The Code

Set in New York City, veteran thief Keith Ripley (Freeman) recruits younger crook Gabriel Martin (Banderas) to help him pull off one final job in order to repay his debt to the Russian mob, who had killed his previous partner, Victor Korolenko, over the debt before they could complete the plan. Martin is unsure of Ripley, but Ripley's goddaughter, Alexandra Korolenko (Mitchell), who is also Victor's daughter, convinces him other wise, although Ripley doesn't like that the two are getting close. Ripley tells Martin the plan, that they are going to steal from a Russian Museum that has been smuggling Russian treasures into the country and bribing the NYPD with large donations and expensive equipment. The two infiltrate a party at the museum posing as cops, with Ripley as Lt. Weber (Forster), a cop who has a particular vendetta against Ripley, to gather information about their vault.

The Russian mob, lead by Nicky (Šerbedžija), grow impatient with Ripley and kidnap Alexandra, telling them they must steal two Fabergé eggs from the Russian Museum in order to get her back. When the duo get into the vaults of the museum with the eggs, Martin reveals he is an undercover cop from Miami planted by Weber to catch Ripley, leaves Ripley locked in the vault and informs Weber, while taking the eggs to the Russian mobster to free Alexandra. After Alexandra is released Martin is forced to meet with Nicky who reveals that the eggs they have stolen are made of wood (like the Karelian Birch egg). Meanwhile, Weber and his squad enter the museum, but are detained by the security guards due to Martin telling the guards he was a cop as he escaped.

Martin reports in to the police the next morning after the police have picked up Nicky, only to learn that the man they have in custody isn't the man Martin met, and that that was actually Victor Korolenko, who had faked his death with Ripley's help. It is then revealed that Ripley had escaped, letting the museum know cops were on the way and that they had cleaned out the vault of all the smuggled items (which had included the eggs) before the police could inspect it, meaning there was no evidence that anything had been stolen and that Martin's testimony would be worthless as his actions have been kept off the book to prevent Ripley from finding out and that Martin's involvement with Alex compromises him, and Ripley had to be let go.

Ripley later calls Martin from a tarmac ready to leave with Victor to meet with a buyer for the eggs, letting him know that they knew Martin was a cop from the beginning, and that they plan on going into hiding, although Alex will continue to stay in New York (having been in on the plan the whole time) and where he can pick up his cut. Martin later meets up with Alex, who confesses that her feelings for him are real, and decides to become a thief.[

Green Zone

General Al-Rawi (Yigal Naor), in hiding in Baghdad, is meeting with his aides talking about the invasion of Iraq. Many of his aides propose fighting other Iraqi forces and American forces, however Al-Rawi suggests that they remain where they are and wait until the Americans arrive and perhaps make the Iraqi army an offer to join their forces (the earlier arrival of Al-Rawi, senior in the Iraqi government, is noticed by an an Iraqi we will come to know as Freddie).

Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) and his squad investigate a warehouse, believed to be holding Weapons of Mass Destruction. After encounters with a sniper and scanning the warehouse for radioactive activity, they find that the warehouse is empty, with the exception of an old piece of mechanical equipment. After regrouping with his squad, Roy Miller starts to question the intel given to him. At a debriefing, Miller brings up the point that the majority of the intel given to him is inaccurate and anonymous, stating that on his last three attempts to find WMDs, his team had come up with nothing. High-ranking officials quickly debunk Miller's theory about the intelligence being false.

Meanwhile, Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) is welcoming Ahmed Zubadi (Raad Rawi) an Iraqi politician at Saddam International Airport, where he is interrogated by journalist Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan). She asks if she could speak to "Magellan", to which Poundstone says that he is heavily "locked up".

After the debriefing, Miller meets Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), an employee of the CIA, who tells Miller that the next place he is going to investigate for WMDs is also empty, as a team had already searched there months ago. Brown suggests that the intelligence he is being given is part of a cover-up.

Whilst investigating another site, a playground where WMDs are thought to be buried, Miller is approached by the Iraqi seen earlier, who calls himself "Freddie" (Khalid Abdalla), who tells Miller that he saw Al-Rawi at the meeting in a nearby house. Miller and his men swiftly go to the house but Al-Rawi narrowly escapes but they take one of his henchmen into custody. This man Seyyed Hamza (Said Faraj) happens to have a book containing the addresses of Al-Rawi's safehouses, but before Miller can extract any more information the man is taken by Delta Force, sent by Poundstone.

Miller goes to Brown's hotel to give him the notebook and tell him of what took place, and then Brown tells Miller to go and retrieve the man taken by the Delta Force and offer him $1 million dollars in exchange for co-operation. Before leaving, he is approached by Wall Street Journal correspondent Lawrie Dayne, who hands him her card if Miller should wish to disclose any information later on. When he gets to the prison where the informant is held, the man is in desperate need of medical attention due to interrogation, and after Miller suspects that Al-Rawi might be Magellan, the man responds with the word "Jordan" after Miller asks him about Al-Rawi's whereabouts in the run up to the invasion. With Brown's help, Miller's suspicions are confirmed and it is discovered that Al-Rawi met with Poundstone in February in Jordan as Poundstone's inside man.

Miller then goes in pursuit of Al-Rawi, and, having been kidnapped by Al-Rawi's men, Al-Rawi tells him that he told Poundstone there had been no WMD programme since the First Gulf War, and we learn that Poundstone lied to his superiors in Washington - so that Iraq would be invaded anyway. General Al-Rawi then flees as the Iraqi Army is disbanded by the CPA and Delta Force learn of his location and, in their helicopters track to try to kill him. Back with Miller, he kills his captors and races to capture Al Rawi before the Special Forces get him. Meantime Freddie is shadowing Miller who does catch Al-Rawi, after shooting dead a high ranking terrorist working with Al-Rawi, Al-Malik, who had just killed Major Briggs, the leader of the Delta Force team, and says to him that if he surrenders he will take him back to Brown. At this point Freddie appears and shoots Al-Rawi to death, saying it's not Miller's choice.

At a meeting the next day where the Iraqi denominators are trying to broker a deal, Miller confronts Poundstone with what he found out and gives him a strongly-worded report of how the whole invasion was based on a lie. Poundstone denies any knowledge of meeting Al-Rawi or lying about the existence of WMDs but instead tells Miller "We're not stopping", in reference to America's push for democracy in Iraq. Miller violently grabs Poundstone but the encounter is split up by Delta Force soldiers. Poundstone then rejoins the Iraqi meeting, only to see the Iraqi leaders yelling at each other and leaving the meeting.

Later in his hotel room, Miller writes a report on the everything that happened.

Afterwards, Miller e-mails his report to Dayne, as well as many major news corporations and newspapers in the western world to expose the scandal. The camera then pans out to show Miller driving off on a Iraqi highway, with the Iraqi oil fields in the background.

The Hurt Locker (2008)

The Hurt Locker opens with a quotation from War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a best-selling 2002 book by New York Times war correspondent and journalist Chris Hedges: "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug."[10][11]

During the early stages of the post-invasion period in Iraq in 2004,[12][13] Sergeant First Class William James, a battle-tested veteran, becomes the team leader of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit, replacing Staff Sergeant Thompson, who was killed by a radio-controlled 155mm improvised explosive device (IED) in Baghdad. He joins Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge, whose jobs are to communicate with their team leader via radio inside his bombsuit, and provide him with rifle cover while he examines IEDs. During their missions of disarming IEDs and engaging insurgents together, James's unorthodox methods lead Sanborn and Eldridge to consider him reckless. Tensions mount between James and the other two team members. During a raid on a warehouse, James discovers the dead body of a young boy who has been surgically implanted with an unexploded bomb. James believes it to be "Beckham", a young Iraqi merchant he had previously befriended.

Later, James orders his team to pursue two insurgents responsible for a recent explosion. Sanborn protests that the task should be left to an infantry platoon, but James overrules him. During the operation, Eldridge is accidentally shot in the leg. The next morning, James is approached by Beckham. The young boy tries to converse with James, who walks by without saying a word. Being airlifted for surgery, Eldridge angrily blames James for his injury.

After failing in a mission to remove and disarm a time-bomb strapped to an Iraqi civilian's chest, Sanborn becomes emotional and confesses to James that he can no longer cope with the pressure of being in EOD, and he looks forward to finally leaving Iraq and starting a family. James returns home to his wife and child and is shown quietly performing the routine tasks of suburban civilian life. One night James confesses to his infant son that there is only one thing that he knows he loves. He is next seen back in Iraq, ready to serve another 365 days as an EOD team member with Delta Company.

Ninja Assassin Film

Raizo (Rain) is one of the world's deadliest assassins, having been kidnapped as a child and raised by the Ozunu Clan, believed by the world to be a myth. When Raizo's friend is executed by the clan, Raizo flees into hiding. He later reemerges, seeking revenge. Meanwhile, Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) is a Europol agent who investigates money linked to political murders and finds that it is linked to the Ozunu Clan. She defies her superior, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles), and retrieves secret agency files to find out more. The clan, finding out about the investigation, attempts to assassinate her, but she is rescued by Raizo. Hiding in Europe, Raizo and Mika must find a way to take down the Ozunu Clan.[2]

Eastern Promises (2007) Film

The film opens with a murder in a barber shop. Later, Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a midwife at a London hospital, finds a Russian-language diary on the body of Tatiana, a fourteen-year-old girl who dies in childbirth. She also finds a card for the Trans-Siberian restaurant, which is owned by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a boss in the Russian Mafia or vory v zakone ("thieves in law"). Anna sets out to track down the girl's family so that she can find a home for the dead mother's baby girl. Anna’s mother Helen (Sinéad Cusack) does not discourage her, but Anna’s Russian-uncle Stepan (Jerzy Skolimowski), whom Anna asks for help with translation of the diary, urges caution. Through Semyon and her uncle, Anna comes to learn that Semyon and his bumbling and unstable son, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), had abused Tatiana and forced her into prostitution, and that Semyon had raped the girl.

Kirill's driver is the Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), who also serves as the family's "undertaker", dumping dead bodies in the River Thames. Nikolai's star rises within the vory, due in part to Nikolai's protection of Kirill, who had authorized a hit on a rival Chechen vory leader. The hit was not approved by Semyon and was ill-advised, with the Chechen's brothers coming to England to seek vengeance. Semyon, afraid for his son's safety, hatches a plan. Semyon arranges to give "Kirill" up to the Chechens, which involves making Nikolai a Lieutenant in the vory, the same rank as Kirill, so he gets the same distinctive tattoos (stars over the left and right side of his chest and near both knees). A meeting is arranged at Finsbury steam baths, and the Chechens are told that the tattooed Nikolai is actually Kirill. The Chechens attack Nikolai with knives, but Nikolai is able to kill them both. However, Nikolai is seriously wounded during the fight and is admitted to the hospital where Anna works.

Anna asks Nikolai where her missing uncle Stepan is. Nikolai says he sent Stepan to a luxury hotel in Edinburgh to keep him safe after he read Tatiana's diary. Anna discovers that Kirill has kidnapped the baby, to prevent her being evidence in a statutory rape case against Semyon. Anna and Nikolai go to the Thames and find Kirill with the baby, still alive, struggling with his conscience. Nikolai talks Kirill into giving Anna the baby and allying with Nikolai against Semyon.

It is revealed near the end of the film that Nikolai is actually an officer of the Russian Security Services (FSB) and a Scotland Yard informer on the Russian mafia in London as part of his undercover duties. Nikolai was able to read Tatiana's diary before Semyon destroyed it, and develops a plan to have Semyon arrested and convicted for Tatiana's rape, making Kirill the most powerful member of the London branch of the mob, but with Nikolai as the power behind the throne. The plan works, with Anna gaining custody of the baby and Nikolai eventually becoming the London vory crime boss.

A Christmas Carol (2009) Film

On Christmas Eve in Victorian England, Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter and miserly old moneylender, holds everything that embodies the joys and spirit of Christmas in contempt, refusing to visit his cheerful nephew Fred's Christmas dinner party with his family, and forcing his underpaid employee Bob Cratchit to beg to take the day off for his own family. That night, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who had died seven years prior on Christmas Eve and is now forced to spend his afterlife carrying heavy chains forged from his own greedy ways. Marley warns Scrooge that he will suffer an even worse fate if he doesn't repent, and foretells that he will be haunted by three spirits that will help guide him.

The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, shows Scrooge visions of his own past that take place on or around the Christmas season, reminding him of how he ended up the greedy man he is now. He had spent much of his childhood neglected by his father over the holidays at boarding school until he was finally brought home by his loving sister Fan, who died prematurely after giving birth to his nephew Fred. Scrooge later began a successful career in business and moneylending and became engaged to a woman named Belle, though she later called off the engagement when he began to grow obsessed with accumulating his own wealth. Unable to bear having to witness these events again, Scrooge extinguishes the spirit.

The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, shows Scrooge the happiness of his fellow men on Christmas day. Among them are his nephew Fred, who playfully makes jokes with his family at Scrooge's expense, and Bob Cratchit and his family, who are just barely able to make do with what little pay Scrooge gives Cratchit. The Cratchits also tend to a sickly young son, Tiny Tim, whose commitment to the spirit of Christmas touches Scrooge, who is dismayed to learn from the spirit that he may not have much longer to live. Before the spirit vanishes, it warns Scrooge about the evils of Ignorance and Want, showing them as terrifying, uncivilized children doomed to grow into savage, despicable individuals.

The third and final spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge the final consequences of his greed. Tiny Tim has died, leaving the Cratchits to mourn him on Christmas. Scrooge has also died, though there is more comfort than grief in the wake of his funeral. In addition, Fred finds benefit from inheriting his wealth, and Scrooge is even robbed by his former maid. Unwilling to let this grim future come to pass, Scrooge begs to be given a second chance as the spirit forces him into his deep and empty grave leading all the way to Hell.

Scrooge awakens to find himself in his bed on Christmas morning, the three spirits having guided him over the course of one night, and immediately sets out to atone for his sins, making donations to the poor, attending Fred's dinner party, and giving Cratchit a raise to care for his family, allowing Tiny Tim to live. Scrooge spends the remainder of his life a new man embodying the spirit of Christmas itself.

Astro Boy 2009 (Film)

The film begins in Metro City, a small city that floats above Earth, which is now covered in discarded robot parts. Toby Tenma finishes a physics pop quiz ahead of all his classmates and is free to leave, so he rewires Orrin (the family servant robot) who takes Toby to the Ministry of Science.

Toby's father, Dr. Tenma, is at the ministry, meeting with President Stone and Dr. Elefun. They have captured two cores of energy, a "positive" (good) core and a "negative" (evil) core. Toby is placed in a room where he is supposed to stay until the end of the demonstration, but he escapes and runs off to the demonstration room.

President Stone orders the Red Core to be placed into a robot called "The Peacekeeper" to power it. The Peacekeeper begins to malfunction and tries to attack the scientists, vaporizing Toby before the adults are able to deactivate the robot.

Soon after, Dr. Tenma is seen holding blueprints of a robot replica of Toby, in hopes of recreating his son. He takes hair from Toby's hat to access all his memories and place them in the robot. Dr. Elefun provides the Blue Core to power the very advanced Toby robot. The robot Toby comes to life, to the excitement of Dr. Tenma. Tenma then takes Toby home, at first excited to spend time with his son, but he quicly realizes the new Toby is not the same as the old Toby.

Dr. Tenma calls Dr. Elefun, fearing that he may have made a mistake. Dr. Elefun makes a point that Toby cannot be exactly duplicated. Dr. Tenma grieves over the fact that whenever he sees Toby, he is reminded that Toby is really gone and will never come back.

While in his room, Toby worries about his father, since he has never been that angry with him before. While Toby gets into a quarrel with cleaning robots outside his window, he discovers he can understand them but falls out the window only to discover that he can fly.

President Stone discovers Toby's energy signature and his blue core, and orders his troops to capture it. When Toby returns home he overhears his father talking with Elefun about deactivating Toby. Dr. Tenma reveals that Toby is only just a copy of the original Toby and that he no longer wants him since his face only reminds him of his real son and the pain of losing him. Devastated, Toby flies off but not before Elefun assures him that he has a place somewhere in the world.

Toby is ambushed by military drones. A barrage of missiles temporarily disables Toby, causing him to fall to the Earth's surface. Toby wakes up on the Earth's surface, covered in broken robots, where he meets a robot dog named Trashcan. Trashcan leads Toby to a trap where he is wrapped up and captured by a group of kids, but released when he appears to be a human. Toby is then abducted by the "Robot Liberation Front", who name him "Astro". They then warn him of Hamegg, who enslaves robots. Cora and the children break in to free Toby/Astro.

Tenma promises to President Stone that he will deactivate Astro when they capture him and give Stone the blue core for the Peacekeeper. Cora takes Astro to their home, filled with tons of children and the Fagin-like ringmaster Hamegg. However, Hamegg isn't as evil as he seems. Hamegg eagerly welcomes Astro into their family. Later that night, Hamegg talks with Astro and how he used to work in Metro City with Dr. Tenma, but was thrown away due to his "intimidating brilliance".

The next day while out searching for parts in Brazil, Trashcan tried to tell everyone else that Astro is a robot, but fails. (Trashcan writes on the ground "He's A Robot" but then one of the kids comments "Makes me wish I knew how to read.") Astro finds a 100 year old robot named Zog. Using the power of his blue core, Astro revives Zog. They take him back to their home and fix him up for the robot games. But Astro is slightly upset when he discovers that it is a fight to the death. Before the games start, Hamegg electrifies Astro and reveals to everyone that he is a robot. So, Hamegg puts him in the games. At Yankee Stadium, Astro easily clears all the robots but is put up against Zog, who refuses to fight Astro. Hamegg, forcibly tries to get Astro to fight, but Zog attacks him (being over 100 years old, the rules of robots not being allowed to harm humans doesn't apply to him, since it has been the rule for 50 years). Just then the military arrives and Zog tries to defend Astro, but Astro stops Zog and goes with the military.

Astro is taken back to the lab he was made in and Dr. Elefun tells him that he is wonderful and none of this is his fault, but Astro believes that it is hard to fit in and that perhaps this is his destiny. Dr. Tenma takes out the blue core and apologizes to Astro, who says he shouldn't be sorry and apologizes for not being a better Toby. Dr. Tenma gives Stone the core, but betrays him and takes it back, putting it in Astro. Astro wakes up wondering why Dr. Tenma has done that, but he replies that even though Astro is not Toby, he is still his son.

Astro escapes so Stone uses the red core to reactivate the Peacekeeper, however, the Peacekeeper absorbs Stone and heads to destroy Astro, with Stone's mind controling it. With the entire city cleared and the Peacekeeper on the rampage, absorbing every weapon it comes across, Astro flies into the city to protect it from the rampaging behemoth. Meanwhile, Cora and the others hijack Hamegg's car to head to Metro City and help Astro. In the resulting showdown, the city's power source is destroyed but Astro manages to hold it up and causing it to land unharmed before continueing his destructive battle with the Peacekeeper. He's captured by the Peacekeeper but when it tries to absorb him, it doesn't work. Dr. Tenma tells Astro that if the blue core and red core come together, Astro and the Peacekeeper will die. Knowing that the Peacekeeper must be stopped, even if it means sacrificing himself, Astro flies into the Peacekeeper's red core, resulting in a massive explosion that completely destroys the Peacekeeper. Stone emerges from the rubble unharmed but is quickly arrested while Astro was deactivated since the blue core was drained in the explosion. But Zog arrives and because he was revived with the blue core, he is able to return some of the energy back to Astro, reactivating him.

Astro finds his place as a hero and everyone rejoices. Cora reunites with her parents. But before any celebrating can happen a large alien attacks the city and Astro, now at peace with his robotic nature and his destiny as a hero, immediately launches into action after reassuring his concerned father, "I was made ready!" The movie ends with Astro flying off to fight off the alien.