First Knight

Timecop (1994)

IMDB rating: 5.40

Plot: In Washington DC in 1994, the Senate Oversight Committee (SOC) is being spoken to in the capitol building by George Spota, who explains that for the past 20 years, Doctor Hans Kleindast, the Nobel laureate who help the government with the space program back in the 1960s and 1970s, has been doing research, and his field of research has been time travel. The SOC believes that Hans is a quack — until George tells the SOC that Hans actually succeeded in his research and took a trip to the past then back to the present. You can’t travel into the future because the future hasn’t happened yet. George makes it clear that a covert agency is needed to police time travel, so the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC) is formed. Named as the director of the TEC is Commander Eugene Matuzak, formerly of the Washington DC police department. Senator Aaron McComb, who sees possibilities, agrees to chair the oversight on the new program. Sometime later, at a shopping center, TEC agent Max Walker and his wife Melissa are being watched by a pair of shady looking men. Later, at home. Max and Melissa spend some passionate time together. That night, Melissa is about to tell Max something extremely important when the phone rings. Max answers the phone and is told to go to TEC headquarters. Max gets dressed and as soon as Max opens the front door to go outside, he is attacked by the two men from the shopping center. As the two men are beating Max up. Max sees Aaron looking out the window of the bedroom that Melissa is still in, and Aaron is holding Melissa hostage, forcing Melissa to watch Max’s beating. The two men outside then shoot Max, who is wearing a bulletproof vest — and then an explosion engulfs the house, killing Melissa. On October 30, 1929, on Wall Street in New York City, a man named Lyle Atwood enters an office building and rides an elevator up to an office. There is a sudden ripple in the office, and Max enters from the future. It turns out that Lyle is Max’s partner, and Lyle is planning to stop the depression from happening. Max wants to know who Lyle is working for, and Lyie calls two security men into the office to deal with Max. Max beats up the two security men, and Lyle pulls out a gun and opens fire on Max. When Lyle runs out of bullets, Max forces Lyle to admit that he’s working for Aaron, and that Aaron has paid off a lot of other TEC agents as well. Lyle then jumps out the window. Max jumps out after Lyle, grabs him, and takes Lyle with him back to present time, which is now the year 2004, ten years after Melissa’s murder. TEC judge Marshall sentences Lyle to be immediately executed, so Lyle is sent back to 1929 and is dropped to his death from the point in midair where Max and Lyle disappeared to 2004. At TEC Headquarters in 2004, Aaron, Max, and Matuzak are showing Senator Malcolm Nelson around the TEC building. Aaron reminds everyone that people who go back in time risk coming into contact with a past version of themselves. The same matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time, because if that happens, and if it’s a person accidentally making physical contact with their past version, that person will die, and their body will disappear from the face of the Earth. Later, Max tells Matuzak that Aaron wants to shut down the TEC so no one can stop him from altering the past to his advantage, because Aaron is now running for President of the United States. Aaron’s fading campaign for president is dealt a blow when he is denied federal campaign matching funds. Just before Max wakes up, two men break into his home to kill him, but Max turns the tables and kills the two men who broke in. TEC internal affairs investigator Sarah Fielding questions Max. Max soon learns that Sarah may be on the wrong side in this. Max must travel back and forth in time to bring Aaron down…and when Max goes back to 1994 and finds out what Melissa wanted to tell him 10 years ago, it gives Max incentive to at least try to prevent Melissa’s murder.

Marley & Me (2008)

IMDB rating: 7.20

Plot: A family learns important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog.

In-Laws, The (2003)

IMDB rating: 6.50

Plot: When prospective fathers-in-law Steve Tobias and Jerry Peyser meet for the first time to celebrate their children’s upcoming marriage, the cake hits the fan. Dr. Jerome Peyser is a mild-mannered podiatrist with a well-organized daily routine designed to eliminate all possible sources of stress. Meanwhile, daredevil CIA operative Steve Tobias moves through life like a heat-seeking missile. His average day consists of dodging bullets, stealing private jets and negotiating with international arms smugglers. Now he’s giving potential father-of-the-bride Jerry a serious case of pre-nuptial jitters. Steve’s dramatic entrances and exits, his cryptic references to a Russian runaway named Olga and his fight with a gunman in a restaurant washroom causes Jerry to see a vision of his daughter’s perfectly planned wedding blowing up in his face. As far as Jerry’s concerned, letting Steve into his family takes til death do us part way too literally. Before he can say the wedding is off, Jerry suddenly finds himself embroiled in the chaos that follows in Steve’s wake as he is dragged kicking and screaming into a series of perilous adventures that take the mismatched in-laws-to-be halfway around the world.

Prestige, The (2006)

IMDB rating: 8.20

Plot: A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy — full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences. From the time that they first met as young magicians on the rise, Robert Angier and Alfred Borden were competitors. However, their friendly competition evolves into a bitter rivalry making them fierce enemies-for-life and consequently jeopardizing the lives of everyone around them. Set against the backdrop of turn-of-the-century London.

Annie Hall (1977)

IMDB rating: 8.20

Plot: After breaking up with his girlfriend Annie Hall, neurotic comedian Alvy Singer goes on a stream of conciousness journey through his memories of their relationship, trying to find out what caused them to part ways. He often breaks the fourth wall, speaking to the camera, entering peoples’ stories, and even using animation.

Conspiracy (2008)

IMDB rating: 4.90

Plot: A seasoned senior enlisted special operations (spec ops) United States Marine is wounded during combat operations in Iraq. He is retired from the Marine Corps and visits a friend on a ranch in the south west. When he arrives he discovers his friend has disappeared and no one will even admit to knowing of him.

Keeping the Faith (2000)

IMDB rating: 6.60

Plot: A love triangle between three friends. Rabbi Jake Schram and Father Brian Finn, two friends, are out to update their religions and draw in more worshipers. With the arrival of Anna Reilly, an old childhood friend of the two, the men’s lives are thrown a curve ball. Anna has become a stunning beauty with a lot of spunk and ambition, and both of them want her. A major road block to Anna for both men is their religion. Jake is up for a head position at his synagogue and taking on a non-Jewish partner is frowned upon, besides the fact that his mother disowned his brother for marrying a non-Jewish woman. Brian has given a vow of celibacy to become a priest.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

IMDB rating: 6.50

Plot: NASCAR stock car racing sensation Ricky Bobby is a national hero because of his “win at all costs” approach. He and his loyal racing partner, childhood friend Cal Naughton Jr., are a fearless duo — “Shake” and “Bake” by their fans for their ability to finish so many races in the #1 and #2 positions, with Cal always in second place. When flamboyant French Formula One driver Jean Girard challenges “Shake” and “Bake” for the supremacy of NASCAR, Ricky Bobby must face his own demons and fight Girard for the right to be known as racing’s top driver.

Acolytes (2008)

IMDB rating: 5.80

Plot: James Tresswick and Mark Vincent are victims of a brutal bully Gary Parker who has maltreated both boys, marking their bodies and spoiling their young lives. In their last year of high school, James and Mark find a way to stop being victims. They’re going to kill Gary; Wandering alone around an isolated forest - the suspected site of the disappearance of a local girl - 17 year old Mark strays upon an adult male filling in a trench. It’s suspicious and tantalizing. Mark returns with his friend James and Chasley Keys and they bring shovels to exhume what will probably be rotting garbage or someone’s dead pet - or so they tell themselves. They find the ghostly white body of a woman. She’s a tourist - a Canadian backpacker. The “trench” is a grave. The “adult male” is her killer. And they’ve got him by the balls. Responding to Mark’s intimations James floats an idea to seek out “the sicko”. It’ll be a bit of fun. He’s confident the guy lives in their suburb; Mark saw his car parked on a trail; Mark knows what the car looks like; Mark knows what he looks like. It can be done. Chasely goes along with it. No surprise. James has done all her thinking since they started a relationship. Mark agrees because he’s got a thing for Chasely and he’d like to appear a bit more like her boyfriend, but mostly Mark agrees because he carries a culpable secret. They find the car and the killer 24 hours later. He’s got the same house as everyone else and a kid and a wife. Jeez, it’s anticlimactic. Then, in Chasely’s bedroom, as the girl cleans up the latest damage done to Mark’s face by an animal called Gary Parker, James floats another idea; What if the killer were contacted and told the name of a guy that they’d like to see dropped in a hole of his own? He’s their secret, isn’t he? They kind of own him, don’t they? If he thinks they might let him go he’d do anything, wouldn’t he? What could go wrong? James, Mark and Chasley are about to cross a line of no return as serial killer Ian Wright lures the vulnerable teenagers into his violent world.

Heat (1995)

IMDB rating: 8.10

Plot: Hunters and their prey—Neil and his professional criminal crew hunt to score big money targets (banks, vaults, armored cars) and are, in turn, hunted by Lt. Vincent Hanna and his team of cops in the Robbery/Homicide police division. A botched job puts Hanna onto their trail while they regroup and try to put together one last big ‘retirement’ score. Neil and Vincent are similar in many ways, including their troubled personal lives. At a crucial moment in his life, Neil disobeys the dictum taught to him long ago by his criminal mentor—’Never have anything in your life that you can’t walk out on in thirty seconds flat, if you spot the heat coming around the corner’—as he falls in love. Thus the stage is set for the suspenseful ending….