Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum is a 2006 American adventure comedy film. It is based on a 1993 children's book by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny. He applies for a job as a night watchman at New York City's American Museum of Natural History and subsequently discovers that the exhibits, animated by a magical Egyptian artifact, come to life at night.
Released on December 22, 2006 by 20th Century Fox, the film was written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Comedy Central's Reno 911! and MTV's The State and directed by Shawn Levy. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Brad Garrett, Ricky Gervais, Carla Gugino, Steve Coogan, and Owen Wilson. A new novelization of the screenplay by Leslie Goldman was published as a film tie-in.
A sequel titled Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is set for release on May 22, 2009.

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a divorced father who is unable to keep a stable job, the bulk of them being failed business ventures. He is desperate to win the support of his son Nick (Jake Cherry), whom he fears is beginning to look up to his more successful future stepfather, Don (Paul Rudd), a bond trader on Wall Street. Larry applies for a job at the American Museum of Natural History, where he is assigned as a night guard. The three elder (soon to be retired) night guards, Cecil (Dick Van Dyke), Gus (Mickey Rooney), and Reginald (Bill Cobbs), give him a quick tour, advise him to leave some of the lights on, and warn him not to let anything "in...or out", which Larry meets with humorous skepticism. Once night comes, Larry discovers that the museum exhibits come to life, including a living Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, a mischievous capuchin monkey named Dexter, miniatures led by cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Roman General Octavius (Steve Coogan), and a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams).
Roosevelt explains to Larry that ever since an Egyptian artifact — the Tablet of Akmenrah — was brought to the museum in 1952, everything comes to life each night. However, if the exhibits are outside of the museum by sunrise, they turn to dust. Roosevelt helps Larry by restoring order, and while unnerved he decides to remain as a guard. On Cecil's advice, Larry begins to study the history of the events and people in the exhibits to prepare himself better for their animation. He meets Rebecca Hutman (Carla Gugino), who is writing a dissertation on the life and times of Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck), and learns much of the history of the various exhibits from her. The next night, Larry uses what he has learned to better control the exhibits, but again fails when four Neanderthals set fire to a display, and one is turned to dust when he leaves the museum. Larry barely manages to keep his job after the Museum's director, Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais), discovers the mess. Larry tries to tell Rebecca about what happens every night, even offering to let her meet Sacagawea to help with her dissertation, but Rebecca does not believe him.
Larry brings Nick to the Museum, but fails to impress him when nothing comes to life. They find Cecil, Gus, and Reginald stealing the Tablet of Akmenrah. Cecil then reveals that like the museum exhibits, the guards receive enhanced vitality and energy from the Tablet. Unwilling to forsake it, the three intend to steal the tablet, along with various other Museum artifacts to fund their retirement, and frame Larry for the theft. Nick activates the tablet's power and brings the exhibits to life once more, but then Cecil locks the two in the Egyptian room and flees with the tablet. Larry releases the mummy of Pharaoh Akmenrah (Rami Malek) from his sarcophagus: surprisingly Akmenrah speaks English, having spent many years as an exhibit in the Egyptology Department at Cambridge University. The three find the other exhibits fighting, and Larry manages to convince them to work together to reclaim the tablet or else lose their ability to be animated.
Though the exhibits manage to capture Gus and Reginald without difficulty, Cecil escapes with the Tablet by stagecoach, whereupon Larry, Nick, Akmenrah, Jed, Octavius, and Attila the Hun pursue him through Central Park, eventually capturing him thanks to Larry's quick thinking of halting the horses with a secret word, "Dakota". The exhibits hurry to return to the museum before sunrise, and Rebecca sees them crossing the road in front of her and realizes that Larry was telling the truth. Entering the museum, Larry introduces her to Sacagawea. The next day, Dr. McPhee fires Larry despite his effort to clean up the museum; but when the reports issued by the news media begin increasing the Museum's popularity, he readmits Larry. Some time later, Larry appears in Nick's classroom during Career Day. Later that night, Larry returns with Nick and all the exhibits celebrate. Cecil, Gus, and Reginald, meanwhile, are allowed to retain the vitality the tablet gives them at the cost of their retirement, as they are rehired at the museum as janitors.

Underworld: Evolution

Underworld: Evolution is the second film in the Underworld series, following Underworld in 2003. Evolution continues the feud between Vampires and Lycans, but highlights glimpses of their origins some centuries ago.
Underworld Evolution is an immediate follow-up to Underworld. Therefore, the events of Evolution begin during the same night of the first film's finale, and ends only one night later. It has several more constructive plot elements than its predecessor.

The movie opens in the year 1202 AD with an army led by three vampire elders (Markus, Viktor, and Amelia) arriving at a Werewolf ravaged village. After killing several werewolves, Viktor and Amelia capture their target: Markus's brother William Corvinus, the first and most powerful werewolf. Viktor orders that William be imprisoned in a secret location forever.
The story then continues the present-day timeline, after the events of the first film. Selene takes Michael to a safe house so that she can return to the mansion to confront Kraven. She knows Kraven intends to kill Markus and plans to stop him. However, Singe's blood has already awakened Markus, turning him into a hybrid, who then wipes out Kraven and his men, and destroys the mansion. He learns Selene and Michael's location from camera surveillance of various safe houses and leaves to track them down. Markus confronts Selene and Michael, who evade him and hide in a warehouse.
Lorenz Macaro, an elderly and imposing man, sends in a team of "Cleaners" to investigate the aftermath from the final battle in the first movie. When Macaro examines Viktor's body he finds a metal disk attached to his ribcage which is the match to Sonja's pendant, which is in the possession of Selene and Michael. Now knowing that the pendant is of some importance to Markus, Michael and Selene set out to solve its mystery. Selene recalls that she'd seen it as a child, but doesn't know its significance. To find answers, they travel to the hideout of the exiled vampire historian, Andreas Tanis.
Selene and Michael confront Tanis, who reveals that Markus, not Viktor, was the first vampire. One of the three sons of Alexander Corvinus, Markus was bitten by a bat and became a Vampire; his twin brother, William, was bitten by a wolf and became a werewolf. The third son remained human his entire life and gave rise to a line of descendants including Michael Corvin, who would become the first Lycan-Vampire Hybrid (in the first film). The first werewolves created by William were entirely animal and unable to take human form again. Due to William's destructiveness, Markus approached Viktor, a warlord dying of old age, and offered to turn him and his army into immortal vampires in exchange for tracking down and stopping William. Markus intended to capture his brother and tame him, but Viktor ordered that William be locked away forever, far away from Markus. Viktor does not kill the brothers because he believed that doing so would result in the immediate extinction of all other vampires and his lycan slaves. Tanis also reveals that Selene's father was the architect who built William's prison and that the pendant is a key, that after Lucian's escape, Viktor killed Selene's family as they knew of the prison's location, but turned Selene into a vampire. Tanis then refers Selene and Michael to Lorenz Macaro for help. Shortly after they leave, Markus arrives and questions Tanis. Tired of hearing Tanis's lies, Markus learns the truth by drinking his blood, killing him.
Selene and Michael go to see Lorenz Macaro, who is actually Alexander Corvinus, who has devoted his life to containing the Vampire-Lycan War away from the mortal world. However, Alexander refuses to help kill his son. When Markus arrives, he apparently kills Michael and learns the location of William's hidden prison by drinking Selene's blood. He then attacks and mortally wounds his father, thereby obtaining the other half of the pendant. On Alexander's bidding, Selene drinks his blood, which will give her the power to defeat Markus. Afterwards, Alexander blows up his ship.
Selene leads the cleaners to the prison to confront and destroy Markus, but he has already freed William. A battle ensues in which William bites the Cleaners and begins turning them into Lycans. Michael, presumed to be dead inside his bodybag, suddenly regenerates and joins the fight in his Hybrid form. Michael ultimately kills William, while Selene kills Markus by pushing him into the spinning blades of a crashed helicopter. It is then revealed that Selene can now stand in the sun. As the film ends, Selene narrates that she fears the days ahead, as the death of the Elders will cause nothing but chaos; but she is nevertheless hopeful.