Avatar *Movie Review* Oscar Worthy

Avatar is a 2009 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang. The epic is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a fictional world in a distant planetary system. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora's reserves of a precious mineral, while the Na'vi—a race of indigenous humanoids—resist the colonists' expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the Na'vi and the Earth-like Pandoran ecosystem. The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-Na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the natives.^[5]In 2154, the RDA corporation is mining Pandora, a lush, Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus.^[18] Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) heads the mining operation, and it employs former marines for security. The corporation intends to exploit Pandora's reserves of a valuable mineral called unobtanium. Pandora is inhabited by the Na’vi, a blue-skinned neolithic species of sapient humanoids with feline characteristics.^[19] Physically stronger and taller than humans, the Na'vi live in harmony with Nature, worshiping a mother goddess called Eywa.

Humans cannot survive exposure to Pandora’s atmosphere for very long and use oxygen masks. To move about Pandora, scientists create human-Na’vi hybrids called avatars, controlled by genetically matched human operators. The scientists also lead schools for the Na'vi to learn English and to interact with the humans. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former marine, becomes a last-minute replacement for his identical twin brother, a recently-murdered scientist trained to be an avatar operator. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the head of the Avatar Program, considers Sully an inadequate replacement for his brother, and relegates him to a bodyguard role.

Jake escorts Augustine and biologist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) on an exploratory mission in their avatar forms to make contact with the Na'vi, in order to help establish diplomatic relations to solve the problem of resources and end the constant threat of violence. The group is attacked by a large predator, and Jake becomes separated and lost. Attempting to survive the night in Pandora’s dangerous jungles, he is rescued by Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), a female Na'vi. Neytiri brings Jake to Hometree, which is inhabited by Neytiri’s clan, the Omaticaya. Mo'at (C. C. H. Pounder), the Na'vi shaman and Neytiri's mother, shows interest in the warrior "Dream-walker" (their term for the Avatars), and instructs her daughter to teach Jake their ways. Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), leader of the security forces for RDA, promises Jake his "real legs" back in exchange for intelligence about the natives and what it will take for them to abandon Hometree, which rests above a large deposit of unobtanium.

Over three months, Jake grows close to Neytiri and the Omaticaya and begins preferring the life he lives through the avatar. Jake's attachment erodes his loyalty toward RDA's agenda. He is initiated into the Omaticaya, and he and Neytiri choose each other as mates. Jake's change of loyalty is revealed when he disables a bulldozer's cameras as it destroys the tribe's 'Tree of Voices'. Col. Quaritch disconnects Jake from his avatar and presents Selfridge and Dr. Augustine with a vlog in which Jake admits that his mission is fruitless; the humans have nothing the Omaticaya desire, and they will never abandon Hometree. Selfridge is convinced that negotiations will fail and orders Hometree's destruction.

Augustine argues that the destruction of Hometree could affect the vast bio-botanical neural network that all Pandoran organisms are connected to, and Selfridge gives Jake one hour to convince the Na’vi to leave Hometree. When he reveals his mission to the Omaticaya, Neytiri accuses him of betraying them, resulting in Jake and Augustine's imprisonment. Jake’s time runs out and Quaritch’s forces destroy Hometree, killing Eytucan (Wes Studi), Neytiri's father and clan chief, and many others. Jake and Augustine are disconnected from their avatars and detained for treason along with Norm. Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez), a security force pilot who is disgusted by the violence, breaks them out. During their escape Quaritch shoots Augustine. With Augustine dying, Jake turns to the Omaticaya for help. To regain their trust he tames the Toruk, a powerful flying beast that only five Na'vi have ever tamed. Jake flies to the Omaticaya, who have gathered at the sacred Tree of Souls, and pleads with Mo'at to heal Augustine. They attempt to transplant her "soul" into her avatar, but her injuries are too severe.

With the assistance of Neytiri and Tsu'Tey (Laz Alonso), the new leader of the Omaticaya, Jake assembles thousands of Na'vi from other clans. Jake prays to Eywa to intercede on behalf of the Na'vi in the coming battle. Quaritch, noting the rapid mobilization of Na'vi clans, convinces Selfridge to authorize a preemptive strike on the Tree of Souls. Because it is a center of Na'vi religion and culture, its destruction would leave the Na'vi too demoralized to resist further human encroachment.

As the humans attack, the Na'vi fight back but suffer heavy casualties, among them Tsu'Tey and Trudy. When the Na'vi are on the verge of defeat, the Pandoran wildlife suddenly attacks the humans, overwhelming them. Neytiri interprets this as Eywa answering Jake's prayer. Jake destroys the main bomber before it can reach the Tree of Souls. Quaritch escapes in an AMP (Amplified Mobility Platform) suit, finds the avatar interface pod where Jake's human body is located and attacks it, exposing Jake to Pandora's atmosphere. Neytiri kills Quaritch and saves Jake, seeing his human form. With the attack repelled, Jake and Neytiri reaffirm their love.

The humans are expelled from Pandora, while Jake and his closest co-workers remain. Jake is seen wearing the insignia of the Omaticaya leader. The film ends with Jake's consciousness being transplanted into his Na'vi avatar and his life continuing as a Na'vi.

Avatar is the movie of the year, the story and plot is quite intense. To get taken in by the native learn their culture then have to fight to help them save their land. Avatar will win an Oscar for best Motion Picture. This movie structure will leave you walking saying that was a great movie. I give this movie four (4) **** stars.

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Avatar had been in development since 1994 by Cameron, who wrote an 80-page scriptment for the film.^[6] Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Titanic, and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to Cameron, "technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film.^[7][8] In early 2006, Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora.^[9] He has stated that if Avatar is successful, two sequels to the film are planned.^[10]

The film was released in traditional 2-D and 3-D, as well as IMAX 3D formats. Avatar is officially budgeted at $237 million;^[2] other estimates put the cost at $280–310 million to produce and an estimated $150 million for marketing.^[11][12][13] The film is being touted as a breakthrough in terms of filmmaking technology, for its development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic filmmaking with cameras that were specially designed for the film's production.^[14] Opening to critical acclaim and commercial success, it grossed an estimated $27 million on its opening day and made $77,025,481 in the United States and Canada on its opening weekend.^[15] Worldwide, Avatar grossed an estimated $232,180,000 on its opening weekend,^[16] the ninth-largest opening-weekend gross of all time, and the largest for a non-franchise, non-sequel and original film. After 17 days in release, it became the fastest film to reach $1 billion in box office receipts,^[3] making the film the fourth highest-grossing of all time, and the fifth to gross more than $1 billion worldwide.^[17]

The Hangover *Review*

These guys are going for bachelor get away in Vegas. "Old School" director Todd Phillips comes a comedy about a bachelor party gone very, very wrong.

Two days before his wedding, Doug (JUSTIN BARTHA) drives to Las Vegas with his best buddies Phil and Stu (BRADLEY COOPER and ED HELMS) and his future brother-in-law Alan (ZACH GALIFIANAKIS), for a blow-out bachelor party they vow they'll never forget.

But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can't remember a thing. Their luxury hotel suite is beyond trashed and the groom is nowhere to be found.

With no clue about what happened and little time to spare, the trio must attempt to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong in the hopes of finding Doug and getting him back to L.A. in time for his wedding.

But the more they begin to uncover, the more they realize just how much trouble they're really in.

I found myself laughing over and over again as I watched this movie. This is a classic waiting to happen. Feeling gloomy, after you watch this you will feel better. Three (3)*** stars.

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Obsessed *My Review*

Obsessed is a 2009 thriller film directed by Steve Shill and written by David Loughery. It was released in theaters in North America on April 24, 2009, and in the UK on May 29, 2009 by Screen Gems Pictures. Filming took place in the summer of 2008. Derek Charles (Idris Elba) is the Executive Vice President of Gage Bendix and has received a recent promotion from his boss (Bruce McGill). He is happily married to Sharon Charles (Beyoncé Knowles), who is pursuing her business degree. They have a son, Kyle. However, a new temporary worker, Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter) begins to unnerve him. Derek's best friend and co-worker, Ben (Jerry O'Connell), reminds him to be careful because he thinks she has her eyes on him. Lisa eventually attempts to seduce him, but he repeatedly rejects her advances. Lisa becomes obsessed and begins to manipulate Derek and Sharon's relationship, eventually becoming violent. Lisa's actions become erratic, and she fakes a suicide in Derek's hotel room while he is on a business trip, leaving him no choice but to send her to the hospital. Meanwhile, Sharon is trying to reach Derek, but she can't get in touch with him, so she calls Ben. Ben tries to cover for Derek, but he just comes out and tells her that Derek should tell her the truth himself (presumably telling her he's at the hospital emergency room). This prompts Sharon to go to the hospital where Derek is. Detective Monica Reese (Christine Lahti) interrogates Derek about his "relationship" with Lisa. Both Detective Reese and Sharon refuse to believe that he didn't sleep with Lisa. When Derek and Sharon go home, Sharon kicks him out of the house, and they separate for three months. Derek moves into his own place, but he is lonely without his family and longs to be back with them. Sharon still lets him visit and play with Kyle, but she refuses to have any communication with him herself.

Within the three months, Detective Reese interrogates Lisa, who lies about her relationship with Derek. Detective Reese discovers that Derek was telling the truth and that Lisa is insane. Reese informs Derek that she believes him now, and Lisa has moved to San Francisco. As an attempt to win Sharon back, Derek asks her to go out to dinner with him for his birthday. After a long talk, Sharon forgives him and gives him a gift: his key to the house, which she had taken from him when he moved out. While they are out, Lisa goes to their home and tricks the babysitter Samantha (Scout Taylor-Compton) into letting her in under the pretense of being one of Sharon's friends, eventually escaping with Kyle while Samantha is distracted. When Derek and Sharon return, Samantha informs them that Lisa had been there, and they find that Kyle is missing. Derek goes to the car, intending to pursue Lisa, and finds Kyle in the backseat with lipstick from Lisa on his forehead. They immediately take Kyle to the hospital to make sure he is okay. Detective Reese meets up with them there. Sharon warns her that she better do something about Lisa, or she'll do it herself. Reese assures them that she'll handle it. They take Kyle home, where they have a hard time putting the upset baby to bed. Afterwards, they try to go to bed, only to see that Lisa has trashed their bedroom and removed Sharon's face from all the family portraits. The next morning, Sharon leaves an angry, threatening voicemail on Lisa's phone. They set up a home alarm system, while Lisa secretly monitors the house from outside.

Later on, Patrick (Matthew Humphreys), Derek's assistant, receives a call from Lisa. He reveals that Sharon and Derek will be visiting her mother's house, with Sharon leaving that afternoon and Derek first thing the next morning. While Sharon is on the way to her sister's to pick up Kyle before she goes to her mother's, she calls Derek, who asks her if she set the alarm. She realizes that she forgot and goes back to set it. Meanwhile, Lisa has broken into the house with a bottle of champagne. While setting the alarm, Sharon hears Lisa pop the champagne bottle open. Sharon finds Lisa wearing one of Derek's t-shirts lying in her bed. Sharon tells Lisa that she is calling the police, but Lisa tries to stop her. Sharon pushes Lisa down, but Lisa gets up and shoves Sharon onto the dresser, knocking her down, and begins kicking her. Lisa grabs a lamp and tries to hit Sharon with it, but Sharon escapes to the bathroom.

Derek calls the house, and it's Lisa who answers. Sharon struggles with Lisa to get the phone, headbutting her and knocking her down. Sharon tells Derek she's going to have to call him back and hangs up. Derek calls Detective Reese and leaves his office. While fighting, Sharon reminds Lisa of everything she has done. Lisa escapes and runs to the attic. Sharon pursues Lisa to the attic, where she is attacked. Sharon, remembering when Derek showed her a weak spot in the floor, leads Lisa to it. Lisa falls through the floor and hangs onto the edge. Sharon reaches out and grabs her hand to prevent her from falling, but Lisa pulls Sharon down with her instead of accepting her help. Seeing that the floor is starting to buckle, Sharon pries Lisa off of her arm, and she falls to the ground. Lisa grabs a chandelier, stopping her fall, but lets go and falls onto the table below. Sharon sighs in regret as she sees this but then sees Lisa open her eyes. Lisa begins to rise up when the broken chandelier falls on Lisa and kills her. Derek and Detective Reese arrive as Sharon comes out of the front door. The detective asks Sharon "What happened?" and Sharon replies "I think you know what happened." As the film ends, Sharon and Derek embrace each other.

Obsessed is a interesting piece of work. One thing that stood out about this movie was that it gave you a Fatal Attraction feel to it but lets keep it real the story line is not on that level. The movie plot was interesting that a man could be pursued by a beautiful woman with such passion and he could stay true to himself and just say no. The whole time that I watched this movie I kept wondering what did he do to this woman to have her sprung like that? So again this was a okay movie, if you have time to kill on a Saturday check it out, but sometimes it nothing like waiting for it to hit cable. I give the movie two (2) **

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Racial Profiling is still illegal no matter how you look at it

Since the underwear bomber failed at his attempt at blowing up a air plance, the conservatives have decided that maybe racial profiling should be used again. Forget the constitutional violation that occurred when it was used before. Forget the violation of people 4th and 14th amendments rights. Lets rewrite the constitution all in the name of good, right?

So what is the true definition of Racial profiling -it is the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act or to behave in a "predictable" manner. It is often confused with the more comprehensive offender profiling and has been perceived to be directed most often toward non white individuals. Although this practice has been common for centuries, the practice became particularly controversial toward the end of the 20th century in the United States, as the potential for abuse by law enforcement came to light.

So imagine you are in your car and a police officer stops you because you are black and pulls you out of your car and shoves a gun in your face and temporally detainees you in their car, only to find out that you were the wrong black man. Of course they apologize and say they are sorry for the mistake. Lets look at the situation like this, many a lives were lost simply because of this racial profiling. Sorry, I did not mean to kill him or it was an accident. Nothing good can come from this, no matter what the better good of all is.

In the United States, police officers target not race but certain characteristics that are only correlated with race. This is also related to the hypothesis that police officers have no racial preferences and only maximize the probability of a successful search. If black motorists are more likely to carry contraband or illegal drugs, racial profiling may lead to a higher probability of successful searches.^[1]

At least for the state of Maryland, data suggests that the probability of a successful search is very similar across races. This suggests that police officers are not motivated by racial preferences but by the desire to maximize the probability of a successful search. In fact, data suggests that the probability of finding contraband in excess of a high threshold is higher for black motorists, implying a bias against white drivers.^[1]

Critics argue:

• that race would ideally not be considered for any reason in a police action (save the exceptions made below).
• that race would ideally not be considered the primary or motivating factor for suspicion.
• that race could be considered when it is used to describe a specific suspect in a specific crime and only when used in a manner like other physical descriptions (e.g., hair color, weight, distinguishing marks). This is often referred to as the "be on the lookout" (B.O.L.O.) exception.
• that even if race could be helpful, use of race may cause many more errors where the actual offender happened not to fit the race predicted by the model and law enforcement fails to capture the suspect.
  

In the United States, the government does not have the right to conduct searches based solely on racial profiling. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause. Since the majority of people of all races are law-abiding citizens, merely being of a race which a police officer believes to be more likely to commit a crime than another is not probable cause. In addition, the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires that all citizens be treated equally under the law. It has been argued that this makes it unconstitutional for a representative of the government to make decisions based on race. This view has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Batson v. Kentucky and several other cases.

Racial profiling is frowned upon in some societies. The security agent who checked in Muhammed Atta, the leader of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and a companion, would later say that looking at the pair his first reaction was to think "If this doesn't look like two Arab terrorists, I've never seen two Arab terrorists." But he immediately felt guilty, and had no legal grounds to search on the basis of their suspicious appearance had he wished to.^[2]

^{So that is the catch all end all we just want to get rid of all the bad Arabs, and of course after we get all those bad Arabs... Then maybe we can get all those bad blacks, and Hispanics!!! You know its all for the safety of the United States, right?}

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The Movie 2012 *Review*

2012 is a disaster film, directed by Roland Emmerich and released in 2009. The film stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton and Woody Harrelson. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver.

The film briefly references Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in the year 2012. Because of solar flare bombardment the Earth's core begins heating up at an unprecedented rate, eventually causing crustal displacement. This results in an onslaught of Doomsday event scenarios plunging the world into chaos, ranging from California falling into the Pacific Ocean, the eruption of the Yellowstone National Park caldera, massive earthquakes, and Megatsunami impacts along every coast line on the Earth. The film centers around an ensemble cast of characters as they narrowly escape multiple catastrophes in an effort to reach ships in the Himalayas, along with scientists and governments of the world who are

In 2009, American geologist Adrian Helmsley learns from a colleague in India that neutrinos from a massive solar flare are acting as microwave radiation, causing the temperature of the Earth's core to increase rapidly. Adrian informs White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser and US President Thomas Wilson that this will trigger a catastrophic chain of natural disasters. At the G8 summit in 2010, other heads of state and heads of government are made aware of the situation. They begin a massive, secret project intended to ensure the survival of humanity. Approximately 400,000 people are chosen to board a series of ships (called arks) to be constructed in the Himalayas. The majority of tickets aboard these ships are reserved for notable government officials and selected people, while additional funding for the project is raised by selling tickets to the private sector at the price of €1 billion per person.

In 2012, Jackson Curtis is a writer in Los Angeles who works part-time as a limousine driver for wealthy Russian businessman Yuri Karpov. Jackson's ex-wife Kate and their children Noah and Lily live with her boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon Silberman. Jackson takes Noah and Lily on a camping trip to Yellowstone National Park, where they meet Charlie Frost, a conspiracy theorist living as a hermit and hosting a radio show from the park. Charlie references a theory that suggests the Mayans predicted the world would come to an end in 2012, and claims he has knowledge and a map of the secret ark project. The family returns home as cracks develop along the San Andreas Fault in California and large earthquakes occur in many places along the West Coast. Jackson grows suspicious and rents a plane to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon when the Earth's crust displacement begins and they escape Los Angeles as it collapses into the Pacific Ocean.

As billions die in cataclysmic earthquakes worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve Charlie's map. The group narrowly escapes as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Charlie, who stayed behind to broadcast the eruption, is killed in the blast. Learning that the ships are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas, where they meet Yuri, his sons, girlfriend Tamara, and pilot Sasha. They join the group and secure an Antonov aircraft, fleeing just as Las Vegas is destroyed. Also bound for the arks aboard Air Force One are Anheuser, Adrian, and First Daughter Laura Wilson. President Wilson chooses to remain in Washington D.C., and is soon killed by a megatsunami. With the Vice President also dead and the Speaker of the House missing, Anheuser takes over as acting president.

Arriving in China in a crash-landing that kills Sasha, the group is spotted by the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Yuri and his sons, possessing tickets, are taken to the ships. The Curtis family, Gordon, and Tamara, who do not have tickets, are picked up by Nima, a Buddhist monk on his way to the arks. They sneak into an ark with the help of Nima's brother Tenzin, a welder for the ark project. A tsunami approaches the site as thousands are still attempting to board the final ark, and a large drill becomes lodged between the gears of the ark's hydraulics chamber, preventing a boarding gate from closing and rendering the ship unable to start its engines. In the ensuing chaos, Yuri, Gordon, and Tamara are killed, and the flooded ark is set adrift. Jackson and Noah free the drill from the closing mechanism, and the crew regains control of the ark, preventing a fatal collision with Mount Everest.

When the floodwater from the tsunamis recedes, satellite data shows that Africa's elevation rose in relation to sea level, and the Drakensberg mountains in KwaZulu Natal are now the highest on the planet. As three arks set sail for the Cape of Good Hope, Jackson reconciles with his family and Adrian starts a relationship with Laura. The movie ends with a view of the Earth from space, showing a drastically different continental landscape.

The credits cite the bestselling non-fiction book Fingerprints of the Gods by author Graham Hancock as inspiration for the film,^[3] and in an interview with the London magazine Time Out Emmerich states: "I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie, but I never felt I had the hook. I first read about the Earth's Crust Displacement Theory in Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods."^[4]

Director Roland Emmerich and composer-producer Harald Kloser co-wrote a spec script titled 2012, which was marketed to major studios in February 2008. Nearly all studios met with Emmerich and his representatives to hear the director's budget projection and story plans, a process that the director had previously gone through with the films Independence Day (1996) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004).^[5] Later that month, Sony Pictures Entertainment won the rights for the spec script, planning to distribute it under Columbia Pictures^[6] and to make it for less than the estimated budget.^[7] According to Emmerich, the film was eventually produced for about $200 million.^[1]

Filming was originally scheduled to begin in Los Angeles, California, in July 2008,^[8] but instead commenced in Vancouver in August 2008 and concluded in January 2009.^[9] Due to the possible 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike, filmmakers set up a contingency plan for salvaging the film.^[10] Uncharted Territory, Industrial Light and Magic, Digital Domain, Double Negative, Scanline, Sony Pictures Imageworks and others were hired to create visual effects for 2012.^[11] Thomas Wander co-wrote the score with Harald Kloser.

Okay this scientific vision of things to come was a big pill to swallow. The ideal that the earth will self destruct because of constant earth changes was way over my head for now... I watched the movie wondering when is this going to end. I wish that there was something about this movie that I could give a great review but it held my attention simply because I wanted to see what was going to happen next! This hodgepodge of everything happening was just to much. My recommendation is save your money and wait for it to come on regular TV. My review is two (2) ** stars.

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The Taking of Pelham 123 *review*

The Taking of Pelham 123 is a 2009 thriller film, directed by Tony Scott, and starring Denzel Washington, and John Travolta. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Morton Freedgood (writing under the pseudonym John Godey), and is a remake of the original 1974 film adaptation, which was also remade in 1998 as a TV movie. Production of the film began in March 2008, and the film was released on June 12, 2009.^[2] Four heavily armed men, led by the mysterious Ryder (John Travolta), board the New York City subway 6 train departed from Pelham Bay Park Station at 1:23 p.m., and proceed to take control of it.

Meanwhile, MTA dispatcher Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is assigned to the Rail Control Center, due to an ongoing investigation that he took a bribe to recommend a Japanese car manufacturer for the next subway car contract. The group then uncouple the front car from the rest of the train and hold the passengers in this front car hostage. One of the hijackers, Bashkim (Victor Gojcaj), kills an undercover police officer in the course of the action. Ryder and a former MTA train operator named Ramos (Luis Guzman) settle down in the front of the car, while the other hijackers watch the hostages in the back. They demand $10 million in ransom money to be paid within 60 minutes. For each minute past the deadline, one passenger will be killed. Garber and Ryder exchange conversations through the microphone, while Ramos and Emri (Robert Vataj) set up a wi-fi booster apparatus to enable Ryder to access his laptop in the tunnel to watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunge nearly 1,000 points during the next hour.

Unknown to him, one of the male passengers has an active laptop with a webcam, that was casually knocked to the floor, facing the car's interior previously when they took their hostages, which simultaneously reconnects using that same wi–fi link; reestablishing a previously used videochat to his girlfriend's desktop; when she returns to her PC, she sees the hostage situation through her webcam and provides the live feed to a local television station. Garber agrees to have the city pay Ryder the $10 million ransom, after the Mayor (James Gandolfini) is intercepted by his staff aboard a train in the Bronx and is transported back to RCC.

NYPD Emergency Service Unit Lt. Camonetti (John Turturro) enters RCC, and Garber's boss, who has a rocky relationship with Garber, orders Garber to leave the premises. Camonetti takes over the hostage negotiations, infuriating Ryder, who demands that Garber be put back on the mic and that he will speak only to Garber. When Camonetti refuses, explaining Garber has already left the building, Ryder shoots and kills the train operator. Camonetti immediately has Garber brought back on the mic, talking to Ryder, while he sets up a sniper unit in the tunnel where the car is stuck, ordering all officers not to fire until told to do so. Camonetti is puzzled as to why Ryder will only talk to Garber, but when he learns about Garber's bribery investigation, he asks Garber to consent to a search of his home; Garber agrees. Ryder learns through news reports about Garber's alleged bribe in Japan and forces him to confess by threatening to kill the boy with the laptop. Garber explains his action by saying he needed the money to pay for his kids' college educations, and that the Japanese company had been his first choice anyway. Meanwhile, a rat on the roadbed crawls up an officer's leg, causing him to discharge his sniper rifle, killing Ramos and leaving the hijackers without an experienced train driver.

The money is transported uptown to Grand Central, and Ryder demands Garber to personally deliver it within 7 minutes. Garber accepts a concealed pistol from a police officer, then delivers the money. Ryder orders him to operate the train to another location, where the hijackers exit. To ensure that the police go to the wrong location, Ryder uses a special mechanism to lock the driving lever in the full-speed position, bypassing the dead-man's switch and causing the train to head towards Coney Island at high speed.

The MTA are unaware of the mechanism holding the driving lever down and believe the hijackers and Garber to still be inside the train. Garber escapes from the hijackers and follows them to the emergency exit inside an abandoned subway station underneath The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Inside the hotel, Ryder splits away from Bashkim and Emri, who are surrounded outside the hotel by police; as they both reach for their guns and begin shooting, the police open fire on the two of them, killing them. The runaway train is tripped by a red signal one station away from Coney Island and the train comes to a halt safely. Ryder boards a taxi with Garber in pursuit. Ryder checks his laptop, where it is revealed that he has short–sold the market and invested in gold, earning him a profit far larger than the ransom money. Ryder goes to the Manhattan Bridge, where he leaves the cab, due to heavy traffic, and uses the pedestrian walkway on the bridge. Garber confronts Ryder on the bridge where Ryder demands Garber kill him before the police do. Ryder gives Garber 10 seconds to shoot him. When Ryder finishes counting to 10, he takes out his gun, but Garber gets the first shot out. Before Ryder dies, he calls Garber is his "goddamn" hero.

The mayor thanks Garber for saving the hostages, and promises that the city will support him in the bribery investigation. The Mayor then offers Garber a ride home in his car along with the escort service. Garber refuses the offer, saying the subway is faster. When he is taking the ride, he sees the empty compartment of Pelham 123 and he smiles.The last shot of the film shows Garber walking into his home.

I found the movie very enjoyable, the subway ride was unlike any I have ever taken. Although the movie was remade twice (2) the added updates with the cell phones and laptops brought the movie right up to date. This movie is well worth the time that you will spend watching it. I give this move 4**** stars.

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The Blind Side * My Review*

The Blind Side is a true story of Michael Oher as a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home who is taken in by the Touys, a well-to-do white family who help him to live up to his potential. The Touys taking in Oher immediately help to change his life and give him new direction, but the presence of Michael Oher in the Touy family help to bring the family closer as a unit. The family goes through ups and down but they face it together. This is a great movie to take the family to see.

Don't be surprised if you see several people in this movie get an Oscar, the first would be Sandra Bullock for her moving performance as Leigh Anne Toughy, and Jae Head as the young SJ, Shawn Junior. When you leave yu will be glad that you did come to see the movie.

This is a great family movie I give the movie 3 stars

The Blind Side - Official Trailer (HQ) - The top video clips of the week are here

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