Hercules 2014 Film

This article is about the 2014 film starring Dwayne Johnson. For the 2014 film starring Kellan Lutz, see The Legend of Hercules. Hercules is an American adventure film directed by Brett Ratner and starring Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane, Reece Ritchie, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Joseph Fiennes, and John Hurt. It is based on the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars. Distributed jointly by Paramount Pictures and MGM, it was released on July 25, 2014.
It is one of two Hollywood-studio Hercules films released in 2014, the other being Summit Entertainment's The Legend of Hercules.

Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) is the leader of a band of mercenaries comprising the spear-wielding prophet Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), the knife-throwing thief Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), the feral warrior Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), the Amazon archer Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and his nephew storyteller Iolaus (Reece Ritchie). Hercules is said to be the demigod son of Zeus, who completed the legendary Twelve Labors, only to be betrayed by Hera, who drove him insane and caused him to murder his wife Megara (Irina Shayk) and their children during a visit to King Eurystheus (Joseph Fiennes). Hercules has since rejected Zeus and chosen to live as mortal, and is tormented by visions of Cerberus.

One day, Hercules and his men are approached by Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson), on behalf of her father, Lord Cotys (John Hurt), who wants Hercules to train the armies of Thrace to defend the kingdom from bloodthirsty warlord Rheseus (Tobias Santelmann). Hercules accepts after he and his men are offered his weight in gold, and the band is welcomed to Thrace by King Cotys and General Sitacles (Peter Mullan), leader of the Thracian army. After training the army, Hercules and his men lead them into battle against local barbarians as a test of their strength. After the barbarians are defeated, Hercules and Sitacles confront Rheseus and his soldiers, believed to be Centaurs, but soon proven to be men on horseback. Rheseus is defeated and taken back to Thrace as a prisoner, where he is tortured and humiliated. Noticing that Ergenia has taken pity to him, Hercules confronts her and finds out Rheseus was merely retaliating against Lord Cotys' aggressive attempts to expand his kingdom, and, although Ergenia doesn't agree with his methods, she abides to them for the sake of her son, Arius, Lord Cotys' successor to the throne.

After receiving their reward, the mercenaries are ready to leave, but Hercules decides to stay behind to stop Cotys, and all but Autolycus choose to follow him. However, they are overpowered and captured by Sitacles and his men. While chained, Hercules is confronted by King Eurystheus, who is in league with Lord Cotys, and reveals that he drugged Hercules the night his family died, viewing him as a threat to his power. Hercules' family was in fact killed by three vicious wolves sent by Eurystheus, resulting in Hercules' constant hallucinations of Cerberus. When Lord Cotys orders Ergenia to be executed for her betrayal, Hercules is encouraged by Amphiaraus to embrace his destiny and breaks free of his chains, saving Ergenia and slaying the wolves with his bare hands. Hercules releases the prisoners, including Rheseus, and then confronts King Eurystheus, impaling him with his own dagger. He is attacked by Sitacles, who is then stabbed by Iolaus.

Outside, Hercules and his forces battle Lord Cotys and his army. Arius is taken hostage, but then rescued by Autolycus, who has decided to return to help his friends. In the ensuing battle, Tydeus is mortally wounded while protecting Arius, but fights on slaughtering numerous Thracian soldiers. Hercules then pushes a statue of Hera from its foundations and uses it to crush Lord Cotys and many of his soldiers. The surviving soldiers bow to Hercules, and Arius takes the throne, with Ergenia at his side, while Hercules and his men depart in search of other adventures.

As the credits roll, an animated retelling of the Twelve Labors shows how Hercules accomplished these feats with the help of his companions.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 2014 American science fiction action comedy film based on the franchise of the same name. A reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film series, the film is directed by Jonathan Liebesman, and stars Megan Fox, Johnny Knoxville, Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard, Alan Ritchson, Danny Woodburn, Tony Shalhoub, William Fichtner, and Will Arnett.

The film was announced shortly before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird sold the rights to the franchise to Nickelodeon in 2009. It was produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes, and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

The film was released on August 8, 2014 and received generally negative reviews, with critics commenting the unoriginal plot and characters, acting performances and pacing; but was a box office success, grossing over $392 million worldwide, and becoming Nickelodeon Movies' highest grossing film. A sequel is scheduled to be released on June 3, 2016.

April O'Neil is a reporter for Channel 6 news in New York who has been researching a gang called the Foot Clan which has been terrorizing the city. She questions a dock worker about shipments of chemicals that may be linked to the Foot Clan. Later that night, she returns and witnesses the Foot Clan unloading cargo. April tries to record footage using her phone, but a shadowy figure arrives and takes out the Foot Soldiers one by one. She tells her coworkers and her boss Bernadette Thompson, but no one believes her story.

The Foot Clan next attacks a subway station and hold hostages in order to lure the vigilante out. April rushes to the scene, hoping to encounter the vigilante or find evidence confirming his existence, but ends up getting held hostage by The Foot Clan. She sees four figures this time, who disappear after defeating the Foot Clan. She follows them to a rooftop and photographs them. The Turtles Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael notice her and delete the camera's images, warning her not to divulge their existence. April catches some of their names and finds them familiar.

April runs home and opens a box filled with documents, pictures, and July 1999 videos on "Project Renaissance", which involved her now-deceased father. She notices that the turtles she cared for from her father's laboratory fifteen years earlier seem similar to the Ninja Turtles. She recalls that her father was developing some type of mutagen. She continues researching and eventually realizes that the Ninja Turtles are the turtles from the laboratory.

Once again, she tries to convince Bernadette Thompson that the Turtles are real. Bernadette becomes so infuriated that she fires April. April tries telling her cameraman Vern Fenwick about them, but he does not believe her either. He does agree to take her to the old laboratory, though. There she finds her father's lab partner Eric Sacks; a famous scientist and a successful business man.

April tells him about the Ninja Turtles, showing him the photos. Sacks explains Project Renaissance: he and her father were cultivating the mutagen for its healing properties. Sacks theorizes that, when the laboratory was destroyed, the mutagen must have somehow caused the turtles to mutate into humanoids.

Meanwhile in the sewers, the Turtles tell their master, Splinter, that April has spotted them. Splinter orders them to find April and bring her to their lair, as she is now in great danger from the Foot Clan since she made contact with the Turtles.

The Turtles find April and blindfold her so she won't know their lair's location. They take her to Splinter, who explains how she saved their lives years before when she rescued them from the fire and released them into the sewers. As the turtles and Splinter grew more intelligent from the mutagen over the past 15 years, he started to teach the turtles how to defend themselves in the art of ninjitsu from a martial arts book he found in the sewer. April admits that she has told her father's associate about them, unaware that Sacks is actually the adoptive son of the Foot Clan's leader The Shredder.

Meanwhile, Sacks relays the information to Shredder. Shredder and Sacks plan to spread a deadly virus throughout New York, causing a quarantine, in order to seize control by offering the mutagen as a cure. Shredder needs the Turtles to extract the mutagen from their blood. After the virus is spread all over New York, Sacks plans to sell the mutagen cure for a massive profit and making him even more richer.

He and his gang find Splinter and the Turtles in the sewers, and a battle ensues. They are overwhelmed and Shredder captures Leo, Donnie and Mikey and leaves Splinter severely injured. Thought dead, Raphael survived the wreckage of the lair. Splinter instructs Raphael and April to save the other three Turtles. April calls Vern to give them a ride to the laboratory where the other three Turtles are being held.

When they arrive, April frees the Turtles, who join Raphael in fighting Shredder, but Shredder escapes. April, the Turtles, and Vern escape down a snowy mountain with The Foot and Karai in pursuit, and manage to get away.

The Turtles plan to attack Shredder on the rooftop of Sacks' building before he is able to release the toxin, while April and Vern search for the mutagen and battle Sacks inside the building. He reveals to April that he killed her father for burning down the lab. As he closes in on April, Sacks is knocked out by Vern. April finds the mutagen and heads onto the rooftop to give it to the Turtles. With April's help, the Turtles finally defeat Shredder who falls off the roof where he is immediately surrounded by the police. He is last seen touching the spilled mutagen.

That night, Vern attempts to impress April with a Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, but unfortunately fails when the Turtles come in with a vehicle of their own and accidentally blow it up with an RPG. The turtles then offer April a ride home but she kindly turns down the offer. The film ends with Mikey serenading April with "Happy Together" (a love song performed by 60's rock band The Turtles).

Before I Go to Sleep Film

Before I Go to Sleep is a 2014 British-American mystery thriller film written and directed by Rowan Joffé. A film adaptation of S. J. Watson's 2011 novel of the same name, the film stars Nicole Kidman, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Anne-Marie Duff.

Forty-year-old Christine Lucas wakes up in bed with a man she does not know, in an unfamiliar house. The man explains that he is her husband, Ben, and that she suffered brain damage from a car accident ten years earlier. Christine wakes up every morning with no memory of her life from her early twenties onwards.

Christine receives treatment from Dr. Nasch, a neurologist at a local hospital who gives her a camera to record her thoughts and progress each day, and calls her every morning to remind her to watch the video in the the camera. Dr. Nasch instructs Christine to keep the camera hidden from Ben and reveals that her memory loss occurred after she was attacked and left for dead near an airport hotel. They surmise that Ben tells Christine it was a car accident to avoid upsetting her.

Over the course of treatment, Christine faintly remembers a red-haired woman named Claire. Ben tells her that Claire was a friend who couldn't handle Christine's condition and ended contact with her. Later, Christine recalls that she had a son. She angrily confronts Ben over hiding their child, but he says their son died of meningitis when he was eight. Christine remembers the name Mike and believes it may be the name of her attacker.

Christine learns that, several years after her attack, Ben had placed her in an assisted care facility and divorced her, then had a change of heart and brought her home to live with him. Christine learns that Claire had been trying to contact her at the care facility, unaware that Ben took her away. Christine obtains Claire's phone number and meets her. Claire reveals that Christine had embarked on an affair prior to her attack, while Ben and Claire had a one-time sexual encounter, due to their shared grief at Christine's memory loss. Feeling obliged to keep Ben and Christine's marriage intact, Claire ended contact.

Out of gratitude for his love and care, Christine decides to let Ben see the videos she has made on the digital camera. However, Ben angrily accuses Christine of having an affair with Dr. Nasch, strikes her, and storms out. On the telephone, Claire tells Christine that Ben claims to not have seen Christine for several years. Claire asks Christine to describe the "Ben" she is living with, and they realize he is not Ben. Christine attempts to escape the house, but "Ben" renders her unconscious.

The next morning, Christine again awakens with no memories. That night, "Ben" takes her to a hotel close to where she had been found. He reveals that he is Mike, the man she had an affair with. Mike had wanted Christine to reveal their affair to Ben, but Christine refused, and their argument culminated in Mike attacking Christine, resulting in her amnesia. He also inadvertently reveals that Christine's son Adam is still alive. Declaring his love for Christine, Mike deletes the videos on her camera and states that he is no longer interested in playing the part of Ben. He demands that Christine leave with him. Another struggle ensues, but this time Christine knocks Mike out and gets away.

Christine wakes up in a hospital bed and is visited by Dr. Nasch. He assures her the man responsible for her condition has been arrested. Christine is then visited by the real Ben, as well as their son Adam, now a teenager.

The Equalizer 2014 Film

The Equalizer is a 2014 American action thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk, based on the television series of the same name. It stars Denzel Washington, Chloë Grace Moretz, Marton Csokas, David Harbour, Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo.

Principal photography began in June 2013 on location and took place in different cities of Massachusetts. This was the first film to have Village Roadshow Pictures co-finance the deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment since Saving Silverman in 2001. The film was premiered at 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2014, and released worldwide on September 26.

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) is a retired black ops government operative who lives in Boston, Massachusetts and works at a Home Mart hardware store, where he befriends many of his co-workers and also tries to help a security guard trainee named Ralphie pass his qualification exam. McCall has promised his recently deceased wife that he'd leave his old life behind, but is compelled to act after his teenage friend Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz) whose real name is Alina, was seen being mistreated by her pimp. Alina's life was destroyed at the age of five or six when she was a victim of sex trafficking by the Russian Mafia and then became their sex slave and forced into prostitution.

Robert vows to save her after she is hospitalized after being brutally beaten by her pimp, Slavi (David Meunier). McCall enters a restaurant owned by the Russian mob and tries to convince Slavi to release Alina by paying him $9800, but Slavi refuses. McCall pretends to walk away, but turns back and takes out Slavi and his men with their own weapons, removing the footage from all the security cameras.

In retaliation, Vladimir Pushkin (Vladimir Kulich) sends his enforcer Teddy (Marton Csokas) to Boston to find and eliminate the culprit. Meanwhile, Ralph withdraws his application for being a security guard at Home Mart to help out his mother at his family restaurant, which was set on fire by corrupt policemen as an act of extortion. McCall confronts the corrupt policemen and forces them to pay back all the money they have gotten through extortion. Ralph passes his test and becomes a security guard at Home Mart.

Teddy determines McCall is the culprit; surprised by his skills, Teddy tries to capture him to use those skills instead of killing him. McCall, however, outsmarts his pursuers and escapes, while completing more acts of vigilantism. McCall visits fellow retired operatives Susan Plummer (Melissa Leo) and Brian Plummer (Bill Pullman) in Virginia, who help him acquire intelligence on Pushkin's activities. It is revealed that Teddy is ex-Spetnaz, and that his real name is Nikolai. After McCall leaves, Susan remarks to Brian that McCall was not actually looking for help, but was actually asking for permission.

McCall then captures Frank Masters (David Harbour), a corrupt Boston policeman who has been aiding Teddy, by trapping him in his car and threatening to flood the vehicle with carbon monoxide. Frank relents and helps McCall destroy one of Pushkin's money laundering operations in Boston. Later, McCall confronts Teddy at dinner; McCall pledges to bring Pushkin's empire down, and soon destroys a container ship used by Pushkin to smuggle goods. Unsatisfied with Teddy's lack of progress and his increasing monetary losses, Pushkin warns Teddy he can either kill McCall or not come home to Moscow.

In retaliation, Teddy and his men attack Home Mart and take Ralph and the workers of Home Mart hostage, threatening to kill them if he does not surrender. McCall enters the store and disables most of the lighting, tells Ralph to get the hostages to safety, and then kills Teddy's henchmen one by one. After a struggle between McCall and one of Teddy's men, Ralph comes back to help McCall, but is shot in the leg. McCall tells Ralph to turn on the electricity after an exact time of 40 seconds. McCall sets up a number of chemicals in a microwave; the electricity turns it on, causing an explosion that kills the last of Teddy's men. McCall finally kills Teddy with a nail gun.

McCall then travels to Moscow and kills Pushkin's guards, and sets up an electrical trap to kill Pushkin himself. McCall returns to Boston, where he reunites with Alina, who has recovered from her wounds and thanks him for giving her a second chance. McCall is inspired to continue using his skills to help people in need and posts an online ad, identifying himself as "The Equalizer". He soon receives another plea for help and agrees to answer it.

Kill the Messenger Film

Kill the Messenger is an American drama thriller film directed by Michael Cuesta and written by Peter Landesman. It is based on the book of the same name by Nick Schou and the book Dark Alliance by Gary Webb. The film stars Jeremy Renner (in his first film as a producer), Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Barry Pepper, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosemarie DeWitt, Paz Vega, Oliver Platt, Richard Schiff, and Michael K. Williams. The film was released on October 10, 2014.

Kill the Messenger has received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a "Certified Fresh" rating of 75%, based on 88 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's consensus reads, "Kill the Messenger's potent fury over the tale of its real-life subject overrides its factual inaccuracies and occasional narrative stumbles." On Metacritic, the film currently has a rating of 60 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews.

Dracula Untold Movie

Here’s the thing about vampires: They’re not only cool to begin with but they are also afforded endless opportunities to further their coolness. This is where they differ significantly from werewolves and Frankenstein’s monster. I mean, if proms and singles’ parties were held in the realm of paranormal creatures, vampires would be the ones getting all the hot dates, leaving werewolves weeping into their wine and Frankenstein’s monster tinkering with the bolts sticking out of his head. But I digress.

The vampire in “Dracula Untold” is even cooler than the rest, if you can believe that. Directed by Gary Shore, who used to make commercials before this debut feature, “Dracula Untold” is fresh, sexy and does not feature teenagers with fangs. No, the whole package seems designed for a more mature audience who grew up collecting Marvel comic books and loving Batman — and boy, will they get this Dracula.

Luke Evans stars as Vlad Tepes, a prince in 15th-century Transylvania. Like most of the rest of Europe, Vlad’s country has suffered much at the hands of the Turks, but during the first scenes, he’s celebrating 10 years of peace with his wife Mirena (Sarah Gadon) and friends. Alas, the festivities are cut short when news comes in that the Turks are back, and they’re demanding 1,000 Transylvanian boys to become slave soldiers in the Turkish army.


Vlad himself is no stranger to the slave-soldier system, and the scars that crisscross his upper body bring back awful memories. What to do? Vlad seeks help from a zombie-like creature lurking in the mountains (Charles Dance), who presents Vlad with a bowl of blood, promising to endow him with vampiric superpowers for a full three days. The catch? Vlad must refrain from drinking human blood or succumbing fully to his new Prince of Darkness identity during that time, or he may never walk in daylight again.

The outlandish action is expertly executed with a generous dash of originality. Director Shore isn’t interested in splashing blood about so much as coming up with creative alternatives to wipe out the Turkish Army. Vlad has command over about 10 million bats, which swoop down and pulverize the enemy like a winged battalion from hell. It’s an elegant tactic and astounding to witness — never before has Dracula been able to take center stage of such mega proportions, or wielded power on such a grand scale.

Vlad Tepes is based on a real-life Transylvanian prince, and not a nice one at that — consider his nickname: Vlad the Impaler. In his prime, he wiped out entire villages with the end of his spear. Interestingly, the film does its mighty best to justify Vlad’s past brutality by stressing his wonderful vampire qualities. These include, firstly, wiping out the Turks single-handedly, and secondly, refraining from taking bites out of his loved ones’ necks.

Laying out the groundwork for a new Dracula franchise is undoubtedly a virtue, too, because as far as bloodsucking alpha males in dark capes go, Vlad is as good as it gets.

The Book of Life 2014 Film

The Book of Life is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated adventure musical comedy film produced by Reel FX Creative Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Co-written and directed by Jorge Gutierrez, the film stars the voices of Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, and Channing Tatum with supporting roles by Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, and Kate del Castillo. The film was theatrically released on October 17, 2014.

A group of children arrive at a museum and are taken on a secret tour by a tour guide named Mary Beth (Christina Applegate), who tells them about the famous legends and myths of Mexican folklore. She leads them to a hidden room containing the Book of Life that holds every story in the world. Mary Beth proceeds to tell the children the story of the Mexican town of San Angel and two gods: La Muerte (Kate del Castillo), who reigns over the Land of the Remembered, and Xibalba (Ron Perlman), who rules the Land of the Forgotten.

The story begins when La Muerte and Xibalba appear at San Angel's Day of the Dead festival where they set up a bet after seeing two boys, Manolo and Joaquín, competing over a free-spirited girl named María. La Muerte bets that Manolo will marry María, while Xibalba bets on Joaquín. If La Muerte wins, Xibalba can no longer meddle in mortal affairs; however, if Xibalba wins, he and La Muerte would switch lands.

Days later, María sets free the butcher's animals after seeing a baby pig (Carlos Alazraqui), much to the chagrin of her father General Posada (Carlos Alazraqui). Posada decides to send his daughter to a private boarding school in Spain to learn to behave. While seeing her off, Manolo gives her the baby pig named Chuy. María gives Manolo a new guitar which has "Always play from your heart" engraved on it.

Years pass as Manolo (Diego Luna) is trained by his father Carlos (Héctor Elizondo) to become a skilled bullfighter while Joaquín (Channing Tatum) becomes the town hero with the help of Xibalba's Medal of Eternal Life. On the day that María (Zoe Saldana) returns, a celebration is held in town culminating in Manolo's first bullfight. During the fight, Manolo refuses to kill the bull, disappointing his father and the crowd but delighting María. That night, María learns her father is arranging her marriage to Joaquín so that the hero would stay and protect San Angel from the bandit Chakal, but she is conflicted by her feelings for Manolo. Fearing he will lose the wager, Xibalba turns his staff into a twin-headed snake and sends it to kill Manolo. María and Manolo secretly meet and profess their love for each other, but they are interrupted when the snake bites María and seemingly kills her. Xibalba appears before Manolo, who states that he would do anything to be with María again. Xibalba summons the snake to inflict a bite with both heads to kill Manolo.

Manolo travels to the Land of the Remembered where he meets his mother, Carmen (Ana de la Reguera), and the rest of his deceased family members. Manolo and his family travel to La Muerte's castle, but find it now occupied by Xibalba. Xibalba explains the bet and that the snake only gave María enough venom to put her into a coma, but it gave Manolo enough to kill him. Once María awoke, she learned of Manolo's death and decided to accept Joaquín's proposal for the sake of the town. Manolo, Carmen, and Manolo's grandfather Luis (Danny Trejo) travel to the Cave of Souls in order to reach the Land of the Forgotten. After forced through dangerous tasks, Manolo's pure heart allows him and his family to enter the Cave. They meet the Candle Maker (Ice Cube) who oversees the lives of everybody in the living world. Manolo convinces him to take him through to the Land of the Forgotten to meet La Muerte after seeing that Manolo's story in the Book of Life has yet to be written because he is writing it himself. Manolo finds La Muerte and exposes Xibalba's cheating. Xibalba appears and agrees to give Manolo life again if he can defeat every single bull his family ever fought.

In the living world, Chakal (Dan Navarro) learns that Joaquín has the Medal of Eternal Life and leads his army of bandits to San Angel on the day of the wedding. The bandit kills Carlos, who joins his family as they watch Manolo's challenge. Manolo apologizes to the grudge-filled spirit to forgive his family's transgressions, and it dissolves peacefully away. Impressed, the deities grant Manolo his life back and send him and his family's spirits to the living world to defeat Chakal. Manolo and Joaquín make amends and fight against Chakal together. Realizing he will lose, Chakal lights the fuses on multiple bombs to take the entire town down with him. Manolo knocks over a column that causes the bell to fall over him and Chakal, protecting the town from the blast but seemingly killing Manolo. However, when Manolo emerges safely, Joaquín reveals that he secretly gave Manolo the magic medal. General Posada gives Manolo his blessing to marry María, and the two celebrate their wedding happily as Xibalba and La Muerte reconcile.

At the very end, the school group is very enlightened and as they leave, the tour guide and the security guard reveal themselves as La Muerte and Xibalba. Finally, the Candle Maker returns and reminds everyone to write their own stories.