Four Christmases

Released Year: 2008
Directed by Seth Gordon

Casted by:
Vince Vaughn as Brad McVie "Orlando"
Reese Witherspoon as Kate
Robert Duvall as Howard McVie, Brad's father
Sissy Spacek as Paula, Brad's mother
Jon Voight as Creighton, Kate's father
Mary Steenburgen as Marilyn, Kate's mother
Kristin Chenoweth as Courtney, Kate's Sister
Jon Favreau as Denver McVie, Brad's brother
Tim McGraw as Dallas McVie, Brad's brother
Story:

Orlando "Brad" McVie and his girlfriend, Kate are a happily unmarried and childfree, upscale San Franscisco couple whose respective households are somewhat similar - both bearing divorced parents, warring siblings with out-of-control kids and general awkward memories and simmering resentments from the past, which they find too embarrassing to share with each other.

In an effort to avoid these families at Christmas time, Brad and Kate pretend to be engaging in charitable work and escape to exotic sun-spots, such as Fiji, to enjoy a relaxing Christmas there. Unfortunately, in the third Christmas of their relationship, Brad and Kate are trapped at San Francisco International Airport by a fogbank that cancels every outbound flight. To make matters worse, they are caught on camera and then interviewed by a CBS 5 news crew, revealing their whereabouts to the whole city and, worst of all, their families.

With no escape, their lies foiled and no excuses to make, they find themselves unable to avoid a Christmas at home with their respective families. They first visit Brad's father, then Kate's mother, and then Brad's mother and, finally, Kate's father, thereby celebrating four Christmases in one day. As they brace themselves for a marathon of homecomings, Brad and Kate expect the worst, but are nevertheless unable to prepare themselves enough for what they get. As the day progresses, each discover a new secret about each other that both had been too embarrassed to tell each other about, and soon find their relationship on the verge of collapse.

While Brad counts down the minutes to freedom, Kate finds herself looking at the lives of Brad's and her own siblings and realises that she does want a marriage and children of her own, the prospect of which frightens Brad. Eventually, in the final visit of the day, at Kate's father's house, Kate asks Brad to let her spend the visit on her own and claims to her family that they had split up. Meanwhile, Brad spends some time at his own father's house with just his father and realises how empty his life is without a marriage and children, and that he loves Kate much too much to leave her.

He returns to her and they discuss the possibilities of having a child and getting married. The two then embark on their holiday in Fiji. A year later on New Year's Day, the couple welcomes their first born child, a baby girl, which they have spent the last nine months hiding from their families. However, as their baby is the first born in the New Year, a news crew comes to congratulate them - once again revealing them, and their new baby to the whole city, and their families.

L² Scored: 6/10

L² Comment:

A relaxing comedy love story is always nice to watch while spending ur time at home alone. Wow, Vince Vaughn is so damn tall !!! Or is it Reese Witherspoon too short?

Made Of Honor

Released Year: 2008
Directed by Paul Weiland

Casted by:
Patrick Dempsey as Thomas "Tom" Bailey Jr.
Michelle Monaghan as Hannah
Kevin McKidd as Duke Colin McMurray
Story:

On Halloween night, 1998, at Cornell University, Tom Bailey Jr. in costumeas Bill Clinton, slips into bed with his pre-arranged date, Monica. However it turns out to be the wrong woman, Monica's roommate Hannah, and Tom likes her because she is so honest and doesn't fling herself at him. Ten years later, Hannah and Tom are best friends. Tom is very wealthy, because of his creation of the "coffee collar" and gets a dime every time it is used. Tom is with a different girl every week, while Hannah focuses on her career in an art museum. He is very content with his life, suspecting that Hannah is too.

After Tom takes Hannah to his father's sixth wedding, Hannah tells Tom she must go to Scotland for work. While she's gone, Tom discovers that without her, being with another woman week after week is not very fulfilling. He realizes that he loves Hannah, and decides to tell her his feelings when she gets back.

Upon returning, Hannah surprisingly announces she is engaged to a wealthy Scot named Colin . Hannah asks Tom to be her maid of honor for her wedding. After discussing it with his friends, Tom decides to be her maid of honor, only to spend time with her and try to convince her she does not even know Colin, as well as making her realize that he loves her and she should be marrying him.

After arriving in Scotland, at Eilean Donan Castle, for the wedding, Tom realizes he is running out of time to stop Hannah. He meets all of Colin's family and must perform in the "games," in which the groom must compete to prove himself worthy of his bride. Tom is also in the competition with Colin, but loses in the last round. Tom takes Hannah out for a walk, hoping to tell her how he feels. However, the other bridesmaids interrupt for Hannah's bachelorette party (known as a Hen Night in the United Kingdom). On her Hen Night, Hannah parades around a pub and sells her kisses for change. As she goes around, Hannah then kisses Tom. Though it just started as a peck on the cheek, it turns into a passionate kiss.

That night, Hannah decides to confront Tom and ask about the kiss. However, when she gets to his room, her drunk cousin is there, trying to have sex with him. Hannah leaves and Tom runs after her. He knocks on her door, pleading for her to let him in. She refuses and asks about the kiss. He tells her he knew he was the one for her, not Colin. She refuses to say that she thinks so too and instead tells Tom that she still expects to marry Colin the next day. Tom cannot go through with watching Hannah and Colin get married so he decides to go home.

When questioned about his sudden departure shortly before the wedding is to take place, Hannah informs Colin that Tom is just afraid of losing her. On the way home, Tom realizes that he must stop the wedding and goes back on horseback. Just when the priest asks for objections, Tom is sent flying off his horse and through the chapel doors. Seeing her best friend on the floor, Hannah rushes to him. As he struggles to stand up, he tells her that he loves her more than anything and that she should marry him. They then share a kiss. Hannah tells Colin that she is very sorry and that he is the perfect guy, just not the perfect guy for her. Colin's grandmother then tells Colin, in Scottish, to 'deck' Tom, which he does without hesitation.

We fade off to see Hannah and Tom get married. Melissa catches the bouquet and then links arms with Tom's dad, to which he says "Number 6?" and his lawyer says "7". The movie ends with Hannah and Tom on their honeymoon. Tom turns on the light just to see if he's got the right girl and Hannah's replies "You do". The two kiss and as Hannah turns off the light, Tom says "Oh, Monica" and Hannah replies "Oh, Bill".

L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

I love this film a lot, very relaxing and romantic. Love Patrick Dempsey, kinda hot and cute :)

Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D

Released Year: 2010
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Casted by:
Milla Jovovich as Alice
Ali Larter as Claire Redfield
Wenworth Miller as Chris Redfield
Shawn Roberts as Albert Wesker
Story:

After the events of Resident Evil: Extinction, the Alice clones attempt to kill Albert Wesker at his base in Japan. All the clones are killed in an explosion as Wesker escapes in an aircraft. The original Alice ambushes him, but Wesker injects her with a serum that neutralizes the T-virus in her system, eliminating her superhuman powers and making her human again. Before he can kill her, the aircraft crashes and Alice emerges alone from the wreckage.

Many months later, Alice follows a repeating emergency broadcast from a survivors' safe haven known as "Arcadia". After many fruitless months searching for Arcadia and finding no survivors along the way, including her friends from the previous film (among them Claire Redfield and K-Mart), Alice begins to lose hope, believing herself to be the last surviving human on the planet. Stopping on an abandoned beach, Alice finds the helicopter taken by Claire and the others when they and Alice parted ways in the previous film. A crazed Claire, under the influence of an Umbrella Corporation device attached to her chest, attacks her. Alice removes the device, finding that it has damaged Claire's memory. Claire slowly regains bits and pieces, remembering that Umbrella ambushed their group when they landed on the beach, attaching the devices to them, though she managed to escape.

Flying a two-person plane, they enter the ruins of Los Angeles and find a small group of survivors living in a maximum security prison, surrounded by zombies. They land the plane on the roof and learn that Arcadia is actually a cargo tanker traveling along the coast. Since the plane cannot take more than two, Alice and the survivors try to figure out a means to make it to Arcadia together. The survivors have been keeping watch on a prisoner, Chris, whom they found locked in a maximum security cell when they arrived. He says that he is a soldier who fought the early outbreak, but was locked up by prisoners as a cruel joke when the mission failed and knows a way to reach the coast, and thereby Arcadia, but will not reveal it unless he is released.

They do not believe him, and keep him locked up until the zombies manage to tunnel through the sewer ways and up into the prison; Alice and survivors are out of time to find a means to reach Arcadia so they decide to free him and use his escape route. He recognizes Claire and reveals himself as her brother, though she does not remember him. Chris' proposed method—a stored military vehicle—is legitimate, but the vehicle is not operational and they are left with no other option but to use the zombies' tunnel to escape into the sewers, which empties into the coast. The group fights off many zombies—Alice, Claire, and Chris emerging as the only survivors—and escape into the sewers.

They continue to Arcadia, finding the ship completely functional, but abandoned. Exploring its inner depths, they realize that it is a trap set by Umbrella to lure survivors to the ship to conduct experiments on them. They release the survivors, among them K-Mart, and Alice continues deeper, finding escape helicopters and a purging bomb. Deeper inward, she finds Wesker, who explains that he has been infected by the T-virus, mutating him and granting him super human abilities, but finds it difficult to control. By assimilating Alice—the only individual to bond successfully with the T-virus—he will be able to gain full mastery of the T-virus. Chris, Claire, and Alice battle Wesker, but he escapes into a helicopter and activates the purging bomb to kill everyone aboard Arcadia.

However, he finds that Alice hid the bomb aboard the helicopter and it is destroyed. During the purging bombs explosion Luther is watching from the sewers and a parachute can be scene falling from the sky hinting that Wesker may still be alive.

L² Scored: 7.5/10

L² Comment:

To tell u guys the truth, this is my very first resident evil movie i ever watch :P surprisingly not bad... indeed it was quite impressive on certain part. Think its about time i have to look for the previous earlier 3 movies...

Milla Jovovich still pretty as usual, but Ali Larter really looks good :) She's hot !!! Maybe she can be the next "fighting/kungfu" gal in the hollywood movie~

The Touch 天脉传奇

Released Year: 2002
Directed by 鮑德熹 Peter Pau

Casted by:
杨紫琼 Michelle Yeoh as 白妍 Yin
Ben Chaplin as Eric
Richard Roxbourgh as Karl
张卓楠 Brandon Chang as 白曜童 Tong
Story:

The Pak family in the acrobats has been protecting the Shirari of Tang Shan Zhang of many years. Yin and Tong has been performing in the circus and one day Eric, Yin's ex boyfriend came back and told them the heart of Dun Huang has been stolen by Karl a bad businessman.

After getting back the Heart of Dun Huang, Yin lead the team to silk road to discover the truth legend behind all these. The truth is the Pak family's ancestor has put in the code of solving into their acrobats act! With the code they open the heart of Dun Huang and send it back to where it belongs...

L² Scored: 2/10

L² Comment:

I really cannot tahan but give a big big super yawn to this film. The storyline is ok, but all the acting are sucks !!!

Daredevil

Released Year: 2003
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

Casted by:
Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios
Colin Farrell as Bullseye
Michael Clarke Duncan as Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin
Jon Favreau as Franklin Nelson
Story:

Beginning in medias res, a wounded Daredevil clutches a cross at the top of a church. Daredevil clambers into the church and collapses as a priest who knows his identity approaches him in concern. His life then flashes before his eyes: as a child, Matthew Murdock lived in Hell's Kitchen with his washed-up boxer father, Jack Murdock. Jack constantly reminds Matt to get an education and make something of himself, and not wind up like him. When young Matt takes a shortcut home one day, he stumbles across his father beating up a man at the behest of local mob boss Fallon. Horrified, Matt runs blindly away from the scene, and runs afoul of a forklift which swerves to avoid him and accidentally pierces a barrel of biohazardous fluid, drenching Matt's face in the substance.

Matt later wakes up in a hospital and learns that he is blind. However, despite his loss of sight, his other four senses function with super-human accuracy, hearing and touch in particular. While Matt uses his sonar-like hearing to train his body, his redeemed father decides to fight again in the ring. Fallon then approaches Jack and orders him to throw an upcoming fight. When he does not, he is brutally murdered by a shadowy figure, later revealed to be the Kingpin, who drops a red rose. Matt is heartbroken by his father's death.

Many years later, Matt is operating as the vigilante Daredevil at night, and lawyer during the day, protecting Hell's Kitchen in particular. The Kingpin's numerous criminal activities have finally been picked up by the press, notably by journalist Ben Urich, so he decides to set up his former partner, Nikolas Natchios, making it appear as if he was the Kingpin. Matt is intrigued when he meets Nikolas's daughter, Elektra Natchios, who defeats him in hand-to-hand combat in thier first encounter. Despite her initial distrust of him, the two soon begin a relationship. Shortly after, Nikolas and Elektra are attacked by the lethal and unstable assassin, Bullseye, who was dispatched by the Kingpin. Despite Daredevil's best efforts, Bullseye kills Nikolas and implicates Daredevil, enraging Elektra, who swears revenge.

Later, when Daredevil goes in search of Bullseye, he runs into Elektra, and reluctantly fights her. When Elektra impales Daredevil through the shoulder with one of her sai blades, she unmasks him and gazes at Matt in horror. Bullseye suddenly appears, and Daredevil can only watch helplessly with his sonar-sense as Bullseye fights with, then kills Elektra with her own sai. Returning to the first scene, Daredevil enters the church, intending to recuperate and recover his strength. Unfortunately, Bullseye tracks him down, and the two battle ferociously across the church, with Bullseye taking advantage of Daredevil's weakness to sound after noticing it. Once Bullseye manages to knock the air out of Daredevil, he raises a jagged metal pipe to kill him. Using his powerful hearing, Daredevil hears a S.W.A.T. officer cock his rifle and times it so that his bullet fires horizontally through both of Bullseye's hands, incapacitating him. Daredevil then pushes the assassin through a stained-glass window, and watches him crash onto the hood of Urich's car. Daredevil then faces Kingpin for a climactic battle.

Despite his appearance, the Kingpin turns out to be a powerful fighter, and overpowers Daredevil throughout most of the fight. Daredevil loses sight of Kingpin, and bursts a pipe so that the rushing water would allow his sonar hearing to see his enemy, and brings Kingpin to his knees. When Daredevil is about to deal the final blow, he contemplates what it means to be a hero, and offers the Kingpin a sardonic smile as he awards him his life. He informs the Kingpin that he is aware that he will not be imprisoned indefinitely, and as he leaves, tells him that he will always be waiting for him. Kingpin, having learned in the fight that Matt is Daredevil, threatens to expose him; however, Matt counters by actually threatening Kingpin's own reputation for "being beaten by a blind man". Matt offers one final thought before departing, ordering the Kingpin to stay out of Hell's Kitchen.

Ben Urich writes a story about Daredevil's true identity, but decides to delete it, thus allowing Matt to continue his role as the protector of New York City. The credits cut back to a shot of Bullseye, who is recovering in the hospital, pining a pesky fly's wings to the wall with a syringe despite full-body traction.

L² Scored: 3/10

L² Comment:

Yawn yawn yawn !!! The most boring and stupid superhero movie from Marvel that i ever watched. The action is slow, storyline is bored, rivals are normal... gosh~ i dont even know why they film this movie anyway...

Salt

Released Year: 2010
Directed by Philip Noyce

Casted by:
Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt
Liev Schreiber as Ted Winter
Chiwetel Ejiofor as Peabody
Story:

CIA agent Evelyn Salt (being coached from behind the glass by fellow agents Winter and Peabody) interrogates a Russian defector, Orlov, who tells her about "Day X", an operation organized by a powerful Russian spymaster during the Cold War, which will bring about the destruction of the United States. Orlov claims that for this purpose, during the 1970s an elite group of Soviet agents were trained from birth in such a rigorous way that their psychological conditioning makes them "unbreakable". He mentions that at the funeral of the recently deceased US Vice President in New York City, the visiting Russian President will be killed by Russian spy Evelyn Salt, whose real name is Chenkov.

Salt, shaken by the accusation, attempts to contact her husband Mike, a German arachnologist, fearing for his safety. Meanwhile, Orlov escapes, prompting Salt to bolt — causing the CIA, and especially Peabody, to think she is a spy. She flees to her apartment and finds her husband missing. Salt quickly grabs essentials as well as a venomous spider. After barely escaping a pursuit on the busy Washington, DC expressways, Salt takes a bus to New York City. The next morning, now disguised, she sneaks into the heavily guarded St. Bartholomew's Church where the Vice President's funeral is being held and shoots the Russian President. She is then confronted by Peabody and surrenders but soon escapes the NYPD.

A series of flashbacks show Salt growing up in the Soviet Union where Orlov taught her and many other children to obey him and ingratiate themselves to the American government. Then, when it came to Day X, he would command them to strike from various positions in the US. In New York, Salt meets Orlov, who congratulates her on her killing, but questions her unauthorized decision to marry a foreigner, who might be a distraction from her mission. He takes Evelyn to a river barge, where he tests her allegiance by having another agent kill Mike in front of her. Salt appears to be unaffected by this, thus passing Orlov's test. He then tells her Part Two of Day X, which would involve seizing the United States' stock of nuclear weapons. The enraged Salt, who had gone to Orlov in an attempt to save her husband, kills Orlov and everyone else on the barge in revenge. She then goes to the rendezvous set up by Orlov to meet a NATO mole, Shnaider, whom she recognizes from her childhood trainee days under Orlov.

Shnaider and a disguised Salt go to the White House. Once inside, Shnaider suddenly starts shooting at Secret Service agents and detonates himself. The Secret Service, along with Winter, rush the President to the lower bunker of the White House. Meanwhile, the President, believing Russia is preparing a nuclear strike against the US, begins to transmit the launch codes from the nuclear football. Salt infiltrates the bunker and incapacitates the bodyguards. At the last moment, Winter suddenly picks up a gun and kills everyone but the President, whom he knocks unconscious.

Winter explains to an astonished Salt that he was also one of Orlov's Day X trainees back in the Soviet Union, and therefore part of Orlov's plan all along. Winter then uses the nuclear football to start the sequence for launching nuclear missiles at Tehran and Mecca, in an attempt to provoke the Islamic world to wage war. Salt asks Winter to let her in but before he opens the door, a TV news report reveals that the Russian President is not dead, but only placed in a near-death state from spider venom. Winter realizes that Salt is not on his side, but she manages to break in to the bunker, and after an intense struggle, she succeeds in knocking him down. Just after she manages to abort the nuclear missile launch set up by Winter, agents break in and arrest her. Winter, whom no one suspects as being a double agent, initially goes free, but moments afterward, Salt uses her chains to strangle him to death.

Salt is put on a helicopter with Peabody, and explains everything to him. A skeptical Peabody finally accepts she is telling the truth after he receives a text message saying that her fingerprints were found at the barge, confirming her betrayal of Orlov. They both know that there are more of Orlov's moles, and Peabody agrees to let her escape, so she can find and kill them. He uncuffs her and Salt jumps into the Potomac River, free once more.

L² Scored: 5.5/10

L² Comment:

Its a bit boring in this movie, maybe i have enough of Angelina fighting girl style after the tomb raider... Jolie definitely looks better in black hair than blonde... so weird looking at her in blond... but her man's look not bad either :)

Piranha 3D

Released Year: 2010
Directed by Alexandre Aja

Casted by:
Elisabeth Shue as Sheriff Julie Forester
Adam Scott as Novak Radzinsky
Steven R. McQueen as Jake Forester
Ving Rhames as Deputy Fallon
Jerry O'Connell as Derrick Jones
Jessica Szohr as Kelly Driscoll
Kelly Brook as Danni
Riley Steele as Crystal
Story:

Fisherman Matthew Boyd is fishing in Lake Victoria, AZ when a small earthquake hits, splitting the lake floor and causing a whirlpool. Boyd falls in and is ripped apart by a school of piranhas that emerge from the chasm and ascend the vortex. Jake is admiring attractive tourists as Spring Break begins. He reunites with his old crush, Kelly and meets Derrick Jones an eccentric pornographer, as well as Danni, one of his actresses. Derrick convinces Jake to show him good spots on the beach for filming a pornographic movie.

That night, Jake's mother, Sheriff Julie Forester, searches for the missing Matthew Boyd with Deputy Fallon, who has found Boyd's boat. They find his mutilated body and contemplate closing the beach down. The next morning, a lone cliff diver is attacked and consumed by the marauding fish. Jake bribes his sister and brother, Laura and Zane, to stay home alone so that he can show Derrick around the beach. After Jake leaves, Zane drafts Laura to go fishing on a small sandbar island. They forget to tie the boat down and are stranded in the middle of the lake. Meanwhile, Jake goes to meet with Derrick and runs into Kelly, who invites herself onto Derrick’s boat, The Barracuda. Jake meets Crystal, another of Derrick’s actresses, and cameraman Drew. They film an underwater love scene between Danni and Crystal before partying.

Julie takes a team of seismologist divers — Novak, Sam, and Paula — to the fissure. Novak speculates that the rift leads to a buried prehistoric lake. Paula and Sam scuba dive to the bottom and they find the entrance so Sam goes first. There he discovers a large cavern filled with large egg stalks. While down there he's bitten by something and then he finds himself surrounded by thousands of piranha. Paula hears him screaming for help and she tries to help him. As she watches him being ripped to pieces by the piranha, she gets attacked as well, before she can escape and alert the others. Novak dives in to save them but he's too late. Novak and Julie then pull Paula's corpse onto the boat, capturing a lone piranha, which they take to Mr. Goodman, a marine biologist. He explains that the piranhas are a prehistoric species, long believed to be extinct, and must had been trapped underground for over two million years. At first, they are not convinced that a species of piranha could survive for millions of years, cut off from the surface. Mr. Goodman points out the scars on their piranha specimen, indicating that they have survived through cannibalism. Making them a much tougher species.

Julie, Novak, and Fallon try to evacuate the beach, but their warnings are ignored until the piranhas attack the tourists. Novak boards a jet-ski with a shotgun to help while Fallon ushers people to shore and Julie tries to get swimmers into the police boat. A floating stage set up in the water collapses from the weight of all the panicking guests and the wet T-shirt contest host is killed. Jake spots Laura and Zane on the island, and forces Derrick to rescue them. Derrick gets the boat's propeller stuck and crashes into some rocks, flooding the rooms below deck. Kelly is trapped in in the kitchen while Derrick, Crystal, and Drew are thrown from the boat. Crystal and Drew are devoured while Danni manages to get a partially eaten Derrick back on board. Jake calls Julie for help.

Julie and Novak commandeer a boat and take it to the sinking Barracuda. Fallon stays behind to fight off the piranhas with a shotgun in shallow water. Seizing the motor off a speedboat, he turns it on and shreds much of the swarming school with it, sacrificing himself but giving more swimmers a chance to get out of the water. Julie and Novak reach Jake and attach a rope to his boat. Julie, Danni, Laura, and Zane start crossing the rope but the piranhas latch onto Danni's hair and pull her into the water, devouring her. Laura, Zane, and Julie make it to safety but Jake breaks the rope. Using Derrick's corpse as both distraction and bait, Jake ties the line to himself and goes to save Kelly. He ties Kelly to him and lights a flare after releasing the gas in a pair of stored propane tanks. Novak manages to start the boat after a struggle and speeds away just as the piranhas surround Kelly and Jake. They are dragged to safety and the propane tanks explode, destroying the boat and killing most of the piranhas.

Mr. Goodman calls Julie on the radio, Julie tells him that they killed most of the piranha but she thinks their still more of them out there. Terrified, Goodman tells her that the glands on the piranha they obtained were not mature, meaning that the piranhas they've been fighting are babies. Novak wonders where the parents are. Then a giant adult piranha lunges out of the water, attacks Novak and pulls him into the water, killing him.

L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:

Omg~ seriously, this is the most gory and horror film i watch this year !!! Its so different from previous piranha movie. It start with all those sexy young hot body then gory part sneak in without u even noticed :)

Steven R. McQueen is so damn cute

The Village

Released Year: 2004
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Casted by:
Bryce Dallas Howard as Ivy Elizabeth Walker
Joaquin Phoenix as Lucius Hunt
Adrien Brody as Noah Percy
William Hurt as Edward Walker
Sigourney Weaver as Alice HuntStory:

The movie starts out at a funeral of a child in a small village. The death date on the tombstone establishes the date as 1897. As the story progresses, it is revealed the villagers live in fear of nameless creatures in the woods that surround the village. They have built a barrier of oil lanterns and watch towers that are constantly manned to keep watch for "Those We Don't Speak Of", who are spoken of numerous times early in the film. It is explained that the villagers have a long-standing truce with the monsters; the villagers do not go into their woods, and the creatures do not enter their village. Even so, dead, skinned bodies of small animals are starting to appear around the village.

After the funeral, Lucius Hunt asks the village elders for permission to pass through the woods to get medical supplies from "the towns." His request is denied and, later, he is admonished by his mother, Alice, for wanting to go to the towns, which the villagers describe as "wicked places where wicked people live." It is revealed in that scene that the Elders seem to keep dark secrets of their own in the form of black boxes, the contents of which they keep hidden from their own offspring. After Lucius makes a short venture into the woods, the creatures leave warnings around the village in the form of splashes of red paint (referred by the villagers only as "the bad color") on all the villagers' doors.

Meanwhile, Ivy Elizabeth Walker, the blind daughter of the chief Elder, Edward Walker, informs Lucius that she has strong feelings for him, and he returns her affections. They arrange to be married, but things go horribly wrong when Noah Percy, a young man with apparent developmental problems who is in love with Ivy, stabs Lucius with a knife that he kept hidden away in his pocket.

Edward goes against the wishes of the other Elders, agreeing to allow Ivy to pass through the forest and seek out medicine for Lucius. Before she leaves, the first plot twist is revealed when Edward explains the secret of the creatures – they are fabrications created by the Elders in an attempt to keep any of their children from leaving the village. He does mention, however, that he had heard rumors of "real creatures" living in the woods at one time.

While Ivy is traveling through the forest, one of the beasts suddenly attacks her. She tricks it into falling into a deep hole to its death. It is then that the second plot twist is revealed — the creature is actually Noah in a costume that he had found under the floor of the room where he was kept locked from others. It is implied in that scene that it was Noah who had been skinning the animals all along.

Ivy eventually finds her way to the edge of the woods, where she encounters a large wall. After she climbs over the wall the final plot twist is revealed: the film is set in the present day (a newspaper in one scene shows July 30, 2004, the date of the film's release). A park ranger driving a Land Rover with the words "Walker Wildlife Preserve" on the side spots Ivy and is shocked to hear that she has come out of the woods. He then learns that Ivy's last name is "Walker."

It is revealed that the village was actually founded some time in the late 1970s, when Edward Walker, professor of American History at the University of Pennsylvania, approached other people he met at a grief counseling clinic after his father had been murdered. He asked them if they wished to join him in "an idea" he had. From this apparently grew "the village," a secluded town in the middle of a wildlife preserve purchased with Edward's family fortune, a place where they would be protected from any aspect of the outside world. The head ranger named "Jay" in the ranger station seen reflected in a glass door, fills in several plot points; the Walker estate pays to maintain the ranger corps, the rangers make sure no one goes into the wildlife preserve to "disturb the animal(s)", the Walker estate "paid off" the government to keep the entire wildlife preserve a "no-fly zone". Once the village was created, it appears the original "Elders" rolled the clock back to the late 19th century to what they thought was a simpler, more peaceful time.

The ranger retrieves medicine from a ranger station and Ivy returns to the village. This sequence is intercut with brief segments showing the Elders opening their black boxes, which are revealed to contain mementos from their lives in the actual outside world, including one or more items related to their past traumas. The film ends with a scene in a cabin where all the Elders are sitting around Lucius' bed. In that scene Edward points out that Noah's death will allow them to continue deceiving the rest of the villagers that there are "creatures" in the woods and all the Elders take a vote to continue living in the village. The film ends with Ivy arriving and saying "I'm back, Lucius."

L² Scored: 7.5/10

L² Comment:

Well, this is definitely a good movie which i'm really interested on. Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan himself is a movie which u shouldn't miss. I remember when i watched it in the cinema, i was so gan zheong during the whole movie and was shocked on the twist of the story at the end...

But this is definitely not a movie for rewatch, guess knowing the ending has spoiled the mood of watching it again.

Haunted Office - Office 有鬼

Released Year: 2002
Directed by 麦子善 Marco Mak

Casted by:
　　 　陈小春 Jordan Chan as Richard
　　冯德伦 Stephen Fung as Ken
莫文蔚 Karen Mok as Pat
罗兰 Helena Lo as Mary　
舒淇 Qi Shu as Shan　
苑琼丹 Kingdom Yuen as Babra
Story:

3 stories happen in an office building. Every year there will be 9 people who's working in the same building died because of evil spirit finding replacement. Pat was instructed to work at night shift for the New York sharemarket. On the noon time, Pat met Babra from downstair and they quickly become friend.

Working for her night shift for the first day, Pat was alone and needed to go toilet. She met horrible things in the toilet and try to escape. But the evil spirit got Babra who came to find her. Pat went for rescue and only found out Babra was one of the evil spirit in the ladies toilet. Next day, Pat smile evilly and jump down from the office building.

On another level, Richard is a playboy and wasted his father effort in the company. He wanted to fired Mary and instruct his PA to fire her while himself went oversea. When he came back he was weird Mary is still working in the office. At night, Richard received an email saying that 5 staffs in his office has passed away in a car accident. Richard freak out and ran back home. Mary leads other staffs to look for him. They told him if Richard be good and take care of the company, they will not appear to disturb him anymore.

Ken is a new programmer in a new office and he met Shan in elevator. Shan told him that there is a white spirit who haunted the office building. Ken later on found out Shan was boycott and bullied by other staff in the company. Ken wanted to protect Shan and went after the white spirit who got her brother. Ken followed the white spirit up to the top level of balcony of the building and saw Shan pushed down of the building.

Ken rushed to saved Shan but falled down of the building. But he didn't get hurt and he saw the white spirit again. The white spirit told him that she is a real person but with illness. But Shan is a spirit who look for replacement therefore nobody talk to her (Ken believe as boycott). Together with Ken, 9 people was killed and replaced as evil spirit in the office building.

L² Scored: 7.5/10

L² Comment:

This is the best HK ghost movie i ever like, and the one which scared me the most a few years ago. Haha, just imagine you alone working overtime in the office... hehehehe~ scary huh? Among these 3 stories, the scariest one will be karen's version. eee~ freaking scary...