Directed by Stephen Frears
Produced by Tim Bevan, Rudd Simmons
Written by Nick Hornby (book),D.V. DeVincentis,Steve Pink,John Cusack,Scott Rosenberg
Starring John CusackIben, HjejleJack Black,Todd Louiso,Joan Cusack,Catherine Zeta-Jones,Lisa Bonet
Music by Howard Shore
Cinematography Seamus McGarvey
Editing by Mick Audsley
Studio Working Title Films
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s) March 28, 2000
Running time 113 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $20,000,000 (est.)
Gross revenue $27,277,055 (USA)

High Fidelity is a 2000 film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby. After seeing the film, Hornby expressed his happiness with John Cusack’s performance as Rob Gordon (changed from Rob Fleming in the book), saying, “At times, it appears to be a film in which John Cusack reads my book”.

Production

Nick Hornby’s book was optioned by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures in 1995 where it went into development for three years.[1] Disney boss Joe Roth had a conversation with recording executive Kathy Nelson who recommended John Cusack and his writing and producing partners D.V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink adapt the book. She had worked previously with them on Grosse Pointe Blank and felt that they had the right sensibilities for the material.[2] According to Cusack, DeVincentis is the closest to the record-obsessive characters in the film, owning 1,000 vinyl records and thousands of CDs and tapes.[3] They wrote a treatment that was immediately greenlit by Roth.[2]

Screenplay

The writers decided to change the book’s setting from London to Chicago because they were more familiar with the city and it also had a “great alternative music scene”, according to Pink.[4] Cusack said, “When I read the book I knew where everything was in Chicago. I knew where the American Rob went to school and dropped out, where he used to spin records, I knew two or three different record shops when I was growing up that had a Rob, a Dick and a Barry in them”.[5] Charlotte Tudor, of the film’s distributor, Buena Vista, said: “Chicago has the same feel as north London, there is a vibrant music scene, a lot of the action is set in smoky bars and, of course, there is the climate. But everyone, including Nick, felt that geography was not the central issue. It has a universal appeal”.[6]

Cusack found that the greatest challenge adapting the novel was pulling off Rob Gordon’s frequent breaking of the fourth wall and talking directly to the audience.[1] The screenwriters did this in order to convey Rob’s inner confessional thoughts and were influenced by a similar technique in the Michael Caine film, Alfie.[1] Cusack rejected this approach because he thought that “there’d just be too much of me”.[1] Once director Stephen Frears signed on to direct, he suggested using this technique and everyone agreed to use it.[1]

Cusack and the other writers thought of the idea to have Rob have a conversation with Bruce Springsteen in his head, inspired by a reference in Hornby’s book where the narrator wishes he could handle his past girlfriends as well as the musician does in the song, “Bobby Jean” on Born in the U.S.A..[7] They never thought that they would actually get the musician to be in the film but that putting him in the script would get the studio excited about it.[1] Cusack knew Springsteen socially and called the musician up and pitched the idea. Springsteen asked for a copy of the script and afterwards agreed to do it.[1]

Casting

The filmmakers read with a lot of actresses for the role of Laura. Frears was at the Berlin Film Festival and saw Mifune’s Last Song starring Iben Hjejle and realized that he had found the actress for the role.

Frears read Hornby’s book and enjoyed it but did not connect with the material because it was not about his generation.[8] He accepted the job because he wanted to work with Cusack again (they had worked together previously on The Grifters) and liked the idea of changing the setting from London to Chicago.[8] The director was also responsible for insisting on keeping Jack Black on as Barry.[8] Frears has said that many people from the studio would come to watch his rushes.[9]

The plot of High Fidelity centers on Rob Gordon (John Cusack), a self-confessed audiophile whose flair for understanding women is less than par for the course. After getting dumped by his current girlfriend, Laura (Iben Hjejle), he decides to look up some of his old flames in an attempt to figure out what he keeps doing wrong in his relationships.

He spends his days at his record store, Championship Vinyl, where he holds court over the customers that drift through. Helping Rob in his task of musical elitism are Dick (Todd Louiso) and Barry (Jack Black), the “musical moron twins,” as he refers to them. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of all things musical, they compile “top five” lists for every conceivable occasion, openly mock the ignorance of their customers, and, every so often, actually sell a few records. Also there are some teenagers, Vince (Chris Rehmann) and Justin (Ben Carr), who skate near his store. In one busy day at the store, the teenagers try to steal some records and he chases them down, making his dislike for them bigger, until one day, he listens to a recording that they did and offers them a record deal, starting his own label called “Top 5 Records”. During his off hours, he pines for the lost girlfriend Laura and does his best to win her back.

One of the challenges the screenwriters faced was figuring out which songs would go where in the film because Rob, Dick and Barry “are such musical snobs,” according to Cusack.[1] He and his screenwriting partners listened to 2,000 songs and picked 70 song cues.[1]
High Fidelity (Music from the Motion Picture)
High Fidelity (Music from the Motion Picture) cover
Soundtrack by Various artists
Released May 28, 2000
Recorded 1999
Genre Soundtrack
Length 65:01
Label Hollywood
Professional reviews

1. “You’re Gonna Miss Me” – 13th Floor Elevators
2. “Ev’rybody’s Gonna Be Happy” – The Kinks
3. “I’m Wrong About Everything” – John Wesley Harding
4. “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” – The Velvet Underground
5. “Always See Your Face” – Love
6. “Most of the Time” – Bob Dylan
7. “Fallen for You” – Sheila Nicholls
8. “Dry the Rain” – The Beta Band
9. “Shipbuilding” – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
10. “Cold Blooded Old Times” – (Smog)
11. “Let’s Get It On” – Barry Jive & The Uptown Five
12. “Lo Boob Oscillator” – Stereolab
13. “Inside Game” – Royal Trux
14. “Who Loves the Sun” – The Velvet Underground
15. “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)” – Stevie Wonder

The film begins in The Hive, a top-secret genetic research facility owned by the Umbrella Corporation located deep beneath Raccoon City. A technician loads vials of blue and green liquid into a secured case, then tosses one blue vial onto the floor inside a lab, exits and seals the room. The vial breaks and the facility’s security system, the Red Queen detects possible infection, and in response, seals the Hive and kills everyone inside.

Elsewhere, a woman known only as “Alice” (Milla Jovovich) (though she is not named onscreen) awakens in an empty mansion with amnesia. She finds a picture showing that she is married; other clues, like concealed automatic weapons, suggest she is not a simple housewife. After she steps outside the mansion door, a man yanks her back inside; the two are immediately seized by a group of commandos. The man, Matthew (known as Matt throughout the film) Addison, identifies himself as a police officer, but the commandos handcuff him regardless. The team opens a mirror-door to an underground train station. While taking a route to the Hive underground train station, the team discovers an unconscious man, known as Spence (James Purefoy). Alice recognizes him as the man in the wedding photograph. Questioning reveals that he also suffers from amnesia. When the train arrives at the Hive, the commandos prepare to breach the Hive.

The “One”, as he is called, is the head of the commandos and explains that Alice, Spence, and the commandos, are employees of the Umbrella Corporation, and it was Umbrella that sent the team to investigate why the Red Queen killed all the Hive staff. The computer has characteristics of a person, such as a gender (female). She is responsible for releasing a nerve gas in the mansion which has caused Alice and Spence’s amnesia. The crew find their way to the Dining Hall B up to the Queen’s chamber. However, as the bulk of the team attempt to disable the Red Queen, four of them are trapped in the corridor leading to the Queen’s Chamber and are torn apart by a laser tripped when the Queen’s door was opened. This leaves Alice , Spence, Kaplan, J.D., Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) and Matt as the only survivors. Alice and Kaplan shut the Queen down, but in doing so open the doors of the facility, releasing the undead staff and experiments from the laboratories in which they were imprisoned. A battle between commandos and flesh-eating zombies commences. Rain becomes infected after receiving multiple bite wounds, and a battle ensues in which Matt and Alice are separated and J.D. is eaten alive by zombies. Kaplan, Rain and Spence remain in the control room in front of Red Queen’s chamber. When Alice and Matt were together in another facility of the Hive, they talked together and Alice discovers that Matt was not a police officer, and used the title as a cover in his goal to help take down the Umbrella Corporation. Matt, with the help of his sister, Lisa, unsuccessfully attempts to smuggle a sample of the T-Virus, the cause of the undead. Matt believes this to be the fault of Lisa’s contact, who supposedly betrayed her. Throughout the film Alice has flashbacks, showing herself as Lisa’s contact, but Alice is not fully aware of her role in the events.
Milla Jovovich as the protagonist, Alice

Soon, the survivors are once more united at the Queen’s chamber and are forced to switch her back on for aid in an exit. Kaplan overrides the Queen’s circuit-breaker, causing the next time she is disabled to be permanent, and the Red Queen somewhat agrees to aid the team. As Alice and the others try to escape through the maintenance tunnels, they are ambushed by zombies. Rain becomes severely injured and begins to weaken, while Kaplan is separated from the rest of the team and is assumed dead. On their way to the train, Alice remembers that an anti-virus exists that could cure infection. However, arriving at the lab, they realize that the vials containing the T-Virus and anti-virus are gone. Spence, gaining his memory, is then shown as the person who released the virus. He points a gun at the survivors, and threatens them, trapping the others in the laboratory and making for the train where the case containing the anti-virus is. Before he can inject himself, however, he is killed by a mutated creature from a breed, called the Licker. The Queen offers to spare Alice and Matt’s life if they kill Rain, who has been infected for the longest period of time. As the Licker attempts to bash through the lab window to get to them, Alice smashes the Queen’s monitor, and there is suddenly a power-outage. The laboratory door opens to reveal Kaplan, who has permanently disabled the Red Queen.
A newspaper headline displaying: The Dead Walk! as an homage to George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead.

The four survivors hurry to get to the other end of the railway before it shuts down in a quarantine attempt. However, the Licker is on the train; it scratches Matt and kills Kaplan. Alice does battle with the Licker while Matt kills Rain who has turned into a zombie. Matt opens the trap door the Licker is standing on. The Licker is dragged along the track and burned to death. Matt and Alice emerge as the only survivors, and escape at the last moment when the doors close. Matt begins to suffer a mutation from an injury inflicted by the Licker, and the two are seized by Umbrella scientists. The scientists sent Matt into the “Nemesis Program”. Alice attempts to fend off the scientists, but is ultimately subdued. As the struggle fades to black, the words of one of scientists are heard, “We’re reopening the Hive. I want to know what really went on down there. Just do it.” Later, Alice awakens at the Raccoon City Hospital and locked in an observation room. After escaping the room and wandering the hospital’s empty halls, Alice exits the building to find Raccoon City abandoned with signs of chaos everywhere. Alice takes a shotgun from a nearby police car, anticipating the danger ahead[3], then the camera pans to show the destruction of the city, as the film ends.

Directed by Paul Anderson
Produced by Paul AndersonJeremy BoltBernd EichingerDavid Johnson
Written by Screenplay:Paul Anderson
Original Story: Shinji Mikami
Starring Milla JovovichMichelle Rodriguez
Editing by Alexander BernerMehdi Nebbou
Distributed by Screen Gems
Release date(s) United States:March 15, 2002
United Kingdom:July 12, 2002
Japan:August 8, 2002
Running time 101 minutes
Country United KingdomUnited StatesGermany
Language English
Budget US$ 32 million[1](GB£ 16 million)
Gross revenue US$ 102,441,078[1](GB£ 51,220,539)
Followed by Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Resident Evil is a 2002 science fiction horror film based on the same titled series of Survival horror games developed by Capcom. Borrowing elements from the Resident Evil 1 and 2 video games, the film follows an amnesiac heroine Alice, and a band of Umbrella Corporation commandos, as they attempt to escape a secret underground facility that at one time was filled with people is now overrun with zombies. The film was directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. The film was commercially successful, grossing $102,441,078 worldwide; however, it received many negative reviews from critics such as Roger Ebert[2].

Although Resident Evil received some negative reviews, financially it has been successful enough to have several sequels made. Resident Evil was followed by two sequels: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), as well as a feature-length CGI film, Resident Evil: Degeneration in December 2008. Anderson continued his involvement in the series, writing and producing the sequels, however, leaving directing to Alexander Witt and Russell Mulcahy. It stars Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, and James Purefoy.

Artist name Song lyrics
Slipknot Lyrics My Plague (New Abuse Mix)
Marilyn Manson Lyrics The Fight Song (Slipknot Remix)
Coal Chamber Lyrics Something Told Me
Adema Lyrics Everyone
Fear Factory Lyrics Invisible Wounds (The Suture Mix)
Static-X Lyrics Anything But This
The Crystal Method Name Of The Game
Mudvayne Lyrics Dig (Everything And Nothing Remix)
Rammstein Lyrics Hallelujah
Depeche Mode Lyrics Dirt
Method Man Lyrics Release Yo’ Self (Prodigy Mix)
Ill Nino Lyrics What Comes Around (Day Of The Dead Mix)
Saliva Lyrics 800
Five Pointe O Lyrics The Infinity
Marilyn Manson Lyrics Resident Evil Main Title Theme (Score)
Marilyn Manson Lyrics Seizure Of Power (Score)
Marilyn Manson Lyrics Reunion (Score)
Marilyn Manson Lyrics Cleansing (Score)

Click

Rotten Tomatoes reports that 31% of top critics gave the film a positive review, based on 161 reviews giving it a “Rotten” rating with an average score of 4.7 out of 10. Stating, “This latest Adam Sandler vehicle borrows shamelessly from It’s A Wonderful Life and Back To The Future, and fails to produce the necessary laughs that would forgive such imitation.” Metacritic gave it a score of 45 out of 100 which indicates “mixed or average reviews”

Box office

As of June 3, 2007, Click has grossed $137,355,633 in the United States and $100,325,666 elsewhere, with a total gross of $237,681,299.

Awards and nominations

* Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup, making it the first ever film starring Adam Sandler to receive a nomination.
* 33rd People’s Choice Awards: Favorite Movie Comedy (won)
* 2007 Kids’ Choice Awards: Favorite Movie (nominated)
* 2007 Kids’ Choice Awards: Favorite Movie Actor (won)

The plot summary in this article is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the content. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (December 2007)

Michael Newman is an architect with a wife, Donna, and two children, Ben and Samantha. One night after Michael loses his temper at the amount of remote controls in the house, he goes in search of a universal remote control for his appliances. Finding most stores closed, he meets Morty, an eccentric inventor who gives him a remote control answering to the description of “universal”, warning Michael that it can never be returned.
The Click remote.

To Michael’s amazement, he finds out that the remote controls the universe, anticipating and interpreting his wishes. After some initial fun with it, Michael discovers the remote is programmed to skip or fast-forward through sickness, sexual intercourse, showering, traffic, arguments with Donna, and promotions. In each case, he is alive but on “autopilot” during the interim, so he has no conscious experience of what happened. Michael tries to destroy the remote, but it keeps regenerating.

Thereafter, Michael is put into “autopilot” for ten years until the year 2017, and a further six years until 2023 to discover that Donna has divorced him; Michael himself has become grossly overweight and is diagnosed with cancer. Later, he finds that his father Ted died during Michael’s sickness while both were estranged. During Michael’s grief, Morty appears and reveals that he is the Angel of Death. Upon hearing this, Michael tries to attack Morty, but is unable to do so owing to Morty’s ability of teleportation.

Fearing that Morty is about to attack him, Michael wishes to go to a happy time in his life, and fast forwards seven years into the future. He arrives at Ben’s wedding in 2030. Michael is overcome with a popped artery and taken to hospital. He tells his son Ben that family always comes first, and his daughter Samantha that he loves her very much. Morty appears, says it’s time to go and fades away as Michael dies with Ben lying on his father’s chest, crying.

There is then a white flash, and Michael wakes up in the present day believing his misadventure to have been a dream, he rushes to visit his father, to atone and invite his parents to dine with him every day. He then reassures Donna, Ben, and Samantha of his affection for them. At the end of the movie, Michael finds the familiar remote on his kitchen counter, bearing a note from Morty stating “Michael, like I said, good guys need a break. I know you’ll do the right thing this time, Love Morty. P.S. Your wife’s rockin’ body still drives me crazy.” This shows that the misadventure was not all a dream, but Morty has rewound Michael’s life back to this point to give him another chance. Michael throws the remote in the garbage and begins to enjoy life.