Inception

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) perform an illegal corporate espionage by entering the subconscious minds of their targets, using two-level "dream within a dream" strategies to "extract" valuable information. Each of the "extractors" carries a "totem", a personalized small object whose behavior is unpredictable to anyone except its owner, to determine whether they are in another person's dream. Cobb's totem is a spinning top which perpetually spins in the dream state. Cobb struggles with memories of his dead wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), who manifests within his dreams and tries to sabotage his efforts.

Cobb is approached by the wealthy Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe), Cobb's last extraction target, asking him and his team to perform the act of "inception", planting an idea within the person's subconscious mind. Saito wishes to break up the vast energy empire of his competitor, the ailing Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlethwaite), by suggesting this idea to his son Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) who will inherit the empire when his father dies. Should Cobb succeed, Saito promises to use his influence to clear Cobb of the murder charges for his wife's death, allowing Cobb to re-enter the United States and reunite with his children. Cobb assembles his team: Eames (Tom Hardy), an identity forger; Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who concocts the powerful sedative needed to stabilize the layers of the shared dream; and Ariadne (Ellen Page), a young student architect tasked with designing the labyrinth of the dream landscapes. Saito insists on joining the team as an observer and to assure the job is completed. While planning the inception, Ariadne learns of the guilt Cobb struggles with from Mal's suicide and his separation from his children when he fled the country as a fugitive.

The job is set into motion when Maurice Fischer dies and his son accompanies his father's body from Sydney to Los Angeles. During the flight, Cobb sedates Fischer, and the team bring him into a three-level shared dream. At each stage, the member of the team who is "creating" the dream remains while the other team members fall asleep within the dream to travel further down into Fischer's subconscious. The dreamers will then ride a synchronized system of "kicks" (a car diving off a bridge, a fall between hotel rooms, and a collapsing building) back up the levels to wake up to reality. In the first level, Yusuf's dream of a rainy city, the team successfully abducts Fischer, but the team is attacked by Fischer's militarized subconscious projections, which have been trained to hunt and kill extractors. Saito is mortally wounded during the shoot-out, but due to the strength of Yusuf's sedative, dying in the dream will send them into limbo, a deep subconscious level where they may lose their grip on reality and be trapped indefinitely.

Eames takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather Peter Browning (Tom Berenger) to suggest that he reconsider his opinion of his father's will. Yusuf remains on the first level driving a van through the streets, while the remaining characters enter Arthur's dream, taking place in a corporate hotel. Cobb turns Fischer against Browning and persuades him to join the team as Arthur runs point, and they descend to the third dream level, a snowy mountain fortress dreamed by Eames, which Fischer is told represents Browning's subconscious. Yusuf's evasive driving on the first level manifests as distorted gravity effects on the second, forcing Arthur to improvise a kick using an elevator shaft, and an avalanche on the third.

Saito succumbs to his wounds, and Cobb's projection of Mal sabotages the plan by shooting Fischer dead.^[12] Cobb and Ariadne elect to enter limbo to find Fischer and Saito. There, Cobb confronts his projection of Mal, who tries to convince him to stay with her and his kids in limbo. Cobb refuses and confesses that he was responsible for Mal's suicide: to help her escape from limbo during a shared dream experience, he inspired in her the idea that her world wasn't real. Once she had returned to reality, she became convinced that she was still dreaming and needed to die in order to wake up. Through his confession, Cobb attains catharsis and chooses to remain in limbo to search for Saito; Eames defibrillates Fischer to bring him back up to the third-level mountain fortress, where he enters a safe room and discovers and accepts the idea to split up his father's business empire.

Leaving Cobb behind, the team members escape by riding the kicks back up the levels of the dream. Cobb eventually finds an elderly Saito who has been waiting in limbo for decades in dream time (just a few hours in real time), and the two help each other to remember their arrangement. The team awakens on the flight; Saito arranges for Cobb to get through U.S. customs, and he goes home to reunite with his children. Cobb uses his spinning top to test reality but is distracted by his children before he can see the result.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Riley Biers (Xavier Samuel) is attacked and bitten by Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard), in order to begin creating an army of newborns set to destroy Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). Back in Forks, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella discuss the complications of becoming an immortal vampire. At 18 years old, one year older than the age Edward was when he became a vampire, Bella expresses her aversion to the idea of marrying so young, though Edward refuses to turn her until they are married and she's had various human experiences she would otherwise miss. While Charlie Swan (Billy Burke) investigates the disappearance of Riley Biers, Edward suspects his disappearance was caused by the newborn vampires. Furthering his suspicions is the intrusion of Riley into Bella's room.

Although Edward fears for her safety, Bella insists that Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) and the rest of the werewolf pack would never harm her, but Edward is still not convinced. Bella goes to La Push to see Jacob, and returns home unharmed. During one of her visits, Jacob confesses that he is in love with Bella, and forcefully kisses her. Mad, she punches him and breaks her hand, and Edward later threatens to break Jacob's jaw. Bella even revokes the invitations of Jacob and his pack members to her graduation party, but when Jacob apologizes for his behavior, she forgives him.

Meanwhile, Alice (Ashley Greene) sees a vision that the newborn army is attacking Forks led by Riley Biers. Jacob, accompanied by Quil (Tyson Houseman) and Embry (Kiowa Gordon) overhear this, which leads to an alliance between the Cullens and Wolf pack. Later, the Cullens and the wolves agree to a meeting place and time to train and discuss strategy. During the training Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) explains to Bella that he was created by a vampire named Maria to control a newborn army. He hated his original existence and upon meeting Alice, joined the Cullens with her. Bella sees the true bond between a mated vampire pair and begins to understand Jasper better. Despite her reluctance to marry, Bella realizes that spending eternity with Edward is more important to her than anything else and agrees to marry him. Edward and Bella camp up in the mountains to hide Bella from the bloodthirsty newborns. During the night, Bella overhears a conversation between Edward and Jacob, in which they temporarily put aside their hatred towards each other. In the morning, Jacob overhears Edward and Bella discussing their engagement and becomes very upset. Before he can run off to get himself killed in the fight with the newborns, Bella desperately asks him to kiss her, and she realizes that she has fallen in love with him. Edward finds out about the kiss but is not angry, as Bella says she loves him more than Jacob.

Victoria eventually finds Bella's hiding spot, and Edward kills her while Seth kills her partner Riley. The Cullens and the Quileute wolves, meanwhile, destroy her "army", though Jacob is injured saving Leah Clearwater from a newborn. Several members of the Volturi arrive to deal with the newborn army. They also see that the Cullens are guarding the newborn, Bree Tanner (Jodelle Ferland), who had refused to fight and surrendered to Carlisle. Jane (Dakota Fanning) tortures Bree to get information, then instructs Felix to kill her, despite the Cullens' efforts to spare her. When Jane notes that Caius will find it interesting that Bella is still human, Bella informs her that the date for her transformation has been set. Bella visits the injured Jacob to tell him that even though she is in love with him, she has chosen to be with Edward. Saddened by her choice, Jacob reluctantly agrees to stop trying to come between her and Edward.

Bella and Edward go to their meadow, where she tells him she has decided to do things his way: get married, make love, then be transformed into a vampire. She also explains that she never has been normal and never will be; she's felt out of place her entire life, but when she is in Edward's world she feels stronger and complete.At the end of the story they then decide they need to tell Charlie about their engagement.

Iron Man 2

Russian television shows Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) revealing his identity as Iron Man to the world. Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), whose father, Anton Vanko (Yevgeni Lazarev), has just died, sees this and begins building a similar weapon.

Six months later, Stark has used his Iron Man armor to help maintain world peace. He re-institutes the Stark Expo in Flushing Meadows to continue his father Howard's legacy. Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) demands that Stark turn over the Iron Man technology to the government. Stark refuses, claiming that foreign nations and business competitors are decades away from successfully recreating his achievements, and that the armor is in fact his own property.

The palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps Stark alive and powers the armor is slowly poisoning him, and he has failed to find a substitute. Growing increasingly despondent and reckless due to his impending death, and choosing not to tell anyone about his condition, Stark appoints his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) CEO of Stark Industries, and replaces her with Stark employee Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson).

Vanko attacks Stark while racing at the Circuit de Monaco, using an arc reactor of his own powering whip-like energy weapons. Stark defeats Vanko with the aid of his portable briefcase armor. He learns that Vanko is the son of his father's old partner, Anton Vanko. Anton collaborated with Howard on the first arc reactor, but was deported to his native Soviet Union following his attempts to profit from the technology and died in poverty, explaining Vanko's desire for revenge on the Stark family. Rival defense contractor Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) fakes Vanko's death and recruits him to perfect a line of armored combat suits to upstage Stark.

At what he believes is his last birthday party Stark gets drunk while using the Iron Man armor, forcing his friend, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), to intervene. Rhodes dons Stark's Mark II armor and after battling him, delivers the armor to the military. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of S.H.I.E.L.D., approaches Stark, revealing Rushman as undercover agent Natasha Romanoff and that Howard Stark was a S.H.I.E.L.D. founder that Fury knew personally. Fury gives him some of his father's old material; a hidden message in the diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo proves to be a diagram of the structure of a new element. With the aid of his computer J.A.R.V.I.S. (voiced by Paul Bettany), Stark synthesizes it. Vanko reveals to Stark that he is still alive and seeking revenge so Stark uses the untested element, removing his dependency on the palladium.

At the Expo, Hammer unveils Vanko's armored drones, led by Rhodes in a heavily weaponized version of the Mark II armor. Stark arrives in his new armor to warn Rhodes, but Vanko seizes control of both the drones and Rhodes' armor and attacks Iron Man. Hammer is arrested while Stark's bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and Romanoff attempt to capture Vanko. He escapes, but Romanoff returns control of the Mark II armor to Rhodes.

After defeating his drones Stark and Rhodes confront Vanko himself, now in a new, very powerful suit of armor. Neither can match Vanko, but Vanko is ultimately defeated when they fire repulsor rays at each other, causing a large explosion. With his suit too damaged to continue the fight Vanko ignites his suit and his drones' self-destruct mechanisms, apparently killing himself in the process. Stark saves Potts from the exploding drones' remains. Potts quits as CEO, but she and Stark kiss.

At a debriefing, while news footage of the Hulk's rampage plays, Fury informs Stark that while Iron Man is a suitable candidate for the "Avengers Initiative", he himself is not. Stark agrees to be a consultant if Senator Stern presents himself and Rhodes with their medals for bravery.

In a post-credits scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) reports the discovery of a large hammer at the bottom of a crater in a New Mexico desert.

Shrek Forever After

The film begins just before Shrek (Mike Myers) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) in the first film. Desperate to lift their daughter's curse, King Harold (John Cleese) and Queen Lillian (Julie Andrews) meet with con artist Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn), who requests becoming king of Far Far Away in exchange, and asks them to sign a contract. Just before the deal is contracted, the king and queen learn that Fiona has already been rescued. In the present, a disgruntled Rumpelstiltskin wishes Shrek was never born and seeks revenge.

Meanwhile, Shrek has grown tired of being a domesticated family man and celebrity among the local villagers, leading him to yearn for the days when he felt like a "real ogre." He takes his family to Far Far Away to celebrate his children's first birthday where lots of fictional characters are present. Shrek gets annoyed here when the three little pigs eat the kids' (Farkle, Fergus and Felicia) cake. A boy tells Shrek to roar. After he lets out a roar of frustration, the entire crowd cheers. He then smashes up a replacement cake and storms off. He meets Rumpelstiltskin, who offers to give Shrek a day to live like a real ogre again in exchange for a day from his childhood he wouldn't remember being erased. Shrek agrees and signs the contract, and abruptly lands in a world where he is still feared by villagers. He enjoys causing mischief until he finds wanted posters for the ogress Fiona and his home deserted. He is suddenly captured by witches and taken to Rumpelstiltskin, who is now the king of Far Far Away, which has become derelict and uses ogres and even some of Shrek's friends for slave labor.

Shrek realizes that the day Rumpelstiltskin erased was the day he was born, meaning he never existed in this world before and is unrecognized by everyone he knows. Furthermore, when the day ends, Shrek will fade from existence. Shrek escapes Rumpelstiltskin's castle with the enslaved Donkey. Initially terrified of Shrek, Donkey decides to trust him after seeing Shrek cry over his lost past, something he had never seen an ogre do before. After Shrek explains the situation, Donkey helps him find a loophole: the contract will be rendered null and void if Shrek and Fiona share true love's kiss before the day ends. Shrek and Donkey suddenly encounter a band of ogres who have formed a resistance against Rumpelstiltskin. These ogres are led by Fiona, who is still cursed after escaping from the tower where she was held captive, and additionally keeps the retired and overweight Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) as a pet.

Shrek does everything he can to gain Fiona's love, but she is too busy preparing an ambush on Rumpelstiltskin during his nightly ogre hunt. However, during the ambush, the ogres are instead caught in a trap by the Pied Piper (who was hired by Rumpelstiltskin) and are captured. Shrek insists Fiona kiss him, saying it will fix everything, but because Fiona doesn't love him, it is ineffective. Upon hearing that Rumpelstiltskin is offering anything desired by the one who captures Shrek with no strings attached, Shrek turns himself in exchange for all ogres being released, but Fiona remains in custody because she is only an ogre by night due to her curse (i.e., not "all ogre"). Shrek and Fiona are set to be fed to Dragon, but Donkey, Puss and the ogres raid Rumpelstiltskin's castle, allowing Shrek and Fiona to subdue both Dragon and Rumpelstiltskin.

As the sun begins to rise, Shrek begins to fade from existence, but Fiona, having fallen in love with him all over again, kisses him just before he disappears completely, which nullifies the contract and restores the world just before Shrek originally lashed out at everyone. Shrek embraces his friends and family with newfound appreciation for everything he has, truly living happily forever after.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Troubled by a strange recurring dream and mourning the loss of her beloved father, nineteen-year-old Alice Kingsleigh attends a garden party at Lord Ascot's estate, where she is confronted by an unwanted marriage proposal and the stifling expectations of the society in which she lives. Unsure of how to reply, and increasingly confused, she runs away to chase after a rabbit in a blue waistcoat, and accidentally falls into a large rabbit hole. She is transported to a world called Underland, where she is greeted by the White Rabbit, the Dormouse, the Dodo, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee. They argue over her identity as "the right Alice", who it is foretold will slay the Red Queen's Jabberwocky on the Frabjous Day and restore the White Queen to power. The group is then ambushed by the Bandersnatch and a group of playing-card soldiers led by the Knave of Hearts. Alice escapes and flees into the woods.

The Knave informs the Red Queen that Alice has returned to Underland and threatens her reign, and the soldiers are ordered to find Alice immediately. Meanwhile, the wandering Alice encounters the Cheshire Cat, who takes her to the March Hare and Mad Hatter. On the way to the White Queen's castle, Hatter relates the terror of the Red Queen's reign, and comments that Alice is not the same as she once was. The Hatter helps Alice avoid capture by allowing himself to be seized instead. Later, Alice is found by Bayard the Bloodhound, who wishes to take her to the White Queen, but Alice insists upon helping the Hatter, so they go to the Red Queen's castle.

The Red Queen is unaware of Alice's true identity (believing she is named "Um") and therefore welcomes her as a guest. Alice learns that the Vorpal Sword (the only weapon capable of killing the Jabberwocky) is locked away in a case inside the Bandersnatch's den. The Knave attempts to seduce Alice, but she rebuffs him. She later manages to retrieve the sword and befriend the Bandersnatch. The Knave finds her with the sword and attempts to arrest her. Alice escapes on the back of the Bandersnatch and delivers the sword to the White Queen. The Cheshire Cat saves the Hatter from execution, and the Hatter calls for rebellion against the Red Queen. The resistance flees to the White Queen's castle, and both armies prepare for battle. Alice remains unsure about the expectation for her to champion the White Queen, and meets with Absolem^[4] the Caterpillar. He reminds Alice of her past visit to Underland (which she mistakenly called "Wonderland" at the time) thirteen years earlier, and helps give her the courage to fight the Jabberwocky.

When the Frabjous Day arrives, both the White and Red Queens gather their armies on a chessboard-like battlefield and send forth their chosen champions (armor-clad Alice and the Jabberwocky respectively) to decide the fate of Underland. Encouraging herself with the words of her late father, Alice manages to kill the Jabberwocky. The White Queen then banishes the Red Queen and the Knave to the Outlands, and gives Alice a vial of the Jabberwocky’s blood, which will take her home. The Hatter suggests that she could stay in Underland, but she decides that she must go back and promises that she will return.

Alice returns home, where she stands up to her family and pledges to live life on her own terms. Impressed, Lord Ascot takes her in as his apprentice, with the idea of establishing oceanic trade routes to China. As the story closes, Alice prepares to set off on a trading ship. Absolem, now a butterfly, lands on her shoulder. Alice recognizes him and greets him before he flutters away.

Toy Story 3

Andy is now 17 years old and packing for college, and his toys who have not been played with in many years feel forgotten and abandoned. Andy decides to take Woody with him to college and intends to store the other toys in the attic. Andy's mom accidentally throws the other toys away, thinking that they are no longer wanted; they escape and decide to climb in a box to be donated to the Sunnyside Daycare. Woody, the only toy who saw what really happened, is forced to follow the others and tries to explain they were thrown out by mistake, but they refuse to listen.

Andy's toys are welcomed by the numerous toys at Sunnyside, and given a tour of the seemingly perfect play-setting by Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (simply known as Lotso), Big Baby and Ken, whom Barbie falls for. All of the toys are quickly enamored of their new home, leaving steadfast Woody alone to attempt to return to Andy. However, Woody's escape attempt fails and he is found outside the daycare center by Bonnie, an imaginative little girl. She takes him home and plays with him along with her other toys, who are well treated, happy, and readily welcome Woody. Woody is elated until he hears about Lotso from Chuckles the sad clown. Lotso, along with Big Baby and Chuckles, were once accidentally lost by their original owner, Daisy. The three found their way back to Daisy's home, but Lotso saw that he had been replaced. Though Chuckles realized the truth, Lotso, embittered, convinced Big Baby that they were replaced, and took over Sunnyside, making it like a prison. Worried for his friends, Woody hurries back to the daycare and finds that they have been put on task to be played with by the rambunctious youngest toddlers. They are also kept under guard at night by Buzz whom Lotso has reverted to demonstration mode, restoring his original "Space Ranger" persona and allying with him.

Woody rejoins his friends and they work out an escape plan involving the garbage dumpster. In the process, Buzz is accidentally reset into a Spanish-speaking mode during an attempt to restore him to normal. The toys reach the dumpster, but are caught by Lotso and his gang. As a garbage truck approaches, Woody reveals what he knows about Lotso, leading Big Baby to toss him in the dumpster. Seeking revenge, Lotso pulls Woody in with him just as the garbage truck collects the garbage. Woody's friends board the truck to rescue him, during which Buzz is hit by a falling television while saving Jessie, finally returning to his normal self. The toys find themselves at the dump and are soon pulled onto a conveyor belt leading to an incinerator. They help Lotso to reach an emergency-stop button, but he leaves them to their deaths. Thinking that this is the end, the toys take each other's hands. The toys are eventually rescued by the squeeze toy aliens using a giant claw. As a comeuppance, Lotso is found and strapped to the grill of a garbage truck, while the toys board the neighborhood truck back to Andy's house.

In Andy's room, Woody climbs back into the box with Andy's college supplies while the other toys ready themselves to the attic. Remembering his time with Bonnie and her toys, Woody has an idea, and leaves a note to Andy on the toys' box. Andy, taking it for a note from his mom, takes the box to Bonnie's home, introduces his old toys to Bonnie and gives her the toys to play with. In the end, Bonnie recognizes Woody, who is lying at the bottom of the box, to Andy's surprise. Andy is initially reluctant to give him to her, but eventually does so and then spends some time playing with her before he departs. Woody and the other toys find themselves wanted and played with again, and learn through notes passed in Bonnie's backpack that Barbie, Ken and Big Baby have improved the lives of all the toys at Sunnyside.