American Hustle Spoiler

The film starts on April 28, 1978. In a suite in the Plaza Hotel (New York City), a man named Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is elaborately fixing his hair in a comb over to hide his huge balding spot. This goes on for several minutes. He finally hairsprays it in place. Irving leaves his room and walks into an adjacent hotel room where a surveillance team is recording the video and audio of another room. Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) enters and exchanges an angry look with Irving. It’s broken up by the entrance of Richie Dimaso (Bradley Cooper) who begins arguing with Irving, saying he got them a suite at the Plaza Hotel and mentions that he’s never touched Sydney (there is obviously some jealousy between Irving and Richie over her). As Richie and Irving quarrel, Richie messes up his comb over, leaving the hairpiece sticking straight up. Sydney, in her British dialect, rushes to fix it. Sydney and Irving meet at a party and con people into giving $5,000 in exchange for a $50,000 payout that never comes. They are trapped by FBI agent Richie DiMaso who agrees to waive all charges against Sydney and Irving if they help him entrap four other con artists. Their plan is to coerce these men into deals by flaunting a multimillionaire sheik in front of them but one of Irving’s friends suggests they convince the sheik to invest in Atlantic City with New Jersey mayor Carmine Polito. Irving befriends Carmine, who really has the town’s best interest at heart, but does some unscrupulous deals to save money, including involvement with a mob boss named Victor Tellegio. Afraid for their life, Irving and Sydney arrange a scheme where their friend poses as Victor Tellegio’s attorney and provides evidence that convinces the FBI to wire two million dollars into an account (to prove Tellegio accepted a bribe). But it turns out the account belongs to Sydney and Irving, who use the money as leverage to demand immunity and a reduced sentence for Carmine. Throughout the film, there are love triangles between Sydney, Irving, and Richie, as well as Sydney, Irving, and his wife, Rosalyn. Rosalyn falls in love with a member of the mob, leaving Sydney and Irving free to be together; Richie is left alone and a laughing stock at the FBI.

Trance Spoiler

Trance, director Danny Boyle’s latest film, is a story about a young man, Simon, played by James McAvoy, who works in a high profile art auction house and who during a robbery heroically attempts to protect a Goya painting from the robbers.... Except that (previously) he has amassed some serious gambling debts and has let these debts be cleared by an accomplished criminal, Franck, (played by Vincent Cassel) for which in return he agrees to help Franck and his henchmen steal the Goya painting from the London auction house where he works. Except that he tricks Franck and steals the painting himself. The protagonist is also in on the robbery. 

Except that previous to the robbery Simon has gone to a hypnotherapist, Elizabeth Lamb, played by gorgeous Rosario Dawson, to help him overcome his gambling addiction. However she then breaks professional protocol and they begin a relationship which then devolves as Simon becomes obsessively and violently in love with her.  And so she, in order to get him out of her life and take revenge, has put him back into his gambling addiction and programmed him to steal the Goya painting so she would eventually get the painting herself, her “compensation” for the torment he has caused her. 

Except that Simon got hit on the head during the robbery and having stolen the painting can’t remember where he'd hidden it. Now he has Franck torturing him and Elizabeth lamb delving into his mind to dig out the truth.

Side Effects Spoiler

Side Effects is an unusual murder-mystery in that the main question isn't about who the killer is. Instead, we wonder whether the motive of the killer - Emily(Rooney Mara), a depressed woman dealing with her husband’s release from jail—might have been some unpleasant side effects from a new antidepressant she is taking. Those who have already seen the movie know that’s not exactly the full story: that the “sleepwalking” was premeditated—and all of the typical movie-mystery questions are unraveled by her doctor (Jude Law) at movie’s end.

But was Emily really faking illness all along, or is there something wrong in her head beyond mere greed and anger? And, if she was faking it, how should the audience feel about where she ends up—committed, in a Kafkaesque twist that dooms her by her own protestations of healthiness, to a mental institution. Emily winds up right where she belongs which becomes the ending for this film.

Audience Research

Runner Runner (2013): The new film starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck show that the average vote is 5/6 out of 10. The results are not as positive as previous audience research as Runner Runner has only just been released.

The film reviews show that the films starts progressively slowly which results in the viewers lack of interest throughout the film. There's a similar pattern in Runner Runner as there is in the film Fight Club. This means that because of the violence and action in the two films, it appeals more to men, as seen by the rise in votes from men.

Audience Research

Fight Club (1999): I obtained these results from IMDb that show the ratings of viewers. They show that the average vote out of 10 is 8.8, which shows that there was positive feedback about the film Fight Club, especially since the film was nominated for an Oscar.

The chart below shows votes based on their gender. On average men voted 0.2% higher than women. This is probably because of the amount of violence that is contained in the film. Even more so, there are higher votes from people aged under 18 than people aged over 45. This is based on the fact that the film would appeal to a younger audience who can relate to release their frustration through violence. Plus studies show that an action-packed film can be a more appealing one.