301. Hellboy

Title: Hellboy
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Year: 2004

Summary:
Hellboy (2004): In 1944, the Nazis build a dimensional portal off the coast of Scotland. With the help of Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, they intend to free the Ogdru Jahad—monstrous entities imprisoned in another dimension—to aid them in defeating the Allies. Rasputin knows that this will be an apocalyptic event that he believes will create a paradise. He opens the portal with the aid of his disciples, Ilsa von Haupstein and Obersturmbannführer Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, member of the Thule Society and Adolf Hitler's top assassin. An Allied team is sent to destroy the portal, guided by young Trevor Bruttenholm, who is well-versed in the occult. The German team is killed and the portal is destroyed—in the process absorbing Rasputin—while Haupstein and Kroenen escape. The Allied team discovers an infant demon with a right hand of stone came through the portal; they dub it "Hellboy".
Sixty years later, FBI agent John Myers is transferred to the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) at the request of Bruttenholm and he meets the adult Hellboy and a psychic, amphibious humanoid named Abe Sapien. He learns that a third BPRD member, Liz Sherman, has recently checked into a mental hospital to protect others from her volatile pyrokinetic abilities. Despite regular visits and coaxing from Hellboy, she is determined not to return. Kroenen and Haupstein resurrect Rasputin in the mountains of Moldova. The three unleash a hellhound known as Sammael. Rasputin imbues Sammael with the power to reincarnate and split his essence, causing two of the creature's eggs to hatch and mature each time one dies. Rasputin visits Liz as she sleeps, activating her powers and almost destroying the hospital. Myers convinces her to return to the Bureau.
Sammael's ability to multiply becomes a problem, as Hellboy repeatedly kills it, creating dozens. Abe is injured while retrieving some of its eggs, and Kroenen critically wounds one of the FBI agents sent with Hellboy. Kroenen, whose mutilated body is run by mechanical parts, shuts himself down, pretending to be defeated. Kroenen's body is brought to the bureau. FBI Director Tom Manning is angered by Hellboy's recklessness. Myers takes Liz out for coffee and to talk. Hellboy, jealous, covertly follows them. Rasputin appears at the bureau, reanimating Kroenen before confronting Professor Bruttenholm. Rasputin offers him a vision of the future, showing Hellboy is the agent that will destroy the world. Rasputin tells Bruttenholm he will also give him a quick death in return for the care he gave Hellboy. Bruttenholm is stabbed in the neck by Kroenen and dies clutching a rosary.
Manning takes over the B.P.R.D. and locates Rasputin's mausoleum in an old cemetery outside Moscow, Russia. A team led by Manning and Hellboy enter the mausoleum, but swiftly become separated. Hellboy and Manning find their way to Kroenen's lair and defeat him. Telling Manning to stay back, Hellboy reunites with Liz and Myers at Sammael's nest to defend them, but the creatures overwhelm him. Liz uses her pyrokinetic powers to incinerate the Sammaels and their eggs. Hellboy, Liz and Myers lose consciousness and are captured by Rasputin. To force Hellboy to release the Ogdru Jahad, Rasputin sucks Liz's soul out of her body, telling Hellboy that Liz will come back to life if he obeys. Hellboy awakens his true power as Anung un Rama, causing his horns to regrow. He nearly releases the Ogdru Jahad, but the injured Myers reminds him of who he is and that he has the right to choose his own path. Remembering his true self and what Bruttenholm brought him up to be, Hellboy breaks off his horns, returning to his former self and resealing the Ogdru Jahad. Hellboy stabs Rasputin with one of his broken horns.
Rasputin has been possessed by a creature from the Ogdru Jahad. The tentacled Behemoth bursts out of Rasputin's body and grows to immense size, killing Rasputin and Ilsa. Hellboy allows himself to be swallowed by the beast while detonating a belt of hand grenades. The explosion tears the Behemoth apart. Liz's vital signs are gone when Hellboy returns from the fight, but he whispers into her ear and her life is restored. When she asks how her soul was returned, Hellboy replies that he told the creatures from the other side the cost of taking her: "Hey, you on the other side. Let her go. Because for her I'll cross over, and then you'll be sorry." She and Hellboy kiss, and she surrounds them in flame as Myers stands and watches.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008): In Christmas of 1955, an 11-year-old Hellboy is told a bedtime story by his adoptive father, Trevor Broom, involving an ancient war between man and magical creatures, started by man's greed. After years of battle and defeat of the magical creatures' forces, the master of the goblin blacksmiths offers to build an indestructible mechanical army for the elven King Balor. Encouraged by his son Prince Nuada, Balor orders the building of this Golden Army. The humans are devastated by the army, which mercilessly destroys them. Balor is ridden with guilt, and forms a truce with the humans: Man will keep his cities and the magical creatures will keep their forests. Nuada does not agree with the truce, and leaves in exile. The magical crown controlling the army is broken into three pieces, one piece going to the humans and the other two kept by the elves.
In the present, Nuada declares war on humanity; he collects the first piece of the crown from an auction, killing everyone at the site by unleashing tooth fairies, and kills his father for the second piece. His twin sister, Princess Nuala, escapes with the final piece. Meanwhile, Hellboy is having issues with his girlfriend Liz, and trouble accepting their organization, the B.P.R.D. must remain undercover. Investigating the auction slaughter, Hellboy allows himself to be revealed to the world. In the commotion, Abe Sapien discovers Liz is pregnant; she swears him to secrecy as she ponders about keeping the child. Furious at Hellboy's actions, the Bureau's superiors send a new B.P.R.D. agent, the ectoplasmic medium Johann Krauss, to take command. With Krauss in charge, the team tracks the tooth fairies to the troll market, an enormous merchant city hidden under the Brooklyn Bridge, to search for clues. Abe stumbles onto Nuala, who has obtained a map leading to the Golden Army, and quickly falls in love with her. She is brought under B.P.R.D. protection following an attack by Nuada's sidekick, the troll Wink, and an elemental forest god, both of which Hellboy kills. During the fight, Hellboy is questioned by Nuada whether it is right to fight for the humans when he too is considered a monster.
Nuada tracks his sister to B.P.R.D. headquarters using their magical bond, which causes them to share wounds and read each other's thoughts. Sensing her brother's arrival, Nuala unsuccessfully tries to destroy the map and hides the final piece of the crown within one of Abe's books. Nuada critically wounds Hellboy with his spear, promising Nuala in exchange for the final crown piece. Unable to remove the spear shard, Liz, Abe and Krauss take Hellboy to the location of the Golden Army in The Giants Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. They encounter a Bethmoora goblin who brings them before the Angel of Death, who has been awaiting their arrival. Though warned Hellboy will doom humanity if he lives, and that she will suffer the most from it, Liz pleads for Hellboy's life. The Angel removes the shard from Hellboy's chest and tells Liz to give him a reason to live. She reveals to Hellboy that he is going to be a father, and he recovers.
The goblin leads the team to the resting place of the Golden Army, where Nuada awaits them. In exchange for Nuala, Abe gives him the last piece of the crown. With the crown reformed, Nuada awakens the Golden Army, ordering the team's death; the army proves indestructable as the soldiers magically repair themselves. Hellboy challenges Nuada for the crown, and Nuada is forced to accept, since Hellboy's father was a Prince of Sheol. Hellboy defeats Nuada and spares his life, but Nuada tries stabbing him. Nuala commits suicide to stop her brother; the dying Nuada tells Hellboy he'll have to choose whether humanity or magical beings must die. Abe psychically tells Nuala his feelings for her before she and her brother die. Liz melts the crown, deactivating the Golden Army forever. As the team leaves the underground compound, Tom Manning reprimands them. Hellboy, Liz, Abe, and Johann resign from the B.P.R.D. Hellboy contemplates his future life with Liz and their baby. Liz corrects him, saying "babies", surprising him with the fact that she is pregnant with twins.

300. Charlie's Angels

Title: Charlie's Angels
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Year: 2000, 2003

Summary:
Charlie's Angels (2000): Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Drew Barrymore) and Alex Munday (Lucy Liu) are the "Angels," three talented, tough, attractive women who work as private investigators for an unseen millionaire named Charlie (voiced by Forsythe). Charlie uses a speaker in his offices to communicate with the Angels, and his assistant Bosley (Bill Murray) works with them directly when needed.
The Angels are assigned to find Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell), a software genius who created a revolutionary voice-recognition system and heads his own company, Knox Enterprises. Knox is believed to have been kidnapped by Roger Corwin (Tim Curry), who runs a communications-satellite company called Redstar. The Angels infiltrate a party held by Corwin and spot the Thin Man (Crispin Glover) who was seen on the surveillance videos during Knox's kidnapping. They chase and fight the Thin Man, but he runs away. When they follow him, they discover Knox.
After the Angels reunite Knox with his business partner Vivian Wood (Kelly Lynch), Charlie explains that they must determine whether the Thin Man has stolen Knox's voice-recognition software. The Angels infiltrate Redstar headquarters, fool the security system, and plant a device in the central computer that will enable them to explore it remotely. They retire for the night after giving Bosley the laptop computer that communicates with the Redstar computer. Dylan takes up Knox's offer to spend the night with him, but he betrays her later that night, explaining that he faked the kidnapping with help from Vivian and the Thin Man. He has kidnapped Bosley, and, with access to Redstar's central computer, he intends to use his voice software with the Redstar satellite network to find and kill Charlie, who he believes killed his father in the Vietnam War.
Knox shoots at Dylan, apparently killing her, but she escapes unharmed. Natalie and Alex are also attacked, and Corwin is murdered by the Thin Man. When the Angels regroup, Charlie's offices are blown up, but a radio receiver survives in the rubble, and the Angels deduce Bosley's location as he speaks to them using a radio transmitter implanted in his teeth.
With help from Dylan's current boyfriend Chad (Tom Green), the Angels approach the abandoned lighthouse where Knox is holding Bosley prisoner. The Angels rescue Bosley and defeat Vivian, the thin man, and some henchmen before Knox blows up the lighthouse, but Knox uses his software and the Redstar satellite network to locate Charlie when he telephones Bosley. When Knox escapes in a helicopter armed with a missile, Bosley helps the Angels board the helicopter, and Alex reprograms the missile, which blows up the helicopter and kills Knox while the Angels land safely in the ocean. Seeing the opportunity to finally meet Charlie in person, the Angels enter the beach house that Knox targeted, but Charlie has already left. He remotely congratulates them on a job well done, and treats them and Bosley to a vacation. When Charlie speaks to the Angels by telephone on the beach, unseen by most of the group, Dylan suspects that she sees him nearby talking into a cell phone.

Charlie's Angel 2: Full Throttle (2003): After rescuing U.S. Marshal Ray Carter (Robert Patrick) in Mongolia, the Angels, Natalie (Cameron Diaz), Dylan (Drew Barrymore), and Alex (Lucy Liu) are hired to locate a set of titanium rings called H.A.L.O. (Hidden Alias List Operation) stolen from the Department of Justice that, when put together in a machine, will display a list of all individuals in the witness protection program. Justice Department official William Rose Bailey (Bruce Willis), who possessed one of the rings, was murdered in the process. Having discovered that one of the protected witnesses, Alan Caulfield (Eric Bogosian), was murdered in his house in San Bernardino, the Angels investigate the scene and discover evidence suggesting that Caulfield was smothered with a bag and the killer is a surfer with a scar on his left leg. Meanwhile, Natalie and her now boyfriend Peter Kominsky (Luke Wilson) are moving in together, with some help from Alex's boyfriend Jason Gibbons (Matt LeBlanc), whose relationship with Alex is on a "time out".
Later, Alex reunites with her father (John Cleese), who is unaware of Alex's job at the agency. While undercover at a local beach, Alex asks Dylan who would be the first of them to leave the agency, since Natalie and Peter moved in together and might get married soon. Later, the Angels head to a motorcycle competition called the Coal Bowl, where the killer, Randy Emmers (Rodrigo Santoro), targets Max Petroni (Shia LaBeouf), who is subsequently sent to Mama Bosley's (Ja'net Dubois) house for protection. During the race, the Thin Man (Crispin Glover) kills Emmers by stabbing him with a shoe knife. The Angels find photos of Alan Caulfield and Max Petroni in Emmers coat pocket, and to their astonishment find a photo of Dylan as well. Dylan reveals to the Angels that she was born Helen Zaas and is in the program herself for sending her ex-boyfriend Seamus O'Grady (Justin Theroux), the leader of the O'Grady Mob, to prison. Max also reveals that the O'Gradys murdered his parents, and he later testified against them. Natalie realizes that Alan Caulfield also testified against the O'Gradys and that they have the H.A.L.O. rings. Also, the Angels go undercover as nuns at a prep school where they learn of the Thin Man's past from the mother superior (Carrie Fisher).
The Angels find the rings at the San Pedro Harbour, but Seamus soon appears, whom Dylan hasn't seen in eight years. The Angels engage in a fist fight with Seamus and the O'Grady Mob, and the Angels escape on a motorboat. Natalie attends Peter's high school reunion in Hermosa Beach, and Jason tells Alex's father of her job at the agency. Alex apologizes for not telling him the truth, but he forgives her, declaring that whatever makes her happy, he will support it. Later, Dylan leaves the Agency because she does not want to endanger them with Seamus' vendetta, but a vision of former Angel Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) at a bar in Mexico prompts her to return. Bosley passes his car keys to Ray Carter and reaches for them. Carter passes them back, claiming that they are not his. Natalie and Alex realize that Carter is in on the scheme and faked his injury so he wouldn't be considered a suspect. The Angels deduce that former angel Madison Lee (Demi Moore), who had just killed Carter, is the perpetrator of the crimes due to her being the only individual possessing the necessary contacts to carry out such a scheme. Just as Dylan rejoins the Angels, Madison shoots them and reacquires the rings, however, the Angels were wearing kevlar vests that saved them.
Madison returns to the agency to "confront" Charlie, rejecting his attempts to remind her that the Angels are a family and shooting his speaker off the desk, coldly sneering that she was not just a good Angel, but was the best, rejecting the idea that she ever needed her teammates. Learning that the rings will be sold after a rendezvous on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Angels travel to Los Angeles. They set the Antonioni Crime Family, the Tanaka Yakuza, and the Diablo Cartel up to be caught by the FBI in a faked rendezvous. With Madison having contacted the O'Gradys to act as security, Alex and Dylan take out the O'Gradys, while Natalie and Madison go head-to-head themselves. Seamus kills the Thin Man just as he shares a kiss with Dylan and Seamus and Dylan fight, just as Seamus was about to burn Dylan with her lighter that he stole earlier, she kicks Seamus off the building and he falls to his death, with the Angels subsequently stopping Madison's attempt to blow up the premiere of Jason's new movie thanks to Bosley knocking the bomb away. Although Madison tries to escape, the Angels defeat her in a final confrontation at an abandoned theatre, throwing her through a gas main just as she fires her gun, causing an explosion that kills her.
At the movie premiere, it is revealed that Mama Bosley adopted Max, Peter bought a puppy for Natalie they named Spike, Jason's "time out" with Alex is over and they share a kiss, and despite moving with Peter, Natalie says she will stay with the agency no matter what, and the Angels celebrate their victory.

299. Pearl Harbor

Title: Pearl Harbor

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance

Year: 2001

Summary: In 1923 Tennessee, two young boys, Rafe McCawley (Jesse James) and Danny Walker (Reiley McClendon), are playing together in the back of an old biplane, pretending to be soldiers fighting the Germans in World War I. After Rafe's father (Steve Rankin) land his biplane and leaves, Rafe and Danny climb into the plane and Rafe accidentally starts it, giving the boys their first experience at flight. Soon afterward, Danny's father (William Fichtner), comes to take him home, and beats Danny. In an effort to protect Danny, Rafe hits Danny's father with a two-by-four, and calls him a "dirty German". Danny's father's reacts by saying he fought the Germans in the trenches during World War I, and that he prays the two boys never have to see the things he saw. He then walks into the wheat fields, and Danny tells Rafe that he is his best friend, before joining his father.

Eighteen years later, in January 1941, Danny (Josh Hartnett) and Rafe (Ben Affleck) are both First Lieutenants under the command of Major Jimmy Doolittle (Alec Baldwin). The two men get into trouble when they use Air Corps P-40 fighters to play a game of chicken at Mitchel Field, Long Island. Afterwards, Doolittle gives Rafe the news that he has been accepted into the Eagle Squadron (an RAF outfit for American pilots to fight during the Battle of Britain). Rafe lies to Danny, though, saying that Doolittle had assigned him.

While on a train ride to New York, a nurse named Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale) tells her fellow nurses Sandra (Jennifer Garner), Betty (Jaime King), Martha (Sara Rue) and Barbara (Catherine Kellner) the story of how she had met Rafe four weeks earlier after passing his medical exam, even though Rafe suffers from dyslexia. The two had begun a relationship and Evelyn is looking forward to seeing Rafe in the city that night. Rafe and Evelyn enjoy an evening of dancing at a nightclub and later a spin in New York harbor in a borrowed police boat. Later, Rafe shocks Evelyn by saying that he has joined the Eagle Squadron and is leaving the next day. He asks her not to see him off, but when he leaves the following morning, he is pleased to see that she has come anyway, as it means she loves him.

Meanwhile, Danny, Evelyn and the rest of their fellow pilots and nurses are transferred to Pearl Harbor, where there is little action going on; meanwhile, Rafe flies in numerous dogfights with the RAF against the Luftwaffe. During one battle, Rafe is shot down over the English Channel and presumed to be killed in action. Danny gives Evelyn the news and she is devastated. Three months later, Evelyn runs into Danny at a movie theater, after they both leave after they see a news reel of British planes being shot down into the English Channel. They get coffee at a nearby diner and talk about Rafe. They soon realize they are developing feelings for each other. Danny later takes Evelyn for a sunset flight over the harbor, and afterwards the two have sex in the parachute hangar, and begin a relationship of their own.

On the night of December 6, Evelyn is relieved to discover Rafe, alive and well, standing outside her door. He explains that he survived his plane crash and was rescued by a French fishing boat, and was stuck in occupied France ever since. Danny comes soon afterward holding a telegram from Western Union stating that Rafe is in fact alive. Rafe realizes that Danny and Evelyn are now together, and feeling hurt and betrayed, leaves. Rafe and Danny soon get into a fight at the Hula Bar. When the police arrive, the two drive away and after talking, the two eventually fall asleep.

Early the next morning, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese navy begins its attack on Pearl Harbor. The two drive away in search of a still standing airfield, while Evelyn and the other nurses rush for the hospital, where they struggle to give emergency treaty to hundreds of injured, some of whom must be turned away because they cannot be saved. Rafe and Danny manage to get in the air in two P-40s, shooting down seven Japanese Zeroes. After landing, Danny and Rafe return to the hospital where a bedraggled and exhausted Evelyn draws blood from the two men for the hundreds of wounded men and women, but is interrupted when a man comes in and asks Danny and Rafe to assist in rescuing men from the harbor. The next day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Jon Voight) delivers his Day of Infamy Speech to the nation and asks the US Congress to declare a state of war with Empire of Japan.

In the aftermath, the survivors attend a memorial service to honor the numerous dead, including Betty. Later, Danny and Rafe are assigned to travel stateside under Major Doolittle for a secret mission. Before they leave, Evelyn goes to see Rafe. She reveals that she is pregnant, though she does not want Danny to know. She tells Rafe that she will stay with Danny, but she will also love Rafe for the rest of her life.

Upon their arrival in California, Danny and Rafe are both promoted to captain and are awarded the silver star. Doolittle asks them to volunteer for a top secret mission, which they both immediately accept, despite knowing that it is quite likely they will never return. While sitting at a bonfire on a beach, Rafe pleads to Danny to not go on the mission, that he has nothing to prove, but Danny decides to go anyway, thinking that Rafe is just trying to protect him. During the next two months, Rafe, Danny and other pilots train with specially modified B-25 Mitchell bombers, learning how to launch them with only 467 feet of runway. In April, the raiders are sent towards Japan onboard USS Hornet, and are informed that their mission will involve bombing Tokyo and then landing in China. However, the Japanese discover them early, forcing the raiders to launch from a longer distance then planned. After a successful bombing against Tokyo, the raiders crash land on Japanese-occupied territory in China on a rice paddy. The Japanese Army have the members of Rafe's plane pinned down and when they are about to get shot, Danny's plane flies over and shoots the Japanese forces before crashing.

Rafe runs to Danny's side and attempts to pull a sharp piece of metal from Danny's neck, but they are once again attacked by Japanese patrols. Rafe is hit over the head by a two-by-four, and Danny is tied to an ox yoke. Rafe picks up a pistol and shoots the Japanese holding Danny, but runs out of ammunition. He is about to get shot when Danny hits the Japanese with the ox yoke. The remaining patrols shoot Danny, and the other pilots Red (Ewen Bremner) and Gooz (Michael Shannon) kill off the remaining Japanese forces. Holding a dying Danny in his arms, Rafe tells Danny that he can't die because he is going to be a father, but Danny replies by saying, "No, you are", before dying in Rafe's arms. The remaining pilots are rescued by the Chinese, and when returning home, a pregnant Evelyn sees Rafe getting off the plane, and hopes that Danny is alive, until she sees Rafe carrying his coffin.

Afterward, both Evelyn and Rafe are awarded medals. Evelyn's voice narrates that Dorie Miller (Cuba Gooding Jr.) was the first black American to be awarded the Navy Cross, but that he would not be the last. Rafe meets President Roosevelt, and he and Evelyn are discharged from the army. A few years later after the war ends, Rafe and Evelyn, now married, are visiting Danny's grave with their son, also named Danny, after his biological father. Rafe asks little Danny if he would like to go flying, and two fly off in the sunset in an old biplane.

298. Journey to the Center of the Earth

Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Genre: Action, Adventure, Family

Year: 2008

Summary: The story begins in May 1863, the Lidenbrock house in Hamburg, with Professor Lidenbrock rushing home to peruse his latest purchase, an original runic manuscript of an Icelandic saga written by Snorri Sturluson ("Heimskringla"; the chronicle of the Norwegian kings who ruled over Iceland). While looking through the book, Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel find a coded note written in runic script. (This is a first indication of Verne's love for cryptology. Coded, cryptic or incomplete messages as a plot device will continue to appear in many of his works and in each case Verne goes a long way to explain not only the code used but also the mechanisms used to retrieve the original text.) Lidenbrock and Axel translate the runic characters into Latin letters, revealing a message written in a seemingly bizarre code. Lidenbrock attempts a decipherment, deducing the message to be a kind of transposition cipher; but his results are as meaningless as the original.

Professor Lidenbrock decides to lock everyone in the house and force himself and the others (Axel, and the maid, Martha) to go without food until he cracks the code. Axel discovers the answer when fanning himself with the deciphered text: Lidenbrock's decipherment was correct, and only needs to be read backwards to reveal sentences written in rough Latin. Axel decides to keep the secret hidden from Professor Lidenbrock, afraid of what the Professor might do with the knowledge, but after two days without food he cannot stand the hunger and reveals the secret to his uncle. Lidenbrock translates the note, which is revealed to be a medieval note written by the (fictional) Icelandic alchemist Arne Saknussemm, who claims to have discovered a passage to the centre of the Earth via Snæfell in Iceland. The deciphered message is written in what Axel calls bad Latin, which when translated into English reads:

Descend, bold traveller, into the crater of the jökull of Snæfellsjökull, which the shadow of Scartaris touches (lit: tastes) before the Kalends (calends) of July, and you will attain the centre of the earth. I did it. Arne Saknussemm

Professor Lidenbrock is a man of astonishing impatience, and departs for Iceland immediately, taking his reluctant nephew with him. Axel, who, in comparison, is cowardly and anti-adventurous, repeatedly tries to reason with him, explaining his fears of descending into a volcano and putting forward various scientific theories as to why the journey is impossible, but Professor Lidenbrock repeatedly keeps himself blinded against Axel's point of view. After a rapid journey via Lübeck and Copenhagen, they arrive in Reykjavík, where the two procure the services of Hans Bjelke (a Danish-speaking Icelander eiderdown hunter) as their guide, and travel overland to the base of the volcano.

In late June, they reach the volcano, which has three craters. According to Saknussemm's message, the passage to the centre of the Earth is through the one crater that is touched by the shadow of a nearby mountain peak at noon. However, the text also states that this is only true during the last days of June. During the next few days, with July rapidly approaching, the weather is too cloudy for any shadows. Axel silently rejoices, hoping this will force his uncle – who has repeatedly tried to impart courage to him only to succeed in making him even more cowardly still – to give up the project and return home. Alas for Axel, however, on the last day, the sun comes out and the mountain peak shows the correct crater to take.

After descending into this crater, the three travellers set off into the bowels of the Earth, encountering many strange phenomena and great dangers, including a chamber filled with combustible gas, and steep-sided wells around the "path". After taking a wrong turn, they run out of water and Axel almost dies, but Hans taps into a neighbouring subterranean river. Lidenbrock and Axel name the resulting stream the "Hansbach" in his honour and the three are saved. At another point, Axel becomes separated from the others and is lost several miles from them. Luckily, a strange acoustic phenomenon allows him to communicate with them from some miles away, and they are soon reunited.

After descending many miles, following the course of the Hansbach, they reach an unimaginably vast cavern. This underground world is lit by electrically charged gas at the ceiling, and is filled with a very deep subterranean ocean, surrounded by a rocky coastline covered in petrified trees and giant mushrooms. The travelers build a raft out of trees and set sail. The Professor names this sea as the Lidenbrock Sea. While on the water, they see several prehistoric creatures such as a giant Ichthyosaurus, which fights with a Plesiosaurus and wins. After the battle between the monsters, the party comes across an island with a huge geyser, which Lidenbrock names "Axel's Island".

A lightning storm again threatens to destroy the raft and its passengers, but instead throws them onto the coastline. This part of the coast, Axel discovers, is alive with prehistoric plant and animal life forms, including giant insects and a herd of mastodons. On a beach covered with bones, Axel discovers an oversized human skull. Axel and Lidenbrock venture some way into the prehistoric forest, where Professor Lidenbrock points out, in a shaky voice, a prehistoric human, more than twelve feet in height, leaning against a tree and watching a herd of mastodons. Axel cannot be sure if he has really seen the man or not, and he and Professor Lidenbrock debate whether or not a proto-human civilization actually exists so far underground. The three wonder if the creature is a man-like ape, or an ape-like man. The sighting of the creature is considered the most alarming part of the story, and the explorers decide that it is better not to alert it to their presence as they fear it may be hostile.

The travellers continue to explore the coastline, and find a passageway marked by Saknussemm as the way ahead. However, it is blocked by what appears to be a recent cave-in and two of the three, Hans and the Professor, despair at being unable to hack their way through the granite wall. The adventurers plan to blast the rock with gun cotton and paddle out to sea to escape the blast. Upon executing the plan, however, they discover that behind the rockfall was a seemingly bottomless pit, not a passage to the centre of the earth. The travellers are swept away as the sea rushes into the large open gap in the ground. After spending hours being swept along at lightning speeds by the water, the raft ends up inside a large volcanic chimney filling with water and magma. Terrified, the three are rushed upwards, through stifling heat, and are ejected onto the surface from a side-vent of a stratovolcano . When they regain consciousness, they discover that they have been ejected from Stromboli, a volcanic island located in southern Italy. They return to Hamburg to great acclaim – Professor Lidenbrock is hailed as one of the great scientists of history, Axel marries his sweetheart Gräuben, and Hans eventually returns to his peaceful life in Iceland. The Professor has some regret that their journey was cut short.

At the very end of the book, Axel and Lidenbrock realize why their compass was behaving strangely after their journey on the raft. They realize that the needle was pointing the wrong way after being struck by an electric fireball which nearly destroyed the wooden raft

297. Fantastic Mr. Fox

Title: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Year: 2009

Summary: While raiding a squab farm, Mr. Fox and his wife Felicity trigger a fox trap and become caged. Felicity reveals to Fox that she is pregnant and pleads with him to find a safer job when they escape.

Two years later (twelve in Fox Years), the Foxes and their sullen son Ash, are living in a hole. Fox, now a newspaper columnist, moves the family into a better home in the base of a tree, ignoring the warnings of his lawyer Badger about how dangerous the area is for foxes. The tree is located very close to facilities run by three mean farmers- Walter Boggis, Nathaniel Bunce, and Franklin Bean. Soon after the Foxes move in, Fox's nephew Kristofferson comes to live with them, as his father has become very ill with double pneumonia. Ash finds this situation intolerable; his soft-spoken cousin is apparently superior to him at sports, and everyone, including his father, Mr. Fox, is charmed by Kristofferson at Ash's expense.

Fox and the opossum who works as a building superintendent, Kylie Sven Opposum, steal produce and poultry from the three farms. The farmers decide to kill Fox and camp out near the family's tree. When Fox emerges, the farmers open fire, but manage only to shoot off his tail. They then attempt to dig Fox out. After demolishing the site of the tree, the farmers discover the Foxes have dug an escape tunnel.

Reasoning that the Foxes will have to surface for food and water, the farmers lie in wait at the tunnel mouth. Underground, Fox encounters Badger and many other local animal residents whose homes have also been destroyed. As the animals begin fearing starvation, Fox leads a digging expedition to tunnel to the three farms, robbing them clean. While the other animals feast, Ash and Kristofferson, beginning to reconcile after Kristofferson defended Ash from a bully, return to Bean's farm, intending to reclaim Mr Fox's tail. When they are interrupted by the arrival of Bean's wife, Ash escapes but Kristofferson is captured.

Discovering that Fox has stolen their produce, the farmers flood the animals' tunnel network with cider. The animals are forced into the sewers, and Fox learns that the farmers plan to use Kristofferson to lure him into an ambush. The animals are confronted by Rat, Bean's security guard. After a struggle with Fox leaves him mortally wounded, Rat divulges Kristofferson's location before he dies.

Fox asks the farmers for a meeting in town near the sewer hub; he will surrender in exchange for Kristofferson's freedom. The farmers set up an ambush, but Fox and the others anticipate it and launch a counterattack. Fox, Ash and Kylie slip into Bean’s farm. A much-matured Ash frees Kristofferson and braves enemy fire to release a rabid beagle named Spitz to keep the farmers at bay.

The animals become accustomed to living in the sewers with others considering moving in. Ash and Kristofferson settle their differences and become good friends. Fox leads his family to a drain opening built into the floor of a supermarket owned by the three farmers. Celebrating their new food source and the news that Felicity is pregnant again, the animals dance in the aisles as the film ends.