488. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Title: Star Wars: The Force Awakens / Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Genre: Family, Fantasy, Adventure
Year: 2015

Summary: Approximately 30 years after the destruction of the second Death Star, Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi, has disappeared. The First Orderhas risen from the fallen Galactic Empire and seeks to eliminate Luke and the New Republic. The Resistance, backed by the Republic and led by Luke's twin sister, General Leia Organa, opposes them while searching for Luke to enlist his aid.

Resistance pilot Poe Dameron meets village elder Lor San Tekka on the planet Jakku to obtain a map to Luke's location.Stormtroopers under the command of Kylo Ren destroy the village and capture Poe. Poe's droid BB-8 escapes with the map, and encounters a scavenger named Rey near a junkyard settlement. Ren tortures Poe using the Force, and learns of BB-8. StormtrooperFN-2187, unable to kill for the First Order, frees Poe, and they escape in a stolen TIE fighter; Poe dubs FN-2187 "Finn". They crash on Jakku, and Finn appears to be the only survivor. He encounters Rey and BB-8, but the First Order tracks them and launches an airstrike. Finn, Rey, and BB-8 flee the planet in a stolen, rundown ship, the Millennium Falcon.

The Falcon breaks down, and is captured by a much larger ship, piloted by Han Solo andChewbacca, who reclaim their former vessel. Gangs seeking to settle debts with Solo board the ship and attack, but the five escape in theFalcon. The gangs inform the First Order of Han's involvement. At the First Order's Starkiller Base, a planet converted to a superweapon capable of destroying star systems, Supreme Leader Snoke orders General Hux to use the weapon for the first time. Snoke also questions Ren about the involvement of his father, Han Solo; Ren protests that Han means nothing to him.

The Falcon crew view BB-8's map and determine it is incomplete. Han explains that Luke tried to rebuild the Jedi Order but went into exile after an apprentice turned to the dark side and destroyed all that Luke had built. They travel to the planet Takodana and meet with cantina owner Maz Kanata, who can help BB-8 reach the Resistance, but Finn wants to flee on his own. Rey is drawn to a vault and finds the lightsaber that belonged to Luke and his father Anakin Skywalker before him. She experiences disturbing visions and flees into the woods. Maz gives Finn the lightsaber for safekeeping.

Starkiller Base destroys the Republic capital and fleet. The First Order attacks Takodana in search of BB-8. Han, Chewbacca, and Finn are saved by Resistance X-wing fighters led by Poe, revealed to have survived the TIE-fighter crash. Leia arrives at Takodana with C-3POand reunites with Han and Chewbacca. Rey, however, is captured by Ren and taken to Starkiller Base. He interrogates her about the map, but she resists his mind-reading. Discovering she, too, can use the Force, she escapes her cell with a Jedi mind trick.

At the Resistance base on D'Qar, BB-8 findsR2-D2, who has been inactive since Luke's disappearance. As Starkiller Base prepares to fire on D'Qar, the Resistance devises a plan to destroy it by attacking a critical facility. Leia urges Han to return their son alive. Using theFalcon, Han, Chewbacca, and Finn infiltrate the base. They lower its shield, find Rey, set explosives, and encounter Ren. Han confronts Ren, calling him by his birth name, Ben, and implores him to abandon the dark side. Though conflicted, Ren kills Han. Enraged, Chewbacca shoots Ren and sets off the explosives, allowing the Resistance X-wing fighters to attack and start a chain reaction that destroys Starkiller Base.

The injured Ren pursues Finn and Rey to the surface. Finn battles Ren with the lightsaber, but is overpowered and badly wounded. Rey takes the lightsaber and fights Ren, overpowering him with the Force before they are separated by a fissure. Snoke orders Hux to evacuate and bring Ren to him, while Rey and Chewbacca escape with Finn in theFalcon. On D'Qar, the Resistance celebrates while Leia, Chewbacca, and Rey mourn Han's death. R2-D2 awakens and reveals the rest of the map, which Rey follows with R2-D2 and Chewbacca to an island on a distant planet. She finds Luke and presents him with the lightsaber.

487. Ant-Man

Title: Ant-Man
Genre: Adventure, Action, Sci-Fi
Year: 2015

Summary: In 1989, scientist Hank Pym resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D. after discovering their attempt to replicate his Ant-Man shrinking technology. Believing the technology is dangerous, Pym vows to hide it as long as he lives. In the present day, Pym's estranged daughter, Hope van Dyne, and former protégé, Darren Cross, have forced him out of his company, Pym Technologies. Cross is close to perfecting a shrinking suit of his own, the Yellowjacket, which horrifies Pym.

Upon his release from prison, well-meaning thief Scott Lang moves in with his old cellmate, Luis. While visiting his daughterCassie unannounced, Lang is rebuked by his former wife Maggie and her police-detective fiancé, Paxton, for not providing child support. Unable to hold a job because of his criminal record, Lang agrees to join Luis' crew and commit a burglary. Lang breaks into a house and cracks its safe, but only finds what he believes to be an old motorcycle suit, which he takes home. After trying the suit on, Lang accidentally shrinks himself to the size of an insect. Terrified by the experience, he returns the suit to the house, but is arrested on the way out. Pym, the homeowner, visits Lang in jail and smuggles the suit into his cell to help him break out.

At his home, Pym, who manipulated Lang through an unknowing Luis into stealing the suit as a test, wants Lang to become the new Ant-Man to steal the Yellowjacket from Cross. Having been spying on Cross after discovering his intentions, van Dyne helps Pym train Lang to fight and to control ants. While van Dyne harbors resentment towards Pym about her mother Janet's death, he reveals that Janet, known as the Wasp, disappeared into a subatomic quantum realmwhile disabling a Soviet nuclear missile. Pym warns Lang that he could suffer a similar fate if he overrides his suit's regulator. They send him to steal a device that will aid their heist from the Avengers' headquarters, where he briefly fights Sam Wilson / Falcon.

Cross perfects the Yellowjacket and hosts an unveiling ceremony at Pym Technologies' headquarters. Lang, along with his crew and a swarm of flying ants, infiltrates the building during the event, sabotages the company'sservers, and plants explosives. When he attempts to steal the Yellowjacket, he, along with Pym and Hope, are captured by Cross, who intends to sell both the Yellowjacket and Ant-Man suits to Hydra, led by former S.H.I.E.L.D officer Mitchell Carson. Lang breaks free and he and Hope dispatch most of the Hydra agents, though Carson is able to flee with a vial of Cross' particles and Pym is shot. Lang pursues Cross as he escapes, while the explosives detonate, imploding the building. Pym and van Dyne escape by driving a World War 2 Russian T-34 Tank disguised as Pym's keychain, which he used his particles on.

Cross dons the Yellowjacket and attacks Lang before Lang is arrested by Paxton. His mind addled by the imperfect shrinking technology, Cross takes Cassie hostage to lure Lang into another fight. Lang overrides the regulator and shrinks to subatomic size to penetrate Cross' suit and sabotage it to shrink uncontrollably, killing Cross. Lang disappears into the quantum realm but manages to reverse the effects and returns to themacroscopic world. In gratitude for Lang's heroism, Paxton covers for Lang to keep him out of prison. Seeing that Lang survived and returned from the quantum realm, Pym wonders if his wife is alive as well. Later, Lang meets up with Luis, who tells him that Wilson is looking for him.

In a mid-credits scene, Pym shows van Dyne a new Wasp prototype suit and offers it to her. In a post-credits scene, Wilson and Steve Rogers have Bucky Barnes in their custody. Unable to contact Tony Stark because of "the accords", Wilson mentions that he knows someone who could help.

486. Cinderella

Title: Cinderella
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Family
Year: 2015

Summary: Ella lives with her loving parents on a beautiful estate in a peaceful kingdom. From a young age, she is taught by her mother to believe in magic, allowing Ella to befriend many animals on the estate, particularly the mice. Everything is perfect until her mother falls ill and dies. On her deathbed, she asks Ella to promise that she will always have courage and be kind. Ella's father eventually remarries Lady Tremaine, the widow of an old friend, who has two daughters of her own: Drisella and Anastasia. Ella welcomes her new stepfamily, despite the stepsisters' unpleasant attitudes.

When Ella's father goes abroad on business, Lady Tremaine gradually reveals her cruel and jealous nature, as she pushes Ella to give up her room to the stepsisters for the attic. Sadly, Ella's father dies during the trip, resulting in Lady Tremaine dismisses all servants to save money, and places all the chores on Ella. On one cold evening, Ella sleeps by the fireplace for warmth, wakes up the next morning with her face covered in cinders. Her stepfamily consequently mock Ella as "Cinderella", and forbid Ella from eating with the family.

Crushed by the cruelty, Ella rides off into the woods, where she meets Kit, an apprentice from the palace, who is part of a hunting party chasing a stag. Not knowing Kit is actually the prince of the kingdom, Ella admonishes him for hunting the stag, and tries to convince Kit to let the stag go free, which he agrees. Touched by his kindness, Ella takes a liking of Kit. Kit is likewise enchanted by Ella's charm, kindness, and unique outlook on life. The two part without Kit learning of Ella's name, but not before both express the wish to see each other again. The king, upon learning he has little time left, insists Kit takes a bride, who should be a princess for the advantage of the kingdom, at the upcoming royal ball. Kit persuades his father to invite every eligible maiden in the land to the ball, in hope of seeing Ella.

When the ball is announced, the Tremaine family is ecstatic at the prospect of marrying into royalty. Ella is also excited to attend the ball for the chance to see Kit. She fixes up her mother's old pink dress when Lady Tremaine refuses to buy her a new one. On the night of the ball, Ella tries to join her stepfamily on the way out, but Lady Tremaine, together with her daughters, ridicule and tear up Ella's dress, and leave without her. Losing courage, Ella runs into the garden in tears and meets an old beggar woman, who reveals herself to be Ella's fairy godmother. Changed into her true form, the fairy godmother uses magic to transform a pumpkin into a magnificent carriage, four mice into white horses, two lizards into footmen, a goose into a coachman, and finally Ella's ripped dress into a gorgeous blue gown, complete with a pair of magical glass slippers. Before sending Ella on her way to the ball, the fairy godmother warns the magic will be broken at the last stroke of midnight.

At the ball, the entire court is entranced by Ella, especially Kit. Nervous but happy to see each other, Ella and Kit have a perfect first dance, as if the two has been partners their entire lives. This irritates the Grand Duke, as he has promised Kit to Princess Chelina of Zaragoza, a fact that Lady Tremaine overhears.

While surprised by Kit's true identity, Ella nonetheless has a marvelous time with Kit, touring the palace grounds and Kit's secret garden. But before Ella can tell Kit her name, the clock begins striking as midnight approaches, forcing Ella to flee and accidentally drop one of her glass slippers on the palace steps. She manages to get away at the final stroke of midnight, but the spell wears off and causes the animals and Ella's dress to revert back. Ella hides the one glass slipper she has under the floorboards of her room as a keepsake, reasonably contents that her one night will become a beautiful memory.

The king dies soon after, but not before giving his son permission to marry Ella if he wishes. Not knowing Ella's identity and whereabouts, Kit, once become king, declares his love for the "mystery princess" who wears glass slippers to the ball, and intends to marry her if she agrees. Excited at the news, Ella hurries to retrieve the glass slipper in her possession, only to find her stepmother holding it. Deduced that Ella is the mystery princess, Lady Tremaine demands to be made the head of the royal household in exchange for allowing Ella to come forth and marry Kit, and once queen, Ella is to ensure Drisella and Anastasia be married off to wealthy husbands. Ella refuses, causing Lady Tremaine to smash the slipper and lock Ella in the attic. Lady Tremaine then takes the shattered slipper and identity of the mystery princess to the Grand Duke in exchange for the title of countess and advantageous marriages for her daughters. The Grand Duke tries to convince Kit to forget the mystery princess with the shattered slipper, but this only makes Kit even more determined to find her.

Following the letter of Kit's order, the Grand Duke and the Captain of the Guards lead the mission to try the remaining slipper on all of the maidens in the land, but the magical slipper refuses to fit. When they arrive at Ella's estate, the shoe fits neither of the stepsisters. As they turn to leave, Ella's singing of "Lavender's Blue" are heard through a window that the mice have opened. The Grand Duke tries to ignore this, but Kit reveals himself to be one of the guards. Kit asks the Captain to investigate the source of the singing. Once Ella is found, Lady Tremaine attempts to forbid her from trying on the shoe on the grounds that she is Ella's mother, but she is overruled by the Captain, as Ella curtly states that Lady Tremaine has not been, and never will be her mother.

Ella and Kit are thereby reunited, and Kit recognizes Ella even without the shoe, which fits her perfectly. Promised to take each other as they are, Ella and Kit leave the house as Ella offers forgiveness to her stepmother. Afterwards, the stepmother and her daughters, along with the Grand Duke, leave the kingdom never to return.

At last, Ella and Kit are married. The Fairy Godmother narrates that they become the land's most beloved monarchs, ruling with the courage and kindness that Ella has promised her mother, and that they live happily ever after.