dLeaves of Grass (2010)
When Ivy League classics professor Bill Kincaid receives news of the murder of his estranged identical twin brother, Brady, in a pot deal gone bad, he leaves the world of Northeastern academia to travel back to his home state of Oklahoma. Upon arrival, he finds that reports of his brother\’s death are greatly exaggerated, and he\’s soon caught up in the dangerous and unpredictable world of drug commerce in the backwaters of the Southwest. In the process, he reconnects with his eccentric mother, meets a wise and educated young woman who has bypassed academia in favor of the gentler rhythms of life, and unwittingly helps his troubled brother settle a score with a pernicious drug lord who uses Tulsa, Oklahoma\’s small Jewish community for cover.
Burned out veteran Eddie Dugan is just one week away from his pension and a fishing cabin in Connecticut. Narcotics officer Sal Procida has discovered there’s no line he won’t cross to provide a better life for his long-suffering wife and seven children. And Clarence “Tango” Butler has been undercover so long his loyalties have started to shift from his fellow police officers to his prison buddy Caz, one of Brooklyn’s most infamous drug dealers. With personal and work pressures bearing down on them, each man faces daily tests of judgment and honor in one of the world\’s most difficult jobs. When NYPD\’s Operation Clean Up targets the notoriously drug-ridden BK housing project, all three officers find themselves swept away by the violence and corruption of Brooklyns gritty 65th Precinct and its most treacherous criminals. During seven fateful days, Eddie, Sal and Tango find themselves hurtling inextricably toward the same fatal crime scene and a shattering collision with destiny.
A soldier home on leave falls for a conservative college girl. Instead of returning home to her, he reenlists after the attacks on September 11th, 2001. Time and distance begin to take a toll on the young lovers.
A typical day on the slopes turns into a chilling nightmare for three snowboarders when they get stranded on the chairlift before their last run. As the ski patrol switches off the night lights, they realize with growing panic that they\’ve been left behind dangling high off the ground with no way down. With the resort closed until the following weekend and frostbite and hypothermia already setting in, the trio is forced to take desperate measures to escape off the mountain before they freeze to death. Once they make their move, they discover with horror that they have much more to fear than just the frigid cold. As they combat unexpected obstacles, they start to question if their will to survive is strong enough to overcome the worst ways to die.
Disillusioned with romance, an ambitious New Yorker travels to Rome, where she plucks magic coins from a special fountain. The coins attract an assortment of odd suitors, including a sausage merchant, a street magician and an artist. But, when a persistent reporter throws his hat in the ring, she wonders if his love is the real thing.
Thomas Craven is a veteran homicide detective for the Boston Police Department and a single father. When his only child, 24-year-old Emma, is murdered on the steps of his home, everyone assumes that he was the target. But he soon suspects otherwise, and embarks on a mission to find out about his daughter\’s secret life and her killing. His investigation leads him into a dangerous looking-glass world of corporate cover-ups, government collusion and murder — and to shadowy government operative Darius Jedburgh who has been sent in to clean up the evidence. Craven\’s solitary search for answers about his daughter\’s death transforms into an odyssey of emotional discovery and redemption.
After a run of bad luck, John, a compulsive gambler, runs away from Las Vegas and toward a normal job and life. Taking a nondescript position in an auto insurance company in Albuquerque, he tries to get ahead in the straight world, amid the ever-present temptations of scratch-off lotto tickets. When his boss, Mr. Townsend, asks John to accompany his top fraud debunker, Virgil on an investigation of a dubious car “accident” near Vegas, John sees an opportunity to get a promotion , though he\’s concerned about returning to the gambling game. Before leaving he becomes involved with his eccentric co-worker Jill, a dalliance that has the potential to become a real relationship. Soon John is on the road with Virgil, where they encounter a series of offbeat characters, including a wheelchair-bound stripper, a nude militant, a park Ranger, and a carnival human torch. While Virgil is the supposed leader of the investigation, it’s John who begins to finally assert himself, pushing the case closer to a conclusion. Through the journey, John’s confidence builds, and he realizes that he can\’t escape his gambling addiction by running away from it–it will follow him wherever he goes. It’s only when he returns to Vegas and his experiences there finally send him on the path to breaking free.
Colin Diamond discovers that his wife of twenty years is having an affair with a good-looking younger man. When his motley group of friends decide to kidnap the young man, Colin must wrestle with his conscience.
From his working class roots, John Crowley has finally begun to taste success in corporate America. Supported by his beautiful wife Aileen and their three children, John is on the fast track. But just as his career is taking off, Crowley walks away from it all when his two youngest children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with a fatal disease. With Aileen by his side, harnessing all of his skill and determination, Crowley teams up with a brilliant, but unappreciated and unconventional scientist, Dr. Robert Stonehill. Together they form a bio-tech company focused on developing a life-saving drug. One driven to prove himself and his theories, the other by a chance to save his children, this unlikely alliance eventually develops into mutual respect as they battle the medical and business establishments in a fight against the system ¿ and time.But, at the last minute, when it appears that a solution has been found, the relationship between the two men faces a final test - the outcome of which will affect the fate of John\’s children.
Charles Darwin copes with the death of his daughter, Annie, by plunging into his work “The Origin of Species.”