Bedtime Stories

Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler) is a hotel handyman who was promised by his father to be the manager of the family hotel. Barry Nottingham agreed to keep that promise when the Bronson family sold their hotel to him - then built a new hotel instead. When the story begins, an adult Skeeter is the new hotel's handyman, while management is held by Kendall (Guy Pearce). Nottingham's new hotel is a hit, but he's got plans to build an even more elaborate hotel, one designed around a theme that he's keeping secret.
Skeeter's sister Wendy (Courteney Cox) asks him to watch her kids, Bobbi and Patrick while she goes out of town on a job interview. Also helping out is Wendy's friend Jill (Keri Russel). Currently, Wendy is the principal of a school scheduled for demolition. Skeeter does not know his niece and nephew very well, but agrees. That night, putting them to bed, Skeeter gives them a story, one obviously inspired by his own life as an "underdamiciated" handyman: a downtrodden squire "Sir Fixalot" rivals the pompous "Sir Buttkiss" in competition for a new job. The kids add their own details, such as the king giving Sir Fixalot a chance to prove himself, a mermaid based on Jill, and a downpour of gumballs when Fixalot prevails.
The following day, while fixing Nottingham's television, Skeeter learns that the new hotel's surprise theme will be rock and roll. Nottingham is shocked to learn from Skeeter that that idea was already used for the Hard Rock Hotel. Nottingham offers Skeeter a chance to compete with Kendall for a better theme. While driving, Skeeter is suddenly greeted with a shower of gumballs, which he does not see is caused by a crashed delivery truck. Skeeter concludes that the story had come true and quickly develops a plan.
For the next story, he chooses a Western in which he receives a horse named "Ferrari" from an Indian chief (Rob Schneider) for free. The children have him save a damsel in distress. They claim he should be rewarded with a kiss, only to have a dwarf kick him instead. That night, Skeeter goes out in search of his Ferrari and meets a man (also played by Schneider), who steals his wallet. Nottingham's daughter, Violet, hounded by paparazzi, is rescued by the passing Skeeter. Just as he is about to kiss her, he is kicked by a dwarf. From this point, he determines that it is only the changes made by the children that affect reality.
The following night, Skeeter tries to sell the kids on the theme ideas contest, but they are more interested in romance and action in their stories. The next story begins with Skeeticus, a Greek gladiator who, after impressing the emperor and a stadium of onlookers, attracts the attention of the most beautiful maiden. After a meal in which all the girls who used to pick on him in high school were impressed by the beautiful maiden he is with, they start randomly singing the "Hokey Pokey". After Skeeticus saves a man's life, a rainstorm sends him and the maiden into a magical cave which has Abraham Lincoln in it. Skeeter loses his patience with the story and upsets the children, telling them that their stories have nothing to do with real life. Unable to get them to continue, the story ends.
The next day, Skeeter learns Violet will not be meeting with him per the story design, but unexpectedly runs into Jill, who invites him to lunch. Recognizing girls at the restaurant from his high school days, Skeeter asks Jill to pretend to be his girlfriend. The girls are plainly impressed, and then inexplicably break into the "Hokey Pokey". Going to the beach with Jill, Skeeter casually saves the life of a man before a sudden rainstorm sends them under the dock. Skeeter realizes that the girl in the stories isn't Violet, it's Jill and that he is falling in love with her. As they are about to kiss, Skeeter remembers that Abe Lincoln is supposed to appear, and moves away. Instead, an American penny (with Lincoln's face on it) falls from through the cracks of the dock, completing the story.
For Skeeter and the kids' final night together, a space-themed story begins with Skeeter's character who battles Kendell's character in anti-gravity. Skeeter's character, who speaks in alien gibberish, wins, and Skeeter quickly ends the story. Patrick interjects that the story is too predictable and - remembering Skeeter's argument against whimsically happy endings - pointless. Instead, Skeeter's character is incinerated by a fireball, and there ends the story.
Panicking, Skeeter sees/hears signs of fire everywhere. At Nottingham's luau-themed birthday party, while dodging many fiery hazards, Skeeter's tongue is stung by a bee, making him as hard to understand as his character was in the last of the stories. Luckily, Skeeter's friend Mickey (Russell Brand) can still understand him, and offers to translate for him. Kendall's idea is for a hotel with a theme celebrating Broadway musicals - an idea that impresses no one. Nottingham much prefers Skeeter's approach - simply reminding them of how fun children have when staying at a classy hotel. After winning the competition, Skeeter thinks he's found his happy ending. Instead, he panics when he sees Nottingham's oversized birthday cake, and douses the candle and Nottingham with a fire extinguisher. An enraged Nottingham tells Skeeter that he's fired.
Afterward, Jill, Patrick, and Bobbi discover that the school where they all work and attend is to be knocked down to make way for the new hotel, and they are all upset with Skeeter, refusing to believe that he didn't know about the location. Wendy believes him, but is upset because he taught the children not to believe in happy endings. She confesses that she had always been jealous of his and their father's ability to believe in made up stories and have fun the way she never did and had secretly hoped that by leaving her children with him that his fun loving nature would rub off on them. When they attend the demolition to protest, Skeeter is inspired to prevent the school from being demolished - one of the girls from his high school days works for the city, and helps find Nottingham an alternative location. Skeeter takes Jill on a wild motorcycle ride (during which Skeeter steals back his wallet from Rob Schneider) which ends at the school and manages to stop the countdown. Sometime later, he marries Jill and finds a hotel named after his late father. Kendall and his scheming partner Aspen (Lucy Lawless) are demoted to Skeeter's hotel wait staff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedtime_Stories_(film)

The Next Three Days

Lara Brennan (Banks) is convicted of murdering her boss after an altercation at work. Following the failure of her appeal, Lara's college professor husband John Brennan (Crowe) becomes obsessed with the idea of breaking her out of jail, while their son Luke^[6] ceases to acknowledge her during their prison visits.
While covering Don Quixote with his students, John asks the existential question "If we choose to exist in our own reality, are we insane? And if we are, isn't that better than a life of despair?" John consults Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson), a former convict who successfully escaped from prison seven times. Damon advises John to study the prison, saying "every prison has a key". Damon also warns him that the initial escape from the prison will be easy compared with avoiding capture after the escape. To that end, John must obtain false passports, new social security numbers, and a "truckload of cash" to have a chance of success. Damon also suggests going to an unpopular foreign destination for Americans. John learns Pittsburgh's time to lock-down the city's exits after a call is made to do so: 15 minutes for the city center and 35 minutes for all interstates, secondary roads, and stations or airports.
John contemplates several ideas that don't pan out and is defeated more than once, but latches onto a solid plan and the necessary paperwork after some painful efforts. John falsifies and plants blood work results indicating that his wife is at risk of extreme hyperglycemia, and she is transferred to the hospital. He follows the ambulance and helps her to escape although she is doubtful and reluctant, motivated only by the idea of her son being without either parent.
With the police getting some lucky breaks, they are hot on John and Lara's trail through a series of chases. Throughout the flim, John is shown assembling maps, photographs, notes, and other papers on a wall of his house. He tears them down and stuffs them into several garbage bags before leaving to rescue Lara, leaving one bag in the trash outside his home, and the rest in a dumpster some blocks away. As it turns out he did this selectively to misguide the detectives regarding their final destination. They have an uncomfortable moment at Customs, as a Canadian officer examines their passports and glances at the page of photographs showing people to stop. He allows them to pass. The shift changes, and as they walk down the hall, their photos are added to the list. An international flight is delayed, but the police were after the wrong destination. At the end of the film, the family is safe in Venezuela.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Next_Three_Days

Closer

In the opening scene, 20-year-old Alice Ayres (Natalie Portman) and Dan Woolf (Jude Law) see each other for the first time from opposite sides of a street in London. Alice has just arrived in London from the United States where she had been stripping for a living, Dan is an unsuccessful aspiring British writer who is on his way to work where he writes obituaries for a local newspaper. Alice looks in the wrong direction as she crosses the street and is hit by a taxicab right in front of Dan. He rushes over; she smiles to him and says, "Hello, stranger". He takes her to a hospital, where Alice is treated and released. Afterward, on the way to his office, they stop by Postman's Park, the same park that he and his father visited after his mother's death. Before he leaves her and goes to work, he asks her for her name. They soon start a relationship. A year later, Dan is straying. He has written a novel based on Alice's life and while being photographed to publicize it, he flirts with the American photographer Anna Cameron (Julia Roberts). Anna shares a kiss with Dan before finding out that Dan and Alice are in a relationship. Alice arrives and borrows Anna's bathroom, leaving Anna and Dan alone again. Dan takes the chance to try to persuade Anna into having an affair with him, but is cut short by Alice's return. Alice asks Anna if she can have her portrait taken as well. Anna agrees and Alice asks Dan to leave them alone during the photo shooting. While being photographed, she reveals to Anna that she overheard them, and is photographed weeping. Alice does not reveal what she overheard to Dan, even as he spends a year stalking Anna, who resists.
Another year later, Dan enters a cybersex chat room and randomly meets Larry Gray (Clive Owen), a British dermatologist. With Anna still on his mind, Dan pretends to be her, and using the pretense that they will be having sex, Dan convinces Larry to meet at the aquarium (where Anna told Dan she often went). Larry goes to the meeting place where by coincidence Anna is. Feeling foolish, Larry apologizes but is confused by the situation. Anna tells Larry that a man who had pursued her, Dan, was most likely to blame for the setup. Soon, Anna and Larry become a couple and they refer to Dan as "Cupid" as their inside joke. Four months later, at Anna's photo exhibition, Larry meets Alice, whom he recognizes from the tearful photograph that is one of many being exhibited. Larry knows that Alice and Dan are a couple from talking to Anna and they flirt. Meanwhile, Dan convinces Anna to become involved with him. A year passes, and Dan and Anna have been cheating on their partners with one another, even though Anna got married to Larry during the affair. Dan and Anna both decide to confess to Alice and Larry and are prepared to leave to be with one another. Larry confesses he had slept with a woman on his business trip, only to find out Anna has been having an affair. As Larry and Anna argue she reveals that she thought he would hit her when he found out - something Larry takes offense to. Alice leaves Dan without telling him anything about where she is going.
Alice goes back to stripping to support herself while staying in London, being still in love with Dan. One day, Larry runs into her accidentally at the strip club and he (heart-broken himself) realizes that he knows her, (even though she is wearing a pink wig). He asks her if her name is Alice (knowing full-well who she is), but no matter how much money he gives her, she keeps telling him her name is "Jane Jones." He asks her to come home with him so he can look after her, but she refuses. The line of questioning becomes pornographic, albeit without any explicit nudity, when Larry asks Alice: "What does your cunt taste like?" Alice replies with a smile: "Heaven". Larry then demands: "Alice, tell me something true". Alice replies: "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, ... but it's better if you do". The full irony of Alice's response is not apparent until the conclusion of the film.
A year or so later, Dan goes to Larry's office, asking him to let Anna come back to him, as she is now with Larry again. The office that Larry and Anna had sex in is now fully furnished and Larry is successful with his private practice. He tells Dan that Anna secretly doesn't want to be happy, and that she never turned the signed divorce papers in to her lawyer. Larry suggests to Dan that he try to get Alice back, but Dan does not know where she is. Larry tells him not only where to find Alice, but also that Larry and Alice slept together. Alice takes Dan back and she decides to take them both to America as a surprise vacation. They are in a hotel room near Heathrow Airport happy to be back together. Alice notes that today is the day when they first met on that London street exactly four years ago. They reminisce and then Dan can't help himself and asks her whether she had a one-night stand with Larry, which she initially denies. When he insists on the truth, she suddenly tells him that she doesn't love him anymore and goes on to say that she did sleep with Larry that night he found her working at the strip club. Dan then reveals that Larry had already told him about the one-night stand but that he's already forgiven her. She is angry that he tricked her and insists that it's over and tells him to leave. He refuses, but she tells him that if he doesn't go voluntarily she will call security. He does not believe this, and so she picks up the phone. He grabs her arm and questions her angrily about why she slept with Larry, she eventually says it's because Dan wasn't there, they continue to argue and she spits in his face. Dan almost hits her but refrains. She encourages him to hit her and he does. She looks at him in shock.

After Dan hits her, Alice returns to New York alone. Passing through the immigration checkpoint on her way back into the United States, it is revealed through a shot of her passport that her name is indeed Jane Rachel Jones (the name she had given Larry in the strip club) and that she had lied about her name for the duration of her four-year relationship with Dan. Back in London, Dan returns to Postman's Park, and to his surprise, notices the name "Alice Ayres" on a tile that is dedicated to a girl, "who by intrepid conduct", and at the cost of her young life, saved three children. The final scene shows Alice/Jane walking on Broadway (Times Square) towards W 47th St, in Manhattan, approaching a red "do not walk" pedestrian light, where passers-by are turning their heads staring at her, stunned at her beauty; a scene symmetrical with the opening scene, where Alice/Jane and Dan are staring at each other on the streets of London.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closer_(film)

UP

Young Carl Fredricksen (Jeremy Leary) is a shy, quiet boy who idolizes renowned explorer Charles F. Muntz (Christopher Plummer). He is saddened to learn, however, that Muntz has been accused of fabricating the skeleton of a giant bird he had claimed to have discovered in Paradise Falls, South America. Muntz vows to return there to capture one alive. One day, Carl befriends an energetic tomboy named Ellie (Elizabeth Docter), who is also a Muntz fan. She confides to Carl her desire to move her "clubhouse"—an abandoned house in the neighborhood—to a cliff overlooking Paradise Falls, making him promise to help her. Carl and Ellie eventually get married and grow old together in the restored house, working as a toy balloon vendor and a zookeeper, respectively. Unable to have children, they repeatedly pool their savings for a trip to Paradise Falls, but end up spending it on more pressing needs. An elderly Carl finally arranges for the trip, but Ellie suddenly becomes ill and dies, leaving him alone.
Years later, Carl (Edward Asner) still lives in the house, now surrounded by urban development, but he refuses to sell. He ends up injuring a construction worker over his damaged mailbox. As a result, he is evicted from the house by court order and ordered to move to a retirement home. However, Carl comes up with a scheme to keep his promise to Ellie: he turns his house into a makeshift airship, using thousands of helium balloons to lift it off its foundations. A young Wilderness Explorer named Russell (Jordan Nagai) becomes an accidental passenger, having pestered Carl earlier in an attempt to earn his final merit badge, "Assisting the Elderly".
After surviving a thunderstorm, the house lands near a large ravine facing Paradise Falls. Carl and Russell harness themselves to the still-buoyant house and begin to walk it around the ravine, hoping to reach the falls before the balloons deflate. They later befriend a tall, colorful flightless bird (whom Russell names "Kevin") trying to reach her chicks, and then a dog named Dug (Bob Peterson), who wears a special collar that allows him to speak.
Carl and Russell encounter a pack of dogs led by Alpha (also Bob Peterson), and are taken to Dug's master, who turns out to be an elderly Charles Muntz. Muntz invites Carl and Russell aboard his dirigible, where he explains that he has spent the years since his disgrace searching Paradise Falls for the giant bird. When Russell innocently reveals his friendship with Kevin, Muntz becomes disturbingly hostile, prompting the pair, Kevin, and Dug to flee, chased by Muntz's dogs. Muntz eventually catches up with them and starts a fire beneath Carl's house, forcing Carl to choose between saving it or Kevin. Carl rushes to put out the fire, allowing Muntz to take the bird. Carl and Russell eventually reach the falls, but Russell is angry with Carl.
Settling into his home, Carl is sadly poring over Ellie's childhood scrapbook when, to his surprise, he finds photos of their married life and a final note from Ellie thanking him for the "adventure" and encouraging him to go on a new one. Reinvigorated, he goes to find Russell, only to see him sailing off on some balloons to save Kevin. Since much of his balloons were popped or deflated trying to get away from Muntz, the house is too heavy to fly, and in an attempt to make it lighter, Carl throws every piece of furniture out, thus allowing it to fly. As his house floats away, it is revealed that his and Ellie's chairs landed right next to each other, just as they had been in his living room.
Russell is captured by Muntz, but Carl manages to board the dirigible in flight and free both Russell and Kevin. Muntz pursues them around the airship, finally cornering Dug, Kevin, and Russell inside Carl's tethered house. Carl lures Kevin out through a window and onto the airship, with Dug and Russell clinging to her back, just as Muntz is about to close in. Muntz leaps after them, only to snag his foot on some balloon lines and fall to his death. Freed from its tether, the house descends out of sight through the clouds.
Carl and Russell reunite Kevin with her chicks, then fly the dirigible back to the city. When Russell's father misses his son's Senior Explorer ceremony, Carl proudly presents Russell with his final badge: the grape soda cap that Ellie gave to Carl when they first met. The two then enjoy some ice cream together, sitting on the curb outside the shop as Russell and his father used to do, with the dirigible parked nearby. Meanwhile, Carl's house is shown to have landed on the cliff beside Paradise Falls in the same spot Ellie pointed out to him earlier, showing that he did keep his promise to her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_(2009_film)

Despicable Me

Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated 3D comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on July 9, 2010 in the United States. The film stars Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, and Miranda Cosgrove. It is the first CGI feature produced by Universal, in association with its Illumination Entertainment division. It was entirely animated in the French studio Mac Guff in Paris, France.
The story is of a supervillain named Gru who plans to use three orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, only to find that their innocent love is profoundly changing him.
The film earned positive reviews from critics, and grossed more than $500 million worldwide, against a budget of $69 million.

Plot
Gru (Steve Carell) is a super-villain, operating out of his suburban home that serves as a front for a underground lair where he, his assistant Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), and thousands of short yellow minions plan their nefarious deeds. When Gru learns that another super-villain has stolen the Great Pyramid of Giza, his pride is injured, and he plans an even greater heist, stealing the Earth's moon, a plan he has had since childhood but discouraged by his mother (Julie Andrews). The prospect is quite expensive, and Gru seeks out a loan from the Bank of Evil. The Bank's president, Mr. Perkins (Will Arnett), initially refuses to extend Gru a loan, noting that he is much older than the super-villains of the day, but offers that if he can secure a shrink ray, the critical part of Gru's plan, the Bank will give Gru his loan.
Gru is able to steal a shrink ray from a classified East Asia facility, but it is stolen from him moments later by Vector (Jason Segel), a nerdy super-villain who claims responsibility for the Pyramid theft. Gru attempts to break into Vector's lair but is easily defeated by the numerous defenses. Taking a moment to re-plan, he watches as three orphan girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), enter Vector's lab with no difficulty to sell him cookies. Gru devises a scheme to use the girls to take in robotic cookies that can be used to disable the lair's defenses and allow him to steal the shrink ray. He is forced to adopt the three girls from the local orphanage, Miss Hattie's (Kristen Wiig) Home for Girls, falsifying his credentials, and has difficulty coming to nurture them properly between their own rambunctiousness, their ballet classes, and his own unwillingness to be a parent.
Gru is eventually able to set his plan in motion, and with the girls' help, retrieves the shrink ray. The girls suggest going to a theme park to celebrate, which Gru agrees to, seeing it as a way to abandon the girls. However, when he is forced to accompany the girls on one of the rides he finds himself coming around and enjoying his time. Gru and the girls spend the entire day at the park, Gru having warmed up to them.
With the shrink ray in hand, he returns to the Bank and successfully shows his plan to steal the moon to Perkins. Though Perkins is impressed by Gru's plan, he still refuses to give Gru a loan, revealing that Vector is his son and would rather see the Moon stolen by him than by Gru. Encouraged by the girls who want to see Gru succeed by giving him the few coins in their piggy bank, Gru decides to scavenge parts from his lair to construct the rocket that will take him to the moon. Gru plans to launch on the day the moon is in the best position in Earth's orbit, but which happens to be the same day of the girls' ballet recital. Dr. Nefario feels that Gru is not focused in his mission and the girls are becoming the major distraction, so he calls Miss Hattie telling her that Gru wants to return the girls. When Miss Hatie arrives, Gru sadly returns the girls.
Gru launches his rocket and successfully shrinks the moon, unaware that the shrink ray's effects are only temporary. Gru sees he has time to make it to the girls' recital. By the time he lands the recital is over, but Vector has left a ransom note, having kidnapped the girls and demanding the moon for exchange of the girls. Gru commits to the exchange but Vector reneges on the deal, taking both the moon and the girls in his own ship. As the shrink ray's effect wears off and the moon expands, Gru, Dr. Nefario, and the minions launch a rescue operation. They are able to save the girls in time just as the moon causes Vector's ship to hyperjump into space. As the moon hyperjumps back into its original orbit, it expands back to full size, destroying Vector's ship and stranding him on its surface with a space helmet.
Some time later, Gru has readopted the girls and treats them as his family. The girls perform their own ballet recital for Gru, his mother, Dr. Nefario, and the minions, with the movie ending as they all get on stage to dance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despicable_Me