My Top 100 First Time Viewings in 2019
Of the 900+ films that I have seen for the first time in 2019 (so far) these are the ones that I liked the most.
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- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn WayneDean MartinRicky NelsonA small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoLee Sun-kyunCho Yeo-jeongGreed and class discrimination threaten the newly-formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.
- DirectorSergey BondarchukStarsSergey BondarchukPavel BoriskinZinaida KirienkoA Soviet soldier, Andrei Sokolov, has been separated from his family by World War II. Suffering in German captivity, he dreams of meeting his darlings after the victory. But cruel fate turned out otherwise.
- DirectorGrigoriy KozintsevStarsInnokentiy SmoktunovskiyMikhail NazvanovElza RadzinaAfter the death of the King of Denmark - Hamlet's father - his brother Claudius ascends the throne, who takes his widow Gertrude as his wife. Hamlet meets the ghost of his father and learns that he was killed by Claudius.
- DirectorAsghar FarhadiStarsTaraneh AlidoostiGolshifteh FarahaniShahab HosseiniThe mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsOssi OswaldaHermann ThimigVictor JansonForced into marriage by his uncle, a man decides to fool him by marrying a life-like mechanical doll instead.
- DirectorBernhard WickiStarsIngrid BergmanAnthony QuinnPaolo StoppaAn unwed pregnant teenager is run out of town and years later she returns there as a rich woman, raising the town's expectations with her generosity, but she's only out for revenge.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsRichard HarrisJohn HurtSean BeanWhen a field (which has been farmed by the McCabe family for generations) goes up for auction, the patriarch of the McCabe family will stop at nothing to prevent a rich American from buying it.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsPhil DavisRuth SheenEdna DoréThe life of a working class couple living in London and their complicated relationships with other members of the family.
- DirectorAbram RoomStarsVladimir FogelNikolay BatalovLyudmila SemyonovaA married couple have a small apartment in Moscow. When an old friend of the husband's arrives in the city, he is unable to find lodgings. Kolia, the husband, invites his friend to move in with them.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsKichiemon NakamuraNobuko OtowaKei SatôTwo women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.
- DirectorLodge KerriganStarsDamian LewisLiza Colón-ZayasJohn TormeyA disheveled man desperately searches New York City for his young daughter.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsCeline O'LearyChloe FergusonPaul BlackwellA seven-year-old girl adopts a vow of silence in protest when her quarrelsome parents grow increasingly hostile to one another.
- DirectorRyszard BugajskiStarsKrystyna JandaAdam FerencyJanusz GajosTonia goes out drinking. She wakes up in prison, not having a clue why she's there. She is tortured to encourage her to confess to a crime she is not aware of.
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsBill MurrayAndie MacDowellChris ElliottA narcissistic, self-centered weatherman finds himself in a time loop on Groundhog Day.
- DirectorGerald ThomasStarsKenneth WilliamsSidney JamesKenneth ConnorTwo Britons, Hengist and Horsa, are captured and enslaved by invading Romans and taken to Rome. One of their first encounters in Rome leaves Hengist being mistaken for a fighter, and gets drafted into the Royal Guard to protect Caesar.
- DirectorGerald ThomasStarsSidney JamesHattie JacquesKenneth ConnorA taxi company is threatened when an all-female firm sets itself up in business and starts to steal their customers.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsRoman Griffin DavisThomasin McKenzieScarlett JohanssonA young German boy in the Hitler Youth whose hero and imaginary friend is the country's dictator is shocked to discover that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanAn unobtrusive and naturalistic examination of the goings-on of a children's court, Memphis Juvenile Court 616.
- DirectorDestin Daniel CrettonStarsBrie LarsonFrantz TurnerJohn Gallagher Jr.A 20-something supervising staff member of a residential treatment facility navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her co-worker and longtime boyfriend.
- DirectorDavid FarrierDylan ReeveStarsDavid FarrierDylan ReeveDavid StarrJournalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn't stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.
- DirectorMarek PiestrakStarsSergei DesnitskyBoleslaw AbartVladimir IvashovHumanlike robots replace humans on space missions. Test flight with robots and human crew, including commander Pirx unaware of robots' identities, evaluates robot performance/interactions. UN organizes mission to assess robot capabilities.
- DirectorAnna Rose HolmerStarsRoyalty HightowerAlexis NeblettDa'Sean MinorWhile training at the gym 11-year-old tomboy Toni becomes entranced with a dance troupe. As she struggles to fit in she finds herself caught up in danger as the group begins to suffer from fainting spells and other violent fits.
- DirectorBo BurnhamStarsElsie FisherJosh HamiltonEmily RobinsonAn introverted teenage girl tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before leaving to start high school.
- DirectorRoger DonaldsonStarsBruno LawrenceAnna Maria MonticelliGreer Robson-KirkAfter the break-up of his marriage, a racing driver sets out to get back his daughter - at any cost.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsCharles LaughtonMary BolandCharles RugglesAn English valet brought to the American west assimilates into the American way of life.
- DirectorArtavazd PeleshianA man paves his own way to his own soul through an intellectual quest, tragedies of nations and personal drama. The road moving through the cosmic distances is a flight into one's internal world. This flight and this drama are revealed in this philosophical film-poem.
- DirectorAleksandr DovzhenkoStarsNikolai NademskySemyon SvashenkoAleksandr PodorozhnyyAn old Ukrainian man protects and searches for a legendary treasure in the midst of political upheavals.
- DirectorBenny SafdieJosh SafdieStarsRobert PattinsonBenny SafdieJennifer Jason LeighAfter a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City's underworld to get his brother Nick out of jail.
- DirectorStanislaw RózewiczStarsHenryk HryniewiczBeata BarszczewskaAndrzej BanaszewskiThree episodes dealing with the harsh situation of children at the time of war. They stay at orphanages, wait for their parents to come back, help the soldiers, hide in the forests and do their best to survive.
- DirectorBoots RileyStarsLaKeith StanfieldTessa ThompsonJermaine FowlerIn an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed.
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsBoris KarloffMarian MarshRobert AllenIgnoring an ancient prophecy, evil brother Gregor seeks to maintain his feudal power on his his Tyrolean estate by murdering and impersonating his benevolent younger twin.
- DirectorGrigoriy AleksandrovStarsLeonid UtyosovLyubov OrlovaMariya StrelkovaA musically talented shepherd gets his big chance when he is mistaken for a famous conductor.
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsTim Blake NelsonWillie WatsonClancy BrownSix tales of life and violence in the Old West, following a singing gunslinger, a bank robber, a traveling impresario, an elderly prospector, a wagon train, and a perverse pair of bounty hunters.
- DirectorEldar ShengelaiaStarsRamaz GiorgobianiVasil KakhniashviliTeimuraz ChirgadzeAn author - a passive young man - enters the Soviet-controlled bureaucracy of Georgia attempting to get his novel published only to be neglected and compartmentalized at every turn.
- DirectorMark RappaportStarsMary Beth HurtJean SebergMark Rappaport's creative bio-pic about actress Jean Seberg is presented in a first-person, autobiographical format (with Seberg played by Mary Beth Hurt). He seamlessly interweaves cinema, politics, American society and culture, and film theory to inform, entertain, and move the viewer. Seberg's many marriages, as well as her film roles, are discussed extensively. Her involvement with the Black Panther Movement and subsequent investigation by the FBI is covered. Notably, details of French New Wave cinema, Russian Expressionist (silent) films, and the careers of Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, and Clint Eastwood are also intensively examined. Much of the film is based on conjecture, but Rappaport encourages viewers to re-examine their ideas about women in film with this thought-provoking picture.
- DirectorTrinh T. Minh-haTrinh T. Minh-ha combines archival footage, text, and interviews to paint portraits of Vietnamese women past and present. She explores the fiction of documentary and the truth of subjective experience and all their inherent contradictions.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsMatt DillonBruno GanzUma ThurmanIn five episodes, failed architect and vicious sociopath Jack recounts his elaborately orchestrated murders -- each, as he views them, a towering work of art that defines his life's work as a serial killer in the Pacific Northwest.
- DirectorPeter DelpeutStarsJoseph O'ConorRoy Ward1941: in Ireland, a film maker hears of an aged ship's carpenter who knows the fate of the Hollandia, a Norse ship that set sail in 1905 and vanished. The old salt has canisters of film to prove his tale. We see the footage as he narrates. They sail south in June, 1905, with scores of Siberian huskies aboard, meeting no living soul, the crew ignorant of the trip's purpose, until they reach Antarctica. A mysterious Italian paces the deck; a polar bear appears, and the Italian, possessed, hunts it down. That night, the boatswain explains to the crew how an Arctic bear could be at the South Pole and why the Hollandia has come. Visitors arrive, and the Gothic tale plays out.
- DirectorAlan BerlinerStarsAlan BerlinerOscar BerlinerA portrait of the director's father, searching for the extraordinary in the subject's seemingly normal existence.
- DirectorStephen SayadianStarsMadeleine ReynalFox HarrisLaura AlbertThe granddaughter of an infamous doctor experiments with hormone and shock therapies at her asylum for the insane.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsStephen ChowAnita MuiMan-Tat NgA shyster with an equally eccentric kung-fu ace of a wife manage to bring justice to the court.
- DirectorLik-Chi LeeStarsStephen ChowChristy ChungMan-Tat NgTo prove himself to a love interest, a delivery boy learns dubious kung fu from an aging charlatan so he can challenge his archrival to a fight.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsThomas DekkerHaley BennettChris ZylkaA sexually "undeclared" college freshman's clairvoyant/prophetic dreams are the first sign that something very strange is going on involving his classmates -- with him at the center.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsRoy ScheiderBruno CremerFrancisco RabalFour unfortunate men from different parts of the globe agree to risk their lives transporting gallons of nitroglycerin across dangerous Latin American jungle.
- DirectorJacques DemyStarsAnouk AiméeGary LockwoodAlexandra HayGeorge is unemployed, broke, about to be drafted to Vietnam, and suddenly madly in love with the divine Lola, a woman he has only briefly glimpsed. Now George searches for his potential amour through the City of Angels.
- DirectorMakoto ShinkaiStarsRyunosuke KamikiMone KamishiraishiRyo NaritaTwo teenagers share a profound, magical connection upon discovering they are swapping bodies. Things manage to become even more complicated when the boy and girl decide to meet in person.
- DirectorHugh SullivanStarsJosh McConvilleHannah MarshallAlex DimitriadesA man's attempt to construct the ultimate romantic weekend backfires when his quest for perfection traps his lover in an infinite loop.
- DirectorCheh ChangStarsKuan Tai ChenFeng LuPhillip Chung-Fung KwokThree men who have been physically disabled by an evil warlord and his physically-disabled son become friends and learn kung fu so that they can seek revenge with help from an elderly martial-arts teacher and his mentally-disabled pupil.
- DirectorDavid ParkerStarsDavid ArgueMichael CarmanMary CoustasWhen Brad quits his job at a large cinema chain, to open his own picture theatre, his ex-boss sabotages the opening night by switching the Italian film with a non-subtitled version. Brad and his team hilariously improvise the dialogue to avert disaster.
- DirectorTaika WaititiStarsLoren TaylorJemaine ClementCraig HallThe tale of two socially-awkward misfits and the strange ways they try to find love: through revenge on high-school bullies, burgers, and video games.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJosé Luis FerrerIsmael FritschiJuan López-TagleToby, a disillusioned film director, is pulled into a world of time-jumping fantasy when a Spanish cobbler believes himself to be Sancho Panza. He gradually becomes unable to tell dreams from reality.
- DirectorAllison AndersAlexandre RockwellRobert RodriguezStarsTim RothAntonio BanderasSammi DavisFour interlocking tales that take place in a fading hotel on New Year's Eve.
- DirectorJim KleinJulia ReichertStarsJessica JonesFocuses on the socialization of American females. It tells the story of six women and girls. The first film to emerge from the modern women's movement in the early 1970s.
- DirectorTodd Strauss-SchulsonStarsTaissa FarmigaMalin AkermanAdam DevineA young woman grieving the loss of her mother, a famous scream queen from the 1980s, finds herself pulled into the world of her mom's most famous movie. Reunited, the women must fight off the film's maniacal killer.
- DirectorStephen SuscoStarsColin WoodellStephanie NoguerasBetty GabrielA teen comes into possession of a new laptop and soon discovers that the previous owner is not only watching him but will also do anything to get it back.
- DirectorFalk HarnackStarsErwin GeschonneckKäthe BraunGefion HelmkeAfter a crime is committed during the Nazi era in the Reeperbahn area of Hamburg, the aspiring local leader, a ship owner, needs to find an executioner to kill the perpetrators and turns to a butcher.
- DirectorAndrew BujalskiStarsKriss SchludermannTom FletcherWiley WigginsA 1980s-set story centered around a man vs. machine chess tournament.
- DirectorClayton JacobsonStarsShane JacobsonClayton JacobsonKim GyngellTwo brothers' murder plans go somewhat sideways in this Australian dark comedy.
- DirectorAlex van WarmerdamStarsJan BijvoetHadewych MinisJeroen PercevalA vagrant enters the lives of an arrogant upper-class family, turning their lives into a psychological nightmare in the process.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIngrid BergmanGregory PeckMichael ChekhovA psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory.
- DirectorPeyton ReedStarsEwan McGregorRenée ZellwegerDavid Hyde PierceIn 1962 New York City, love blossoms between a playboy journalist and a feminist advice author.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsColleen MooreLloyd HughesVera LewisElla Cinders, oppressed and abused by her stepmother and stepsisters, wins a contest for a film role in Hollywood. When the contest turns out to be fraudulent, she determines to stay and achieve Hollywood stardom the hard way.
- DirectorDebra GranikStarsThomasin McKenzieBen FosterJeffery RifflardA father and his seventeen-year-old daughter are living an ideal existence in a vast urban park in Portland, Oregon when a small mistake derails their lives forever.
- DirectorMalcolm ClarkeStarsBob GuntonA grim portrait of Vietnam War Veterans, living out their lonely lives in the American wilderness, unable to cope with the lasting effects of their traumatic war experiences.
- DirectorWinterfilm CollectiveStarsRusty SachsJoe BangertScott ShimabukuroFor three days in 1971, former US soldiers who were in Vietnam testify in Detroit about their war experiences. Nearly 30 speak, describing atrocities personally committed or witnessed, telling of inaccurate body counts, and recounting the process of destroying a village. The atrocities are casual, seem routine, and are sanctioned or committed by officers. Images from the war illustrate the testimony; there's a side discussion among veterans about racism and a couple of interviews about the soldiers' self-realization. The testimony appears in the US Congressional Record on April 6 and 7, 1971. A "winter soldier" contrasts with Paine's "summer soldier and sunshine patriot."
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsTony CosgroveOlivier Espitalier-NoelDon FairserviceThe 1746 Battle of Culloden, the last land battle fought in the British Isles and the battle that ensured that Scotland was controlled by England.
- DirectorStuart CooperStarsBrian StirnerDavyd HarriesNicholas BallDuring World War 2, a young lad's called up and, with increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training for D-day.
- DirectorJulius AveryStarsJovan AdepoWyatt RussellMathilde OllivierA small group of American soldiers find horror behind enemy lines on the eve of D-Day.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsSima Mobarak-ShahiShayesteh IraniAyda SadeqiThe struggle of women in a country that excludes them from entering stadiums.
- DirectorJames GrayStarsBrad PittTommy Lee JonesRuth NeggaAstronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across an unforgiving solar system to uncover the truth about his missing father and his doomed expedition that now, 30 years later, threatens the universe.
- DirectorSatoshi KonStarsMegumi HayashibaraTôru EmoriKatsunosuke HoriWhen a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients' dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it.
- DirectorJirí BartaStarsOldrich KaiserJirí LábusMichal PavlícekThe story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin with a twist.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsMatthew ModineNicolas CageJohn HarkinsAfter two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.
- DirectorChloé ZhaoStarsBrady JandreauMooneyTim JandreauAfter suffering a near fatal head injury, a young cowboy undertakes a search for new identity and what it means to be a man in the heartland of America.
- DirectorGustav MöllerStarsJakob CedergrenJessica DinnageOmar ShargawiA police officer assigned alarm dispatch duty enters a race against time when he answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman.
- DirectorMohsen MakhmalbafStarsMahshid AfsharzadehFirouz KianiSamira MakhmalbafThe wife of Nasim, an Afghan immigrant in Iran, is gravely ill. He needs money to pay for her care, but his day labor digging wells does not pay enough. A friend connects Nasim to a two-bit promoter who sells tickets to watch Nasim ride a bicycle continuously for a week. The promoter brings in sick and aged spectators, haranguing them to find hope in Nasim's strength. Aided by his son, who feeds him as he rides, Nasim grinds out the days and shivering nights. Local officials believe this may be a plot and Nasim may be a spy; they try to sabotage him as do those who bet he won't finish the week. Will desperation alone get Nasim the money? Is any triumph an illusion?
- DirectorPaul LeniStarsLaura La PlanteCreighton HaleForrest StanleyRelatives of an eccentric millionaire gather in his spooky mansion on the 20th anniversary of his death for the reading of his will.
- DirectorAaron HannMario MiscioneStarsAllegra MastersAimee McKayAshley KeyHeld captive and faced with their imminent executions, fifty strangers are forced to choose the one person among them who deserves to live.
- DirectorFred C. NewmeyerSam TaylorStarsHarold LloydMildred DavisJohn T. PrinceCountry doctor Jack Jackson is called in to treat the Sick-Little-Well-Girl, who has been making Dr. Saulsbourg and his sanitarium very rich, after years of unsuccessful treatment. Dr. Jack's old-fashioned methods do the trick, and the quack is sent packing.
- DirectorGerald ThomasStarsSidney JamesKenneth WilliamsJim DaleThe time of the French Revolution, and Citizen Robespierre is beheading the French aristocracy. When word gets to England, two noblemen, Sir Rodney Effing and Lord Darcy take it upon themselves to aid their French counterparts. Sir Rodney is a master of disguise, and becomes "The Black Fingernail", scourge of Camembert and Bidet, leaders of the French secret police.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsKris HitchenDebbie HoneywoodRhys McgowanHoping that self-employment through gig economy can solve their financial woes, a hard-up UK delivery driver and his wife struggling to raise a family end up trapped in the vicious circle of this modern-day form of labour exploitation.
- DirectorAlex van WarmerdamStarsJack WouterseAnnet MalherbeRudolf LucieerDuring the summer of 1960, the idiosyncratic residents of a one-street Dutch suburb collide in intertwining stories of desire and frustration.
- DirectorLarry BlamireStarsLarry BlamireFay MastersonBrian HoweA bad scientist and his wife, a mad scientist, a skeleton, and two aliens and their escaped pet are all searching for the elusive element "atmospherium".
- DirectorHerschell Gordon LewisStarsRay SagerJudy ClerWayne RatayA TV talk-show hostess and her boyfriend investigate a shady magician who has the ability to hypnotize and control the thoughts of people in order to stage gory on-stage illusions using his powers of mind bending.
- DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsThelma ToddCreighton HaleSheldon LewisA young man of society wants to make an expedition to Africa, but his fiancée asks him for help with one of her father's guests shortly before his planned departure. Her suspicions about that guest are serious: this man tries to steal one of her father's rubies, and she and her fiance' are kidnapped and taken to a house where strange things happen. The whole thing becomes a nightmare under the direction of a mysterious Mr. Satan.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsLeonardo DiCaprioBrad PittMargot RobbieA faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.
- DirectorChristopher LandonStarsJessica RotheIsrael BroussardPhi VuTree Gelbman discovers that dying over and over was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.
- DirectorGerald ThomasRalph ThomasStarsSidney JamesKenneth ConnorCharles HawtreyThe Helping Hands agency employs some very strange people to perform some very strange jobs. Even the simplest of tasks get bungled by the incompetent but lovable staff.
- DirectorBernard VorhausStarsTurhan BeyLynn BariCathy O'DonnellOn the beach one night, Christine Faber, two years a widow, thinks she hears her late husband Paul calling out of the surf; then meets a tall dark man Alexis, who seems to know all about such things.
- DirectorShane MeadowsStarsThomas TurgooseStephen GrahamJo HartleyA young boy becomes friends with a gang of skinheads. Friends soon become like family, and relationships will be pushed to the very limit.
- DirectorWeijun ChenStarsCheng ChengLuo LeiXu XiaofeiDemocracy in China exists, that is, in a primary school in Wuhan where a grade 3 class can vote who they want as class monitor.
- DirectorBill PlymptonMuch to his surprise, an utter misanthrope is transformed into a reluctant do-gooder, when a glorious pair of angelic snow-white wings sprouts up from his back. Now, everyone in town wants a piece of his feathered appendages.
- DirectorJee-woon KimStarsLee Byung-hunChoi Min-sikJeon Gook-hwanA secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.
- DirectorKim Ki-youngStarsJin Kyu KimJeung-nyeo JuEun-shim LeeA composer and his wife are thrown into turmoil when a housemaid becomes more than they bargained for.
- DirectorSean ByrneStarsXavier SamuelRobin McLeavyJohn BrumptonWhen Brent turns down his classmate Lola's invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.
- DirectorQuentin DupieuxStarsStephen SpinellaRoxane MesquidaWings HauserA homicidal car tire, discovering it has destructive psionic power, sets its sights on a desert town once a mysterious woman becomes its obsession.
- DirectorGyörgy FehérStarsPéter HaumannJános DerzsiJudit PogányWhen a schoolgirl is found murdered in the woods, a retiring detective tries to find her murderer.
- DirectorStuart HazeldineStarsAdar BeckGemma ChanNathalie CoxEight candidates for a highly desirable corporate job are locked together in an exam room and given a final test with just one seemingly simple question. However, it doesn't take long for confusion to ensue and tensions to unravel.
- DirectorHenri XhonneuxStarsFrançois MarthouretValérie KlingMichel RobinThe scene is a pre-French Revolution Bastille, where various political prisoners are being held: a woman who was raped and impregnated by the king, a police chief who was accused of selling bad pork, and the Marquis, who was unjustly accused of working for the overthrow of the king. The Marquis is only interested in writing his deviant stories, while his penis yearns for a little action (they argue about this frequently), the prime candidate being the jailer who likes to be buggered. The corrupt priest arranges to have the pregnant woman raped by the Marquis so they can claim the king had nothing to do with it. The priest also steals the Marquis' manuscripts and publishes them for his own profit. Things come to a head as the people rise up against the tyranny.