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Amanda Peet encourages John Cusack to catch an outbound flight in “2012,” directed by Roland Emmerich from a screenplay he wrote with Harald Kloser.

When the World Hangs in the Balance, a Reliable Calendar Is Needed

By MANOHLA DARGIS

Published: November 13, 2009

I know what I have against Roland Emmerich — “The Patriot,” for starters — but what does he have against us? He’s bombarded Earth with alien death rays, big-footed it with a rampaging reptile and put it into deep freeze. Now in “2012,” his latest apocalyptic folly, he cracks the planet like a nut, splitting its crust, toppling its mountains and cities, and laying its every creeping thing to inevitable tedious waste.

Maybe he’s angry. (His last movie, “10,000 B.C.,” was widely panned.) To judge from the similarity with which he stages the multiple disaster sequences in “2012” — a limo, a camper, a plane, a bigger plane and some really big boats, by turns, race ahead of the impending doom — he seems exhausted. It’s no wonder. Finding newish ways to cram large-scale carnage into a PG-13 package is tricky. You need enough verisimilitude to hook the audience, but not enough to freak it out: the collapsing high-rises have to look real enough to be plausible, as do the itty-bitty computer-generated figures falling from them. Swirling dust and flying debris serve that commercial purpose, not rivers of blood and body pulp.

And so the dust swirls in “2012,” and debris and bodies fly, though at a careful distance. It all looks fairly convincing and also familiar: if you don’t repeatedly flash on Sept. 11, Mr. Emmerich will surely be disappointed. That gives the movie a cheap frisson, though the larger shivers are supplied by the onslaught of pricey special effects, which have grown predictably snazzier since his last cataclysm. Alas, the clichés of the disaster narrative remain in place. To that ruinous end, the larger catastrophe in “2012” functions as both the trigger and backdrop for a soap opera about a fractured family, standing in for the rest of humanity, which heals as the world falls apart. That’s the idea, anyway.

In truth, the central family here is as disposable as the billions of computer-generated humans that soon pile up after disaster hits. Written by Mr. Emmerich and Harald Kloser (they last collaborated on “10,000 B.C.”), “2012” takes its plot points and shifting plates from both science and fiction, and its title from doomsday prophesies, including a myth about the end of days derived from a reading of the Mayan calendar. Though not much is made of the Mayan angle, the most amusing character, a doomsday prophet and radio broadcaster played by Woody Harrelson, seems in hair, beard and interests to have been drawn along the predictive lines of the real author Daniel Pinchbeck (“2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl”).

Mr. Harrelson looks like he’s actually having the kind of good time stupid movies should provide but that this one roundly fails to deliver. Despite the frenetic action scenes, the movie sags, done in by multiple story lines that undercut one another and by the heaviness of its conceit. Humanity is dying, after all, as the television talking heads keep repeating, and while most of the dead are specks on the screen, Mr. Emmerich occasionally brings you close to the calamity. In one scene a musician (George Segal) calls his estranged son, but the phone is answered by the granddaughter he’s never seen. She’s cute, but then her house shakes and she’s gone, vaporized so that a sob can catch in Mr. Segal’s throat and ours.

There’s no time for real tears in movies of this sort, of course, though there’s plenty of space available for synergistic product placement, as evidenced by the Sony Vaio equipment that fills the government offices where the American president (Danny Glover) stoically stands by. Closer to the ground, another patriarch (John Cusack) plays his part as a divorced dad who will be enlisted for the usual heroics, while Amanda Peet rolls her eyes as his embittered ex. Depending on your tolerance for Mr. Cusack’s mugging, she has traded up or down by landing a plastic surgeon (Tom McCarthy). Completing this family portrait are two irritating children, a preadolescent boy (Liam James) and a younger girl (Morgan Lily).

Chiwetel Ejiofor, as some sort of wizard scientist, gets the chance to say “My. God.” several times in a credible American accent while the less-fortunate Oliver Platt plays a sleazy politician who’s equal parts devil and ham. Thandie Newton shows up as the president’s daughter who, because movies like these subscribe to the Noah’s ark theory of onscreen hookups (two of every kind), becomes an eventual romantic foil for Mr. Ejiofor’s character. Somewhere in the Himalayas a young Tibetan monk (Osric Chau) ponders the mysteries of life as his brother (Chin Han) heads off on a secret mission in China where salvation waits onscreen and, presumably, in that country’s contribution to the movie’s global box-office take.

“2012” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Old Testament-style destruction served with a smile.

2012

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Roland Emmerich; written by Mr. Emmerich and Harald Kloser; director of photography, Dean Semler; edited by David Brenner and Peter S. Elliot; music by Mr. Kloser and Thomas Wander; visual-effects supervisors, Volker Engel and Marc Weigert; production designer, Barry Chusid; produced by Mr. Kloser, Mark Gordon and Larry Franco; released by Columbia Pictures. Running time: 2 hours 38 minutes.

WITH: John Cusack (Jackson Curtis), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Adrian Helmsley), Amanda Peet (Kate Curtis), Oliver Platt (Carl Anheuser), Thandie Newton (Laura Wilson), Danny Glover (President Thomas Wilson), Woody Harrelson (Charlie Frost), George Segal (Tony Delgatto), Tom McCarthy (Gordon Silberman), Liam James (Noah Curtis), Morgan Lily (Lilly Curtis), Chin Han (Tenzin) and Osric Chau (Nima).

Director Grant Heslov is enrolling George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges in Men Who Stare At Goats, a movie adaptation of the book of the same name written by Jon Ronson. It is a satiric espionage thriller set inside a secret, psychic military unit. The odd title, rather strange, refers to crazy attempts to kill goats by staring at them!

The movie Men Who Stare At Goats is tentatively scheduled for December 2009. But it has filtered through Actor Stephen Root that an earlier release during Summer 2009 is possible.

Here below a first look at George Clooney as psychic soldier Lyn Cassady in Men Who Stare At Goats:

Michael Jackson’s This Is It will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London’s O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from April through June 2009, the film is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at Jackson as he has never been seen before. In raw and candid detail, Michael Jackson’s This Is It captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show. Directed by Kenny Ortega, who was both Michael Jackson’s creative partner and the director of the stage show.

Songs that are in the film:
"Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’"
"Speechless"
"Bad"
"Smooth Criminal"
"Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough"
"Jam"
"They Don’t Care About Us"
"HIStory"
"The Way You Make Me Feel"
"I’ll Be There"
"Human Nature"
"I Want You Back"
"The Love You Save"
"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"
"I Just Can’t Stop Loving You"
"Thriller"
"Threatened"
"Who Is It"
"Beat It"
"Black or White"
"Earth Song"
"Billie Jean"
"Man in the Mirror"
"This Is It"

P.S. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

A young robot with incredible powers, super strength, and the purest spirit on the planet discovers the joys of being human while embarking on a worldwide journey to discover his true potential in this animated update of Osamu Tezuka’s classic anime story. Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore) is a young robot from futuristic Metro City. Created by a brilliant scientist  named Tenma (Nicolas Cage), and powered by pure positive "blue" energy that gives him such abilities as x-ray vision, inhuman speed, and flight, the wide-eyed android longs to find his true place in the world. He sets out on an epic journey that brings him face to face with an underworld army of robots and some of the strangest creatures ever to walk the Earth, and along the way learns to experience human feelings and emotions. Astro Boy’s remarkable mission of discovery is suddenly cut short, however, when he learns that his friends and family back in Metro City are in grave danger. As Astro Boy prepares to face off against his greatest adversary in order to save everything he cares most about, he realizes that only through victory will he finally discover what it takes to be a hero. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Further information: Plot of the book

Having returned to power, Death Eaters attack both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds, while Lord Voldemort has given Draco Malfoy an assignment. Bellatrix Lestrange goads Severus Snape into making an Unbreakable Vow with Draco’s mother, Narcissa, to protect Draco and carry out the assignment if he fails. Scarred by his experience at the Ministry of Magic with Voldemort, Harry is reluctant to return to school. Dumbledore brings Harry to entice former Potions Professor Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts. Later, while leaving Fred and George’s new shop in Diagon Alley, Harry, Ron and Hermione notice Draco associating with Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir Greyback and Narcissa Malfoy in Borgin and Burkes, leaving Harry suspicious. He attempts to eavesdrop on Malfoy on the Hogwarts Express, but Draco Petrifies Harry. He is rescued by Luna Lovegood and her Spectrespecs.

At Hogwarts, Harry and Ron borrow school textbooks for Slughorn’s Potions class. The previous owner of Harry’s copy, the "Half-Blood Prince", has annotated the book with additional instructions that allow Harry to excel in class and win a vial of the luck potion Felix Felicis. After making it as Keeper on the Quidditch team, Ron becomes a hero and he forms a relationship with Lavender Brown, which leaves Hermione heartbroken. After Harry finds her sobbing in a corridor, he confesses to having feelings for Ginny Weasley and admits that he is feeling distraught over her relationship with Dean Thomas. He hides his feelings from all but Hermione, however, knowing Ron is protective of Ginny and would never allow a relationship between them. Harry spends Christmas with the Weasleys, during which he discusses the situation at Hogwarts with Order of the Phoenix members Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. He becomes closer to Ginny, who has broken up with Dean. They nearly share a kiss but Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback attack the Burrow and attempt to kidnap Harry. The Order is able to keep everyone safe, but the Death Eaters set fire to the Burrow.

Draco continues eluding Harry while perfecting the use of a Vanishing Cabinet inside the Room of Requirement. Harry suspects Draco is behind two attempts on Dumbledore’s life, one of which nearly kills Ron. In his semi-comatose state, Ron mumbles Hermione’s name, causing his relationship with Lavender to deteriorate. Confronting Draco, Harry hits him with a curse from the Half-Blood Prince’s book which severely wounds him. Snape heals Draco as Harry retreats. Fearing the book may be filled with more Dark Magic, Ginny convinces Harry to leave the book in the Room of Requirement so that he won’t use it again. While Harry’s eyes are closed, Ginny hides the book and kisses him, starting a relationship between them.

During private meetings held throughout the year, Dumbledore shows Harry memories of a young Tom Riddle and reveals Slughorn retains a memory critical to Voldemort’s defeat. Harry retrieves the memory using Felix Felicis. It reveals that Voldemort had been seeking information for creating as many as seven Horcruxes, devices that safeguard a portion of the creator’s soul, granting him immortality unless the Horcruxes are destroyed. Two of Voldemort’s Horcruxes have already been destroyed: Tom Riddle’s diary, and his grandfather’s ring. After locating another Horcrux, Dumbledore requests Harry’s help to retrieve it. Inside a cave, Harry is forced to make Dumbledore drink a mind-altering potion that hides the Horcrux, a locket. Though gravely weakened, Dumbledore defends them from a horde of Inferi and Apparates himself and Harry back to the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore first tells Harry to fetch Snape for help, but then tells him to hide when footsteps approach. Draco appears and reveals that Voldemort has chosen him to kill Dumbledore, but is unable to follow through. Snape arrives, motions to Harry to stay hidden, and joins the Death Eaters that arrive through the Vanishing Cabinet and surround Draco as he hesitates. Snape casts the Avada Kedavra curse, killing Dumbledore and then escaping from the castle with the other Death Eaters. In their wake they cast the Dark Mark, wreck the Great Hall and set fire to Hagrid’s Hut. Harry tries to stop them, but Snape deflects Harry’s spells and Bellatrix stuns him. Before departing, Snape reveals to Harry that he is the Half-Blood Prince. Harry returns to the school to find the staff and students mourning Dumbledore.

Harry reveals to Ron and Hermione that the locket Horcrux was a fake. The locket contains a message from an "R.A.B." stating he has taken the real Horcrux and hopes to destroy it and the others. Rather than return for their final year at Hogwarts, Harry and his friends vow to seek out R.A.B. and the remaining Horcruxes as Dumbledore’s phoenix, Fawkes, flies into the horizon.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince_(film)

It is revealed that thousands of years ago there was a race of ancient Transformers who scoured the universe looking for energon sources. Known as the Dynasty of Primes, they used machines called Sun Harvesters to drain stars of their energy in order to convert it to energon and power Cybertron’s AllSpark. The Primes agreed that life-bearing worlds would be spared, but in 17,000 BC, one brother, thereafter dubbed "The Fallen", constructed a Sun Harvester on Earth. The remaining brothers thus sacrificed their bodies in order to hide the Matrix of Leadership—the key that activates the Sun Harvester—from The Fallen, who swore to seek revenge upon Earth.

In the present day, two years after the events of the previous film, Optimus Prime is seen  leading NEST, a military organization consisting of human troops and his own team of Autobots (including newcomers Arcee, Chromia, Elita One, Sideswipe, Jolt, and the twins Skids and Mudflap) aimed at killing the remaining Decepticons on Earth. While on a mission in Shanghai, Optimus and his team destroy Decepticons Sideways and Demolishor, being given a warning by the latter that "The Fallen will rise again". Back in the United States, Sam Witwicky finds a splinter of the destroyed AllSpark, and upon contact the splinter fills his mind with Cybertronian symbols. Deeming it dangerous, Sam gives the AllSpark splinter to his girlfriend Mikaela Banes for safe keeping, and leaves her and Bumblebee behind to go off to college. Upon arrival, Sam meets his college roommate Leo Spitz, who runs an alien conspiracy website, and Alice, a co-ed who makes sexual advances on him. Back home, Decepticon Wheelie tries to steal the shard, only to get captured by Mikaela. After having a mental breakdown, uncontrollably writing in Cybertronian language, Sam calls Mikaela, who immediately leaves to get to him.

Decepticon Soundwave hacks into a US satellite and learns the locations of the dead Decepticon leader Megatron and another piece of the AllSpark. The Decepticons retrieve the shard and use it to resurrect Megatron, who flies into space and is reunited with Starscream and his master, The Fallen. The Fallen instructs Megatron and Starscream to capture Sam in order to discover the location of the Matrix of Leadership. With Sam’s outbreaks worsening, Mikaela arrives at campus just as Alice—revealed to be a Decepticon Pretender—attacks Sam. Mikaela, Sam, and his roommate Leo drive off, destroying Alice, but are seized by Decepticon Grindor. The Decepticon known as "The Doctor" prepares to remove Sam’s brain, but Optimus and Bumblebee turn up and rescue him. In an ensuing fight, Optimus engages Megatron, Grindor and Starscream. Optimus manages to kill Grindor and rip off Starscream’s arm, but during a momentary distraction while searching for Sam, he was blindsided then impaled through the chest by Megatron and dies. Megatron and Starscream depart as the Autobot team arrives to rescue Sam, unable to save Optimus.

After Prime’s death, The Fallen is freed from his captivity and Megatron orders a full-scale assault on the planet. The Fallen speaks to the world and demands they surrender Sam to the  Decepticons or they will continue their attack. Sam, Mikaela, Leo, Bumblebee, the twins and Wheelie regroup, and Leo suggests his online rival "RoboWarrior" may be of assistance. "RoboWarrior" is revealed to be former Sector 7 agent Simmons, who informs the group that the symbols should be readable for a Decepticon. Mikaela then releases Wheelie, who can’t read the language, but identifying it as that of the Primes, directs the group to a Decepticon seeker named Jetfire. They then find Jetfire at the F. Udvar-Hazy Center and reactivate him via the shard of the AllSpark. After teleporting the group to Egypt, Jetfire explains that only a Prime can kill The Fallen, and translates the symbols, which contain a riddle that sets the location of the Matrix of Leadership somewhere in the surrounding desert. By following the clues, the group arrive at the tomb where they ultimately find the Matrix, but it crumbles to dust in Sam’s hands. Believing the Matrix can still revive Optimus, Sam collects the dust and instructs Simmons to call Major William Lennox to bring the other Autobots and Optimus’ body.

The military arrives with the Autobots, but so do the Decepticons, and a battle arises. During the fight, Decepticon Devastator is formed and unearths the Sun Harvester from inside one of the pyramids before being destroyed by the US military with the help of agent Simmons. Jetfire arrives and destroys Mixmaster, but is mortally wounded by Scorponok. The Air Force carpet bomb the Decepticons, but Megatron breaks through the offensive and kills Sam. In a vision, Sam meets with the other Primes, who tell him that the Matrix of Leadership is not found but earned, which Sam has done. They acknowledge Sam’s devotion to Optimus, the last descendent of the Primes, and instruct Sam to merge the Matrix with Optimus’ spark before bringing him back to life. The Matrix is reassembled from the dust, and Sam uses it to revive Optimus. The Fallen arrives and overpower the autobot team before stealing the Matrix and activating the Sun Harvester unearthed by the Decepticon Devastator. In his final moments, Jetfire volunteers his parts and spark to Optimus. With enhanced capabilities, Optimus destroys the Sun Harvester and takes on Megatron and The Fallen, killing the latter. Sam then finally reciprocates Mikaela’s love as Megatron and Starscream retreat and vow that their fight is not finished.

The film ends with Optimus sending a message into space saying that the humans and Transformers both share a common past.

During the end credits, Sam returns to college.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_2