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Friday, July 19, 2013

Olympus Has Fallen 2013

Olympus Has Fallen is a 2013 American action-thriller[5] film. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, it stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman.[6] The film depicts a North Korean-led guerrilla assault on the White House, and focuses on a Secret Service agent who tries to stop them. Olympus Has Fallen was released on March 22, 2013 by FilmDistrict and received mixed critical reception but earned over $160 million against a $70 million production budget. plOt .... Former U.S. Army Ranger Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is the lead Secret Service agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail. He maintains a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), First Lady Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd) and particularly their son Connor Asher (Finley Jacobsen). During a Christmas evening drive from Camp David to a campaign fundraiser, a tree falls in front of the President’s convoy, making the vehicles skid out of control on black ice on a bridge. The lead vehicle in the convoy falls into an icy river while the Presidential limousine teeters on the edge for a minute before falling as well with Margaret still unconscious inside. Banning is able to save President Asher, but Margaret and two other agents die in the crash. Eighteen months later, Banning works at the Treasury Department, within eyesight of the White House. He has been demoted from the Presidential Detail as the sight of him triggers Asher’s memories of the night Margaret died. During a meeting between Asher and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim), Korean-led guerrilla forces, aided by treasonous members of Prime Minister Lee’s own detail, which include Dave Forbes (Dylan McDermott), an ex-US Secret Service agent turned private contractor, mount an air and ground assault that results in the capture of the White House. The remaining Secret Service agents within the White House mount an unsuccessful counterattack but inflict casualties on the terrorists. Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker where Prime Minister Lee is killed. Before he is killed, Agent Roma (Cole Hauser) alerts the Director of the Secret Service Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) that “Olympus has fallen.” The attack has been masterminded by Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune), an ex-North Korean terrorist who appears to be motivated by hope for a reunification of Korea. Kang seeks to use Asher’s hostage status as leverage to force the U.S. military to withdraw from the Korean Peninsula, allowing the civil war to end. He also seeks to destroy all of America’s nuclear weapons in their silos and turn the United States into an irradiated wasteland as revenge for the death of his parents when his mother was killed by an American landmine and his father was executed for crimes against North Korea. To accomplish this, he requires the access codes to a system in the bunker called Cerberus: a fail-safe device that self-detonates any U.S. nuclear missiles during an abort, which are held by three top government officials within the bunker, including the President. Asher orders the other two officials to reveal their codes to save their lives, certain that he will not give up his code. During the assault by Kang’s forces on the front lawn, Banning joins the side of the White House’s defenders. He falls back into the White House, disables the internal surveillance and gains access to Asher’s satellite phone, which he uses to maintain contact with Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), the Speaker of the House who is now the Acting President. Authorized to proceed, Banning’s first act is to save Connor, who Kang plans to use to force Asher to reveal his Cerberus code since Trumbull notes that Asher would not be able to hold out under those circumstances. Despite resistance, he finds Connor hiding in the walls, thanks to the training Banning had given him, and sneaks him out of the White House before beginning reconnaissance and reducing the terrorists’ numbers one by one. This includes Forbes, but not before convincing the traitor to report to Kang that Banning is dead. Meanwhile, Trumbull orders an aerial SEAL assault on the White House, but Kang’s team deploys an advanced anti-aircraft gun system in his possession owned by the United States, called the Hydra 6. Discovering this, Banning advises Trumbull and Army Chief of Staff General Edward Clegg (Robert Forster) to abort the mission, but it proceeds and Kang’s henchwoman Lim (Malana Lea) annihilates the assault force before Banning can stop it. Kang retaliates for the attempted infiltration by killing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Phil Austin). After Banning disables Kang’s communications, the terrorist tries to execute Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo) outside the front door in front of the media, but Banning rescues her and takes out several more of Kang’s men in the process. With Kang’s forces dwindling, he fakes his own death as well as Asher’s death by sacrificing several of his men and the remaining hostages. Kang, Asher, and the few remaining terrorists stay in the bunker, unknown to the outside world. Kang eventually cracks Asher’s code knowing that hacking all three codes would have taken more time than Kang had, but focusing on one gave him the time he needed. With that, Kang activates Cerberus as Banning realizes that his apparent suicide was staged. As Kang attempts to escape, Banning kills the remaining terrorists and Kang shoots Asher in the stomach. Banning and Kang then engage in a violent knife fight which ends in Banning killing Kang by stabbing him in the head. He then ultimately disables Cerberus with the assistance of Trumbull. Banning and Asher escape the White House. After the events, Washington begins to heal from the attack and Banning once again becomes head of the Presidential Detail with Banning observing President Asher as he addresses the public.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

TuRbO ... 2013

Turbo is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated sports comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox respectively. It is based on an original idea by David Soren, who also directed the film. The film features an ordinary garden snail whose dream to become the fastest snail in the world comes true. The film was released on July 17, 2013. PloT..... Theo, a.k.a Turbo, is a garden snail who dreams of being the greatest racer in the world, just like his hero, 5-time Indianapolis 500 champ, Guy Gagne. His obsession with speed and all things fast has made him an oddity and an outsider in the slow and cautious snail community, and a constant embarrassment to his cautious older brother, Chet. Turbo desperately wishes he could escape the slow-paced life he's living, but his one chance to live proves a near fatal disaster when he tries to recover a prize tomato and needs to be rescued by his brother, Chet. Demoralized Theo wanders onto a freeway to admire the traffic and gets into a freak accident when he gets sucked into the supercharger of a drag racer, fusing his DNA with nitrous oxide on a street race. This incident finds Theo vested with the power of incredible speed and accuracy, as well as some of the characteristics of a car, such as eyes that light up like headlights, and a shell that blinks red like taillights and makes car sounds and music from a radio. Unfortunately, Theo's first attempt to show this power off ends in a disaster that gets himself and Chet fired from the garden crew. As the siblings quarrel, Chet is snatched by a crow, but is pursued and rescued by Theo at a run down strip mall where they are then captured by Tito, a "Dos Bros" taco truck driver and is brought to race with other snails. Theo astounds both human and snail alike with his speed and earns the respect of the snails, led by Whiplash, with his crew Smoove Move, Burn, Skidmark, and White Shadow, who have impressive skills of their own. Inspired by this extraordinary snail, Tito dreams to revive the strip mall with Theo as an attraction, and eventually with the help of the snails who manage to divert and strand a tour bus and drum up impressive business. At this success, Theo convinces Tito to try to enter the snail in Indianapolis 500 as a competitor. While Tito's brother, Angelo, still declines to support him, the neighbors agree to put up the entrance fee and accompany them to Indianapolis. Once there, Tito is refused entry into the race, but a chance meeting with Guy Gagne gives Turbo a chance to show off his speed which astounds the race track at the snail qualifying for the race. This impossible feat soon becomes a sensation on social media and the owner of the race gives in to the pressure, egged on by Gagne himself, to let the snail compete. However, the night before the race, Turbo is demoralized when his hero, Gagne, sneers at his attempt to race while Chet confesses that he cannot bear to see his brother endanger himself. Regardless the next day, Turbo is in the race, but the dangerous racetrack and the far more experienced competition leaves him trailing in last place. At a pitstop, Whiplash and his crew give Turbo a vital pep talk, advising him to race like a snail. Back in the race, Turbo realizes what they mean and uses his small size to maximum advantage with maneuvers around and under the competition that no human racer can emulate. With the snail rapidly gaining in the standings, Gagne races dirty and tries to kill the snail while Turbo finds to his alarm that his speed power is starting to fade. Finally, in the final stretch with Turbo in the lead, Gagne tries a desperate maneuver to beat the snail and gets into a major crash that snarls all the competitors in a major pileup. Similarly, Turbo is thrown, injured with a damaged shell and finds to his despair that his speed power is gone. Alarmed at seeing Turbo giving up and retreating into his shell barely a few feet from the finish line, Chet puts himself into incredible dangers to meet up with Whiplash's crew to get to the racer. Seeing his brother and friends arrive riding crows to encourage him to continue, Turbo resumes the race. Unfortunately, Gagne singlemindedly pursues him by dragging his wrecked car after the snail and attempts to crush him. At the last second, Chet tells Turbo to tuck into his shell and roll at Gagne's latest blow and the force allows him to tumble past the finish line to win. At this victory, the strip mall becomes a major attraction with all the businesses becoming spectacular successes including extremely elaborate snail races with Whiplash's crew getting special propulsion aids for their shells, while Chet is content as the track referee. As for Turbo, his happiness is enhanced with discovering that his shell has healed, and with that, his superspeed power has returned.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Despicable Me 2 2013

Despicable Me 2 is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated family sci-fi, crime comedy film and the sequel to the 2010 animated film Despicable Me. Produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures, both films are directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, and written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. Steve Carell, Russell Brand, and Miranda Cosgrove reprise their roles. Kristen Wiig, who played Miss Hattie in the first film, voices agent Lucy Wilde. Ken Jeong, who played Talk Show Host, voices Floyd Eagle-san. New cast members include Benjamin Bratt as Eduardo and Steve Coogan as Silas Ramsbottom, head of the Anti-Villain League. The film premiered on June 5, 2013 in Australia,and was theatrically released in the United States on July 3, 2013. PLOT….. A secret laboratory near the Arctic Circle is stolen by a mysterious vehicle using a giant magnet. The Anti-Villain League (AVL) becomes suspicious because the lab contained a mutating chemical compound, PX-41, which transforms living things into indestructible killing machines. The organization decides to recruit Gru, a former villain, to help the AVL prevent the mutating chemical from getting into the wrong hands. Lucy Wilde, an AVL agent, forcibly abducts Gru after stunning him with her lipstick taser. Two of Gru's minions who try to thwart her plans are captured also. They travel to AVL's underwater headquarters where Gru meets the league's director, Silas Ramsbottom. He asks Gru to assist them in their efforts to track down the perpetrator and the missing mutagen. Gru refuses, preferring to concentrate on his new venture of producing bottled jellies and the responsibilities of being a father to his three adopted girls, Margo, Agnes and Edith. Before he leaves, Lucy admits she was impressed by his work as a villain and gives her business card to Gru, urging him to contact her if he changes his mind. Upon return to his lab, Gru realizes that his minion-run production line had churned out bottles of awful-tasting jellies. Also, his research scientist, Dr. Nefario, confesses to Gru that he misses being "evil" and has been offered employment elsewhere. After giving Dr. Nefario a 21 fart-gun send-off with the minions, Gru contacts Lucy and takes on the task of recovering the stolen mutagen. Traces of chemical scent given off by the mutagen narrow the search to the confines of The Paradise Shopping Mall. Gru and Lucy work undercover as the owners of a cupcake shop in the mall. Gru suspects one of the owners of a restaurant in the mall, named Eduardo, is an old super-villain called El Macho, who supposedly died after skysurfing a TNT-laden shark into an active volcano. Lucy and Gru decide to break into his restaurant but are spotted by Eduardo's pet chicken and narrowly escape being detected by Eduardo when he returns back to his shop late in the night. However, they find only a jar of secret-recipe salsa in his safe and nothing relevant to link Eduardo to the crime. While the team investigates wig merchant Floyd Eagle-san, Margo begins to develop a crush on Eduardo's son, Antonio, to Gru's frustration. The whole family is invited to Eduardo's Cinco de Mayo party at his mansion, and Gru's protectiveness of his daughter leads him to make baseless accusations to the AVL's Silas about Eduardo and his son, damaging his credibility. Later that day, a determined matchmaking neighbor, Jillian, sets a reluctant Gru up on a date with her rude and superficial friend, Shannon. During the date, Shannon discovers Gru's wig and threatens to humiliate him, but Lucy saves him from embarrassment by shooting her with a tranquilizing dart. They take Shannon home, and Gru realizes he is in love with Lucy. When he arrives at the mall the next day, the Anti-Villain League arrest Floyd Eagle-san, who protests vehemently that he was framed, after the AVL team uncovers the empty mutagen jar in his shop. Silas tells Gru that the case is now closed and that Lucy will be reassigned to Australia. A heartbroken Gru tells Agnes that she was right that he loves her. However, Gru is unable to muster the courage to ask Lucy out before she leaves. The family then goes to Eduardo's party. Gru follows Eduardo and discovers that he was correct about Eduardo being the presumed-dead super-villain El Macho. Gru also discovers that Dr. Nefario has been working for Eduardo and that the duo has been capturing and mutating some of Gru's minions into purple-furred monsters using the stolen mutagen serum. Eduardo offers Gru a chance to conquer the world, but Gru makes unconvincing excuses and hastily leaves with the girls. Margo has also broken up with Antonio as he became interested in another girl. For breaking her heart, Gru encases Antonio in a block of ice with his freeze-ray. Lucy, while in the plane bound for Australia, realizes that she wants to be with Gru, and jumps out to hang-glide to the party. Eduardo discovers her true identity and captures her after his chicken retrieves her AVL ID badge from her purse. Dr. Nefario calls Gru to tell him that Lucy has been captured. Gru disguises two of his minions in purple paint to escort him as their prisoner into Eduardo's compound in a rescue attempt. Gru manages to restore the minions who were under El Macho's control using the awful-tasting jam infused with Dr. Nefario's antidote and defeats a mutated El Macho with Lucy's lipstick taser. While Gru tries to untie Lucy, who is strapped to a TNT-loaded shark rocket, Eduardo's pet chicken triggers the launch remote, sending the pair flying towards the lava-spewing volcano where El Macho faked his death. While on the rocket, Lucy accepts Gru's date invitation before the pair dives into the safety of the ocean, just seconds before the rocket explodes. One hundred and forty-seven dates later, the two are married and the girls finally have a mother. The minions close with a rendition of "Y.M.C.A" and "I Swear" (mistakenly sung as "Underwear") while the family dances. However, soon after the final picture is taken, a mutated purple furry minion appears, surprising the family. During the credits, three Minions are seen "auditioning" for the upcoming Minions movie. However, a black wall showing the credits keeps falling and blocking their way.