The Informant! (2009)

Based on a true story, Matt Damon plays a corporate whistleblower who exposes a price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI, only to have some secrets of his own.

'Informant' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

The Plot: (Spoilers)

In the early 1990s, Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) is an executive at Archer-Daniels-Midland, where he is in charge of the company’s production of a new food additive called lysine. ADM’s lysine production capacity is being limited by a mysterious virus in a lysine plant, and Whitacre is under pressure to solve the problem. One day, Whitacre reports to his boss that he received a phone call from someone at a Japanese competitor, who claimed that the virus was planted by a mole specifically to stop ADMs lysine production, and that he would provide the name of the mole and the way to stop the virus for $10 million. Whitacre’s boss tells Whitacre that if he gets another call he should try to talk the price down. ADM’s security director Mark Cheviron (Thomas F. Wilson) decides to call in the FBI to investigate the call and hopefully find the mole. As the investigation gets started, FBI agent Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula) comes to Whitacre’s home to tap his phone line. At the insistence of his wife Ginger (Melanie Lynskey), Whitacre tells Shepard about a price-fixing conspiracy for lysine and other food additives involving ADM and its competitors around the world.

'Informant' Cannot Offer Immunity @ Yahoo! Video

Whitacre starts working as an undercover informant for FBI agents Shepard and Herndon (Joel McHale), recording meetings all over the world with concealed tape recorders and hidden cameras to get the FBI enough evidence to prosecute ADM’s executives, which takes about three years. In addition to wanting to stop the price-fixing, Whitacre believes that he will become ADM’s CEO after the other executives are arrested, an end result that the FBI agents never clearly admit is unlikely (though Ginger tries).

@ Yahoo! Video

The stress takes its toll on Whitacre, and at times he frustrates the FBI agents with his unreliability, at one point claiming that he has stopped making tapes because the ADM executives have been scared straight from fear of being caught. Despite these issues, and some other amusing examples of Whitacre’s ineptitude as a spy such as narrating his tapes, conspicuously inspecting a lamp for a hidden camera the FBI told him about and trying to fix a malfunctioning tape recorder hidden in his briefcase in the middle of a meeting, Whitacre succeeds in delivering the FBI enough evidence for a raid without giving himself away (though he almost gives the raid away by telling innocent coworkers, such as his secretary, about it, leading to one of the executives knowing about it).

'Informant' The Camera is in the Lamp @ Yahoo! Video

'Informant' Take Down the Bad Guys @ Yahoo! Video

'Informant' Who Did You Tell @ Yahoo! Video

The FBI maintains Whitacre’s cover by temporarily taking him into custody as well, so the other executives won’t suspect him, but they tell him it is important that he tell them right away that he plans to cooperate with the FBI’s investigation and get his own lawyer that is separate from those who work for ADM. Whitacre doesn’t say any of this until he is presented with a lawyer provided by ADM, and after a closed-door meeting between Whitacre and the company lawyer, which the audience doesn’t see or hear, the company lawyer and Whitacre tell the executives that they agree that Whitacre should have a different lawyer.

Though he is no longer supposed to be talking to them, Whitacre has lunch with Shepard & Herndon, asking them about “hypothetical” situations leading up to kickbacks and embezzlement, which he says were “standard practice” among the executives at ADM, and that his boss showed him how. When asks how much money is involved, Whitacre basically admits to taking $500,000. They tell him he needs to admit everything to his lawyers.

'Informant' Hypotheticals @ Yahoo! Video

Whitacre doesn’t tell his lawyers about everything though, only certain things, and ADM’s own investigation finds more and more instances of Whitacre’s embezzlement, laundered through forged invoices from fictional overseas companies, which Whitacre was engaged in while he was working with the FBI. (Some of this was seen earlier in the film, though it wasn’t entirely clear at the time what was happening.) Whitacre doesn’t admit to any specific instances until he is presented with evidence, to the annoyance of his lawyers, who try to make the case that Whitacre cracked under the stress the FBI created by making him an undercover agent with no training, but the mounting evidence against Whitacre, who ultimately admits to having embezzled a total of $9 million, from before and after he started working with the FBI, doesn’t help their case. Whitacre also can’t stay out of the media spotlight, despite being told not to talk to the media. He starts making wild claims to defend himself, including that the FBI told him to destroy tapes that didn’t support their case and that Shepard hit him with a briefcase. It is eventually found that Whitacre is bipolar and a chronic liar. His original story about a mole sabotaging ADM’s lysine facility, the original reason the FBI got involved, was just a story he made up because of the pressure he was under to solve the problem; he never actually got a phone call and soon after the natural cause of the virus was found and the problem was solved. Even a story he told several times in the film about his parents dying when he was young, leading to him being adopted by a rich man who owned an amusement park is found to be a lie: nothing ever happened to his middle-class parents, who are still alive, and he made up the story for his application essays to Ivy League colleges and had to stick to his story when he was accepted. Eventually he and his lawyers frustrate each other to the point that they part ways, and Whitacre ends up with a much less competent lawyer and is sent to prison for the embezzlement with a much longer sentence than the ADM executives who were guilty of price-fixing.

In the final scene, an older, incarcerated Whitacre is seen making a video plea for a presidential pardon, with the help of Herndon, who felt that Whitacre deserved a lesser sentence for helping the FBI. The film closes by stating that Whitacre never received a pardon, but served his sentence and became the Chief Operating Officer of Cypress Systems in California.

My Review:

This is such a strange story that it would be unbelievable if it weren’t actually true. Little of what Whitacre does makes sense, but that is the point. The story is compelling and definitely takes some unexpected turns. Matt Damon gives a good performance as an unusual character, and the supporting cast does fine, though none of them stand out. The film is directed by Steven Soderbergh, perhaps best known for Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen, which also feature Damon. In an odd choice, the titles and even some of the music seem to be more appropriate for a film set the late 60’s than in the early 90’s. The use of voiceovers by Damon to show Whitacre’s inner thoughts, which often have little in anything to do with the story, works well though, and is perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the film. This is a difficult movie to describe, but I enjoyed it. I would criticize the trailers, which depicted it a more of a comedy, and while there are definitely comedic elements to it, it didn’t really seem meant to be a comedy, but more of a cautionary example of how lying can quickly get out of hand and lead to serious consequences.

House: Histories (Season 1, Episode 10)

The team’s treatment of a delusional homeless woman is made more difficult by the fact that no one knows who she is, not even her.

The plot: (spoilers)

A broke middle-aged woman (Leslie Hope) talks her way into a rave party at an abandoned house, saying she knows someone inside named James, who is blond, friendly and a big talker. While searching the party for James, the police bust in and she is knocked down and loses consciousness.

She is taken to Princeton-Plainsboro and admitted with a suspected drug overdose, but her toxicology screen came back clean, though she is delusional and doesn’t even seem to know her name. Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) was consulted because of some lesions on her arm, which turned out to be non-cancerous, but Wilson noticed a twitch so he brought in Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps), a neurologist. While Foreman has her do some simple tests, she goes into a seizure. Wilson checks her blood sugar and finds it to be low. Foreman thinks that she is a diabetic who overdosed on her own insulin to get a place to sleep and some food, and dismisses the twitch that Wilson thinks could be a tumor. Foreman says to monitor her and let her spend the night, then discharge her. Wilson takes the case to Dr. House (Hugh Laurie), who agrees to take it when he decides Wilson must have a more personal reason for being interested than just wanting a stranger to get medical care.

House gets the team together. Dr. Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) suggests that the twitch could be a mini-seizure unrelated to diabetes. Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer) suggests a brain tumor, and Cameron agrees that its possible. Foreman still insists she’s faking, but suggests that they could do an MRI to make sure. House rummages through her bag (which Foreman notices also contains insulin) and finds moist vomit, which he tastes(!) and finds it is salty, suggesting an electrolyte imbalance. He holds off on the MRI and has her started on a banana bag to correct the imbalance.

While Foreman and Chase start the treatment, the patient is drawing comics, when she suddenly has a panic attack, and bites Foreman on the arm. Now really annoyed, Foreman is now determined to get her an MRI so he can throw her out. There is a 2-day wait for non-emergency MRIs, so Foreman secretly switches the patient with a woman getting her scheduled 6-month checkup on her chin implants. Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) interrupts with the report that the preliminary CT-Scan revealed a surgical pin in her arm that the MRI’s magnet would have ripped out of her body. House insists that they surgically remove the pin so they can do the MRI, which he says is necessary because Foreman thinks she has a brain tumor. Cuddy reluctantly agrees, but says they can’t do anything else until they find out who she is so they can get a medical history. House sends Foreman to investigate, using her drawings as a guide to find where she usually sleeps, which is occupied with bats, and he finds a file of her drawings. Meanwhile, she has the surgery to remove the pin and gets the MRI, which finds nothing, but House uses the serial number on the pin to track down her identity: her name is Victoria Matsen and she broke her arm in a car accident two years ago. A hospital faxes over her medical records, which Foreman looks over, then takes off in a panic; when her electrolyte balance came back normal he put her on iron dextran for anemia, but it turns out she’s allergic to it. They get to her just as she goes into respiratory arrest and stabilize and sedate her.

More hospitals fax over records, but none have a legitimate address. Chase notices two ultrasound appointments 10 months apart, the second of which she didn’t keep. Wilson recognizes the doctor’s name as an oncologist, and surmises that they were looking for ovarian cancer, and House points out that neoplastic syndrome caused by the cancer could cause the twitch. House has them ultrasound her ovaries. In the clinic, Cuddy assigns him to a mother with a number of children; House fakes a sneeze and says he’s sick, leaving Cuddy to deal with the family while he reads Victoria’s handmade comic books, which involve a heroine who fights a villain named Mr. Fury. He questions Foreman about why he doesn’t like homeless people, annoying him by asking about his parents, who it turns out are not homeless, then House questions Wilson about why he cares. Cuddy assigns House to teach two medical students about patient histories, and House fakes a page in the clinic to hide from them while he continues to investigate Foreman and Wilson. Meanwhile, the ultrasound has found a large mass on Victoria’s left ovary, and Wilson realizes that it’s too late to do anything. House suggests that maybe it’s not really cancer but is actually a tuberculoma, which is very unlikely but since there isn’t anything they can do for advance ovarian cancer House orders the tuberculoma treatment.

Foreman starts the treatment, but Victoria can tell that he’s not hopeful. Foreman apologizes for not believing her, and she admits to having taken too much insulin to get a place to sleep. Foreman offers to help her find James, but she suddenly spikes a fever of 105 degrees and starts panicking about Mr. Fury coming after her, displaying extreme sensitivity to light and believing water to be poison. Foreman sedates her and tells her that the bad guys can’t get here there; as she loses consciousness she says Mr. Fury’s not the bad guy: she is.

Foreman reports to House that the fever means she can’t have a tuberculoma, but Chase arrives with lab work saying that it is a tuberculoma after all. In addition to the tuberculoma, she has something else that is causing the fever. Chase suggests a bacterial infection, and Foreman says she could’ve picked up something on the streets, but she didn’t have a fever on admission. Cameron suggests that the Prozac they put her on could have caused serotonin syndrome. House orders blood and urine tests and a chest X-ray, and switches her off Prozac, and she is put in an ice bath to lower her body temperature.

The two med students report to House (who is again reading Victoria’s comics) on the patient they were assigned to interview: a 17 year old female with abrasions and trauma to her wrist. One says that patient fall off her horse at the county fair, while the other says she fell off the steps of her beach house. Both went to the same room. House says the patient is either under 90 pounds or has a red nose, and leaves them with a medical dictionary, saying the patient’s condition starts with C.

The team reports that the tests point towards an infection. Not all the tests are back, but they think Victoria has meningitis. House tells them to start treatment, but when they get to her room, Victoria is gone, despite having been sedated, leaving behind comics drawn on the wall indicating she has gone looking for James. Foreman wants to go looking for her, saying that in her comics Mr. Fury lives in Sloan Harbor and the rave party she was picked up at was a 1408 Sloan Street, but Cuddy tells him to just call the police.

House, wearing a bird-shaped pin and carrying a binder with a picture of a Ferris wheel on it, is being pursued by the med students, who are desperately guessing conditions starting with the letter C. House goes into their patient’s room and asks her what happened. She says she was riding on a Ferris wheel when a seagull flew at her and she swung her arm at it and hit the Ferris wheel. House says she has Korsakoff’s Syndrome, which has left her without the ability to process ideas, so she uses visual clues to fill in the gaps; one of the med students has a small horse embroidered on her shirt and the other has a clipboard with a beach scene on it, which is where her previous stories came from. One of the med students points out the Korsakoff’s doesn’t start with C, and House says the lesson is to treat everyone as if they have Korsakoff’s because they all lie anyway.

Paramedics bring Victoria back to the hospital unconscious with her heart rate over 150 beats per minute, and Foreman stabilizes her. A police officer says he found her passed out on the grass at Battlefield State Park. House bribes the cop for the real story, and it turns out he tazered her twice. The first time he hit her in the thigh and she didn’t stop. House pokes her in the same spot and gets no response, but when he pokes her in the toe she reacts. Foreman tries to think of what it could be, and while he’s looking away, House pokes him with a needle where Victoria bit him, and he doesn’t notice until he looks back.

In the lab, House lists Victoria’s symptoms: localized numbness, sensitivity to light, disorientation, paranoia, ineffectiveness of sedatives and hydrophobia, which leads them to rabies from the bats in the alley where she slept, which the tests confirm. Wilson gives Foreman a rabies shot, but its too late for Victoria. Wilson and Foreman go out to try to find James so Victoria won’t die alone. They go to the house where the rave party was held and use Victoria’s drawings to find a hidden metal box with clues to her life.

She was married to a man named Paul Furia and James was their young son. The house was their home. They were killed in the car accident when Victoria broke her arm, and she was driving. Foreman sits at Victoria’s bedside out of sight, pretending to be Paul and saying he forgives her.

House follows Wilson to a rundown part of town. Wilson reveals that he has a second brother he has never told House about, because he hasn’t seen him in nine years and he doesn’t even know if he’s alive. They are at the last place Wilson saw him.

My review:

Histories is a great episode of House, and is an episode that almost demands multiple viewings, as there are a lot of subtle clues and details that are easy to miss the first time through, most notably that the abandoned house that the rave party takes place in used to be Victoria’s home. There are other things that Victoria says that stand out when you know how the story ends. There are actually several mysteries going on at once here, and not all of them get resolved. Two of them involve the patient. The first is the medical mystery, which actually has two separate components to it. The second is the mystery of her past, which continues even after the team has her name and her medical history, and even though we find out who James is, the mystery isn’t fully resolved. It had been 2 years since the car accident, and she had to have gotten the rabies fairly recently that led to some of her mental symptoms, so what happened in the meantime? How did she end up on the street, and why did she leave that box with important documents behind in the house? (And if she was driving when the accident occurred, how could the hospital not have her address? Didn’t she have a driver’s license?) Then there’re the mysteries about Foreman and Wilson. We never really do find out what Foreman has against the homeless in this episode. Though it seems like he at least starts to resolve it by the end, we don’t know what’s behind it, if anything. At least we find out about why Wilson cared about this homeless stranger: he has a brother on the streets somewhere himself. Then there’s the poor girl with Korsakoff’s; we never do find out her real story either, although it’s a minor point that’s not related to the main plot, so it’s not really important. Leslie Hope gives a good performance as Victoria, a challenging role requiring not only the portrayal of the neurological symptoms of rabies, but also a dip in an ice bath. Foreman and Wilson have some great bickering throughout the episode, before coming together in the end, and in this episode even House and his antics seem to take a back seat to them. Several episodes have seemed to focus on Foreman, but this is the first episode that focuses on Wilson and allows Robert Sean Leonard to show his acting talent. With all that is going on and all the detail, this is one of the standout first season episodes that stands up well to repeat viewing.

House: DNR (Season1, Episode 9)

When a wheelchair-bound trumpet player develops trouble breathing, he decides he is ready to die, but House thinks he can not only save him, but also make him walk again.

The Plot: (Spoilers)

At a recording session with Brandy (herself), wheelchair-bound jazz legend John Henry Giles (Harry Lennix) stops breathing.

John Henry is taken to Princeton-Plainsboro, and Dr. House (Hugh Laurie), fascinated by his paralysis, asks Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) for the case. Cuddy tells him that John Henry’s primary doctor, Marty Hamilton, with whom Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps) did his residency, has already asked for House’s team, which doesn’t include House, to diagnose and treat John Henry’s pneumonia only. Foreman is put in charge of the case, and has John Henry kept on broad spectrum antibiotics. House wants to investigate the paralysis, which Dr. Hamilton has already diagnosed as ALS aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease but House doesn’t believe it, and wants to do an MRI to check Dr. Chase’s (Jesse Spencer) suggestion of multifocal motor neuropathy. Foreman says that the ALS fits and even predicts the pneumonia, which suggests the paralysis is ascending, and overrules him.

Foreman's in charge!

Foreman gives John Henry the prognosis that the symptoms will likely keep getting worse. When John Henry asks how long he has, Foreman mentions the MRI and House, and John Henry asks which doctor Foreman agrees with. Foreman says he agrees with Dr. Hamilton about the ALS and John Henry says no to the MRI and requests to sign a “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) form. When Foreman tells House about the DNR, House suggests that Foreman start John Henry on IVIG, the treatment for multifocal motor neuropathy, and Foreman does it.

While in the clinic seeing a patient who wants Viagra (House determines the patient has diabetes from subtle clues, which he suspects has led to heart disease that would make Viagra dangerous for him, but prescribes them anyway, leaving the choice up to him) House gets an emergency page about John Henry, who has gone into respiratory failure from the IVIG. House arrives to find the team standing around, unable to act because of the DNR. House himself intubates John Henry, violating the DNR to save his life, just as John Henry’s wife/girlfriend arrives.

John Henry is put on a ventilator. His reaction to the IVIG proves House’s theory wrong, and as he questions Dr. Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Chase for a new theory (Foreman had stormed off over House’s lack of concern for the patient’s wishes) House is served with a 50-foot restraining order against the patient and notice of battery charges. House has them test for Cameron’s idea of Wegener’s granulomatosis and has John Henry moved to a room directly above the clinic, using the restraining order as an excuse to get out of clinic duties. Cuddy offers House a lawyer (when she hired him she also set aside $50,000 a year for legal fees for him, and somehow he’s under budget) and tells him that Dr. Hamilton is flying in to pull the plug.

In court, House’s lawyer uses the argument that John Henry’s DNR might not be valid because of a low thyroid level, and that allowing him to die would violate House’s Sixth Amendment right to face his accuser at a trial. Dr. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) asks what House hopes to gain, as the restraining order and charges would still stand, and House replies “time.” Wilson points out that while other doctors have a messiah complex and need to save the world, House has a “Rubik’s Complex,” and needs to solve the puzzle. House interrupts the proceedings to point out that he notices clubbing on the judge’s fingers, a sign of heart disease, and advises the judge to see a doctor. This sway’s the judge in House’s favor. After the trial, House admits that he didn’t actually notice any clubbing; he bluffed, knowing that every family has some history of heart disease. Back at the hospital, Cameron and Chase report that their tests were inconclusive. House orders treatment with Cytoxan anyway, but they refuse to do it, as it would threaten their medical licenses. House sneaks into John Henry’s room and gives him the treatment himself. As he leaves, he runs into Dr. Hamilton (David Conrad), who has just arrived.

Hamilton says that he already ruled out Wegener’s, and is going to take John Henry off the ventilator. When House points out his court order to keep John Henry alive, Hamilton says that all the charges have been dropped, so the court order no longer stands. House and Wilson watch as John Henry is taken off the ventilator, knowing that is House is right about Wegener’s, John Henry won’t be able to breathe without it, but John Henry starts breathing on his own, proving House wrong. John Henry’s breathing is stable, but now one of his arms is paralyzed. The team thinks this is a progression of the ALS, but House wants to consider other possibilities for the arm’s paralysis. Cameron suggests a blood clot from a stroke and House decides to do an MR angiogram. He sneaks back into John Henry’s room and, after a talk where John Henry compares his own obsession with his music to House’s obsession with medicine, House takes him to do the test. Meanwhile, Hamilton takes Foreman out to lunch and offers him a partnership in his practice in Los Angeles.

The team discovers a blood clot in John Henry’s brain. Foreman recommends treatment with Heparin, a blood thinner, to John Henry, but he rejects it because of the possibility of bleeding into his lungs that would keep him from ever being able to play the trumpet again. Foreman then suggests an embolectomy, a surgery to remove the clot. It is more dangerous, but wouldn’t harm the lungs. John Henry chooses the surgery, as it will either help him or kill him. Cameron and Chase do the surgery to remove the clot without incident, while House and Foreman discuss the differences between House and Hamilton.

House gets a page about John Henry, and they report to his room to find that he now has use of his arm back, as expected, and Hamilton wanted to congratulate House. House points out that a phone call would have sufficed, and sarcastically gives John Henry a reassuring pat on the leg as he turns to leave. John Henry says that he felt House touch his leg.

House realizes one of the treatments they tried has helped John Henry’s paralysis, but they don’t know which one, and the others could kill him. House has all his treatments stopped so they can add them back one at a time and see which one helps. Hamilton thinks that his treatments are finally working, but House thinks that if it were Hamilton’s treatments they would have been working before. After stopping the treatments, Hamilton comes to House to ask what treatments he stopped, and House realizes that John Henry’s legs are completely paralyzed again. The first treatment they gave John Henry was steroids for the pneumonia, and House has them restarted and orders an MRI to see what changed. As the MRI is done, House and Foreman discuss Foreman’s job offer. House tells Foreman that he should work with whoever he thinks is the better doctor, and says that the difference between them is that Hamilton does his job and accepts the results, while House thinks their decisions matter. Cameron and Chase interrupt with the MRI results. An intradural arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is compressing John Henry’s spine, causing the paralysis. It had always been there, but was hidden on previous MRIs by the inflammation it caused. The steroids relieved the inflammation, which slightly relieved the pressure on the spine and also allowed the AVM to be seen on the MRI. John Henry has surgery to remove the MRI and after physical therapy is able to walk again. As he leaves the hospital, John Henry gives House his trumpet as a gift to thank him, and Foreman keeps his 2-year fellowship with House.

My Review:

I think this is the point where House turns from good to great. The focus of this story is on House and his approach to medicine, and this is probably the first episode to really look at House’s personality, by comparing him to a patient with a similar obsession about music. Harry Lennix also did a great job as patient John Henry Giles and I absolutely believed he was an old jazz musician. This is also the first episode with a celebrity guest star, with Brandy playing herself in the opening sequence. The other guest stars are ok, though none of them stand out like Lennix does. There is a little bit of Foreman’s background revealed here as well, but the episode is really about House. The medical mystery follows the show’s predictable format, and its no surprise that House makes the patient walk in the end; the fun of this episode is in between with the DNR and the legal twists it leads to, and House’s great speeches to Foreman. That is what makes this episode stand out and makes it one of my favorites.

Cars (2006)

A computer-animated story set on an Earth inhabited entirely by sentient vehicles.

The Plot: (Spoilers)

Lightning McQueen

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a popular rookie race car on the Piston Cup circuit, whose fans include twin Miatas Mia (Lindsey Collins) and Tia (Elissa Knight). He is tied for first place in the series with revered veteran Strip “The King” Weathers (Richard Petty), who plans to retire after the season, and his long-time rival Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton).

Strip "The King" Weathers, Chick Hicks & Lightning McQueen

At the final race in the season, the Dinoco 400 at the Motor Speedway of the South, Lightning takes the lead and maintains it with quick stop in the pit for fuel only without changing tires. On the last lap, both of his rear tires blow out, giving The King and Chick time to catch up, resulting in an unprecedented 3-way tie.

A close finish

Lightning’s pit crew quits after he tells them to stay out of the way of the cameras and declares himself a “one-man show.” The King advises him that he has a lot of talent but to be successful he needs a geed team behind him; Lightning doesn’t really listen though, as he is daydreaming about the fame that he would have if he took the place of the retiring King with his sponsor, Dinoco. The racing officials decide that to resolve the three-way tie, a tiebreaker race will be held in California in one week. Chick mentions to Lightning that whichever one of them gets to California first will have the first chance to talk to Dinoco about becoming their new racer. After a quick appearance at the tent of his current sponsors, Rusty & Dusty Rust-eze (Tom & Ray Magliozzi), makers of Rust-eze Medicated Bumper Ointment, (a duty Lightning despises, as the tent is filled with old, rusty cars) Lightning leaves for California in the trailer of his truck, Mack (John Ratzenberger).

Lightning McQueen with the Rust-eze Brothers

Lightning convinces Mack to drive through the night so they will be the first ones to California. In the middle of the night, Mack falls asleep and some punk cars have fun with him, which causes the sleeping Lightning to fall out of the trailer.

Mack being harassed

Lightning wakes up on the interstate and realizes what’s happened, he tries to catch up to Mack, who he can’t see, and when he sees a truck leave the interstate, he thinks its Mack and goes after it, but it isn’t. Lightning gets lost trying to race back to the interstate, and ends up getting chased by an old Sheriff car (Michael Wallis), whose backfiring leads Lightning to think he’s being shot at, into the town of Radiator Springs, where a panicking Lighting crashes through a barbed-wire fence, which hooks onto a statue of the town’s founder. Lighting drags the statue through the town, tearing up the street in the process, until the tangled-up fence finally stops him. The police car tells him he’s in a lot of trouble.

Lightning in a panic

Mack arrives in Los Angeles the next morning to discover that Lightning is missing, and it becomes a huge news story, with Dale Earnhardt Junior (his car with his voice) making a concerned statement, Jay Limo (Jay Leno) making jokes on his show, and the governor of California (a Hummer H1 voiced by Arnold Schwarzenegger) announces that Lightning must be found.

Mack discovers Lightning is missing

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Jay Limo

The Governor of California

Lightning wakes up in an impound yard, being watched by a rusty old tow truck named Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and with a parking boot on one of his front tires. He almost talks Mater into letting him out to “explore the town” when the sheriff arrives to escort him to traffic court.

Lightning in the impound yard meeting Mater

Since Lightning doesn’t have a lawyer present, Mater volunteers to be his lawyer. The court is presided over by Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), who is upset about the condition of his town and threatened to lock up whoever is responsible, but when he sees Lightning he just wants his thrown out of town. A Porsche (Bonnie Hunt) suddenly arrives, and Lightning assumes she’s been sent to help him and he flirts with her. The she reveals that everyone in town knows her; her name is Sally and she’s the city attorney. She convinces Doc and the rest of the town, which includes Ramone (Cheech Marin), a low rider who runs a paint shop, Flo (Jenifer Lewis), who runs the gas station, Sarge (Paul Dooley), a WWII Jeep who runs a surplus store, Fillmore (George Carlin), a hippie Volkswagen Microbus who sells organic fuel, Luigi (Tony Shalhoub), a Fiat and Guido (Guido Quarroni), a forklift, who run a tire shop, Lizzie (Katherine Helmond), a Model T Ford who runs a souvenir shop and Red (Joe Ranft), the town’s fire truck, to make Lightning fix the road as his punishment.

Traffic Court

Lightning is assigned to pull a road-paving machine called Bessie to fix the road he damaged, which Doc says should take five days if he does it right. He initially tries to make a run for it when Mater removes the boot, but the Sheriff had siphoned his gas when he was asleep in the impound so he doesn’t get far. After failing to get a lost couple (Richard Kind & Edie McClurg) to get help, and frustrated with the slow progress, Lightning tries to rush through the work in an hour and does a terrible job, and Doc orders him to scrape off the paving and do it right. When Lightning complains, Doc challenges him to a race. If Lightning wins, he’s free to go; if not, he has to fix the road Doc’s way. The race is a single lap around a dirt track, and the overconfident Lightning crashes on the first turn and has to be rescued by Mater.

Lightning works through the night and does a great job on the section of road he finishes, impressing everyone, including Doc. Doc finds Lightning at the track under the supervision of the Sheriff. He had run out of asphalt and asked if he could try to figure out how to make the turn. Doc takes over for the Sheriff and tries to tell Lightning what he’s doing wrong, but Lightning won’t listen. Meanwhile, the new road has inspired the rest of the town to fix up their own businesses. Sally offers Lightning a room in her Cozy Cone Motel in place of the impound lot.

Lightning doing his Community Service

That night, Mater is assigned to watch Lightning and he takes him “tractor tipping” and demonstrated his ability to drive backwards. When Lightning talks about how important the race is, Mater says he always wanted to ride in a helicopter, and Lightning casually promises it to him. Mater says Lightning is his best friend. At the motel, Sally asks Lightning is he really meant his promise to Mater, and he doesn’t know. He thanks her for letting him stay in the motel.

Mater tractor tipping

The next morning, while waiting to get his daily fuel ration from the Sheriff, Lightning stumbles into Doc’s garage and discovers that Doc is the Fabulous Hudson Hornet who won three Piston Cups in the 1950s. Impressed, Lightning tries to talk to him about racing, but Doc won’t talk to him. No one else in the town believes that Doc could have been a race car. Sally takes Lightning on a scenic drive.

Lightning and Sally out for a drive

Sally and Lightning end up at the abandoned Wheel Well Motel, Sally’s favorite place. Sally explains how she used to be an attorney in Los Angeles but never felt happy, and after breaking down in Radiator Springs she fell in love with the town and decided to stay.

The Wheel Well Motel

From the motel, there is a view of the Radiator Springs area from above. Sally tells the story of Radiator Springs and Route 66 before the interstate was built and how when it was it took away all the traffic from the town.

Sally and Lightning look out over Radiator Springs

When they get back to the town, Mater has set off a tractor stampede. Lightning follows a stray and finds Doc sitting on the track wearing old dirt racing tires. Lightning watches him take a quick lap around the track, drifting around the turn Lightning couldn’t make.

Doc practices his old racing skills

Lighting tries to show how impressed he is, but Doc runs off to his garage. Lightning follows him, trying to talk to him and asking why he quit racing. Doc reveals he didn’t quit; he had a wreck in the season after his third Piston Cup win, and by the time he was fixed everyone had moved on to a new rookie. He tells Lightning to finish the road and leave town.

Lightning tries to connect to Doc

The next morning everyone in town discovers that Lightning finished the road overnight. They initially think he’s already left, but it turns out he hasn’t yet. He shops from everyone in town, including whitewall tires from Luigi & Guido and a classic metallic paint job from Ramone, and inspires everyone to fix all the town’s neon signs.

Lightning shows Sally his new look

That night, as the town celebrates, the media show up and swarm the town, having found Lightning.

The media finds Lightning

Lightning’s manager Harv (Jeremy Piven) tells him his disappearance has given him a lot of publicity and orders Mack to take him to California immediately, and Lightning doesn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friends.

Mack apologizes to Lightning for losing him

As the media crowd leaves with Lightning, Sally discovers Doc called the media to tell them where Lightning was. He says it is best for everyone, and Sally asks if it’s really best for everyone, or just him. Sad over not being able to say goodbye, everyone goes home and shuts off their lights, leaving Doc alone in the darkened street.

The town is sad to see Lightning go

At the big race at the Los Angeles International Speedway, which is attended by celebrities like Mario Andretti (one of his cars with his voice), Lightning is unable to focus, being distracted by thought of Radiator Springs and his friends. He spends the beginning of the race in a distant third, unable to get by Chick Hicks.

Lightning is in a distant third

Doc comes on his radio, saying he didn’t come all that way to watch him quit. Not only Doc, but everyone from Radiator Springs, except Sally, Lizzie and Red, have come to cheer Lightning on, and Doc is serving as his crew chief, wearing his Fabulous Hudson Hornet paint from his racing days. The media, including announcers Bob Cutlass (Bob Costas) and Darrell Cartrip (Darrell Waltrip), quickly recognize him.

Lighting and his new pit crew

Lightning was a lap behind but he makes it up by the last 10 laps. Chick bumps Lightning, causing one of his tires to blow out. Thanks to Guido, Lightning is able to get four new tires quickly and get back in the race without losing a lap. Chick causes both Lightning and The King to lose control to take the lead, but Lightning uses Doc’s drifting technique to regain control and take the lead.

The effects of one of Chick's dirty tricks

On the last lap, Chick is behind the King and, not wanting to come in third, bumps him hard, forcing him into a serious wreck that takes him out of the race.

The King wrecked

Seeing The King wreck, Lightning is reminded of the wreck that ended Doc’s racing career. Lightning stops short of the finish line, allowing Chick to win the race. Lightning backs up to The King and pushes him back onto the track and across the finish line so he can finish his last race, to the applause of the audience.

Lightning rescues The King

Chick Hicks is awarded the Piston Cup but his behavior leads him to be ignored. The King and his wife (Lynda Petty) thank Lightning for what he did, and Tex (Humpy Wheeler), the head of Dinoco, offers Lightning his sponsorship, but Lightning has learned the importance of friendship and stays with Rust-eze, as they gave him his big break. Tex respects his decision and says if Lightning ever needs anything to just ask. Lightning uses the favor to give Mater a ride in the Dinoco helicopter.

The King and his wife thank Lightning

Lightning moves his racing headquarters to Radiator Springs. Luigi and Guido finally get to meet a Ferrari (Michael Schumacher), who Lightning referred to their shop and Lightning and Sally restore the Wheel Well Motel.

Luigi and Guido meet a Ferrari

Sally and Lightning

My Review:

I don’t think the Pixar team can make a bad movie, and this film lives up to their reputation. Though it doesn’t evoke emotions as strongly as other Pixar films, this is a fun movie. Perhaps because I am a “car guy,” I especially like the realistic depictions of nearly all the vehicles, and the voice casting that includes well-known people from the automotive world, like Richard & Lynda Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mario Andretti and Michael Schumacher. The other voice actors are excellent as well. The film is visually impressive. In addition to the realistic depictions of the cars, the racing scenes are exciting with views that would be impossible in a real race or in any life action film for that matter. The landscapes around Radiator Springs also have a number of automotive-inspired natural features that are quite clever and creative. One small thing that I noticed is that the train locomotive does not exactly match any specific real locomotive. This is something that most people wouldn’t notice, especially since the train’s appearance is very brief, so it doesn’t really detract from the movie, but as a train fan I noticed. A positive of that scene is the wig-wag crossing signals, which closely match a pair that are preserved deactivated in Port Richmond, California, the former home of Pixar’s studios. The movie’s plot is not overly complicated but it makes sense (as long as you can accept the premise of sentient cars) and there are no noticeable plot holes.

As with all Pixar films, Cars is great for kids and is enjoyable for adults as well, especially those with an interest in cars and/or auto racing.

The Bucket List (2007)

Complete strangers meet in a hospital and, with only months to live, decide to see the world.

The Plot: (Spoilers)

Auto mechanic Carter (Morgan Freeman), a trivia buff, gets a call at work with bad news.

Carter was having a good day until he got some bad news

Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson), at a county commissioners meeting where he is trying to privatize a struggling local hospital under his company, starts coughing up blood.

Edward didn't see that coming

Carter & Edward end up sharing a room at one of the hospitals Edward runs, due to his policy of “two beds to a room, no exceptions.” Turns out that he never had a problem with that, as he’d never been sick before, but his assistant Tom (Sean Hayes) says it would cause a big PR problem for him to make an exception for himself.

Edward & Carter sharing a room

Edward has cancer, and after an operation, doctors give Edward only a 5% chance of survival. Over the next few weeks, they get to know each other and become friends. Carter has been in and out of the hospital for months, undergoing an experimental treatment. He has a wife named Virginia (Beverly Todd) and three grown children (one of which is played by Morgan Freeman’s real-life son Alfonso Freeman). He always wanted to be a history professor but dropped out of college when Virginia became pregnant, and he never had the chance to go back, even though he always wanted to. Edward has been married and divorced four times, and says he was never married long enough to have any kids. One night, Carter starts making a “bucket list” that he won’t show Edward. Edward’s doctor comes in to deliver his test results, which aren’t good: Edward has 6 months to a year to live. Edward asks the doctor to find out Carter’s status, as Carter’s doctor is hard to get a hold of. Carter finds out that he too only has about a year left. He crumples up his list and throws it on the floor.

New friends

The next morning, Edward finds the list and asks what it is. Carter explains that his old philosophy teacher once assigned them to make a list of things they wanted to do before they “kicked the bucket” and he was re-doing the list for himself. Edward likes the idea and adds things like “go skydiving,” “get a tattoo” and “kiss the most beautiful girl in the world” to Carter’s existing list of “witness something truly breathtaking,” “help a complete stranger for the good,” “laugh till I cry” and “drive a Shelby Mustang.” Edward convinces Carter into fulfilling the list together, as they are both asymptomatic. Carter’s wife doesn’t understand and blames Edward for taking her husband away.

It's been decided

They start with the skydiving, which terrifies Carter but Edward enjoys it. Edward’s assistant Tom is tagging along to arrange everything, whose name is actually Matthew, but Edward prefers to call him “Tom.” They go on to driving muscle cars on a racetrack; Carter gets to drive a Shelby GT350 Mustang while Edward drives a Dodge Challenger R/T. Carter gets a little wild in his driving, intentionally bumping Edward’s car and challenging him over a small jump. They go to a tattoo parlor and Edward gets an elaborate tattoo of himself but Carter refuses, saying he doesn’t see anything he wants to be stuck with.

Cool cars

They fly to France to dine on caviar in a waterfront restaurant. Edward admits to Carter that he has a daughter named Emily that he doesn’t see anymore. Carter tries to add “get back in touch” to the list, but Edward refuses. Carter suddenly rushes off to the bathroom and Edward thinks that he upset him, but it turns out the catheter in Carter’s chest came loose and he started bleeding, but he was able to stop it. Back at Edward’s French villa, while Carter takes a bath, Edward gets a call from Virginia, who asks him to bring her husband back. Edward suggests to Carter that, because of the catheter incident, maybe they should postpone the rest of the trip, but Carter realizes that his wife called.

They continue on an African safari and visit the pyramids in Egypt. On top of one of the pyramids, Edward tells Carter why he doesn’t see his daughter anymore. When she was about to get married, there was something about her fiancé that led Edward to oppose the marriage. Naturally, he wasn’t invited to the wedding. The husband turned out be abusive, and the first time he hit Emily, she came to Edward, but said that it wasn’t her husband’s fault as he’d been drinking and she started the fight, but she still loved him. The next time, Edward heard about it from his ex-wife, and he hired someone to “take care of it.”All he knows is that the husband wasn’t killed and Emily never saw him again. When Emily found out what Edward did, she declared that he was dead to her.

The big gun has a lot of kick

Visiting the Taj Mahal in India, Edward and Carter discuss death. Edward doesn’t know what to have done with his remains. Carter wants to be cremated and have his ashes put in a Chock full o’Nuts coffee can and buried somewhere with a view.

They ride the Great Wall of China on a motorcycle and then try to climb Mount Everest to fulfill “witness something truly majestic” but they are too late in the season; a storm has already moved in and they won’t be able to climb till the next spring. Edward suggest that maybe it is a sign that it is time for them to go home, but Carter knows he’s just talking about him and refuses.

Is this actually allowed?

They go on to Hong Kong, where they plan to wear silk suits and eat black walnut ice cream. Carter is approached at the bar by a beautiful young woman. They seem to have a lot of common interests, and she invites him up to his room, but he politely declines, saying he is already married. He realizes Edward arranged the encounter and tells him he’s ready to go home. He asks Edward how he knew he’d turn her down, and Edward says he didn’t.

She's too good to be true

Back in America, the driver takes them to the home of Edward’s daughter Emily, which Edward’s assistant had arranged at Carter’s insistence. Edward refuses to try to patch things up with her and leaves with the car leaving Carter and his assistant at the side of the road. Carter takes a cab home to his wife and has a big family dinner, while Edward is left alone in frustration and eventually tears.

This won't end well

After the dinner, Carter collapses and is rushed to the hospital. Edward goes back to work and is eventually notified of Carter’s condition and comes to visit him. The cancer has metastasized to Carter’s brain, and he may not survive. Carter’s wife gives Edward a letter that she was supposed to give him after Carter’s death, but she decided not to wait. While waiting for surgery, Carter and Edward share a laugh about the origin of Edward’s exotic coffee, fulfilling “laugh until I cry.” Carter gives Edward the list and tells him to finish it himself.

At least they can still share a laugh

In his car, Edward reads the note from Carter, which tells him how much the trip helped him and how he reconnected with his wife when he returned and asks Edward to find the joy in his life. Edward goes to successfully reconcile with his daughter Emily, and meets his granddaughter, and leads him to cross off “kiss the most beautiful girl in the world.”

Not as hard as he thought

Edward speaks at Carter’s funeral, and talks about how they traveled the world together and were complete strangers three months earlier. He realizes that he can cross off “help a complete stranger for the good.”

Edward speaks at Carter's funeral

After Edward dies, his assistant climbs to the top of Mount Everest and places a Chock full o-Nuts can containing Edward’s remains, in a concrete monument next to another can with Carter’s remains. He crosses off the remaining item on the list, “witness something truly majestic,” and leaves the list between the two cans.

Final resting place

My review:

This movie is carried by the acting, and Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are as excellent as ever. Most of the supporting cast isn’t very prominent, but Sean Hayes does a very good job as the long-suffering assistant of Jack Nicholson’s eccentric character, and the two have some amusing banter. Beverly Todd also does a good job as Virginia. The plot works well; most of the moments in the trip are fun to watch, and the ending is a tearjerker. If there is anything I can criticize in this movie, it is that both of the main characters seem to have a lot of energy and little difficulties from their cancer or the treatments from the beginning of their trip until Carter suddenly collapses at home, and they don’t seem to need any significant treatment during their trip. I don’t know much about cancer, but this seems unlikely at best. This didn’t make the movie any less enjoyable to me, however.

The Bucket List is an enjoyable movie with two great actors.