Lawrence Wetherhold is miserable and misanthropic: he’s a widower, a pompous professor at Carnegie Mellon, an indifferent father to a college student and a high-school senior, and the reluctant brother of a ne’er-do-well who’s come to town. A seizure and a fall send Lawrence to the emergency room where the physician, a former student of his, ends up going on a date with him. His daughter, Vanessa, lonely and friendless, who’s been bonding with his brother, tries to sabotage dad and the doctor’s relationship, but Lawrence is good at that without help. Is there any way these smart people can get a life? Can happiness be pursued beneath layers of irony? Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}

Vietnam vet Travis Bickle is 26, a loner in the mean streets of New York City, slipping slowly into isolation and violent misanthropy. In solving his insomnia by driving a yellow cab on the night shift, he grows increasingly disgusted by the low-lifes that hang out at night: “Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.” His touching attempts to woo Betsy, a Senator’s campaign worker, turn sour when he takes her to a porn movie on their first date. He even fails in his attempt to persuade child prostitute Iris to desert her pimp and return to her parents and school. Driven to the edge by powerlessness, he buys four handguns and sets out to assassinate the Senator, heading for the infamy of a ‘lone crazed gunman’… Written by Tim Jones {jonestd@vax.sbu.ac.uk}

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Young Timmy starts as a window cleaner in the little company of his brother. Soon he learns that some female customers expect additional service. Young and curious as he is, he reluctantly accepts the juicy duty. However his heart belongs to Liz, who demands the highest commitment until she lets him go all the way. Written by Tom Zoerner {Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de}

I’ve heard people refer to “The Notebook” as cheesy, as a ‘chick flick’ (a label very few of my colleagues can stand because of its negative connotation), as predictable and sappy. So “The Notebook” doesn’t exactly take a brain surgeon to guess how the story is going to play out. And it does unapologetically play on your emotions, practically begging you to squeeze out a few tears. But here’s why I enjoyed “The Notebook”: it’s a movie you can relax and let flow over you. It’s also one of the few films out there that tells a complete story. There’s a well-defined beginning, middle, and end.

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Peter Gibbons, thanks to a hypnotic suggestion, decides not to go to work at the same time his company is laying people off. When layoffs affect his two best friends, they conspire to plant a virus that will embezzle money from the company into their account. Written by Foggy

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A mother and her two sons move to a small coast town in California. The town is plagued by bikers and some mysterious deaths. The younger boy makes friends with two other boys who claim to be vampire hunters while the older boy is drawn into the gang of bikers by a beautiful girl. The older boy starts sleeping days and staying out all night while the younger boy starts getting into trouble because of his friends’ obsession. Written by Zaphod {aaa@scs.leeds.ac.uk}

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In New York, when the shy and lonely project manager of a design firm Matt Saunders meets Jenny Johnson in the subway, he invites her to date and have dinner with him. Jenny immediately falls in love for him, they have sex and she discloses her true identity to him, telling that she is the powerful superhero G-Girl. After meeting his co-worker and friend Hannah Lewis, the needy Jenny becomes jealous, controlling and manipulative, and Matt follows the advice of his best friend Vaughn Haige and dumps her, breaking her heart. Jenny turns Matt’s life into hell, while he has a romance with Hannah. However, the archenemy of G-Girl and former high school sweetheart of Jenny, Professor Bedlam, proposes Matt to lure Jenny to strip her superpowers. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Patrick Bateman, a young, well to do man working on wall street at his father’s company kills for no reason at all. As his life progresses his hatred for the world becomes more and more intense. Based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis. Written by Fabian DuBois {fabian_dubois@sliquid.cjb.net}

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In Manhattan, Ashley Albright is a lucky woman and very successful in the agency where she works. The clumsy Jake Hardin is an unlucky aspirant manager of the rock band McFly, who is unsuccessfully trying to contact the entrepreneur Damon Phillips to promote his band. When Ashley meets Jake in a masquerade party, they kiss each other, swapping her fortune with his bad luck. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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The clumsy and shy Stanley (Luke Wilson) is a nice fellow, beloved by his colleagues in the office. He has a crush on the gorgeous new-hire Diana (Denise Richards), but he has difficulties to get close to her. When Stanley finally invites Diana for a date, he hits the homeless Phil (Jay Lacopo) with his Taurus and his planned night turns upside down. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil