Ten years ago, Jake Hopper was a CIA agent who was stationed in Thailand. Then one day, things went sour, and his partner, Sunti barely escaped with his life…after accidentally killing a woman. Jake called it quits and returned to the United States when his wife died, and Sunti became a Buddhist monk to atone for his sins. For the past 10 years, Jake has run a successful private security business, and has been raising his daughter Jessica, who is now an adult. While hiking in Thailand, Jessica and her friend Sarah Winthorpe are kidnapped. A group of Islamic fundamentalists known as the Abu Karaf claims responsibility. Sarah is the daughter of United States senator John Winthorpe. For ransom, the Abu Karaf demand the release of 20 prisoners from American custody. The US Secretary of State urges restraint — he won’t negotiate. Tom Collins, an ex-colleague of Jake’s, recognizes Jessica on the ransom tape and tips Jake off. Jake knows that he must rescue the girls himself. An old CIA buddy puts Jake in contact with Leon Washington, an active CIA agent who is working in Thailand. Jake goes to Bangkok, and escapes an assassination attempt. Leon arranges a meeting for himself with with Soku — the internal security chief for General Jantapan. Jantapan is a rebel military general who is making a play to be one of the most powerful men in Thailand. Secretly, Jantapan is messing with some dangerous spiritual forces. Soku provides Jake with a cover story, but the CIA wants Jake out of it — they are planning to take out the Abu Karaf with the aid of the Thai army, and they don’t want a civilian in the middle. Jake is a spiritual man, so he contacts his spiritual master Paijan Paitoon. As Jake is in trouble, Paitoon offers to arrange a divination from the oracle of the order. Jake enlists the help of Sunti. Jake gets Lulu, the girlfriend of arms dealer Fitch McQuoid, to steal information leading to the Abu Karaf. Jake and Sunti follow the leads to a warehouse where they discover evidence of highly sophisticated weaponry. With their enemies now after Lulu, Jake takes Lulu under his wing. Jake shares some of his info with Leon. Can he trust Leon? Another attempt is made on Jake’s life — and this time, Jake is sure that Leon was involved. Finally, the Abu Karaf contact Jake to arrange a meeting — the pieces are coming together, and Jake figures out that it was not the Abu Karaf who kidnapped Jessica and Sarah. Jantapan tries to send the spirit of an ancient warrior demon to kill Jake, but the ceremony goes wrong and the spirit enters Jantapan himself, giving Jantapan amazing physical and spiritual powers. Jake and Sunti go to meet Mongkol, the leader of the Abu Karaf. Mongkol confirms that ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Jantapan has worked to corner the narcotics and arms markets. It was Jantapan who kidnapped the girls, blaming the Abu Karaf so the army would wipe out his competition. Mongkol knows where the girls are, and he gives Jake plans and intelligence. They both need the girls alive. Jake must engage in a battle that will put both his physical and spiritual powers to the ultimate test. Written by Todd Baldridge

In 1660, with the return of Charles II to the English throne, theater, the visual arts, science and sexual intercourse flourish. Thirteen years later, in the middle of political and economical problems, Charles II asks the return of his friend John Wilmot, aka the second Earl of Rochester, from the exile to London. John is a morally corrupt, drunkard and sexually active cynical poet, and the King asks him to prepare a play for the French ambassador to make him pleased. John meets the aspirant actress Elizabeth Barry in the playhouse and decides to make her a great star. He falls in love for her, and she becomes his mistress; during the presentation to the Frenchman, he falls in disgrace in the court. When he was thirty-three years old, he was dying of syphilis associated to alcoholism and he converted to a religious man. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In the Eighteenth Century, Rayne is the half-human half-vampire Dhampir and the lead attraction in a carnival’s freak-show in Romania. When she escapes, she meets a fortuneteller that tells that her mother was raped by the king of the vampires Kagan and she decides to destroy her father. In her journey for revenge, she meets Vladimir and Sebastian, the leaders of the fortress of vampire hunters Brimstone, and she joins their society. She seeks for powerful talismans to defeat Kagan, while the skilled warriors Vladimir and Sebastian train her to face the forces of Kagan and her human side falls in love with Sebastian. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Artist Adrian Jonas toils in preparation for the biggest gallery opening of his career. The creative process takes Adrian deep into the depths of his mind, where he begins to experience premonitions of a terrible fate that awaits his beloved Iliana. Adrian grows to suspect that a mysterious neighbor is the phantom who means to harm his wife. Compounding the danger, a masquerade party planned for that evening allows unwanted guests to mingle unnoticed. As his premonitions begin to come true, Adrian races to interpret his visions while there is still time to cheat fate. Written by Belvedere Entertainment

While traveling on vacation through the country of Northeastern of Brazil by bus, the American Alex Trubituan, his sister Bea Tribituan and their friend Amy Harrington meet the also foreigners Pru Stagler, Finn Davies and Liam Kuller after an accident with their bus. They follow a track through the woods and find a hidden paradisiacal beach. They decide to stay in the place drinking beer and dancing funk and parting with the locals and they meet the amicable Brazilian teenager Kiko. They are drugged with “Bom Dia, Cinderela” (translation: Good Morning, Cinderella - a trick used by smalltime crooks to steal naive people) and when they wake up, they are practically naked, with all their belongings, clothes, money, jewels, passports, backpacks etc. stolen. They walk to a small village trying to find a police station, they get into trouble with the dwellers and they are helped by their acquaintance Kiko, who leads them to his uncle’s isolated well-equipped cabin in the woods to wait for the next bus two days later. Along the night, Kiko’s “uncle” arrives with his friends and the group discloses the sinister intentions of the newcomers. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Chris Pontius, Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera, and the whole crew return to the screen to raise the stakes higher than ever before.

Even the biggest fans of Halle Berry and her beautiful body are going to be hard-pressed to find much to enjoy about Perfect Stranger, a perfectly bland thriller co-starring Bruce Willis and the go-to guy for funky/creepy characters - Giovanni Ribisi. Loaded with close-ups of Berry’s lovely face caught in a deer in the headlights stare, an overabundance of boring shots of computer screens filled with sexually teasing text, and a batch of potential murder suspects we couldn’t care less about, Perfect Stranger is a pushy film that tries to accomplish way too much and doesn’t achieve anything.

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A female journalist tries to uncover the truth behind the breakup, years earlier, of a celebrated comedy team after the duo found a girl dead in their hotel room. Though both had airtight alibis and neither was accused, the incident put an end to their act. Written by N.E. Star

When Rose, a female assassin, is diagnosed with terminal cancer; she decides to carry out one final killing, assisted by lover and also stepson, Mickey.

With an epic-sized budget and featuring some serious eye candy, “Troy” hits theaters with a lot of expectations to live up to, not the least of which is whether or not today’s audience will relate to the story. That issue - the relevance of Homer’s “The Iliad” in today’s world - is addressed pretty much immediately. Boiled down to its basics, “Troy” is a love story immersed in a world of burly men battling to restore their King’s wounded pride while capturing more land for their country to rule, set in a time when the world was run by men who worshiped mythic Gods such as Apollo and Zeus. That’s an easy enough story for contemporary moviegoers to get into. So fear not, if you can’t recall which Greek God is which, you won’t feel lost in the world of “Troy.”

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