The Expendables 3

 Released Year: 2014

Directed by Patrick Hughes

Casted by:

Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross

Jason Statham as Lee Christmas

Antonio Banderas as Galgo / Felipe Silva

Jet Li as Yin Yang

Wesley Snipes as Doctor Death

Dolph Lundgren as Gunner Jensen

Kelsey Grammer as Bonaparte

Randy Couture as Toll Road

Terry Crews as Hale Caesar

Mel Gibson as Conrad Stonebanks / Victor Menz

Harrison Ford as Max Drummer

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Trench Mauser

Kellan Lutz as John Smilee

Ronda Rousey as Luna

Glen Powell as Thorn

Victor Ortiz as Mars

Robert Davi as Goran Vata

 Story:

The Expendables—led by Barney Ross and formed by Lee Christmas, Gunnar Jensen, and Toll Road —extract former member Doctor Death, a knives specialist and team medic, from a military prison during his transfer on a train. They recruit Doc to assist them in intercepting a shipment of bombs meant to be delivered to a warlord in Somalia. Arriving there, they reunite with Hale Caesar, who directs them to the drop point, where Ross is surprised to find out that the arms trader providing the bombs is Conrad Stonebanks, a former co-founder of the Expendables who went rogue and was presumed dead. In the ensuing firefight, they are forced to retreat due to Stonebanks' advanced weaponry, and Caesar is severely injured in the process.

Back at the United States, CIA operative Max Drummer, the Expendables' new missions manager, gives Ross a mission to capture Stonebanks in order to bring him to the International Criminal Court to be tried for war crimes. Blaming himself for Caesar's injuries, Ross disbands the Expendables, not wanting his team to get killed following him, and leaves for Las Vegas where he enlists retired mercenary-turned-recruiter Bonaparte to help him find a new team of younger mercenaries to pursue Stonebanks. The recruits include former U.S. Marine John Smilee, nightclub bouncer Luna, computer expert Thorn, and weapons expert Mars. Skilled sharpshooter Galgo asks to be included in the team, but Ross turns him down. The new team rendezvous with Ross' rival Trench Mauser, returning a favor for Ross, who has traced Stonebanks to Romania where he is set to make an arms deal. Ross and the new recruits infiltrate an office building Stonebanks is using as a meeting place and capture him. However, Stonebanks' men catches up to them, with the aide of his GPS Tracker, and fire a missile at the team's van. Ross is thrown into a river, while Smilee, Luna, Thorn and Mars are captured by Stonebanks. Ross kills Stonebanks' retrieval team and escapes.

Stonebanks sends Ross a video, challenging Ross to come after him and gives him his location in the country of Uzmenistan. While preparing to leave and mount a rescue alone, Ross is found by Galgo, who offers his services again. Ross agrees to give him a chance, later accompanied by the veteran Expendables. They rescue the young mercenaries, only to learn from Stonebanks that he has rigged the place with explosives. Thorn is able to use a jammer device to delay the countdown, giving them just under half an hour before detonation. Stonebanks then orders the armed forces of Uzmenistan to attack the building with full force, including tanks and attack helicopters. Drummer and Mauser arrive in a helicopter to help, alongside retired Expendables member Yin Yang. The new and veteran members of the Expendables work together to kill Stonebanks' men. When a second wave of Stonebanks' army starts moving in for an attack, Drummer lands on the building to evacuate the team. However, Stonebanks personally attacks Ross, Ross kills Stonebanks just as the batteries of Thorn's device run out and the entire building begins to explode and collapse. The team makes it to Drummer's helicopter and flies away to safety.

Caesar recovers from his wounds, and Ross officially accepts Galgo, Smilee, Luna, Thorn and Mars into the team. They all celebrate at a bar together.

 L² Scored: 1.5/10

L² Comment:

This is definitely not the kind of movie i wanna spend my weekend with. No doubt that most of them were big, or still big in the hollywood... But watching a bunch of old man fighting with each other makes me laugh. A few times i even "almost" fall asleep~ should i find the expendable 1 & 2 to watch? Or am i just wasting my time?

Four Rooms

 Released Year: 1995

Directed by Allison Anders & Alexandre Rockwell

& Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino

Casted by:

Tim Roth as Ted the Bellhop

"The Missing Ingredient"

Valeria Golino as Athena

Madonna as Elspeth

Alicia Witt as Kiva

Sammi Davis as Jezebel

Lili Taylor as Raven

Ione Skye as Eva

Amanda de Cadenet as Diana

"The Wrong Man"

David Proval as Siegfried

Jennifer Beals as Angela

Lawrence Bender as Long Hair Yuppie Scum

Paul Skemp as Real Theodore

Quinn Thomas Hellerman as Baby Bellhop

"The Misbehavers"

Antonio Banderas as Man

Tamlyn Tomita as Wife

Lana McKissack as Sarah

Danny Verduzco as Juancho

Patricia Vonne as Corpse

Salma Hayek as TV dancing girl

Betty's house

Kathy Griffin as Betty

Marisa Tomei as Margaret

Julie McClean as Left Redhead

Laura Rush as Right Redhead

"The Man from Hollywood"

Quentin Tarantino as Chester Rush

Jennifer Beals as Angela

Paul Calderón as Norman

Bruce Willis as Leo

Kimberly Blair as Hooker

 Story:

The film is set on New Year's Eve, and starts with Sam, the previous bellhop of the Hotel Mon Signor, briefing his replacement, Ted, about the job.

Honeymoon Suite - "The Missing Ingredient"

Written and directed by Allison Anders

Ted assists a number of unusual women with their luggage, which he takes up to the Honeymoon Suite. He learns they are a coven of witches, attempting to create a potion to reverse a spell cast on their goddess, Diana 40 years ago. In order to create the potion, each witch must place an ingredient into a large cauldron in a ritual. However, one of the witches has still to retrieve her ingredient - semen - which she is told she must retrieve in one hour. The witch manages to seduce an initially reluctant Ted and has sex with him in the cauldron. After he leaves, the witches complete the ritual and Diana is seen emerging from the cauldron.

Ted's phone call with the party guest

At the end of the segment, a guest from a hotel room party calls Ted at the front desk to get some ice. He is unsure about which floor the room is on, but eventually directs Ted to room 404.

Room 404 - "The Wrong Man"

Written and directed by Alexandre Rockwell

Upon arriving at room 404, Ted finds himself in the middle of a fantasy hostage situation between a husband and wife. Siegfried, the husband, maniacally accuses Ted (whom he calls Theodore) of having slept with his wife, Angela. At gunpoint, Ted is made to participate in the scenario, with uncertainty about what is real and what is part of the fantasy. At one point, Ted is stuck in the bathroom window and the party guest from the beginning of the episode appears in the window above, uttering the word "ice" and vomiting. Eventually, Ted escapes just as a different party guest appears, looking for room 404 and is greeted by Siegfried in the same manner as Ted was at the beginning of the episode.

Ambiguity of room number

It is not fully clear if these events take place in room 404 or in room 409. The party guests' room is on the above floor, which suggests Siegfried's room is indeed room 404. Adding to this uncertainty, the room door reads "40-", with a faint outline of what appears to be a missing "4" or "9". However, Siegfried answers the phone at one point, which is later revealed to be a call connecting to room 409.

Room 309 - "The Misbehavers"

Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez

A husband and wife go out to a New Year's Eve party and leave their two children, Juancho and Sarah, in the hotel. Ted is paid $500 to keep an eye on the children by the stern father, who orders them not to misbehave. As Ted is responsible for the entire hotel he cannot actually stay in the room with the children, but instead instructs them to stay in the room and watch television. After Ted leaves, the children soon begin to squabble and proceed to both explore and vandalize the room, and manage to explode a bottle of champagne in the process. They call Ted for toothbrushes, at which point he arrives and attempts unsuccessfully to put them to bed by putting ointment on their eyelids. After they wash their eyelids and summon him back to the room once more, Ted arrives at a scene of mass chaos: One painting in the bedroom has a target scribbled on it in lipstick-That Juancho and Sarah use to play darts with the syringe., Juancho has a cigarette in his mouth, Sarah has the bottle of champagne in her hand, the television is set to an adult channel, and the children have found the corpse of a dead prostitute stuffed under the mattress. While Ted tries to quell the chaos in the room, Sarah stabs him in the leg with a syringe when he repeatedly uses the word "whore" and Juancho accidentally sets the bedroom on fire with his cigarette. At this point, the children's father arrives, carrying his passed-out wife, and, looking around the room, asks Ted, "Did they misbehave?"

Ted's phone call with Betty

After the events of room 309, an unsettled Ted calls his boss, Betty, to quit for the night, as his shift has ended. After a prolonged conversation with Margaret, Ted gets Betty on the phone and quits, but a call from the Penthouse comes in. Betty reasons with Ted and convinces him to tend to their needs, due to the importance of continued Hollywood business to the hotel.

Penthouse - "The Man from Hollywood"

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

The penthouse is currently being occupied by the famous director Chester Rush and a group of his friends, which includes Angela from The Wrong Man. The party requests a block of wood, a doughnut, a ball of twine, three nails, a club sandwich, a bucket of ice, and an extremely sharp hatchet (Rush specifically requests a hatchet "as sharp as the Devil himself"). After getting acquainted with Chester and his friends, Ted is asked to take part in a challenge: Chester's friend Norman has bet he can light his Zippo cigarette lighter ten times in a row. If he succeeds, Norman will win Chester's car, but if he fails, Norman's pinky will be cut off. Ted is asked to "wield the hatchet" and cut off Norman's pinky, should he fail. Ted initially tries to leave, but Chester persuades him to stay by offering $100 up front and another $1,000 if he performs his assigned role. Norman's lighter fails on the first try, and Ted chops off the finger, sweeps up all the money, and leaves the penthouse. While the credits are rolling, Chester and company are seen frantically getting ready to take a screaming, agonizing Norman to a hospital.

  L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

 I found it quite weird to watch in the beginning of this movie, but as it goes by... it attracts me and yeah~ i totally love this movie. Not only there are tons of superstars in this movie but the humor parts really gets me and i just couldn't take my eyes away from it :)

The Mask of Zorro

 Released Year: 1998

Directed by Martin Campbell

Casted by:

Antonio Banderas as Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro

Anthony Hopkins as Don Diego De La Vega / Zorro

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Eléna (De La Vega) Montero

Stuart Wilson as Don Rafael Montero

Matt Letscher as Captain Harrison Love

 Story:

In 1821, Don Diego de la Vega a Spanish nobleman, fights against Spain in the Mexican War of Independence as Zorro, a mysterious avenger who defends the Mexican peasants and commoners of Las Californias. Don Rafael Montero, the cruel governor of the region, learns de la Vega's identity. Arresting de la Vega in his home, his beloved wife Esperanza is accidentally killed by one of Montero's soldiers. Montero kills the soldier for murdering Esperanza, imprisons de la Vega, and takes his infant daughter, Elena, as his own and leaves for Spain. Twenty years later, Montero returns from exile in Spain with Elena, who has grown into a beautiful woman, by his side. He is planning to turn California into an independent republic. However, his reappearance also awakens a long-dormant de la Vega, who has spent two decades living in anonymity during his imprisonment. He escapes from prison, and as he plans his revenge on Montero, de la Vega encounters a thief, Alejandro Murrieta, who, along with his brother, greatly admired Zorro as a child and even had a small hand in the hero's last great exploit.

After a brief period of deliberation, de la Vega decides to take Alejandro as his protégé. Inspired by the wish for revenge upon Captain Harrison Love, his brother's killer and Montero's right hand man, he endures the tough training regimen brilliantly. After Alejandro steals a black stallion resembling Toronado, Zorro's long deceased horse, and leaves Zorro's mark at the scene, de la Vega scolds him claiming that Zorro was a servant of the people, not a thief or adventurer. He challenges Alejandro to gain Montero's trust and pose as Don Alejandro del Castillo y García, a visiting nobleman, with de la Vega posing as his servant, Bernardo. Both attend a party at Montero's hacienda, where he gains Elena's admiration and titillation and enough of Montero's trust to be invited to a secret meeting. There, Montero hints at a plan to retake California for the Dons by buying it from General Santa Anna, who needs money to fund his upcoming war with the United States. Alejandro and the Dons are taken to a secret gold mine known as "El Dorado", where peasants and criminals are used for slave labor.

The plan is to buy California from Santa Anna using gold mined from Santa Anna's own land. Meanwhile, de la Vega uses this opportunity to become closer to Elena: still posing as Bernardo, he learns that Montero raised her telling her that her mother died in childbirth. De la Vega sends Alejandro, as Zorro, to steal the map leading to the gold mine: he duels Montero, Love, and their guards at the hacienda. When Alejandro escapes, Elena attempts to retrieve Montero's map. She fights him with a sword, but he uses his sword to strip off her clothing and seduces her, leading to a passionate kiss before he flees. Terrified of Santa Anna's retribution if he discovers that he is being paid with his own gold, Montero decides to destroy the mine, along with all its workers, to better hide all evidence. De la Vega tells Alejandro to release the workers on his own so that he can reclaim Elena: he corners Montero at his hacienda and reveals his identity, but is captured.

As he is taken away, Elena, inspired by a chance encounter at the market with a woman who had been her nanny, asks Montero the name of the flower that her mother had hung about her crib: when it is de la Vega who tells Elena that it is the Romneya, she realizes he is her father. She releases de la Vega from his cell and they proceed to the mine, which Zorro has begun to infiltrate. De la Vega stops Montero from shooting Zorro and the two duel. Meanwhile Zorro is confronted by Love and they duel. In the end, Alejandro avenges his brother by impaling Love with his own sword, and de la Vega sends Montero to his death by dragging him off a cliff behind a gold laden cart which crushes Love. Elena and Alejandro free the workers before the explosives go off, where they attend to the mortally wounded de la Vega. He makes peace with Alejandro before dying, passing the mantle of Zorro to him, and gives his blessings for Alejandro's and Elena's prospective marriage. They re-build the de la Vega hacienda and have a son named Joaquin, honoring Alejandro's brother.

 L² Scored: 6.5/10 

L² Comment:

Zorro is always been a mysterious hero for me :) He wore a mask and fight with a sword. Hmmm... Zorro gave me the impression of the sexy latino figure which was well presented by Antonio Banderas of course. The whole movie is not bad, but there are few parts which i feel quite dull and dry.

Puss in Boots

Released Year: 2011
Directed by Chris Miller

Vocal by:
Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
Salma Hayek as Kitty Softpaws
Zach Galifianakis as Humpty Alexander Dumpty
Billy Bob Thornton as Jack
Amy Sedaris as Jill
Story:

Sometime before Puss meets Shrek and Donkey in Shrek 2, he arrives at a town while escaping a bounty hunter. There he learns that the outlaw couple Jack and Jill have the magic beans he's been looking for most of his life, beans that can lead him to a giant's castle holding valuable golden goose eggs. When Puss tries to steal them from the outlaws' room, a masked cat interrupts. Both fail and escape, and Puss follows the cat back a club, where they have a dance-off and a sword fight, ending when Puss hits the masked cat in the head with a guitar. He learns that the masked cat was Kitty Softpaws. She is allied with Humpty Alexander Dumpty , Puss' long-estranged childhood friend from the orphanage where he was raised. Overcoming Puss' feelings of betrayal for a youthful misadventure when Humpty tricked Puss into helping commit a crime, they convince him to join them in finding the beans and retrieving the golden eggs.

The trio steals the beans from Jack and Jill and elude the angry outlaws in a canyon chase. As Humpty leads his compatriots to the spot where they must plant the beans, Puss and Kitty's relationship begins to grow from rivalry into friendship. The trio ride the fast-growing beanstalk into the clouds where, Humpty explains, they'll find castle of the late giant. Now, he continues, a fearsome monster called the Terror guards the Golden Goose. When they realize the golden eggs are too heavy to carry, they steal the Goose — which is just a gosling — and escape the castle and the Terror. While celebrating their victory, the group is ambushed by Jack and Jill, who knock Puss unconscious.

When Puss wakes up, he tracks Jack and Jill back to his old hometown, where he learns that the entire heist was a plot by Humpty to lure him home to be captured, as revenge for abandoning him to the authorities when Humpty's youthful heist went bad. Jack, Jill, and even Kitty were involved in the con. After pleas from his adoptive mother, the head of the orphanage, Puss turns himself in to the guards while Humpty donates many golden eggs to the town and becomes a hero.

While in prison, Puss meets the original Jack from the "Jack and the Beanstalk" story who warns him that the Terror is in fact the Golden Goose's mother, and it will stop at nothing to get its child back. A repentant Kitty helps Puss break out of prison. Puss convinces Humpty to help him fight off the Terror, saying he knows Humpty is a good person at heart, and he will be forgiven if he helps save the town. The Terror arrives, revealing itself to be a giant goose. Using the Golden Goose as bait, Puss and Humpty lure the Terror out of the town, but Humpty and the Goose are knocked off a bridge with Puss holding on to them. Humpty knows Puss cannot hold both of them, and he lets go, sacrificing himself to save the Goose and the town. Humpty's shell cracks open to reveal that he was a golden egg on the inside. The Terror then takes the Goose and Humpty away back to the giant's castle.

Puss is forced to flee because he is still an outlaw, but his efforts to save the town make him a hero among the townspeople. Puss and Kitty escape the guards once more, and Kitty says she will see him again soon, showing that she has taken his boots. In the epilogue, Jack and Jill are recovering from their injuries after being crushed by the Terror, Humpty is shown once again in his regular egg form as he rides the Terror into the clouds, and Puss and Kitty head back to dance at Kitty's hideout, the Glitter Box, where they finally kiss.

L² Scored: 8.5/10

L² Comment:

Once a while, an exciting and funny animation movie is a good thing to cheer up our life :) Puss is the spinoff prequel character from Shrek franchise. And the box office earn more than Shrek which is a surprise and good thing for the production team.

Never know that 51yo Banderas & 45yo Hayek is still able to voice for animation, if not because of Banderas has been the original Puss in the the previous movie, i dont think the production team will look for them~ Though they are old, but they are not bad... basically the whole movie is quite fun to watch... but sitting near a bunch of kids in the cinema is always not a joyful things to do... :(

My Mom's New Boyfriend

Released Year: 2008
Directed by George Gallo

Casted by:
Antonio Banderas as Tommy Lucero / Tomas Martinez
Meg Ryan as Martha "Marty" Durand
Colin Hanks as Henry Durand
Selma Blair as Emily Lott
Trevor Morgan as Eddie

Story:

The film begins with Tommy Lucero being caught by French police following a foiled robbery at a museum. Tommy seems confident he will not remain in police custody very long. The film then shift its focus to Henry Durand. Henry had to care for his mother, Marty, when his father died in jail. Now a grown man and an FBI agent, Henry leaves his overweight mother to go work on a case.

Upon returning three years later he finds his mother has lost a considerable amount of weight and is dating several men, one half her age. Henry announces to his mother he has recently become engaged to another FBI agent, Emily. Henry finds himself in a very uneasy state with his newly transformed mother and begins to be extremely protective about her. He confides his worries in his fiancée Emily who does not find anything unusual in Marty's behavior. While having a walk with Henry and Emily, Marty is hit in the head by a toy helicopter being flown by Tommy. Tommy asks to take the trio for a dinner with him at an old Albanian Restaurant as an apology. Henry, who is still protective of his mother, grudgingly concedes to go when he notices how much his mother and Emily want to.

Romance between Marty and Tommy progresses. Henry meanwhile is informed by his FBI superiors that they expect Tommy and two accomplices are going to attempt to steal a sculpture currently on display at a local museum. Along with his fellow agents, Henry spies on his mother around the clock. Many uncomfortable situations arise for Henry as he has to listen into the conversation his mother has with Tommy. While stealing the sculpture, Tommy is betrayed by his gang members shot twice in the chest. He survives due to wearing a ballistic vest however is later caught by Henry and Emily.

Tommy reveals upon them that his real name is Tomas Martinez and he is with the CIA. He has been working undercover trying to apprehend a gang of thieves who are stealing art to fund terrorism. He is concerned the gang will attempt to kill Marty as they know he has been romantically involved with her and she may know about their operation. The trio reaches the Durand house in time to rescues Marty from the gang.

The film ends the gang members taken into custody whilst Tommy kisses Marty and Henry kisses Emily.

L² Scored: 1.5/10

L² Comment:

Though our Meg Ryan is always good in her romance comedy film, but watching 49yo Ryans (this film she was 46yo) to act cute and hot is kinda disgusting, she looks so old... i mean, come on, don't you think its time for her to change?

The whole movie is not that funny though it claims itself as a comedy, for me... the story is simple and a bit stupid. The whole film is not good enough for me even to think of re-watching in my whole life. PUI !!!

Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

Released Year: 1994
Directed by: Neil Jordan

Casted by:
Brad Pitt as Louis
Tom Cruise as Lestat
Kirsten Dunst as Claudia
Antonio Banderas as Armand
Stephen Rea as Santiago
Christian Bale as Daniel Molloy

Story:

The story began as Daniel the interviewer came across with a good looking young fine man in a dark alley, they both went into a room and have an interview about this man's life.

In the early century, a 24 years old young man Louis just lost his wife and an unborn child. Feeling upset and exhausted, he let himself lost in gambling and sex. He wanted to die so badly so that he can meet his wife and child in heaven, but he was chosen to become a vampire by Lestat.

Beautiful and exotic Lestat turn Louis into his companion by drinking his blood and gave him an immortal life. Feeling sick about drinking human's blood, Louis only feed on animals blood. But the killed of chicken make the black slave suspect on him, after killing one of the servant, Louis decided to burn down his mansion and get away with Lestat.

Both of them then happened to see Claudia who is crying because her mother is dying. Feeling hunger and loving, Louis bit Claudia and turn her into a vampire, Lestat thought of using Claudia to control Louis for staying with him but things do not turn out the way he wanted to. As the 13 years old Claudia started to become mature in her brain but not her physical, she started to hate it and questioned the two elders. She hate being a child forever, and she think this is Lestat's fault for turning them into a vampire. Claudia then make a plan to kill Lestat.

After a several fight, Louis managed to bring Claudia and both of them escape to Paris. In Paris they met a bunch of their kinds. Armand is their leader while Santiago is the 2nd lead. Vampires at there dislike those who killed the same kind, and they find out Claudia is a betrayal of her maker. In another hand, Armand push Louis to give up on Claudia and be his follower. Claudia feel sad and found a woman to become Louis' replacement.

Begging on her knee to transform the woman into a vampire, Louis decided to let Claudia goes and bite the woman. But before the woman fully transform, Santiago brought his army and get them away. Louis was put inside a coffin and sealed in the brick wall while Claudia and the new vampire was closed in an open well. On the sunrise of the next morning, Claudia and the new vampire were burn to ashes.

Hatred filled Louis, he was saved by Armand. But Louis killed all other vampires with fire including Santiago. Refused to become Armand's follower, Louis decided to go back to America. World changed, technologies improved. Louis was glad he can see sunrise again in the theater. Meeting up with Lestat in an old cemetery again, Louis decide to live alone with nobody in his eternal life.

Coming back to Daniel interviewing with Louis, feeling awesome of how vampire is, he wants Louis to transform him into one but was rejected. Louis left and nowhere to be found. When driving back with excitement, Daniel found himself not alone! Lestat was following him and transform him into a vampire.

L² Scored: 9/10

L² Comment:

This is actually the first vampire movie i ever watch, maybe 10 years ago :) I really learn alot about vampy in this film. But the relationship between Lestat & Louis, Louis & Armand is kinda gayish :)