Ecstasy

USA / English
Drama / Thriller

A single church-going mother desperately tries to save her two daughters from walking down the same dark path she was once on; and a young woman fights against addiction to a mysterious party drug.

Bodyguard

Asia / Hindi
Action / Comedy / Romance

Lovely Singh (Salman Khan) is the bodyguard of Sartaj Rana's (Raj Babbar) daughter Divya Rana (Kareena Kapoor). He is very devoted to his duties but irritates her all the time by following her everywhere. Consequently, Divya and her friend (Hazel Keech) call Lovely and start a prank love affair. Lovely starts loving the mystery person but doesn't realizes that it is Divya (who also falls in love with him) who was behind all of this. Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar) suspects him and Divya to be in love and sends criminals to kill him in case his lover turns out to be Divya. Sensing this, Divya sends her friend to Lovely to tell him her true identity. In a twist, it is revealed that the friend is also in love with Lovely. She falsely accepts that she is her strange lover. They marry and have a child. She dies early and reveals to her son about her fraud and asks him to unite Lovely and Divya.

Beautiful Lies

France / French
Comedy / Romance

An anonymous love letter leads to a slew of misunderstandings in this lighthearted comedy starring Audrey Tautou (Amelie). When Emilie opens a heartfelt love letter from a secret admirer, her first instinct is to throw it in the trash. The skeptical salon owner has a change of heart, however, when she realizes what such a sentiment would mean to her lonely, despondent mother Maddie (Nathalie Baye). On a whim, Emilie forwards the letter, and goes on with her day. But later, when Maddie happens across Jean (Sami Bouajila) – a smitten Arab handyman and the original author of the amorous note – the mother and daughter find themselves in a heated competition for the same man.

2011 MTV European Music Awards

USA / English
Music

IT was MT-glee yesterday as music’s biggest superstars turned Belfast into an all-night party zone on a night to remember. Lady Gaga whipped fans into a frenzy with a breathtaking performance and then hit the city’s Europa Hotel for a lavish £200,000 awards bash party. See Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Selena Gomez, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jason Derulo and David Guetta perform live at the 2011 EMA in Belfast, Ireland.

Rise of The Planet of The Apes

USA / English
Action / Drama / SciFi

A single act of both compassion and arrogance leads to a war unlike any other — and to the “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” The Oscar-winning visual effects team that brought to life the worlds of “Avatar” and “Lord of the Rings” is breaking new ground, creating a CGI ape that delivers a dramatic performance of unprecedented emotion and intelligence, and epic battles on which rest the upended destinies of man and primate. The Escapist director Rupert Wyatt takes the helm for this Planet of the Apes prequel centering on genetically engineered chimp Caesar (Andy Serkis), who was created in a San Francisco lab by an ambitious scientist (James Franco), and who uses his powerful intellect to lead an ape uprising against all of humankind.

Margin Call

USA / English
Drama / Thriller

Set in the high-stakes world of the financial industry, Margin Call is an entangling thriller involving the key players at an investment firm during one perilous 24-hour period in the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis. When an entry-level analyst unlocks information that could prove to be the downfall of the firm, a roller-coaster ride ensues as decisions both financial and moral catapult the lives of all involved to the brink of disaster. Writer/director J.C. Chandor’s enthralling first feature is a stark and bravely authentic portrayal of the financial industry and its denizens as they confront the decisions that shape our global future.

Melancholia

USA / English
Drama / SciFi

Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård) are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law (Kiefer Sutherland). Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide into the Earth.

The Holding

UK / English
Thriller

In the countryside of England, lonely farmer Nancy raises her daughters Hanna and Amy with financial difficulties in her farm with her only employee Cooper since her husband has disappeared a long time ago. Her neighbor Karsten and his son intend to buy her farm and are pressing the family in an abusive way. Out of the blue, wanderer Aden appears in the farm and helps Nancy with the delivery of the offspring. Aden explains that he was a friend of her husband Dean in an offshore rig and he offers to work for food and lodging. Nancy accepts the offer and soon she has a love affair with Aden. But either Nancy or Aden have dark secrets.

Conan the Barbarian

USA / English
Action / Adventure / Fantasy

A quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds, as Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.

Friends with Benefits

USA / English
Comedy

A young female headhunter (Mila Kunis) in New York convinces a potential recruit (Justin Timberlake) to leave his job in San Francisco behind and accept a job in the big apple. Despite an attraction to each other, both realize they’re everything they’ve been running from in a relationship and decide to become friends…with benefits. It’s the perfect arrangement–until they realize there’s no such thing as no strings attached.

Hellraiser Revelation

USA / English
Horror

Two friends in Mexico discover the Lament Configuration and unleash Pinhead, but one decides to try to survive by swapping himself with someone else. Once they go missing, family members go in search of them, but find Pinhead instead.

Rare Exports A Christmas Tale

Finland / Finnish
Action / Comedy / Fantasy

It is the week before Christmas when young and adventurous Pietari uncovers the truth about Santa Claus. Legend has it that the jolly old man is more of a foe than a friend. A group of American scientists is also looking to uncover some facts in Pietari’s quiet rural town in northern Finland. It turns out that the most well-kept Christmas secret ever lies 500 meters below ground. This dark secret and Pietari unleash an unforeseen chain of events, after which, Christmas will never, ever, be the same again.

The Michael Jackson Life of an Icon

USA / English
Documentary

In Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon, prepare to go behind the headlines as Michael Jackson’s mother Katherine, brother Tito, sister Rebbie and more than fifty friends, peers and associates share intimate and fascinating stories about the singer’s illustrious life. Directed by Andrew Eastel and produced by television star David Gest, Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon is not only a celebration of Michael’s life, but also a powerful behind-the-scenes account of the star’s early years with the Jackson 5, his rise to global solo-stardom through to the final moments before his sudden death in 2009.

Vantage Point

USA / English
Action / Crime / Drama

The President of the United States is in Salamanca, Spain, about to address the city in a public square. We see a plain-clothes cop, his girlfriend with another man, a mother and child, an American tourist with a video camera, and a Secret Service agent newly returned from medical leave. Shots ring out and the President falls; a few minutes later, we hear a distant explosion, then a bomb goes off in the square. Those minutes are retold, several times, emphasizing different characters' actions. Gradually, we discover who's behind the plot. Is the Secret Service one step ahead, or have the President's adversaries thought of everything?

The Robber

Germany / German
Biography / Crime / Drama

A champion marathoner leads a double life as a serial bank robber, sprinting between fixes (and away from police cavalcades) as many as three times a day. A lean, visceral study of pathological compulsion from Austrian director Benjamin Heisenberg, featuring a riveting central performance by Andreas Lust (Munich).

The Machinist

USA / English
Drama / Mystery / Thriller

Trevor Reznik is a lathe-operator who suffers from insomnia and hasn't slept in a year. Slowly, he begins to doubt his sanity as increasingly bizarre things start happening at work and at home. Haunted by a deformed co-worker who no one seems to think exists, and an ongoing stream of indecipherable Post-It notes he keeps finding on his fridge, he attempts to investigate what appears to be a mysterious plot against him and, in the process, embroils two women in his madness.

The Hike

USA / English
Horror

A young soldier, Kate (Zara Phythian), returns from a tour in Afghanistan after witnessing her boyfriend’s tragic death in combat. With the comfort of her friends, including Torri (Barbara Nedeljacova), she takes the chance to get away on a camping trip to a picturesque, remote area of the British countryside. Wanting to escape their past, the girls begin their expedition into the woods for a peaceful break. As they near Sunset Point, they come across a strange and evasive group of locals who seem to be living off the land. During their journey they also have a friendly encounter with three charming, rock-climbing adventurers, led by Ethan (Ben Loyd Holmes). After the girls find themselves secluded again, Charlie (Jemma Bolt) goes suddenly goes missing, leaving the girls vulnerable in the dangerous woods. As darkness falls, the girls will be forced to rely on each other and their newly formed friendships to find Charlie before it becomes the last hike of their lives.

The Count of Monte Cristo

USA / English
Action / Adventure / Thriller

Edmond Dantés's life and plans to marry the beautiful Mercedes are shattered when his best friend, Fernand, deceives him. After spending 13 miserable years in prison, Dantés escapes with the help of a fellow inmate and plots his revenge, cleverly insinuating himself into the French nobility.

Spy Kids All the Time in the World

USA / English
Action / Adventure / Comedy

A retired spy is called back into action, and to bond with her new step-children, she invites them along for the adventure to stop the evil Timekeeper from taking over the world.

Sint

Netherlands / Dutch
Comedy / Horror

A horror film that depicts St. Nicholas as a murderous bishop who kidnaps and murders children when there is a full moon on December 5.

Speed

USA / English
Action / Adventure / Thriller

Bomber terrorist's elevator plan backfires, so he rigs a bomb to a LA city bus. The stipulation is: once armed, the bus must stay above 50 mph to keep from exploding. Also if LAPD Officer tries to unload any passengers off, Payne will detonate it. Joe Morton co-stars as Jack's superior, and Jeff Daniels supports Jack helping him try to defuse the bomb.

Red Dragon

USA / English
Thriller

Former FBI agent Will Graham, who was once nearly killed by the savage Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter now has no choice but to face him again. It seems Lecter is the only one who can help Graham track down a new serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde -- but can he be trusted?

Master and Commander The Far Side of the World

USA / English
Action / Adventure / Drama

The year is 1805. Europe has fallen to Napoleon, and only the Royal Navy stands in his way to total victory. Off the cost of South America, a new conflict is brewing. Captain Jack “Lucky Jack” Aubrey (Russel Crowe) of the Man-of-War HMS Surprise is under orders to sink or capture the French privateer Acheron, which has been deployed to the region. After seven weeks of uneventful sailing, the Acheron strikes first, all but crippling the Surprise in an engagement in which Aubrey realizes his enemy’s ship is nautically superior to his own. Along with his close friend and confidant Stephan Maturin (Paul Bettany) who also happens to be the ship’s surgeon, Aubrey is now faced with the choice of retreating to England and admitting defeat or remaining at the Acheron’s mercy. Aubrey must now do the impossible if he is to survive, repair his ship, catch up to his enemy and defeat the Acheron–somehow.

Jacob's Ladder

USA / English
Fantasy / Horror / Thriller

A traumatized Vietnam war veteran finds out that his post-war life isn't what he believes it to be when he's attacked by horned creatures in the subway and his dead son comes to visit him...

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

USA / English
Documentary

In 1994, a group of scientists discovered a cave in Southern France perfectly preserved for over 20,000 years and containing the earliest known human paintings. Knowing the cultural significance that the Chauvet Cave holds, the French government immediately cut-off all access to it, save a few archaeologists and paleontologists. But documentary filmmaker, Werner Herzog, has been given limited access, and now we get to go inside examining beautiful artwork created by our ancient ancestors around 32,000 years ago. He asks questions to various historians and scientists about what these humans would have been like and trying to build a bridge from the past to the present.

Carjacked

USA / English
Thriller

Lorraine is a working single mom with an abusive ex-husband who, even after separation, continuously creates problems for her and her 8-year-old son, Chad. On a seemingly normal evening, Lorraine makes a pit-stop at a gas station. When she returns to the car, Chad has company in the back seat! Roy is a dangerous man on the run who, after robbing a bank, needs Lorraine and Chad to get him to the Mexican border.

An Invisible Sign

USA / English
Comedy / Drama / Family

Mona Gray is a 20-year-old loner who, as a child, turned to math for salvation after her father became ill. As an adult, Mona now teaches the subject and must help her students through their own crises.

71 Into The Fire

Asia / Korean
War

This is their remarkable true story… Now, discover one of the greatest events in modern military history and re-live the day when courage came of age. On August 11th, 1950, 71 boy soldiers of the South Korean army singlehandedly held back the elite North Korean 766 Commando Brigade for a full 11 hours. Most were still in their school uniforms and had only fired a single bullet in training! Their astonishing bravery under fire enabled allied forces to hold a strategic bridgehead at the Nakdong River and gain a tactical advantage that would help turn the tide of the entire war. Nothing less than the freedom of their nation was at stake. Their ingenuity, tenacity and brotherhood helped them to achieve the impossible.

30 Minutes or Less

USA / English
Action / Adventure / Comedy

In the action-comedy 30 Minutes or Less, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a small town pizza delivery guy whose mundane life collides with the big plans of two wanna-be criminal masterminds (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson). The volatile duo kidnaps Nick and forces him to rob a bank. With mere hours to pull off the impossible task, Nick enlists the help of his ex-best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari). As the clock ticks, the two must deal with the police, hired assassins, flamethrowers, and their own tumultuous relationship.

13

USA / English
Drama / Thriller

A naive young man assumes a dead man's identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men.

My Kingdom

Asia / Chinese
Action / Drama / Romance

In the 19th century, the Prince Regent of the Qing Dynasty orders the mass execution of the entire Meng clan. Before his beheading, the leader vows that his family will avenge this travesty of justice. Awaiting his death, a five-year-old Meng boy named Erkui bravely sings an aria. The power and purity of his voice touches the opera star Master Yu and his seven-year-old pupil Guan Yilong. Master Yu rescues the boy and the two orphans become brothers. Years later, Master Yu wins the coveted golden “The Mightiest Warrior” plaque from the Prince Regent, but subsequently loses it in a duel with his archrival Master Yue. Banished from the stage upon his loss, Master Yu spends his time training the two brothers in the village. When the boys grow into men, they set off for Shanghai to pursue revenge. Once they reach Shanghai, they quickly defeat Master Yue, reclaiming not only the plaque but also taking over the Yue’s opera troupe…

The Sorcerer And The White Snake

Asia / Chinese
Action / Fantasy

White Snake (Eva Huang), while in the guise of a beautiful woman, falls in love with a young herbalist named Xu Xian (Raymond Lam). Using the help of the Green Snake (Charlene Choi) is a risk to life is sent to the human world and married to Xu Xian. However, ironically, it goes way Fa Hai (Jet Li), a magician from the temple Zing Shan. A furious battle is about to begin …

The Silent House

Uruguay / Spanish
Horror / Thriller

The plot is based on a true story that happened in the late 40’s in a small village in Uruguay. The film focuses on Laura, who, second by second, intends to leave a house which hides an obscure secret, unharmed. Laura and her father Wilson settle down in a cottage they have to renew since its owner will soon put the house up for sale. They will spend the night there and repair the following morning. Everything seems to go smoothly until Laura hears a sound that comes from outside and gets louder and louder on the upper floor of the house. Wilson goes up to see what is going on while she remains downstairs on her own, waiting for her father to come down.

The Butcher The Chef And The Swordsman

Asia / Chinese
Action / Adventure / Comedy

A tale of revenge, honor and greed follows a group of misfits that gets involved with a kitchen cleaver made from the top five swords of the martial arts world in this wild and brash action comedy.

Sundays At Tiffany's

USA / English
Drama / Romance

Alyssa Milano, who also serves as producer, stars as Jane Claremont, who, as a young girl, would accompany her mother Vivian (Stockard Channing) to Tiffany’s in New York every Sunday and bring along her imaginary friend, Michael. Now, 20 years later, Jane is a successful businesswoman, set to marry Hugh (Ivan Sergei), her handsome fiancé, until Michael (Eric Winter) suddenly reappears.

Lucky

USA / English
Comedy / Drama / Thriller

After Ben wins the lottery, Lucy his childhood crush suddenly becomes obtainable. But she has a hidden agenda; a desire to appropriate all of Bens newfound wealth. Not everything is as it seems and Lucy realizes that she may have married into more than she bargained for when she discovers Bens pastimes include the occasional murder. As the bodies start to pile up, so do her problems and Lucy quickly appreciates that covering up for a fledgling serial killer is not as easy as it seems. If these newlyweds are going to make it work they will have to deal with some skeletons in their closet literally.

Larry Crowne

USA / English
Comedy

Until he was downsized, affable, amiable Larry Crowne (Hanks) was a superstar team leader at the big-box company where he’s worked since his time in the Navy. Underwater on his mortgage and unclear on what to do with his suddenly free days, Larry heads to his local college to start over. There he becomes part of a colorful community of outcasts, also-rans and the overlooked all trying to find a better future for themselves…often moving around town in a herd of scooters. In his public-speaking class, Larry develops an unexpected crush on his teacher Mercedes Tainot (Roberts), who has lost as much passion for teaching as she has for her husband. The simple guy who has every reason to think his life has stalled will come to learn an unexpected lesson: when you think everything worth having has passed you by, you just might discover your reason to live.

Escapee

USA / English
Horror / Thriller

While on a class observation trip at a local mental hospital, young psychology major Abby Jones has a chilling encounter with high-risk patient Harmon Porter. She returns home for an evening of normal study with her two roommates unaware of the darkness she’s awakened within him. Later that evening a storm moves in while Harmon escapes, leaving a trail of death as he makes his way toward an unsuspecting Abby.

Bellflower

USA / English
Action / Drama / Romance

Bellflower follows two friends as they venture out into the world to begin their adult lives. Literally all their free time is spent building flame-throwers and weapons of mass destruction in hopes that a global apocalypse will occur and clear the runway for their imaginary gang “Mother Medusa”. While waiting for the world to end, their call to excitement comes unexpectedly when one of them meets a charismatic young woman and falls hard in love. Quickly integrated into a new group of friends, they set off on a journey of betrayal, love, hate, infidelity and extreme violence more devastating and fiery than any of their apocalyptic fantasies. Often life’s simplest and most obvious truths are the hardest to see, but once you’ve burned everything to the ground it may be the only thing left standing.

Atlas Shrugged Part 1

USA / English
Drama / Mystery / SciFi

It was great to be alive, once, but the world was perishing. Factories were shutting down, transportation was grinding to a halt, granaries were empty–and key people who had once kept it running were disappearing all over the country. As the lights winked out and the cities went cold, nothing was left to anyone but misery. No one knew how to stop it, no one understood why it was happening – except one woman, the operating executive of a once mighty transcontinental railroad, who suspects the answer may rest with a remarkable invention and the man who created it – a man who once said he would stop the motor of the world. Everything now depends on finding him and discovering the answer to the question on the lips of everyone as they whisper it in fear: Who *is* John Galt?

Another Earth

USA / English
Drama / SciFi

Rhoda Williams, a bright young woman accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program, aspires to explore the cosmos. A brilliant composer, John Burroughs, has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child with his loving wife. On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined. Estranged from the world and the selves they once knew, the two outsiders begin an unlikely love affair and reawaken to life. But when one is presented with the chance of a lifetime opportunity to travel to the other Earth and embrace an alternative reality, which new life will they choose?

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2

USA / English
Action / Adventure / Family / Fantasy / Mystery

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here.

The Change Up

USA / English
Comedy

Growing up together, Mitch (Ryan Reynolds) and Dave (Jason Bateman) were inseparable best friends, but as the years have passed they’ve slowly drifted apart. While Dave is an overworked lawyer, husband and father of three, Mitch has remained a single, quasi-employed man-child who has never met a responsibility he liked. To Mitch, Dave has it all: beautiful wife Jamie (Leslie Mann), kids who adore him and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. To Dave, living Mitch’s stress-free life without obligation or consequence would be a dream come true. Following a drunken night out together, Mitch and Dave’s worlds are turned upside down when they wake up in each other’s bodies and proceed to freak out. Despite the freedom from their normal routines and habits, the guys soon discover that each other’s lives are nowhere near as rosy as they once seemed. Further complicating matters are Dave’s sexy legal associate…

Viva Riva

Congo / French
Action / Drama

A small time hustler thinks he’s got a big score ahead of him if he can stay out of the way of some underworld rivals in this stylish action drama from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Riva (Patsha Bay Mukana) is a guy who is smart, ambitious and willing to bend the rules, but he hasn’t made much of a windfall from his talents until he discovers a secret stockpile of gasoline in Kinshasa. Fuel is hard to find, and Riva knows he can move the gas for a premium price, but he’s not the only one who is looking to make some fast money off the petrol. Riva’s main rival is Azor (Diplome Amekindra), a local crime kingpin with a fearsome reputation, but Riva gets on his bad side not only by attempting to sell the gasoline before Azor can strike a deal, but by trying to steal away Azor’s wife, the very desirable Nora (Manie Malone).

Snow Flower and The Secret Fan

Asia / Chinese
Drama / History

In 19th-century China, seven year old girls Snow Flower and Lily are matched as laotong – or “old sames” – bound together for eternity. Isolated by their families, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan. In a parallel story in present day Shanghai, the laotong’s descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives, and a relentlessly evolving Shanghai. Drawing on the lessons of the past, the two modern women must understand the story of their ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan, or risk losing one another forever.

Insatiable Diary of A Sex Addict

France / French
Drama

The story begins with Valere (Belen Fabra), a university graduate who holds a well paid job, indulges in sex. Confessing to her grandma on her sexual desire for any man she met, she learned a valuable lesson from her grandma on searching for the path she wants in her life. She met Jaime, a young manager, who showers her with money and apartment. As their relationship develops, Jaime turns out to be a man who sees Valere as a morally loose woman. Out of job and heavily in debt, she choose prostitution, where it not only gave her a source of income, but also satisfy her thirst for lust.

The Charlie Chaplin Golden Collection

USA
Comedy

This is a RARE collection of Charlie Chaplins golden classics – composed of 40 of his movies.

Volume 1
A Busy Day
A Film Johnie
A Burlesque On Carmen
A Days Pleasure
A Dogs Life
A Night In The Show
Between Showers
A Woman
A Night Out
Behind The Screen
Caught In A Rain
Caught In A Cabaret
Camille
Cruel Cruel Love
Gentlemen of Nerve
Easy Street
Dough and Dynamite
Getting Acquainted
His Favorite Pastime
His Musical Career
.
Volume 2
His Prehistoric Past
His New Job
His Regenration
Kid Auto Races at Venice
In The Park
Laughing Gas
Mabel At The Wheel
Mabels Busy Day
Mabels Married Life
Mabels Strange Predicament
Nice and Friendly
One A.M.
Recreation
Pat Day
POlice
Shanghaied
Tango Tangles
Shoulder Arms
The Bond
Sunnyside

Super 8

USA /English
Mystery / SciFi / Thriller

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth – something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

The Tapes

USA / English
Horror

The “found footage” filmmaking style is applied to the Amityville film series in this Miramax/Dimension Films co-production. Casey La Scala and Daniel Farrands direct from their own script, with Paranormal Activity’s Jason Blum handling producing duties. The horror tale surrounds a journalist who investigates the infamous haunted house.

The Son of No One

USA / English
Action / Crime / Thriller

A young cop (Tatum) is assigned to a precinct in the Queens neighborhood where he grew up. To provide for his wife and ailing daughter, he works hard to keep his life on track. But this life is threatened when a dark secret bubbles to the surface. An anonymous source reveals new information about the unsolved murder of two boys and a possible police cover-up, setting off a chain of events that rattles the neighborhood.