Monday, June 17, 2013
ThE lUcKy OnE 2012
dArK sHaDoWs 2012
tAkEn 2 2012
Taken 2 is a 2012 English-language French action thriller film directed by Olivier Megaton which stars Liam Neeson, along with an international cast. It is the sequel to the 2008 film Taken and was released on 3 October 2012. Despite receiving negative reviews by critics, Taken 2 was a box office success, like its predecessor.
Plot……………….
The funerals of the Albanian mobsters killed by Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) in the prior film are held in Tropojë, Albania. Murad (Šerbedžiia), the leader of the gang and father of Marko—whom Bryan had killed by electrocution—vows to capture Bryan, bring him to the graves and avenge their loved ones. Murad and his men torture Jean-Claude Pitrel (Rabourdin) (the corrupt policeman from Taken) to try to learn Bryan's location. They end up bribing an official for the information.
Kim (Grace) and her mother Lenore (Janssen), who is currently having marital problems, surprise Bryan by joining him in Istanbul, Turkey, where he has just finished a three-day security job. The next day, Lenore and Bryan go out for lunch. Bryan realizes they are being followed. After a chase, the men capture Lenore, forcing Bryan to surrender, but before he does, he calls Kim and warns her. Her would-be abductors shoot another hotel guest and two security guards, but fail to find her and are forced to flee.
Bryan wakes with his hands tied to a pole in a dark room. Using a communication device that he had hidden in his sock, Bryan calls Kim, instructing her to go to the US Embassy and tell them what happened, but she begs for a chance to help him and Lenore. Under Bryan's guidance, she opens his suitcase, containing weapons, and throws a grenade onto a deserted rooftop parking lot. Bryan uses the time it takes for the sound of the explosion to reach him to help locate where he is.
He then has her take a gun and two more grenades and take to the rooftops, while he frees himself from his restraints. Two more grenade detonations enable Bryan to guide Kim close enough to see steam he sends up a chimney to mark his precise location. Kim tosses the gun down the chimney. Bryan uses it to kill the Albanians in the building, then saves Kim from her rooftop pursuer. Lenore, however, is taken away by her captors.
Leaving Kim at the embassy, Bryan retraces the route to Murad's safe house he memorized from his abduction. After killing the rest of the gangsters and rescuing Lenore, he confronts Murad, who confirms Bryan's guess that his two remaining sons will seek revenge if Bryan kills him. Bryan offers to let Murad live if he gives his word to end his vendetta. When the man nods his head, Bryan drops his gun and starts to walk away. Murad seizes it and tries to shoot Bryan, only to discover that Bryan has removed the bullets. His actions proved his untrustworthiness, and he is soon killed by Bryan.
Three weeks later, the Mills family are at a diner back home in Los Angeles to celebrate Kim passing her driving test. They are joined, much to Bryan's surprise, by Kim's boyfriend Jamie. Kim jokingly asks her overprotective father not to shoot him.
JacK rEaChEr 2012
Jack Reacher is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of books by British author Jim Grant, who writes under the pen name of Lee Child.[1] A feature film, Jack Reacher, was released on 21 December 2012
Fictional biography
Jack Reacher is a former Major in the United States Army Military Police Corps. He was born on a military base in Berlin on 29 October 1960. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he served 13 years in the Military Police, during which time he became part of a fictional military police unit, the 110th Special Investigations Unit, formed to handle exceptionally tough cases, especially those involving members of the U.S. Army Special Forces.
Though he was demoted from Major to Captain in the prequel novel The Enemy, he regained his rank by the time he mustered out in 1997. He received many military awards during his career, including the Silver Star, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Soldier's Medal, the Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart for wounds sustained in the bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983.[citation needed]
Since leaving the Army, Reacher has been a drifter. He wanders throughout the U.S. because he was accustomed to being told where to go, when to go and what to do for every day of his life from military childhood to military adulthood. He also felt he never got to know his own country, having spent much of his youth living overseas on military bases and at West Point. He usually travels by hitchhiking or bus. As a drifter, the only possessions he carries are money, a foldable toothbrush and, after 9/11, an expired passport and an ATM debit card.
Regular references are made to the fact that Reacher's given name is Jack, that it is not a nickname for John, and that he has no middle name. His military record officially refers to him as Jack (none) Reacher. From the time he was a boy, his family, even his mother, called him simply "Reacher", an affectation that has stayed with him, but was never given to his brother.
Demeanor and personality
In 61 Hours, it is stated that an Army psychological study of reactions to fear in children showed him as having abnormally fast reflexes and aggression levels at the age of six. Reacher believes that this abnormal level of aggression at that age is due not to genetics (as the Army report suggested) but because he got tired of being frightened, and "trained [him]self out of it".
In The Hard Way, Reacher is described as completely lacking "The remorse gene. It just wasn't there."
Skills
Reacher has the uncanny ability to know what time it is, at any time of the day, without referring to a clock. He often uses his internal clock as an alarm, enabling him to wake up at any time he chooses. He sometimes uses his "human metronome" ability to countdown and calculate during time-related situations.
It is revealed throughout most of the books in the series, and in particular Bad Luck and Trouble, that Reacher has a fascination with mathematics.
Reacher is highly skilled at fighting, enhanced by in-depth technical and military knowledge. He has experience and skills from various martial arts, although he is not an expert in any particular style. Reacher's favorite techniques include elbow strikes, uppercuts, and headbutts. His experience, skills, knowledge, and strength aid him in fighting as he is sometimes stronger than his opponents but often matched with similar or larger enemies. As revealed in Nothing to Lose, Reacher hates confronting an opponent armed with a knife, believing that he has "no particular talent for it".
He mentally plans his fights using physics in a scientific calculating method. He knows how to break a person's neck with one hand[3] and kill someone with a single punch to the head[4][5] or chest.[6] In a fight against a 7 ft (2.1 m), 400 lb (180 kg), steroid-using thug, Reacher lifts his opponent into the air and drops him on his head.[7]
Reacher is a skilled marksman. Throughout the novels, Reacher has shown great skill in the use of various types of firearms. In addition to being the only non-Marine to win the U.S. Marine Corps 1000 Yard Invitational rifle competition, he also won the U.S. Army Pistol Championship and served as a pistol instructor. In One Shot, Reacher uses his enhanced intelligence with advanced technical and military knowledge during a long range shooting scene—slowing and counting his heartbeat while calculating wind, humidity, trajectory, speed, energy, and force.
Habits and beliefs
In Killing Floor, it is revealed that he has a love for music, especially blues. It was this affinity for the blues that inspired Reacher to get off the bus at the start of Killing Floor and catapulted him into the resulting story. Also in this novel, Reacher's internal monologue reveals that he has a music collection in his head, which he listens to. Reacher had also been to a Blues club on Bleecker Street immediately before the beginning of Gone Tomorrow.
As revealed in Nothing to Lose, Reacher holds no religious beliefs and is openly scornful of the fundamentalist Christianity espoused by the novel's antagonist. Reacher also shows his disdain for religion when in Bad Luck and Trouble he is traveling to Los Angeles via airline, and he states that he does not like Alaskan Airlines "because they put scripture cards on the meal trays."
In Nothing to Lose, Reacher indicates that he has an antipathy towards what he sees as the corruption of traditional spelling, such as the use of "U" for "you", and "lo" for "low".
He wears his clothing for 2–3 days before discarding it, usually purchasing new clothing cheaply from chain outlets.[8] He has no steady income and lives on savings in his bank account and part-time jobs.[9] At various points during the series, his bank account is supplemented by taking money from his enemies[9] (as in Killing Floor and Bad Luck and Trouble). Reacher knows how to drive and enjoys cars, as in Tripwire, Running Blind, Bad Luck and Trouble, and One Shot.
Since he has no fixed address, Reacher often eats in diners and other inexpensive restaurants.[10] He drinks coffee constantly: "The Reacher brothers' need for caffeine makes heroin addiction look like an amusing little take-it-or-leave-it sideline".[11]
Physical appearance
Reacher is 6'5" tall (1.96 m) with a 50-inch chest, and weighing between 220 and 250 pounds (100–115 kg). He has ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair. He has very little body fat, and his muscular physique is completely natural (he reveals in Persuader, he has never been an exercise enthusiast). He is exceptionally strong, has a high stamina, but is not a good runner.[12]
Reacher has various scars, most notably a scar on his abdomen caused by a bombing in Lebanon.[13] He also has a 3–4 inch thin white scar that intersects his shrapnel scar that he received during a knife fight in Gone Tomorrow. Reacher mentions how the rough stitch work from his existing scar helped decrease the severity of his most recent attack. The cut did produce a deep, serious gash that led to Reacher passing out from blood loss.[14] He also has a scar on his chest from a .38 bullet,[15] a tear drop burn scar from close range gunshot that crossed his chest at point blank range,[16] and one on his arm where his brother struck him with a chisel in his youth.[17]
Family
Reacher's maternal grandfather Laurent Moutier was a furniture restorer in Paris. Thirty years old in 1914, he volunteered for the French Army with the outbreak of World War I and fought at Verdun and The Somme. Between 1919 and 1929 he was commissioned to produce wooden legs for wounded veterans. Josephine Moutier was his only child. He died in 1974 at age 90, in his last days facing unflinchingly the approach of death. The young Reacher met him three times and liked him.[18]
Reacher's mother Josephine Moutier Reacher, born in France, was 30 years old when Reacher was born. She met Reacher's father in Korea and married him in Holland.[19] She was widowed in 1988, and died in 1990 at the age of 60 of cancer. When she was only 13, she joined the French Resistance and under the alias "Beatrice" worked with Le Chemin de Fer Humain (the Human Railroad), saving 80 men. She garroted a schoolmate, a boy who threatened to give her up to the Nazis. Josephine Moutier was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance (the Resistance Medal) for her heroism.
Reacher's father (Stan Reacher) was a Marine captain, who served in Korea and Vietnam. His military service kept his family continually moving all around the world to various military bases. He died in 1988. When describing his father, Jack is quoted as saying, "(He was) A plain New Hampshire Yankee with an implacable horror of anything fancy...he had no use for wealth and excess. Very compartmentalized guy. Gentle, shy, sweet, loving man, but a stone-cold killer. Next to him I look like Liberace".[20] After military service, "there was no place left for people like him".[21]
Jack had only one sibling, brother Joe Reacher. Two years older than Jack, Joe was born on a military base in the Philippines. Jack used to help Joe beat up the kids who gave him trouble in school, and vice versa. Joe was also a West Point graduate, and spent five years in military intelligence before joining the U.S. Treasury Department. He never won any of the "good medals", only the "junk awards." Joe died at age 38, having arranged a meeting with a potential investigation subject.[22] Because he was killed in the line of duty, his name can be found on the Treasury's Roll of Honor.
Acquaintances
Family
• Stan Reacher, father
• Josephine Reacher, mother
• Joe Reacher, older brother
Military era
• Elizabeth Deveraux, late thirties, is a former Marine serving as a county sheriff in Carter Crossing, Mississippi in 1997. She appears in The Affair.
• Karla Dixon, age unknown, possibly late 30s is a forensic accountant; formerly a Major in the Army and part of Reacher's 'Special Investigators Unit', which he formed and led in the 90s. They are reunited in Bad Luck & Trouble and secretly rekindle an affair, which they regret not starting back in the Army. She is described as 'dark, very pretty, comparatively small' and slim. She is extremely good with numbers and shares Reacher's fascination with mathematics.
• General Leon Garber, retired, was Reacher's former commanding officer, mentor and close friend. His only child is Jodie. He helped Reacher in Die Trying, and willed him his house, as his daughter is wealthy, didn't want it and already owns her own New York City home. He also appeared in The Enemy and The Affair, and (through his funeral) in Tripwire.
• Jodie Garber-Jacob, 30, is the daughter of General Leon Garber. She met and fell in love with Reacher when she was 15 and was off-limits to him. In Tripwire, she is divorced, using her married name, working as a corporate attorney and reunites romantically with him after her father's funeral. She and Reacher live together in New York City and upstate New York in Leon's house which was left in his will to Reacher, his surrogate son. She is mentioned in Echo Burning as having moved to Europe. She appeared in Tripwire, and Running Blind (The Visitor in the United Kingdom and Australia).
• Eileen Ann Hutton, age unknown, is a Brigadier General in the Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps. She and Reacher had a relationship prior to, and featured in, One Shot.
• Dominique Kohl, 29, was a sergeant on the way up assigned to Reacher's unit when he was a captain in the Army. She appeared in Persuader, where Reacher remembers the events that lead to her death ten years earlier.
• Duncan Munro, late thirties, is a member of Reacher's old 110th MP unit. He appears in The Affair.
• Frances Neagley, late thirties, is a partner with a successful private security firm, and former Army Master Sergeant and Military Policeman. She is of medium height, slim, and has dark hair and eyes. She spends large amounts of time in the gym and has a purely platonic relationship with Reacher, not liking to be touched. Her demeanor suggests that she could be considered a female counterpart to Reacher. Rarely impressed, Reacher describes her as sometimes scary. She appeared in Without Fail, The Affair and Bad Luck and Trouble.
The first page of Bad Luck and Trouble has a dedication "For the real Frances L. Neagley", which refers to real life Frances Neagley, who won a Bouchercon charity auction for the naming rights to a character.[23]
• Stan Lowrey, late thirties, is a member of Reacher's old 110th MP unit. He is handsome, youthful, and full of energy. A kind of man that gets the job done. He appears in Bad Luck and Trouble and in the latest novel The Affair.
• Dave O'Donnell, late thirties, is a member of Reacher's old 110th MP unit. He appears in Bad Luck and Trouble. He is "tall, fair, handsome, like a stockbroker...carries an army blade in one pocket and a pair of ceramic brass-knuckles in the other." The ceramic knuckles are made from a composite stronger than steel, harder than brass and gets past any metal detector. He is meticulous, doesn't mind paperwork, and is usually underestimated because he looks like a white-collar office worker.
• Lieutenant Summer, 25, is an African-American Lieutenant in the Army Military Police. She is petite and slender, and appeared in The Enemy.
• Susan Turner, early thirties, is a Major in the Army and is the commander of the 110th MP. She is described as a little above average height (5'7"), slender, long dark hair tied back, tanned skin and deep brown eyes. Her face is described as conveying "intelligence and authority and youth and mischief at the same time". Her defining characteristic is her voice ... "warm, a little husky, a little breathy, a little intimate". She appears in 61 Hours.
Wandering era
• Officer Roscoe, 30, is a police officer, appearing in Killing Floor.
• Holly Johnson, 27, is a newly inducted Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent and former Wall Street stock analyst. She is dark, attractive, self-assured and a knee ligament injury sustained whilst playing soccer requires her to use a cane. She appeared in Die Trying. She is the only daughter of General Johnson, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and is the goddaughter of the U.S. President.
• Lisa Harper, 29, is an F.B.I. Agent, stationed at Quantico. She appeared in Running Blind (The Visitor in the United Kingdom and Australia).
• Alice Amanda Aaron, 25, graduated from Harvard Law School, practicing law at a legal mission in Pecos, Texas, as penance for coming from a wealthy family. She appeared in Echo Burning.
• Carmen Greer, 30, is a housewife, short, slim, dark-skinned, fine-boned, "maybe 100 pounds". She is married with one child and an abusive husband. She appeared in Echo Burning.
• Mary Ellen Froelich, 35, was a U.S. Secret Service Agent, charged with protecting the Vice President. She had short fair hair, and is quietly confident. She dated Joe Reacher, before he broke up with her prior to his death. Later she was in a relationship with Jack. She appeared in Without Fail.
• Susan Duffy, early thirties, is a rogue agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. She is pale, slim, and attractive, and appeared in Persuader, where she beds Reacher.
• Vaughan, exact age unknown, is a police officer in Hope, Colorado. She is "probably less than five feet six, probably less than a hundred and twenty pounds, probably less than thirty-five years old" according to Reacher's estimate. Married to a totally incapacitated casualty of the war in Iraq (husband's name is Robert David Vaughan, called David). She befriends Reacher in Nothing to Lose.
• Detective Theresa Lee is a New York City Police Department detective who aids Reacher's take down of an Al-Qaeda team in Gone Tomorrow. They had a brief romantic episode before Reacher left to complete his task.
• Lauren Pauling, early fifties, is an ex-F.B.I. agent who now acts as a private investigator. She often refers to herself as being old. She appears in The Hard Way.
James Bond Skyfall 2012
James Bond Skyfall 2012
Skyfall is the twenty-third James Bond film produced by Eon Productions. It was distributed by MGM and Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2012.[2] It features Daniel Craig in his third performance as James Bond, and Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, the film's antagonist. The film was directed by Sam Mendes and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan.
The film centres on Bond investigating an attack on MI6; the attack is part of a plot by former MI6 operative Raoul Silva to humiliate, discredit and kill M as revenge against her for betraying him. The film sees the return of two recurring characters to the series after an absence of two films: Q, played by Ben Whishaw, and Eve Moneypenny, played by Naomie Harris. Skyfall is the last film of the series for Judi Dench, who played M, a role that she had played in the previous six films. The position is subsequently filled by Ralph Fiennes' character, Gareth Mallory.
Mendes was approached to direct the film after the release of Quantum of Solace in 2008. Development was suspended when MGM encountered financial troubles and did not resume until December 2010; during this time, Mendes remained attached to the project as a consultant. The original screenwriter, Peter Morgan, left the project during the suspension. When production resumed, Logan, Purvis, and Wade continued writing what became the final version of the script. Filming began in November 2011 and primarily took place in the United Kingdom, China and Turkey.
Skyfall premiered in London at the Royal Albert Hall on 23 October 2012 and was released in the United Kingdom on 26 October 2012 and the United States on 9 November 2012. It was the first James Bond film to be screened in IMAX venues, although it was not filmed with IMAX cameras. The film's release coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Bond series, which began with Dr. No in 1962. Skyfall was positively received by critics and at the box office, becoming the 14th film, as well as the first Bond film, to cross the $1 billion mark worldwide. As of May 2013, it is the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time, the highest-grossing film in the UK, the highest-grossing film in the Bond series, the highest-grossing film worldwide for both Sony Pictures and MGM, and the second-highest-grossing film of 2012. The film won several accolades, including the BAFTA Awards for Outstanding British Film and Best Film Music; the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture; and was nominated for five Academy Awards, of which it won two: Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers won the award for Best Sound Editing, and Adele's theme song won Best Original Song which also won the Best Original Song at the Golden Globe.
Plot………………………….
In Istanbul, MI6 agents James Bond and Eve Moneypenny chase a mercenary, Patrice, who has stolen a computer hard drive containing details of undercover agents placed in terrorist organisations by NATO states. Patrice wounds Bond in the shoulder and, as the two men fight atop a train, Eve inadvertently shoots Bond, allowing Patrice to escape. Bond falls into a river and goes missing, and is presumed to be dead.
In the aftermath of the operation, M, the head of MI6, comes under political pressure to retire from Gareth Mallory, the Intelligence and Security Committee Chairman. On her return from the meeting, MI6's servers are breached and M receives a taunting message via computer moments before the offices explode, killing a number of employees. MI6 relocates to its emergency offices underground. Bond, having used his supposed death to retire, learns of the attack and returns to London. Although he fails a series of physical and psychological examinations, M approves his return to the field. Shrapnel taken from Bond's shoulder wound helps identify Patrice, and intelligence places him in Shanghai, where he is planning an assassination. Bond is ordered to identify Patrice's employer, recover the stolen hard drive and kill Patrice.
After Patrice kills his target, he and Bond fight. Patrice falls to his death before Bond can learn of his employer. Searching Patrice's equipment, Bond finds a gambling chip intended as payment for the assassination, which leads him to a casino in Macau. Bond approaches Sévérine, whom he witnessed as an accomplice in the assassination, and asks to meet whomever she and Patrice work for. She warns him that he is about to be killed by her bodyguards, but promises to help Bond if he will kill her employer. Bond defeats his attackers and joins Sévérine on her boat. They travel to an abandoned island off the coast of Macau, where they are taken prisoner by the crew and delivered to Raoul Silva. A former MI6 officer who had previously worked under M, Silva has turned to cyberterrorism, orchestrating the attacks on MI6. Silva kills Sévérine, but Bond overpowers his guards and captures Silva for removal to Britain.
At MI6's underground headquarters, Q attempts to decrypt Silva's laptop, but inadvertently enables it to access the MI6 systems, allowing Silva to escape from MI6 custody. Realising Silva's capture was part of a plan to confront and kill M, Bond gives chase through the tunnel network under London. Silva attacks M during a public inquiry into her handling of the stolen hard drive. Bond arrives in time to join Mallory and Eve in repelling Silva's attack, and M is hurried from the building by her aide, Bill Tanner. Bond drives M to Skyfall, his family estate and childhood home in Scotland. Laying a trap, he instructs Q to leave an electronic trail for Silva to follow, a decision Mallory supports.
Bond and M are met by Kincade, the Skyfall gamekeeper. The trio are only lightly armed, but they improvise a series of booby traps throughout the house. When Silva's men arrive, Bond, M and Kincade fight off the assault, although M is wounded. Silva arrives by helicopter to lead a second assault, and Bond sends M and Kincade off through a secret tunnel at the back of a priest hole to a chapel on the grounds. The second assault is much heavier than the first, using incendiary grenades and a machine gun mounted on the helicopter. Bond detonates gas canisters with a stick of dynamite and retreats down the same tunnel as M and Kincade. The resulting blast causes the helicopter to crash, destroying the house and killing most of Silva's men. Silva survives and, spotting Kincade's torch beam, follows Kincade and M to the chapel. He forces his gun into M's hand, begging her to kill them both. Bond, having been delayed fighting Silva's henchmen, arrives and kills Silva by throwing a knife into his back, but M succumbs to her earlier wound and dies. Following M's funeral, Eve—formally introducing herself to Bond as Eve Moneypenny—retires from field work to become secretary for the new head of MI6, Mallory, who assumes the title of M.
Cast
• Daniel Craig as James Bond, agent 007.
• Judi Dench as M, the head of MI6 and Bond's superior.
• Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva (born Tiago Rodriguez),[3] the film's main antagonist.
• Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory, Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee.
• Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, an MI6 field agent.
• Bérénice Marlohe as Séverine, Raoul Silva's mistress.
• Albert Finney as Kincade, the gamekeeper of the Skyfall estate.
• Ben Whishaw as Q, the MI6 quartermaster.
• Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, the MI6 Chief of Staff.
• Ola Rapace as Patrice, a mercenary.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 2013
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a 2013 American-German action-horror dark fantasy film with black comedy elements, co-written and directed by Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola and filmed in 3D. It is a continuation to the German folk fairy tale "Hänsel and Gretel", which was recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. The film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton in the title roles of a brother-and-sister duo of professional witch hunters. Famke Janssen stars as the deadly leader of a coven of evil witches that they seek out to destroy.
Wirkola got the idea to create a film based on the adult lives of Hansel and Gretel in 2007 while at film school in Australia. After being discovered by Gary Sanchez Productions, Wirkola pitched the idea at a meeting with Paramount Pictures and won a contract. Production began in March 2011 at the Babelsberg Studios in Germany and included extensive use of traditional special effects. In addition, Renner and Arterton had a month of training beforehand to prepare for the physical demands of their roles. In terms of the weapons and wardrobe, Wirkola wanted an old-world look with a modern touch and he was adamant about filming outdoors in European nature rather than in a studio. The project was filmed in Germany and featured an international cast and crew.
Originally scheduled for release in March 2012, Hansel & Gretel was delayed for ten months to accommodate Renner's appearances in The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy and to give Wirkola time to shoot a post-credits scene. It premiered in North America on January 25, 2013, in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D, as well in D-Box motion theaters and select international 4DX theaters, and was rated R in the United States. The film had its home media release on June 11, including a longer, unrated version on Blu-ray Disc.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was generally panned by mainstream critics, particularly for what they saw as its weak script and gratuitous violence. However, many horror genre critics were more positive, viewing the film as unpretentiously entertaining. The film topped the domestic box office on its opening weekend and was a major hit in Russia, Brazil and Mexico. Its worldwide theatrical run gross exceeded $200 million for the production cost of $50 million. Due to the commercial success of the film, which was planned as the first part of a series, its sequel is currently in development.
Plot…………….
Abandoned by their father deep in a forest, young Hansel and Gretel enter a gingerbread house and are nabbed by the old witch who resides in it. The witch forces Hansel to continuously eat candy while making Gretel prepare the oven, but the siblings outsmart her and shove her into the fire. Throughout the fifteen years after the incident, Hansel and Gretel become famed bounty hunters dedicated to mercilessly eradicating witches, slaying over six hundred of them. Their work is relatively easy because, for an unknown reason, they are immune to spells and curses. Hansel, however, is diabetic as a result of his ordeal and needs to take a regular shot of insulin every few hours.
One day, in the town of Augsburg, Hansel and Gretel prevent Sheriff Berringer from executing Mina, a young woman accused of witchcraft. Mayor Englemann has hired the siblings to find and rescue several children abducted by witches. Berringer hires trackers for the same mission, hoping to regain the respect of the Mayor. However, all but one of the party are killed that night by the powerful grand witch Muriel, who sends the surviving member back to the town tavern to explode as a warning to the locals. Hansel and Gretel, with the help of the Mayor's deputy Jackson, capture Horned witch and interrogate her. They discover that the witches are preparing for the ritual of Blood Moon, which requires sacrificing six boys and six girls, each born on a separate month. Suddenly, Muriel, Redhead witch, and a troll, Edward, attack the town and abduct the targeted girl. Gretel is knocked unconscious but is brought to safety by a teenager named Ben, their local fanboy and an aspiring witch hunter; Jackson is forced to kill himself with his shotgun while being controlled by Muriel. Hansel grabs a fleeing witch by her broomstick, but falls and is lost in the forest.
The next morning, Berringer kills Mayor Englemann, blaming him for the village attack. Elsewhere in the forest, Hansel is found by Mina, who takes him to a spring to heal his wounds. Meanwhile, Gretel enters the forest to search for him, but she is assaulted by Berringer and his henchmen for luring the witches to their town. Before the men can proceed to rape her, she is rescued when Edward intervenes to kill the men and mend her injuries. When Gretel asks why he saved her, Edward answers that trolls serve witches and walks away. Hansel and Gretel reunite at an abandoned cabin, which they discover is not only their childhood home, but also a witch's lair. Muriel appears in front of them, telling them the truth of their past. She reveals that Hansel and Gretel's mother was a grand white witch named Adrianna, married to a farmer. On the night of the Blood Moon, the heart of a grand white witch is needed to create a potion that makes witches impervious to fire. As Adrianna was too powerful, Muriel targeted Gretel, who was revealed to be a grand white witch herself. Muriel spread a rumor across the village about Adrianna. To keep the siblings away from the mob of villagers, their father left them in the forest before he was hanged, while their mother was burned at the stake. Following this revelation, the siblings battle Muriel before she stabs Hansel and abducts Gretel for the ceremony.
Hansel wakes up to the sight of Mina, who reveals herself to be a white witch. After Mina uses a spell to bless the siblings' arsenal, Hansel, Mina, and Ben head to disrupt the Blood Moon Sabbath. Whilst Mina mows down dozens of witches with a Gatling gun, Hansel squares off against Muriel's minions and frees the children, while Edward defies Muriel's orders and releases Gretel before Muriel throws him off the cliff. Muriel attempts to flee, but Ben shoots her off her broomstick. On her way to meet up with Hansel, Gretel finds Edward and uses her stun gun to defibrillate him back to life. Hansel, Ben, and Mina follow Muriel's trail to the old gingerbread house. During their confrontation, Mina and Muriel battle as Ben and Hansel are knocked to the ground. Muriel fatally stabs Mina. Gretel arrives to find Hansel in battle with Muriel. The siblings then engage in a grueling fight against Muriel inside the gingerbread house, until they behead her with a shovel. In the end, Hansel and Gretel collect the rest of their reward for rescuing the children before embarking on their next hunt, with Ben and Edward joining them.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a 2013 American-German action-horror dark fantasy film with black comedy elements, co-written and directed by Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola and filmed in 3D. It is a continuation to the German folk fairy tale "Hänsel and Gretel", which was recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812. The film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton in the title roles of a brother-and-sister duo of professional witch hunters. Famke Janssen stars as the deadly leader of a coven of evil witches that they seek out to destroy.
Wirkola got the idea to create a film based on the adult lives of Hansel and Gretel in 2007 while at film school in Australia. After being discovered by Gary Sanchez Productions, Wirkola pitched the idea at a meeting with Paramount Pictures and won a contract. Production began in March 2011 at the Babelsberg Studios in Germany and included extensive use of traditional special effects. In addition, Renner and Arterton had a month of training beforehand to prepare for the physical demands of their roles. In terms of the weapons and wardrobe, Wirkola wanted an old-world look with a modern touch and he was adamant about filming outdoors in European nature rather than in a studio. The project was filmed in Germany and featured an international cast and crew.
Originally scheduled for release in March 2012, Hansel & Gretel was delayed for ten months to accommodate Renner's appearances in The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy and to give Wirkola time to shoot a post-credits scene. It premiered in North America on January 25, 2013, in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D, as well in D-Box motion theaters and select international 4DX theaters, and was rated R in the United States. The film had its home media release on June 11, including a longer, unrated version on Blu-ray Disc.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was generally panned by mainstream critics, particularly for what they saw as its weak script and gratuitous violence. However, many horror genre critics were more positive, viewing the film as unpretentiously entertaining. The film topped the domestic box office on its opening weekend and was a major hit in Russia, Brazil and Mexico. Its worldwide theatrical run gross exceeded $200 million for the production cost of $50 million. Due to the commercial success of the film, which was planned as the first part of a series, its sequel is currently in development.
Plot…………….
Abandoned by their father deep in a forest, young Hansel and Gretel enter a gingerbread house and are nabbed by the old witch who resides in it. The witch forces Hansel to continuously eat candy while making Gretel prepare the oven, but the siblings outsmart her and shove her into the fire. Throughout the fifteen years after the incident, Hansel and Gretel become famed bounty hunters dedicated to mercilessly eradicating witches, slaying over six hundred of them. Their work is relatively easy because, for an unknown reason, they are immune to spells and curses. Hansel, however, is diabetic as a result of his ordeal and needs to take a regular shot of insulin every few hours.
One day, in the town of Augsburg, Hansel and Gretel prevent Sheriff Berringer from executing Mina, a young woman accused of witchcraft. Mayor Englemann has hired the siblings to find and rescue several children abducted by witches. Berringer hires trackers for the same mission, hoping to regain the respect of the Mayor. However, all but one of the party are killed that night by the powerful grand witch Muriel, who sends the surviving member back to the town tavern to explode as a warning to the locals. Hansel and Gretel, with the help of the Mayor's deputy Jackson, capture Horned witch and interrogate her. They discover that the witches are preparing for the ritual of Blood Moon, which requires sacrificing six boys and six girls, each born on a separate month. Suddenly, Muriel, Redhead witch, and a troll, Edward, attack the town and abduct the targeted girl. Gretel is knocked unconscious but is brought to safety by a teenager named Ben, their local fanboy and an aspiring witch hunter; Jackson is forced to kill himself with his shotgun while being controlled by Muriel. Hansel grabs a fleeing witch by her broomstick, but falls and is lost in the forest.
The next morning, Berringer kills Mayor Englemann, blaming him for the village attack. Elsewhere in the forest, Hansel is found by Mina, who takes him to a spring to heal his wounds. Meanwhile, Gretel enters the forest to search for him, but she is assaulted by Berringer and his henchmen for luring the witches to their town. Before the men can proceed to rape her, she is rescued when Edward intervenes to kill the men and mend her injuries. When Gretel asks why he saved her, Edward answers that trolls serve witches and walks away. Hansel and Gretel reunite at an abandoned cabin, which they discover is not only their childhood home, but also a witch's lair. Muriel appears in front of them, telling them the truth of their past. She reveals that Hansel and Gretel's mother was a grand white witch named Adrianna, married to a farmer. On the night of the Blood Moon, the heart of a grand white witch is needed to create a potion that makes witches impervious to fire. As Adrianna was too powerful, Muriel targeted Gretel, who was revealed to be a grand white witch herself. Muriel spread a rumor across the village about Adrianna. To keep the siblings away from the mob of villagers, their father left them in the forest before he was hanged, while their mother was burned at the stake. Following this revelation, the siblings battle Muriel before she stabs Hansel and abducts Gretel for the ceremony.
Hansel wakes up to the sight of Mina, who reveals herself to be a white witch. After Mina uses a spell to bless the siblings' arsenal, Hansel, Mina, and Ben head to disrupt the Blood Moon Sabbath. Whilst Mina mows down dozens of witches with a Gatling gun, Hansel squares off against Muriel's minions and frees the children, while Edward defies Muriel's orders and releases Gretel before Muriel throws him off the cliff. Muriel attempts to flee, but Ben shoots her off her broomstick. On her way to meet up with Hansel, Gretel finds Edward and uses her stun gun to defibrillate him back to life. Hansel, Ben, and Mina follow Muriel's trail to the old gingerbread house. During their confrontation, Mina and Muriel battle as Ben and Hansel are knocked to the ground. Muriel fatally stabs Mina. Gretel arrives to find Hansel in battle with Muriel. The siblings then engage in a grueling fight against Muriel inside the gingerbread house, until they behead her with a shovel. In the end, Hansel and Gretel collect the rest of their reward for rescuing the children before embarking on their next hunt, with Ben and Edward joining them.
A gOoD dAy tO Die hArD 2013
A Good Day to Die Hard is a 2013 American action film directed by John Moore and written by Skip Woods. Featuring the John McClane character that was based on the protagonist of Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, it is the fifth installment in the Die Hard film series. Bruce Willis reprises the lead role of John McClane, who travels to Russia to help his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), out of prison, but is soon caught in the crossfire of a terrorist plot.
Talks of a fourth sequel to Die Hard (1988) began before the release of Live Free or Die Hard (2007), with Willis affirming that the latter would not be the last in the series, but pre-production did not start until September 2011, when John Moore was officially announced as the director. Filming began in April 2012, primarily in Budapest, Hungary.
A Good Day to Die Hard premiered in Los Angeles on January 31, 2013, coinciding with the unveiling of a Die Hard mural at the Fox Lot,[2] and was released in certain East and Southeast Asian territories on February 7 and in the United States and Canada on the Wednesday night of February 13.[3] It is the first Die Hard film to use Dolby Atmos Surround Mixing and the first to also be released in IMAX theaters. The film was a critical disappointment, receiving almost unanimous negative reviews, the first film in the series to do so.[4][5] But it nevertheless grossed over three times its budget worldwide.
Plot…………..
In Moscow, Russia, Viktor Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov), a high-ranking but corrupt Russian official, plans on incriminating political prisoner, former billionaire and government whistleblower Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch) without a fair trial when Komarov refuses to hand over a secret file believed to have convicting evidence against Chagarin. In a separate incident, Jack McClane (Jai Courtney) is arrested as a result of an assassination but agrees to testify against Komarov for a shorter sentence.
John McClane (Bruce Willis), who has not been in touch with his son for years, learns of Jack's situation and travels to Russia to help. When McClane arrives and approaches the courthouse that holds Jack and Komarov on trial, an explosion orchestrated by Chagarin and his henchmen occurs in the courthouse, and Jack breaks free with Komarov. Seeing his son, McClane confronts him, but their dispute is cut short when the henchmen, led by Alik (Radivoje Bukvić), chase them on the streets of Moscow. McClane, Jack, and Komarov escape.
Hiding in a safe house, McClane finds out that Jack has been a CIA officer in an undercover operation for the past three years. Collins (Cole Hauser), Jack's partner, demands the file's location from Komarov so that the CIA can bring Chagarin down, but Collins is soon shot by Chagarin's men and dies, as McClane, Jack, and Komarov survive subsequent heavy gunfire and escape again. The trio then make their way to a hotel in the city to find the key to a vault containing the file. There, they meet Komarov's daughter, Irina (Yuliya Snigir), whom they earlier planned on joining with, but McClane grows suspicious of her, which is proven correct when Alik and his men crash in and tie McClane and Jack up, while Komarov is taken as a hostage, and Irina confesses to snitching on them for the "millions of dollars" to be gained. Jack breaks free of his ties, and the two succeed in killing most of the men. Alik and the rest of the henchmen come back on a Mil Mi-24 and try to kill them, but the two manage to escape.
That night, the two steal a car full of firearms and drive to Chernobyl, Ukraine, the location of the vault that houses the file. When they arrive, they find that Komarov, Irina, and Alik have already arrived, but what they don't know is that on their way there, it was revealed that there was never a file in existence, and that the drawer with the file inside was actually the secret passage to a vault containing a large amount of weapons-grade uranium. Komarov kills Alik and calls Chagarin to tell him that he and Irina had manipulated the entire sequence of events since the beginning in an attempt to obtain the uranium and get revenge on Chagarin. Chagarin is then killed by a subordinate of Komarov.
At this point, McClane and Jack enter the vault, discover Komarov's true plot, and capture him. Irina, with another henchman, comes to her father's aid, but before they can escape, Jack goes after Komarov, while McClane goes after Irina, who is escaping on a Mil Mi-26 helicopter. Irina tries to protect her father by firing the helicopter's cannons at Jack, but McClane is able to bring the helicopter out of balance by driving a truck in the hangar section, still shackled by a chain, out of the open rear ramp of the helicopter. Komarov remarks that Jack will get to watch his father die, which enrages Jack to hurl him off the rooftop into the path of the spinning helicopter's rotors, killing him. McClane is thrown off the helicopter and reunites with Jack on the building. Wanting to avenge her father, Irina rams the helicopter into the building in a suicide attack, but both father and son survive by leaping off the building and into a large pool of water as the helicopter crashes and explodes, killing Irina.
Having mended their relationship, McClane and Jack return to New York, reuniting with Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), McClane's oldest child and Jack's sister.
A Good Day to Die Hard premiered in Los Angeles on January 31, 2013, coinciding with the unveiling of a Die Hard mural at the Fox Lot,[2] and was released in certain East and Southeast Asian territories on February 7 and in the United States and Canada on the Wednesday night of February 13.[3] It is the first Die Hard film to use Dolby Atmos Surround Mixing and the first to also be released in IMAX theaters. The film was a critical disappointment, receiving almost unanimous negative reviews, the first film in the series to do so.[4][5] But it nevertheless grossed over three times its budget worldwide.
Plot…………..
In Moscow, Russia, Viktor Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov), a high-ranking but corrupt Russian official, plans on incriminating political prisoner, former billionaire and government whistleblower Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch) without a fair trial when Komarov refuses to hand over a secret file believed to have convicting evidence against Chagarin. In a separate incident, Jack McClane (Jai Courtney) is arrested as a result of an assassination but agrees to testify against Komarov for a shorter sentence.
John McClane (Bruce Willis), who has not been in touch with his son for years, learns of Jack's situation and travels to Russia to help. When McClane arrives and approaches the courthouse that holds Jack and Komarov on trial, an explosion orchestrated by Chagarin and his henchmen occurs in the courthouse, and Jack breaks free with Komarov. Seeing his son, McClane confronts him, but their dispute is cut short when the henchmen, led by Alik (Radivoje Bukvić), chase them on the streets of Moscow. McClane, Jack, and Komarov escape.
Hiding in a safe house, McClane finds out that Jack has been a CIA officer in an undercover operation for the past three years. Collins (Cole Hauser), Jack's partner, demands the file's location from Komarov so that the CIA can bring Chagarin down, but Collins is soon shot by Chagarin's men and dies, as McClane, Jack, and Komarov survive subsequent heavy gunfire and escape again. The trio then make their way to a hotel in the city to find the key to a vault containing the file. There, they meet Komarov's daughter, Irina (Yuliya Snigir), whom they earlier planned on joining with, but McClane grows suspicious of her, which is proven correct when Alik and his men crash in and tie McClane and Jack up, while Komarov is taken as a hostage, and Irina confesses to snitching on them for the "millions of dollars" to be gained. Jack breaks free of his ties, and the two succeed in killing most of the men. Alik and the rest of the henchmen come back on a Mil Mi-24 and try to kill them, but the two manage to escape.
That night, the two steal a car full of firearms and drive to Chernobyl, Ukraine, the location of the vault that houses the file. When they arrive, they find that Komarov, Irina, and Alik have already arrived, but what they don't know is that on their way there, it was revealed that there was never a file in existence, and that the drawer with the file inside was actually the secret passage to a vault containing a large amount of weapons-grade uranium. Komarov kills Alik and calls Chagarin to tell him that he and Irina had manipulated the entire sequence of events since the beginning in an attempt to obtain the uranium and get revenge on Chagarin. Chagarin is then killed by a subordinate of Komarov.
At this point, McClane and Jack enter the vault, discover Komarov's true plot, and capture him. Irina, with another henchman, comes to her father's aid, but before they can escape, Jack goes after Komarov, while McClane goes after Irina, who is escaping on a Mil Mi-26 helicopter. Irina tries to protect her father by firing the helicopter's cannons at Jack, but McClane is able to bring the helicopter out of balance by driving a truck in the hangar section, still shackled by a chain, out of the open rear ramp of the helicopter. Komarov remarks that Jack will get to watch his father die, which enrages Jack to hurl him off the rooftop into the path of the spinning helicopter's rotors, killing him. McClane is thrown off the helicopter and reunites with Jack on the building. Wanting to avenge her father, Irina rams the helicopter into the building in a suicide attack, but both father and son survive by leaping off the building and into a large pool of water as the helicopter crashes and explodes, killing Irina.
Having mended their relationship, McClane and Jack return to New York, reuniting with Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), McClane's oldest child and Jack's sister.
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