Parkes/MacDonald Image Nation (USA): 22

Men in Black: International (2019) is an American sci-fi action comedy film directed by F. Gary Gray and scripted by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. It belongs to the Men in Black franchise, but stands alone as a sequel within the same universe. Unlike previous films, it does not feature Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones as protagonists. In 1996 Brooklyn, Molly Wright witnesses her parents being neuralyzed by MIB agents after they encounter an alien at home. Molly helps the extraterrestrial escape and avoids being ...

The American techno-thriller film, The Circle (2017), was directed by James Ponsoldt with a screenplay written by both Ponsoldt and Dave Eggers. It was based on Eggers’ 2013 novel of the same name. Through her friend Annie, Mae Holland secures a customer support position at The Circle, a tech and social media company. Mae takes the job to support her parents, particularly her father who suffers from multiple sclerosis. However, her longtime friend Mercer is not as ...

Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016) is an American action comedy directed by Greg Mottola and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Jeff Gaffney holds a human resources position at MBI, a defense contractor located in Atlanta. Together with his wife Karen, they reside in a desirable cul-de-sac with their two children away at summer camp. The couple becomes acquainted with their new neighbors, Tim and Natalie Jones – Tim being a globetrotting writer interested in glassblowing while Natalie pursues social media consulting, food blogging and charitable work. The seemingly perfect duo exude charm and sophistication as they ...

Men in Black 3 (2012) is a sci-fi action comedy film based on the popular Marvel Comics series. After escaping from a top-security prison on the Moon, alien criminal Boris the Animal sets out to seek revenge on Agent K for past incidents involving his capture and the removal of his left arm. Despite being warned by Boris that he is already ‘dead’, K refuses to reveal any further details about their encounter from over four decades ago. Meanwhile, J discovers evidence that implicates K not only in Boris’s capture but also in preventing a deadly invasion by deploying an interplanetary shield known as the ‘ArcNet’. In a desperate attempt to ...

Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by John Gatins, Flight (2012) is an American drama film which follows the story of airline pilot Captain Whip Whitaker. In an attempt to combat his fatigue after a sleepless night in his Orlando hotel room, Whip resorts to using cocaine. During his flight on SouthJetAir Flight 227 to Atlanta, the plane experiences intense turbulence upon takeoff. Co-pilot Ken Evans takes over while Whip discreetly mixes vodka into his orange juice and rests. However, he is abruptly awakened as the plane suddenly plunges downwards. In a bold move, ...

Directed and written by Guillermo Arriaga, The Burning Plain (2008) is a nonlinear American drama that follows the lives of a married mother, Gina, and her lover, Nick Martinez. Set in a small town near Las Cruces, New Mexico during the mid-1990s, the story unfolds as events are revealed out of sequence. Gina’s daughter, Mariana, discovers her mother’s affair with Nick and attempts to end it by setting fire to his trailer while they are inside. However, Mariana’s plan goes awry when the flames spread to a gas tank causing an explosion that tragically takes both Nick and Gina’s lives. The ...

In the  musical slasher film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), directed by Tim Burton and written by John Logan, a barber named Benjamin Barker arrives in London with young sailor Anthony Hope. After being falsely convicted and sent to Australia by corrupt Judge Turpin, who desired his wife Lucy, Barker assumes the identity of ‘Sweeney Todd’ and returns to his old shop above Nellie Lovett’s meat pie shop on Fleet Street. Lovett, who harbors unrequited love for him, informs Todd that after his exile, Turpin drove Lucy to suicide and ...

The American crime film, The Lookout (2007), marks the directorial debut of Scott Frank. While driving with his lights off at night, high school sports star Chris Pratt crashes into a stalled combine on the road. Tragically, two of his passengers do not survive while he and his girlfriend Kelly are able to live through the accident. However, Chris is left with lasting mental impairments, including anterograde amnesia and anger management issues. In an effort to cope with these challenges, Chris attends classes to learn new skills and keeps a small notebook as a tool for remembering daily tasks. Despite having only ...

The Ring Two (2005) is a psychological supernatural horror film and serves as a sequel to the 2002 remake of the Japanese film Ring. Hideo Nakata directed this installment instead of Gore Verbinski. Set six months after the events of the first film and its accompanying short Rings, Samara Morgan’s cursed videotape has made its way to teenagers in Astoria, Oregon. It is Jake Pierce’s seventh day after viewing the tape, and he enlists his friend Emily to watch it with him. While Emily supposedly watches the tape, Jake steps into his kitchen briefly ...

The Island (2005) is an American science fiction thriller film, directed and co-produced by Michael Bay based on a story by Tredwell-Owen. On July 19, 2019, residents of a secluded compound, including Lincoln Six Echo and Jordan Two Delta, are governed by strict rules as they believe the outside world is no longer habitable except for one pathogen-free island. In this dystopian setting, a lottery determines who gets to leave the compound and live on the island each week. However, Lincoln begins experiencing dreams that he knows are not his own memories. When Dr. Merrick, ...

The American romantic comedy fantasy-adventure film, Just Like Heaven (2005), directed by Mark Waters, follows the story of Elizabeth Masterson and David Abbott. Elizabeth is a dedicated emergency room physician in San Francisco who gets into a car accident on her way to a blind date set up by her sister. Three months later, David, a landscape architect seeking a fresh start after his wife’s passing, moves into Elizabeth’s apartment as a sublet. To their surprise, Elizabeth starts appearing in the apartment, causing confusion for both of them. She believes David is an intruder while he thinks she broke in. ...

Collateral (2004) is an American neo-noir action thriller film directed and produced by Michael Mann from a script by Stuart Beattie. Max Durocher, a Los Angeles cab driver, dreams of starting his own limousine business. During one of his evening shifts, he picks up federal prosecutor Annie Farrell, who works for the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. The two strike up a conversation and Annie hands Max her business card. Shortly after, Max picks up another fare – Vincent – who claims to be in town for just one night to finalize a real ...

The film, The Terminal (2004), was both produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. Viktor Navorski, a Krakozhian traveler, arrives at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to discover that his home country has experienced a coup d’état. As a result of the United States’ refusal to recognize the new government in Krakozhia, Viktor’s passport is deemed invalid and he is unable to enter the country or return home. His passport and return ticket are confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, leaving him stranded at the airport with only his luggage and a can of Planters ...

The Ring (2002) is an American psychological supernatural horror film directed by Gore Verbinski and written by Ehren Kruger. Two teenage girls, Katie and Becca, discuss an urban legend about a cursed videotape that leads to death in seven days. Tragically, Katie is found dead the same night after watching the tape a week prior. At her funeral, her mother asks her sister Rachel, a Seattle-based journalist, to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death. During her investigation, Rachel uncovers that all of Katie’s friends also ...

Men in Black II (2002) is a comedic sci-fi film based on the popular Marvel Comics series. It follows Agent J, who has been with the MIB for five years and has risen to the top of his field. However, he has developed a tendency to neuralyze partners he believes are not equipped to handle the job emotionally. When a murder involving an alien named Ben occurs at a pizza place, waitress Laura Vasquez reveals that the culprits are Serleena, a shape-shifting Kylothian posing as a lingerie model, and her two-headed assistant Scrad and Charlie. According to Laura, they were after something known as the Light of Zartha. Despite MIB protocol, J becomes strongly infatuated with ...

The American film, The Time Machine (2002), is a loose adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1895 novel and the 1960 film of the same name by David Duncan. Dr. Alexander Hartdegen, an inventor at Columbia University in New York, is driven to build a time machine after his fiancée Emma’s tragic death at the hands of a mugger. Despite his friend David’s interest in business, Alexander focuses on pure research. After successfully completing the machine in 1903, he travels back to 1899 to prevent her murder but is unable to change fate as she dies in another accident. ...

Catch Me If You Can (2002) is an American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. In 1969, FBI agent Carl Hanratty travels to Marseille, France to retrieve a prisoner named Frank Abagnale Jr., who has become ill due to the prison’s poor conditions. Six years prior, Frank lived with his parents Frank Sr. and Paula in New Rochelle, New York. Growing up, he learned various cons from his father but their family eventually had to downsize due to his father’s tax issues with the IRS. During this time, Frank discovers that his mother is having an affair with Jack Barnes, a ...

The American science fiction action film, Minority Report (2002), directed by Steven Spielberg, is loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s 1956 novella The Minority Report. The federal government plans to nationally implement the ‘Precrime’ police program in 2054. This prototype has been operating in Washington, D.C. for six years. In this program, three clairvoyant humans (‘precogs’) receive psychic impressions of future homicides, allowing officers to prevent them before they happen. Perpetrators are put in a panopticon-like prison ...

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) is an American science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg. Set in the 22nd century, rising sea levels caused by global warming have decimated cities and drastically reduced the world’s population. To fill the void left by human loss, Mecha humanoid robots have been created to take their place. In Madison, New Jersey, David – a prototype Mecha child programmed to feel love – is given to Henry Swinton and his wife Monica. They had lost their son Martin to a rare disease and he remains in suspended animation. While initially distant towards David, Monica ...

The American sci-fi action comedy film, Men in Black (1997), is based on Lowell Cunningham’s comic book series and a popular conspiracy theory. At the Mexico–United States border, two men dressed in black suits known as Agent K and Agent D, intervene in a border patrol operation. They apprehend an extraterrestrial disguised as a human named Mikey who was attempting to cross the border. When Mikey attacks one of the patrol officers, K is forced to shoot him and use their memory-erasing device to cover up the incident as an underground gas pipeline explosion. With D choosing retirement due to his age, he asks K to ...