Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) is an overworked mother of two children, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her brother Frank (Steve Carell) is a homosexual scholar of French author Marcel Proust, temporarily living at home with the family after a suicide attempt. Her husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) has a Type A personality, and is striving to build a career as a motivational speaker and life coach. Dwayne (Paul Dano), Sheryl's son from a previous marriage, is a Nietzsche-reading troubled teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he can accomplish his dream of becoming a test pilot. Richard's foulmouthed father Edwin (Alan Arkin), recently evicted from a retirement home for snorting heroin, lives with the family; he is close with his seven-year-old granddaughter Olive (Abigail Breslin).
Olive learns she has qualified by default for the \"Little Miss Sunshine\" beauty contest that is being held in Redondo Beach, California in two days. Her parents and Edwin, who has been coaching her, want to support her, and Frank and Dwayne cannot be left alone, so the whole family goes. Because they have little money, they go on an 800-mile (1,287-km) road trip in their yellow Volkswagen T2 Microbus.
Family tensions play out on the highway and at stops along the way, amidst the aging van's mechanical problems. When the van breaks down early on, they learn that they must push it until it is moving at about 15 mph (24 km/h) before putting it into gear, at which point they have to run up to the side door and jump in. Throughout the road trip, the family suffers numerous personal setbacks, revealing their need for each other's support. Richard loses an important contract that would have jump-started his motivational business. Frank encounters the ex-boyfriend who, in leaving him for an academic rival, had led to his suicide attempt. Edwin dies from an apparent heroin overdose; to avoid being delayed by post-mortem arrangements, they smuggle his body out of the hospital. A policeman stops the car due to a damaged and continuously honking horn, and nearly discovers Edwin's body in the back of the van. Dwayne discovers that he is color blind which means he cannot become a pilot, a realization that prompts him to break his silence. Throughout the ordeal, Sheryl attempts to keep everyone, including herself, calm and sane.
A yellow and white Vokswagen Type 2 vehicle, at center, is parked on a street. The roof of the vehicle is dirty, and on the sides of the picture, several other vehicles and buildings can be seen located on the street.
A Volkswagen T2 Microbus, similar to the one in the film
The climax takes place at the beauty pageant. After a frantic race against the clock, Olive is almost refused entrance for arriving at the hotel four minutes late. As she gets ready, the family observes her competition: slim, sexualized pre-teen girls with highly styled hair, wearing lipstick, adult-like swimsuits, and glamorous evening wear to perform highly elaborate dance routines with great panache. It quickly becomes apparent that Olive (plain, pale, slightly chubby, wearing large eyeglasses, and untrained in beauty pageant conventions) is out of her league.
As Olive's turn to perform in the talent portion of the pageant draws near, Richard and Dwayne recognize that Olive is certain to be humiliated and, wanting to spare her feelings, run to the dressing room to talk her out of performing. Sheryl, however, insists that they \"let Olive be Olive\", and Olive goes on stage. She joyfully performs the dance routine that her Grandpa Edwin had secretly choreographed for her: a burlesque performance to Rick James' song \"Super Freak\", innocently oblivious to the scandalized and horrified reaction of the audience and pageant judges. The pageant organizers are enraged and demand Sheryl and Richard remove Olive from the stage. Instead of removing her, one by one the members of the family join Olive on stage, dancing alongside her to show their support.
The family is next seen outside the hotel's security office where a police officer gives them their freedom in return for a promise never to enter a beauty pageant in the state of California again. Piling into the van with the horn still honking, they happily smash through the barrier of the hotel's toll booth and head back to their home in Albuquerque.
The film is a film-within-a-film, as we see Kermit the Frog and the rest of the Muppets creating havoc in a screening room, where they are about to watch The Muppet Movie. When asked by Robin if the film depicts how the Muppets began, Kermit responds that the movie is a somewhat fictionalized account.
As the story opens, Kermit is enjoying a relaxing afternoon in a Florida swamp, singing a tune (the Oscar-nominated \"Rainbow Connection\") and strumming his banjo, when he is approached by an agent named Bernie (Dom DeLuise) who recognizes his talents and encourages Kermit to pursue a career in Hollywood. Inspired by the idea of making millions of people happy, Kermit sets off on a cross-country trip to Hollywood, initially via bicycle but eventually via Studebaker after teaming with Fozzie Bear, who had been working as a hapless stand-up comedian in a sleazy restaurant. During their journey, they are pursued by the villainous Doc Hopper (Charles Durning), owner of a struggling French-fried frog legs restaurant franchise, and his assistant Max (Austin Pendleton). Doc Hopper (who speaks with a southern accent and wears an outfit similar to Colonel Sanders) wants Kermit to be the new spokesman for his restaurants, but when Kermit refuses, Hopper resorts to increasingly threatening means of persuasion.
Kermit and Fozzie's journey also includes misadventures which introduce them to a variety of eccentric characters, some played by human guest stars, others played by Muppets; some of these Muppets, such as Gonzo (who had been working as a plumber) and Miss Piggy (introduced as a beauty contestant) join Kermit and Fozzie as they continue traveling to Hollywood. Along the way, they meet Sweetums (who wanted to go with them to Hollywood but missed the ride), The Electric Mayhem and their manager Scooter (who planned to turn an abandoned church into a coffee house), Rowlf (who worked as a pianist at a lounge), and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker (who owned a laboratory in a ghost town).
Meanwhile, Doc Hopper continues to try a variety of schemes to coerce Kermit into accepting the spokesman position, including kidnapping Miss Piggy, teaming up with a mad scientist (played by Mel Brooks, doing a fair impression of Ludwig Von Drake) in an attempt to brainwash Kermit, and even hiring an assassin named Snake (Scott Walker) who kills frogs for a living. Before the climax, Max appears to Kermit disguised as a motorcycle policeman to warn Kermit. Their conflict comes to a climax when Hopper and Kermit attempt a Western-style showdown in a ghost town; Kermit breaks tradition by trying to talk Hopper into backing off, but Hopper orders his henchmen to kill him; Kermit is saved only when one of Dr. Bunsen's inventions, the \"insta-growth\" pills temporarily turns Animal into a giant who is able to permanently scare off Hopper and his men (he is later shrunken back down to his normal size in the next scene since the effect of the pills is temporary). The Muppets proceed to Hollywood, where they finally meet the imposing producer and studio executive Lew Lord (Orson Welles) (a reference to Lord Lew Grade who in real life gave The Muppet Show the green light), who hires them on the spot after an idealistic speech from Kermit.
The film ends with Kermit and the gang attempting to make their first movie, which turns out to be a surreal pastiche of their experiences, hinting that the movie they're making is the same one the audience has been watching all along. As the movie ends, Sweetums tears through the screen, finally catching up with the others. After the credits finish rolling, Animal tells the viewers to go home, then he says goodbye and falls asleep.
Tony Stark gambles at a Las Vegas casino, leaving his deceased father's friend and business partner, Obadiah Stane, to accept a prestigious award for him. As Stark leaves the casino with his entourage, he is approached by reporter Christine Everhart, whom he charms into a one-night stand at his Malibu house. When she awakens the next morning, Stark is gone and she is coldly greeted and helped on the way by Pepper Potts, his personal assistant.
Stark flies off to war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and company military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, for a demonstration of Stark Industries' new weapon, the \"Jericho\" cluster missile. On the way back, however, his military convoy is attacked. In the firefight, his escort is wiped out and Stark himself is knocked unconscious by one of his own company's bombs.
Waking up in an Afghan cave, he discovers an electromagnet embedded in his chest, placed there by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen. Powered by a car battery, it keeps shrapnel from working its way to his heart and killing him. Stark has been captured by a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings, whose leader, Raza, orders Stark to build a Jericho missile for him.
Instead, during his three months of captivity, he and Yinsen begin secretly building a crude suit of armor, powered by a miniature \"arc reactor.\" Finally, the terrorists grow impatient and give Stark 24 hours to finish. Unfortunately, the terrorists become suspicious of their activities before the suit is fully activated, so Yinsen makes a suicidal attack in a desperate bid to buy time. Once the armor is ready, Stark charges through the caves. Near the entrance, a dying Yinsen tells him not to waste his life. Forever grateful to Yinsen, Stark burns all the munitions the terrorists have accumulated and then flies away, only to crash in the desert. Stark survives, but his suit is destroyed. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark announces at a press conference that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Stane tells him shortly thereafter that his decision is being blocked by the board of directors of Stark Industries.
Stark focuses his energies on building a better version of his power suit, while making an improved arc reactor for his chest. Once the new reactor replaces the old one, Potts gives Stark a gift: his first miniature reactor encased in glass and bearing the inscription, \"Proof that Tony Stark has a heart\". During Stark's first public appearance since his return, he spots Potts wearing a dress and realizes that he has romantic feelings for his assistant. As they are about to share a kiss, Potts interrupts them by asking for a martini.
While ordering the drinks, Stark is accosted by Everhart, who shows him pictures of Stark Industries weapons, including Jericho missiles, recently delivered to insurgents. He realizes that Stane has been supplying both the Americans and their enemies, and attempting to remove Stark from power. Enraged, Stark dons the power suit, flies to Afghanistan and rescues Gulmira, Yinsen's village, from the Ten Rings. While leaving, Stark attracts the attention of the United States Air Force, which dispatches two F-22 Raptors to try to identify the mysterious flying object. Rhodes is consulted about the nature of the object, but cannot offer help, and the fighters are ordered to destroy the target. During the resulting dogfight, Stark has time to reveal to Rhodes that he is the unidentified target. One of the planes is accidentally destroyed when it collides with Stark. The pilot ejects, but his parachute does not deploy, so Stark rescues him before escaping.
Stark sends Potts to hack into the company computer system. She discovers that Stane hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark. The group reneged on the deal upon discovering who the target was, which ultimately seals their fate when Stane has them eliminated later. She also learns Stane has recovered the pieces of the original power suit and reverse-engineered his own version, one much larger and more powerful than Stark's. As she leaves Stane's office, she meets Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., a newly-established counter-terrorism government agency, who has been accosting her and Stark about an interview concerning Stark's escape from the Ten Rings.
After she leaves, Stane discovers what she has done. Stane goes to his group of scientists, and is angered when they state that they cannot duplicate the arc reactor technology that Tony created. Later that evening, Stane ambushes Stark in his house, using a Stark Industries device to temporarily paralyze him. While revealing his plan to take over Stark Industries, Stane removes the arc reactor from Stark's chest and leaves him to die. However, Stark gets to Potts' gift and re-installs his original reactor. Meanwhile, Stane returns to Stark Enterprises where SHIELD agents, guided by Potts, break in to arrest him, only to be attacked by Stane in the now functional Iron Monger armor.
Although his original reactor is underpowered for his latest armor, Stark races to the rescue, and a battle erupts between him and Stane. Finding himself outmatched, Stark lures Stane atop the Stark Industries building. With no power left, Stark instructs Potts to overload the full-sized reactor in the building. This unleashes a massive electrical surge that knocks Stane unconscious and sends him falling through the ceiling into the reactor itself, apparently incinerating him.
The next day, it is revealed that the press has dubbed Stark's alter ego \"Iron Man\". Rhodes gives reporters a false explanation of what happened. Before speaking, Stark briefly makes an attempt to establish a romantic relationship with Potts, but is put on hold. During the press conference, Stark starts to tell the cover story given to him by S.H.I.E.L.D., but then instead announces openly that he is Iron Man.
In a post-credits scene, Stark is visited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury who notes that Stark is not \"the only superhero in the world\" and states he wants to discuss the \"Avenger Initiative\".
Siblings Barbra (Judith O'Dea) and Johnny (Russell Streiner) drive to a rural Pennsylvania cemetery to place a cross with flowers on their father's grave. Johnny teases his sister, who is afraid of cemeteries, taunting, \"They're coming to get you, Barbra!\" A pale-faced man (S. William Hinzman) suddenly grabs Barbra and Johnny rushes to save her. While fighting the man, Johnny falls and hits his head on a gravestone, killing him. Barbra flees in Johnny's car, but without the key, driving it downhill into a tree. She abandons the car and runs into a nearby farmhouse to hide. She soon finds, however, that others like the man are outside. While exploring the empty house, she discovers a hideously mutilated corpse at the top of the stairs.
While attempting to flee the house, Barbra encounters Ben (Duane Jones), who arrives in a pickup truck and attacks the mysterious figures with a tire iron. After subduing one of them, Ben sets the body on fire, scaring off the others. Ben boards up the doors and windows from the inside, and takes a chair outside and scares off the attackers with fire. Ben finds a rifle and a radio as Barbra lies catatonic. The two are unaware that Harry and Helen Cooper (Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman), their daughter Karen (Kyra Schon), and teenage couple Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley) have been hiding in the cellar until later. One of the attackers bit Karen earlier and she has fallen ill. Harry wants the group to barricade themselves in the cellar, but Ben argues that they would, effectively, be trapping themselves. Ben carries the argument, and the group cooperates to reinforce the main part of the house.
The ghouls swarm around the house, searching for living human flesh
Radio reports explain that an epidemic of mass murder is sweeping across the eastern seaboard. Later, Ben discovers a television upstairs and the emergency broadcaster reveals that the creatures are consuming their victims' flesh. A subsequent broadcast reports that the murders are being perpetrated by the recently deceased who have returned to life. Experts, scientists and military are not sure of the cause of the reanimation, but one scientist is certain that it is the result of radiation emanating from a Venus space probe that exploded in the Earth's atmosphere. A final report instructs that a gunshot or heavy blow to the head will stop the \"ghouls\" and that posses of armed men are patrolling the countryside to restore order.
Ben devises a plan to escape using his truck involving all of the men in the house. The truck is in need of fuel, so Ben and Tom go to an outside gas pump, while Harry hurls Molotov cocktails from an upper window. On the way out the door, Judy fears for Tom's safety and chases after him. Upon arriving at the pump, Ben places a torch on the ground next to the truck, and Tom carelessly splashes gasoline onto the torch, starting a fire that quickly engulfs the truck. Tom tries to drive the truck away from the gas pumps to avoid further damage, but when he goes to exit the truck, Judy gets stuck. Tom goes back into the truck to help her, but the truck explodes, killing them both. Ben runs back to the house to find that Harry has locked him out. He kicks the door open and, in a fury, gives Harry a fierce beating.
The Cooper family
Some of the living dead converge upon the truck and begin eating Tom and Judy's charred remains. Meanwhile, others try to break through the doors and windows of the house. Ben manages to hold them back, but drops his rifle. Harry seizes the fallen rifle and turns it on Ben, who wrestles it away from Harry and shoots him. Harry stumbles into the cellar and dies.
Shortly after, Helen discovers that her daughter Karen has been transformed into one of the living dead and is consuming her father's corpse. Karen repeatedly stabs her mother with a cement trowel, killing her, before going upstairs. Meanwhile, the undead finally break into the house and Barbra sees her brother Johnny among them. The zombies overwhelm Barbra and carry her off. It is unknown whether or not Barbra survives her encounter with the zombies. Ben retreats into the cellar, locking the door behind him, ironically taking the course of action that Harry had recommended in the first place. He shoots the reanimated Harry and Helen Cooper, and waits out until morning, hoping for any chance of escaping the zombies.
In the morning, a posse approaches the house, hunting the remaining zombies. Hearing the commotion, Ben ambles up the cellar stairs into the living room, and peeks out the window, trying to decide if the coast is clear. One of the posse members, mistaking him for a zombie, shoots and kills him. His body is carried from the house and burned with the other zombie corpses as the closing credits roll.
The prequel trilogy follows the upbringing of Anakin Skywalker, who is discovered by the Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn. He is believed to be the \"Chosen One\" foretold by Jedi prophecy to bring balance to the Force. The Jedi Council, led by Yoda, sense that his future is clouded with fear, but reluctantly allows Qui-Gon's apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi to train Anakin after Qui-Gon is killed by the Sith Lord Darth Maul. At the same time, the planet Naboo is under attack, and its ruler, Queen Padmé Amidala, seeks the assistance of the Jedi to repel the attack. The Sith Lord Darth Sidious secretly planned the attack to give his alias, Senator Palpatine, a pretense to overthrow the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic.[3] The remainder of the prequel trilogy chronicles Anakin's fall to the dark side, as Sidious attempts to create an army to defeat the Jedi and lure Anakin to be his apprentice.[4] Anakin and Padmé fall in love and secretly wed, and eventually Padme becomes pregnant. Anakin soon succumbs to his anger, becoming the Sith Lord Darth Vader. While Sidious re-organizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, Vader participates in the extermination of the Jedi Order, culminating in a lightsaber battle between him and Obi-Wan. After defeating his former apprentice, Obi-Wan leaves Vader for dead. However, Sidious arrives shortly after to save him and put him into a suit of black armor that keeps him alive. At the same time, Padmé dies while giving birth to twins. The twins are hidden from Vader and are not told who their true parents are.[5]
Tatooine has two suns, as it is in a binary star system. This shot from A New Hope remains one of the most famous scenes of the entire saga.[11]
The original trilogy begins 19 years later as Vader nears completion of the massive Death Star space station which will allow him and Sidious, now the Emperor, to crush the rebellion which has formed against the evil empire. He captures Princess Leia Organa who has stolen the plans to the Death Star and hidden them in droid R2-D2. R2-D2, along with his counterpart C-3PO, escape to the planet Tatooine. There, the droids are purchased by Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin, and his step-uncle and aunt. While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, he accidentally triggers a message put into the robot by Leia, who asks for assistance from Obi-Wan. Luke later assists the droids in finding the Jedi Knight, who is now passing as an old hermit under the alias Ben Kenobi. Obi-Wan tells Luke of his father's greatness, but says that he was killed by Vader.[12] Obi-Wan and Luke hire the Corellian space pilot and smuggler Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca to take them to the rebels. Obi-Wan begins to teach Luke about the Force, but allows himself to be killed in a showdown with Vader during the rescue of Leia. His sacrifice allows the group to escape with the plans that allow the rebels to destroy the Death Star.[2]
Vader continues to hunt down the rebels, and begins building a second Death Star. Luke travels to find Yoda to become trained as a Jedi, but is interrupted when Vader lures him into a trap by capturing Han and the others. Vader reveals that he is Luke's father and attempts to turn him to the dark side.[6] Luke escapes, and returns to his training with Yoda. He learns that he must face his father before he can become a Jedi, and that Leia is his twin sister. As the rebels attack the second Death Star, Luke confronts Vader under the watch of the Emperor. Instead of convincing Luke to join the dark side, the young Jedi defeats Vader in a lightsaber duel and is able to convince him that there is still some good in him. Vader kills the Emperor before succumbing to his own injuries, and the second Death Star is destroyed, restoring freedom to the galaxy.[7]
The story takes place in the context of historical events in Middle-earth. In those histories, prior to the start of the novel and not known to the main characters, Sauron forges the Ruling Ring in Mordor. In battle, Isildur cuts off Sauron's ring and claims it for himself. Isildur is later killed by Orcs, and the Ring is lost in the river Anduin. Over two thousand years later, Gollum murderously obtains the Ring whilst fishing in the river. Gollum keeps the Ring for nearly five hundred years before losing it, whereupon Bilbo Baggins finds it. Meanwhile, Sauron, whose spirit was kept alive by the Ring, reoccupies Mordor. Gollum sets out in search of the Ring, but is captured near Mordor and interrogated by Sauron, who learns of its finding by Bilbo. Gollum is set loose but is caught by Aragorn, Isildur's heir, and imprisoned by the Elves in Mirkwood. Meanwhile, Sauron sends forth his fearsome servants, the Ringwraiths, to seize the Ring.
The novel begins in the Shire, as Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from Bilbo; both are unaware of its origins. Gandalf the Grey, a wizard, learns of the Ring's history and advises Frodo to take the Ring away from the Shire. Frodo leaves, taking his gardener and friend, Samwise (\"Sam\") Gamgee, and two cousins, Merry and Pippin, to help him. They encounter the Ringwraiths whilst still in the Shire, but shake off the pursuit by cutting through the Old Forest, where they are aided by the enigmatic and powerful character Tom Bombadil. After passing the Barrow-downs with Tom's help, they stop for a night in the town of Bree. There they meet Aragorn who calls himself \"Strider\" and joins them as guide and protector. They leave Bree after narrowly escaping an attack by the Ringwraiths. On the journey to Rivendell, Frodo is wounded by the Ringwraiths who continue in close pursuit. At the Ford of Bruinen, Frodo and the others are rescued, as flood waters controlled by Elrond, master of Rivendell, rise up and overwhelm the Ringwraiths, sweeping them away.
Frodo recovers under the care of Elrond. The Council of Elrond reveals much significant history about Sauron and the Ring, and news of the escape of Gollum from Mirkwood and Sauron's corruption of the wizard Saruman. The Council decides that the threat of Sauron is too great and that the best course of action is to destroy the Ring. This can be done only by returning it to the Cracks of Doom in Mordor, where it was forged. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, and a \"Fellowship of the Ring\" is chosen to accompany him.
The company is forced to travel through the Mines of Moria, where they are attacked by Orcs. Gandalf fights a Balrog and falls into a deep chasm; the others escape, and take refuge in the Elven forest of Lothlórien. With boats and gifts from the Lady Galadriel, the company then travel down the great River Anduin to Amon Hen. There Boromir, heir to the current Steward of Gondor, succumbs to the lure of the Ring and attempts to take it from Frodo, who breaks from the Fellowship and continues the trek to Mordor accompanied only by Sam.
Orcs sent by Saruman and Sauron attack, killing Boromir and kidnapping Merry and Pippin. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas pursue the Orcs into Rohan. Merry and Pippin escape when the Orcs are slain by the Rohirrim and find themselves in Fangorn forest where they befriend the tree-like Ents. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas encounter Gandalf, who is now \"Gandalf the White\", in Fangorn forest. Gandalf travels with them to rouse Théoden, King of Rohan, and the Rohirrim to take a stand against Saruman's armies. Théoden initially decides to fight Saruman's forces at the fords of the river Isen, but upon hearing that those who defended that area have retreated to the fortress of Helm's Deep, he decides to make his stand there. Gandalf rides to Isengard; while Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn travel with Théoden and his nephew Éomer. After much fighting at Helm's Deep, the Rohirrim mount a final charge and drive the Orcs into a forest of Huorns, where they disappear, just as Gandalf arrives.
The Ents destroy Saruman's remaining forces in Isengard. Gandalf, Théoden and the others arrive at Isengard: but Saruman refuses to see the error of his ways, and Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers, and the Ents imprison him there. Pippin looks into a palantír, a seeing-stone that Sauron had used to communicate with Saruman, unknowingly leading Sauron to think that Saruman has captured the Ring-bearer. Gandalf takes Pippin to Gondor to remove him from the temptation of the palantír.
Frodo and Sam capture Gollum and force him to guide them to Mordor. They travel a long and hard road, briefly aided by Boromir's brother, Faramir. Gollum betrays Frodo by leading him to the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol. Frodo is left unconscious by Shelob's bite, but Sam fights her off using Sting and the vial of light from Ëarendil's star — one of the Lady Galadriel's gifts. Sam, believing Frodo dead, takes the Ring, and Frodo is carried to the tower of Cirith Ungol by Orcs.
Sauron begins his military assault upon Gondor, with the Witch-king of Angmar, greatest of the nine Ringwraiths, commanding Sauron's armies in the battle.
Gandalf arrives at the City of Minas Tirith in Gondor with Pippin, to alert the Steward to the impending attack. Pippin becomes one of the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, while Merry becomes esquire to the King of Rohan. Aragorn takes Gimli and Legolas through the Paths of the Dead where he raises an undead army of oath-breakers. These help him to defeat the armies of the Corsairs of Umbar in southern Gondor, enabling the region's forces to sail to the aid of Minas Tirith at the Siege of Minas Tirith.
Denethor, Ruling Steward of Gondor, believing both his sons are dead, loses hope and commits suicide. But with the timely aid of Rohan's cavalry and Aragorn's reinforcements, a significant portion of Sauron's army is defeated. King Théoden dies in the battle, but the Lord of the Nazgûl, the Witch-king of Angmar, is slain by Éowyn and Merry.
Sam rescues Frodo from captivity; and they make their way through Mordor. After many hardships, they reach Mount Doom. Meanwhile, in the climactic battle at the Black Gate of Mordor, the vastly-outnumbered alliance of Gondor and Rohan fight desperately against Sauron's armies, with the intent of diverting Sauron's attention away from Mount Doom, which Frodo must reach in order to destroy the Ring.
At the edge of the Cracks of Doom, Frodo falls to the lure of the Ring, and claims it for himself. He puts the Ring on his finger. Gollum struggles with Frodo for the Ring, and bites off Frodo's finger, Ring and all; but in so doing he falls into the fire, taking the Ring with him. The Ring is thus unmade the only way it can be: in the same fire in which it was forged. In the instant of its destruction, Sauron perishes, his armies fall apart, the Dark Tower crumbles into dust, the Ringwraiths disintegrate, and the war of the Ring ends.
Amid the victory celebrations, Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor, and he marries Arwen, the daughter of Elrond and his long time love.
Saruman escapes his captivity in Orthanc and enslaves the Shire; but the returning Hobbits raise a rebellion and overthrow Saruman in The Battle of Bywater. Merry and Pippin are acclaimed as heroes. Sam uses his gifts from Galadriel to restore and beautify the Shire, and marries Rosie Cotton. Frodo remains wounded in body and spirit and, accompanied by Bilbo and Gandalf, sails from the Grey Havens west over the Sea to the Undying Lands to find peace. Sam returns home, and eventually becomes Mayor, and is made a Counsellor of the North-kingdom by Aragorn. After Rosie's death, Sam leaves the Red Book of Westmarch with his daughter, and crosses west over the Sea, the last of the Ring-bearers.
After losing their jobs at Columbia University, despite having obtained concrete evidence of paranormal activity and even seeing a ghost at the New York Public Library, a trio of misfit parapsychologists—Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler—decide to establish their own paranormal exterminator service, \"Ghostbusters.\" The fledgling business gets off to a slow start, but just when they run out of funds, the Ghostbusters are contacted by the upscale Sedgewick Hotel to investigate a haunting where they successfully (albeit chaotically) capture their first ghost. Business skyrockets for the Ghostbusters, eventually becoming celebrities and leading to them hiring a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore.
Throughout these events, the Ghostbusters investigate a case for a woman named Dana Barrett, whose apartment at 55 Central Park West is haunted by a demonic spirit called Zuul, a demigod worshiped in 6000 BC as a servant to Gozer the Gozerian, a Sumerian shape-shifting destruction god.[4] Venkman particularly takes the case in an attempt to woo her rather than out of concern for the paranormal. As they look into the matter, Barrett is possessed by Zuul, followed by her neighbor Louis Tully, who is possessed by a similar demon called Vinz Clortho. Keeping \"Keymaster\" Vinz/Tully within their building, they decide to keep him from the \"Gatekeeper\" Zuul/Barrett, seeing there would be dire consequences if they met as both preach of the coming of Gozer. However, the next day, their ghost containment grid is shut down by the EPA's Walter Peck, unleashing a flurry of ghosts onto New York City with the possessed Louis making his way toward Barrett during the chaos as Peck has the Ghostbusters arrested.
The Ghostbusters, (from left) Spengler, Stantz, Venkman, and Zeddemore, as they prepare to \"cross the streams\" with their proton packs.
Later, with the blueprints of 55 Central Park West that Ray obtained prior to the arrest, the Ghostbusters learn that it was built by a mad doctor and cult leader named Ivo Shandor who designed the building to act as a spiritual magnet so that it would summon Gozer and bring about the end of the world. After managing to convince the mayor that a catastrophe is imminent, the Ghostbusters track Barrett and Tully at Gozer's shrine atop their high-rise apartment, but are unable to stop them as their possessors manifest around them and summon Gozer, who appears as a woman. Briefly subdued by the team, Gozer disappears, though her voice echoes that the \"destructor\" will take the form of the team's choice, which Venkman explains will be from their thoughts. Despite Venkman's attempts to keep everyone from creating the destructor, Stantz is unable and thinks of a being he hoped would be \"something that could never, ever possibly destroy us.\" Gozer arrives in Stantz's chosen form of the giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and begins laying waste to the city. To defeat the manifestation of Gozer, the team decides to merge the energy streams of their proton packs and aim at the dimensional portal Gozer came through, at the risk of their own lives. They ultimately follow through with this plan and destroy Stay Puft, who explodes into torrents of melted marshmallow. The Ghostbusters survive, with Barrett and Tully broken out of the charred remains of their possessors. As they exit the building, the Ghostbusters are met with applause from a cheering crowd while Louis is escorted for medical attention, Venkman and Barrett kiss while they drive off.
Marty McFly is a 17-year-old living in Hill Valley, California. On the morning of Friday, October 25, 1985, his eccentric friend, scientist Dr. Emmett \"Doc\" Brown (Lloyd), calls him, asking to meet at 1:15am the following morning at Twin Pines Mall. Upon arriving home from school, Marty finds the family car wrecked in the driveway, ruining his plans to spend the weekend with his girlfriend Jennifer (Claudia Wells). Inside the house, he finds his meek, nerdy father, George (Crispin Glover), being bullied by his supervisor Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), who had borrowed and wrecked the car. At dinner that night, Marty's mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) recounts how she and George first met when her father hit George with his car as George was \"bird-watching\".
The McFly house
That night, Marty meets Doc as planned in the parking lot of Twin Pines Mall. Doc presents a DeLorean DMC-12 which he has modified into a time machine. As Marty videotapes, Doc explains the car travels to a programmed date and time upon reaching 88 miles per hour using plutonium in a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of power it requires. Demonstrating how to program the machine, Doc enters in November 5, 1955 as the target date, explaining that it was the day he conceived the idea of the flux capacitor; the device which \"makes time travel possible.\" Before Doc can depart for his planned trip into the future, a group of Libyan terrorists, from whom he stole the plutonium, arrive in a Volkswagen bus and murder him. Marty jumps into the DeLorean and is pursued by the Libyans until he accelerates to 88 miles per hour and is inadvertently transported back in time to 1955.
The car's starter fails shortly thereafter; Marty hides the car, and makes his way into town on foot. He finds that the town square now reflects the popular culture of the 1950s, and that the clock tower which was destroyed sometime in his past is once again functioning. Marty runs into his own father, then a teenager, being tyrannized just as he was in 1985 by Biff, then the school bully. Marty follows George (who turns out to be a peeping tom, not a birdwatcher) as he is about to be hit by a car; Marty pushes George out of the way and takes the impact. The car turns out to be driven by Lorraine's father, resulting in Lorraine becoming infatuated with Marty instead of George. Marty is disturbed by her flirtations, which contrast sharply with the prudish mother he is familiar with. He flees from her home to find Doc Brown.
The retrofitted DeLorean DMC-12
Doc initially believes that Marty is a lunatic, but he convinces Doc by recounting the story of how Doc got the inspiration for the flux capacitor, and then by showing Doc the videotape of the 1985 experiment. However, when he hears his older self describe the power requirements for time travel, Doc is shocked. He tells Marty that aside from plutonium, the only possible source of that much power is a bolt of lightning, which cannot be predicted. Marty remembers that the lightning strike at the clock tower will occur the following Saturday (November 12, 1955) at 10:04pm. As a result, Doc begins planning a way to harness the bolt's power. Doc also deduces that Marty, by saving his father from the car, has prevented his parents from meeting, and instructs him to set things right.
After several failed attempts at playing matchmaker, Marty eventually works out a plan to have George appear to rescue Lorraine from Marty's overt sexual advances on the night of a school dance, so he can leave to make his return to 1985. However, Biff shows up unexpectedly and orders his friends to lock Marty in a car trunk. Heavily intoxicated, Biff jumps into the car and attempts to force himself on the horrified Lorraine. George arrives as he and Marty have planned and is shocked to find Biff instead of Marty. Biff orders him to turn around and walk away, but George cannot bring himself to ignore Lorraine's pleas for help. When Biff pins his arm behind his back and laughs as he knocks away Lorraine who tries to defend him, George finally snaps and knocks out his tormentor with a single punch. A smitten Lorraine follows George to the dance floor, where they kiss for the first time, ensuring Marty's existence.
Doc, meanwhile, has used cables to connect the clock tower's antenna to two lampposts, which he plans to have Marty drive under in the DeLorean, now sporting a lightning rod, the moment the lightning strikes. Before Marty can leave, Doc finds a letter in his coat pocket that Marty has written, warning him about his future murder. Doc indignantly tears up the letter without reading it, describing the dangers of altering the future. Marty instead adjusts the time machine to take him back to 1985, the parallel year, ten minutes earlier than he left, giving him time to warn Doc. Upon his return to the future, however, the car stalls and Marty arrives at the mall too late to save Doc. As Marty begins crying behind his friend's body, Doc wakes up and opens his radiation suit to reveal a bulletproof vest. He shows Marty the letter he had written, taped back together. When asked about his belief in not altering the future, Doc replies, \"I figured, what the hell?\"
The next morning, Marty finds his family has been changed for the better. Most notably, Lorraine is physically fit and is no longer prudish, and George has become a self-confident novelist who confidently confronts a servile Biff. Just as Jennifer and Marty reunite, Doc arrives, insisting frantically that he has visited the future and that they must go back with him to work out a problem concerning their future children. The three take off into the sky in a newly upgraded DeLorean that can fly, and disappear into the future.
