Category: Entertainment

Johnny English Strikes Again (sometimes referred to as Johnny English 3) is an upcoming British spy action comedy film directed by David Kerr. It is a sequel to the 2011 film Johnny English Reborn and the third instalment of the Johnny English series. The film’s screenplay was written by William Davies and produced by Rowan Atkinson, who reprises his role as the title character. The film will be released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 5 October 2018 and 26 October in the United States by Universal

The novel begins with a quote from the 14th century Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta:
“ nowhere in the world are there to be found people richer than the Chinese ”
— Ibn Battuta

The book is told from the perspective of five main characters: Rachel Chu, Nicholas (Nick) Young, Eleanor Young, Astrid Leong, and Edison Cheng. The story revolves around the grand wedding between Singapore’s most eligible bachelor, Colin Khoo, and a fashion icon, Araminta Lee, which everyone calls the wedding of the year.

Rachel is a New York University (NYU) professor of economics who is originally from Cupertino, California. She was raised by her single mother and leads a typical middle-class life. When her boyfriend Nick takes her to meet his family in Singapore, she is completely unaware of what is in store for her.

Nick is also a professor at NYU, the same university as Rachel. Although he grew up in London, he is originally from Singapore. Unknown to anyone in New York, he not only belongs to one of the top ten wealthiest families in Asia but is possibly sole heir to his family’s great fortune. Despite this wealth, he was raised to be humble and to keep a low profile. Because of his upbringing, he is confident his family will approve of his simple girlfriend, but things turn out very differently than he expects.

Eleanor Young is Nick’s controlling mother who is obsessed with prestige and pride. Since Nick was born, she has allowed her mother-in-law, the Young family matriarch, to practically raise her only child, so that, when the time comes, she will leave the family fortune to him. As a result, Eleanor is not very much involved in Nick’s upbringing and is even separated from his father, who chooses to live and work in Australia to manage their family’s businesses there. She is also very adamant that Nick marry someone from the close-knit, rich circle of her friends and plans to sabotage Nick and Rachel’s relationship. She hires a private detective to gather information on Rachel’s family, which she later attempts to use to drive Rachel out of Nick’s life, but ultimately results in her son freezing her out of his life. Rachel is shocked when she learns who her father, Zhou Fang Min, is and leaves to stay with her friend, Goh Peik Lin and her family.

Astrid Teo is Nick’s famous cousin whose beauty is well-known all across Asia. Although she maintains a positive image to her family and society, her marriage is suffering. Michael, her long-suffering husband, is a self-made young man who is looked down upon because he does not come from money. Astrid discovers that he might be having an affair with someone in Hong Kong. When she confronts him, Michael admits to having an affair and leaves. With the help of her ex-fiancée Charlie Wu, Astrid confronts him again in Hong Kong where he reveals that he has in fact, not been having an affair and has only made it seem like he had so that she would want to divorce him, being no longer able to deal with Astrid’s family. In a last-ditch effort to help save their marriage and make Astrid happy, Charlie secretly buys shares in Michael’s startup company at a highly inflated price.

Edison Cheng is Nick’s spoiled Hong Kong cousin who works as a banker. He is one of the few members of his clan who lives up to his birthright as a member of one of the wealthiest families in the world. He wants to impress all his friends and relatives at the wedding, but his plans fall short because of his family, particularly his younger brother Alistair who is dating Kitty Pong, a starlet of questionable background and intentions. Alistair and Kitty are briefly engaged but she leaves him for Bernard Tai, a billionaire’s son, after Oliver T’Sien misleads her to believe that the Chengs are not as rich as she thought.

Rachel and Nick suffer a falling out with each other. Nick tries to convince her to stay in the relationship with him, professing that he no longer cares about what society and his family expects from him. Rachel doesn’t believe him, claiming that no matter how much they try to ignore his family’s legacy, they know they may not be able to. She tells Nick that she wants her children to grow up treasured and loved by their relatives like her own family has done, not be raised with a family whose primary concern is their own wealth, family legacy and the kinds of rich people they know. Rachel breaks up with him as a result and Nick realizes she’s lost to him. Depressed, he stays at Colin’s house for a while. At the Goh house, Rachel calls her mother, Kerry, and has a falling out with her. She demands to know why Kerry didn’t tell her about Fang Min being her father. When Kerry tries to explain that he was abusive and she had to save her life, Rachel blames her for her actions and hangs up the phone.

While staying at Colin’s house, Nick regrets bringing Rachel to Singapore without giving her an insight in how to deal with his wealthy family. Instead of his family liking Rachel, they successfully turn her against Nick, which leads to their eventual break up. He mentions this to Colin along with his thoughts of letting Rachel go. However, Colin suggests that Nick fight for Rachel and do one thing to win her back. As Rachel and Peik Lin are preparing to leave to meet Fang Min, her father who is in jail, Nick stops them from leaving, revealing that he’s brought something from China to her. To Rachel’s anger, it’s her own mother that he brought to Singapore. Annoyed with Nick for preventing her one chance of meeting her father, Rachel tells Kerry off: she doesn’t want to see her again and wants her to just let her meet her father. In desperation, Kerry finally reveals the truth about her real father: it isn’t Fang Min, but a man nicknamed Kao Wei. Rachel decides to listen to her mother and learn about the abuse she went through with Fang Min, including how Kao Wei saved her life by helping her escape to America where she stayed with her relatives. Upon realizing how abusive Fang Min was to Kerry, Rachel is remorseful for her earlier behavior and reconciles with her mother. Nick and Peik Lin take her and Kerry out for some satay.

Sophie Sheridan is preparing for the grand reopening of her mother Donna’s hotel, following Donna’s death a year earlier. She is upset because two of her fathers, Harry and Bill, are unable to make it to the reopening and she is having trouble in her relationship with Sky, who is in New York, over her memorializing her mother’s life.

In 1979, a young Donna has just graduated from university with Rosie and Tanya, and is getting ready to travel the world. While in Paris, she meets and parties with Harry. She later misses her boat to Kalokairi but is offered a ride by Bill, and along the way, they are able to help a stranded fisherman, Alexio, make it in time to stop the love of his life from marrying another. Unbeknownst to Donna, Harry has followed her to Greece; but he arrived too late, and sadly watches the boat sailing off in the distance.

In the present, Tanya and Rosie arrive to support Sophie with the reopening and it’s revealed that Rosie and Bill have split up. Sophie then visits Sam, who is still grieving over the death of Donna. Back in the past, Donna arrives on the island and while exploring the farmhouse, a sudden storm causes her to discover a spooked horse in the basement. She goes in search of help only to find a young Sam riding his motorcycle and he helps her to save the horse. Back in the present, a storm has caused serious disruption to Sophie’s plans for the grand reopening and prevented media coverage of the event.

Back in the past, Donna and Sam are enjoying a whirlwind romance, that ends when Donna discovers a picture of Sam’s fiancée in his drawer. A devastated Donna demands that Sam leave the island. In the present, Sam tells Sophie about her value to her mother. Meanwhile, Harry leaves his business deal in Tokyo to support Sophie, and separately Bill gets the same idea. Bill and Harry meet at the docks but are told there are no boats. However, Bill meets the fisherman Alexio and thereby secures boat passage for himself, Harry as well as the newly arrived Sky.

In the past, a depressed Donna is heartbroken over Sam but is able to channel her anger into singing with Tanya and Rosie. She meets Bill again and they go out on his boat; while they are gone, Sam returns, having recently ended his engagement for Donna, but is saddened to hear that she is with another man and leaves the island again. Donna discovers she is pregnant but has no idea which one of her three recent lovers is the father. Sofia, the mother of the owner of the bar where Donna and the Dynamos performed, overhears Donna’s wish to stay on the island and offers to let Donna live at her farmhouse and Donna happily accepts. It is there that she eventually gives birth to Sophie.

Back in the present, the guests have arrived at the party and Sophie is reunited with her other two fathers and Sky. Sophie reveals to Sky she is pregnant and has never felt closer to her mother, having now understood what her mother went through. Bill and Rosie reunite over their grief for Donna. Sophie’s estranged grandmother and Donna’s mother, Ruby, arrives despite Sophie deciding not to invite her. She reveals that Sky tracked her down in New York and she wants to build a real relationship with Sophie. Sophie then performs a song with Tanya and Rosie in honor of her mother, with her grandmother tearfully telling her afterward how proud she is of her. It is then revealed that the manager of the hotel, Fernando, is Ruby’s ex-lover from 1959 in Mexico, and the two are joyously reunited.

Nine months later, Sophie has given birth to a baby boy and everyone has gathered for his christening where Tanya flirts with Fernando’s brother. The ceremony takes place with Donna’s spirit watching over her daughter with pride. All the characters, including Donna and the younger cast, sing “Super Trouper” at a huge party at Hotel Bella Donna.

In 1897, Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his friends disguised as humans are travelling on a train to Budapest. Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), a monster hunter, boards the train and unveils the monsters; the monsters escape by climbing through the roof and Dracula pushes his friends from the train for their safety. Van Helsing has a special interest in destroying Dracula, but is constantly outsmarted by him.

In the present day, some time after the events of the previous film, Dracula is running his hotel business smoothly with his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and son-in-law Johnny (Andy Samberg). However, Drac is depressed by the fact that since his wife’s death, he’s lonely despite attempts to meet someone. Misinterpreting this as stress from overwork, Mavis books a cruise so they can all take a break and spend more time together as a family. The next day, Dracula, Mavis, Johnny, Dennis (Asher Blinkoff), Vlad (Mel Brooks), and the hotel guests board a cruise ship called the Legacy. Dracula sees the ship’s human captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), and immediately falls for her, something that he thought was impossible as he had already “zinged” before.

Ericka goes to a secret room on the lower decks where she meets Abraham Van Helsing, who is revealed to be her great-grandfather and is almost completely mechanized to avoid death. Van Helsing has plans to eliminate all the monsters in the cruise upon its arrival at the lost city of Atlantis using an Instrument of Destruction that could be found in Atlantis’s ruins. Van Helsing makes Ericka promise to not assassinate Dracula beforehand, but she repeatedly attempts to do so anyway, albeit unsuccessfully, much to her frustration. After failing to kill Dracula at an underwater volcano, Ericka loudly moans about being unable to get him. Dracula’s friends hear this, and, thinking that Ericka likes him, inform Dracula about what they heard. Dracula nervously asks Ericka out on a date, and she accepts since she sees this as another chance to kill the vampire. However, as they dine on a deserted island, Ericka begins to reciprocate Drac’s feelings after they learn about each other’s pasts.

Mavis finds out Dracula is interested in Ericka and becomes suspicious of Ericka’s motives. The cruise ship reaches Atlantis which has been converted into a casino; Dracula decides to tell Mavis the truth about Ericka but gets distracted seeing Ericka going into a crypt below the city. Drac follows her, with Mavis not far behind, and learns that Ericka is after a “family heirloom”. With Dracula’s help, she gets past the numerous booby traps around the object and escapes. Mavis arrives and confronts them, and Dracula confesses that he “zinged” with Ericka, to Mavis’s surprise and confusion. After Ericka is told what a “zing” is, she rejects Dracula’s romantic feelings, saying she can’t be with a monster, leaving Dracula heartbroken.

A depressed Ericka gives Van Helsing the object–revealed to be the Instrument of Destruction–and he proceeds to set a trap for the monsters at a dance party. Noticing that Dracula is still upset, Mavis, after some advice from Johnny, tells her father to talk to Ericka, admitting that she was really just afraid of him leaving her, which Drac allays. Suddenly, Van Helsing shows up and pushes away the DJ, and a heartbroken Ericka is forced to reveal that she is his great-granddaughter. Van Helsing unveils the Instrument of Destruction, a case for a music note sheet, and plays a song that drives a friendly Kraken (Joe Jonas) that lives near the island to attack the monsters. Ericka saves Dracula from the Kraken and pleads with her great-grandfather to stop the destruction, confessing to Drac that she fell for him as well, which infuriates Van Helsing and causes him to attack them both.

In order to pacify the Kraken, Johnny opens up a portable DJ kit, and starts playing positive songs to beat Van Helsing’s song. Upon playing the Macarena, the Kraken is relaxed and happy for good; Van Helsing is unable to counter the song as everyone begins to dance, including the music sheet which shreds itself to pieces in the process. Van Helsing also ends up dancing and accidentally slips and falls but is saved by Dracula. Touched by this act of kindness, Van Helsing apologizes and gives everyone a full refund for the cruise before sending them back.

Back at Hotel Transylvania, Dracula proposes to Ericka, who agrees to marry him.

Skyscraper is a 2018 American action film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber and starring Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Noah Taylor, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, and Hannah Quinlivan. The story follows a former FBI agent who must rescue his family from a newly built skyscraper–the tallest in the world–after it is taken over by terrorists and set on fire. The first non-comedy of Thurber’s career, it also marks his second collaboration with Johnson following Central Intelligence (2016).

Filming began in September 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on July 13, 2018, in 2D and 3D. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Johnson’s performance but criticized the clichéd script for being too similar to Die Hard and The Towering Inferno.

Synopsis

Former FBI agent and amputee Will Sawyer is tasked with inspecting the tallest and “safest” skyscraper in Hong Kong with his family. The skyscraper itself, known as “The Pearl,” houses several floors that function as their own society, and despite the risks highlighted by Sawyer, his bosses insist that it is impenetrable. True to Sawyer’s belief, the building comes under attack by terrorists who set the building ablaze, forcing Sawyer to take action. Matters are complicated further when he finds himself framed for the attack, and his family trapped above the resulting fire line.

Three months following Syndrome’s defeat, the Parr family – Bob, Helen, Dash, Violet and Jack-Jack Parr – continue operating under their superhero identity, the Incredibles. After unsuccessfully preventing the villain Underminer from robbing Metroville Bank, the authorities become concerned over the level of damage caused by the incident. As a result, Rick Dicker informs the Parr family that his department’s “Super Relocation” program is being shut down, forcing supers across the world to permanently adhere to their secret identities. Soon thereafter, Bob and Helen, along with family friend Lucius Best – the superhero Frozone – are contacted by Winston Deavor, a superhero fan, telecommunications tycoon, and owner of DEVTECH, who proposes a publicity stunt to regain the general public’s support of supers.

Helen Parr, considered the least-destructive of the supers, is selected to undertake the stunt by openly fighting crime in New Urbrem, under her old identity of Elastigirl. As part of the plan, Winston provides the family with a new home, to which Bob offers to take care of the kids while Helen is away. During her absence, Bob discovers that Jack-Jack has various super powers, but struggles with controlling the family’s infant. Seeking help, Bob takes Jack-Jack to Edna Mode, a family friend and superhero-costume designer, who agrees to help upon seeing the baby’s superpowers in action. Meanwhile, Helen confronts the Screenslaver during her mission – a mysterious villain who hijacks screens in order to project hypnotic images that can brainwash ordinary civilians.

After rescuing an ambassador from the Screenslaver’s clutches, she manages to defeat him, only to find that he is no more than a pizza delivery man, who has no recollection of what he did. While attending a celebration of the Screenslaver’s defeat at the Deavor’s, Helen realises that Winston is being controlled by hypno-screens within his goggles. Before she can alert anyone to this, Winston’s sister Evelyn Deavor overpowers her and brainwashes her with a similar pair. Evelyn reveals herself to be the mastermind behind the Screenslaver – seeing supers as a threat to humanity’s independence, she sought to undermine her brother’s mission, and plans to brainwash the world’s leaders so that they cannot re-legalise superheroes. Evelyn then manages to lure Bob and Lucius into a trap, brainwashing both.

Avoiding the same fate as their parents, Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack, whom Edna had outfitted with a super-suit, sneak aboard the Deavor’s ship to rescue their parents, as the world leaders meet for a hearing on supers. After freeing their parents and Lucius, the group reveal Evelyn’s plan to the assembled leaders. A battle on the boat ensues, threatening to crash the ship into New Urbrem. However, the supers manage to stop it and Helen apprehends Evelyn when she tries to make an escape. The supers are thanked and the Supers Relocation Program is finally reinvoked, making supers legal once again.