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IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
2.
Special Air Service
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The Special Air Service is a special forces unit of the British Army. The SAS was founded in 1941 as a regiment, and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950, the unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action and hostage rescue. The Special Air Service traces its origins to 1941 and the Second World War and it was reformed as part of the Territorial Army in 1947, named the 21st Special Air Service Regiment. It was conceived as a force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign. Its first mission, in November 1941, was a drop in support of the Operation Crusader offensive. Due to German resistance and adverse conditions, the mission was a disaster,22 men. Its second mission was a major success, transported by the Long Range Desert Group, it attacked three airfields in Libya, destroying 60 aircraft with the loss of 2 men and 3 Willys MB. In September 1942, it was renamed 1st SAS, consisting at that time of four British squadrons, one Free French, one Greek, in January 1943, Colonel Stirling was captured in Tunisia and Paddy Mayne replaced him as commander. In April 1943, the 1st SAS was reorganised into the Special Raiding Squadron under Maynes command and the Special Boat Squadron was placed under the command of George Jellicoe. The Special Raiding Squadron fought in Sicily and Italy along with the 2nd SAS, the Special Boat Squadron fought in the Aegean Islands and Dodecanese until the end of the war. In 1944 the SAS Brigade was formed from the British 1st and 2nd SAS, the French 3rd and 4th SAS and the Belgian 5th SAS. It was tasked with parachute operations behind the German lines in France and carried out supporting the Allied advance through Belgium, the Netherlands. As a result of Hitlers issuing of the Commando Order on 18 October 1942, in July 1944, following Operation Bulbasket,34 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans. In October 1944, in the aftermath of Operation Loyton another 31 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans, at the end of the war the British Government saw no further need for the force and disbanded it on 8 October 1945. The following year it was decided there was a need for a long-term deep-penetration commando unit, ultimately, the Artists Rifles, raised in 1860 and headquartered at Dukes Road, Euston, took on the SAS mantle as 21st SAS Regiment on 1 January 1947. In 1950, a 21 SAS squadron was raised to fight in the Korean War, after three months of training in Britain, it was informed that the squadron would no longer be required in Korea and so it instead volunteered to fight in the Malayan Emergency. Upon arrival in Malaya, it came under the command of Mike Calvert who was forming a new unit called the Malayan Scouts, the Rhodesians returned home after three years service and were replaced by a New Zealand squadron. By this time the need for a regular army SAS regiment had been recognised, in 1959 the third regiment, the 23rd SAS Regiment, was formed by renaming the Reserve Reconnaissance Unit, which had succeeded MI9 and whose members were experts in escape and evasion
3.
Public Enemies (2009 film)
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Public Enemies is a 2009 American biographical mob drama film directed by Michael Mann and written by Mann, Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman. It is an adaptation of Bryan Burroughs non-fiction book Public Enemies, Americas Greatest Crime Wave, Burrough originally intended to make a television miniseries about the Depression-era crime wave in the United States, but decided to write a book on the subject instead. Mann developed the project, and some scenes were filmed on location where certain events depicted in the film occurred, after killing Charles Floyd, FBI agent Melvin Purvis is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover to lead the hunt for bank robber John Dillinger. Purvis shares Hoovers belief in using scientific methods to battle crime, in between a series of bank robberies, Dillinger meets Billie Frechette at a restaurant and woos her by buying her a fur coat. Frechette falls for Dillinger even after he reveals his identity, Purvis leads a failed ambush at a hotel where he believes Dillinger is staying, and an agent is killed by Baby Face Nelson, who escapes with Tommy Caroll. Purvis requests that Hoover bring in professional lawmen who know how to catch criminals dead or alive, police arrest Dillinger and his gang in Tucson, Arizona, after a fire breaks out at the Hotel Congress, where they are staying. Dillinger is extradited to Indiana, where Sheriff Lillian Holley has him locked up in the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Dillinger and other inmates use a fake gun to escape. Dillinger is unable to see Frechette, who is under tight surveillance, Carroll goads Dillinger into robbing a bank in Sioux Falls with Baby Face Nelson. During their escape, both Dillinger and Carroll are shot, and they have to leave Carroll behind, the group retreats to the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin and realize their haul is significantly less than Nelson said it would be. Dillinger hopes he can free the rest of his gang from prison, including Pierpont and Makley, Purvis and his men apprehend Carroll and torture him to learn the gangs location. Purvis organizes an ambush at Little Bohemia, Dillinger and Hamilton escape separately from the rest of the gang. Agents Winstead and Hurt pursue Dillinger and Hamilton through the woods, trying to escape, Nelson, Shouse, and Van Meter hijack a Bureau car, killing Purvis partner Carter Baum in the process. After a car chase, Purvis and his men kill Nelson, Dillinger meets Frechette, telling her he plans to commit one more robbery that will pay enough for them to escape together. When Dillinger drops her off at a tavern he thinks is safe, Frechette is beaten during interrogation to learn Dillingers whereabouts, which she does not reveal, Purvis and Winstead eventually arrive and intervene. Dillinger agrees to participate in a robbery with Alvin Karpis. He receives a note from Billie through her lawyer, Louis Piquett, through Zarkovich, Purvis enlists the help of madam and Dillinger acquaintance Anna Sage, threatening her with deportation if she does not cooperate. She agrees to set up Dillinger, who she believes will come to hide out with her, Dillinger and Sage see Manhattan Melodrama at the Biograph Theater. After the film, Purvis signals other agents upon seeing them leave, Dillinger spots the police but is shot before he can draw his gun
4.
Taken (film)
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The film grossed more than $226 million. Numerous media outlets have cited the film as a point in Neesons career that redefined and transformed him to an action film star. A sequel, Taken 2, was released on 5 October 2012, retired CIA field operative Bryan Mills attempts to build a closer relationship with his daughter, Kim, who lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. While overseeing and helping provide security at a concert for pop star Sheerah, out of gratitude, Sheerah offers to have Kim assessed as a singer. Before Bryan can tell Kim, she asks her father for permission to travel to Paris with her best friend Amanda and he initially refuses, but eventually agrees after Lenore pressures him. At the airport, he learns the girls are actually planning to follow the band U2 during their European tour, upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Kim and Amanda meet a young man named Peter, who offers to share a taxi to learn more about them. Kim and Amanda go to Amandas cousins apartment, only for Kim to find that the cousins are in Spain, while Kim makes a call to her father, she witnesses Amanda being abducted in the living room. Kim follows her fathers instructions to hide in a bedroom and listen closely, after she is dragged out from underneath the bed, Kim yells a description of her abductor. A man with an Albanian accent only answers Good luck, sam, an old friend and former colleague of Bryan, deduces the kidnappers are part of an Albanian sex trafficking ring and identifies the man as Marko Hoxha. He reveals that, based on history, Kim will disappear for good if not found within 96 hours. Using Stuarts private plane, Bryan flies to Paris, investigates the apartment and he finds Peter at the airport and tries to capture him. While fleeing, Peter is hit and killed by a truck, with his only lead dead, Bryan turns to an old contact, French former intelligence agent Jean-Claude Pitrel, who now has a desk job at the same agency. Jean-Claude informs him of the local red-light district where the Albanian prostitution ring operates, however, with the aid of a translator, Bryan trails and infiltrates a makeshift brothel in a construction yard, where he finds a young woman wearing Kims denim jacket. After a firefight with the mobsters, he takes the girl to a hotel, the following morning, after Bryan returns from a heated conversation with Jean-Claude, the girl awakens and tells him of a safe house where the Albanians keep abductees. Posing as Pitrel, he enters the house, under the pretense of business renegotiation, Bryan identifies Marko as the man who spoke to him on the phone wherein a violent fight ensues, resulting in the deaths of all the other gangsters in the building minus Marko. A quick search reveals several heavily drugged girls, including a dead Amanda, Bryan then tortures Marko for information using a makeshift electric chair. Marko explains of the value of virgins in the black market. Once Marko gives the buyer as Patrice Saint-Clair, Bryan leaves him to die in agony from continuous electrocution, Bryan infiltrates a secret sex slave auction beneath Saint-Clairs manor
5.
Miami Vice (movie)
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Miami Vice is a 2006 American action crime thriller film about two MDPD detectives, Crockett and Tubbs, who go undercover to fight drug trafficking operations. The film, written, directed, and produced by Michael Mann, is an adaptation of the 1980s TV series of the same name, on which Mann was an executive producer. The film stars Jamie Foxx as Tubbs and Colin Farrell as Crockett, as well as Gong Li, Justin Theroux, Naomie Harris, Ciarán Hinds, and Barry Shabaka Henley as Castillo. Stevens reveals that hes leaving town, and, believing his wife Leonetta to be in immediate danger, Crockett learns that Stevens was working as an informant for the FBI but has been compromised. Crockett and Tubbs quickly contact FBI Special Agent in Charge John Fujima, tracking down Stevens through a vehicle transponder and aerial surveillance, Crockett and Tubbs stop him along I-95. Stevens reveals that a Colombian cartel had become aware that Russian undercovers were working with the FBI, Rico, learning of Leonettas death by telephone call, tells Alonzo that he doesnt have to go home. Hearing this, the grief-stricken Stevens commits suicide by walking in front of a semi truck. En route to the scene, Sonny and Rico receive a call from Lt. Martin Castillo and are instructed to stay away. He tells them to him downtown, where they are introduced in person to John Fujima. Crockett and Tubbs berate Fujima for the committed and inquire as to why the MDPD wasnt involved. Fujima reveals that the Colombian group is highly sophisticated and run by José Yero and they then use their Miami informant contacts to set up a meet and greet with the cartel. Posing as drug smugglers, Sonny and Rico offer their services to Yero, after a high tension meeting they pass screening and are introduced to Arcangel de Jesus Montoya, South Floridas drug trafficking kingpin. In the course of their investigation, Crockett and Tubbs learn that the cartel is using the Aryan Brotherhood to distribute drugs, Crockett and Montoyas financial adviser and lover Isabella begin a secret romance and Tubbs begins to fear for the teams safety. Those fears are realized as Trudy, the units intelligence agent and Ricos girlfriend, is kidnapped by the Aryan Brotherhood by Yeros order. The Aryan Brotherhood demand for Crockett and Tubbs to deliver the cartels load directly to them, soon afterwards, Yero reveals Isabellas betrayal to Montoya and captures her. In the showdown, Crockett and Tubbs face off against Yero, his men, during the firefight, Crockett begins to call in backup. When Isabella sees his police shield and radio, she realizes hes a cop. Betrayed, she demands that Crockett tell her who he really is, Tubbs guns down Yero as he attempts to shoot his way to safety
6.
The Good Shepherd (film)
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The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film produced and directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and De Niro, with an extensive supporting cast. De Niro also produced it with James G. Robinson and Jane Rosenthal, although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the Central Intelligence Agency. The films main character, Edward Wilson, is based on James Jesus Angleton. This was Joe Pescis first film appearance after his hiatus from acting between 1999 and 2005. Eric Roth, the screenwriter, began to work on the project after he abandoned his attempt to bring Norman Mailers Harlots Ghost to the screen. Like De Niros film, Mailers novel is a chronicle of the CIA. The film received mixed reviews, and the box office earnings were not much higher than the films budget, while riding to work on the bus, Edward is approached by a young boy who asks if Edward has change for a dollar. The story then flashes back to 1939, in 1939, Edward is a poetry major at Yale University and is invited to join Skull and Bones, a secret society. He is compelled to disclose a secret as part of his initiation, he reveals that as a boy in 1925 he discovered the suicide note left by his father, Thomas. After the ceremony, a fraternity brother tells him that Edwards father, Edward begins an affair with a deaf student named Laura, but while on Deer Island, Edward meets and is later aggressively seduced by Margaret Clover Russell, his friends sister. General Bill Sullivan, based on the real-life OSS Director, General Wild Bill Donovan, asks Edward to join the OSS, offering him a post in London. Later while Edward and Laura are at the beach, Clovers brother, John, privately reveals that Clover is pregnant with Edwards child, Laura, an able lip-reader, sees and walks away. At the wedding reception Edward accepts an offer of a position in the London OSS office from General Sullivan, requiring him to be in England in one week, despite this, Fredericks recognized Edwards gifts and recommended that he be trained in counter-espionage in London. He says he will understand if Wilson wants to tie his shoe, Edward delays, prompting Fredericks to kneel down and tie Edwards shoe for him. As their meeting ends, he advises Wilson to get out while you still can. while you still have a soul, Fredericks leaves, and is immediately snatched away and brutally killed, his body being dumped into the Thames River. The time shifts to post-war Berlin, where the Allies and the Soviets, Edward encounters his Soviet counterpart, codenamed Ulysses, who praises Edward. They plan an exchange of scientists — the Soviets asking for German Nazi and Slavic scientists, Edward is assisted by an interpreter, Hanna Schiller, who wears what appears to be a hearing aid. After Edward learns from his father, during a phone call home, that Clover is having an affair, he accepts Hannas invitation to dinner at her home
7.
Collateral (movie)
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Collateral is a 2004 American neo-noir crime thriller directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie. It stars Tom Cruise cast against type as a contract killer, the film also features Jada Pinkett Smith and Mark Ruffalo. Foxx and Cruises performances were praised, with Foxx being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The films editors, Jim Miller and Paul Rubell, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. Max Durocher, a meticulous Los Angeles cab driver, is working to earn enough to start his own limousine business, one of the evenings fares is U. S. Justice Department prosecutor Annie Farrell. On the drive to her office, they strike up a conversation, Maxs next fare is Vincent who exits the building just after Annie entered. Impressed by Maxs skill at navigating the streets of LA, Vincent offers Max $600 to drive him for the entire night, Max reluctantly agrees, as the money is too good to pass up. As Max waits at the first stop, a man falls onto his car, Vincent reveals himself as a hitman, and the dead man, drug dealer Ramón Ayala, is the first of five targets for the night. He forces Max to hide the body in the trunk and continue driving, at the second stop, Vincent ties Max to the steering wheel. Max sounds his horn and flashes his lights, attracting the attention of a group of young men and he asks them for help, but instead two of them take his wallet and Vincents briefcase. Vincent returns and kills the two, much to Maxs horror, at a gas station, Vincent tells Max they are ahead of schedule and offers to buy him a drink at a jazz club he likes. Vincent admires the trumpet player on the stage, Daniel, and after his set, Max tells Vincent that he wants out, but Vincent threatens to kill him if he refuses to obey. Maxs boss, who constantly calls Max over the radio regarding his whereabouts, learning of Maxs nightly visits to his hospitalized mother, Vincent insists Max does not break his routine and visits her. At the hospital, Max grabs Vincents briefcase containing files on his targets, runs on a pedestrian bridge, Vincent forces Max to meet drug lord Felix Reyes-Torrena to obtain information on his last two marks, threatening to murder Ida otherwise. Posing as Vincent, Max meets with Felix and successfully acquires the information on a USB flash drive, Vincent heads to the next target, Korean gangster Peter Lim, who is at a nightclub. Meanwhile, LAPD Detective Ray Fanning uncovers the connection between the three victims and reports his finding to FBI Special Agent Frank Pedrosa, Frank identifies the victims as witnesses in a federal grand jury indicting Felix for the following day, and thus are target for assassination. Pedrosa assembles a force to secure Lim, at the nightclub, they run into Vincent, who is being followed by Felixs men. Vincent manages to kill all of Felixs hitmen, Lims bodyguards and Lim himself, Fanning rescues Max and smuggles him outside, but is killed by Vincent, who beckons Max back into the cab
8.
The Score (2001 film)
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The Score is an American-Canadian crime thriller film directed by Frank Oz, and stars Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Angela Bassett and Marlon Brando in his final film role. It was the time that Brando and De Niro appeared onscreen together. The screenplay was based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from a story by Daniel E. Taylor, after nearly being caught on a routine burglary, master safe-cracker Nick Wells decides the time has finally come to retire from his criminal activities. He is enticed into taking one final score by his fence Max, the job, worth a $4 million payoff to Nick, is to steal a sceptre, a French national treasure stored in the ultra-secure basement of the Montréal Customs House. The sceptre was discovered by Customs agents being smuggled into the US through Canada, Max introduces Nick to Jack Teller, an ambitious thief who has infiltrated the Customs House and gained information regarding security by pretending to be an intellectually disabled janitor. Nicks trusted associate Steven hacks into the Custom Houses security system to obtain the bypass codes, Steven is caught, however, by a corrupt systems administrator who extorts Nick for $50,000 for the information. Nick uses a sewer tunnel to enter the Customs House basement as Jack rigs the cameras to shut off when Nick enters the storage room, a fellow janitor stumbles upon Jack, who locks him in a closet. Nick fills the enormous in-floor safe containing the sceptre with water before inserting and detonating a depth charge to blow off the door and he quickly packs up the sceptre in a carrying case to depart, but Jack double crosses him and at gunpoint demands he hand over the sceptre. Nick reluctantly gives up the case and seconds later the alarm, rigged by Jack. Nick darts for the entrance he came in as Jack heads back upstairs, tucking the carrying case inside his janitor jumpsuit. Nick escapes the security guards chasing him through the sewer tunnels, after making it to a bus station to flee the city, Jack calls Nick to gloat but is shocked to discover that Nick has anticipated Jacks actions. Jack opens the carrying case Nick gave him and finds it contains a steel rod weighed down with various bushings, brushing off Jacks threats of vengeance, Nick advises Jack to flee as every cop in the city will now be looking for him. Nick hangs up and boards a boat with the real sceptre as a shocked Jack broods over his situation, later, Max smiles as he watches a news broadcast reporting a massive manhunt being organized to find Jack, the prime suspect, and an unidentified accomplice. Nick then meets Diane at the airport as she returns from work, during the production, Brando repeatedly argued with Oz and called him Miss Piggy, the Muppet whom Oz played from 1976 to 2001. Oz later blamed himself for the tension and cited his tendency to be rather than nurturing in response to Brandos acting style. Brando eventually refused to take direction from Oz and insisted that De Niro direct his scenes, as a result, Brando had his way with De Niro directing him. There was one scene - two days of shooting - when Marlon was too upset with me to act while I was on the set, I watched from outside, with a monitor, and Bob was very good and acted as mediator between us. The film received positive reviews with a rating of 73% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes
9.
Ronin (film)
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The film centers on a team of hired ex-special operatives trying to steal a mysterious and heavily guarded briefcase while navigating a maze of shifting loyalties and alliances. The film is noted for its realistic car chases through Nice and Paris, at a bistro in Montmartre, Paris, Irish operative Deirdre meets with ex-special operatives-turned mercenaries Sam and Larry, both Americans, and Vincent, a Frenchman. She takes them to a warehouse where fellow mercenaries, German Gregor, there, Deirdre briefs the men on their mission, they have been hired to attack a heavily armed convoy and steal a large metallic briefcase, the contents of which are never revealed. As the team prepares, Deirdre meets with her ex-handler, Seamus ORourke, who reveals that the Russian mob is bidding for the case, after Spence is exposed as a fraud by Sam and summarily dismissed, the others depart for Nice. Sam and Deirdre develop an attraction to other during a stakeout. On the day of the sale, Deirdres team ambush the convoy at La Turbie, after a gun battle at the port, Gregor steals the case and disappears. Gregor tries to sell the case to the Russians, but he is forced to kill his contact when he betrays him and he then contacts Mikhi, the Russian mobster in charge of the deal, and makes him agree to another meeting. The rest of the later track Gregor through one of Sams old CIA contacts and corner him in the Arles Amphitheatre. Gregor flees but is captured by Seamus, who kills Larry, Sam gets shot saving Vincents life and is taken to a villa in Les Baux-de-Provence owned by Vincents friend Jean-Pierre. After removing the bullet and letting Sam recuperate, Vincent asks Jean-Pierre to help them locate Gregor and we learn that the film title comes from the Japanese Forty-seven rōnin. Back in Paris, Gregor is brutally interrogated into leading Seamus and Deirdre to a post office, Sam and Vincent pursue them in a high-speed chase, which ends when Vincent shoots out Deirdres tires and sends her car over a highway overpass. Gregor flees with the case while roadworkers save Deirdre and Seamus from the burning vehicle, Sam and Vincent then decide to track down the Russians and learn from one of Jean-Pierres contacts that they are involved with figure skater Natacha Kirilova, who is appearing at Le Zénith arena. That night during her performance, Natachas boyfriend Mikhi meets with Gregor, Mikhi kills Gregor anyway and leaves with the case, letting the sniper kill Natacha. Sam and Vincent follow the panicked mob out of the arena in time to see Seamus shoot Mikhi, Sam runs ahead and finds Deirdre waiting in the getaway car, he urges her to leave, revealing himself to be a CIA agent pursuing Seamus, not the case. Deirdre drives away, forcing Seamus to run back to the arena with Sam in pursuit, Seamus ambushes Sam, but is fatally shot by Vincent. Sam looks toward the door expectantly, but Vincent reminds him that Deirdre will not be coming back, Sam drives off with his CIA contact. Vincent pays the bill and leaves, according to Zeiks attorney, David Mamet was brought in just prior to production to expand De Niros role, but his contributions were minor. In addition to enlarging De Niros role, Mamet added a love interest
