A Simple Life 桃姐

 Released Year: 2011

Directed by 許鞍華 Ann Hui

Casted by:

劉德華 Andy Lau as 梁罗杰 Roger
葉德嫻 Deanie Ip as 钟春桃 Tou

王馥荔 Wang Fuli as Roger的母亲 Roger's mother
秦海璐 Qin HaiLu as 蔡姑娘 Ms Choi
秦沛 Paul Chun as 堅叔 Kin

 Story:

 The movie reveals the whole life of Tou Jie who work as a servant for the family Leong. Tou jie is now service her young master Roger who work as a movie director. But Tou jie suffer from shocked and forced to send to hospital. After her hospitalize, she was sent to live in the old folks house. 

The whole movie is about the life of tou Jie living in the old folks home and the way she see how other old people pass away under the care of Ms Choi. In this period, Tou Jie has build and show her reliable and relationship with Roger.

In the end, Tou Jie passed away after having another shock.

L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

The whole movie is still ok, but the pace is a bit slow. The best part will be Deanie's acting, Andy Lau is very good too. Deanie Jie has show us she is good enough to won multiples best actress in a lot of awards~

Homerun 跑吧！孩子

Released Year: 2003
Directed by 梁智强 Jack Neo

Casted by:
李创锐 Shawn Lee as 周杰坤 Kun
郑智允 Megan Zheng as 周小芳 Fang
Story:

In 1965, two poor Singaporean children, Chew Kiat Kun and his younger sister Seow Fang live with their mother who is late in her third pregnancy and their father who is in debt to a local rice merchant. The children make the best of what little they have, while their father works long hours doing odd jobs.

The family's problems are compounded when Kiat Kun accidentally loses Seow Fang's only pair of shoes after taking them to be repaired. The children conduct a frantic search but find nothing; a karung guni man had claimed the shoes as unwanted rubbish. The Chew siblings are frustrated by the situation until their father inspires Kiat Kun to share his shoes with his sister, trading off between classes so they can both attend school. Unfortunately, this plan brings additional problems: Seow Fang is chastised for wearing oversized shoes to school, while Kiat Kun is repeatedly late as he must wait for his sister to exchange shoes with him.

At school, a wealthy schoolmate of Kiat Kun's named Tan Beng Soon runs a football team with his friends. Kiat Kun and his friends strike a bargain with Beng Soon to play on the team using the other boys' football shoes, in exchange for helping them cheat on their homework. However, the boys quarrel, causing an angry Beng Soon to renege on the deal and remove Kiat Kun and his friends from the team. Without their assistance, Beng Soon and his friends are punished for producing substandard homework. Although the boys try to resolve their differences, they eventually give up on reaching an agreement. Beng Soon's grades continue to fall, and his parents decide to send him away to study in England.

Meanwhile, Seow Fang sees her classmate wearing her lost shoes to school. She and Kiat Kun follow the girl home, but after realising her father is blind and that the family lived in the slums, they decide not to reclaim the shoes. However, a few days later, Seow Fang notices that her classmate is wearing a new pair; upon confronting her, she discovers that the girl has discarded the old pair at the kampung rubbish dump. The Chew siblings frantically search the rubbish dump for her shoes, but only discover them as they are destroyed during a trade unionist riot.

Kiat Kun is dejected until he learns that the third prize in the 1965 National Primary School Cross Country Competition is a pair of shoes. Because he was sick on the day his school selected representatives for the race, he pleads with his P.E. teacher to let him enter. The teacher, initially reluctant, relents when Kiat Kun rushes to get his cough medicine, demonstrating his running ability. As the competition begins, Kiat Kun notices that Beng Soon is also participating.

Once the starting gun fires, Kiat Kun pushes himself to the limit and eventually establishes himself among the lead runners. Kiat Kun appears assured of third place, but unexpectedly trips over a stone and thus finishes first. Beng Soon ends the race in third place. While Kiat Kun is running, Mrs Chew goes into labour, forcing Seow Fang to run across a long path littered with broken glass to find a midwife. Finally, Mrs Chew gives birth to a baby boy and Beng Soon gives Kiat Kun and Seow Fang new pairs of shoes before departing.

L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:

Avery touching story revealing the love between siblings and how the poor are living... Megan Zheng who is on her age 10 at 2003, has won the Best New Artist in Golden Horse Award. But too bad, she was no more in the acting world after 2005, or else i bet Singapore will have an outstanding actress now.

Enter The Phoenix 大佬愛美麗

Released Year: 2004
Directed by 冯德伦 Stephen Fung

Casted by:
吳彥祖 Daniel Wu as 洪志傑 Georgie
陳奕迅 Eason Chan as Sam
莫文蔚 Karen Mok as Julie
杜汶澤 Chapman To as 潘中堅 Kin
馮德倫 Stephen Fung as 鄭秋 Chow
羅家英 Law Kar Ying as 潘八 Master Eight
Story:

When gang master Hung died, his two followers Cheung and Chapman To were sent to Thailand to look for his son, Georgie Hung, to succeed him. Georgie, who is gay and lives as a cook with his boyfriend Frankie, is uninterested to continue his father's work. But his close friend Sam, adored the life of a gangster and took his position instead. Sam and Georgie thus returned to Hong Kong with their identities swapped.

Upon returning, they discovered that Hung had accidentally killed Cheng Chow's father and now Cheng Chow, a leading gangster of a friendly gang, led by Chan Wai-Man, is looking to avenge for his father's death. Meanwhile, Chan Wai-Man wanted to let his daughter Julie to marry Sam in order to strengthen the bond between the two gangs. Sam initially agrees but later changed his mind when he discovered that Julie is not in love with him.

Finally, Cheng Chow kidnapped both Julie and Sam and forced Georgie to lead his gang on a rescue mission. Georgie, with help from Julie and Sam, defeated Cheng Chow in the final battle and told him to accept the fact that his father's death was an accident. Then Cheng Chow saved Georgie when one of his men tried to take his life. Julie and Sam fell in love during the kidnapping and decided to get married while Sam and Georgie took joint leadership of the gang.

L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

This is kinda funny but not too exciting. The storyline is predictable and the laughing point is not strong enough. Eason Chan, Chapman To & Law Kar Ying's acting is good, but Stephen Fung & Daniel Wu's are kinda bad actually. And Karen Mok is just a vase on the side~

The only surprise is the cameo appearance of Jackie Chan, Sammi Cheng & Nicholas Tse.

Paul

Released Year: 2011
Directed by Gred Mottola

Casted by:
Simon Pegg as Graeme Willy
Nick Frost as Clive Gollings
Seth Rogen as Paul (voice)
Jason Bateman as Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil
Kristen Wiig as Ruth Buggs
Bill Hader as Agent Haggard
Blythe Danner as Tara Walton
Story:

Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings are two English comic book enthusiasts and best friends who have traveled to the United States to attend the annual San Diego Comic-Con International and to take a road trip in their RV to visit sites of major extraterrestrial importance. When stopping for something to eat they meet two strangers and when Graeme laughs with them they start tormenting him. They leave quickly and dent the strangers' car. At night, along the highway, they notice lights following them. Wrongly thinking the lights to be from the strangers' car they speed up, but the car passes them and then crashes. They investigate the damaged car, and discover an alien named Paul, who is in desperate need of help. Although shocked by the appearance of Paul, Graeme agrees to give Paul a ride, but Clive is displeased about the idea. Later, FBI Agent Lorenzo Zoil arrives at the site of the crashed car and informs his mysterious female superior, called the "Big Guy", over the radio that he is closing in on Paul, and she recommends using local law enforcement as back-up. Zoil recruits two inept rookie agents, Haggard and O'Reilly, to aid in his mission, without informing them about the nature of their target.

Graeme, Clive and Paul pull into an RV park run by Ruth Buggs, a Christian fundamentalist, and her over-bearing father, Moses. The trio bond around their camp grill and Paul reveals that since he was captured by the government, he had been advising them in all manner of scientific and sociological achievements. Yet Paul had outlived his usefulness as a receptacle of knowledge, thus his captors intended to surgically remove Paul's brain and harvest his stem cells, in an attempt to harness his physical abilities (Paul had previously demonstrated both invisibility and healing powers). With the help from a friend inside Area 51, Paul sent an SOS to his home planet, and was escaping to rendezvous with them. The next morning, Paul intentionally reveals himself to Ruth during a theological discussion, and the trio are forced to kidnap her and make a hasty escape. Moses steps outside and sees Paul and, believing him to be a demon, grabs his shotgun and chases after them in his truck. Paul shatters Ruth's faith by sharing his knowledge of the universe via telepathic link; at first horrified, Ruth suddenly becomes eager to sin, which her father had raised her to fear doing. She initially does not trust Paul, but he heals her left eye, which she lost her vision in at the age of four.

Paul eventually reveals his intention to return to Tara Walton, the girl whose dog he crashed his ship on in 1947 and who subsequently saved his life, who is now an old woman. After spending her life being ridiculed for what she said she saw, Tara is grateful to see that Paul exists. She turns her gas cooker on to make tea, but is interrupted by Haggard and O'Reilly on one side of the house, and Zoil on the other. As the motley crew escapes and drives off with Paul, O'Reilly shoots at them, and the gas ignites, destroying Tara's house and apparently killing O'Reilly. A winded Zoil attempts to follow, but Haggard takes off first, shooting at Moses, running him off the road and catching up to the RV. However, due to an error in judgement, Haggard accidentally drives off a cliff and is killed, leaving Zoil as the last remaining agent in pursuit. He reassures the Big Guy that he will have Paul within an hour, but she declares herself tired of waiting, and informs Zoil that she has ordered a military response.

When Paul, Graeme, Clive, Ruth and Tara arrive at the rendezvous, they set off a signal and wait. Eventually, eerie orange lights show up over the surrounding trees, and everyone believes that it is Paul's rescue ship. However, it is an army helicopter, with the Big Guy on board. As she and three troops move to shoot Paul, Zoil arrives, and it is revealed that he was Paul's inside contact who helped him to escape. Zoil disarms the men, but is shot in the shoulder by the Big Guy. Tara punches out the Big Guy, but Moses appears with his shotgun and mortally wounds Graeme while aiming at Paul. Paul heals him and collapses, briefly appearing to be dead before he quickly recovers; Moses proclaims this to be a miracle from God. The Big Guy regains consciousness, but is immediately crushed by the arriving alien ship. Paul begins to depart and informs Tara that she is coming with him to live a better life. He bids farewell to his friends, hoping to meet them again one day. Two years later, Graeme, Clive, Ruth and even O'Reilly are shown again at the Comic-Con convention, where Graeme and Clive are promoting Paul, their new hit novel.

L² Scored: 3/10

L² Comment:

Well, i'm not sure how good the fiction is, but it definitely not my cup of tea. The whole film is just bored and not kinda fun to watch at. Even with my favorite Sigourney Weaver as one of the big rival does not help. The only touching part is when Paul risk his own life to save his human buddy... The rest of the things are just mainly stupid

Killers

Released Year: 2010
Directed by Robert Luketic

Casted by:
Ashton Kutcher as Spencer Aimes
Katherine Heigl as Jennifer "Jen" Kornfeldt
Tom Selleck as Mr. Kornfeldt
Catherine O'Hara as Mrs. Kornfeldt
Story:

After a break-up with a boyfriend, an overly cautious Jennifer "Jen" Kornfeldt travels to Nice with her parents. While going into an elevator to go to her hotel room, she meets Spencer Aimes . Spencer asks her out for drinks and she accepts. The scene then changes to Spencer sneaking onto a boat, putting a time bomb on the bottom of a helicopter, then taking out a guard. He then swims back and goes on the date with Jen.

After a night of drinking, Jen reveals that she's not the spontaneous person she's been pretending to be and in return Spencer bluntly tells her that he's an assassin, albeit unhappy about being one. Unfortunately she's already passed out and hasn't heard. In spite of this, Spencer decides that Jen's the woman he's been looking for and decides to marry her. When Spencer tells his boss, Holbrook, his plan, the response is that quitting is not an option. Spencer is defiant and goes ahead with his plan.

Three years later, they are settled into their new normal life. After Spencer surprises Jen with a remodeled office, she gives him a birthday surprise: tickets to Nice to celebrate his birthday and their three years. Because of his dubious connections to Nice, Spencer is less than enthusiastic. When her friends ask about his reaction, they take it as signs of that he might be getting bored and fill her head with doubts.

Meanwhile, Spencer gets a postcard from his old boss and the ultimatum to take another assignment. While trying to refuse him long distance, Jen's father shows up to take Spencer to dinner, so Spencer hangs up the phone, prompting suspicion in Mr. Kornfeldt. This is fueled further when Jen's dad sees the postcard and quizzes him about the XOXX (hugs and kisses), being odd coming from a former boss. Stopping home to change, Spencer finds that the dinner invitation is just a detour to bring him to a surprise party. While Spencer navigates drunken friends, Jen's friends continue to fill her head with doubts over Spencer's lack of enthusiasm for the Nice trip. This is further irritated, when the following morning, despite her attempts to be physical with him, Spencer rushes Jen off on her business trip.

A little while later, Jen comes back (without having gone on her trip) to find Spencer being tossed around their house by Henry, Spencer's best friend and co-worker. Spencer screams for her to get his gun (of which she was unaware) and she shoots the attacker in the arm. While interrogating the attacker, he reveals that there is a $20 million bounty on Spencer's head. An unidentified sniper takes shots at them, and Spencer and Jen flee. After escaping, they go to a hotel room where Spencer's old boss is staying, but find that someone has already killed him. Jen demands that they go to her dad for help, but Spencer disagrees. In the middle of their argument Jen vomits, and declares that she might be pregnant.

Heading back to his office for Jen to take a pregnancy test, Spencer is attacked by his secretary and realizes that there are others who know about the contract. Jen then reveals that she is pregnant and is leaving Spencer. Left alone, Spencer is attacked by the UDE driver, who is killed by Olivia, Henry's wife and another killer vying for the contract. She then attacks Spencer, but then Jen rams her car into Olivia's, forcing Olivia's car to crash against a fuel tank. Spencer then shoots at Olivia and hits the fuel tank which causes it to explode, thus killing Olivia. The two discuss their possible future and return to their neighborhood, which is holding its annual block party. When they first arrive they are attacked by the two assailants that were handing out the block party flyers in the morning. They escape and head to the block party. As they walk through the block party they receive many suspicious looks from neighbors. They enter their house to retrieve guns and their passports. Spencer is grabbing the guns when he is attacked by the two assassins, whom he eventually kills.

Meanwhile, one assassin, Kristen, one of Jen's best friends, holds Jen's mother as a hostage in a Mexican standoff with Jen. Jen's father arrives and kills Kristen. He then explains that he was the one who put out the bounty on Spencer. He knew of Spencer's previous work, and hired the neighbors and co-workers three years before in case Spencer started working for his old boss again, who Jen's father says had "gone dirty." After seeing the postcard from Holbrook in Spencer's office, he came to the conclusion that Spencer had re-accepted his old job and activated the assassins. He reveals that he had been an operative as well, and that he was actually the target Spencer was supposed to kill in Nice three years earlier.

Wanting to prove that he really did get out of the business and had no desire to kill her father, Spencer drops his gun. Jen, now convinced, turns on her father and reveals her pregnancy. Jen's father realizes that he will be a grandfather, but before putting down the gun, shoots the assassin that Spencer had injured earlier while grabbing the passports, but hadn't really killed. The family makes peace by building a trust circle, in which Spencer reveals that English is not his first language, and that he wanted to be the first one to say "I love you" to Jen. The movie ends showing Spencer and Jen's father working on some wires near Spencer and Jen's baby's crib. Spencer has just grown a mustache just like Jen's father. Spencer and Jen then leave to let Jen's mom and dad babysit. They all leave the room, but Spencer comes back in to activate the lasers protecting the baby.

L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

I'm not really a big fans of Heigl and i stop myself from watching this movie because she looks dumb in the movie's poster. But on a lazy saturday, I decided to give it a shot and it was not bad, kinda good i should say. Though her dumb-blonde-look is still there, but it was way better than Bug Buster which i have watched 1 few years back.

The storyline is hilarious, and Mr Richard from friends sitcom (Tom Selleck) still look cool and funny. Love this movie, a good one in the box office.

Horrible Bosses

Released Year: 2011
Directed by Seth Gordon

Casted by:
Jason Bateman as Nick Hendricks
Charlie Day as Dale Arbus
Jason Sudeikis as Kurt Buckman
Jennifer Aniston as Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S.
Colin Farrell as Bobby Pellitt
Kevin Spacey as Dave Harken
Jamie Foxx as Dean "Motherfucker" Jones.
Story:

Nick Hendricks and Dale Arbus are friends who despise their bosses. Nick works at a financial firm for emotionally abusive Dave Harken who dangles the possibility of a promotion in front of Nick, only to award it to himself. Dale is a dental assistant being sexually harassed by his boss, Dr. Julia Harris; she threatens to tell his fiancee that he had sex with her unless he actually has sex with her. Nick and Dale's accountant friend Kurt Buckman enjoys working for Jack Pellitt but after Jack dies, the company is taken over by Jack's cocaine-addicted, amoral son Bobby.

At night, over drinks, Kurt jokingly suggests that their lives would be happier if their bosses were no longer around. Initially hesitant, they eventually agree to do away with their employers. In search of a hitman, the trio meet "Motherfucker" Jones, an ex-con who agrees to be their "murder consultant". Jones suggests that Dale, Kurt and Nick kill each other's bosses to hide their motive while making the deaths look like accidents.

The three reconnoiter Bobby's house, and Kurt steals Bobby's phone. They next go to Harken's house. Kurt and Nick go inside while Dale waits in the car. Harken returns home and confronts Dale for littering, but then has an allergy attack from the peanut butter on the litter. Dale saves Harken by stabbing him with an EpiPen. Nick and Kurt think Dale is stabbing Harken to death and flee, Kurt accidentally dropping Bobby's phone in Harken's bedroom. Harken's wife Rhonda thanks Dale for saving her husband, causing Harken to jealously accuse her of having an affair with Dale. The next night, Kurt watches Julia's home, who seduces and has sex with him. Nick and Dale wait outside Bobby's and Harken's houses to commit the murders. Harken discovers Bobby's cellphone in his bedroom and uses it to find his address, suspecting his wife is having another affair. He drives over and kills Bobby, with Nick as a secret witness. Nick flees at high speed, setting off a traffic camera. The three friends meet to discuss their reservations about continuing with their plan. They are arrested by the police, who feel the camera footage makes them suspects in Bobby's murder. Lacking evidence, the police are forced to let the trio go free.

They consult with Jones again, but learn that he has never actually killed anyone, having been imprisoned for bootlegging the film Snow Falling on Cedars. They decide their only option is to get Harken to confess and secretly tape it. The three accidentally crash Harken's surprise birthday party. Nick and Dale get Harken to confess to the murder before realizing that Kurt, who has the audio recorder, is elsewhere having sex with Rhonda. Harken threatens to kill all three for attempting to blackmail him. They flee by car. Harken gives chase, ramming their vehicle. Kurt asks his car's navigation-system operator to help get them out of trouble. Believing they have committed a crime, the operator remotely disables Kurt's car, allowing Harken to catch and hold them at gunpoint. Harken shoots himself in the leg as he details his plan to frame them for murdering Bobby and attempting to kill him to get rid of the witness.

The police arrest Nick, Dale and Kurt, but the navigation-system operator reveals that the entire conversation was recorded. Harken is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, while the friends get their charges waived. Nick is promoted to president of the company under a sadistic CEO, Kurt retains his job under a new boss, and Dale blackmails Julia into ending her harassment by convincing her to sexually harass a supposedly unconscious patient while Jones secretly records the act.

L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

OMG, i love this film so much, 3 best friends whom individually has their own horrible boss. I like the way they select the actors. The 3 bosses are more famous than the 3 main character, but this is the cute part that i like.

Anniston really surprised me with her new-raunchy-brunette-slutty character :) Lol, and Jamie Foxx... haha, he really makes me laugh... fuck~ haha

This Means War

Released Year: 2012
Directed by McG

Casted by:
Reese Witherspoon as Lauren Scott
Chris Pine as Franklin Delano Roosevelt "FDR" Foster
Tom Hardy as Tuck Henson
Til Schweiger as Heinrich
Chelsea Handler as Trish
Story:

CIA agents and best friends FDR Foster and Tuck Henson are deployed to Hong Kong to prevent international criminal Heinrich from acquiring a weapon of mass destruction, but the mission goes awry, resulting in the death of Heinrich's brother Jonas and Heinrich swearing revenge against them. For their protection, their boss, Collins, assigns them to desk duty upon returning to America.

FDR is a womanizer, whose cover is that he's a cruise ship captain, while Tuck, who presents himself as a travel agent, has an ex-wife, Katie, and a son, Joe. After seeing a commercial for online dating, Tuck decides to sign himself up and is paired with Lauren Scott, a product testing executive who's dealing with the recent engagement of her ex-boyfriend. Her best friend, Trish, has signed her up for the same online dating site. FDR insists on being Tuck's backup for the date and hides nearby, but Tuck & Lauren hit it off.

Shortly thereafter, FDR runs into Lauren at a video store and tries to flirt with her, not knowing she's Tuck's date, but she notices that he's a ladies' man and ignores him. Intrigued, FDR crashes into one of Lauren's test groups and persuades her to go on a date with him, where they also enjoy themselves. Lauren feels guilty about dating two men at the same time, but is persuaded by Trish to make the best of the situation. FDR and Tuck soon discover that they're seeing the same woman and decide not to tell her that they know each other, to interfere with each others' dates, nor have sex with her and let her come a decision between them. However, they soon break their rules and use CIA technology to spy on her and discover her preferences, as well as try to sabotage one another. FDR and Lauren eventually have sex, and Tuck and Lauren nearly do as well, before Lauren interrupts it, feeling bad about herself.

One day, Lauren invites Tuck to lunch, while FDR discovers that Heinrich has come to America to get revenge against them. He interrupts Lauren's date with Tuck to warn him, but Tuck doesn't believe him and they get into a fight, during which Lauren discovers that they're friends and decides to leave alone with Trish. At that moment, they are captured by Heinrich and his men, who are pursued by FDR and Tuck. FDR and Tuck rescue Lauren and Trish after a car chase, in which they reveal that they are CIA agents and, on Lauren's advice, shoot the headlights on Heinrich's car, deploying the airbags and sending Heinrich's car spiraling out of control. FDR and Tuck, on different sides of the road, urge Lauren to come to their side, and she ultimately choses FDR as Heinrich dies when his car swerves off the bridge and crashes below. Lauren decides to be with FDR, and Tuck makes amends with him. Tuck soon reconciles with Katie and they get married once more.

Shortly thereafter, FDR and Tuck are about to parachute out of a cargo plane when FDR reveals that he'll marry Lauren, and also that he had sex with Katie before she met Tuck, and no longer feels guilty about it because Tuck had sex with Lauren. Tuck, however, reveals that they didn't go all the way and angrily tackles FDR out of the plane.

L² Scored: 8.5/10

L² Comment:

This is a really nice movie, Witherspooon looks so sweet and cute in this movie. Love the way she perform in this movie, her body language and her tone is just right for her character. The two guys are hot too, Chris Pine is damn sexy but the english stalion Tom Hardy definitely took my breath away~

New Perfect Two 新天生一對

Released Year: 2012
Directed by 朱延平 Kevin Chu

Casted by:
周渝民 Vic Chou as 陳翰賓 阿B
小小彬 Benny Wen as 彬彬 Bin
陳嘉樺 Ella Chen as 馬妞 Niu
楊冪 Mini Yang as 方家蔚 Wei
Story:

B is a car racer who lost confidence after one terrible accident. The wife Wei left him together with their son Bin. B was staying at a hill edge near a beach where Niu and her sister work. Wei came and left Bin to stay with him. B put a lot of feeling towards his son and willing to earn money to make a new life with Bin.

B went back to car racing and hope to win back Wei and Bin but he lost. In the end, Wei brought back Bin to B and B attached with Niu who is always behind him all these while.

L² Scored: 6.5/10

L² Comment:

Its quite special and i believe would be the first time Vic Zhou acted in a father character. It is good though still a bit of ammature~ The storyline is a bit normal, nothing really special... but the view & sceneries at there is fabulous~ :)

Evan Almighty

Released Year: 2007
Directed by Tom Shadyac

Casted by:
Steve Carell as Evan Baxter
Morgan Freeman as God
Lauren Graham as Joan Baxter
Johnny Simmons as Dylan Baxter
Graham Phillips as Jordan Baxter
Jimmy Bennett as Ryan Baxter
John Goodman as Chuck Long
Story:

Newly elected to Congress, former local television news reporter Evan Baxter leaves his hometown of Buffalo, New York and moves to suburban northern Virginia, where his campaign promise to "change the world" is ridiculed by some, but Evan remains optimistic about his new position. On the first day on his job, Evan is given a spacious office and is invited to co-sponsor a bill with top congressman Chuck Long, something rare for a first-timer. His family is happy, but due to the change in their situation to the move when Evan's wife Joan, who prays that Evan will have a greater sense of togetherness. Everything seems to be going well for Evan. Soon after Evan's arrival to Congress, strange things start to happen in his household:

1. Evan's alarm clock repeatedly goes off at 6:14 A.M. despite being set for a different time every night.
2. Large quantities of ancient tools and wood are delivered to Evan's house daily without explanation.
3. Animals follow Evan without any apparent reason (with birds even getting into his office through the window).
4. Evan grows a beard that magically grows itself back no matter how many times he shaves.
5. Eight vacant lots in Evan's neighborhood are purchased in his name.
6. A mysterious company named GO-4-WOOD delivers a shipment of lumber that Evan did not order.
7. The number "614" follows Evan everywhere he goes.

Evan soon learns that 614 refers to the verse in the Book of Genesis, where God (Morgan Freeman) instructs Noah to build an Ark in preparation for a flood. God shows himself to Evan, cordially insisting that Evan should build an Ark as well. Although Evan resists, God follows him using different guises and eventually convinces Evan to build the Ark. Joan, concerned about his behaviour, believes that Evan is having a mid-life crisis. Without Joan's support, Evan enlists his three sons Dylan, Jordan, and Ryan (Johnny Simmons, Graham Phillips, and Jimmy Bennett) to help him to build the Ark. Reappearing, God tells Evan the flood will come on September 22 at noon. The Ark used for filming was located in Crozet, Virginia.

Animals continue to follow Evan around, getting increasingly annoying as time passes. At first, Long is unimpressed, and allows this behavior to occur, but warns Evan that he will not want any more animal surprises. Unfortunately, the animals follow Evan to Congress numerous times despite his efforts to detain them. This compels Evan to confess to Long, other Congressmen in the room, and the television cameras broadcasting the meeting is that the reason for the animals, strange behavior, robe, and beard is because of God convincing Evan to build the Ark. Humiliating both Congress and the controversial Public Land Act bill that Long is attempting to pass, Evan is temporarily suspended from Congress and removed from Long's bill. As Evan is dragged away, some birds poop on Long upon departure. Joan becomes angry and disappointed on Evan's behavior and leaves Evan because she believes he is insane. Evan does not let this stop himself and continues to build the Ark alone, gaining international notice and public ridicule. Meanwhile, God appears to Joan, disguised as a waiter at a diner with his name tag "Al Mighty". In this guise, God tells Joan that he believes himself and does not give things, but only the opportunity by which to obtain things, and gives an example of family togetherness. Having a revelation, Joan returns to Evan with newfound faith to finish the Ark together. Meanwhile, word reaches Evan that Long has unexpectedly commissioned his dam and has to cut the corners in doing so.

On September 22, Evan loads hundreds of animals onto the newly finished Ark in front of hundreds of spectators and live news crews, and invites the crowd to join them, but is made fun of. However, the police arrive on the scene with a wrecking ball and attempt to destroy the Ark because of its violation of numerous building codes. Noon arrives, and minutes pass with no sign of rain, provoking spectator scorn. A short downburst of rain does come, but it is short-lived. Joan asks Evan to leave the Ark, explaining that he has built it and succeeded in his mission; but at this moment, Evan sees Long's dam burst from the distance. With the water from the dam rushing towards them, all of the spectators, reporters, and policemen immediately seek refuge in the Ark, which rides the flood through the streets of Washington, D.C.. The Ark eventually reaches its final destination in front of the Capitol, where other Congressmen are greeted by the Ark by crashing into the side of the structure. Long, who is outraged that the flood did really happen, is told by Evan that the flood was caused by his defective dam, but Long did not believe this, and was told already that this could not happen again. Those events entice Evan and other Congressmen to turn against Long. With Long under investigation about his dam, Evan celebrate the events by going on a hiking trip with Joan and three sons, where God reappears and tells Evan that the way to change the world is by doing one Act of Random Kindness (ARK) at a time. The film ends when Evan and God doing a happy dance together before God disappears, leaving Evan, Joan, and three sons behind.

L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

Love this film so much, the same type with Bruce Almighty but this time with Steve Carell who quickly take over the comedian place of Jim Carrey. :) The shooting of multiples animal together is not easy, and i believe they use up a lot of computer technique to shoot this~ i hope they are gonna do this religious-comedy again~

Real Steel

Released Year: 2011
Directed by Shawn Levy

Casted by:
Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton
Dakota Goyo as Max Kenton
Evangeline Lilly as Bailey Tallet
Story:

In 2020, human boxers have been replaced by robot boxers. Charlie Kenton is a former boxer who owns such a robot, Ambush, competing in unsanctioned matches and in exhibitions with it. At a rural fair, Ambush is destroyed by Black Thunder, a bull belonging to promoter Ricky. Having made a bet that Ambush would win, Charlie now owes Ricky $20,000, which he doesn't pay before leaving.

Charlie is informed his ex-girlfriend has died, and that he must attend a hearing to decide the fate of his preteen son Max. Max's wealthy aunt Debra and uncle Marvin want full custody, which Charlie gives them in exchange for $100,000, half in advance, on the condition that Charlie take care of Max for three months while the couple are away on a second honeymoon.

Charlie and Max meet with Charlie's childhood friend Bailey Tallet, who runs the boxing gym of her deceased father, Charlie's old coach. There, Charlie buys a secondhand World Robot Boxing league (WRB) robot, the once-famous Noisy Boy, and arranges for it to fight the illegal circuit's champion, Midas, at a venue belonging to his friend Finn. Partly due to both his inexperience with Noisy Boy's combinations and his own overconfidence, Charlie ends up losing control of Noisy Boy and Midas destroys it.

Charlie breaks into a junkyard with Max to steal scraps that he can use to put a new robot together. There, Max falls over a ledge, where he is saved from doom by getting snagged on the arm of a buried robot. After Charlie pulls Max back up, Max digs out the entire robot, called Atom. On Max's insistence, Charlie takes it back to Bailey's gym, where they discover Atom is an obsolete Generation-2 sparring bot built in 2014. Atom has been designed to sustain massive damage, but is unable to deal much damage itself. Atom also has a "shadow function" for following human movement. Partly due to both Max's insistence and Charlie needing money, the duo has Atom fight an unsanctioned outdoor match against a robot called Metro. Atom wins, earning back some of Charlie's money.

Max later upgrades Atom to take vocal commands and to have harder-hitting fistcuffs, using parts from Charlie's demolished robots, and convinces Charlie to train Atom. Atom's string of subsequent wins attracts the attention of a promoter from the WRB, who offers Atom a professional fight against the robot Twin Cities. Charlie accepts, and Atom wins again, thanks to Charlie's boxing experience allowing him to locate and take advantage of a small tell in Twin Cities' punch. Reveling in their subsequent novelty attention, Max challenges WRB champion Zeus, designed by genius Tak Mashido and sponsored by wealthy Farra Lemcova , who before the match tries to buy the upstart Atom.

As Max and Charlie leave after the Twin Cities fight, Ricky and his men attack them, and steal their winnings. Feeling guilty, Charlie returns Max to his aunt and uncle, feeling Max will be safer with them and refusing the second half of the money he was promised. Bailey convinces him that he can be a better father. Debra allows Charlie to take Max out for one last night, to the Zeus-Atom match. Zeus severely damages Atom while also getting injured for the first time. Ricky, who had bet Finn $100,000 that Atom would not last the first round, tries to slip away, but is cornered by Finn and his colleagues.

In the fourth round of the five-round match, Atom's vocal receptors are damaged, and Atom must fight the last round in shadow-boxing mode, copying Charlie's moves from the aisle. Zeus, now controlled manually by a furious Mashido, expends energy on trashing the defensive Atom, running low on power and turning sluggish as a result. The fight swings in Atom's favor as he overwhelms the weakened Zeus, even knocking the seemingly invincible champion down once, but Atom is unable to win before the round ends. The judges declare Zeus the winner on points, but the near-defeat leaves the Zeus team humiliated. Atom is labeled the "People's Champion" as Charlie and Max celebrate their success.

L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:

Whoa, this is way much more better than transformer :) At the story point, its good, nothing about the stupid-revenge-old-expectable story like transformer. But it still shows that we, human is the "owner" who control robots :) The whole fighting scene is not that violence like Transformer either. I hope the sequel will come soon in this year or maybe next year...