, killing the Rekall crews and attempt to arrest Quaid. Quaid instinctively reacts and kills the officers before escaping. Upon returning home his wife Lori attempts to kill him, revealing that she is an undercover UFB agent who has been monitoring him for the past six weeks. After Quaid escapes, Charles Hammond, a "friend" Quaid does not recognize, contacts him and directs him to a safe-deposit box. Quaid finds a recorded message from his former self with the address of a UFB apartment.

While being pursued by Lori and other human and robot police, Quaid meets Melina, the woman from his dreams. At the apartment Quaid finds another recording, revealing that his name is actually Carl Hauser, an agent working for UFB Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen. After defecting to the Resistance, Hauser was captured by the UFB and implanted with false memories. The recording reveals that Cohaagen will use robots to invade the Colony so the UFB will have more living space. Hauser, however, has seen a "kill code" that would disable the robots. The code can be recovered from his memory by Resistance leader Matthias. Melina reveals that she was Hauser's lover before Hauser was captured; she proves that they knew each other by showing that they have matching scars from a time they were both shot whilst holding hands. The police surround the apartment building and Harry appears. He tries to convince Quaid that he is still in a Rekall-induced dream and that killing Melina is the only way out. Quaid is conflicted, but notices a tear on Melina's cheek and shoots Harry instead. Lori pursues the pair inside the building's lifts, but fails to capture them.

Quaid and Melina meet with Matthias. While Matthias searches Quaid's memories, Lori and Cohaagen storm the Resistance base. Cohaagen reveals that Hauser was in fact working for him without Quaid even knowing it due to the memory alteration, using the kill code as a trap. Cohaagen kills Matthias and arranges to restore Hauser's memory before leaving with Melina as a prisoner. As the officers are about to inject Quaid, Hammond (revealed to be one of the police officers involved in the raid) sacrifices himself to help Quaid escape.

Cohaagen begins his invasion of the Colony, loading the Fall with his army of robots. Quaid sneaks on board, setting timed explosives throughout the ship while searching for Melina. After freeing her, they climb atop the Fall as it arrives at the Colony. As they fight the soldiers and Cohaagen, Quaid's explosives detonate. Quaid and Melina jump off before the ship plummets back into the tunnel and explodes underground, killing Cohaagen and destroying his army and The Fall itself.

Waking up in an ambulance, Quaid is greeted by Melina. When he notices that she is missing her scar, he realizes that she is Lori using a holographic disguise; they fight and Lori is killed. Quaid finds the real Melina outside the ambulance and they embrace. As the news channels declare the independence of The Colony, Quaid notices that the emblem of Rekall that was stamped on his arm has disappeared. He looks up to find an advertisement of Rekall on an electronic billboard. Just before Quaid can kiss Melina, the screen cuts to black, making it open to interpretation whether Quaid was actually living the memory of a spy at rekall.

CastColin Farrell as Douglas Quaid/Carl Hauser, a factory worker suffering from strange violent dreams.
Kate Beckinsale as Lori Quaid, a UFB undercover agent posing as Quaid's wife.
Jessica Biel as Melina, a member of the Resistance and Quaid/Hauser's love interest. In the extended director's cut, she is Matthias' daughter.
Bryan Cranston as Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen, the corrupt and ruthless Chancellor of the United Federation of Britain.
Bokeem Woodbine as Harry, Quaid's workmate and best friend - in fact an agent sent by Cohaagen to monitor him.
Bill Nighy as Matthias Lair, the leader of the Resistance.
John Cho as Bob McClane, a rep for Rekall who offers Quaid the chance to experience an imagined adventure.
Steve Byers as Henry Reed, a cover for Hauser
Dylan Scott Smith as Hammond

Ethan Hawke appears uncredited as Hauser's original appearance in the director's cut. In the script as originally filmed, both Hauser's memory and physical appearance were heavily altered by the UFB to turn him into Quaid. This plot point was excised from the theatrical cut, so Hawke appears only in the extended director's cut.

ProductionOn June 2, 2009, Variety reported that Kurt Wimmer would write the script for the film. Mark Bomback was later brought onboard,and James Vanderbilt did an uncredited "polish" on the script. Over a year later Len Wiseman was hired to direct. Paul Cameron is the film's cinematographer and Christian Wagner is the film's editor. The soundtrack is a collaboration of Harry Gregson-Williams and Welsh electronica group Hybrid. Although described in the press as a "remake", star Jessica Biel claimed in her August 2, 2012 appearance on The Daily Show that the film is not a remake of the 1990 film, but an adaptation of the original short story by Philip K. Dick.However, Biel's own character of "Melina" was not actually present in the original short story by Philip K. Dick and only exists in this film and the original 1990 film. The same goes for the characters of Cohaagen and Harry, along with the leader of the Resistance. This version of the film also uses the names Quaid and Lori for the main character and his wife, like the 1990 film, whereas in the original short story they were Quail and Kirsten. The basic story also follows that of the original 1990 film, albeit with certain changes such as moving the action from Mars to "the Colony".

In August 2010, Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed an interest in reprising his role as Quaid until October 2010, when it was officially reported in The Hollywood Reporter that Colin Farrell was on the top of the short list, which included Tom Hardy and Michael Fassbender, to play Quaid. On January 11, 2011, it was announced that Farrell had secured the role. Farrell stated in April that the remake would not be the same as Dick's short story.

Beckinsale and Biel were both confirmed for roles on May 25, after actresses Eva Green, Diane Kruger, and Kate Bosworth had previously been considered for Biel's role. Actor Bryan Cranston was cast as the film's villain. Ethan Hawke was reportedly cast in a cameo role, and commented that his character had a monologue about five pages long; however, this role was later cut. Though cut from the original film, Ethan Hawke is featured in the extended version of the film. Later cast additions included Bill Nighy and John Cho.

On a reported budget of $125 million, principal photography began in Toronto on May 16, 2011, and ended on September 20, 2011. Scenes were filmed at the Pinewood Toronto Studios, as well as the University of Toronto, Lower Bay Station, CIBC Commerce Court, the University of Toronto Scarborough, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, andGuelph.The film was shot with Red Epic digital cameras and Panavision anamorphic lenses. After securing the film rights from Miramax Films, Columbia Pictures distributed the film.

Release
Box office performance
Total Recall was released on August 3, 2012, and opened in 3,601 theaters in the United States, grossing $9,092,341 on its opening day and $25,577,758 on its opening weekend, ranking #2 with a per theater average of $7,220. The film performed poorly domestically with only $58,877,969 but made a strong $139,589,199 outside of the United States for a total of $198,467,168 against a $125 million budget.

Critical responseThe film has received mixed to negative reviews from critics. It has a 30% "rotten" rating on the review aggregator siteRotten Tomatoes based on 217 reviews, with the consensus stating: "While it boasts some impressive action sequences,Total Recall lacks the intricate plotting, dry humor and fleshed out characters that made the original a sci-fi classic." AtMetacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 43, based on 41 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews." Critics cited Total Recall‍ '​s action sequences as "visually impressive". The film earned a Razzie Award nomination for Biel as Worst Supporting Actress.

Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film a positive review, stating: "The richly constructed first hour is so superior to any feat of sci-fi speculation since Minority Report that the bland aftertaste of the chase finale is quickly forgotten."[38] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four; praising its details, he stated: "Total Recall is well-crafted, high energy sci-fi. Like all stories inspired by Philip K. Dick, it deals with intriguing ideas. It never touched me emotionally, though, the way the 1990 film did, and strictly speaking, isn't necessary."Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune also gave the film a positive review, stating that "the movie marches in predictable formations as well. But when Biel's rebel pulls over in her hover car and asks Farrell if he'd like a ride, your heart may sing as mine did."

Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review, saying that "the outcome is engaging enough, although not entirely satisfying from either a genre or narrative standpoint, lacking both substance and a degree of imagination." Amy Biancolli of the San Francisco Chronicle also gave the film a mixed review, stating: "For all of its dazzlingly rendered cityscapes and nonstop action, this revamped Total Recall is a bland thing—bloodless, airless, humorless, featureless. With or without the triple-bosomed prostitute." Jen Chaney of The Washington Post gave the film two-stars-out-of-four, saying: "So what makes this 2012 Total Recall superior to the Arnie model? For starters, there's an actual actor in the starring role.... Still, this Recall has more than its share of flaws." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film "C", stating that "this one is somberly kinetic and joyless." Justin Chang of Variety gave the film a mixed review: "Crazy new gadgets, vigorous action sequences and a thorough production-design makeover aren't enough to keep Total Recall from feeling like a near-total redundancy."

Kyle Smith of the New York Post gave the film a negative review, stating: "As for a villain, you could do worse than Bryan Cranston as the evil political overlord who is trying to stamp out the resistance... But... When he goes mano a mano with Farrell, it's not spine-tingling. It's embarrassing, like watching a dude beat up his dad." Peter Travers of Rolling Stonealso gave the film a negative review, stating that "since the new Recall is totally witless, don't expect laughs. Originality and coherence are also notably MIA."

Infini 2015 Australian science fiction film

Infini is a 2015 Australian science fiction film directed by Shane Abbess, and starring Daniel MacPherson, Grace Huang, and Luke Hemsworth.

In the early 23rd century, the Earth's highest paying jobs are on deep space mining colonies. On mining station O.I. Infini, an emergency is declared, and a search and rescue (SAR) team is sent in using a form of teleportation that allows instantaneous travel but causes severe time dilation. A team sent returns 30 seconds later in a berserk rage. Whit Carmichael, a new member of West Coast SAR, on his first day, teleports to Infini using a hacked teleporter after West Coast HQ activates a lethal lockdown to contain the crisis.

Less than a relative hour later, East Coast SAR is informed about the outbreak, and West Coast's destruction. They are given a primary task of disabling a weaponized payload and a secondary mission of recovering the one surviving member of the West Coast SAR, Whit Carmichael. Arriving, they find a slaughterhouse, eventually reuniting with Whit after he questions the team captain through an ASCII terminal. Whit explains that the mining staff slaughtered each other, tearing off their skin and killing one another. After a survivor attacks and exposes the rescue team, Whit searches the station for anything relating to the disease. Finding a lab, he discovers a log of the original research station, that documented the planet is actually entirely organic, and when thawed forms a primordial ooze, infecting and eventually mimicking and dominating any biological tissue. He further discovers that the ooze is aggressive and predatory in nature, driven by self-preservation.

Whit attempts to solicit help from the team, but they are suffering through stages of the infection and either attack Whit and each other or kill themselves. This leaves Whit the last surviving human on the station. He records a looped message to the ooze, believing it is alive and self-aware, criticizing it for focusing exclusively on humanity's violent base instincts, instead of working together, and telling it that it failed. He then commits suicide with a scalpel. The ooze hears his message and begins healing the wounds of the team. They awaken, with some question as to exactly how much each member remembers of the events. The captain states that they will extract in five minutes, and as they begin the teleportation process, Whit sees several humanoid forms that appear to be made of the ooze silently watching them go, one of them holding the picture of Whit's wife he carried with him, suggesting they may have evolved a sense of empathy.

Returned to Earth, the team is screened for biological contaminants before being released.

CastDaniel MacPherson as Whit Carmichael
Grace Huang as Claire Grenich
Luke Hemsworth as Charlie Kent
Bren Foster as Morgan Jacklar
Luke Ford as Chester Huntington
Dwaine Stevenson as Rex Mannings
Louisa Mignone as Philipa Boxen
Tess Haubrich as Lisa Carmichael
Harry Pavlidis as Harris Menzies
Kevin Copeland as Seet Johanson
Andy Rodoreda as Sefton Norick
Richard Huggett as Montoli
Paul Winchester as David Ponter
Brendan Clearkin as Depot Sergeant Hackford
Matt Minto as The Chief
Belinda Gosbee as Science Officer Hepburn

ProductionShooting began in Sydney in October 2013.

ReleaseInfini had its international premiere on 11 April 2015 at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. It was released simultaneously in the US and Australia. The film was not released theatrically in Australia, due to fears of piracy.

ReceptionRotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 36% of fourteen surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.9/10. Dov Kornits of Filmink wrote, "Infini is leading the charge in genre filmmaking in this country, proving that we have the chops to compete on the world stage." Commenting on the film's similarity to Aliens, David Stratton of The Australian wrote, "Resourcefulness is all very well, but a fresh approach to the familiar cliches would also be appreciated." Harry Windsor of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a genre retread in search of a plot". Andrew Marshall of Starburst rated it 6/10 stars and wrote that the film "lacks the follow through to capitalise on its ideas or required sense of humanity to make you actually care". Simon Abrams of The Village Voice wrote, "Infini doesn't go anywhere that superior science fiction films haven't already, but for a while, it's exciting enough to feel brand-new." Christopher Webster of Quiet Earth wrote that it "feels like an R-rated Twilight Zone episode more than a feature film".

Autómata 2014 science fiction action film

Autómata is a 2014 science fiction action film starring Antonio Banderas. The film is directed by Spanish director Gabe Ibáñez and co-written by Ibáñez with Igor Legarreta and Javier Sánchez Donate. Along with Banderas, the film stars Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Melanie Griffith, Dylan McDermott, Robert Forster and Tim McInnerny.

In the late 2030s, solar flares irradiate the Earth, killing over 99% of the world's population. The survivors gather in a network of safe cities and build primitive humanoid robots, called Pilgrims, to help rebuild and operate in the harsh environment. These robots have two unalterable protocols: they can not harm any form of life, and they may not modify any robot. Initially seen as mankind's salvation, they are relegated to manual labor when they fail to stop the advance of desertification. Society has regressed due to lack of technology besides the Pilgrims (lack of functional planes or other transport prevents travel and cars are a rare commodity) and humanity is on the brink of collapsing.

In 2044, Jacq Vaucan – an insurance investigator for ROC, the company that manufactures Pilgrims – investigates a report from Wallace, a police officer who shot a robot he claims was modifying itself. Jacq discovers the robot hid a rare nuclear battery that could power a robot indefinitely. The next day, Jacq follows a robot who was stealing parts. When he corners it, it self-immolates. Jacq salvages the remains and speculates to his boss Robert that there may be a "clocksmith", someone who illegally modifies robots, who is overriding the second protocol. Incredulous, Robert rejects this possibility but offers Jacq a transfer out of the city if he can find evidence. Jacq's pregnant wife initially rejects his plans but she eventually relents.

Jacq and Wallace investigate a brothel, where they find Cleo, a modified robot that Wallace subsequently shoots in the leg. When Jacq objects, Wallace says that Cleo's owner will lead them to the clocksmith; Wallace also threatens to kill Jacq if he does not split the proceeds of the battery on the black market. Jacq follows Cleo's owner to a clocksmith named Dr. Dupré, who claims not to know who altered Cleo, an action that should destroy Cleo's CPU. Jacq leaves the burned robot's CPU with her and offers to give her the battery if she can locate information on the clocksmith. When Dupré installs the modified CPU in Cleo, Cleo begins self-repairing. Dupré contacts Jacq, who alerts Robert; however, ROC intercepts Jacq's message and sends a team of assassins to Dupré's lab.

Dupré is killed, but Jacq escapes in a car driven by Cleo. When Cleo takes them into a maze of stanchions, both cars crash; the assassins are killed, and Jacq is severely injured. Cleo takes Jacq with her into an irradiated desert, where they are joined by three other robots, none of whom will obey Jacq's orders. However, the first protocol forces them to prevent his death. Desperate to return to the city to be with his pregnant wife, Jacq makes contact with Robert, who sends Wallace to recover him. Wallace threatens Jacq's life and destroys two of the robots, who have objected to his actions; Jacq kills Wallace with a flare gun before he can also destroy Cleo. Wallace's partner flees after taking a battery from one of the robots.

Robert's boss reveals that the first built Pilgrim, unburdened by the second principle, designed the subsequent models. As no human could understand the programming, it was thought to be impossible to subvert. ROC forces Robert to accompany a team sent to kill Jacq and the unknown clocksmith before the robots can evolve further beyond human understanding. When Robert objects to their kidnapping Jacq's wife and baby daughter, Conway, the leader, shoots him and leaves him for dead. Meanwhile, Jacq meets the robot responsible for modifying the others. Initially skeptical, Jacq eventually accepts that the robot naturally evolved, like humanity. After a series of philosophical discussions, Jacq gives them his battery, which they use to complete a new design. The robots repair a vehicle for Jacq, and he leaves for the city.

When Conway reaches the robot outpost, he destroys two of the four robots. Jacq finds the dying Robert and returns to the outpost as Conway wounds Cleo. Jacq kills all ROC assassins but Conway, though he is further wounded in the battle. As Conway prepares to kill Jacq, the new robot saves his life by pushing Conway off a cliff. Jacq overcomes his distrust of the uninhibited robot when reunited with his family, and he leaves for the coast with them, as Cleo and the new robot venture further into the irradiated desert, where no humans can follow them.

CastAntonio Banderas as Jacq Vaucan
Birgitte Hjort Sørensen as Rachel Vaucan
Melanie Griffith as Dr. Susan Dupré and voice of Cleo
Dylan McDermott as Wallace
Robert Forster as Robert Bold
Tim McInnerny as Vernon Conway
Andy Nyman as Ellis
David Ryall as Dominic Hawk
Andrew Tiernan as Manager
Christa Campbell as Tech
Bashar Rahal as Doctor
Javier Bardem as Blue Robot

ProductionBanderas expressed an early interest in the film after reading the script. Banderas, as producer, brought on his then-wife, Griffith, and Bardem, who was cast in a minor role and as the voice of Cleo. The film was shot at Nu Boyana Film Studiosin Sofia, Bulgaria.

ReceptionRotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 33% of 27 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5.2/10. The site's summary states of the film: "beautiful to look at but narratively hollow, Autómata short-circuits its handful of intriguing ideas with an overload of sci-fi clichés." Metacritic rated it 37/100 based on 13 reviews. Jay Weissberg of Variety called it "a dystopic mess" that borrows from numerous science fiction films. Jonathan Holland ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The overwrought, uncontrolled sci-fi thriller Automata is a disappointing example of a film that lacks the imagination to follow persuasively through on its engaging initial premise."

Stan Schröder remarked an influence of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (which served as the basis for the popular Blade Runner film) and Isaac Asimov's Runaround which introduced Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" which are close to the film's "robot protocols".

Man on Fire 2004 American thriller film

Man on Fire is a 2004 American thriller film and the second adaptation of A. J. Quinnell's 1980 fictional novel of the same name; the first film based on the novel was released in 1987. The 2004 film adaptation was directed by Tony Scott, from a screenplay written by Brian Helgeland.

Man on Fire stars Denzel Washington as John Creasy, a despondent, alcoholic former CIA operative/U.S. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissanceofficer turned bodyguard, who goes on a revenge rampage after his charge, nine-year-old Lupita ("Pita") Ramos (Dakota Fanning), is abducted in Mexico City. The supporting cast includes Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell,Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke.

In 2003, burnt-out ex-CIA officer and former U.S. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance officer John Creasy (Denzel Washington) looks for work and reunites with old friend and comrade Paul Rayburn (Christopher Walken), who runs a security firm in Mexico. Because of the extremely high rate of kidnappings in Mexico City for ransom money, businessman Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony) hires Creasy through Rayburn to guard his nine-year-old daughter "Pita" (Dakota Fanning), intending to keep him on for only a short period in order to renew his kidnap and ransom insurance on Pita. Creasy suffers from alcoholism, depression and severe guilt as a result of his past work as a counterinsurgency fighter and assassin, and so works for Samuel at a rate far below what his experience would command. At first Creasy distances himself socially from Pita, but the two soon develop a friendship, which allows Creasy to overcome his demons and to act as a mentor and surrogate father-figure to the girl.

After a piano lesson, Pita is abducted in public. Creasy kills four of the kidnappers including two corrupt policemen, but he is shot multiple times and collapses. Creasy is hospitalized but is moved to a veterinarian hospital by Miguel Manzano (Giancarlo Giannini), an agent of the Agencia Federal de Investigación (AFI), who suspects Creasy is an assassination target by rogue police. Meanwhile, the Ramoses agree to deliver a dead drop ransom ofUS$10 million per the instructions of "La Voz" ("The Voice") (Roberto Sosa), the mastermind behind the kidnapping ring. Samuel's attorney, Jordan Kalfus (Mickey Rourke), arranges for the ransom money to be collected from Samuel's kidnapping insurance policy, then arranges for it to be delivered to the kidnappers. The drop, however, is ambushed by members of "La Hermandad", a Mexican crime syndicate composed of corrupt police officers, leading to several of the ring members killed and the money being stolen. The Voice notifies the Ramos' that Pita will be killed in retribution.

Creasy leaves the hospital before fully recovering from his wounds and vows to Pita's mother Lisa (Radha Mitchell) that he will kill everyone involved in Pita's abduction. Rayburn supplies Creasy with firearms and explosives, while Mariana Guerrero (Rachel Ticotin), a journalist investigating the kidnappings, and Manzano, offer their support. Creasy tortures and murders several targets by cutting off their fingers and stopping the bleeding with a car cigarette lighter for their information and eventually learns from the "La Hermandad" general that the bags they stole at the ransom drop contained only $2.5 million actual currency while the rest was blank paper.

Investigating further, Creasy finds Kalfus dead and evidence of Samuel's desperate financial situation. He confronts Samuel and Lisa for the truth behind the kidnapping. Samuel confesses to Creasy and Lisa that he agreed to Kalfus' plan to stage Pita's kidnapping, so he could pay off business debts by fraudulently collecting the insurance money. He planned to keep $5 million for himself and split the rest between Kalfus and the kidnappers. He also confesses to killing Kalfus who lied that Pita would be safely returned after the ransom was paid. Creasy leaves a 9MM pistol and one misfired round, he saved from his own previously attempted suicide, for Samuel, who commits suicide.

Using the information provided by Creasy, The Voice's identity is revealed to be Daniel Sánchez, who Mariana exposes in the newspapers. Creasy shows up at Sánchez's ex-wife's house and is shot by his brother Aurelio (Gero Camilo), who then tries unsuccessfully to escape. Creasy calls Daniel Sánchez and threatens to kill his family, but Sánchez reveals that Pita is still alive and offers to free her in exchange for Aurelio and if Creasy surrenders himself. Creasy agrees and informs Lisa to meet him at the exchange site. He and Pita share a tearful goodbye before he surrenders himself and is driven away by the kidnappers. Creasy dies peacefully en route from his gunshot injuries. Daniel Sánchez is later killed by Manzano during an AFI arrest.

CastDenzel Washington as John W. Creasy, a former CIA operative and former Force Recon Marine officer and now a mercenary
Dakota Fanning as Guadalupe "Lupita" Martin Ramos, "Pita"
Radha Mitchell as Lisa Martin Ramos
Lisa originates from Houston, Texas. Eric Harrison of the Houston Chronicle described Lisa as an "Americantrophy wife with a Southern accent that seems to come and go."
Marc Anthony as Samuel Ramos
Christopher Walken as Paul Rayburn, an old friend of Creasy from the CIA, who runs a security firm in Mexico
Giancarlo Giannini as Miguel Manzano, director of the AFI
Tony Scott stated "Giancarlo loves women, as did this character."
Rachel Ticotin as Mariana Garcia Guerrero, a reporter for the Diario Reforma
Jesús Ochoa as Victor Fuentes
Mickey Rourke as Jordan Kalfus, Samuel Ramos' lawyer
Kalfus and Samuel Ramos's father were best friends, and therefore Kalfus has a close relationship with Samuel. Mickey Rourke stated that Kalfus has "a responsibility to his father, to him, to look out for his well-being."Therefore, Kalfus "wants to be there for him" when Ramos "gets his head underwater a little bit".
Angelina Peláez as Sister Anna
Roberto Sosa as Daniel Rosas Sánchez, "The Voice"
He is based on a real kidnapper, Daniel Arizmendi López. Just like the real Arizmendi López, "La Voz" believes inSanta Muerte.
Gero Camilo as Aurelio Sánchez
He is based on Aurelio Arizmendi López, the brother of Daniel Arizmendi López.
Mario Zaragoza as Jorge Ramirez

ProductionTony Scott, the director, tried to have a version of the film made in 1983, but since the film would have been his second after The Hunger, Paul Davies, a journal article author, theorized that movie producers would have believed that Scott lacked the experience to direct the film. At the time Italy was still a major center of kidnapping in the world. A version was made in 1987 with Scott Glenn. Michael Bay and Antoine Fuqua were considered to direct the remake until Arnon Milchan, the producer of the 1987 film, asked Scott if he was still interested in producing a version of Man on Fire, as Milchan still owned the rights to the series.

20th Century Fox wanted the film to be set in Italy. An early draft of the film script was set in Naples. Scott argued that if the setting would be Italy, then the film would have to be a period piece, since by the 2000s kidnappings became a rare occurrence in Italy. Mexico City became the setting of the 2004 film because Mexico City had a high kidnapping rate, and due to other reasons. As a result, the character Rika Balletto was renamed Lisa Martin Ramos, and Pinta Balletto was renamed Lupita "Pita" Ramos. Ettore Balletto became Samuel Ramos. Robert De Niro was originally offered the role of Creasy. Prior to his death, Marlon Brando was the original choice to play Rayburn.

Reception

Man On Fire opened in the U.S. on April 23, 2004 in 2,980 theaters and grossed $22,751,490 with an average of $7,634 and ranking #1 at the box office. The films widest release was 2,986 theaters and it ended up earning $77,911,774 in North America and $52,381,940 internationally for a total of $130,293,714 worldwide, above its $70 million production budget.

The film also enjoyed huge success in USA home video market, grossing more than $123 million in DVD and VHS rentals and sales in USA.

The film received mixed reviews from critics and has a rating of 39% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 161 reviews with an average rating of 5.2 out of 10. The consensus states "Man on Fire starts out well, but goes over the top in the violent second half." The film also has a score of 47 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 36 reviews.

Paul Davies, a journal article author, said that the critical reception to Man on Fire in the United States was "somewhat less than kind" because critics did not like the vigilantism that Creasy uses. Davies argues that "most critics missed" Creasy not taking "sadistic pleasure" in the killings since he kills to get information to get to all of the people involved in the kidnapping of Pita Ramos, and does not like harming innocent parties.

A. J. Quinnell had a favorable reception to this adaptation, mainly because the film used many of the book's lines.Quinnell said that usually screenwriters "like to leave their mark on the product." Quinnell added that even though he usually dislikes film adaptations of books, the writers "did a good job with Man On Fire and I loved the chemistry between Creasy and the girl" and "When I first heard Denzel was playing the part of Creasy I missed a couple of heartbeats but he played the part brilliantly. The film is violent and if the anger is not portrayed properly, the result can be awful."

Kevin Freese of the Foreign Military Studies Office stated that "it appears that the allusion" of the fictional Sánchez brothers with the real Arizmendi brothers "escaped the comprehension of much of the audience."

RemakeIn 2005, a Hindi remake of the film by director Apoorva Lakhia called Ek Ajnabee was released. It starred Amitabh Bachchan as Denzel Washington's character; John W Creasy.

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 2011 American 4D science fiction fantasy action comedy adventure film

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World is a 2011 American 4D science fiction fantasy action comedy adventure film directed by Robert Rodriguez and it is the fourth installment in the Spy Kids film series. It is a sequel to 2003's Game Over. The film stars Jessica Alba, Joel McHale, Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara,Rowan Blanchard, Mason Cook, Ricky Gervais, and Jeremy Piven in a dual role. It was released on August 19, 2011. Filming began on October 27, 2010. It is the first of the series that uses "Aroma-scope" that allows people to smell odors and aromas from the film via scratch & sniff cards (reminiscent of the infamous 1960s Smell-O-Vision) last used theatrically in the 2003 animated film Rugrats Go Wild. This is the first film without the participation ofAntonio Banderas and Carla Gugino and without the distribution of Miramax Films. The film received generally negative reviews upon release, with an approval rating of 22% and an average rating of 3.9 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes.

Organization of Super Spies (OSS) agent Marissa Wilson (Jessica Alba) is leading a team of agents attempting to capture a criminal named Tick Tock (Jeremy Piven), who purchases a mini-disk stolen from OSS. Despite being nine months pregnant and going into labor, she continues her pursuit, against the admonitions of her boss, Danger D'Amo (also played by Jeremy Piven). Tick Tock is captured and the mini-disk, which contains information on a weapon of mass destruction called Project: Armageddon, is retrieved.

At the hospital, Marissa meets her spy-hunting TV host husband, Wilbur (Joel McHale), who thinks she is an interior decorator, and her two stepchildren by him, twins Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook). And after giving birth to a daughter, Maria, she decides to retire, in order to keep her family out of danger and prevent them from learning about her former career. However, the twins observe that Wilbur's work leaves him little time to spend with them, and Rebecca in particular does not accept Marissa as a replacement for her deceased mother, and delights in playing pranks on her. Attempting to strengthen her rapport with Rebecca, Marissa gives her a red-sapphire necklace that she says her own parents gave her when she was Rebecca's age, and which she says will protect her in her darkest hour.

The media reports that time is speeding up at an increasing rate. A masked criminal mastermind calling himself the Time Keeper (also played by Jeremy Piven), who is allied with an escaped Tick Tock, claims responsibility for the phenomena, saying that he will unleash Project: Armageddon, as punishment upon a society he believes wastes time with meaningless pursuits instead of treasuring time with one's loved ones. The Time Keeper demands that Tick Tock bring him the Chronos Sapphire, the only thing that can stop it, which is revealed to be the jewel in the necklace Marissa gave Rebecca. The OSS calls Marissa back out of retirement and instructs her to bring the Chronos Sapphire with her. When Marissa requests it from Rebecca, it further strains their relationship, and when Marissa arrives at OSS headquarters with Maria, she discovers that the box Rebecca gave her did not contain the jewel.

Before Marissa can return home, Tick Tock's henchmen break into their house, and Rebecca and Cecil are directed to take refuge in a secret Panic Room built into their home, where they view a video of Marissa informing the children of her secret career. The incredulous twins are further shocked when their dog, Argonaut, begins to speak, revealing himself to be an intelligent robot. The twins escape the henchman and go to OSS headquarters, where Marissa's niece and their step-cousin, Carmen Cortez (Alexa Vega), gives the twins a tour of the now defunct Spy Kids Division, and the weapons its juvenile agents once used. Carmen lets the twins each pick out one deactivated gadget as a souvenir.

As Marissa pursues Tick Tock with Maria in tow, Rebecca and Cecil decide to go after the Time Keeper. Their search leads them to a clock shop, which is revealed to be Tick Tock's headquarters. The twins view a video of the Wells Experiment, a 1930s time travel project that resulted in a boy being frozen in time, and which reveals the nature of the Chronos Sapphire in Rebecca's necklace. The twins are then captured by Tick Tock, but are then rescued by Marissa and Carmen, who activate the twin's souvenirs, though Tick Tock manages to steal the Chronos Sapphire before the family escapes. Wilbur's investigations also lead him to the clock shop, but he is shocked to learn that Marissa is a spy. When he destroys the footage that he and his cameraman filmed of the battle, he is fired and becomes estranged from Marissa and the children.

As time continues to speed up, OSS agents are debriefed on the Wells Experiment, which almost caused the end of the world. The OSS shut down the experiment and placed the device under lockdown. Among the agents assigned to the case is Carmen's brother, Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara), who has been on a secret mission and has not seen her in seven years. Bitter over their estrangement, she tosses his ID badge in the garbage out of spite. The twins confront Danger D'Amo over the fact that his watch is similar to the one worn by the Time Keeper, and the fact that his name is an anagram of "Armageddon." He confirms that he is the Time Keeper, and imprisons them. When a group of OSS agents led by Marissa, Carmen and Juni return to the clock shop to confront the Time Keeper, he freezes the agents in time using circuity in their ID badges that he can control with his watch, and does the same on a more massive scale to 18 major cities around the globe. Juni, however, whose badge was thrown away by Carmen, is still free, and manages to free Marissa and Carmen.

Danger reveals to the twins that his father was the head of the Wells Experiment and that he was the boy frozen in time. His father spent the remainder of his life trying unsuccessfully to set him free. The OSS managed to shut down the experiment with the Chronos Sapphire, which fell to Earth as a meteorite. In doing this they freed the boy, but he was now a man in a boy's body, and his loved ones were all now dead. Now Danger plans to use the Armageddon Device in go back in time in order to be reunited with his father. Cecil, however, tells Danger that attempts at time travel merely create multiple versions of oneself. Cecil deduces that Danger has already tried this unsuccessfully before multiple times, and that each time he comes back, he comes back worse, pointing out that Tick Tock and his now-unmasked minions are all versions of Danger himself. Cecil says that persisting in trying to change the past will only cause Armageddon, and Rebecca, who sympathizes with Danger's bereavement, tells him that it is important that he use what time he has wisely, instead of trying to acquire more of it. When Danger's time vortex opens, he steps through it, and meets his father in the past, but then returns an elderly man, and realizes that Cecil was right, as he could not change anything. He shuts down the device and Tick Tock is apprehended by Wilbur, who shows up and is reunited with Marissa and the children. Carmen and Juni announce that they will co-lead a revived Spy Kids program, while Rebecca and Cecil go on to become recruiters of new agents themselves, including the kids watching the movie

CastJessica Alba as Marissa Wilson (née Cortez), a spy, wife to Wilbur Wilson and stepmother to Rebecca and Cecil, as well as Carmen and Juni's aunt.
Joel McHale as Wilbur Wilson, Marissa's spy-hunting reporter husband.
Alexa Vega as Carmen Cortez, a top secret agent for the OSS. She and her brother Juni were the main characters in the previous films.
Daryl Sabara as Juni Cortez, a retired OSS agent. He and his sister Carmen were the main characters in the previous films.
Rowan Blanchard as Rebecca Wilson, Wilbur's daughter. She has not accepted Marissa as a replacement for her mother, and delights in playing pranks on her.
Mason Cook as Cecil Wilson, Wilbur's son who is hearing-impaired. He is more open-minded than Rebecca about Marissa being their new mother.
Ricky Gervais as Argonaut (voice)
Belle Solorzano and Genny Solorzano as Maria Wilson Spy Baby, Marissa's daughter and Rebecca and Cecil's half-sister
Jeremy Piven as Danger D'Amo Time Keeper, Danger's Father also portrays Tick Tock
Danny Trejo as Isador "Machete" Cortez
Angela Lanza as Female Spy OSS Agent (minor scenes)

ProductionRobert Rodriguez was prompted by an incident on the set of Machete to start envisioning a fourth film in the Spy Kids series. Star Jessica Alba had her then-one year old baby Honor Marie and was dressed to appear on camera when her baby's diaper "exploded". Watching Alba change the diaper while trying not to get anything on her clothes prompted Rodriguez to think "What about a spy mom?"Production on the film was officially announced on September 25, 2009, six years after the release of Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, by Dimension Films. The script for the film was completed byRobert Rodriguez in December 2009. The title for the film was officially revealed as Spy Kids: All the Time in the World on March 24, 2010 as well as an August 2011 release window,which was later updated to an August 19, 2011 release date.

Reception
Critical response
The film received generally negative reviews upon release, with an approval rating of 22% and an average rating of 3.9 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes. It has a score of 37 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 14 reviews indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a B-plus on an A-plus to F scale. Common Sense Media gave the film 1 out of 5 stars. The website reads, "Positive messages can't save worst film in action series.

Box officeThe film took in $4 million on its opening day and $11 million over the three-day weekend, debuting in third place behind The Help and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. That was on the low end of expectations, but an executive of The Weinstein Company said, "We're okay with this number. We're going to be in good shape with this film, and it will play for the rest of the summer". The following weekend, it dropped 48% to $6 million, and took sixth place, and on the following weekend, it earned an additional $6.8 million over the four-day Labor Day Weekend. As of November 2011, the film earned $38 million in the U.S and $47 million in other countries for a worldwide gross of $85 million.

Becoming Jane 2007 British-Irish historical biographical film

Becoming Jane is a 2007 British-Irish historical biographical film directed byJulian Jarrold. It depicts the early life of the English author Jane Austen and her lasting love for Thomas Langlois Lefroy. American actress Anne Hathaway stars as the titular character, while her romantic interest is played by Scottish actor James McAvoy. Also appearing in the film are Julie Walters,James Cromwell and Maggie Smith. The film was produced in cooperation with several companies, including Ecosse Films and Blueprint Pictures. It also received funding from the Irish Film Board and the UK Film Council Premiere Fund.

The film is partly based on the 2003 book Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Hunter Spence, who was also hired as historical consultant. The final screenplay, developed by Sarah Williams and Kevin Hood, pieced together some known facts about Austen into a coherent story, in what co-producerGraham Broadbent called "our own Austenesque landscape." According to Hood, he attempted to weave together "what we know about Austen's world from her books and letters," and believed Austen's personal life was the inspiration for Pride and Prejudice. Jarrold began production of the film in early 2006, opting to shoot primarily in Ireland as he found it had better-preserved locations than Hampshire, England, where Austen was raised.

Released firstly in the United Kingdom on 9 March 2007 and in other countries later in the year, Becoming Jane earned approximately $37 million worldwide. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Hathaway's performance received mixed critical reception, with some reviewers negatively focusing on her nationality and accent. Commentators and scholars have analysed the presence of Austen characters and themes within the film, and also noted the implementation of mass marketing in the film's release.

Jane Austen is the younger daughter of Reverend George Austen and his wife and has yet to find a suitable husband. She wishes to be a writer, to the dismay of her mother and proud delight of her father.

Thomas Lefroy is a promising lawyer with a bad reputation, which he describes as "typical" for people in the profession. Tom makes a bad first impression upon meeting Jane, when he nearly falls asleep while she gives a reading of her work for the company. Overhearing his subsequent criticism, Jane cannot stand the arrogant Irishman. Meanwhile, she turns down the affections of other men, including Mr. Wisley, the nephew and heir of the wealthy Lady Gresham. Wisley proposes but Jane ultimately rejects him due to lack of affection. The mischievous Tom encounters Jane again; they argue but increasingly take interest in each other and Tom demonstrates that he takes Jane's literary aspirations seriously. In time they fall in love.

Tom, Jane, her brother Henry and Jane's rich widowed cousin, Eliza, Comtesse de Feullide, conspire to receive an invitation from Tom's uncle and benefactor, the Lord Chief Judge Langlois of London, for the rich "Madame La Comtesse" and her friends. This visit is meant to be a short break in their journey to see Jane's brother, Edward. This would allow Judge Langlois to get to know Jane before and give a blessing for their marriage. Full of hope, Jane cannot sleep during the night at the Judge's place. In a flow of inspiration, she then begins the writing of First Impressions, the manuscript that will become Pride and Prejudice.

However, Judge Langlois receives a letter informing him of the genteel poverty of Jane's family and he refuses to give Tom his blessing, declaring that he would wish Tom to be the whoremonger he had been rather than allow him to live in poverty because of a bad marriage. Tom tells Jane that he cannot marry her and she is crushed, not knowing that Tom has a legitimate reason; his family depends on him financially.

Jane goes back home and soon learns that Tom has become engaged to someone else at the arrangement of his family. Jane accepts the marriage proposal of Mr. Wisley, whom she had earlier turned down. Later, Tom realises he cannot live without Jane, and returns, asking Jane to run away with him, for "what value will there be in life, if we are not together?" Jane agrees, and they leave, with only Jane's sister Cassandra knowing they plan to marry in secret.

On the way, Jane stumbles upon a letter from Tom's mother, and realises his situation: he sends money he receives from his uncle back to his parents and siblings, and his family cannot survive without it. She tells Tom that they cannot elope, not with so many people depending upon him. He insists that he and Jane must marry and tells her he will earn money, but Jane tells him that it will not be enough; he will never be able to make enough money to support his dependents with a High Court judge (his uncle) as an enemy and with a penniless wife. Distraught, Tom asks her if she loves him, and she replies, "Yes, but if our love destroys your family, then it will destroy itself, in a long, slow degradation of guilt and regret and blame." She leaves to go home. Jane catches a last glimpse of Tom through the carriage window as he briefly follows, the horses outpacing him.

Twenty years later, Jane, now a successful author and by choice unmarried, sees Tom pass by during a gathering. Henry, now married to Eliza, goes after Tom and brings him to her. Tom introduces his eldest daughter, who admires Jane's novels. As she asks Jane to read aloud, he demonstrates her by her name, also Jane.[clarification needed] Astonished that he named his eldest after her, Jane agrees to read. The last scene shows Tom's daughter sitting by Jane as she reads aloud from Pride and Prejudice, while Tom watches Jane affectionately. As she concludes, their eyes meet, and Tom joins the rest of the company in honouring Jane and her work with applause.

CastAnne Hathaway as Jane Austen
James McAvoy as Thomas "Tom" Lefroy
Julie Walters as Mrs Austen
James Cromwell as Reverend George Austen
Maggie Smith as Lady Gresham
Lucy Cohu as Eliza, Comtesse de Feullide
Laurence Fox as Mr. Wisley
Joe Anderson as Henry Austen
Ian Richardson as Lord Chief Judge Langlois of London
Sophie Vavassuer as Jane Lefroy
Anna Maxwell Martin as Cassandra Austen
Leo Bill as John Warren
Jessica Ashworth as Lucy Lefroy
Eleanor Methven as Mrs Lefroy
Helen McCrory as Mrs Radcliffe
Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Robert Fowle

Production
Conception and adaptation"It's like dot-to-dot. There are documented facts and we've joined the dots in our own Austenesque landscape."
— Co-producer Graham Broadbent on the film's story

In 2004, screenwriter Sarah Williams approached Douglas Rae and Robert Bernstein of Ecosse Films with the intention of creating a film about the life of Jane Austen, a popular eighteenth century English novelist. Williams had recently read Becoming Jane Austen, a 2003 biography that largely pieced together several known facts, such as Austen's meeting Tom Lefroyon Christmas 1795, into a coherent story about unrequited love. Bernstein agreed to adapt the work, believing that it depicted "a pivotal relationship in Jane Austen's early life that was largely unknown to the public."The book's author, Jon Hunter Spence, was hired as a historical consultant on the film, with the task of "see[ing] that, given that the 'story' is a work of imagination, the factual material was as accurate as possible within the limitations of the story."

After Williams completed several drafts of the screenplay, the company hired Kevin Hood to aid in further script development. Bernstein believed that Hood's past work contained "a romantic sensibility... There is a poetic quality about his writing as well as there being a rigorous emotional truth which I thought was important for Jane." Hood was attracted to the film because he believed "the story is such an important one and very much the inspiration for Pride and Prejudice."Calling Austen a "genius" and "one of the top two or three prose writers of all time", Hood thought that her relationship with Lefroy "was absolutely essential in shaping her work." Hood acknowledged however that Becoming Jane is "based on the facts as they are known and the majority of characters did exist, as did many of the situations and circumstances in the film. Some have been fictionalised, weaving together what we know about Austen's world from her books and letters, creating a rich Austenite landscape."

Julian Jarrold became attached to direct the film in early 2005. It was his second feature film, after Kinky Boots, which was released later that year. According to Bernstein, he "liked [Jarrold's] style as it was modern and visceral, and I just had a feeling that he was the right choice. This piece needed to be handed with delicacy but also with a certain amount of brio and Julian was able to bring those two things to the production." The director began work on the project in early 2006, rereading the novels Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion and also reviewing Austen biographies such as Spence's book. Jarrold depended most heavily on the script, calling it "a rich, witty and clever screenplay from someone who obviously knew his subject very well. It is a love story but much more besides. Kevin's screenplay has so many layers and interesting ideas. Apart from the love story I was very attracted by the themes of imagination and experience." The director intended to "bring Austen up to date by roughening her up a bit" and adding "more life and energy and fun," opining that past Austen adaptations had been "a little bit picture-postcard and safe and sweet and nice."

Road Trip 2000 American road-comedy film

Road Trip is a 2000 American road-comedy film written by Todd Phillips andScot Armstrong and directed by Phillips. The film, featuring an ensemble castincluding Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart, Paulo Costanzo,DJ Qualls, Rachel Blanchard, Anthony Rapp, Andy Dick, and Tom Green, follows four college friends as they embark on an 1800-mile road trip to retrieve an illicit tape mistakenly mailed to a girlfriend.

The film is told as a series of flashbacks narrated by Barry, as he leads a group of visitors around his college campus.

Josh Parker and Tiffany Henderson are childhood friends who became high school sweethearts, but had to face a long-distance relationship when Josh enrolls at the (fictional) University of Ithaca and Tiffany enrolls at theUniversity of Texas at Austin, promising continued fidelity to one another. Eventually, when Josh loses touch with Tiffany, Josh believes Tiffany might be seeing other people. Nonetheless, he makes a daily recorded video blog to her. Josh asks Rubin to mail his blog tape to Tiffany before leaving for class.

In class, Josh is failing Ancient Philosophy and the professor informs him he needs a B+ on his mid-term to pass the semester, and furthermore, to re-enroll. Still worrying about Tiffany, Josh's friend E.L. Faldt convinces him to embrace his friend Beth Wagner, who has a great attraction for Josh. Jacob, the T.A. of Philosophy, has a huge crush on Beth and is jealous of Josh, aware of Beth's feelings for him. During E.L.'s party, Josh attends and E.L. holds an auction of several women, including Beth. Jacob also attends the party, and Beth, afraid of Jacob, convinces Josh to outbid Jacob. They promptly retire to Josh's room, and videotape their relations with Josh's blog recorder.

The next morning, Josh arrives in the room in a very jolly mood, confessing that he slept with Beth. His friends play his tape but Josh discovers that Rubin accidentally mailed the sex tape to Tiffany, having confused it with Josh's blog tape for Tiffany. Josh then receives a voicemail from Tiffany saying that she didn't call him because her grandfather had died and she will be away from school until Monday. Accompanied by E.L. and Rubin, Josh asks Kyle to tag along, mainly because he needs Kyle's car. Kyle is a compulsive worrier who lives in constant fear of his overly strict father, Earl Edwards, the rightful owner of their car. The group heads out to drive the nearly 3,400 miles (5,500 km) to Austin and back in three days and leave Barry to take care of Mitch, their pet snake.

Taking a supposed 'short-cut', they come upon a small collapsed bridge and are frustrated that they will waste 5 hours back tracking. E.L. and Rubin convince the other two that they could jump the gap, a la Evel Knievel. Kyle objects but they proceed. They make it across, but the car is effectively destroyed upon landing when the wheels fall off. They get out and discuss what to do next, and the car explodes. So, they continue on foot and stop at a motel. Rubin tries to score marijuana off the whacky, acerbic motel clerk and is informed that Kyle's credit card is maxed out. E.L. looks for transportation, and talks an otherwise rather savvy blind woman, Brenda, who works for a local school for the blind, into letting him take a bus away to be repaired. The guys hit the road again.

Meanwhile, Kyle's father, Earl, tries to pay for a meal with the maxed out card, but is denied service. He then begins an all-out search for Kyle when he is informed by the police that Kyle's car was found blown up and Kyle is missing. On their way to Austin, the group goes through a series of misadventures, such as two of them making deposits at a sperm bank to raise needed funds, Rubin successfully bluffing his way into letting the group stay overnight at an all-Black fraternity house at theUniversity of Tennessee, and a riotous visit with Barry's grandparents. Since Josh's books were destroyed in the exploded car, he calls his professor to ask for an extension on his midterm exam. Jacob answers the phone, pretends to be the professor, and grants a worthless extension.

While Barry is trying to feed Mitch, Beth comes back to the room inquiring of Josh's whereabouts; Barry informs her that Josh has feelings for her. Jacob walks in and informs Beth that he tricked Josh about the mid-term extension, and that he is about to flunk Philosophy. Mitch bites Barry in the hand, causing a violent struggle which ends with Mitch landing on Jake, biting his neck, and making him pass out.

The group finally gets to Austin and, once they get to Tiffany's dorm, Josh eventually intercepts the tape he sent to Tiffany, who has just arrived back at school. But Earl shows up, enraged over what happened with the car and the credit card and threatens to drag Kyle back home with him. Kyle finally summons the courage to stand up to him and states that he is going back to school with his friends. Earl attacks him and confusion reigns in an all-out mini-riot in the dorm's lobby. Josh and Tiffany retreat and discuss their relationship, but Beth calls to warn Josh that he has been duped by Jacob, and while Josh talks to her, Tiffany starts to watch the tape, which turns out to be nothing but Barry mooning for the camera. Josh now has 48 hours to get back to school or else he will fail his midterm and the course, and, possibly, be kicked out of college. After they talk, Josh and Tiffany agree to break up and remain friends. Josh and his buddies head back to school and Josh arrives just in time to take his midterm – with a little, albeit illegal, help from Beth.

Barry closes the film, ending the visitors' tour by confirming to them that Josh passed the course, that Josh and Beth are still together, a happy couple still making videos, that Jacob eventually became a leader of a cult and committed suicide, that Rubin became a fantastic marijuana cultivator, and lastly relates humorous facts about E.L.'s and Kyle's situations.

CastBreckin Meyer as Josh Parker
Seann William Scott as E.L. Faldt
Paulo Costanzo as Rubin Carver
DJ Qualls as Kyle Edwards
Amy Smart as Beth Wagner
Tom Green as Barry Manilow, the college tour guide and narrator of the film
Rachel Blanchard as Tiffany Henderson, Josh's long distance girlfriend
Anthony Rapp as Jacob Schultz
Fred Ward as Earl Edwards
Andy Dick as Motel Clerk
Ethan Suplee as Ed Bradford
Jaclyn DeSantis as Heather
Horatio Sanz as French Toast Guy
Rhoda Griffis as Tour Group Mom
Edmund Lyndeck as Jack Manilow, Barry's grandfather
Ellen Albertini Dow as Mrs. Manilow, Barry's grandmother
Jessica Cauffiel as Wrong Tiffany
Mia Amber Davis as Rhonda
Mary Lynn Rajskub as Blind Brenda
Tim Ware as Officer Bortz
Todd Phillips as Beth's feet admirer
Jimmy Kimmel as Corky's voice
Marla Sucharetza as the sperm bank nurse
Todd Barry as Campus Security Guard

ProductionThe fictional University of Ithaca is based on both Ithaca College and Cornell University both located in Ithaca, New York. Filming took place on the campuses of Woodward Academy, Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the University of Georgia. The university seen in a flyover in the opening scene is actually Harvard University, the same footage was later used in the film Old School in 2003. The diner scene was shot in Lawrenceville, Georgia at the Gwinnett Diner, as it says on the coffee mugs. One of the final scenes of the tour was filmed at Founders Park at the University of Southern California.

Release
Critical reception
Road Trip received mixed to positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 57% based on 91 reviews. The consensus was "Some humor is hit or miss, depending on the audience tastes, but the movie is funny overall. Mixed reviews for the cast, especially for MTV's Tom Green."

Box officeThe film opened at #3 at the North American box office making US$15,484,004 in its opening weekend, behind Gladiatorand Dinosaur.

Don't Say a Word 2001 psychological thriller film

Don't Say a Word is a 2001 psychological thriller film starring Michael Douglas, Brittany Murphy and Sean Bean based on the novel of the same titleby Andrew Klavan. Don't Say a Word was directed by Gary Fleder and written by Anthony Peckham and Patrick Smith Kelly.

In 1991, a gang of thieves steal a rare $10-million gem, but, in the process, two of the gang double-cross their leader, Patrick Koster (Sean Bean) and take off with the precious stone.

Ten years later, on the day before Thanksgiving, prominent private practice Manhattan child psychiatrist, Dr. Nathan R. Conrad (Michael Douglas), is invited by his friend and former colleague, Dr. Louis Sachs (Oliver Platt), to examine a disturbed young lady named Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy) at the state sanatorium.

Having been released from prison on November 4, Patrick and the remaining gang members break into an apartment which overlooks Nathan's apartment, where he lives with his wife Aggie (Famke Janssen) and daughter Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak). That evening, Patrick kidnaps the psychiatrist's daughter as a means of forcing him to acquire a six-digit number from Elisabeth's memory.

As Nathan visits Elisabeth, she is reluctant at first, but he gains her trust later—especially when he reveals that his daughter has been kidnapped and will be killed if he doesn't get the number they want. Dr. Sachs admits to Nathan that the gang who kidnapped Jessie also kidnapped his girlfriend to force him to acquire the number from Elisabeth. Sachs is then visited by Detective Sandra Cassidy (Jennifer Esposito) who reveals to him that his girlfriend has been found dead.

Meanwhile, Aggie hears Jessie's voice and realizes the kidnappers reside in the apartment nearby. The kidnappers send one of them to kill Aggie while the others escape with Jessie, but Aggie sets an ambush and kills him.

After Nathan takes Elisabeth out of the sanatorium, she remembers certain events regarding the gang. It is revealed that Elisabeth's dad was a member of the gang that committed the robbery ten years prior and that he double-crossed them and took the stolen gem. However, other members of the gang later found him and ordered him to reveal where he had hidden the gem, subsequently pushing him in front of a subway train. The gang members were arrested immediately, and Elisabeth escaped with her doll in which the gem was hidden. She also remembers that the required number, 815508, is the number of her father's grave at Hart Islandand that her doll is placed beside him in the coffin. She explains that she had stowed away on a boat that was taking her father's coffin for burial in Potter's field on Hart Island, where the gravediggers put the doll, named Mischka, inside.

Nathan and Elisabeth steal a boat to reach Hart Island. The gang members track them down and demand that Nathan give them the number they want. Elisabeth reveals the number and Patrick orders his companion to exhume her father's coffin. He finds the doll and the gem hidden inside it. He then decides to kill Nathan and Elisabeth, but Detective Cassidy arrives before he can shoot them. Patrick's companion is shot by Cassidy, but Patrick manages to wound her. Taking advantage of the confusion, Nathan takes the gem from Patrick and throws it to a nearby excavation machine. Patrick goes to recover the gem, but Nathan triggers the mechanism which covers Patrick with earth, burying him alive. Nathan is then reunited with his wife and daughter, and it is implied that Elisabeth goes on to live with the Conrads.

CastMichael Douglas as Dr. Nathan R. Conrad
Sean Bean as Patrick Koster
Brittany Murphy as Elisabeth Burrows
Guy Torry as Dolen
Jennifer Esposito as Det. Sandra Cassidy
Famke Janssen as Agatha "Aggie" Conrad
Oliver Platt as Dr. Louis Sachs
Skye McCole Bartusiak as Jessie Conrad
Shawn Doyle as Russel Maddox
Victor Argo as Sydney Simon
Conrad Goode as Max Dunlevy
Paul Schulze as Jake
Lance Reddick as Arnie
Aidan Devine as Leon Edward Croft
Alex Campbell as Jonathan
Arlene Duncan as Aide
Judy Sinclair as Zelda Sinclair
Larry Block as Doorman
David Warshofsky as Ryan
Darren Frost as Janitor
Philip Williams as Large Cop
Louis Vanaria as Cop at Scene
Daniel Kash as Detective Garcia
Lucie Laurier as Vanessa
Isabella Fink as 8 Year Old Elisabeth
Ray Iannicelli as Man at Marina
Colm Magner as Cop #1
Cyrus Farmer as Officer #1
Martin Roach as Transit Cop
Patricia Mauceri as Sofia

SoundtrackThe film's musical score was composed by Mark Isham. The soundtrack contains eight songs from various scenes, including the Heist, the Kidnapping and the horrific events at the Subway.

Some of the music in the film includes the following songs and performers:
"Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Loc
"5 by Steve" by Steve Weisberg
"Fee Fie Foo" by Louis Prima
"Promises" by India.Arie
"Pride and Joy" by Marvin Gaye
"Dream a Little, Dream of Me" by Ella Fitzgerald
"Pink Toenails" by Martie Maguire and Laura Lynch, sung by Skye McCole Bartusiak

Reception
Critical response
Don't Say a Word received poor reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 24% based on 113 reviews. Metacritic gives the film a generally unfavorable review with a score of 38% based on 32 reviews.

Box officeDespite poor reception by critics, the film was a box office success. It earned over $100 million worldwide against a budget of $50 million.

Cowboys & Aliens 2011 American-Canadian science fiction Western film

Cowboys & Aliens is a 2011 American-Canadian science fiction Western film directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, andOlivia Wilde. The film is based on the 2006 graphic novel of the same namecreated by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. The main plot revolves around anamnesiac outlaw (Craig), a wealthy cattleman (Ford), and a mysterious traveler (Wilde) who must ally to save a group of townspeople abducted byaliens. The screenplay was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, based on a screen story by the latter two along with Steve Oedekerk. The film was produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Kurtzman, Orci and Rosenberg, with Steven Spielberg and Favreau serving as executive producers.

The project began development in April 1997, when Universal Pictures andDreamWorks Pictures bought film rights to a concept pitched by Rosenberg, former president at Malibu Comics, which he described as a graphic novel in development. After the graphic novel was published in 2006, development on the film was begun again, and Favreau signed on as director in September 2009. On a budget of $163 million, filming for Cowboys & Aliens began in June 2010, in New Mexico and California. Despite studio pressure to release the film in 3-D, Favreau chose to film traditionally and in anamorphic format(widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film) to further a "classic movie feel". Measures were taken to maintain a serious Western element despite the film's "inherently comic" title and premise. The film's aliens were designed to be "cool and captivating",[6] with some details, such as a fungus that grows on their wounds, created to depict the creatures as frontiersmen facing adversity in an unfamiliar place.

Cowboys & Aliens premiered at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con and was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on July 29, 2011. The film, though having grossed its budget back, is considered to be a financial disappointment, taking $174.8 million in box office receipts on a $163 million budget. Cowboys & Aliens received mixed reviews, with critics generally praising its acting and production but criticizing its blend of the Western andscience fiction genres.

After its release, a lawsuit was filed against those involved in the development of the film by Steven John Busti, who claimed that the film infringed the copyright of his own similarly themed work written in 1994.

In 1873, New Mexico Territory, an unnamed loner (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the desert being injured with no memory and with a strange metal object on his wrist. After killing three drifters who think he might be worth bounty money, he takes their clothes, weapons and a horse. He wanders into the small town of Absolution where the local preacher Meacham (Clancy Brown) treats his wound. After the stranger subdues Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), a volatile drunk who has been terrorizing the town, Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine) recognizes the stranger as Jake Lonergan, a wanted outlaw, and attempts to arrest him. Jake beats up the posse sent to take him in and nearly escapes, but a mysterious woman named Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) knocks him out. Taggart prepares to transport both Jake and Percy to Santa Fe for trial.

Percy's father, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), a wealthy and ruthless cattleman, arrives with his men and demands that Percy be released. He suddenly gazes at Jake and also demands he be released to him, since Jake was the one who stole Dolarhyde's gold. During the standoff, A group of multiple alien craft begin attacking the town. Percy, the sheriff and many other townsfolk are grabbed by long, whip-like feelers hanging from the bottom of the alien ships and are abducted. Jake's shackle unfolds and becomes a weapon, shooting down one of the ships with a single shot and ending the attack.

Dolarhyde, Ella, and other townsfolk form a posse to track an injured alien that escaped from the downed ship. Meanwhile, Jake travels to an abandoned cabin and in a flashback, recalls returning to it with stolen gold but just after a woman in the cabin, Alice (Abigail Spencer), demands that he had returned it but they are abducted by the aliens. His memories returning and Jake joins up with the posse. During the evening, they come upon a capsized paddle wheel steamboat that the aliens apparently dumped miles from any water. They camp in it and during the night the alien they were tracking kills Meacham, who sacrifices himself to save Emmett (Noah Ringer), Taggart's grandson.

By the next morning, most of the posse has deserted, and those remaining are attacked by Jake's former gang. Jake, who had stolen the gang's loot after their last heist, attempts to retake control but it is failed. While fleeing, the aliens begin attacking the town again and Ella is captured. Jake jumps aboard the ship and attacks the alien pilot, causing the ship to crash but Ella is fatally wounded.

Shortly after the crash, however, the remaining posse is captured by Chiricahua Apache Indians, who blame them for the alien attacks. After Ella's corpse is dumped on a fire by a Chiricahua warrior, she is fully resurrected and emerges from the fire in the nude while wrapping her up in a blanket. Ella reveals herself to be an alien from "beyond the stars" who had travelled to Earth to help resist the invaders after they destroyed her home world. The aliens, who are mining gold and abducting humans to conduct experiments to find their weaknesses, are far stronger and more durable than humans, and have superior weaponry, but are not invulnerable. They can be stabbed and shot to death because only Jake's gauntlet weapon can kill them with a single blast. She also states that the aliens that previously attacked them are just scouts.

Ella claims Jake holds the secret to the aliens' whereabouts and argues they must defeat the aliens before they exterminate all life on earth. After taking medicine offered by the Apaches' medicine man (Paul Ortega), Jake recalls that Alice was euthanized after she was used in an alien experiment, but he had escaped, inadvertently stealing the gauntlet-like alien weapon encasing his wrist. He then also remembers the location of the aliens' base of operations.

Armed with this knowledge, the group, now led by Dolarhyde, prepares to attack the aliens' grounded mother ship. Meanwhile, Jake returns to his old gang and persuades them to join the fight and In a sneak attack, the humans breach the defenses of the spaceship by destroying the aircraft entrance, forcing the aliens into a ground battle. Jake and Ella board the ship and free the captives, but Jake is captured. Dolarhyde rescues him and both men escape the ship after killing the alien responsible for Alice's death. As the remaining aliens are taking off in their damaged craft, Ella sacrifices herself, enters the ship's core and destroys it by using Jake's wrist gauntlet, causing the alien ship to be obliterated.

With the Aliens defeated and obliterated, Jake's memory partially returns and some abducted townsfolk begin to remember their pasts. Still a wanted man, Jake decides to leave; the sheriff and Dolarhyde say they will claim that he was killed in the invasion. The citizens have intended to reconstruct the town with the expectation that the newly revealed gold mine will soon bring many new settlers. At the end of the film, Jake kindly rejects Dolarhyde's offer to help reconstruct the town and rides away.

Cast
The cast includesDaniel Craig as Jake Lonergan, an amnesiac outlaw.
Harrison Ford as Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, a powerful cattleman.
Olivia Wilde as Ella Swenson, a mysterious traveler who aids Lonergan.
Sam Rockwell as Doc, owner of Absolution's local saloon (when he isn't tending to patients).
Paul Dano as Percy Dolarhyde, Woodrow's trouble-making son.
Clancy Brown as Meacham, Absolution's preacher and doctor (when the real one isn't too busy tending bar) .
Keith Carradine as Sheriff John Taggart, Absolution's sheriff.
Noah Ringer as Emmett Taggart, John Taggart's grandson.
Adam Beach as Nat Colorado, Dolarhyde's Native American right-hand man.
Abigail Spencer as Alice, Jake's lost love.
Ana de la Reguera as María, Absolution's saloon maid and Doc's wife.
Walton Goggins as Hunt, a bandit and friend of Lonergan.
Julio Cedillo as Bronc, a Mexican bandit.
David O'Hara as Pat Dolan, Lonergan's former gang-member.
Toby Huss as Roy Murphy
Raoul Trujillo as Black Knife, the Chiricahua Apache chief.
Paul Ortega as Apache Medicine Man

Production
Development and casting
The project began development in 1997, when Universal Pictures andDreamWorks bought film rights to a concept pitched by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, former president at Malibu Comics, which he described as agraphic novel in development. They hired Steve Oedekerk to write and direct the film, which Oedekerk planned to do after completing Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. Rosenberg, who formed Platinum Studios to pursue adaptingCowboys & Aliens and other Malibu Comics properties into film and television, joined as a producer. By 1998, Oedekerk left the project to pursue a remake of the 1964 film The Incredible Mr. Limpet with Jim Carrey. By 2004, the film rights were acquired by Columbia Pictures, who did not move the project beyond development.

In 2006, Rosenberg published Cowboys & Aliens as a graphic novel. In the following year, Universal and DreamWorks partnered again to adaptCowboys & Aliens into a film. In June 2008, Robert Downey, Jr. entered negotiations to star in the film as Zeke Jackson, a former Union Army gunslinger. While Downey, Jr. was making Iron Man 2, he told director Jon Favreau aboutCowboys & Aliens. Favreau investigated the project,and in September 2009, he joined as director. Downey, Jr. left the project in January 2010, to star in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and later in the month, Daniel Craig was hired to replace him. Favreau said Craig's portrayal of James Bond "brings a certain virtuosity". He also described Craig, "On the one hand, he's like this Jason Bourne type, a leading man who's also a lethal character, but on the other hand, he's also got a lot of humanity and vulnerability to him."

In April 2010, Harrison Ford was cast alongside Craig. Favreau had cast Craig and Ford in the film because they were actors who suited the action-adventure roles so the characters would be less seen as comedic. The director compared Ford, in particular, with John Wayne in having "a sense of history" with the actor and the role.Before Cowboys & Aliens, Ford had previously acted in the Western films A Time for Killing in 1967, Journey to Shiloh in 1969 and The Frisco Kid in 1979.While Ford is well known for playing Indiana Jones, the filmmakers wanted to avoid giving him a cowboy hat that would remind audiences too much of Jones. Writer Alex Kurtzman said, "We needed to make sure that—no pun intended—we tipped a hat to iconography of Harrison Ford and also presented the audience with a very different version."

Olivia Wilde was cast in one of the lead roles, and Favreau called Wilde's character the key to the film.Sam Rockwell was cast in a supporting role as Doc. The character was described as a large Mexican in the original script, but when Favreau and the writers learned of Rockwell's interest in the film, they reconceived and expanded the role.Favreau himself is known for appearing in his films, but for Cowboys & Aliens, he chose not to make a cameo appearance because he thought it would affect the tone of the film. However, his face does appear on a wanted poster as "Todd Kravitz" in the scene establishing Craig as "Lonergan".

When asked about how the film was developing, Rosenberg stated, "It's incredible. Sometimes it's like seeing exactly what was going through my head when I first had that spark in my head as a kid. Jon Favreau's bringing his own talent and vision with the adaptation, but at the same time it remains true to what I was really trying to get at in the original story."

Steven Spielberg, one of the film's executive producers, visited the director and the writers during pre-production to look over the script and the artwork. He provided Favreau with a collection of classic Western films. Spielberg also invited the director and the writers to a private screening of several Western films and provided live commentary on how to make one properly. The films included Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, and Destry Rides Again. Spielberg made several other suggestions: a main enemy alien, Jake's final use of the gauntlet being to decapitate an alien,

and that Jake and Ella's first kiss should occur in the climax of the film.

Writing
In the film's period as a developing project under several studios, different versions of the screenplay were drafted by numerous screenwriters, beginning with Steve Oedekerk. Other screenwriters involved included David Hayter, Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, Jeffrey Boam, Thompson Evans, and Chris Hauty.When Universal and DreamWorks re-partnered in 2007, they hired Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus. In 2009, Ostby and Fergus were replaced by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof. Kurtzman and Orci analyzed American Western films includingThe Searchers. Orci said, "The first draft was very kind of jokey and broad and then it went very serious. You kind of swing back and forth between the two extremes and the tone until you find the exact right point where a Western and a sci-fi movie can really shake hands without it seeming unnatural." "Imagine you're watching Unforgiven and then Aliens land," Orci explained.

Orci also said, "The comic has the themes of enemies uniting to fight a common enemy and has the setting of that specific time period, so we kept the inspiration from all of that. In terms of the specifics of the story and who these characters are, we wanted the audience to be surprised and to not feel like they've already seen everything if they were fans of the comic. So, while the themes and the setting and many of the elements are a great inspiration, the story is completely adapted and translated for live action." The aliens were loosely based on the Anunnaki gods of Zecharia Sitchin's interpretation of theBabylonian religion, who have a distinct interest in gold.

FilmingCowboys & Aliens was not originally planned to be shown in 3-D. When approached with the idea by DreamWorks, Favreau was not interested, stating that Westerns should be shot only on film (as opposed to being shot digitally, which is required for modern 3D technology), and didn't want it to be converted after filming. "That would be like filming in black and white and colorizing it," he reasoned. Director of photography Matthew Libatique shot Cowboys & Aliens in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film to further a "classic movie feel".

On a budget of $163 million,principal photography for Cowboys & Aliens began at Albuquerque Studios in New Mexicoon June 30, 2010. One of the filming locations was Plaza Blanca, "The White Place", where Western films like The Missing, 3:10 to Yuma, City Slickers, Young Guns, and The Legend of the Lone Ranger had been filmed.Sound stagework took place in Los Angeles, with additional location shooting at Randsburg, California. Filming finished on September 30.

A scene in which Craig's character rides a horse alongside a ravine and jumps down it onto a spacecraft emulated many scenes in American Western films where cowboys rode along a moving train and jumped on it. Favreau said the scene referenced the one in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones chases a truck and noted that a similar scene existed in the 1939 film Stagecoach, saying "We're constantly referencing back to our roots." Cowboys & Aliensalso make multiple references to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, such as the introduction to the aliens through the bright lights on their aircraft and an upturned paddle steamer in the middle of the desert.The film also "teases"monster movies, and the scenes in the paddle steamer were a deliberate homage to Alien.

Design and effectsScott Chambliss was hired as the production designer based on his work on Star Trek, produced by Orci and Kurtzman.The visual effects were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), represented by Roger Guyett and Eddie Pasquarello as visual effects supervisors. Under the supervision of Shane Mahan, Legacy Effects created practical puppet aliens and full scale alien speeders. New Deal Studios constructed a miniature of the paddle steamer that is seen upturned in the film. Kerner Optical built a miniature of the alien ship and bluescreen stand-ins. The film also featured visual effects by Fuel VFX,The Embassy, Ghost, and Shade VFX, with previsualization from Halon Entertainment.

Favreau noted that Cowboys & Aliens focuses on a specific aspect of the alien genre which primarily revolves around the films of the 1980s: "And although we have quite a bit of CG—I like the way they told stories before—before you could show everything with CG. And it was a real unveiling of the creature, little by little, and using lighting and camera work and music to make it a very subjective experience. And so we tried to preserve that here."In designing the film's aliens, ILM was careful to make the creatures "cool and captivating". Guyett stated that they adopted a similar approach to that ofDistrict 9:

The trick was to make [the aliens] interesting through their behavior and what happens to them, and that was something that District 9 did very well. You were drawn into their world a bit and their idiosyncrasies had an immediate impact: they ate cat food. But those details overwhelm certain design aspects, so I was striving to find some behavior that fit in well with the Western genre, where you have people in very arduous conditions fighting the elements. And I thought that the irony of all this was that the aliens turn up and it could be more exaggerated for them. They're frontiersmen in a way: traveling to another place and having to deal with all the adversities of the climate. And in our case, we played up the fact that they weren't comfortable in our world. There are flies all around them; they don't like the light; and when they were wounded and exposed, a strange fungus grows around them.

The use of anamorphic widescreen (rather than shooting full-frame "flat" and cropping later) gave ILM no extra room to re-frame shots; it was a challenge to show both nine-foot-tall aliens and smaller humans in the same space. Instead, Guyett said, they shot more areas in case portions of the shots were lost. In filming the gun battle between the cowboys and aliens, in which the aliens move at twice the speed of the humans, actors were required to ride through the scene on horseback and shoot at men in gray suits and three-foot-tall hats; they aimed at faces drawn by Jon Favreau on the top of the hats. A big challenge for ILM's texture artists was to show the aliens in both a dark cave environment and harsh sunlight. The creatures were rendered in high resolution for close-ups; dirt and wounds were added to the aliens to emphasize the injuries they sustained in battle. After Favreau requested that the aliens experience a very unpleasant biological reaction to being wounded on Earth, the texture team created a yellow fungus-like look on the scars of the aliens. To design the fungus, texture supervisor Martin Murphy searched the Internet for real pictures of mold and growth on trees and eventually designed a "fried egg pattern". The heads of the aliens were based on those of sea turtles, after Favreau encountered sea turtles during a trip to Hawaii.

At the suggestion of Steven Spielberg, an "über-alien" was also designed. It was unclear if the red scar Jake gives the über-alien after escaping vivisection would be enough of an identifier to distinguish it from other aliens, so the creature was redesigned with translucent, pale skin due to the lack of time spent outside. Favreau described the über-alien as more fleshy and anthropomorphic than the other aliens and Murphy commented, "There are some parts of him like his arm that you can see into. It's almost like glass or ice or gelatiny surface that blends into a dryer area. The [sic] there's pieces of him that are more like a soft-shell crab or shiny and wet."

In addition to the aliens, other visual effects were required for the speeders, the alien spaceship, its interior, environment re-creations, and the head-up display for Jake's arm gauntlet. For the invasion of the town of Absolution, both practical laser lighting and fire effects were utilized, along with practical ships and effects enhancements. ILM artists had to enhance the initial look of the alien "bolos", the cables used to abduct people, with renderings such as extra lights, after viewers thought the studio had failed to "paint out" the cables in the film’s first trailer. For a scene in which Jake and Ella ride on a speeder, the actors were filming on a practical mock-up against bluescreen; they were digitally replaced in wider shots.

ThemesIn Cowboys & Aliens, Director Jon Favreau sought a plausible approach to how humans from the late 19th century could confront extraterrestrial beings armed with advanced weaponry. He said, "It was very well laid out, well planned, and there were a lot of discussions with a lot of actors who called me to task on things that seemed too convenient, so we made sure we earned each step." The director also sought to maintain a Western tone as aliens appeared in the film, saying, "It's very easy to just cut the string and then all of a sudden the action starts and you're in Independence Day." Favreau cited the works of John Ford and Sergio Leone as sources of inspiration as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.Favreau also wanted the science-fiction element to stand on its own,referencing Alien, Predator, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He said of both genres, "It's about finding the intersection of those two genres . . . If you do it right, it honors both, and it becomes interesting and clever and a reinvention of two things that people understand the conventions of, instead of just a retread or remake or sequel or reboot of a film you've seen before."

In the Americas, Native American nations were severely damaged by European settlers, specifically because of the Europeans' advanced military technology. Favreau compared the film to the historical confrontation "in the frustration of not having the technology to allow you to prevail. It's always the low-tech culture that feels powerless when faced with an enemy that has technology on their side."In the film, the cowboys are the low-tech culture, and the aliens with advanced technology possess the belief of Manifest Destiny. Favreau also said of the premise, "It allows the cowboys and Native Americans to come together, which would be impossible had there not been a greater common enemy. It sets the Western up in a very classic way and then turns it on its ear." When the aliens appear, the film becomes a road movie in which the main characters try to track the aliens, team up with different groups, and ultimately confront the aliens. Favreau compared the gathering to The Magnificent Seven in facing seemingly insurmountable odds in their confrontation.

The character of Meacham also presents an unconventional take on Christian principles to support the film's main theme of redemption. According to Favreau, Meacham's teaching Doc how to shoot not only references similar scenes in other Westerns but also "teaches him how to be a person". Meacham's dying words to Jake, "God don't care who you were, Son, only who you are", speaks of the central theme of redemption. The hummingbird that Jake sees at various points in the film is a "good spirit" that could represent either Alice or Ella; an alternate theory is that Ella was an angel that helped Jake "get over" Alice. Favreau also suggested a back-story to Cowboys & Aliens: the über-alien is the mastermind of the invasion; all other aliens are "worker bees", possibly genetically engineered by another species of aliens that remained on their home planet and sent the worker bees as conquistadors.

MarketingCowboys & Aliens, which crosses genres with the American Western element of cowboys and the science-fiction element of extraterrestrials, has an "inherently comic" title and premise.At the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010, director Jon Favreau hosted a presentation and was accompanied by the film's primary cast members, including Harrison Ford in his first Comic-Con appearance. In the presentation, Favreau explained to audiences that he intended the film as a serious mix of the Western styles ofSergio Leone and John Ford and "really scary" science fiction like Alien andPredator.The first trailer for the film appeared in the following November, and The New York Times reported that film audiences found the premise comedic. Eddie Egan, the president of marketing at Universal Pictures, acknowledged the misconception and said, "The trailer is the first very public step in reconciling the tone of the movie with the more immediate effect of the title on its own." The studio anticipated a marketing campaign that would demonstrate that the film is "a tough-minded adventure" like Unforgiven by Clint Eastwood.

During Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, the studio aired a TV spot for Cowboys & Aliens. Hours before the American football game, Favreau used Twitter to link followers to the spot online. Entertainment Weekly reported, "It . . . roused the geek-hive fan base and stirred new speculation about his hybrid of classic Westerns and extraterrestrial-invasion thrillers." After the spot aired, Favreau said the first trailer was intended as an introduction to pique people's curiosity and that the Super Bowl TV spot was "showing more of the sense of adventure as things unfold".

In April 2011, Favreau and Roberto Orci appeared at WonderCon in San Francisco, where they presented nine minutes of film footage and answered questions about the film. Favreau explained that marketing would show "only a brief glimpse of the aliens of the title" before the film is released. He explained the withholding of certain elements, "I think there are enough visionary people involved with this film that there is an understanding that there is a personality that the marketing campaign can take on as well as the film itself . . . I want to make sure that if the audience goes to see [the film], there is going to be a lot of surprises in it that they haven't seen in the marketing materials."

ReleaseCowboys & Aliens had its world premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 23, 2011. It was commercially released in the United States and Canada on July 29, 2011, and in other territories in ensuing weekends. Paramount Pictures International also released the film in IMAX theaters around the world, as it did for Favreau's previous film, Iron Man 2.

Box Office Mojo forecast that Cowboys & Aliens would gross $95 million total in the United States and Canada. For the comparatively low figure, the website cited that the marketing had not contextualized the film effectively and that hybridizedWestern films like Jonah Hex and Wild Wild West were not successful at the box office. In territories outside the United States and Canada, the website forecast $140 million total, citing that American Western films are not historically popular, but that the premise of the alien invasion and the presence of international stars like Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford would generate interest. In contrast, box office tracker Paul Dergarabedian said the film's combination of cowboy and extraterrestrial themes in particular would attract audiences. Dergarabedian also believed that audiences' familiarity with Craig as character James Bond would help the film.

Box officeOn the opening day of Cowboys & Aliens, estimates showed that its opening day gross was $13.0 million and it came in second place to The Smurfs‍ '​ opening day gross of $13.3 million. This was considered a surprise since Cowboys & Alienswas expected to be the clear winner for the weekend.Estimates then showed Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs tied at the #1 spot for the weekend with $36.2 million each. However, when the actual results for the weekend were announcedCowboys & Aliens won the weekend with $36.4 million just beating out The Smurfs, which grossed $35.6 million. The film grossed $100,240,551 in the U.S. and Canada (making it the 500th $100 million domestic movie) as well as $74,581,774 internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $174,822,325. The film is considered to be a financial disappointment, narrowly grossing its budget back. In 2014, the LA Times listed the film as one of the most expensive box office flops of all time.

Critical receptionCowboys & Aliens was released to mixed reviews, earning 44% approval from 235 critics on review-aggregate websiteRotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 5.6/10 and garnering a score of 50 out of 100 from 41 critics on Metacritic.CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a B on an A plus to F scale, indicating a mixed reaction from paying audiences.[68] In general, the performances, particularly from Craig, Ford and Wilde, were praised whereas the combination of Western and science fiction genres was frequently criticized.

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film, saying in a summary: "It sounds kooky on paper but on the screen cowboys and aliens make beautiful, fun music together." Honeycutt felt that the success of the film's blend of aliens and western themes was due to "the determination by everyone involved to play the damn thing straight. Even the slightest goofiness, the tiniest touch of camp, and the whole thing would blow sky high. But it doesn't." Honeycutt appreciated the casting and performances in the film, giving particular mention to Ford, Wilde, and Craig. Criticism was given to the aliens however, which Honeycutt claimed "don't rate as characters", existing as "moving blobs you shoot at in a video game."Variety‍ '​s Peter Debruge echoed Honeycutt's sentiments that the "potential hamminess" of the premise is offset by the cast, particularly Craig through a "mix of ruthlessness and sensitivity." He considered however, that Wilde had the opposite effect, stating she "appears out of place among her grizzled co-stars". Debruge appreciated the attention paid to the roots of the two genres, saying "beneath all the state-of-the-art special effects beats an old-fashioned heart, one that prizes both of the genres in play" and concluded that "a canny blend of CG and practical effects serve the sci-fi elements well, while location shooting and Mary Zophres' form-fitting period duds make the West look its best." The Village Voice praised the Western elements of the film as "lovingly" handled but felt the sci-fi aspects a "gimmick" and "much more standard fare" in comparison. The Village Voice appreciated Favreau's storytelling and singled out Ford for his performance, saying "Ford, enlivened by dude garb, seems to enjoy himself in front of a camera for the first time in decades".

Roger Ebert positively received the film and cast, saying "as preposterous moneymakers go, it's ambitious and well-made. The acting from the large cast is of a high standard, Craig and Ford were more or less born into their roles, and director Jon Favreau actually develops his characters and gives them things to do, instead of posing them in front of special effects." He lamented however that the film was not a pure Western, saying of the aliens, "there is more genuine suspense when [Percy Dolarhyde] starts shooting up the town than when countless aliens appear". Salon‍ '​s Andrew O'Hehir offered a mixed response, claiming the film to be well made and clever, and singling out Craig and Ford for their performances. O'Hehir was, however, critical of the combination of western and science-fiction elements, calling it "a mediocre western clumsily welded to a mediocre alien shoot-'em-up".

Slant‍ '​s Nick Schager reacted negatively to the film, stating "Cowboys & Aliens mashes up genres with a staunch dedication to getting everything wrong, making sure that each scene is more inane than the one that preceded it"; giving the film one star out of four. Schager continued "Cowboys & Aliens‍ '​s western accoutrements are  so false as to be stunning, with every steely-eyed glare from Craig's Man With No Memory, every confrontation between his Jake and Ford's grizzled Dolarhyde, and every silhouetted horseback ride across a sunset range seeming like a wan approximation of a familiar genre staple.  Favreau's visuals have an inauthentic and bland blockbuster sheen, and his actors are similarly afflicted with a case of poseur-itis (Craig's affected silent-type glowering, Ford's gruff racism, or Wilde's blank, wide-eyed stares), failing to deliver a single believable line-reading or gesture."