Cristiano Ronaldo Hot Photos

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, OIH (IPA: [kɾɨʃˈtiɐnu ʁuˈnaɫdu]; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a winger for English Premier League club Manchester United and the Portuguese national team.

Ronaldo began his career as a youth player at C.D. Nacional and his successes with the team led to a move to Sporting two seasons afterwards. Ronaldo's precocious talent caught the attention of Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and he signed the 18-year-old for £12.24 million in 2003. He earned his first cap for the Portuguese national team around the same time. He won his first club honour, the FA Cup, the following season and reached the final of the UEFA Euro 2004 with Portugal, scoring his first international goal in the process.

The next three years saw Ronaldo rising to global prominence, scoring frequently at both club and international level and receiving various awards for his accomplishments. The 2006–07 season brought him his first Premier League title. The following season at Manchester United, 2007–08, was his best yet as he retained the Premier League and won his first UEFA Champions League, the highest European club honour. Additionally, he was the Premier League's top scorer, won the European Golden Shoe, and was named the FIFPro World Player of the Year 2008. On 2 December, Ronaldo was awarded the 2008 Ballon d'Or.

Johan Cruijff said in an interview on 2 April 2008, "Ronaldo is better than George Best and Denis Law, who were two brilliant and great players in the history of United."(Wikipedia)

Ferguson Says Real Madrid Has ‘No Chance’ to Move for Ronaldo

Real Madrid has “no chance” of signing Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson said, a day after El Mundo reported the reigning Ballon d’Or winner will join the Spanish champion next year.

The Spanish newspaper cited a private conversation Real Madrid director Pedro Trapote had with a business associate in which he said the move couldn’t be announced yet because of confidentiality clauses in a contract. The report didn’t give further details about the agreement.

“They’ve got no chance,” Ferguson told reporters in Yokohama, Japan, after United beat Gamba Osaka 5-3 to reach the Club World Cup final. “There’s no agreement between the two sides. That’s a no.”

It’s the latest friction between United and Madrid over Ronaldo, whose 42 goals last season helped him win the Ballon d’Or award for soccer’s best player. Ronaldo was linked in media reports to a move to Madrid before the current season.

A call to David Jimenez, a Madrid spokesman, seeking comment today wasn’t immediately returned.

United complained to world ruling body FIFA in June, saying Madrid “continued to involve itself in the future” of the Portuguese forward. Madrid denied wrongdoing at the time, saying it hadn’t held talks with Ronaldo.

FIFA took no action and instead asked the Spanish soccer federation to remind the team about the “potential legal consequences” of inducing Ronaldo to break his United contract.

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Source: Bloomber UK

Pentagon chief seeks plan for Guantanamo closure

The Pentagon is working on a proposal to shut the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that would be available to President-elect Barack Obama once he takes office, a defense official said on Thursday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked his staff to come up with a plan to address the thorny issue of how to close the prison in southeast Cuba that Obama has pledged to shutter after he officially enters the White House on Jan. 20.

Guantanamo has about 250 detainees including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks. The prison has come to symbolize aggressive detention practices that opened the United States up to allegations of torture.

"(Gates) has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down -- what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility while at the same time, of course, ensuring that we protect the American people from some dangerous characters," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

"If this is one of the president-elect's first orders of business, the secretary wants to be prepared to help him as soon as possible," he said.

Like Obama, Gates has said Guantanamo should be closed. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Gates has agreed to stay on in the Obama administration. He has said closing the prison will require legislation by the U.S. Congress.

"The request has been made, his team is working on it so that he can be prepared to assist the president-elect should he wish to address this very early in his tenure," the press secretary said.

Among the issues to be settled before the prison closes are what to do about the military commissions system, trials under way and about 60 detainees that U.S. officials have approved for transfer to their home countries.

The Guantanamo tribunals are scheduled to reconvene on Jan. 19 for pretrial hearings for Canadian captive Omar Khadr, who is set for trial the following week on charges of murdering a U.S. soldier with a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan. (Reporting by David Morgan with additional reporting by Jane Sutton in Miami, Editing by Howard Goller)

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Source: Reuters

Angels & Demons (film)

Angels & Demons is an upcoming film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel of the same name, due for release on May 15, 2009. It is the sequel to The Da Vinci Code (2006), another Brown film adaptation, although the novel Angels & Demons took place before the novel The Da Vinci Code. Tom Hanks reprised the lead role of Robert Langdon, while director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also returned. Filming took place in Rome and the Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles.

Premise

Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is summoned by CERN to investigate a murder victim, branded with the Illuminati ambigram, leading him to discover the secret society's scheme to murder four cardinals and destroy St. Peter's Basilica during a papal conclave using antimatter.

Cast

• Tom Hanks plays Professor Robert Langdon, a Harvard University professor of symbology.
• Ayelet Zurer plays Vittoria Vetra, a CERN scientist whose antimatter experiment has been stolen by the Illuminati to be used as a bomb.^[1]
• Ewan McGregor plays the Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca.^[1]
• Pierfrancesco Favino plays Commander Olivetti, head of the Swiss Guard.^[2]
• Stellan Skarsgård in an unnamed role.^[3]

Production

In 2003, Sony acquired the film rights to Angels & Demons (2000) along with The Da Vinci Code (2003) in a deal with author Dan Brown. In May 2006, following the film release of the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, Sony hired screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who wrote the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, to adapt Angels & Demons.^[4] Director Ron Howard chose to treat Angels & Demons as a sequel to the previous film, rather than a prequel. He was also more comfortable taking liberties in adapting the story because the novel is less popular than The Da Vinci Code.^[5] Producer Brian Grazer said they were too "reverential" when adapting The Da Vinci Code, which resulted in it being "a little long and stagey". This time, "Langdon doesn't stop and give a speech. When he speaks, he's in motion."^[1] Howard concurred "it's very much about modernity clashing with antiquity and technology vs. faith, so these themes, these ideas are much more active whereas the other one lived so much in the past. The tones are just innately so different between the two stories."^[5] David Koepp rewrote the script before shooting began.^[6]

Filming was originally to begin in February 2008 for a December 2008 release,^[7] but because of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, production was pushed back for a May 15, 2009 release.^[8] Shooting began on June 4, 2008 in Rome under the fake working title "Obelisk".^[3] The filmmakers scheduled three weeks of exterior location filming because of a predicted 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike on June 30. The rest of the film would be shot at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, California, to allow for this halt.^[9] Additionally, Roman Catholic Church officials found The Da Vinci Code offensive, so the filmmakers were unable to shoot inside the churches Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria.^[3] The Caserta Palace doubled for the inside of the Vatican,^[3] and the Biblioteca Angelica was used for the Vatican Library.^[10] A full scale replica was also built at Sony.^[11]

CBS News interviewed a priest working in Santa Susanna, who stated the Church did not also want their churches to be associated with scenes of murder. A tour guide also stated most priests do not object to tourists who visit out of interest after reading the book, a trend which will continue after people see the film. "I think they are aware that it's, you know, a work of fiction and that it's bringing people into their churches."^[12] Grazer deemed it odd that although The Da Vinci Code was a more controversial novel, they had more freedom shooting its film adaptation in London and France.^[1] Italian authorities hoped the filmmakers corrected the location errors in the novel, to limit the amount of explaining they will have to do for confused tourists.^[3]

The second unit took photographs of the Large Hadron Collider for visual effects shots of the facility. The Moving Picture Company would combine these into footage of actors shot against bluescreen in Los Angeles. Ron Howard also met with CERN to make the film more scientifically accurate.^[13] Filming also took place at the University of California, Los Angeles in July 2008.^[14]

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Source: Wikipedia

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. Written in 1950, it was published in 1952 as the third book of The Chronicles of Narnia. Current editions of the series are numbered using the internal chronological order making Dawn Treader the fifth book.

Plot summary

The two youngest Pevensies, Lucy and Edmund, are staying with their cousin Eustace Scrubb while Peter is studying for his university entrance exams with Professor Kirke, and the Pevensie parents and Susan are traveling through America. Edmund, Lucy and Eustace are unexpectedly drawn into Narnia through a painting of a ship and land in the ocean near Caspian's ship, the titular Dawn Treader.

Caspian (now King Caspian) has undertaken a quest to find the seven lost Lords of Narnia, as he had previously promised Aslan. Lucy and Edmund are delighted to be back in Narnia, but Eustace is less than enthusiastic. Reepicheep is also on board, as he has vowed to find the seas of the "utter East".

They first make landfall at the Lone Islands, which are nominally Narnian territory, but have fallen away from Narnian ways - among other things, they participate in the slave trade. Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep are captured, as they cross Felimath, by a slave trader in order that they may be sold as slaves. A man "buys" Caspian before they even make it to the slave market. He turns out to be the first lost lord, Lord Bern, and acknowledges Caspian as his King when Caspian reveals his identity. Before they leave the island, Caspian re-claims it for Narnia, overthrows the greedy governor, and replaces him with the Lord Bern, whom he names Duke of the Lone Islands.

At the second island they visit, Eustace leaves the group to avoid doing any work. He hides in a dead dragon's cave to escape a sudden downpour. The dragon's treasure arouses his greed, and he fills his pockets with gold and jewels and puts on a large golden bracelet but as he sleeps, he is transformed into a dragon, though one with the memories and personality of Eustace. As a dragon, he becomes aware of how bad his previous behaviour was, and uses his strength to help make amends. Aslan turns Eustace back into a boy, and as a result of the visit, Eustace becomes a much nicer person. When Eustace, as a boy, is finally able to take off the bracelet, Caspian recognizes that it belonged to another lord, Lord Octesian; presumably either the dragon killed Octesian and added the bracelet to its hoard or possibly the dragon was Lord Octesian.

In addition, they visit Burnt Island, Deathwater Island (so named for a pool of water which turns everything immersed in it into gold, including one of the missing lords), the Duffers' Island and the Island Where Dreams Come True. This last island, where nightmares become real, is never seen, but is where they find a crazed Lord Rhoop. At last, they come to the Island of the Star, where they find the three remaining lost lords in an enchanted sleep. The fallen star inhabiting the island, Ramandu, informs them that the only way to awaken them is to sail to the edge of the world and leave one member of the crew behind, at the World's Edge.

The Dawn Treader continues sailing into an area where merpeople dwell and the water turns sweet rather than bitter and salty. At last the ship can go no further as the water has become too shallow, Caspian orders the boat to be lowered and announces that he will be going to the world's end with Reepicheep. The crew argue with him, saying that as King of Narnia he has no right to abandon them. Caspian goes to his cabin in a temper, but returns and says that Aslan appeared in his cabin and told him that Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep would go on but everyone else would return to Narnia.

Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep venture in a small boat through an ocean of flowers until they reach a wall of water that extends into the sky. Reepicheep paddles his coracle up the waterfall, and is never again seen in Narnia, thus fulfilling Ramandu's prophecy. Edmund, Eustace, and Lucy walk in a strange land where they find a lamb. The lamb turns into Aslan who tells them that Edmund and Lucy will not return to Narnia and that they should learn to know him by another name in their own world. He then sends the children home. An afterword type section at the end of the book reveals people marveling at Eustace's change in character. It also reveals that Caspian marries Ramandu's daughter.

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Source: Wikipedia

Sin City 2

Sin City 2 is a proposed sequel to Sin City. Miller said in early 2007 it would be based on A Dame to Kill For.^[14]

Production on the film has been delayed, mostly due to Robert Rodriguez's involvement with a scheduled remake of Barbarella.^[15]

Even though the events confirmed^{[citation needed]} for this film take place before certain events of the first film, they take place after the death of Hartigan. Bruce Willis has confirmed^{[citation needed]} that he will not be involved in this film, but he has stated^{[citation needed]} that he would love to reprise the role, if Frank Miller were to write some new Hartigan material for a subsequent sequel.

Actress Rosario Dawson, who played Gail in Sin City, said in March 2006 that Robert Rodriguez "has been interested in Angelina Jolie for the lead".^[16] A subsequent article that month said vaguely that Jolie, Salma Hayek and Rose McGowan have "been tipped to play" the role.^[17]

Miller in November 2007 said without explaining that delays in producing Sin City 2 would lead to a Sin City 3 as well,^[18] with Rodriguez saying the third film would adapt Miller's "Hell and Back" story featuring the character Wallace, which was written with Johnny Depp in mind.^[18]

Frank Miller has confirmed that he and Robert Rodriguez have completed a script.^[19] On September 19, 2008, Frank Miller stated that he and Rodriguez are very close to beginning production. In a December 4,2008 interview with IGN UK, Miller stated that, pending details of production, he and director Robert Rodriguez could begin shooting "as soon as April".^[20] Rosario Dawson confirmed Miller's news of an April start as well as her reprisal of Gail.^[21] Despite previous interest, Mickey Rourke has stated that he is no longer interested.^[22]

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Source: Wikipedia

The Hobbit films

The Hobbit, based on the novel of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien, are two films in development for release in December 2011 and December 2012. The films will be directed by Guillermo del Toro, with The Lord of the Rings film trilogy director Peter Jackson serving as executive producer and co-writer. Originally, the first film would have adapted The Hobbit and the second would have carried over into The Lord of the Rings; but the writers decided it was better to cover the novel over both films.

Development

Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh expressed interest in 1995 in filming The Hobbit, which would be part one of a trilogy (the other two would have been based on The Lord of the Rings).^[1] Frustration arose when Jackson's producer, Harvey Weinstein, discovered Saul Zaentz had production rights to The Hobbit, but distribution rights still belonged to United Artists. The studio was on the market, so Weinstein's attempts to buy those rights were unsuccessful. Weinstein asked Jackson to press on with adapting The Lord of the Rings.^[2] New Line Cinema eventually produced The Lord of the Rings, and their rights to film The Hobbit were set to expire in 2010.^[3] In September 2006, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, owner of UA, expressed interest in teaming up with New Line and Jackson to make the prequel.^[4]

In March 2005, Jackson launched a lawsuit against New Line, claiming he had lost revenue from merchandising, video, and computer games releases associated with The Fellowship of The Ring.^[5] Jackson felt the lawsuit was minor, and that New Line would still let him make the film.^[6] New Line co-founder Robert Shaye was annoyed with the lawsuit and said in January 2007 that Jackson would never again direct a film for New Line, accusing him of being greedy.^[7] MGM boss Harry Sloan halted development, as he wanted Jackson to be involved.^[8] By August, after a string of flops, Shaye was trying to repair his relationship with the director. He said, "I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be creatively involved in some way in The Hobbit."^[9] The following month, New Line was fined $125,000 for failing to provide requested accounting documents.^[3]

On December 18 2007, it was announced that Jackson would be executive producer of The Hobbit and its sequel. New Line and MGM will co-finance the film, and the latter studio will distribute the films outside North America – New Line's first ever such deal with another major studio.^[10] Each film is budgeted at an estimated US$150 million,^[11] which compares to the US$94 million budget for each of the films in Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. After completion of the merger of New Line Cinema with Warner Bros. in February 2008, the films were announced as scheduled for release in December 2011 and 2012.^[8] Producer Mark Ordesky will return to supervise the prequels.^[12] Jackson explained he chose not to direct because it would have been unsatisfying to compete with his previous films.^[13]

Guillermo del Toro has said he was a fan of Jackson's trilogy and had discussed directing a Halo film with him in 2005. Though that project stalled, they kept in contact.^[13] In a 2006 interview Del Toro was quoted saying "I don't like little guys and dragons, hairy feet, hobbits, [...] I hate all that stuff".^[14] After he signed on to direct in April 2008,^[15] Del Toro posted on TheOneRing.net forums that he had been enchanted by The Hobbit as a child, but found that Tolkien's other books "contain[ed] geography and genealogy too complex for my prepubescent brain". In taking the job of director, Del Toro was now "reading like a madman to catch up with a whole new land, a continent of sorts – a cosmology created by brilliant philologist turned Shaman". The director also posted that his appreciation of Tolkien was enhanced by his knowledge of the fantasy genre and the folklore research he had undertaken while making his own fantasy films.^[13]

Pre-production began around August 2008, with Del Toro, Jackson, Walsh, and Philippa Boyens writing the scripts.^[16] Del Toro collaborated with Jackson, Walsh and Boyens via videoconferencing, and flew every three weeks, back and forth from Los Angeles, California (where some of the designs were done)^[15] to New Zealand to visit them.^[17] Del Toro spent his mornings writing, and afternoons looking at material related to Tolkien to help him understand the writer's work. He watched World War I documentaries and examined Jackson's memorabilia about the war, including working reproductions of planes, tanks, cannons, ships and uniforms. Del Toro felt Tolkien's experiences in that war impacted his stories.^[18]

By November 2008, every week Del Toro, Jackson, Walsh and Boyens would realise something new about the story which continually changed the script.^[19] The writing hours increased to twelve each day, as they dedicated three weeks to finally deciding the films' structures.^[20] Filming will take place throughout 2010 in New Zealand, and Del Toro will renovate the Hobbiton sets in Matamata.^[13] On his part, Jackson has kept the Rivendell scale model and the Bag End set (which he has used as a guest house) from the trilogy.^[6] During the middle of the shoot, there will be a break which will allow Del Toro to edit The Hobbit while sets are altered for the second film.^[21] The director expected the shoot to last 370 days.^[22]

Direction

Del Toro interprets The Hobbit as being set in a "world that is slightly more golden at the beginning, a very innocent environment" and the film would need to "tak[e] you from a time of more purity to a darker reality throughout the film, but [in a manner] in the spirit of the book".^[15] He perceives the main themes as loss of innocence, which he likened to the experience of England after World War I, and greed, which he says Smaug and Thorin Oakenshield represent:^[13] Bilbo Baggins reaffirms his personal morality during the story's third act as he encounters Smaug and the Dwarves' greed.^[24] He added "The humble, sort of a sturdy moral fibre that Bilbo has very much represents the idea that Tolkien had about the little English man, the average English man",^[25] and Thorin and Bilbo's relationship would be the heart of the films.^[26] The Elves will also be less solemn.^[13]

Del Toro met concept artists John Howe and Alan Lee, Weta Workshop head Richard Taylor and make-up artist Gino Acevedo to keep continuity with the previous films,^[15] and he will also hire European comic book artists to complement Howe's and Lee's style on the trilogy.^[27] He hopes Mike Mignola and concept artist Wayne Barlowe (whose credits include Harry Potter) can help the project for a few weeks.^[22] He has also considered looking at Tolkien's drawings and using elements of those not used in the trilogy.^[25] As Tolkien did not intend for the One Ring to be evil, as revealed in The Lord of the Rings, Del Toro will address its different nature in the story, but not so much as to draw away from the story's spirit.^[24] Each Dwarf will need to look different from each other.^[28] Del Toro will redesign the Goblins and Wargs,^[13] while the Mirkwood spiders will look different from Shelob.^[24] Del Toro felt the Wargs had to be changed because "the classical incarnation of the demonic wolf in Nordic mythology is not a hyena-shaped creature".^[18]

Del Toro also wants the animals to speak so Smaug's speech will not be incongruous, though he explained portraying the talking animals will be more about showing people can understand them.^[24] Smaug will not have a "snub Simian [mouth] in order to achieve a dubious lip-synch",^[13] and Del Toro notes that such is the attention given to him that he will be the first design begun and the last to be approved.^[18] The director, whose Chinese zodiac sign is the Dragon, is fascinated by the mythological species and attempted to include one in Pan's Labyrinth, but was unable to for budget reasons. His favourite cinematic dragons are Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty and Vermithrax Pejorative from Dragonslayer.^[13] He has also provided a foreword to John Howe's portfolio book Forging Dragons, where he discussed the dragon's differing symbolism and roles in various cultures and legends.^[30]

Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis (who played Gandalf and Gollum, respectively), have met Del Toro,^[15] and ideally, he wants every actor (including Ian Holm, who played the old Bilbo in Rings) to reprise their roles,^[27] although he acknowledged some may be unable to because of health problems; he would also consider having Holm narrate the films.^[25] All thirteen Dwarves and Beorn will appear.^[13] Doug Jones – who portrayed various creatures in Hellboy, its sequel and Pan's Labyrinth – was interested in playing Thranduil, King of Mirkwood and Legolas' father, but del Toro said he wanted Jones for a different role.^[29] Similarly, Hellboy star Ron Perlman is a person whom del Toro has "something in mind for".^[13]

Del Toro and Jackson have a positive working relationship, where they will compromise on disagreements to the benefit of the film.^[13] Del Toro believes he will be able to shoot all of the films himself,^[31] although Jackson noted he had similar hopes for filming all of his trilogy, and has offered to help as second unit director. Del Toro will shoot the films in the trilogy's 2.35:1 aspect ratio, rather than his signature 1.85:1 ratio.^[13] He hopes to collaborate again with cinematographer Guillermo Navarro.^[22] Del Toro shares Jackson's passion for scale models and background paintings,^[32] though he wants to increase the use of animatronics; "We really want to take the state-of-the-art animatronics and take a leap ten years into the future with the technology we will develop for the creatures in the movie. We have every intention to do for animatronics and special effects what the other films did for virtual reality."^[15] Spectral Motion (Hellboy, Fantastic Four) are among those Del Toro wants to work with again.^[22] Some characters will be created by mixing computer-generated imagery with animatronics, and some will solely be created with animatronics or animation. Gollum will be entirely digital again, as Del Toro noted "if it ain't broke, why fix it?"^[32]

Del Toro considered the sudden introduction to Bard the Bowman and Bilbo being unconscious during the Battle of the Five Armies to be "unorthodox narrative choices" and noted these "should be protected as much as humanly possible since [these] very idiosyncracies are the ones that allow it to retain its unique identity – and that distinguish it from LOTR."^[33]

Second film

MGM expressed interest in a second film in 2006, set between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.^[35] Jackson concurred, stating "one of the drawbacks of The Hobbit is [that] it's relatively lightweight compared to Lord of the Rings... There [are] a lot of sections in which a character like Gandalf disappears for a while. From memory – I mean, I haven't read it for a while now – but I think he references going off to meet with the White Council, who are actually characters like Galadriel and Saruman and people that we see in Lord of the Rings. He mysteriously vanishes for a while and then comes back, but we don't really know what goes on."^[6] Jackson was also interested in showing Gollum's journey to Mordor and Aragorn setting a watch on the Shire.^[36]

After his hiring in 2008, Del Toro confirmed the sequel would be about "trying to reconcile the facts of the first movie with a slightly different point of view. You would be able to see events that were not witnessed in the first."^[27] He also noted the story must be drawn from only what is mentioned in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as they do not have the copyright to The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.^[37] Del Toro also added (before writing began) that if they could not find a coherent story for the second film, they would just film The Hobbit, stating "The Hobbit is better contained in a single film and kept brisk and fluid with no artificial 'break point'."^[38] By November 2008, he elaborated he felt the book was more detailed and eventful than people may remember.^[39] Del Toro was faced with two possible places to split the story,^[20] including Smaug's defeat. He noted the second film would need to end by leading directly into The Fellowship of the Ring.^[40]

The second film's story would also have depended on how many actors could have reprised their roles.^[13] Christopher Lee, who played Saruman, said he would liked to have shown the Wizard's corruption by Sauron,^[41] but he would not be comfortable flying to New Zealand at his age.^[42]

• References

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Source: Wikipedia

Knight Rider (2008 film)

Knight Rider is a television movie which was created to serve as a backdoor pilot for the new Knight Rider television series, a revival of the series of the same name which aired during the 1980s. This film does not refer to either the Knight Rider 2000 film or the Team Knight Rider television series.

Plot

The film opens at night with several technicians from the power company answering a call at the home of Charles Graiman. He is suspicious, as he did not expect them until the next morning, but allows them inside. They soon reveal their hostile intent and threaten his daughter if he does not cooperate, and as the situation intensifies, Graiman collapses and dies from an apparent heart attack. While searching his home for hard drives containing the information they are after (for a defense project named Prometheus), they stumble across a car, which drives away before they can stop it.

The next morning, Mike Traceur (Bruening), a 23-year-old ex-Army Ranger, is awakened by his friend Dylan Fass to deal with two men who are attempting to collect a $90,000 gambling debt. Traceur's car breaks down when he attempts to flee, and the men threaten Fass's life if Traceur does not pay the debt.

FBI agent Carrie Rivai (Poitier) receives a call that Graiman, her long time friend, is dead and leaves her date, a woman she had just met the night before, to go investigate.

Sarah Graiman (Russo), a 24-year old Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, is lecturing a class on nanotechnology. Following the lecture, she receives a phone call from KITT warning her about the men attempting to abduct her, and instructing her to safety. Her pursuers catch her, but KITT arrives and rescues her. Sarah and KITT escape, and leave to track down Traceur, who turns out to be her childhood friend, and whom she was previously involved with but has not seen since he left home at 18. They find him at the Montecito Casino, playing poker to attempt to repay his debt. He is initially resistant when Sarah asks for his help, but agrees when she offers to pay his debt, and the two set out to find out what happened to Graiman, and discover who's after them.

Rivai arrives at Graiman's home, and is asked by the local sheriff (Chris Mulkey) to identify the body. She discovers it's not Charles Graiman, the real Graiman (Davison) having escaped through the woods and left a double in his place. Graiman makes his way to a house belonging to Traceur's mother, Jennifer (Susan Gibney). The two set off to a motel.

The men chasing them are revealed to be mercenaries for BlackRiver, (a security contractor inspired by Blackwater Worldwide). They are after a system that Graiman designed called Prometheus, which controls the entire U.S. defense network. The information needed to take control of the system is contained on Graiman's hard drives in the mercenaries' possession, but is encrypted, and only Graiman and Sarah know the encryption keys. KITT also possesses the data and the ability to access the system.

Graiman contacts Sarah and asks her to meet him at the motel. He advises Sarah to contact Rivai for help. When she does so, Rivai puts her phone in speaker-mode so that the sheriff can hear the location, unaware that the sheriff is working with the mercenaries.

KITT, Sarah, and Traceur arrive to find that the men have already reached the motel, but have yet to find Graiman, as he has checked into four different rooms. With the help of KITT's infrared sensors, Traceur finds Graiman and his mother and brings them to safety, avoiding the mercenaries. Jennifer and Graiman reveal to him that his father was a man named Michael Knight and that he drove the first KITT, forcing him to stay away from his family. Traceur is still absorbing the weight of this information, when they reach KITT, and find that one of the mercenaries is hacking into his system. Graiman asks KITT to shut-down to prevent further infiltration, and suggests Traceur drive the car manually.

As the group is preparing to leave, the mercenaries, now joined by the sheriff, find them, and shoot and kill Jennifer in the confrontation. Two of them and the sheriff take Graiman away and the other two are left to kill Traceur and Rivai and watch over Sarah and KITT. Traceur and Rivai overpower them, and Traceur and Sarah take KITT to chase after Graiman, while Rivai stays behind with Jennifer's body.

During the chase, Traceur and Sarah discover KITT's vulnerability to damage, due to the loss of his self-repair capabilities, when his system is deactivated. After exchanging fire, Traceur reactivates KITT with just enough time to activate his armor without allowing the mercenaries to completely hack into his system, and turns KITT directly into the mercenaries' path, causing a massive collision; KITT survives with no damage, while the mercenaries' SUV is heavily damaged by the impact. Graiman survives with minor injuries, while all his captors are mortally wounded or have been killed.

On the way to Jennifer's funeral, Graiman reveals that he's re-forming the Foundation, and offers Traceur the chance to drive KITT permanently, which he refuses on grounds of philosophical differences, saying "I just don't believe in the same things you do."

At the funeral, Traceur meets his father, Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff), who tells him what Wilton Knight once told him on his death-bed, that one man can make a difference, and that he (Knight) was that man. They shake hands and as Knight prepares to leave, Traceur stops him and asks if they will ever meet again, to which Knight responds "I hope so."

The final scene begins inside an enclosed area with Mike behind KITT's wheel. Here, Rivai, Graiman, Sarah, and Fass bid him farewell and inform him of his new mission. Sarah kisses him goodbye, and a door opens behind him that shows a moving road. KITT drives out of the door/bay in reverse. The door is revealed to be the cargo hatch of what appears to be a C-130 cargo plane, which then takes off. Mike switches to manual at KITT's indignation, turns KITT around, and drives away.

Cast

• Justin Bruening as Mike Tracer
• Deanna Russo as Sarah Graiman
• Bruce Davison as Charles Graiman
• Sydney Tamiia Poitier as FBI Agent Carrie Rivai
• Val Kilmer as the Voice of KITT
• David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight
• Susan Gibney as Jennifer Traceur
• Wayne Kasserman as Dylan Fass
• Jack Yang as Cross
• Kevin Dunigan as Smoke

Featured music

• Intro Sequence - Knight Rider (Original Theme Remix)
• Chase Scene -
• Grief Scene - "Happy" by Wrens
• Las Vegas Scene -
• Funeral Scene - "Right Here" by Natalie Walker

Knight Industries Three Thousand (K.I.T.T.)

The Knight Industries Three Thousand (K.I.T.T.) superseded the Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T.).^[7] Voiced by Val Kilmer, KITT is a modified 2008 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR^[7] and has similar features to the original KITT. This car has also been nicknamed the Kitt-stang.^{[citation needed]}

The new KITT boasts the following features among others:^[7]

• 550 horsepower (410 kW) solar hybrid engine
• Sports-tuned suspension
• Xenon headlamps with infrared night-vision
• Metallic paint with nanotech enhanced camouflage including morphing License Plate.
• Turbo Boost
• Military satellite access
• FBI database access
• Self-regeneration and damage repair
• High-speed Internet
• Artificial Intelligence
• Voice-activated GPS
• Apple Wireless Keyboard in the glove box under an accessory drawer
• Biometric Interface to access security features.
• Wireless headset to communicate with passengers within a limited distance.
• Biomedical Scanner.
• New attack mode

It is important to note that if KITT's Artificial Intelligence is offline, the self-regeneration mechanism is inactive, making it as vulnerable as an ordinary car. Part of the shutting down procedures of KITT's AI includes the release of the clutch pedal as well as a stick shift to allow manual control.

Other details from the pilot film:

• Driving cross-country, KITT can average a speed of 191 mph (307 km/h) and travel 627 mi (1,009 km) in 3 h 17 min.
• Although largely solar powered, KITT does use gasoline; with 91% of the energy being recycled, it averages 167 mpg_-US (1.4 l/100 km).

Instead of the famous communicator watch, KITT communicates with its operators via a wireless headset, and can access wireless phone networks. Since KITT can tie into numerous computer systems, it is able to emulate many of the functions of the watch, such as unlocking doors.

Connections to original Knight Rider

Besides the remixed and original theme song and cameo by Michael Knight, the original KITT is shown (although in pieces) in the scene where the antagonists search the garage. The Trans-am body (sans-hood) is partially covered by a tarp, on which rest the rear spoiler. The famous KITT steering wheel (labeled "Knight Two Thousand") and "KNIGHT" license plate are also shown, along with numerous black car body parts.

The original series stated that the original KITT was designed by Wilton Knight. The 2008 film says that Graiman had a major hand in designing the car and the AI, and was subsequently relocated to protect him and his family.

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Source: Wikipedia

Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 is an upcoming computer-animated 3-D film being produced by Pixar Animation Studios, slated for release on June 18, 2010.^[1] It is a sequel to the films Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Lee Unkrich, who edited the previous films, and co-directed the second, takes over as director. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have been confirmed to return to the cast.

Premise

The film has Woody, Buzz, and the rest of their toy-box friends being dropped off at a day-care center after their owner, Andy, leaves for college.^[2]

Cast

• Tom Hanks as Woody^[3]
• Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear^[3]
• Joan Cusack as Jessie^[3]
• Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head^[3]
• Wallace Shawn as Rex^[3]
• John Ratzenberger as Hamm^[3]
• Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head^[3]
• Jodi Benson as Barbie^[4]
• Michael Keaton as Ken^[4]
• Ned Beatty has an unnamed role^[3]

Slinky Dog's voice artist Jim Varney died of lung cancer in 2000. He was replaced by a friend who producer John Lasseter described as "sound[ing] an awful lot like him".^[5]

Development

According to the terms of Pixar's original deal with Disney, all characters created by Pixar for their films were owned by Disney. Furthermore, Disney retained the rights to make sequels to any Pixar film, regardless of whether Pixar chose to work on the films or not. However, there had been a gentlemen's agreement between Disney and Pixar that Disney would not go ahead with sequels to films without Pixar's involvement. But in 2004, when the contentious negotiations between the two companies made a split appear likely, Disney Chairman at the time Michael Eisner put in motion plans to produce Toy Story 3 at a new Disney studio, Circle 7 Animation. Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, indicated a willingness to return even if Pixar was not on board.^[6]

Jim Herzfeld wrote a script for Circle 7's version of the film. It focused on the other toys shipping a malfunctioning Buzz to Taiwan, believing that he will be fixed there. While searching on the Internet, however, they find out that the malfunctions are happening to many toys around the world and the company has issued a massive recall. Fearing Buzz's destruction, a group of Andy's toys (Woody, Rex, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Hamm, Jessie, and Bullseye) venture to rescue Buzz. At the same time Buzz meets other toys from around the world that were once loved but have now been recalled.^[6]

In January 2006, Disney bought Pixar in a deal that put Pixar chiefs Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter in charge of all Disney Animation. Shortly thereafter, Circle 7 Animation was shut down and its version of Toy Story 3 was shelved.^[6] The following month, Disney CEO Robert Iger^[7] John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and Lee Unkrich visited the house where they first pitched Toy Story and came up with the story for the film over a weekend. Stanton then wrote a treatment.^[8] On February 8, 2007, Catmull announced Toy Story 2's co-director, Lee Unkrich, as the sole director of the film instead of John Lasseter, and Michael Arndt as screenwriter.^[9][10] confirmed that Disney was in the process of transferring the production to Pixar. The release date was moved to 2010.

• ^References
  

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Source: Wikipedia