New Movies This Week Have A Happy New Year

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*MYSTERY/SUSPENSE*    A young family move to an isolated estate that the wife has been hired to restore, only to discover that the previous owner is reputed to have murdered his wife.   The Hamilton family move into a large country house on the Yorkshire Moors to supervise its restoration from a dilapidated B&B to the original Victorian grandeur. When Meg Hamilton, wife, mother and renovation expert first loses her London team after an accident, then a local Yorkshire team too superstitious to continue, she's forced to carry on alone. The discovery of a secret attic room, a Rosicrucian mosaic, a bricked up root cellar and many other unexplainable events gradually convince Meg, her husband Alec and children Penny and Harper, that they're not only restoring the house, but also its original Victorian owners who died 150 years ago. But before they can escape, the house - and its former occupants - force them to spend one last, terrifying night under its roof.

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*ACTION/CRIME*    Bristol Boys stars Thomas Guiry as Michael McCarthy, a man who becomes a drug dealer in order to provide for his family. That family becomes threatened as his career grows much larger than he ever intended.

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• *COMEDY*    Legendary comedian D.L. Hughley takes the stage at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco for his new hilarious stand up special, Clear. In this uproarious performance, Hughley riffs on everything from the value of having nosy white neighbors to Colorado legalizing marijuana.
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*ACTION/DRAMA*   FOXCATCHER is a psychological drama directed by Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller (MONEYBALL) and starring Golden Globe winner Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo, Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave and Sienna Miller. The film was written by E. Max Frye and Academy Award nominee Dan Futterman. FOXCATCHER tells the story of Olympic Gold Medal-winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Tatum), who sees a way out from the shadow of his more celebrated wrestling brother Dave(Ruffalo) and a life of poverty when he is summoned by eccentric multi-millionaire John du Pont (Carell) to move onto his estate and train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Desperate to gain the respect of his disapproving mother, du Pont begins "coaching" a world-class athletic team and, in the process, lures Mark into dangerous habits, breaks his confidence and drives him into a self-destructive spiral. Based on actual events, FOXCATCHER is a gripping and profoundly American story of fragile men who pinned their hopes for love and redemption on a desperate obsession for greatness that was to end in tragedy.

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*SUSPENSE/THRILLER*    A couple introduce three American backpackers to the local legend of Lemon Tree Passage where a ghost of a motorcyclist warns young drivers to slow down. After seeing the ghost first hand they uncover a malevolent force that posses the area and threatens to wreak havoc on the final days of their vacation. Isolated and ten thousand miles from home, the tourists find themselves caught in the clutches of an evil force much more heinous than the local myth believed.

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*HORROR/ THRILLER*    This is a feature motion picture that consists of three tales based on particular patients of a mental institution. Each tale begins with Dr. Stenson, the primary physician at the Sanitarium, commenting on the recent arrival of a new patient. As Dr. Stenson speaks, the individual's story begins. "Sanitarium" explores the different narratives of the insane patients - tales which led to their crazed states of minds. These accounts reflect hallucinations, imaginary voices, and altered realities, and include themes of the paranormal, the unexplainable, and the mystical. The motion picture features thrillers, dramas, horror, and mystery.

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*ACTION/CRIME*    In theaters 1/16/2015 In the criminal world, life is like a game of chess. To gain control, you have to stay a few moves ahead of your opponent. Lose that control, and you risk becoming a pawn in their very dangerous game. During a six-month stint inside a West Australian prison, rookie criminal JR (BRENTON THWAITES) meets the smart and enigmatic Brendan Lynch (EWAN McGREGOR). In exchange for protection on the inside, JR agrees to help Brendan get outside, hooking up with the influential Sam Lennox (JACEK KOMAN) to orchestrate a daring prison escape that frees Brendan, and inmates Sterlo (MATT NABLE) and Merv (EDDIE BAROO). JR is rewarded for his efforts, and with a taste of the high life and flirtations with Sam's beautiful girl Tasha (ALICIA VIKANDER), he gets sucked deeper into Brendan's criminal world. But whose game is he playing? Becoming a father-like mentor to JR, Brendan convinces him to join on another high stakes job - robbing a Kalgoorlie gold mine. But with millions of dollars at stake, it's hard to tell whom JR can trust, and whose side each player is actually on. And with his feelings for Tasha increasing, and his faith in Brendan decreasing, JR must figure out his next move... before its check, mate.

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*CRIME/THRILLER*    A female detective on the trail of a psychotic killer discovers love in a dangerous time in this thriller, based on the novel by Michael Pye. Illeana Scott (Angelina Jolie) is a special agent with the FBI who has a reputation for using offbeat methods, but also boasts a strong record as a criminal profiler. Scott is called in by a former Quantico colleague (Tcheky Karyo) to assist two Canadian police detectives, Paquette (Olivier Martinez) and Duval (Jean-Hugues Anglade), who are on the trail of a serial killer who has been doing business in and around Montreal for close to two decades. The murderer has a history of assimilating many aspects of the lives of his victims after he kills them, but there's been a witness to his most recent crime. Art gallery owner James Costa (Ethan Hawke) saw the killer during an assault, and now finds himself working as an only marginally willing decoy for Scott. As Scott and Costa follow the killer's trail, they find themselves becoming attracted to one another, which is not necessarily a comfort to Scott as she finds her quarry moving closer and closer.

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*COMEDY*    THE BOOK OF LIFE, a vibrant fantasy-adventure, tells the legend of Manolo, a conflicted hero and dreamer who sets off on an epic quest through magical, mythical and wondrous worlds in order to rescue his one true love and defend his village.

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*ACTION/CRIME*    Matthew steps briefly into a diner and comes out to find that his young daughter Cassandra has vanished without a trace from the back of his truck. Her unsolved abduction destroys Matthew's once-happy relationship with his wife, Tina, who, haunted by mementos of Cassandra that appear mysteriously at her work, suspects her husband of foul play. Years later, when detectives Nicole and Jeffrey discover recent images of Cassandra online, Matthew risks everything to ensure his daughter's safe return-and to save himself and Tina from the limbo of unrelenting despair.

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*CRIME/ACTION*    This film is both love letter and hate mail to the alpha male. This story's alpha is Mitch who lives buried in suburban London, having turned his back on his previous life of casual violence and intimidation as part of a legendary South East London firm. In the modern day he's the doyen of respectability and quiet confidence. This film holds a mirror up to Mitch and shows him his inner monster once again, buried deep in both DNA and psyche, desperate to break out and wreak havoc.

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*ACTION/ADEVENTURE*   The worldwide phenomenon of The Hunger Games continues to set the world on fire with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, which finds Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in District 13 after she literally shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin (Julianne Moore) and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and a nation moved by her courage. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 is directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Danny Strong and Peter Craig and produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The novel on which the film is based is the third in a trilogy written by Suzanne Collins that has over 65 million copies in print in the U.S. alone.

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*COMEDY*    In the action-comedy The Interview, Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show "Skylark Tonight." When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of the show, they land an interview with him in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists. As Dave and Aaron prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans change when the CIA recruits them, perhaps the two least-qualified men imaginable, to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

New Movies This Week Merry Xmas

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*ACTION/ADVENTURE*    A young soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a terrifying riot on the streets of Belfast in 1971. Unable to tell friend from foe, the raw recruit must survive the night alone and find his way to safety through a disorienting, alien and deadly landscape.

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*COMEDY*   It's been 20 years and Harry Dunn has found something out - he has a daughter! Lloyd Christmas, his equally dim witted friend, takes one look at a picture of her, develops a crush, and insists the two track her down. What ensues when Harry finally agrees is a bizarre encounter with an old lady and more hilarity because of their sheer stupidity.

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*ACTION/CRIME*    A chronicle tale of the life of furniture salesman turned notorious  bank robber Eddie Dodson. "Electric Slide" is based on a true story of high-living, charismatic Dodson (Sturgess), the owner of a posh Los Angeles furniture store who robbed a bank to impress his new girlfriend (Lucas), and became a serial robber known as "The Gentleman Bandit." In the 1980s, Eddie Dodson owned a high-end boutique furniture store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. He lived the Hollywood lifestyle, partying and hanging out with celebrity friends when he fell in love and took the biggest risk of his life to impress his new girlfriend - he robbed a bank.

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 *ACTION/ADVENTURE*    From acclaimed director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Prometheus) comes the epic adventure "Exodus: Gods and Kings," the story of one man's daring courage to take on the might of an empire. Using state of the art visual effects and 3D immersion, Scott brings new life to the story of the defiant leader Moses (Christian Bale) as he rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

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*ACTION/ADVENTURE*    In theaters 2/27/2015  A mysterious warrior teams up with the daughter and son of a deposed Chinese Emperor to defeat their cruel brother, who seeks their deaths.

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*SUPSPENSE/THRILLER*    When 3 college kids take a summer job its a chance of a lifetime to bartend at a bar in the middle of a lake! The bar has been around for over a hundred years and is presumed by many locals to be haunted, after the owner killed himself many years before. Unfortunately they miss the last boat off the island and are stuck trying to find a way off. As darkness falls, they quickly realize things are very different after hours as they are hunted by the paranormal caretaker.

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*COMEDY*    Super spy teams aren't born...they're hatched. Discover the secrets of the greatest and most hilarious covert birds in the global espionage biz: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private. These elitists of the elite are joining forces with a chic undercover organization, The North Wind. Led by handsome and husky Agent Classified (we could tell you his name, but then...you know), voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. Together, they must stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine, voiced by John Malkovich, from destroying the world as we know it. 

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 *COMEDY*    Adam Murphy had it all: a great job, an endless parade of gorgeous women, and the charm to make it all look well-earned. After a "hot" streak in which he sleeps with thirteen girls in two months, he finds himself faced with an embarrassing sexually transmitted infection. Adam now must do the right thing and take on the awkward task of notifying each one of his lovers!

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*CRIME/THRILLER*    THE DROP is a new crime drama from Michaël R. Roskam, the Academy Award nominated director of Bullhead. Based on a screenplay from Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone), THE DROP follows lonely bartender Bob Saginowski (Tom Hardy) through a covert scheme of funneling cash to local gangsters - "money drops" in the underworld of Brooklyn bars. Under the heavy hand of his employer and cousin Marv (James Gandolfini), Bob finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past. 

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*THRILLER/CRIME*    A disturbing psychological thriller, that engages the audience to the point that it is always caught off guard, thus changing the point of view of the two main performers.

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*DRAMA*    Twin brothers are unknowingly separated at birth; one of them becomes an iconic rock 'n' roll star, while the other struggles to balance his love for music and pleasing his father.

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*THRILLER/CRIME*    A young girl bravely travels up to her dead Aunts cabin for creative inspiration. Marie gets more than she bargained for, when she soon realizes she is not alone. Confronted by evil spirits, she is forced to fight for her life.

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*CRIME/ACTION*    A group of aging gangsters go on a vigilante killing spree when one of their number is murdered by a street gang. When a retired villain is murdered by a feral street gang, his brother Ritchie Archer returns to London from Spain to investigate. With the police thwarted at every turn, Ritchie decides to take the law into his own hands and bring old school justice back to the streets of East London. Rounding up his old firm, he leads a vigilante crusade against the vicious young criminals, using every grisly method at his disposal to find and punish his brother’s killers. A vicious street war follows, with no prisoners taken on either side, leading to a dramatic conclusion as the feral youths lay siege to a hospital Ritchie’s firm is holed up in. They’re outgunned and outnumbered, but this firm has never been outclassed yet. 

New Blockbuster Movies This Week

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*ACTION/ADVENTURE*    When everyday family man Bill loses his job, his peaceful life quickly spirals out of control. Terrified that he will lose everything he has achieved, he turns to a life of crime, descending into drastic and dangerous measures to stay ahead of the law. As he fights to provide for his family, Bill discovers that the only thing worse than getting caught is getting away with it.

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*CRIME/DRAMA*    Troubled 17-year-old Sean Holloway falls in with a group of teenage outcasts called "The Misfits" whose charismatic leader, Ricky, takes him under his wing. But as Sean becomes more and more entangled in the gang's anarchist ways, things begin to spiral out of control, and Sean realizes Ricky is a ticking time bomb on a rampage of revenge. On the eve of Halloween, as night comes, everything explodes.

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*MYSTERY/THRILLER*    In this dark and haunting thriller, Five Bangkok tourists have gone missing after making online contact with an unknown party. Newly-arrived Allie Westbrook (Tammin Sursok) meets a pair of ex-pats, Michael and Marit, who perform on a provocative interactive website. The dark menace beneath Michael's easy charm and the strange magnetism of the group's leader, Marit, drive Allie to the brink of madness. In a city where foreigners come to re-invent themselves, Allie learns, too late, that nothing is what it seems. 

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*ACTION/HORROR*    A young man named Jack Wells joins a group of archaeologists on a journey to explore the tomb of the cursed Egyptian king Neferu. Unbeknownst to Jack, however, the king's Mummy returns from the dead and embarks on a new reign of terror.

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*COMEDY*    Winner of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival's Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent, Dear White People is a sly, provocative satire of race relations in the age of Obama. Writer/director Justin Simien follows a group of African American students as they navigate campus life and racial politics at a predominantly white college in a sharp and funny feature film debut that earned him a spot on Variety's annual "10 Directors to Watch."

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*ACTION/COMEDY*    It's days before Christmas and reindeer are found running loose through the streets of London. Meanwhile an astonished 9 year-old Tom (newcomer Kit Connor) discovers Santa (Jim Broadbent) in the garden shed. He has crash-landed while test-driving his new sleigh and enlists Tom and his father Steve (Rafe Spall) to help him get back to Lapland. But what happens when Santa is arrested and thrown into prison? Will Steve and Tom be able to break him out in time for Christmas? Get Santa is a heart-warming and funny family adventure about a father and son reconnecting to discover the magic of Christmas.

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*MYSTERY/SUSPENSE*     Film Of The Year! GONE GIRL - directed by David Fincher and based upon the global bestseller by Gillian Flynn - unearths the secrets at the heart of a modern marriage. On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) reports that his beautiful wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick's portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?

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*ACTION/COMEDY*    The follow-up to the 2011 hit comedy "Horrible Bosses" reunites Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis as everyone's favorite working stiffs: Nick, Dale and Kurt. Jennifer Aniston ("We're the Millers"), and Oscar (R) winners Jamie Foxx ("Ray") and Kevin Spacey ("American Beauty," "The Usual Suspects") also reprise their "Horrible Bosses" starring roles, while Chris Pine ("Star Trek: Into Darkness") and Oscar (R) winner Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained," "Inglourious Basterds") star as new adversaries standing between the guys and their dreams of success. 

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*ACTION/ADVENTURE*    Mike Mayhall's psychological thriller Jake's Road tells the tale of a man suffering from amnesia who is unable to recall the person responsible for murders that happened while he was on a vacation with friends. He can recall fleeting images from the trip, and tries to piece together the truth.

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*MYSTERY/SUSPENSE*    Terri (Taraji P. Henson), a devoted wife and mother of two, lives an ideal life that takes a dramatic turn when her home and children are threatened by Colin (Idris Elba), a charming stranger who smooth-talks his way into her house, claiming car trouble. The unexpected invitation leaves her and her family terrorized and fighting for survival.

 

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*CRIME/DRAMA*    A motivational book written by a mysterious man (Tom Berenger) goes viral and quickly gains popularity, inspiring a group of people that includes a journalist (Kevin Connolly), his editor (Sylvester Stallone), a former inmate (Kyra Sedgwick), a hip-hop mogul (Nelly), an actor (Cary Elwes) and an undercover cop (Thomas Jane) to re-evaluate their choices and decisions by confronting their fears in hopes of creating more positive lives. REACH ME also stars Terry Crews, Danny Aiello, Kelsey Grammer, Lauren Cohan, Ryan Kwanten, Tom Sizemore, and is written/directed by John Herzfield. The film is produced by Rebekah Chaney, Cassian Elwes, John Herzfield, and Buddy Patrick. 

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*ACTION/CRIME*    Four friends - John, Ben, Tim and Michael - turned first-time robbers, get stranded in Eastern Europe through a series of misadventures and have to find their way back home. To do so, they'll have to overcome hit men, whores, corrupt cops, smugglers and more, all while rediscovering each other as friends.

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*SUSPENSE/THRILER*    Dan Summers and his pregnant wife, Mindy, fight for their lives when they are held hostage in their car by an unseen gunman on the side of a desolate mountain road. Roadside may have indie roots and a tiny budget but this movie offers massive thrills and a unique concept reminiscent of the films of Hitchcock. Written and directed by Eric England (of Madison County fame), Roadside stars Ace Marrero and Katie Stegeman as Dan and Mindy Summers, a young married couple with a child on the way traveling through the mountains to see their families for Christmas. Things quickly turn into a nightmare as an unknown gunman sets his sights on the couple and holds them on the side of the road against their will. As the cold sets in and their gas starts to run low the young couple must find a way to escape before they find out how far the gunman is willing to go.

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*ACTION/CRIME*    In The Equalizer, Denzel Washington plays McCall, a man who believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when McCall meets Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can't stand idly by - he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer. 

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*SUSPENSE/DRAMA*    Oscar worthy! 1864: as war ravages the nation, on the outskirts of the Civil War business as usual continues for slave-owners and traders. THE RETRIEVAL follows Will, a fatherless 13 year-old boy, who survives by working with a white bounty hunter gang who sends him to earn the trust of runaway slaves and wanted freedmen in order to lure them back to the South. On a dangerous mission into the free North to find Nate, a fugitive freedman, things go wrong, and Will and Nate find themselves alone and on the run. As the bond between them unexpectedly grows, Will becomes consumed by conflicting emotions as he faces a gut-wrenching final decision: to betray the father figure he's finally found, or risk being killed by his gang. Thrilling, but grounded in historical research, THE RETRIEVAL serves as an insight into the little-told story of the grey area between slavery and emancipation, and the horrific moral dilemma that comes with being forced to betray your fellow man.

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*MYSTERY/SUSPENSE*    Based on Laura Wade's critically-acclaimed & best seller book & play "Posh", in which two first-year Oxford University students, Miles and Alistair, join the institution's infamous "dining club" - where money and privilege reign and rules are made to be broken. Two first-year students at Oxford University join the infamous Riot Club, where reputations can be made or destroyed over the course of a single evening.

New Movies This Week Happy Holidays!!

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*ACTION/ADVENTURE*    Based on the comic book by the creator of Ghost in the Shell, a young female soldier Deunan and her cyborg partner Briareos survive through the post World War 3 apocalyptic New York in search of human's future hope, the legendary city of Olympus.

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*ACTION/ADVENTURE*    A notorious Middle Eastern terrorist (Dourif) is plotting a major attack on the U.S. that includes detonating a powerful nuke in the heart of Los Angeles; the only thing standing in his way is an unlikely duo formed by a mysterious vampire (Bailey Smith) and a rogue cop (Elliott) who reluctantly join forces to thwart his gang of motley terrorists before it's too late.

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*CRIME/ACTION*    In theaters 1/5/2015  Nick Tortano is a smooth-talking, ambitious criminal from the streets of Boston. After years spent working for and idolizing the Italian gangsters he finally proves himself to the boss and becomes a made man. However, once inside, Nick conflicts with a moneymaker for the Mafia and begins to drive a wedge between him and Boss.

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*CRIME/ACTION*    Following his heroic actions in He Who Dares, Christopher Lowe is summoned to 10 Downing Street to be dishonorably discharged from the SAS for disobeying a direct order, despite the fact his actions saved the Prime Minister's only daughter. However, when kidnapper, Alexander Holt, escapes from prison and plots the kidnap of the PM, there's only one man to turn to.

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*CRIME/THRILLER*    In theaters 2/10/2015. Veteran CIA agent Evan Lake has been ordered to retire. But when his protégé uncovers evidence that Lake's nemesis, the terrorist Banir, has resurfaced, Lake goes rogue, embarking on a perilous, intercontinental mission to eliminate his sworn enemy.

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*HORROR/THRILLER*    Seven friends find themselves on an isolated farm. Here, they discover an ancient book, which summons demons from the surrounding woods. Now, these friends will have to find a way out of the fields, if they want to survive.

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*THRILLER/HORROR*    After a family is involved in an accident, they take refuge in a secluded inn where they free a girl locked in a basement without knowing she's an ancient evil spirit.

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*SUSPENSE/DRAMA*    An aspiring actress makes a pact with her fiancé to take a job as an exotic dancer to care for her cancer stricken father. Once the pact the couple made is broken, their lives are changed forever. Based on the true story of director Greg Carter and his girlfriend prior to their moving to Los Angeles.

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*CRIME/ACTION*    When Lou Bloom, a driven man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.

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*ACTION/CRIME*    Ethan Tell is a small time crook who makes a big-time score when he steals 1 million dollars. Ironically, his life radically changes for the worst when he discovers that stealing the money was the easy part and he now must keep his partner, his wife, his parole officer, and two corrupt detectives from stealing it from him.

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*CRIME/THRILLER*    An evocative crime thriller that captures the chilling action and sharp wit of Peter Temple's acclaimed novel The Broken Shore. In this gripping adaptation, Detective Joe Cashin uncovers a web of lies, betrayal and police corruption in a small coastal town where tensions are at boiling point and the shocking face behind the community's respectable mask is slowly unveiled.

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*COMEDY*    On Christmas Eve, Private slips out of the zoo for some last-minute shopping. In the city he's mistaken as a cute chew toy by a mean old woman named Nana, who gives Private to her vicious dog, Mr. Chew. On a mission to rescue their penguin pal, Skipper, Kowalski and Rico risk life and flipper as they take on Nana and Mr. Chew with an explosive solution that will leave you laughing out loud.

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*CRIME/THRILLER*    A naïve man transporting lethal narcotics in his stomach is detained by the police and must defy bodily functions and withhold the evidence..literally.

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*COMEDY*    The story takes place after a Christmas holiday with the regular toys finding themselves trapped in unusual territory with a group of new and delusional action figures. Together they must find their way back to their child's bedroom and to safety.