Senin, 18 Februari 2013

Orphan


Kate Coleman (Vera Farmiga) and her husband John (Peter Sarsgaard) are experiencing strains in their marriage after their third child was stillborn. The loss is particularly hard on Kate, who is also recovering from alcoholism. The couple decides to adopt a 9-year-old Russian girl, Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman), from the local orphanage. While Kate and John's deaf-mute daughter Max (Aryana Engineer) embraces Esther almost immediately, their son Daniel (Jimmy Bennett) is less welcoming.
Kate becomes suspicious that there might be problems in Esther's background when Esther expresses far more knowledge of sex than expected of a child her age. Her suspicions deepen when Esther seriously injures another girl, Brenda, who was bullying Esther due of her bible at a local park. While she initially believes Esther's claim that it was an accident, Kate is further alarmed when Sister Abigail (CCH Pounder), the head of the orphanage, warns her and John that bad things always seem to happen when Esther is around. Esther overhears this and, as Sister Abigail is leaving in her car, Esther pushes Max into its path, forcing her to swerve off the road. Sister Abigail rushes to see if Max is hurt, but Esther kills her with a hammer, then convinces Max to help her hide the weapon in their treehouse. Kate is convinced that something is very wrong with Esther, but John does not believe her. Attempting to find out more about Esther, Kate finds the girl's hidden Bible and discovers that it came from the Saarne Institute in Estonia, which she eventually learns is a mental hospital. She e-mails a picture of Esther to them and asks for more information.
When Daniel learns about Sister Abigail's death from Max, he tells her of his plan to retrieve the hammer to prove Esther's guilt. However, Esther overhears their conversation and confronts Daniel as he searches the treehouse, setting it ablaze and locking Daniel inside in an attempt to kill him and destroy the evidence. Daniel falls to the ground trying to escape, and is knocked unconscious. Esther attempts to finish him off with a rock, but Max stops her. While Daniel is hospitalized from his fall, Esther slips into his room and smothers him with a pillow, stopping his heart, but doctors quickly revive him. Kate, realizing what happened, attacks Esther, but orderlies help John restrain her. As John takes Esther and Max home, doctors sedate Kate.
That night, Esther tries to seduce a drunken John, who finally believes Kate was right and threatens to send Esther back to the orphanage. Meanwhile, as Kate is coming out of sedation, she receives a call from a doctor at the Saarne Institute, who reveals that Esther is actually a 33-year-old woman named Leena Klammer. She has hypopituitarism, a condition that stunted her physical growth, and has spent most of her life posing as a little girl. The doctor tells Kate that Leena is extremely violent and has murdered at least seven people, and that she bears scars on her neck and wrists, which Esther always kept covered, received while trying to escape her strait jacket. Among her victims were a family that adopted her in Estonia, whom she killed because the father rejected her sexual advances.
Leena flies into a rage after being spurned by John, and ransacks her room. Then, after removing the makeup, false teeth, and body wrappings that enhanced her illusion as youthful "Esther", Leena kills him with a knife. Max witnesses this, and hides. Kate, unable to get John on the phone, rushes home and finds him dead. Leena gets a gun from John's safe and shoots Kate in the arm, then goes searching for Max, finding her in the greenhouse. While Leena shoots at Max, Kate crawls onto the greenhouse roof, breaks through the glass above Leena, and lands on her, knocking her out. Kate takes the gun and leaves the greenhouse with Max.
Leena regains consciousness and finds Kate and Max outside near a frozen pond. Leena lunges at Kate, knocking the gun out of Kate's hand and hurling them both onto the ice. As Max watches from a hill above, she picks up the gun and tries to shoot Leena, but hits and shatters the ice instead, causing Kate and Leena to drop into the water. After a brief struggle, Kate climbs partially out of the pond with Leena desperately clinging to her legs. Leena, hiding a knife behind her back and reverting to her little-girl persona, begs Kate not to let her die. Kate angrily responds that she is not her mother, and kicks Leena in the face, breaking her neck and sending her sinking back into the pond. Max and Kate are met by the police moments after.

Enchanted


Giselle lives in "Andalasia", an animated fairy tale world devoid of problems, in which there are talking animals and "happy endings". Prince Edward, Giselle's designated "true love", saves her from the advances of a troll and they plan to get married the following day. Meanwhile, Queen Narissa, Edward's stepmother, schemes to protect the throne. The queen, disguised as an old hag, sends Giselle to New York City's Times Square, designating it as a "place where there are no happily ever afters". After a number of misadventures, including a minor car accident, an accidentalsubway ride with a crowd of people, and having her tiara stolen by a homeless man in the Bowery, Giselle runs into a brightly lit billboard, featuring a huge pink castle, advertising "The Palace" casino. Mistaking the billboard image for an actual palace, Giselle attempts to enter the structure. She falls and is rescued by Robert, a hardened, yet friendly, divorce lawyer. At the insistence of his daughter, Morgan, Robert lets Giselle stay at their apartment. At Robert's apartment, she revives the lifestyle of her home world, recruiting urban animals – pigeons, cockroaches and rats – to do thehousework while she fashions a dress out of the lawyer's curtains. Nancy Tremaine, Robert's girlfriend, misunderstands the situation and has a falling out with Robert. Robert wants them both to separate so that he can continue with his life, but eventually believes that Giselle needs his protection. Giselle questions the divorce lawyer about his affection towards Nancy, and decides to help the pair reconcile by sending flowers and tickets to the "King and Queen's Ball". Meanwhile, Narissa's henchman, Nathaniel, follows Prince Edward and his chipmunk Pip, who have journeyed to New Yorkto rescue Giselle. Nathaniel has been given three poisoned apples to use on Giselle. For his first attempt, Nathaniel attempts to kill Giselle by disguising himself as a vendor and one of the poisoned fruits as a caramel apple. The plan fails when Giselle inadvertently throws the disguised apple in the air, lodging it in a cyclist's helmet. Nathaniel questions his servile relationship with Narissa after watching a television soap opera, but decides to fulfill the queen's order. At an Italian restaurant, Nathaniel serves Giselle a poisoned apple martini, but is stopped by Pip. Angered with her henchman's failures, Narissa comes to New York City.
As Giselle and Robert spend more time together, Giselle discovers that the real world is much more complicated than she realized and that she has grown feelings toward Robert. Edward continues to look for Giselle, eventually finding her at Robert's apartment. While Edward is eager to take Giselle home and marry, she insists that they first go on a date, which she has learned is customary in the real world. They end their date at the King's and Queen's Costume Ball. After Nancy and Prince Edward pair off to dance, Giselle dances with Robert. Giselle realizes that Robert is her true love. Edward and Nancy seem to realize the attraction between Giselle and Robert, and also discover a mutual attraction between themselves. At the ball, Narissa manages to poison Giselle before being captured by Edward. Nathaniel reveals that one must kiss Giselle by midnight to break the poison apple's spell. After Edward's kiss fails to wake Giselle up, Robert kisses her. Giselle awakens and admits that she knew Robert was her one true love. Narissa uses the distracting moment to break free and transform into a dragon. When Robert protects Giselle, Narissa takes Robert hostage. Giselle follows Narissa out the window and up to the top of the Woolworth Building. With Pip's help, Giselle and Robert are saved and Narissa falls to her death. Giselle and Robert share a passionate kiss on the roof. Giselle uses her magical dress-making talents to successfully run Nancy's old boutique shop, assisted by both humans and animals. Both Nathaniel and Pip become successful authors, writing self-help books based on their experiences. Robert, Giselle and Morgan live together, while Edward and Nancy marry in Andalasia.
The end narration states, "...and so they all lived happily ever after."

Devil Prada


Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is an aspiring journalist fresh out of Northwestern University. Despite ridiculing the shallowness of the fashion industry, she lands the job "a million girls would kill for": junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the icy editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine. Andy puts up with Miranda's bizarre and humiliating treatment in hopes of getting a job as a reporter or writer somewhere else.
At first, Andy fumbles with her job and fits in poorly with her gossipy, fashion-conscious coworkers, especially Miranda's senior assistant Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt). However, with the help of art director Nigel (Stanley Tucci), she gradually learns her responsibilities and begins to dress more stylishly. She also meets attractive young writer Christian Thompson (Simon Baker), who offers to help her with her career. As she spends increasing amounts of time at Miranda's beck and call, problems arise in her relationships with her college friends and her boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier), a chef working his way up the career ladder.
One day, Andy saves Miranda from being embarrassed by Emily at a charity benefit, and Miranda rewards her by offering to take her to the fall fashion shows in Paris instead of Emily. Andy hesitates to take this privilege away from Emily, but she is forced to accept the offer after being told by Miranda that she will lose her job if she declines. Later, Emily is hit by a car and Andy faces the task of having to break the Paris news to her.
When Andrea tells Nate she will be going to Paris, he is angered by her refusal to admit she's become what she once ridiculed, and they break up. Once there, Nigel tells Andy that he has gotten a job as creative director with rising fashion star James Holt (Daniel Sunjata), at Miranda's recommendation. Miranda, without makeup, opens up to Andy about the effect Miranda's impending divorce will have on her daughters. Andy finally succumbs to Christian's charms, and after spending the night with him, Andy learns from him about a plan to replace Miranda with Jacqueline Follet as editor of Runway. Despite the suffering she has endured at her boss's behest, she attempts to warn Miranda.
At a luncheon later that day, however, Miranda announces that it is Jacqueline instead of Nigel who will leave Runway for Holt. Later, when the two are being driven to a show, she explains to a still-stunned Andy that she was grateful for the warning but already knew of the plot to replace her and sacrificed Nigel to keep her own job. Pleased by this display of loyalty, she tells Andy she sees some of herself in her. Andy, repulsed, said she could never do to anyone what Miranda did to Nigel, primarily as Nigel mentored Andy. Miranda replies that she already did, stepping over Emily when she agreed to go to Paris. When they stop, Andy gets out and throws her cell phone into the fountain of the Place de la Concorde, leaving Miranda, Runway, and fashion behind.
Later, back in New York, she meets Nate for breakfast. He has accepted an offer to work as a sous-chef in a popular Boston restaurant. Andy is disappointed, but her hope is rejuvenated when he says they could work something out. At the film's conclusion, she is interviewing for a newspaper job. The interviewer reveals that Miranda told him she was by far her biggest disappointment, but that he would be an idiot not to hire her. In the last scene, Andy, dressed casually but with a bit more style, sees Miranda getting into her car across the street. They exchange looks and Miranda gives a soft smile once inside the car.

FAME


Auditions

During the opening scenes in auditions and orientation, it is told that in 1936, New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia founded the High School of Music & Art in order to provide a facility where the most gifted and talented public school students of New York City could pursue their talents in art or music, while also completing a full academic program of instruction. In 1948, the School of Performing Arts was created to provide training in performance skills to students who wished to prepare for professional careers in dance, music or drama.

[edit]Freshman year

Students learn on the first day of classes that their teachers expect them to know everything. In dance class, the teacher Ms. Kraft is worried about Kevin's dancing, but is easily impressed by Alice.
In acting class, Jenny feels uncomfortable to let loose and be crazy like everyone else. In music class, Mr. Cranston gives Victor pointers, while Denise plays the music perfectly on the piano.
In the lunchroom, everyone practices their major and they all get up and dance ('This Is My Life'), while Denise and Malik escape the madness and they talk to each other, Denise saying that her uptight and conservative parents thinks that the school is "people sitting around, practicing cello all day", and that they would die if they saw this. Malik reveals that his mother doesn't even know that he is coming to the school because she works three jobs and would never notice.
Just before freshman year ends, it shows Malik at his apartment, his mother finding his report card, making it clear that he goes to P.A. She is angry but he continues to go to the school. The year closes after she goes to work and leaves Malik standing alone.

[edit]Sophomore year

As the new school year begins, it shows the dancers all practicing in a circle, but once it is Kevin's turn, he is out-shined and is forced to go back in his original spot.
In music class, Victor is having trouble sticking to the right music, and adds his own spin on whatever he is playing, which doesn't sit well with Mr. Cranston.
In theater class, Malik talks about his dead sister, Ayanna, causing Mr. Dowd to ask questions that he refuses to answer. Malik then leaves, stating that he's going to be famous, no matter what anyone else says.
Meanwhile, Denise is playing her classical piano, but then starts to sing, assuming she is alone. ('Out Here on My Own') When she leaves, it is revealed to the audience that Malik was watching the whole time. He brings her to Victor and convinces her to sing for the album that they are producing. She agrees to it, as long as her strict father doesn't find out.
At a Halloween party, Malik plays the song, but says the vocals are "anonymous", upsetting Denise, which confuses Malik. Later, Joy is in Central Park drinking beer. She gets up and does a rap, vomiting at the end of it. Neil captures this in his documentary and presents it to the class. Marco asks Jenny out on a date (though not for the first time). She agrees to go with him to dinner at his father's restaurant, where she convinces him to play a song and sing on the piano. He does ('Try'), and she gives him a money tip. The sophomore year portion of the movie ends with them kissing.

[edit]Junior year

Joy has another audition, but is annoyed, because the other girls competing against her always seem to get the part. Neil says that he is meeting with a producer for a short, independent film he wrote and hopes to direct himself.
Meanwhile, Marco and Jenny go to a party, where Jenny sees a guy named Andy Matthews, a former P.A. student who claims to be a professional actor and known player. He tells her that he can have her meet with his agent, and the naive Jenny gives him her cell phone number. Marco leaves, having seen the last part, and Jenny runs out after him. They have a minor fight, but she promises that she will never talk to Andy again, and they go back to her house.
Victor, Malik, and Denise meet with a man from a record company, who says that their demo is interesting, and he will play it at the next meeting and get back to them. Victor and Malik are overjoyed, but Denise is still hesitant. At the next meeting, the producer tells them that Denise is the reason he was interested in their music. He tries to persuade her to stay.
Joy tells Jenny and Neil that she got a part-time acting job on 'Sesame Street' and is very excited about it. Ms. Rowan, the voice teacher, takes some of the students to a karaoke bar where she ends up singing as well. Jenny goes to meet Andy despite what she said to Marco. When she arrives, Andy tells her the director is out sick. He comes onto her, but she stops him and angrily leaves. She tells Marco, and he asks if Andy tried anything, saying that he knew this would happen and that if fame was really that important to her then he hopes she gets the job. He then leaves her sobbing his name on a rooftop.
Neil tries to get his equipment for the movie, but when he tries to find his producer, he is discovered to be gone, along with the $5,000.

[edit]Senior year

Kevin has a meeting with Ms. Kraft, the dance teacher, because he asked her to write him a letter of recommendation. She says she can not write him the letter, because she believes he is not talented enough to become a professional dancer. Meanwhile, as they talk, Alice is dancing to ('Black and Gold') practicing her jazz piece. This conversation with Ms. Kraft causes him to attempt suicide by stepping in front of a subway car. Joy, Rosie, and Jenny are there to stop him.
Victor is told by his girlfriend, Alice, that she is going on a world tour next week. He asks if she will visit him, but she says that after P.A. couples usually go their separate ways.
Joy drops out of school before graduation because she is working on 'Sesame Street' full-time now and her grades have suffered.
Malik talks with Mr. Dowd about his father, which leads to Mr. Dowd telling him about breaking down his walls. Victor, Malik and Denise put on a hip-hop concert at a club at which her parents are at, but Denise told them it was classical jazz because of her father's wishes for her to pursue classical piano and not vocals. Despite this, she defies her father and goes on anyway and wins over her mother during the performance. Marco, along with Neil, Joy, and Rosie, is there to watch but when he sees Jenny come in, he says he has to go. Jenny stops him from leaving, saying that she's been thinking a lot about him, and that it kills her that she hurt him.
Later, during the concert, he puts his arms around her and they smile at each other. When Denise leaves with her parents, her father is outraged and tells her that he is pulling her out of P.A., even though she is about to graduate. Her mom stops him and says that if Denise wants to sing, she should sing.

[edit]Graduation

Before graduation, Jenny gives a speech about success to the graduating class, saying that she felt it when she was in the school. Kevin tells Joy that he is moving back to Iowa, and that he is going to be "the best god damn dance teacher there's ever been". During the graduation performance, everybody participates ('Hold Your Dream'), with Denise as the main singer. It ends with all the characters following graduating (except Joy and Alice).

Minggu, 17 Februari 2013

Confessions of a shopaolic


Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is a shopping addict who lives with her best friend Suze (Krysten Ritter). She works as a journalist for a gardening magazine but dreams to join the fashion magazine Alette. On the way to an interview with Alette, she buys a green scarf. Her credit card is declined, so Rebecca goes to a hot dog stand and offers to buy all the hot dogs with a check, if the seller gives her back change in cash, saying the scarf is to be a gift for her sick aunt. The hot dog vendor refuses but a man offers her $20.
When Rebecca arrives at the interview, she's told that the position has been filled. However, the receptionist tells her there is an open position with the magazine Successful Saving, explaining how getting a job at Successful Savings could eventually lead to a position at Alette magazine. Rebecca interviews with Luke Brandon (Hugh Dancy), the editor of Successful Savings and the man who just gave her the $20. She hides her scarf outside his office, but Luke's assistant comes into the office and gives it back to her. Rebecca knows the game is up and leaves.
That evening, drunk, she and Suze write letters to Alette and Successful Saving, but she mails each to the wrong magazine. Luke likes the letter she meant to send to Alette and hires her. Rather than completing a work assignment for a new column, Rebecca goes to a clothing sale. While inspecting a cashmere coat she has just purchased, she realizes it is not 100% cashmere and she has been duped. This gives her an idea for the column, which she writes under the name "The Girl in the Green Scarf" and is an instant success.
Rebecca later returns home to renewed confrontations with her debt collector, so Suze makes her attend Shopaholics Anonymous. The group leader, Miss Korch (Wendie Malick), forces Rebecca to donate all the clothes she just bought, including a bridesmaid's dress for Suze's wedding and a dress for a TV interview. After the meeting Rebecca can't afford to buy back both and buys back the interview dress. During the interview, Rebecca is accused of not paying her debts and loses her job. Suze is angry when she finds out that Rebecca lost the bridesmaid dress. Alette offers Rebecca a position at the magazine, but Rebecca declines. She sells most of her clothes to pay her debts, including the green scarf. Meanwhile, Luke starts a new company, Brandon Communications.
Rebecca's clothes sale makes it possible for her to pay her debts. Rebecca attends Suze's wedding after reclaiming her bridesmaid dress, and Suze forgives her. Rebecca and Luke reunite, and Luke returns the green scarf after revealing that the person who bought it at an auction was acting as his agent. Rebecca becomes romantically involved with Luke and starts working at his new company.

FROM NADA TO PRADA


The film opens with Nora studying law and Mary shopping. They head to their home, Casa Bonita, for their father's birthday. While dancing with their father, he falls and dies.
At the funeral they meet Gabe Dominguez, a half brother who resulted from an affair their father had years ago. At the reading of their father's will, they discover that they are bankrupt. Nora and Mary sell their house to Gabe, who lets them live with him and his wife, Olivia. They meet Olivia's brother, Edward, when he visits for lunch. During lunch, Olivia tells the sisters that they must move out of the house. Before they leave, their maid gives Nora a box left by their father.
The two sisters go to East L.A. to live with their maternal aunt, Aurelia, where they are introduced to Bruno, their aunt's neighbor. Later, Nora opens the box from her father and finds letters addressed to Gabe. Nora decides to quit law school and get a job and tells Mary to finish college. Their aunt sells Mary's car and Prada purse ('from Prada to nada'). Edward arrives and gives Mary and Nora stuff from their old home, offering Nora a job in his law office - which she declines. Nora finds a job on her own, and on the bus ride to work she meets a woman who has been fired from her job as a maid. When Nora arrives at her new job she learns that her boss is Edward. Nora and Edward work together on the case for the cleaning ladies, winning a judgment when they discover that there has been a fraud with their payroll.
Mary returns to college, where she meets and flirts with teaching assistant Rodrigo. She gets a ride home from him, directing him to her childhood mansion rather than her aunt's house in East L.A. They later share a kiss over lunch and, later still she admits that she no longer lives in the mansion, suggesting to Rodrigo that he buy her old house.
Mary visits Bruno's house and make a deal that, if Bruno can make the aunt's backyard look good for a party dedicated to Mexican Independence Day, he can have a dance with Mary. On the day of the party, Bruno watches how Mary dances with Rodrigo. Bruno later declines Mary's offer of a dance to complete the decoration agreement. Edward later arrives at the party, finding Nora drunk on tequila. They go into the kitchen where they kiss. After that, Nora feels bad because she is not supposed to act like that and tells Edward that she needs to focus on her career.
The next day Nora finds out that she has received a promotion, while Mary is shown to have slept with Rodrigo. When Rodrigo drops Mary at her aunt's home in the morning he tells her he is going to Mexico for a few weeks. When Nora asks Mary if loves Rodrigo, Mary tells her that she just wants to go back home and that Rodrigo can make that happen, for which Nora calls her a whore. Mary and Nora start to ignore each other. Nora quits Edward's law firm and opens a free legal service from her aunt's home.
The sisters receive an invitation from Olivia to attend Edward's engagement party at their former home. When they arrive at the party they are welcomed lovingly by their former house staff. Mary and Gabe go their father's office - the one part of the house that Olivia has not remodelled - and Mary gives Gabe the letters from their father. Meanwhile, Nora tells Edward why she doesn't count on personal relationships, due to losing both her parents. Mary sees Rodrigo at the party with another woman who turns out to be his wife. Rodrigo tells Mary that he did, indeed, take her recommendation to buy the house. Heartbroken, Mary leaves the party and tries to go home but has a traffic accident, sending her to the hospital. Gabe comes over to visit and reveals that he and Olivia split up. Mary returns home from the hospital in a wheelchair and neck brace. The next day, Mary goes over to Bruno's house, where he is shown teaching kids how to paint. They admit their feelings for each other and share a kiss. Edward arrives and tells Nora that they bought the house across the street from her aunt and offers her his heart and an engagement ring. The film ends with Nora and Edward's wedding and everybody celebrating.