Serena

Released Year: 2014

Directed by Susanne Bier

Casted by:

Bradley Cooper as George Pemberton

Jennifer Lawrence as Serena Pemberton (née Shaw)

Rhys Ifans as Galloway

Sean Harris as Campbell

Toby Jones as Sheriff McDowell

Sam Reid as Joe Vaughn

Ana Ularu as Rachel Hermann

Story:

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child by young Rachel Harmon but Serena is new to the mountains. Upon stepping off the train in Waynesville, George is confronted by Rachel's father, Abe Harmon, who is angry at his daughter's abandonment and is hoping Pemberton will assist them financially. When Serena responds that George will not be assisting them, Abe attacks George with bowie knife. Ultimately George wins the battle and kills Abe. George also meets his business partners Wilkie and Buchanan at the train station and introduces them to his new wife, Serena.

Serena will soon show herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Together, the Pembertons ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of favor. Meanwhile, Rachel Harmon struggles to take care of her son, Jacob. When Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel. In the end, Serena tricks her husband and poisons George and he is left to die in the woods, it is implied that he is finished off by a panther. In an epilogue, an elderly Rachel reads a magazine article about Serena the lumber baron in Brazil, which she shows to her son. Serena is later murdered by a man whom an eyewitness identifies as her husband from an old photograph.

L² Scored: 5/10

L² Comment:

The movie is based on the same name novel of Ron Rash in 2008, love Bradly Cooper, love Jennifer Lawrence, love the sceneries... but how much i love the storyline? Umm... not that much as some part i found it kinda boring actually. One face attracted me in this movie which is Ana Ularu, love this Romanian actress, i must find some chance to watch some of her movie :)

Rio 2

 Released Year: 2014

Directed by Carlos Saldanha

Voiced by:

Jesse Eisenberg as Blu

Anne Hathaway as Jewel

Andy García as Eduardo

Rachel Crow as Carla

Amandla Stenberg as Bia

Pierce Gagnon as Tiago

Jemaine Clement as Nigel

Kristin Chenoweth as Gabi

Bruno Mars as Roberto

 Story:

Blue macaws Blu and Jewel, and their three children, are living happily in the city until Jewel realises that her children are becoming more like humans. Meanwhile, Blu's former owner, Linda Gunderson and her ornithologist husband, Tulio are on an expedition in the Amazon and eventually discover a quick-flying Spix's macaw that loses one of its feathers. When word gets out about this through television, Jewel believes that they should go to the Amazon to help find the blue macaws. While the kids are ecstatic, Blu is uncertain, but is pressured into going along. Rafael, Nico and Pedro decide to come along. Luiz attempts to follow, but fails. Blu brings a fanny pack full of supplies, one of which he uses mostly is a GPS, much to Jewel's displeasure.

Meanwhile, the leader of a group that is in a line of illegal logging named Big Boss, discovers Linda and Tulio's expedition to find the macaws and orders his henchmen to hunt them down to avoid disruptions to their work. Also, Blu and Jewel's old nemesis, Nigel the cockatoo, has survived the plane crash from the first film, but is now unable to fly and is working as a fortune teller/con artist. When he sees Blu and his family flying overhead of him, he immediately decides to seek revenge on them. He enlists two minions to help him in his plans; a silent anteater named Charlie and a poison dart frog named Gabi, the latter of which is in love with Nigel. Blu and his family use a boat to get to the jungle (with Nigel's first plan of revenge being inadvertently foiled by Charlie), and when they arrive, they find nothing in sight. However, they are eventually taken to a flock of blue macaws that are hiding in a secret paradise land. There, they meet Jewel's stern long lost father, Eduardo, his older sister Mimi, and Jewel's childhood friend, Roberto. Eduardo seems unimpressed with Blu's domesticated human behavior.

While searching for the macaws, Linda and Tulio are eventually trapped by the loggers. Meanwhile, Blu does his best to fit in with the flock, as his family and friends are doing, although the flock (especially Eduardo) are against humans and all things human. Meanwhile, a disguised Nigel plans to kill Blu at the new Carnival show after landing in an audition hosted by Rafael, Nico, Pedro, and Carla. When Blu tries to pick a Brazilian nut for Jewel, he accidentally tries to get it in the territory of the Spix macaw's enemies, the scarlet macaws, led by the hostile Felipe. Blu inadvertently causes war between the two tribes for food when he accidentally hits Felipe with a twig. The war turns out to be just like football (soccer), and Blu accidentally costs the flock the food when he sends the fruit ball into his own team's goal.

Blu visits Tulio and Linda's site, where he discovers that it has been majorly disturbed. After discovering the loggers are destroying the jungle, Blu sends Roberto (who followed Blu) to warn the flock as he saves Linda and Tulio. Blu persuades the macaws to defend their homes, and they easily outmatch the loggers with help from the scarlet macaws and the other animals. Big Boss tries to blow up the trees as a back-up plan, but Blu steals the lit dynamite. Nigel goes after Blu, and reveals himself as they are falling down when he tugs on the dynamite. After the dynamite goes off, Blu and Nigel engage in a battle while tangled in vines. Gabi and Charlie try to help Nigel by shooting Blu with a dart that has Gabi's poison on it, but it accidentally hits Nigel, who gives a Shakespearean death speech before seemingly dying. Gabi tries to commit suicide by drinking her own poison and the pair are seemingly dead. However, Bia reveals that Gabi isn't poisonous at all (she was lied to by her parents that she was). Nigel tries to attack Blu one last time, but Gabi showers Nigel with affection against his will. Meanwhile, Big Boss is eaten alive by a boa constrictor.

With the flock now under Linda and Tulio's protection, Blu and Jewel decide to live in the Amazon with their kids and friends, though still agreeing to visit Rio in the summer. Meanwhile, Nigel and Gabi are captured by Tulio, and are both sent back to Rio. Luiz finally arrives in the Amazon after hitching a ride with Kipo, and Charlie joins the birds' party.

 L² Scored: 10/10 

L² Comment:

The second movie of Rio is as good as the first one, that's why I scored a full mark for these both movies :) I really like the pink froggy which is voiced by Kristin Chenoweth, it is cool and sexy, and seriously the frog does look a bit like her haha... This movie is much more richer than the first and fun to watch at... I really hope there is a Rio 3 coming out soon...

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

 Released Year: 2014

Directed by Marc Webb

Casted by:

Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man / Peter Parker

Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy

Jamie Foxx as Electro / Max Dillon

Dane DeHaan as Green Goblin / Harry Osborn

Felicity Jones as Felicia

 Story: 

OsCorp scientist Richard Parker records a video message to explain his disappearance. Later, he and his wife, Mary, are aboard a private jet hijacked by a man sent to assassinate Richard. The plane crashes, killing both Richard and Mary, after he uploads the video.

In the present, Richard's son Peter continues to fight crime as Spider-Man. He pursues and apprehends Aleksei Sytsevich, who attempted to steal a truck containing plutonium. During the chase, Spider-Man rescues OsCorp Industries employee Max Dillon. Later, Peter meets with Gwen at their high school graduation ceremony, and insists he keep his vow to her father and ends their relationship. Peter's childhood friend Harry Osborn returns to Manhattan to see his terminally ill father Norman, CEO of OsCorp. Norman explains his illness is genetic, and Harry is at the age where it first develops. Norman gives Harry a small device he claims contains his life's work. The next day, Norman dies and Harry is appointed the new OsCorp CEO. He humiliates the OsCorp board, which has been privy to Norman's secret biogenetic projects for foreign military powers.

Thinking that they have become friends, Dillon idolizes Spider-Man. While tending to some maintenance in an OsCorp laboratory, he loses his balance and falls into a tank of genetically modified electric eels. They attack him, and he mutates into a living electric generator. Meanwhile, Peter attempts to maintain a friendship with Gwen, but she reveals she may move to England for school. Before they can discuss it, Dillon wanders into Times Square and accidentally causes a blackout. Spider-Man attempts to calm him down, but the police fire at Dillon, making him think that Spider-Man had betrayed him before attacking furiously. Spider-Man stops him, and Dillon is taken to Ravencroft Institute, where he is studied by German scientist Dr. Kafka. The first symptoms of Harry's illness show, and he uses the device Norman gave him to deduce that Spider-Man's blood could help save him. He asks Peter, who has been selling photos of Spider-Man to the Daily Bugle, for help finding Spider-Man. Peter refuses, unsure of what effects the transfusion would have, and although he does come to Harry as Spider-Man, he still refuses, and Harry develops an intense hatred towards Spider-Man. The OsCorp board-members frame Harry for covering up Dillon's accident, and remove him as CEO. Harry's assistant, Felicia, informs him of equipment that could help him, so he makes a deal with Dillon to get him back inside the OsCorp building. There he finds a suit of armour and other equipment made by Norman, as well as venom from the now-destroyed genetically altered spiders. The venom accelerates Harry's illness and transforms him into a goblin-like creature, but the suit's built-in emergency protocol restores his health.

Peter uses information left by his father to locate the video message in an abandoned subway station's hidden lab. Richard explains he had to leave because he refused to cooperate with Norman's biogenetic weaponization plans. Peter then hears a voicemail from Gwen, telling him she was offered the British scholarship and is heading to the airport earlier than expected. He manages to catch her and professes his love for her, and vowing to go wherever she goes, they agree to go to England together. Dillon causes another blackout, and Peter heads off to fight him. Gwen follows, and together they restore power and overload Dillon's body, killing him. Afterward, the transformed Harry arrives equipped with Norman's armor and weaponry; upon seeing Gwen, Harry deduces Spider-Man's true identity and, swearing revenge for being refused the blood transfusion, kidnaps her. He fights Spider-Man at the top of a clock tower in intense and violent fight in which Spider-Man defeats Harry, but despite his attempts to save Gwen, she falls to her death. Distraught, Peter ends his career as Spider-Man.

Months later, Harry is coping with the after-effects of his transformation while incarcerated at Ravencroft. His associate, Gustav Fiers, visits Harry and breaks Sytsevich out of prison. Equipped with an electromechanical suit of armor, Sytsevich calls himself "The Rhino" and rampages through the streets. Peter, inspired by Gwen's graduation speech, confronts him as Spider-Man.

  L² Scored: 7/10 

L² Comment:

I score this Amazing Spiderman 2 exactly the same with the first movie, why? Coz even though the movie added in Jamie Foxx, it still did not help. I feel that Andrew Garfield is kinda weak at acting and for me, he is more like a supporting actor rather than the main one. 

Well, storyline is a bit lengthy, don't really like this version of Harry as well compare to the old series. Haiz... the most i can't stand is actually Emma Stone, i just don't like her...

Penguins of Madagascar

 Released Year: 2014

Directed by Eric Darnell & Simon J. Smith

Voiced by:

Tom McGrath as Skipper

Chris Miller as Kowalski

Conrad Vernon as Rico

Christopher Knights as Private

Benedict Cumberbatch as Classified

John Malkovich as Dave

Ken Jeong as Short Fuse

Annet Mahendru as Eva

Peter Stormare as Corporal

 Story: 

In Antarctica, three young penguins – Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico – defy the laws of nature to save an egg the other penguins believe to be doomed. After saving it from a pack of leopard seals and accidentally setting themselves adrift on an iceberg, the egg hatches into Private.

Ten years later (after the events of the previous film), the penguins decide to leave the circus to celebrate Private's birthday by breaking into Fort Knox in order to treat him to a discontinued snack called "Cheezy Dibbles" in the vending machine of their break room. Despite this, Private begins to feel out of place with the team, as he is described as being the "secretary/mascot". Suddenly, they are abducted by the machine and sent to Venice, Italy by Dr. Octavius Brine, a renowned geneticist who removes his human disguise and reveals he is actually an octopus named Dave, who has grown resentful of penguins after their nature of cuteness had shunned him out of every major zoo in the world.

Rico swallows Dave's collection of snowglobes along with a canister of a green substance called the Medusa Serum before the four escape and are chased through the canals and streets of Venice by Dave's henchmen. When cornered, they are rescued by a group of animals from a spy agency called "North Wind" consisting of their leader, a grey wolf named Classified, a harp seal demolitionist named Short Fuse, a polar bear named Corporal, and an intelligent snowy owl named Eva with whom Kowalski is instantly smitten. Their mission is to help animals who can't help themselves.

At their hideout, their communication systems are hacked by Dave, who reveals that he has an enormous supply of the Medusa Serum and that he intends to capture the penguins out of every zoo he was kicked out of. Not wanting the penguins' help, Classified sends the group to their most remote base (which happens to be on Madagascar) but the penguins awaken midflight and crash land in the Sahara Desert before making their way to Shanghai, which they mistake for Dublin, Ireland. Discovering Dave's next target in Shanghai, the penguins ship themselves to their current location and make their way to the zoo. Disguising himself as a mermaid-tailed penguin (a tourist attraction) to distract Dave from his real target, Private himself is captured along with the Shanghai penguins after the North Wind arrives to put a stop to Dave's plan. The penguins take the North Winds' high-tech plane to give chase, but accidentally self-destruct the machine. They manage to track Private to an island though, using a device planted on him when Classified tranquilized them. Meanwhile, on the island, Dave demonstrates his way to genetically mutate the penguins into hideous monsters as an effort to make humans disgusted in them as revenge.

Skipper and Classified argue on the best means to rescue the captives and stop Dave, settling on Classified's plan of a frontal assault. The North Wind manages to corner Dave at his lair only to be captured by Dave's henchmen as well as the other penguins. Dave demonstrates his disfiguring ray at full power on Private, apparently disintegrating him with the beam, but unbeknownst to them he escapes at the last minute by using a paper clip he swallowed earlier. Private rescues the North Wind members, who want to regroup, but Private, not wanting to leave anyone behind goes to stop Dave. As Dave's submarine docks at New York with the promise of returning the penguins he found to the zoo, he turns the ray on the rest of the penguins, mutating them all into hideous monsters. The city erupts into chaos as the brainwashed, mutated penguins run amok on the terrified human crowd. Getting the senses back into Skipper, Kowalski and Rico, they decide to connect the cute Private into the ray to return them to normal. They turn all the penguins back to normal in one huge blast.

Private is left mutated from the machine while the rest of the penguins are restored to normal. Despite his strange new look, the Penguins show their gratitude and newfound respect for Private. Dave (who caught in the blast) has been turned into a pipsqueak version of himself and is trapped in a snow globe where he is admired by a little girl. Finally seeing one another as equals, Classified promises to grant the Penguins anything they want. In addition to Kowalski getting a kiss from Eva, the Penguins are given their own jetpacks and they then fly off above the clouds looking for their next adventure.

In a mid-credits scene, the Penguins return to the circus and plug Mort into the ray and use him to revert Private back to normal. Mort does not appear to show any side effects from the ray until he manages to swallow King Julien whole, much to King Julien's delight.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

A spin off of the Madagascar by the 4 mischievous penguins~ funny as hell without the 4 originals main characters, the storyline is special and of course on cartoon, u will never expect wat is coming up soon right?? The most funniest part for me would be the irritating Skipper keep on biting the junk food when Classified is trying to talks~ lol

Tekken 2: Kazuya's Revenge / Tekken: A Man Called X

 Released Year: 2014

Directed by Wych Kaos

Casted by:

Kane Kosugi as "K" / Kazuya Mishima

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Heihachi Mishima

Rade Šerbedžija as The Minister

Gary Daniels as Bryan Fury

Kelly Wenham as Rhona Anders

Paige Lindquist as Laura

 Story: 

A man with no recollection of his past wakes up in an apartment in a district outside Tekken City before he is chased by armed men and nabbed by a female assassin named Rhona Anders. He is brought to a guerrilla leader known as "The Minister", who gives him the letter "K" as his codename and has an explosive surgically implanted in his chest, should he fail his mission or attempt to leave the organization. Despite his amnesia, "K" displays exceptional skills in fighting and marksmanship. He befriends the district's local janitor, whose son killed his wife and crippled him before disappearing three years prior. After defeating an opponent in a sparring match, "K" is ordered by the Minister to kill him or the janitor; "K" declines and tells the Minister to let the janitor go, to which the Minister's henchman breaks the defeated opponent's neck.

Over the next few days, "K" is given an apartment unit where he plots his next targets. He befriends a tenant named Laura after saving her from a couple of muggers. After one of his jobs, he tells Rhona he wants out. Recalling the events from where he first woke up, "K" returns to the apartment building from the beginning of the film and asks the manager for records on his previous stay, to which the manager only has him signed under the initials "K. M." On his next job, "K" battles and is defeated by his target, Bryan Fury, who warns him to walk away from his job before disappearing. The next morning, "K" confronts Rhona about Fury, who is revealed to be a former associate of the Minister. As Laura is a nurse, "K" has her remove the explosive from his chest.

"K" receives a call from Fury, who warns him that the Minister has "K" marked as a target. He meets up with Rhona that night before they both encounter Fury, who shows them a newspaper article and tells them they are all pawns of the Minister. Later, Rhona stabs the Minister in the back, but "K" later on discovers that Laura has been abducted by Gentek Factory. The duo sneak into Gentek, where Rhona battles and defeats the Minister's female assassins. "K" meets Heihachi Mishima, who reveals that "K" is his son Kazuya Mishima. Like the ancient Spartans sending their male children to the wilderness to survive alone, Heihachi had Kazuya brainwashed and set loose to test his survival skills. Kazuya's body is filled with rage when Heihachi kills Laura before he battles two fighters named Rip and Thorn. After defeating the two combatants, Kazuya accepts his bloodline and has Rhona accompany him to find Heihachi, who stands over the skyline of Tekken City.

 L² Scored: 4/10 

L² Comment:

This movie was announced as the sequel of the Tekken movie in 2009... But beside talking about Kazuya's legend, Jin's father... i dont know how it links within the 2 movies... This movie is a bit boring seriously, the fighting scene is also not as great as the first movie... I hope they don't come out with another Tekken movie, as this game is no longer popular, it will just loss the money...

X-Men: Days of Future Past

 Released Year: 2014

Directed by Bryan Singer

Casted by:

Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine

James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier / Professor X

Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto

Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkhölme / Mystique

Nicholas Hoult and Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy / Beast

Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff / Quicksilver

Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask

Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm

Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde / Shadowcat

Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman

Daniel Cudmore as Peter Rasputin / Colossus

范冰冰 Fan Bingbing as Blink

Adan Canto as Sunspot

Booboo Stewart as James Proudstar / Warpath

 Story: 

In the future, robots known as Sentinels are exterminating mutants and their human allies. A band of mutants evades the Sentinels with the help of Kitty Pryde, who has the ability to send a person's consciousness into the past. Pryde's group convenes with Logan, Storm, Professor Charles Xavier, and Erik Lehnsherr at a monastery in China. Pryde sends Logan's consciousness 50 years back in time to 1973 to prevent Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask, creator of the Sentinels. Following the assassination, Mystique was captured, and her DNA was used by Trask's company to improve the Sentinels, whose ability to adapt to any mutant power makes them almost invincible. Xavier and Lehnsherr advise Logan to find both of their younger selves for help.

At the X-Mansion in 1973, Logan encounters Xavier and Hank McCoy. Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters has closed after most of the teachers and students were drafted to the Vietnam War. Xavier, a broken man, has been overusing a serum that allows him to walk but suppresses his telepathy. Logan explains his mission and persuades Xavier to help free Lehnsherr from a prison cell beneath the Pentagon, where he is being held for allegedly assassinating President John F. Kennedy. They rescue Lehnsherr with the help of Peter Maximoff, a mutant with super speed.

In Washington D.C., Trask unsuccessfully tries to sway Congress to gain support for his Sentinel program. Meanwhile, in Saigon, Mystique prevents William Stryker from appropriating a group of mutant G.I.s for Trask's research. Mystique investigates Trask's office and discovers he has been capturing mutants to use for his experiments. Xavier, Lehnsherr, McCoy, and Logan fly to Paris to intercept Mystique, who is impersonating a North Vietnamese general to infiltrate the Paris Peace Accords. There, Trask attempts to sell his Sentinel technology to Communist nations. Xavier's group arrives as Mystique is about to kill Trask. Lehnsherr tries to kill Mystique to ensure her DNA cannot be used for the Sentinels, but she jumps from a window. The fight spills onto the street in view of the public, allowing Lensherr and Mystique to escape.

Trask is saved, but the world is horrified by the existence of mutants. President Richard Nixon approves Trask's Sentinel program and arranges an unveiling ceremony. Trask's scientists recover Mystique's blood from the street. Meanwhile, Lehnsherr—who has recovered his telepathy-blocking helmet—intercepts the prototype Sentinels in transit and laces their polymer-based frames with steel, allowing him to control them. At the mansion, Xavier stops taking his serum and slowly regains his mental powers, while losing the ability to walk. Through Logan, Xavier speaks to his future self and is inspired to work for peace between humans and mutants once again. He uses Cerebro to track Mystique, who is heading to Washington D.C.

As Xavier, Logan, and McCoy search for Mystique, Nixon unveils the Sentinel prototypes at the White House. Lensherr commandeers the Sentinels and attacks the crowd, then sets the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium around the White House as a barricade. Nixon and Trask, accompanied by the Cabinet, Secret Service officers, and Mystique (disguised as a Secret Service member), are taken to a safe room. Logan and McCoy try to stop Lehnsherr, but he pits a Sentinel against them and then throws Logan into the Potomac River. In the future, the X-Men make their final stand as a large army of Sentinels attack the monastery. In 1973, Lehnsherr pulls the safe room from the White House and prepares to kill Nixon and his Cabinet. Mystique, who is disguised as Nixon, incapacitates Lehnsherr with a plastic gun. Xavier persuades Mystique to spare Trask and allows her and Lehnsherr to flee. Mystique's actions are seen as a mutant saving the President, leading to the cancellation of the Sentinel program. Trask is arrested for trying to sell American military secrets.

Logan wakes up in the future to find Bobby Drake, Rogue, Peter Rasputin, Kitty, McCoy, Storm, Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and Xavier are all alive. In 1973, Mystique, impersonating Stryker, takes custody of Logan.

In a post-credits scene, a crowd chants to En Sabah Nur, who is using telekinesis to build pyramids as four horsemen watch from nearby.

 L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment: 

Oh no~ i just realized that i did not watch this movie in the cinema last year, what's wrong with me? 

Anyway, the storyline follow according to the comic of x-men in 1981~ i find that the writer is really brilliant and can think of such story... Due to this movie, i get to know x-men better, especially with Kitty Pryde's superpower. I always thought she can only walk through the wall, but never realize she can walk through time as well. This round, poor Storm's character has become much more useless compare to others; and i also wonder whether Fan Bing Bing will continue to come out in  other x-men series or not...

Maleficent

 Released Year: 2014

Directed by Robert Stromberg

Casted by:

Angelina Jolie as Maleficent

Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora

Sharlto Copley as King Stefan

Sam Riley as Diaval

Imelda Staunton as Knotgrass, a pink pixie

Juno Temple as Thistlewit, a green pixie

Lesley Manville as Flittle, a blue pixie

Brenton Thwaites as Prince Phillip

 Story:

Maleficent, a powerful fairy, lives in the Moors, a magical forest realm bordering a corrupt human kingdom. As a young girl, she meets and falls in love with a human peasant boy named Stefan, whose affection for Maleficent is overshadowed by his ambition to better his station. As they grow older, the two grow apart, and she becomes protector of the Moors. When King Henry tries to conquer the Moors and obtain its treasures, a grown Maleficent forces him to retreat. Fatally wounded in battle, he declares that whoever kills Maleficent will be named his successor and marry Princess Leila, his only daughter. In response, the grown Stefan visits Maleficent in the Moors, where he drugs her but cannot bring himself to kill her. Instead, Stefan uses an iron chain, which burns fairies, to cut off Maleficent's wings. He then presents them to the king as evidence of her death. Maleficent awakens to find herself wingless. Anguished by Stefan's betrayal, she declares herself Queen of the Moors, forming a dark kingdom with Diaval, a raven to whom she gives human form. He acts as her wings, spy, and confidant.

Sometime later, Diaval informs Maleficent that Stefan, who is now king, is hosting a christening for his newborn daughter, Aurora. Bent on revenge, Maleficent arrives uninvited and curses the infant princess: on her 16th birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, putting her into a deep sleep from which she will never awaken. When Stefan begs for mercy, Maleficent offers an antidote: The curse can be broken by true love's kiss. Stefan sends Aurora to live with a trio of pixies until the day after her 16th birthday, while he destroys all the spinning wheels in the kingdom and hides them in the castle dungeon. He sends his army to find and kill Maleficent, but she surrounds the Moors with an impenetrable wall of thorns.

Despite her initial dislike for Aurora, Maleficent begins to care for the girl when the incompetent pixies inadvertently put her in danger. After a brief meeting with the young Aurora, Maleficent watches over her from afar. When Aurora is 15, she encounters Maleficent and, aware of being watched over, calls her "fairy godmother". Realizing she has grown fond of the princess, Maleficent attempts to revoke the curse, but she cannot. Aurora later meets Prince Philip, and the two are smitten with each other. Diaval suggests that Phillip could be the solution to Maleficent’s curse, by giving her true love's kiss. Maleficent disagrees revealing to Diaval that the reason that she cursed Aurora the way she did is because true love doesn't exist. Unable to share his feelings with Maleficent, Diaval argues that Aurora has the choice to decide her own fate. On the day before Aurora's 16th birthday, Maleficent, hoping to avoid the curse, invites her to live in the Moors. When the pixies inadvertently tell Aurora of her parentage and of Maleficent's true identity, a horrified Aurora runs away to her father's castle.

Meanwhile, King Stefan, mad with paranoia, sits in his castle talking to Maleficent's severed wings, and even refuses to see Queen Leila on her deathbed.

After a brief reunion with Aurora, Stefan locks her away in her room for safety. However, she is drawn by the curse to the dungeon, where a spinning wheel pricks her finger and she falls into a death-like sleep. Intent on saving her, Maleficent abducts Phillip and infiltrates Stefan's castle. Diaval remarks that Stefan has prepared for this moment and if they go in the castle they will never come out alive. Maleficent acknowledges this and asks him not to come, saying it is not his fight. Seemingly offended by this, Diaval decides to stand by her and go anyway. Maleficent and Diaval manage to get Phillip to the three fairies who have him kiss Aurora and break the curse, but Philip's kiss fails. Alone in Aurora's chamber, Maleficent apologizes to Aurora, swears no harm will come to her, kisses her forehead, and breaks the spell, with Maleficent's motherly concern for Aurora constituting true love. Aurora forgives Maleficent and they attempt to leave the castle, but Maleficent is trapped in an iron net and attacked by Stefan and his guards. Maleficent transforms Diaval into a dragon, and he lifts the net off her, but is driven back by the guards. Stefan beats and taunts Maleficent, but before he can kill her, her wings, freed from his chamber by Aurora, fly back to her and reattach themselves. Maleficent overpowers Stefan and carries him onto a tower, but cannot bring herself to kill him. Stefan attempts once more to kill her, and they both fall from the tower. Maleficent is able to break herself free and Stefan falls to his death.

Soon after, Aurora is crowned queen of the human and fairy realms by Maleficent, unifying the two kingdoms, with Philip at her side. Maleficent returns to her role as protector over the kingdoms with Diaval by her side. Maleficent and Diaval fly above the Moors into the sunset.

 L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

Well, I miss this movie last year, kinda sad that time. But after watching the movie now, I don't really feel sad again. Y? Its because its totally different from the Sleeping Beauty (cartoon make in 1959), which I watched so many time! 

First, I won't ever agree Maleficent is somebody good. Second, Wings? Third, the good become the bad or useless (eg: King Stephen, 3 fairies & Prince Philips).

Other than the storyline, this movie actually attracted me, if i never watch Sleeping Beauty before. Love the costume and the magical land. Overall its still ok, but I'm just afraid Walt Disney will continue to make those villains become a good person instead... I can't accept it :p 

Fury

Released Year: 2014

Directed by David Ayer

Casted by:

 Brad Pitt as US Army S/Sgt. Don "Wardaddy" Collier

Logan Lerman as Pvt. Norman "Machine" Ellison

Shia LaBeouf as T/5 Boyd "Bible" Swan

Michael Peña as Cpl. Trini "Gordo" Garcia

Jon Bernthal as Pfc. Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis

Jason Isaacs as Cpt. "Old Man" Waggoner

Scott Eastwood as Sgt. Miles

 Story:

As the Allies make their final push into Germany, a battle-hardened U.S. Army staff sergeant in the 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division named Don "Wardaddy" Collier commands an M4 Sherman tank named Fury and its five-man, all-veteran crew: gunner Boyd "Bible" Swan; loader Grady "Coon-Ass" Travis; and driver Trini "Gordo" Garcia. The tank's original assistant driver/bow gunner, "Red", has been killed in battle. His replacement is the enlisted Army typist, Norman Ellison, who has neither seen the inside of a tank nor experienced the ravages of war. During his encounter with the men, they harass him and are cruel, obnoxious, and rude to him. Norman is then ordered to clean the tank, and vomits outside after finding a part of "Red's" face. While at a forward operating base, it's revealed that Wardaddy greatly despises the Waffen-SS, shown when he harasses an injured captive SS officer before telling Norman to kill every one of them he sees.

The surviving crew, who have been together since the North African Campaign, belittle the new recruit upon meeting him, both for his lack of experience and for his reluctance to kill Germans, especially the teenagers of the Hitlerjugend; a decision which results in the death of their platoon leader, Lieutenant Parker, and the destruction of his tank and crew. In an effort to 'educate' him to the realities of war, a furious Wardaddy demands Norman kill a captive German artilleryman. When Norman refuses, Wardaddy forces the gun into his hand and executes the prisoner by pulling the trigger over Norman's hand.

The bond between Norman and Wardaddy becomes stronger after capturing a small German town. Searching a house, Wardaddy and Norman discover a German woman, Irma, and her cousin Emma. Norman is then left behind closed doors in the bedroom with Emma. After they come out of the bedroom, the four then sit down and have breakfast together, but the tank crew barges in, rudely teasing the women and angering Wardaddy and Norman. Shortly afterwards, a German bombardment hits the town, killing Emma and some of the American soldiers caught out in the open in the square. Norman tells Wardaddy that he has begun to enjoy killing German soldiers.

A platoon of four tanks, led by Fury, receives orders to hold a vital crossroads, protecting a clear path to supply trains and a camp full of allied nurses and rear-echelon supplies troops (the map shows Emmerthal south of Hameln, where the railway from the Ruhr district to Hanover crosses the Weser river). On the way to the crossroads, they are ambushed by a heavily-armed German Tiger I, which quickly destroys one of the tanks. The remaining three tanks reluctantly attack the German tank, knowing they are outgunned. The Shermans advance and attempt to outflank the Tiger, but two other Shermans are destroyed before they can make it. With some decisive and experienced maneuvering, Fury gets behind the Tiger where its armor is weakest, and destroys it. Bible notes that he believes they were spared for a reason and the men proceed to the crossroads, knowing that they are the only tank left to protect the camp down the road.

As they reach the crossroads, the tank is immobilized when it hits a landmine. Norman is ordered to scout a nearby hill and he spots a reinforced company of three hundred Waffen-SS panzergrenadiers heading their way. The crew initially wants to abandon the tank and escape on foot, but Wardaddy refuses to leave. The crew, not wanting to abandon their leader, decide to stay and plan an ambush.

Immobilized, outnumbered and outgunned, the group talk as Bible recites "Isaiah, Chapter Six" as Wardaddy proclaims. Norman is then given the nickname "Machine" by Coon-Ass for his Nazi-killing, and drinking like a machine. Wardaddy and his men nevertheless inflict heavy losses on the Germans using both the tank's and the crew's weapons, Wardaddy using small arms. As they continue to fight and begin to run low on ammunition, one by one Grady, Gordo, and Bible are all killed. Wardaddy is gravely wounded by an SS sniper. Norman and Wardaddy retreat back into the tank where they share their last words. When SS soldiers drop two grenades into the tank, Wardaddy, wounded and unable to move, orders Norman to escape through the bottom emergency hatch of the tank. Norman escapes as the last surviving crew member and hides in the partial crater previously made by the landmine explosion. The grenades then detonate, killing Wardaddy. A young Waffen-SS trooper discovers Norman beneath the destroyed tank but does not report him. Norman continues to hide as the surviving German soldiers move on.

The next morning, Norman awakens to return to his fallen brothers in Fury, he places his coat upon Wardaddy and takes his revolver as he hears movement outside. As Norman awaits his fate, he is discovered by U.S. Army troops, who tell him that he's a hero. As Norman is being transported to safety, he looks back at the carnage of the hundreds of dead German SS troops surrounding the remains of the destroyed Fury.

  L² Scored: 2/10

L² Comment:

Once again, this movie prove that "war" genre movie is not the movie that I wanna watch~ if not because of Pitt, Lerman & LaBeouf, i dont think i will even finish the whole movie. As for the storyline, umm... damn~ i dont even remember except it is in the World War II times...