Lyon Gaultier is a deserter in the Foreign Legion arriving in the USA entirely hard up. He finds his brother between life and death and his sister-in-law without the money needed to heal her husband and to maintain her child. To earn the money needed, Gaultier decides to take part in some very dangerous clandestine fights. Written by Tognacci Sebastiano {seblog@maya.dei.unipd.it}

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Four bodies are found in New York City. Why, why, why? The coincidence? They all died 48 hours after logging on to a site named feardotcom.com. Tough detective Mike Reilly collaborates with Department of Health associate Terry Huston to research these mysterious deaths. The only way to find out though what really happened is to enter the site itself… Written by SomethingSage

The story follows a man with a murderous alter ego. Tracy Atwood is a tough detective whose devotion to her craft catches the attention and respect of the serial killer she is hunting, which leads to a symbiotic relationship. Written by anonymous

The perfection of time travel brings with it new opportunities for criminals. The government sets up a special police force (T.E.C.) to ensure the new technology isn’t abused. Max Walker, one of these timecops learns of a corrupt politician’s plot to become president using the device. Senator McComb discovers Walker on his trail and the real action begins–in Walker’s own past! Written by Tim Kretschmann {Tim.K@VirComm.com}

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A poetic guitarist Eric Draven is brought back to life by a crow a year after he and his fiancée are murdered. The crow guides him through the land of the living, and leads him to his killers: knife thrower Tin-tin, drugetic Funboy, car buff T-Bird, and the unsophisticated Skank. One by one, Eric gives these thugs a taste of their own medicine. However their leader Top-Dollar, a world-class crime lord who will dispatch his enemies with a Japanese sword and joke about it later, will soon learn the legend of the crow and the secret to the vigilante’s invincibility. Written by Don Hoffman

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Some terrorists kidnap the Vicepresident of the United States and threaten to blow up the full stadium in which is taking place the final of ice-hockey at the moment. There is only one way and one man to stop them… Written by Volker Boehm

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New York cop John McClane, who has been a cop for 11 years, has just arrived in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. For the past six months, John’s wife Holly and their two kids Lucy McClane and John McClane Jr have been living in Los Angeles without John. In New York, Holly had a good job that turned into a career, and Holly was promoted to a powerful position in the Nakatomi Corporation. The promotion called for Holly to move to Los Angeles to work in the Nakatomi Plaza, a 40 story building. John stayed in New York because he didn’t think Holly would make it out in Los Angeles, and that she would come crawling back to him in New York, so John figured that there was no reason to pack his things for the move to Los Angeles. A limo driver named Argyle drives John to the Nakatomi Plaza, and John heads to the 30th floor, where a Christmas party is going on. John gets into an argument with Holly in the office of her drug-snorting co-worker Harry Ellis because Holly uses her maiden name Gennero instead of the name McClane on her nameplate in her office. Holly leaves the room to give a speech. While John is by himself in the office, John is wishing that the argument hadn’t happened. A few minutes later, a group of German terrorists led by Hans Gruber and his right hand man Karl enter the building and take everyone hostage on the 30th floor. John is able to avoid being taken hostage because Hans and his men don’t even know that John is in the building. John heads to the upper floors, which are still under construction. Hans takes Holly’s boss Joseph Yashinobo Takagi to an office, where Hans demands that Takagi give him the computer code key that will allow Hans and his men to start opening the building’s safe so they can steal the $640,000,000 in negotiable bearer bonds that are in the safe. Takagi refuses to cooperate with Hans, so Hans kills Takagi, and John witnesses it. Hans tells his technology expert Theo to start working on getting the safe opened, and Theo thinks it’ll take a couple of hours to do it. John frantically tries to find a way to alert the LAPD, realizing that the main phone lines in the building have been cut. Once the police do arrive, they prove to be incompetent under the command of arrogant deputy chief Dwayne T. Robinson, so it’s up to John to rescue the hostages. Written by Todd Baldridge

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In a city where streets are overrun by drug dealers, those who have sworn to uphold the law are breaking them to clean up the streets. Denzel Washington plays L.A.P.D detective Alonzo Harris, a veteran narcotics officer whose methods of enforcing the law are questionable, if not corrupt. ‘Training Day‘ follows Harris as he trains rookie Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawk) over a period 24 hours. Ethical dilemmas arise for Hoyt as well as the audience as questions present themselves as to whether or not Harris’ methodology for ridding the streets of South Central Los Angeles of drugs is right or wrong. Written by Anna {dimenxia@yahoo.com}

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Jonathan Ecks (Antonio Banderas), an FBI agent, realizes that he must join with his lifelong enemy, Agent Sever (Lucy Liu), a rogue DIA agent with whom he is in mortal combat, in order to defeat a common enemy. That enemy has developed a “micro-device” that can be injected into victims in order to kill them at will. Written by Uber Minion

[A Totally Spoiler Free Review] Is “Spider-Man 2” the best movie ever made based on a comic book, as some early reviews have proclaimed? I don’t know, that’s a pretty grand statement and one I don’t feel qualified to assess being a non-comic book type of person. I do know the original “Spider-Man” was incredibly fun, a genuine rollercoaster ride of a movie that set the bar tremendously high, much too high for most movies of this subgenre to live up to. I believe this sequel is a better film, though I didn’t find myself feeling as exhilarated during it as I did while watching the original. But that’s not to say this one has a been-there, done-that quality to it. It doesn’t. This sequel stands on its own and in no way feels like recycled material. And judged on its own, I feel safe in declaring it’s one of the best movies we’ll see in theaters this year.

“Spider-Man 2” is darker, more emotionally intense, and features a more serious storyline than the first movie. While the first film had to spend a good portion of its running time introducing the characters and explaining how Spider-Man came to be, this second film of the series doesn’t carry that burden. We know Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) was bitten by a radioactive spider, we know Peter loves MJ (Kirsten Dunst) but will not allow himself to be with her, and we know Peter’s best friend, Harry (James Franco) is out to kill Spider-Man because he believes the webslinger murdered his father. All of this was laid out for us by the end of the first “Spider-Man” movie.

In the second film, we’re allowed more of an opportunity to get to know Peter as a person. We feel his torment as he tries to hide his emotions from MJ. We care about him as he’s pulled between doing the responsible thing as Spider-Man and living a normal life free from the pressure of being a hero. ”Spider-Man 2” lets us look further into the psyche of the boy/man who wears the blue and red suit. And while we’re taken on this emotional journey with Peter, we’re also treated to more time with the central figures of the first “Spider-Man” movie and to a few new characters from world of the “Spider-Man” comic books, foremost of which is this film’s villain, Dr. Otto Octavius (Doc Ock for short). This ultra-cool bad guy is the star of the show when it comes to effects - and acting. Very few movie villains can rival Alfred Molina in character as the man with tentacles (special kudos to Raimi for making sure Doc Ock was played by such a first-rate actor). Doc Ock could have been a campy character, but with Molina in charge, he remains a man tormented by the evil he’s unleashed and overwhelmed by tragic circumstances, rather than a two-dimensional antagonist of the film’s hero.

“Spider-Man 2” has a gentler sense of humor, quirky like the original, yet quieter. Sam Raimi throws in a few recognizable faces in cameo roles who generate a fair share of laughs, and even inserts a scene in which Maguire as Spider-Man injures his back (a nod at Maguire’s real-life back problems, which almost kept him out of this sequel). One of my personal favorite scenes featured Hal Sparks in an elevator with the in-costume Spider-Man. Classic.

We got used to watching Spider-Man fly between buildings and leap from incredible heights in the first movie. The effects which worked so well in “Spider-Man” have been tweaked to such a degree in “Spider-Man 2” it’s nearly impossible to distinguish pure computer-generated graphics from scenes involving actors or stuntmen in front of blue screens. Because all of the effects – from speeding trains to giant fiery orbs – are simply incredible, there’s nothing that jolts you out of the movie, no point in the film where you are jarred from believing your eyes. As far as effects-heavy movies go, “Spider-Man 2” is at the head of the pack.

Comparing the two “Spider-Man” movies is like comparing apples and oranges. They are totally different creations. One’s an exuberant burst of energy contained on film and the other’s a toned down, coming-of-age tale set in the world of superheroes and monstrous villains. Though both movies relied heavily on the CGI effects, Raimi did a terrific job in both films of never forgetting the audience needs to connect with the flesh and blood actors. The reason “Spider-Man” and “Spider-Man 2” work is that both keep that focus in the forefront, with the special effects filling in around the actors and not overwhelming them.

Rebecca Murray
Hollywood Movies Guide