Saw 3D / Saw: The Final Chapter

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Kevin Greutert

Casted by:

Tobin Bell as John Kramer

Costas Mandylor as Detective Mark Hoffman

Betsy Russell as Jill Tuck

Cary Elwes as Dr. Lawrence Gordon

Sean Patrick Flanery as Bobby Dagen

Chad Donella as Detective Matt Gibson

Gina Holden as Joyce Dagen

Dean Armstrong as Cale

Rebecca Marshall as Suzanne

Naomi Snieckus as Nina

 Story: 

Two men, Brad and Ryan, awaken in a metropolitan storefront window, bound at the wrists to opposite sides of a worktable with a circular saw in front of each of them. Their mutual lover, Dina, is suspended above a third saw. As the scene draws attention and police arrive, a puppet informs the men that they can kill each other or let Dina die. They initially fight each other, during which Brad is cut, but ultimately choose to allow Dina to die instead.

Matt Gibson, an internal affairs detective at Mark Hoffman's precinct, is met by Jill Tuck, who incriminates Hoffman in exchange for protection and immunity from prosecution. Gibson, who has mistrusted Hoffman ever since Hoffman saved his life by gunning down a homeless man, agrees to her terms. Meanwhile, Hoffman abducts a skinhead gang - Dan, Evan, Jake and Kara - and places them in a trap that kills them all, leaving the reverse bear trap at the scene to incriminate Jill, who is put into protective custody. After a meeting of Jigsaw survivors, including Lawrence Gordon, who cauterized his leg on a steam pipe after escaping the bathroom and now uses a leg brace and cane, Hoffman abducts Bobby Dagen, a self-help guru who achieved fame and fortune by falsifying his own survival story. He sends Gibson videos with cryptic clues to the game's location, offering to end the games if Jill is given to him.

Dagen awakens in a cage in an asylum and is told that his wife Joyce will die if he doesn't save her within one hour. Joyce is chained at the neck to a steel platform that gradually pulls her down as she watches Dagen's progress. After he escapes the cage, which dangles over a floor of spikes, he begins searching for Joyce. Along the way, he finds Nina, his publicist; Suzanne, his lawyer; and Cale McNamara, his best friend and co-conspirator. All three are in separate traps representing the three wise monkeys and are killed despite his efforts to save them. After he removes his upper wisdom teeth to obtain the combination for a security door, Dagen finds Joyce and is forced to reenact the trap he claimed to survive: he must drive hooks through his pectoral muscles and hoist himself up to the ceiling to deactivate her trap. He fails, and is forced to watch as a brazen bull capsule closes around Joyce and incinerates her.

Gibson eventually discovers the game's location and sends a SWAT team, who are sealed in another room and killed by toxic gas. Simultaneously, he and two officers infiltrate Hoffman's command center in the junkyard, where they find Dan's corpse sat in front of several monitors connected to the police headquarters security cameras. He sees Hoffman brought into the morgue in a body bag and tries to warn Palmer, but is killed by an automatic turret gun along with his men. Hoffman kills Dr. Heffner, Palmer, and everyone else in his path to Jill, who briefly escapes before she is caught and knocked unconscious. He straps her to a chair and locks a reverse bear trap to her head; she awakens as the timer starts and is killed when the trap activates, tearing apart her face.

After destroying his workshop, Hoffman is attacked and subdued by three pig-masked figures, led by Gordon. Flashbacks show that John Kramer found him unconscious by the steam pipe and nursed him back to health, and Gordon has assisted him ever since. This was known only by Jill, who delivered a package to him at the hospital, a videotape in which Kramer asked him to watch over Jill and take action if anything happened to her. To this end, Gordon has Hoffman brought to the disused bathroom and shackled by the ankle to a pipe. He enters and tosses out of the bathroom the hacksaw he'd used to sever his own foot, and then turns off the lights and seals the door, leaving Hoffman to die.

 L² Scored: 6/10

L² Comment:

SAW has been my favorite horror movie franchise series all these while, I have been scoring the previous movies quite high but the score started to decrease a bit since the 5th movie. Being the 7th movie for this franchise series, the production house decided to end this horror series and shoot it in 3D. But of course human being is always greedy, if this movie continue to earn as much as previous few movies, I believe the production will consider to have a spin-off or something like "the beginning".... right?

But even though this movie hit number one spot in blockbuster on the day it shows on big screen, the result is not as good as its history and finally the 7th movie is really confirm to be the very final one... Overall the story is not bad, it does link up the story of previous 6 movies in this, but the idea of killing started to get boring, i believe other horror fans would agree with me. Well, its better to give a fullstop before it gone uglier...

The Back-up Plan

Released Year: 2010

Directed by Alan Poul

Casted by:

 Jennifer Lopez as Zoe

Alex O'Loughlin as Stan

Michaela Watkins as Mona

Danneel Harris as Olivia

Melissa McCarthy as Carol

Linda Lavin as Nana

Eric Christian Olsen as Clive

 Story: 

Zoe has given up on finding the man of her dreams and decided to become a single mother and undergoes artificial insemination. The same day she meets Stan when they both try to hail the same taxi. They run into each other twice more at a farmers market and a pet store. Stan convinces Zoe to go on a no-obligations date. Zoe is still uncertain whether she is pregnant or not and if she should tell Stan. The night she takes the test, Stan takes her for a romantic dinner in a garden. Things don't turn out as well as planned when he spills the wine and a fire occurs. At the end of the night Stan asks her to come to his farm during the weekend and Zoe finds out that she is pregnant.

She goes to the farm determined to tell him that she is pregnant. They have sex and afterwards Stan is confused and angry that she didn't tell him before and Zoe leaves the next morning believing that things are over between them. However, Stan decides he still wants to be with her and they reconcile. They go to the doctor and find out that Zoe is actually carrying twins. Overwhelmed, Stan goes to a children's playing area to figure out what it means to be a father, but is suspected to be a pervert; this is soon cleared up. He finds a friend there that he can talk to about the pregnancy throughout the movie, while Zoe gets little support from her Single Mothers and Proud group when the group members discover she is no longer single. Stan takes the next step to becoming a father and orders a stroller for the twins. After many misunderstandings and comedic revelations, Zoe and Stan are walking into the Market when they run into Stan's ex-girlfriend. Due to Stan's remark that the twins are not his, Zoe believes that he is not ready to become a father to them, and breaks off the relationship.

Later, the stroller that Stan ordered arrives and Zoe figures out that Stan was never planning to leave. At her grandmother's wedding, Zoe's water breaks and on the way to the hospital they make a pit stop at the Market. Zoe apologizes to Stan and they begin to work things out. He pulls out the penny that she turned over when they first met and Zoe promises to trust him more. In the end, Stan opens a store/restaurant next to Zoe's pet shop and after the Grand Opening speech Stan asks Zoe to marry him and she says yes. On their way home, she spontaneously throws up into a rubbish bin and realizes that she may be yet again pregnant.

 L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment: 

Its been a while since I last watch any movie of JLo. JLo is always a singer type of celebrity rather than an actress for me. But she was not bad in this kind of romance comedy movie :) Jlo & O'Loughlin makes a nice sweet couple in this movie and I love it very much :) Overall the movie is easy to watch and nice, having the baby first before the dates and marry is quite normal in nowadays too, right? 

Letters to Juliet

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Gary Winick

Casted by:

Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Hall

Christopher Egan as Charlie Wyman

Vanessa Redgrave as Claire Smith-Wyman

 Story:

Sophie is a young American woman who works for The New Yorker as a fact checker. She goes on a pre-honeymoon with her chef fiancé Victor to Verona, Italy. Victor is unmoved by the romance of Italy and uses his time to research his soon-to-open restaurant, often neglecting Sophie. Sophie accidentally discovers an unanswered "letter to Juliet" by a Claire Smith from 1957, one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard that are typically answered by the "secretaries of Juliet". She answers it and within a week the now elderly Claire arrives in Verona with her handsome barrister grandson Charlie. Claire and Sophie take an instant liking to each other, but Charlie and Sophie do not get along.

Following the advice in Sophie's reply, Claire decides to look for her long-lost love, Lorenzo Bartolini. Sophie, thinking Claire's story might help her with her writing career, helps Claire. The two find out that there are many Lorenzo Bartolinis living in the area. After many days of searching for the right Lorenzo, they find that one is dead. Charlie blames Sophie for his grandmother's sadness. He accuses her of not knowing what real loss is. Claire, witnessing the dispute, tells Charlie he was wrong and that Sophie's mother had walked away from her when she was a little girl. The following day, Claire insists that Charlie apologize to Sophie at breakfast, which he does. After dinner, Sophie talks to Charlie about love, and the two kiss. The following morning is their last day of searching for Lorenzo. On a whim, Claire points out a vineyard to Charlie and asks if he could stop so they can have a farewell drink for Sophie. As Charlie drives down the road, Claire sees a young man who looks exactly like her Lorenzo. They discover the man is Lorenzo Bartolini's grandson, and Claire and Lorenzo reunite.

Back in New York, Sophie breaks up with Victor before returning to Verona to attend Claire and Lorenzo's wedding. She finds Charlie with another woman, Patricia, and runs out crying. Charlie comes out to find her, and she admits she loves him but tells him to go back to Patricia. Charlie tells Sophie that the woman is his cousin Patricia and tells Sophie he loves her. He climbs up the vine to the balcony but accidentally falls down, and they kiss as he lies on the ground.

 L² Scored: 4/10 

L² Comment:

This is the last film directed by Gary Winick before he passed away due to pneumonia. For me this film is not bad, the storyline is kinda expected and Seyfried's acting is just so so... but the film was shot so romantically especially the scene of Verona... Christopher Egan does look like a pretty boy here, but not really into him as well. Overall this film is ok, but don't think i will spend time to watch it again~

The Stranger in Us

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Scott Boswell

Casted by:

Raphael Barker as Anthony

Adam David as Gavin

Scott Cox as Stephen

 Story:

In this verité-style drama, Anthony, a newcomer to San Francisco, attempts to come to terms with his abusive ex-lover when he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a street hustler.

L² Scored: 3.5/10 

L² Comment:

This movie bores me out, the storyline is not bad actually, but the way of filming this is kinda slow and it makes me yawn a few time. But the movie did brought up very real situation that happened in the gay society - the unhealthy relationship and the hustler life of young gay guys in the street. 

Mother's Day 2010

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman

Casted by:

Rebecca De Mornay as Natalie "Mother" Koffin

Jaime King as Beth Sohapi

Patrick Flueger as Izzak "Ike" Koffin

Warren Kole as Addley Koffin

Frank Grillo as Daniel Sohapi

Briana Evigan as Annette Langston

Lyriq Bent as Treshawn Jackson

Kandyse McClure as Gina Jackson

Shawn Ashmore as George Barnum

Deborah Ann Woll as Lydia Koffin

Matt O'Leary as Jonathan 'Johnny' Koffin

Lisa Marcos as Julie Ross

Tony Nappo as Dave Lowe

Jessie Rusu as Melissa McGuire

 Story:

An unknown woman enters a Maternity Ward and, with help from an accomplice, steals a newborn baby. Beth Sohapi is having a birthday party for her husband, Daniel Sohapi with the help of their friends, married couple Treshawn and Gina Jackson, Dave Lowe and his fiancee, Annette Langston George Barnum and his girlfriend, Melissa McGuire, and Daniel's co worker, and friend, Julie Ross. The news reports a tornado is heading their way; Daniel assures his guests that the basement is tornado proof.

After a bank robbery gone wrong, three brothers, eldest and leader Ike, irrational and irresponsible Addley and Johnny, who has been badly injured, are on the run from the law. They reach their mother's house only to find it unrecognizable. Daniel and Beth, hearing noise upstairs, leave the basement party only to find the brothers holding them hostage within their home at gunpoint. Terrified, Beth offers the brothers the help of George, a doctor, who begins to tend to Johnny's injuries. Addley forces Beth and Daniel downstairs, trapping all the party-goers in the basement at gunpoint. Ike makes a phone call on his cell phone, reaching his sister Lydia, who informs him that she and their mother lost the house and will be on their way to help the boys.

A short time later, an RV arrives with Lydia and Mother. Mother becomes very angry at Ike for losing their emergency phone they use to contact one another, telling him she was unable to alert him of losing the house. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Mother arranges help to sneak over the border into Canada, however it will cost ten thousand dollars. She learns of her sons sending money to the house which she never received, before going into the basement. Mother is initially nice to the hostages, explaining to them that no one has to get hurt. She confronts Beth and Daniel about the money, however both deny knowing about it. Mother believes Beth, however has Addley and Ike torture Daniel for information. Just then Melissa attempts to escape, only to be shot by Addley. Mother takes the cellphones, bank cards and pin numbers of the others and makes Ike take Beth to the ATM to collect the money. Meanwhile, Mother informs George to keep Johnny alive, or they will all die.

A police officer arrives at house after the three suspects of the bank robbery are identified as the old residents of the house. Daniel assures the officer everything is fine and he leaves, alerting mother of Daniel's lying skills. She further becomes suspicious after Lydia discovers a valentines card from Daniel to Julie, as well as photographs and newspaper articles of a child killed in a car accident. Ike and Beth dispose of Melissa's body behind a dumpster, where she is soon found to be alive by two sanitation workers who rush her to hospital. While at the ATM, Beth and Ike encounter two party girls, Vicky Rice (A. J. Cook) and Jenna Luther, who Ike quickly kills after they realise he has a gun. The pair travel to Treshawn's laundromat business to take money out of the safe, where Beth attempts to escape but fails. They later encounter the police officer who Ike also kills. Back at the house, George realises Mother has been lying to Lydia about a rare skin condition and tries to convince her to help his friends, but Mother sends Lydia away. Johnny, now in critical condition, tells his mother he doesn't want to die a virgin. Mother forces Treshawn and Dave to fight over which one of their partners will be forced to have sex with Johnny. Dave loses and Annette is forced upstairs. However Johnny's injuries prove too severe to rape Annette and she is forced back into the basement by Addley. Dave attacks Addley, resulting in Addley shooting Dave in the face, killing him. Gina takes the opportunity to try and escape, however is brought back to the house by Daniel in order to save Beth.

In the basement, Mother informs Gina that disobedience has consequences, before pouring boiling water over Treshawn. Mother then attempts to find her money by burning the photographs of the boy, revealed to be Daniel and Beth's deceased son. Mother then sets Julie's hair on fire, but extinguishes it when she realises Daniel is telling the truth about the money. Mother leaves the basement, before the group manage to arm themselves with knifes. They lure Addley into the basement and stab him to death. Treshawn, now deaf and having difficulty seeing, takes Addley's gun and goes upstairs. Gina follows him, startling him and causing him to shoot her in the side. As Treshawn attempts to help his wife, Ike shoots him in the back, killing him. Mother discovers Addley's body and phones Ike, before forcing Beth to listen to her shoot Daniel. Annette and Julie are then taken upstairs and tied up.

At the hospital, Melissa regains consciousness and alerts authorities to the house. George confronts Mother, telling her that none of her kids look like one another, and look nothing like her. Mother, enraged, threatens to kill him, but Lydia convinces her that they need George. Ike and Beth then burst through the front door with the money. Mother instructs Ike, Lydia and George to take Johnny to the RV while she has a chat with the ladies. Inside the RV, Johnny shoots George in spite of Lydia's pleas to let him live.Mother reveals to Julie and Annette that Beth was the one who hid the money and is the one responsible for all the deaths. Beth reveals that she was hiding the money for the baby she is expecting. She also reveals she knew Daniel was cheating on her with Julie, and wanted to leave him. Mother forces Beth to take a pregnancy test to prove it, before Beth knocks Mother unconscious. Beth unties Julie, who is shot in the head by Ike while trying to escape the house, and Annette, who hides with Beth in the garage. Together they manage to overpower Ike and kill him. Annette escapes to the neighbours, while Beth fights with Mother in the house. Beth is knocked unconscious and Mother sets the house on fire. However, Beth wakes up and overpowers Mother, hitting her with a wooden chopping board, before escaping the house along with Gina who has survived her injuries.

Months later, a very pregnant Beth goes into labor and is taken to the hospital by Annette, Gina and Melissa. That night, Beth wakes up to the emergency alarms going off in the maternity ward. She gets up and goes to check on her baby, but the bassinette is empty. The film ends with Lydia, Johnny and Mother leaving the country in the RV with Beth's baby.

 L² Scored: 7.5/10

L² Comment:

A remake of the 1980 film with the same name, i kinda like the storyline of this. The 4 children of the "mother" is well obey their mother even though she has been instructing them to do bad things. In the movie, it also shows that, when one's life came into danger, they will risk everything, even the life of their best friend... So can u trust anyone? NO!

I Spit on Your Grave 2010

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Steven R. Monroe

Casted by:

Sarah Butler as Jennifer Hills

Andrew Howard as Sheriff Storch

Jeff Branson as John "Johnny" Miller

Rodney Eastman as Andy

Daniel Franzese as Stanley

Chad Lindberg as Matthew

 Story: 

Jennifer Hills goes to a cabin in the woods to write her second novel. Lost, she pulls into a gas station where there are three men loitering. They make small talk until she accidentally hits the panic button on her car, causing employee Johnny to stumble backward into a bucket of water. Jennifer finds the cabin. Later, Matthew, who has a social interaction disability, is contracted to fix the cabin's bathroom sink and toilet, which he successfully does. Jennifer kisses him on the cheek in gratitude, stating that he saved her from having to bathe in the swampy lake. He later boasts to the three men, revealed to be brash, reckless, and sadistic (when we see them again they are beating a fish with a bat), that "she likes me".

That night, the four men sneak into Jennifer's cabin, with the intent of forcing Matthew to lose his virginity. They relentlessly taunt Jennifer, making her perform fellatio on a bottle and a pistol. She escapes into the woods and bumps into Sheriff Storch and Earl, the person from whom she rented the cabin. Storch takes Jennifer back to the cabin with the pretense of assisting her. He finds alcohol and marijuana, accusing her of legal tampering and starts frisking her, getting gradually sexual. The other men come through the door and it's obvious they are in cahoots. They hold her down while roughly forcing Matthew on her with taunts of "faggot" and Matthew, initially refusing to assault her, seizes the opportunity. After Matthew rapes her Jennifer stumbles from the cabin into the woods naked. The men catch up to her, and Andy holds her head underwater while Storch anally rapes her. The others also rape her, and Stanley records everything on his video camera. Afterward Jennifer walks onto a bridge and falls into the river just as Storch is about to shoot her, and doesn't surface. The men search for her body but do not find it. Storch tells Stanley to get rid of the evidence on his video camera.

Jennifer survives, living in a run-down house in the woods for a month, eating bugs, rodents, and garbage. She stalks her rapists to learn details of their lives. When Matthew is in the cabin, Jennifer lures him up the stairs by calling out for him. He becomes frantic and slips down the stairs. Regaining consciousness, he finds Jennifer on the couch watching him. Matthew attempts to sympathize with her and when Jennifer accepts his apology and comforts him stating that it wasn't his fault that he raped her, she slips a noose around his neck and strangles him, stating that "it's not good enough". She then captures Stanley in a bear trap, sets up his camera, and holds his eyes open with fish hooks. She gets a fish and spreads the guts in his eyes and face. Crows come and peck on his face and eyeballs. Jennifer knocks Andy out with a baseball bat and ties him up over a bathtub which is filling with water. She puts lye in the water and when his strength gives, he collapses into the water. Each time he pulls himself up, his face becomes more corroded and his tongue keeps melting therefore bleeding to death. Jennifer strings Johnny up naked, pulls his teeth out with pliers, then forces him to perform fellatio on his pistol. Finally she cuts off his penis, sticks it in his mouth, and leaves him to bleed to death.

After killing Johnny, Jennifer visits Storch's family. Storch races home and learns Jennifer has taken his daughter to the park. Storch goes to the park but no one is there. He gets back in his car and Jennifer knocks him unconscious. When he wakes, Jennifer rapes him with his shotgun and reminds him that she was just as innocent as his own daughter. She has attached one end of a string to the trigger and the other end to Matthew's wrist. Matthew is alive but unconscious, and Jennifer tells Storch, "If I were you, I'd tell him not to move". When Matthew wakes up, he triggers the shotgun, killing himself and Storch. Jennifer sits outside and smiles.

 L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

The remake of this rape revenge film is slightly better than the 1978 year version. For me, this is a bit frightening as the main actress acts well than the previous one. Storyline remain unchanged except the way she took revenge and how she killed those guys... Not bad... and i also did realize there are so many of this "I Spit On Your Grave" series is out, i'm so gonna watch it soon~

Step Up 3D

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Jon M. Chu

Casted by:
Adam Sevani as Robert "Moose" Alexander III
Rick Malambri as Luke Katcher
Sharni Vinson as Natalie
Alyson Stoner as Camille Gage
Joe Slaughter as Julien

Story:

The story begins in traditional video style, as several of the film's characters are recorded and asked a series of questions about why they dance. The film then cuts to Moose and Camille who attend New York University. Moose is majoring in electrical engineering after promising his father that he would not dance anymore. While touring the campus, he sees a pair of Limited Edition Gun Metal Nike Dunks worn by Luke Katcher. Moose follows the shoes and then accidentally stumbles upon a dance battle, where he beats Kid Darkness from the dancing crew "House of Samurai". Luke takes him back to his place, an old warehouse converted into a club. Luke shows Moose the House of Pirates, his dance crew, where he later teams up with them to compete in the World Jam dance contest against their rivals, the House of Samurai dance crew. But then, Jacob, a member of House of Pirates, informs Luke that the warehouse will be put up for auction if the overdue rents are not made.

Luke meets a girl named Natalie at his club and quickly takes notice of her dancing abilities, enlisting her to become part of his crew. However, he is unaware of Natalie's true motives.

Moose finds his time to be increasingly tight as he has to choose between his studies and dance frequently, including once when his test clashes with a dance competition. He decides to go for the test, but upon seeing the test paper and receiving a message from Luke, he rushes to the competition in the nick of time.

Luke and Natalie become increasingly close as the movie progresses, sharing many intimate moments. Luke explains his true intentions with his recordings and dance interviews. Yet, Natalie is hiding the fact that her brother is Julien (Joe Slaughter) the leader of the House of Samurai, and lies about everything but the love connection between her and Luke.

Natalie faces a hard decision torn between her love and her family. She confronts Luke and asks what happened with him and Julien. To her surprise, he says that Julien was a member of the House of Pirates. He had a gambling problem and he once put a wager against the Pirates and then threw away a battle, so the Pirates kicked him out. After arguing with Julien, she decides to leave Luke. Julien then uses her phone to invite Luke for her birthday party. Luke asks Moose to attend the party with him, as he wants a friend with him, but because they have no invitation, they are not permitted to enter. They find a way to get in, Luke sees Natalie on the dance floor and they dance tango. While they are having an intimate moment, Julien takes the chance to appear and reveals Natalie's identity. Luke is angry with Natalie. When Luke arrives back at the warehouse, he finds it is foreclosed. Angry at himself for not being a better leader, he exclaims that the House of Pirates is over, and the crew members go their separate ways.

Meanwhile, Moose and Camille are best friends but Moose does not seem to see that Camille is in love with him. The two fall out during the film because Moose lies to Camille about dancing and she feels like he cannot talk to her anymore. Camille feels that Moose does not have time for her anymore and tells him she misses him and feels like he does not miss her at all. Moose tells Camille that he misses dancing but misses her more and that she is his best friend in the whole world.

The two make up on NYC streets by dancing to a remix of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Camille tells Moose that he can never give up dancing as he was born to do it. Moose then helps out Luke by bringing the House of Pirates back together, and giving him additional members for his crew including Camille and The MSA Crew from Step Up 2: The Streets. They then discover that the former members who left earlier are now performing with the House of Samurai. They also find out Julien is buying their warehouse, but says if they throw the battle, they can have it back. They do not take the offer.

Natalie helps Luke and the Pirates to win the World Jam at the end with the routine they had practiced in the past. She invites him to come with her to California, which he does at the end of the film, meeting her at the train station and kissing her just as Moose kisses Camille. Before leaving for California with Natalie, Luke gives Moose a pair of Limited Edition Gun Metal Nike Dunks which he saw at the beginning of the film, symbolizing that he has been left in charge of the group. The film ends with Moose saying "Let's party, people!" to the crew.

L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment: 

Amazing dance film, basically those who love dancing will never miss the Step Up series. I have been trying to find the first movie for a long time, but finally i gave up and decided to watch what I have in my laptop all these while. I'm not gonna talk about the storyline much but the dance... dude~ its so damn cool... I wish i can dance like them, but too bad i cant and i'm too old to start learning now either~

You Again

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Andy Fickman

Casted by:

Kristen Bell as Marni Olivia Olsen

Jamie Lee Curtis as Gail Byer Olsen

Sigourney Weaver as Ramona "Mona" Clark

Odette Yustman as Joanna "J-J" Clark

James Wolk as Will Olsen

Victor Garber as Mark Olsen

Betty White as Grandma Bunny

Billy Unger as Ben Olsen

Sean Wing as Charlie Mason

Kristin Chenoweth as Georgia King

 Story:

In 2002 Marni is an acne-riddled high school sophomore at Ridgefield High School, with glasses and braces, making a video about how much she hates high school, and reveals how she is tormented and bullied by other children, specifically J-J, who made Marni's high school life miserable. She adds that her protective older brother, Will, was very popular as a handsome basketball player. However, at a very important basketball game, J-J pushes the mascot (Marni), who runs into Will, resulting in a loss of the game.

Years later, in 2010, she is a successful public relations executive, recently promoted to a job in New York. When she flies home to her older brother's wedding, she discovers that Will is about to marry a girl named Joanna, who happens to be J-J. When Marni meets Joanna for the first time in eight years, Joanna seems to not recognize her. Marni is also upset to see that Joanna fits in very well with the family. The plot thickens when Marni's mother Gail meets up with Joanna's aunt Ramona, Gail's former best friend who pushed her into a pool at their senior prom. Ramona is now a successful, wealthy woman who owns several hotels and a private plane.

Although Gail seems willing to put the past behind her, she still feels the need to "outdo" Ramona during their interactions together. On the other hand, Marni is unwilling to forget the things Joanna did to her in high school, unless she apologizes, and decides to try to let her brother know of Joanna's bullying past. Her attempts to get Will alone for a conversation fail. When Marni tells Joanna that she knows who she really is, it is obvious that Joanna remembers Marni. She refuses to give Marni a meaningful apology, and treats her disrespectfully, leaving Marni convinced that Joanna has not changed. Meanwhile, Gail comes to Ramona's hotel room for "closure" about anything bad between them that happened in the past. They appear to make up, but Ramona still seems not to be too fond of Gail.

One day on the street, Will and Marni's grandmother Bunny meets a man named Tim. Joanna reveals that they have dated, and Tim appears devastated when he hears that she's marrying Will. Marni decides to bring Tim to the rehearsal dinner as part of her plan to stop the wedding. When it is time for guests to make a toast to the bride and groom, Tim unexpectedly jumps up to give his toast to Joanna. He reveals to a stunned wedding party that Joanna left him at the altar. Later, a video is presented (recovered by Marni) from their old high school time capsule. The video reveals Joanna as she was in high school: an alpha-female bully, with the footage showing proof of her tormenting Marni and other students. However, Will unplugs the video projector before the video is complete and walks out, furious.

Marni is in trouble when everyone discovers that she was responsible for the video at the rehearsal dinner. Joanna's defense for pretending not to remember Marni is: "I thought we could start over." Marni is now convinced that Joanna hasn't changed, and walks away. Joanna then starts a fight with Marni, who fights back. Will walks in and witnesses the fight. He confronts Joanna, calling her a bully and a liar and then scolds Marni for starting the mess behind his back. Joanna tries to reason with Will but he doesn't care about her past and is furious that she lied to him.

Meanwhile, Ramona and Gail argue after the rehearsal dinner, and Ramona accuses Gail of trying to ruin her life throughout high school. A catfight ensues, with both of them falling into the pool. Ramona reveals that she had a grudge with Gail, even when they were best friends, because she always competed with and outdid her, culminating with Gail taking the boy that Ramona wanted to the prom. Ramona stated that Gail was already a legendary head cheerleader and prom queen, and drama was supposed to be hers, yet Gail also defeated her with the auditions. She sarcastically thanks Gail for what she did, because it motivated her to become successful in life. Gail apologizes for being insensitive, but reveals that she is proud of Ramona, and that her loving family is her accomplishment. Ramona, remorseful of her actions, tells Gail that she was jealous of Gail's happy family especially that her marriages didn't work out, and feared that Gail was trying to take Joanna away from her. The two are hugging in the pool when Gail's husband, Mark, shows up. At home, he says that he is disgusted with the wedding and weekend being a disaster and grounds Marni and Gail.

Later that night, Marni finds Joanna in the kitchen binging on junk food. She finally admits to Marni that she feels truly awful for bullying and tormenting her and feels like a terrible person, and that she loves Will and his entire family. She explained that when she found out that Marni is her fiance's sister, she panicked and therefore decided to pretend not to remember her. Marni forgives her and promises to get them back together. The next day, during a jog, Marni apologizes to Will for her actions, saying she was only trying to protect him.

Joanna and Will reconcile in the family's old tree house, but it collapses and injures both of them when Marni and Will's little brother, Ben, loosened the screws as a part of his plan in hiding the tree house. They are both forced to stay at a hospital, which delays the wedding. However, Marni puts together a makeshift wedding at the hospital, with the bride and groom bandaged, but properly dressed and able to walk down the aisle. Gail has a surprise for Ramona, it's Richie Phillips, the boy from high school that Ramona wanted to go to the prom with. Richie welcomes Ramona home and wants to be her date for the wedding, which makes Ramona very happy and they appear to start a relationship. Marni appears to start a relationship with Charlie (Sean Wing), her brother's best friend who has always been kind to her. Joanna introduces Marni's grandmother Bunny to an elderly woman, Helen Sullivan. It is revealed that Helen and Bunny were rivals in high school when Helen stole a boy from her. However, Bunny gets her revenge when she cuts in on Helen's dance and takes her partner.

During the credits, at the wedding reception, Marni presents her wedding gift to Will and Joanna—Hall & Oates in person performing Will and Joanna's favorite and special song, "Kiss on My List" (as the movie's couples, each share kisses—Will and Joanna, Marni and Charlie, Gail and Mark, Ramona and Richie, and Georgia forces a kiss from Tim). Everyone then joins Hall & Oates on stage.

 L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment: 

This is a very fun movie to watch. At first I thought the story will go between the 2 young ladies, but who knows their mother and aunty are involved in it as well... Seldom see Sigourney on a comedy... She's not bad, as good as those action movie she is in :)

Vanishing on 7th Street

Released Year: 2010

Directed by Brad Anderson

Casted by:

 Hayden Christensen as Luke Ryder

Thandie Newton as Rosemary

John Leguizamo as Paul

Jacob Latimore as James Leary

 Story:

Paul is a projectionist in a Detroit theater who is reading about the 16th century disappearance of the Roanoke Colony when the lights suddenly go out in the theater. He finds that all the staff and patrons have mysteriously vanished, leaving only their clothes and non-biological parts behind. He comes across a security guard who is holding a flashlight. As Paul had a headlamp on for his reading they deduce that people holding sources of light are protected against whatever dwells in the darkness. The guard's flashlight goes out, and he vanishes. As Paul investigates, his headlamp goes out as well.

The following morning, news reporter Luke Ryder wakes to find that there is no power in the building. After descending from his apartment, he notices that the doorman is missing and the paper is still the previous day's edition. People have completely vanished from downtown streets, now littered with abandoned cars and pieces of clothing. He heads to the news station to find his girlfriend, and it is later revealed that he discovered a recording which shows his girlfriend vanishing on air when the lights go out. The only thing he is able to recover is her ring.

Three days pass, and Luke is alone trying to scavenge flashlight batteries or other sources of light. He briefly encounters a man who is taken by the darkness, before coming across a bar being powered by a backup generator. The bartender's young son, James Leary, allows Luke to enter, followed soon after by another survivor, Rosemary.

Rosemary proves distant due to the trauma of her baby disappearing during the blackout, while James is convinced that his mother is at a church down the street and will soon return. They hear a man outside, and see Paul, who has mysteriously ended up under the lit sign of a bus stop across the road. Luke reluctantly leaves the safety of the bar to recover him and Paul reveals that he had been taken by the darkness, but the headlight that he had on had activated and he had found himself in the street three days later.

Due to Paul's massive concussion, Rosemary says that they need to find a hospital, and Luke suggests going to Chicago, where he saw a recording of a man just before the power went out at the news station three days prior. Paul tells them about the mystery of the Roanoke Colony where over a hundred settlers disappeared overnight, and they seem to be experiencing the same sort of occurrence. He tells them that the word "CROATOAN" was found carved into a tree at the site of the empty colony when the next ship arrived. With the generator running down due to extended use, they realize it is only a matter of time before the power goes out on them.

Luke comes up with a plan to take one of the nearly dead trucks on the street and feed power to it with the generator. He and Rosemary leave to obtain one, nearly getting caught in the darkness when the vehicle breaks down and they lose the light. Rosemary hears a baby crying in the dark, ignoring Luke's warnings that it is the darkness trying to trick her, she is lured under a solitary street light, and the lamp goes out taking her with it.

At the bar, James goes to get Paul some water, and the drain on the power causes the lights to flash out. Wearing a glow-stick necklace, James is safe, but Paul vanishes from the pool table on which he is lying.

Luke manages to push a truck back to the bar, and he escapes with James using the generator to get the truck started. As they pass the church up the block, James gets out to find his mother. Luke leaves, but after a conflict of conscience, and seeing the word "CROATOAN" carved into a sign hanging off a bridge, he returns, using the high beams from the truck to fend off the darkness. When Luke gets out of the truck to get James, the car battery dies and Luke too disappears. As James cowers under the glow of candles, which begin to go out, he pleads with the darkness "I exist." and all but one candle goes out.

James wakes to daylight and sees the last candle had been burning all night. A little girl, Briana, appears and insists that James is sleeping on her bed, but urges him to stay with her. She shows him her flashlight, which is solar powered, allowing it to stay on all night without having to search for new batteries.

As they leave the church, they encounter a police horse eating spilled apples on the ground and decide to take it to Chicago. As the sun sets on the children leaving the city, the camera pans to the bar, casting the shadows of Luke, Paul and Rosemary watching the two leave as the darkness falls. As it gets dark, Briana's light comes on, ensuring their protection against the darkness as they begin their journey.

 L² Scored: 6.5/10 

L² Comment:

Well, this is something new to me... the whole movie talks about people vanishing after the lights gone out, their soul being "swallow" by the shadows... It did not explain what happen and the movie lets it end with mystery that makes you wanna find out more about it... But overall the movie is consider ok, the horror part is not too excited as other horror movie...