After a monologue delivered by Derek Jacobi, the film opens in 1603, with Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, ordering a desperate search for a trove of manuscripts. Ben Jonson, who has the manuscripts, flees down the streets of London and into the theatre known as The Rose. Hot on his heels, the soldiers who have been sent to arrest Jonson, break down the doors and intentionally set the theatre alight. Successive flashbacks cast us back five and then forty years, as the film evokes the reputed life of Edward de Vere from childhood through to his entanglement in an insurrection, and later on to his deathbed.
The story begins on "the strangest day" of Larry Burrows' (James Belushi) life (his 35th birthday) consisting of a series of comic and dramatic misadventures. Larry, who blames all of his life's problems on the fact that he struck out during a key moment of a high school baseball game on his 15th birthday, wishes he had done things differently. His wish is granted by a guardian angel-like figure named Mike (Michael Caine), and appears at various times as a bartender, a cab driver, and so on. Larry soon discovers that Mike has transferred Larry into an alternative reality in which he had won the pivotal high school game. He now finds himself rich and (within his company) powerful, and married to the boss' (Bill McCutcheon) sexy daughter Cindy Jo Bumpers (Rene Russo). At first, his new life seems perfect, but he soon begins to miss his best friend Clip Metzler (Jon Lovitz) and wife Ellen (Linda Hamilton) from his previous life; he also discovers that his alternate self has created many enemies, like Jewel Jagger (Courteney Cox), and as Larry's problems multiply, he finds himself wishing to be put back into his old life.
Setting the stage for a presentation of their views, D'Souza and Sullivan provide counterfactual histories in which George Washington is killed during the Revolutionary War, or the country is divided following civil war, creating a world without America that would be vastly worse off. D'Souza identifies himself as an Indian immigrant who chose America, and has been impressed with what a unique force for good it is, something Americans have traditionally agreed with. He claims modern leftists are “telling a new story”, however, contradicting traditional veneration for America in order to “convince a nation to author its own destruction” and “unmake the America that is here now.” He then challenges several "indictments" made against the country and American exceptionalism, including sociology professor and activist Michael Eric Dyson's claim that “Thievery" was the “critical element” for “American empire” and historian and activist Ward Churchill's assertion that the US is the world's new evil empire, and says that 1960s Chicago radical Saul Alinsky, historian Howard Zinn, and others have promoted guilt and resentment regarding wealth inequality that has helped shape the political careers of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
In 2009, the Korean Peninsula (Chosun) is still under Imperial Japanese rule and Japanese Bureau of Investigation (JBI) agents Masayuki Sakamoto and Shojiro Saigo thwart a hostage crisis at a museum in Keijo by a terrorist group known as the Hureisenjin. The exact motivation for the hostage situation is unknown, but during the investigation, Sakamoto discovers a museum artifact, a crescent-shaped rock known as the "Lunar Soul", found by one of the slain terrorists. After discovering that the Hureisenjin has a long history of targeting the Inoue Foundation, a group founded around the artifacts collected by the second Resident-General of Korea, Sakamoto begins to suspect the Hureisenjin were attempting to steal the Lunar Soul, although both he and Saigo are puzzled as to why a terrorist group would put so much effort into stealing historical artifacts. The Hureisenjin ambush the convoy shipping the foundation's artifacts back to Japan and take the Lunar Soul. The terrorists confront Sakamoto and Saigo in a gunfight, where Sakamoto encounters Oh Hye-rin, the organization's female leader.
In 2055 Chicago, the Time Safari company offers the ability for people to hunt dinosaurs in the past via time travel technology. Because of the dangers of interferring with the time line, the company's activities are is vocally attacked by Sonia Rand, the developer of the time machine software TAMI, who feels scorned for not receiving credit and fears they may alter the past through their activities.
The prologue of the film acknowledges the events of the first Godzilla film, while inventing its own timeline, explaining that the capital of Japan was moved from Tokyo to Osaka. The film takes place in an alternate universe with advanced technology, explaining that in 1966, Godzilla attacks the first Japanese nuclear plant in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture. After this, a section of Japanese Self Defence Force was dedicated to fight Godzilla, and was called G-Graspers. In 1996, clean plasma energy replaced nuclear energy, however this did not deter Godzilla from attacking. Plasma energy is also banned, due to the fact that Godzilla attacked the original plasma energy reactor.
InuYasha's father defeated a powerful Chinese moth yōkai named "Hyōga" two centuries ago. Now a Shikon Jewel fragment has freed "Menōmaru", Hyōga's son. He seeks revenge for his father's destruction and to free the tremendously limitless power and strength of his father sealed away with him. Menōmaru and his minions, "Ruri" and "Hari", begin battling with InuYasha. Miroku and Sango have their hands full dealing with the duo, Ruri having copied Miroku's Wind Tunnel and Hari having stolen Sango's faithful companion, Kirara. Menōmaru curses Kagome so she turns against InuYasha.
InuYasha's father defeated a powerful Chinese moth yōkai named "Hyōga" two centuries ago, but a Shikon Jewel fragment has freed his son, "Menōmaru", who seeks revenge for his father's destruction and to free the tremendously infinite power and strength of his father sealed away with him. Menōmaru and his female minions, "Ruri" and "Hari", begin battling with InuYasha. Miroku and Sango have their hands full dealing with the duo, Ruri having copied Miroku's Wind Tunnel and Hari having stolen and possessed Sango's faithful companion, Kirara. Menōmaru curses Kagome so she turns against InuYasha.
The film opens in 2018 with an American manned landing mission to the Moon. The lander carries two astronauts, one of them an African American male model, James Washington, specifically chosen to aid the U.S. President in her re-election (various "Black to the Moon" word-play posters are seen in the film, extolling the new Moon landing).
The film begins with on-screen captions explaining that a medical breakthrough in 1952 has permitted the human lifespan to be extended beyond 100 years. It is narrated by 28-year-old Kathy H (Carey Mulligan) as she reminisces about her childhood at a boarding school called Hailsham, as well as her adult life after leaving the school. The first act of the film depicts the young Kathy (Izzy Meikle-Small), along with her friends Tommy (Charlie Rowe) and Ruth (Ella Purnell), spending their childhood at Hailsham in the late 1970s. The students are encouraged to create artwork, and their best work gets into The Gallery run by a mysterious woman known only as Madame (Nathalie Richard). One day, a new teacher, Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins) quietly informs the students of their fate; they are destined to be organ donors and will die, or "complete", in their early adulthood. Shortly afterward she is sacked by the headmistress (Charlotte Rampling) for her revelation. As time passes, Kathy falls in love with Tommy, but Ruth and Tommy begin a relationship and stay together throughout the rest of their time at Hailsham.
Hibiki and Asumu are on their way to a Makamou attack on the beach. Once they arrive there, they see dozens of people running from the massive Orochi, a beast rumored to be the strongest Makamou ever created. Once they arrive, Hibiki walks towards the Orochi and transforms, but all of his attacks prove useless against Orochi. The situation is made even more dire when Hibiki jumps in the way of an attack meant for Asumu. Taking the full force of the attack, Hibiki passes out as the Orochi swims away, leaving a panicking Asumu to get help. Hibiki ends up in the hospital and Asumu begins blaming himself for Hibiki's injuries. Feeling useless, he begins helping at Tachibana's, going through dozens of books to try to discover a way to defeat the Orochi. Upon coming across a book with his name on it, Asumu sits down and begins to read what turns out to be the history of Takeshi, the Oni and the Makamou war.
In Bedford Falls, New York, on Christmas Eve 1945, George Bailey is suicidal. Prayers for him reach Heaven. Clarence Odbody, Angel 2nd Class, is assigned to save George in order to earn his angel wings. To prepare Clarence, his superior Joseph shows flashbacks of George's life.
United States Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) is commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, which houses the Strategic Air Command 843rd Bomb Wing, equipped with B-52 bombers. The 843rd is currently in-flight on airborne alert, a few hours from the Soviet border.
Louis Pinnock (John Travolta) is a struggling urban factory worker. In this alternative reality, it is a large underclass of white Americans who live in rundown, crime-infested ghettos and face prejudice from the broader society, while the comfortable middle and upper class is predominantly black.
In 1999, an enormous meteor crashed onto Earth carrying extraterrestrial creatures known as Worm within it. These creatures took on the identities of real humans and then killed them. In order to counter this new threat, ZECT was formed, who in turn created the Masked Rider System to combat the Worms. The battles lasts over seven years, depleting Earth's resources and turning it into a barren wasteland. By present time, power struggles in ZECT have caused a new group, known as Neo-ZECT, to be created by Hidenori Oda. Neo-ZECT is an organization that does not wish to follow ZECT's orders, and fights for their freedom. Daisuke Kazama and Shura Hokuto are also part of Neo-ZECT.