The Tourist

The film opens with Elise Clifton-Ward (Angelina Jolie) being followed by French Police, working with Scotland Yard under the direction of Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany). Acheson has spent years hunting Elise's old lover, Alexander Pearce, who owes £744 million in back taxes and is believed to have received 20 million dollars worth of plastic surgery to alter his appearance completely. At a cafe, Elise receives written instructions from Pearce: board a train to Venice, pick out a man who resembles Pearce, and make the police believe that this decoy is Pearce himself. Elise burns the note, then manages to evade the police and board the train.

On the train, Elise picks Frank Tupelo, an American community college teacher. She spends much time with him, seeming to start a romance. In the meanwhile, the police have managed to salvage the ashes of her burned note and assembled them to extract information regarding her rendezvous as well as her ruse. But an informer from the police station mistakenly communicates to Reginald Shaw, a gangster from whom Pearce as accountant stole $2.3 billion, that Pearce is travelling with Elise on the train to Venice. Shaw immediately proceeds to Venice.

Elise invites Frank to stay with her at the hotel room that has been arranged for her in Venice. Pearce leaves further instructions for Elise to attend a ball. Elise abandons Frank, who is then chased by Shaw's men. While trying to escape from them, Frank is detained by the Italian police ostensibly for his own safety, only to have a corrupt inspector turn him over to Shaw's men in exchange for the bounty that has been placed on Pearce's head. Elise rescues Frank just before he is handed over, leading Shaw's men on an extended boat chase and escaping. She leaves Frank at the airport with his passport and money, urging him to go home for his own safety.

Elise is revealed to be a Scotland Yard undercover agent who may have become Pearce's ally. Because of her fears for Frank, she agrees to participate in a sting operation. At the ball, as Elise wanders around trying to spot Pearce in the crowd, an envelope is placed on the table in front of her by a man who then quickly disappears into the crowd. Elise sees that the envelope is for her, and believes that the man must be Pearce himself. She tries to follow him through the crowd, calling out his name, but is stopped by Frank who has managed to enter inside under a pretext.

Frank claims to be in love with her, and invites her to dance with him. But he is hauled away by the police, while Elise opens the envelope and finds a note mentioning a rendezvous point. She then heads off in her boat to this new rendezvous point. Shaw and his men tail her in their boat; both parties are followed discreetly by the police boat in which Frank is held handcuffed to stop him from obstructing the investigation.

When Elise arrives at the destination, Shaw takes her prisoner, threatening to harm her unless she reveals the location of the stolen money. The police monitor the situation inside the rendezvous room through audio and video links. Despite Elise's peril, Acheson repeatedly turns down police requests to intervene with their snipers. While the police are occupied in monitoring the situation, Frank escapes from the police boat and confronts Shaw, claiming to be Pearce who has undergone plastic surgery and offering to open the safe if Elise is allowed to leave safely. Shaw is skeptical and makes a counter offer that Frank should open the safe if he does not want to see Elise being cut up. Chief Inspector Jones (Timothy Dalton) arrives at the police stake-out, overrides Acheson, and orders the police snipers to fire into the room, killing Shaw and his men. Jones lifts Elise's suspension and also terminates her employment.

Acheson receives a radio message that Pearce has been found not far from the rendezvous point, and rushes to the location where police have detained the suspect. But the man claims to be just a tourist who has merely been following instructions texted to his mobile phone, to be present at certain locations, for which he has been receiving payments. Meanwhile, Elise tells Frank that she loves him, but she also loves Pearce. Frank then suggests a "solution" to this dilemma; to Elise's surprise, he opens the safe by entering the correct code, thus revealing that he is really Alexander Pearce. He and Elise then take the money and depart, leaving a cheque in the safe for the full amount of the taxes he owes. The police find the cheque when they return and blow the safe open. Acheson now realizes that Frank has indeed been Pearce all along, and wants to pursue him; but Jones determines that, with the taxes now paid fully, Pearce's only crime is that he stole money from a now-dead gangster. Jones orders the case to be closed. Frank and Elise sail away to a new life together, with Elise taking in and getting used to the new and completely altered face of her old lover.

Book of Eli

The story revolves around Eli, a nomad in a post-apocalyptic world, who is told by a voice to deliver his copy of a mysterious book to a safe location on the West Coast of the United States. The history of the post-war world is explained along the way as is the importance of Eli's task.Thirty years after a nuclear apocalypse, Eli (Denzel Washington) travels on foot toward the west coast of the United States. Along the way, he demonstrates uncanny survival and fighting skills, hunting wildlife and swiftly defeating a group of highway bandits who try to ambush him. Searching for a source of water, he arrives in a ramshackle town built and overseen by Carnegie (Gary Oldman). Carnegie dreams of building more towns and controlling the people by using the power of a certain book. His henchmen scour the desolate landscape daily in search of it, but to no avail.
In the local town bar, Eli is set upon by a gang of bikers and kills them all. Realizing Eli is a literate man like himself, Carnegie asks Eli to stay, although it is made clear the offer is non-negotiable. After Carnegie's blind concubine Claudia (Jennifer Beals) gives Eli some food and water, Carnegie orders Claudia's daughter Solara (Mila Kunis) to seduce Eli. Eli turns her down, but she discovers he has a book in his possession. Eli pacifies her with stern words, but offers to share his food with her. Before they eat, though, he has her pray with him. The following day, Solara prays with her mother. Carnegie overhears them and realizes Solara's words may relate to the book he has been seeking. Through violence, he forces Solara to tell him Eli was reading a book. When he asks what kind, she says she does not know but forms a cross with her two index fingers. Carnegie realizes Eli has a copy of the Bible, the book he has been seeking. Eli sneaks out of his room and goes to the store across the street, where he had earlier asked the Engineer (Tom Waits) to recharge his battery for his portable music player.
Carnegie attempts to stop Eli by having all his henchmen shoot at him, but the bullets seemingly just graze him, as if he is being protected. Eli shoots most of Carnegie's henchmen and hits Carnegie in the leg with a shotgun blast. After Eli leaves, Solara follows him and leads him to the source of the town's water supply, hoping she can accompany him on his travels. Eli traps her inside and continues on alone. Solara escapes and soon finds herself ambushed by two bandits who attempt to rape her, but Eli appears and kills them.
As they continue on, Eli explains to Solara the nature of his journey. According to Eli, his book is the last remaining copy of the Bible, as all other copies were intentionally destroyed following the nuclear war. He says he was led to the book by a voice, which then directed him to travel westward to a place where it would be safe. The voice assured him that he would be protected on his journey. Thus, for the last thirty years he has traveled west, guided by his faith.
Eventually, Eli and Solara arrive at a strange house. They stop to investigate and quickly fall through a trap door. The residents, Martha (Frances de la Tour) and George (Michael Gambon), invite them in for tea. When the travelers realize that the couple are cannibals, they attempt to leave quickly, but they bump into Carnegie and his posse outside the house. Eli, Solara, Martha, and George hole up inside the house. A shootout ensues, leading to the deaths of some of Carnegie's men, as well as George and Martha. Eli and Solara are captured. Carnegie threatens to kill Solara, which prompts Eli to hand over the Bible. Carnegie shoots him, and leaves him for dead.
While in transit, Solara escapes and drives back to help Eli. Rather than chase her, Carnegie chooses to return to the town with the Bible, since his vehicle is running out of fuel. Solara picks Eli up and they continue west until they reach the Golden Gate Bridge. They then row to Alcatraz, where they find a group of survivors. Eli tells the guards that he has a copy of the King James version of the Bible, and they are allowed in. Once inside, they are introduced to Lombardi (Malcolm McDowell), the curator. Eli, who is revealed to be blind, begins to dictate the Bible from memory.
Meanwhile, back in the town, Carnegie manages to open the locked Bible with the help of his Engineer, but he is horrified to discover that it is a Braille copy. He is unable to persuade Claudia to read it for him. Carnegie's leg wound has become septic, and he realizes he will die without making use of the Bible. Claudia laughs because Carnegie lost too many men chasing Eli and the book. Without enough manpower to keep order, the people of his town take control. Eli finishes dictating the Bible after being shaved and cleaned; he dies, presumably from his wounds, shortly thereafter. The printing press at Alcatraz begins printing the new King James Bible, after which Lombardi places a copy on the bookshelf between copies of the Torah and Tanakh on one side and the Qur'an on the other. Solara is offered sanctuary in Alcatraz, but she instead chooses to head back home, bringing along with her the possessions that once belonged to Eli.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a romantic comedy that is loaded with stars. I was surprized at how many stars were in this movie. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved it. I will admit though that this is a huge chick flick movie.
It is Valentine's Day and florist Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) proposes to his girlfriend Morley Clarkson (Jessica Alba), who accepts. Reed’s closest friends, Alfonso Rodriguez (George Lopez) and Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner), aren't surprised when Morley changes her mind and leaves Reed the same day. On an airplane to Los Angeles, Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts), a captain in the U.S. Army on a one-day leave, befriends Holden Wilson (Bradley Cooper). When the plane lands and Kate has to wait hours for the taxi, Holden offers his limousine, which Kate accepts.
Julia, an elementary school teacher, has fallen in love with Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), but does not know that he is married to Pamela (Katherine LaNasa). Harrison tells her that he needs to go to San Francisco for a business trip. Wanting to surprise him, Julia also flies to San Francisco, despite Reed's warnings. Julia finds out that he is married and gets the name of the restaurant where he and his wife will be dining that evening. The restaurant's owner allows her to dress as a waitress, and Julia makes a scene at the restaurant, making Pamela suspicious. One of Julia’s students, Edison (Bryce Robinson), orders flowers from Reed, to be sent to his teacher. Julia suggests to Edison to give the flowers to a girl named Rani in his class who has a crush on him.
Edison's babysitter Grace Smart (Emma Roberts) is planning to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Alex Franklin (Carter Jenkins). The planned encounter goes awry when Grace's mother discovers a naked Alex in Grace's room, rehearsing a song he wrote for Grace. Edison’s grandparents, Edgar (Héctor Elizondo) and Estelle Paddington (Shirley MacLaine) are facing the troubles of a long marriage. Estelle admits to Edgar about an affair she had with one of his business partners. Although she is deeply sorry, Edgar is very upset. Grace’s high school friends, Willy Harrington (Taylor Lautner) and Felicia Miller (Taylor Swift), are experiencing the freshness of new love, and have agreed to wait to have sex.
Sean Jackson (Eric Dane), a closeted gay professional football player, is contemplating the end of his career with his publicist Kara Monahan (Jessica Biel) and his agent Paula Thomas (Queen Latifah). Kara is organizing her annual "I Hate Valentine's Day" party, but becomes interested in sports reporter Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx), who was ordered to do a Valentine's Day report by his boss Susan Moralez (Kathy Bates), and who shares Kara's hatred of the holiday. Paula has hired a new receptionist named Liz Curran (Anne Hathaway), who dates mail-room clerk Jason Morris (Topher Grace). Jason is shocked when Liz turns out to be moonlighting as a phone sex operator. Liz explains that she is only doing this because she has a $100,000 student loan to pay off. Jason is upset, but eventually reconciles with her after seeing Edgar forgive Estelle.
Sean comes out on national television, and Holden, Sean's lover, goes back to him. Kate goes home to greet her son Edison. Willy drops Felicia off at home after a date and they kiss. Kelvin and Kara hang out at Kelvin's news station where they later kiss. Alfonso dines with his wife, and Grace and Alex agree to wait to have sex. Edgar and Estelle redo their marriage vows, Harrison eats pizza alone after Pamela leaves him, and Morley tries to call Reed, while Julia and Reed begin a romantic relationship.