Everest

 Released Year: 2015

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur

Casted by:

Jason Clarke as Rob Hall

Josh Brolin as Beck Weathers

Jake Gyllenhaal as Scott Fischer

Naoko Mori as Yasuko Namba

John Hawkes as Doug Hansen

Emily Watson as Helen Wilton

Sam Worthington as Guy Cotter

Robin Wright as Peach

Keira Knightley as Jan Arnold

 Story:

In May 1996, two expeditions, Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness, meet at base camp and prepare to summit Mount Everest, NEPAL in the following days. Rob Hall is one of three guides for Adventure Consultants, whose eight clients include Beck Weathers, who had been climbing for ten years, Doug Hansen, who was climbing to prove an ordinary man can pursue an extraordinary dream, and Yasuko Namba, who had previously climbed six of the Seven Summits and was attempting to become the oldest woman to summit Mt. Everest, NEPAL. Scott Fischer was the guide for Mountain Madness.

A month earlier on the day he leaves New Zealand for NEPAL, Rob says goodbye to his pregnant wife, Jan, and promises her he'll be back in time for the birth. While he is at base camp, she sends him a fax to inform him that the baby will be a girl, and he suggests they name her Sarah, which Jan isn't too keen on. The two expeditions are introduced to Helen Wilton, the base camp manager, who keeps in contact with all of them via walkie-talkies while they climb. On May 7, Expedition members climb from base camp to Camp II, which includes walking across a fixed ladder over a deep crevasse. Suddenly, large chunks of ice break away under the strain of too many climbers crossing one after the other and the ladder almost detaches. Worried, Rob tries to persuade the opposite group to ascend at a later date but they refuse. Both expeditions keep climbing and reach Camp IV on May 9, starting to use supplemental oxygen when needed.

Climbers reach the high altitude "death zone" and set off in the early hours of May 10 from the South Col, planning to reach the top and turn around by 2:00pm, the last safe time that will allow them to reach base camp before nightfall. Smaller expeditions sponsored by the governments of Taiwan and India also ascend on the same morning but from the North Face. Expedition climbers quickly encounter delays. Upon reaching a bottleneck at the Hillary Step, they discover that no fixed line has been put in place and are forced to wait an hour while the guides install one, pushing back their time plan. Three climbers decide to turn back. Meanwhile, Beck has trouble with his vision and sits down. He informs Rob that he had an operation the year before, but believes he will be fine after he rests for a while. Rob allows him half an hour, but tells him he must turn back if he can't see better by then.

Gradually, climbers reach the top of Everest one by one. Anatoli Boukreev is the first 1:07pm, with Rob following soon after, but many others don't reach the summit by 2:00pm as planned due to several more stops along the way. Yasuko also reaches the top and plants her flag of Japan in the snow, thanking God and celebrating with Rob, who tells her how proud of her he is. Boukreev notices that the weather does not look good and at 3:00pm, snow starts to fall and the light diminishes. On his way back down, Rob encounters Doug struggling just above the Hillary Step and orders him to turn back since it's too late to keep going. Doug insists that he won't get the chance to do this again and says he must go on. Knowing how important the climb is to him, Rob agrees and accompanies him up to the summit. Scott Fischer does not summit until around 3:45pm, exhausted and increasingly ill from high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), which began even before he started his ascent; he had not told anyone. He tells the two climbers descending with him to continue on their own.

The weather worsens, particularly the blizzard on the south side of the mountain, causing much difficulty for descending members. Supplemental oxygen is also running out and there are no full emergency tanks stored where Rob had asked. Doug becomes semi-conscious from lack of oxygen, so Rob radios Helen at base camp to send somebody up with oxygen tanks and water, knowing they are in trouble. Doug, left alone briefly by Rob, unbuckles his carabiner from the guide rope in his oxygen-starved daze and takes a few steps along the extremely narrow path in the mountainside. Moments later in the heavy wind, he topples silently off the ridge to his death.

Several descending climbers approach Beck, who is still sitting on the Balcony. Nearly blinded by the effects of high altitude and overexposure to ultraviolet radiation, he tells them he cannot see, and they try to help him descend. He trips and knocks several climbers down the mountain some 20m from a drop off over the Kangshung Face. They later become lost after the blizzard obliterates the trail back to Camp IV and wander past midnight. When the blizzard clears, three of them set off to find help, leaving Beck and Yasuko behind.

Andy Harris, one of the other guides for Adventure Consultants, makes his way back up the mountain with oxygen for Rob and Doug, only to be told by Rob that Doug is "gone". Unable to move due to the blizzard, Rob and Andy are forced to wait on the side of the mountain. Soon, Andy suffers from hypoxia and hallucinates that he's overheating. He strips off his outerwear and dies with Rob lying next to him. In the early hours of May 11, Rob radios base camp, telling them he is still at the top of Hillary Step but Doug and Andy are gone. Helen and others break down in tears. They tell Rob he needs to start making his way down now before his condition worsens, but he tells them his hands and feet are frozen and his oxygen regulator is blocked by ice. Helen believes that if anyone can get Rob down the mountain, his wife Jan can. She calls her and puts the phone near the walkie-talkie so they can hear each other. Jan tells Rob he's got to get moving and he tries, but doesn't get far. Shortly after, knowing Rob doesn't have much time left, Helen again calls Jan, who speaks with her husband. He tells her he is cold but comfortable, asks her to name their daughter Sarah, and finally says, "Sleep well, my sweetheart. Please don't worry too much."

Scott, now alone, knows he cannot make it back and lies down in the snow as his life ebbs away. Boukreev later finds Scott and shrouds his face with his backpack. His body remains on the mountain to this day. Many climbers reach base camp with news that Beck and Yasuko have not descended and need help, but weather conditions remain too dangerous for anyone to try to reach them. Helen calls Beck's wife, Peach, to tell her the situation. Later in the day Beck miraculously regains consiciousness, but Yasuko is dead. Beck stumbles back to camp alone, to the great astonishment of everyone there. He is severely frostbitten and desperately in need of medical help. The group gives him first aid in the tent, believing he won't survive the night. Meanwhile, his wife, having been told he is still alive, calls the American Embassy and organises a helicopter rescue. The flight is risky because the air is thin for a helicopter. The pilots fly over the Western Cwm, the only feasible route, and successfully make one of the highest altitude helicopter medical evacuations.

The closing scenes show everyone departing for home. Helen and several other climbers meet Jan at the airport and embrace. Beck returns home to his family, heavily bandaged. Closing on-screen titles inform the audience that he lost both hands and nose to severe frostbite. Jan later gives birth to a daughter and names her Sarah.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

Oh man, i gotta give this movie a 10/10 or else i will be shooting myself to death or swallow some shits in me dude~ This movie is really awesome... Me myself has climb the Malaysia's Mt Kinabalu and i am already half dead after it, i cant imagine how those ppl manage to climb all the way up to Everest. SALUTE

This is based on a real story which ends very sadly, i cried when the Japanese lady Yatsuko reach the peak with tears and keep on saying "arigatou"... too bad in the real life, the real Yatsuko didnt manage to come down alive during the incident, but i salute her... she's a proud asian lady, and she will always be remember by her fellow frens~ may all those ppl RIP.~

Source Code

Released Year: 2011
Directed by Duncan Jones

Casted by:
Jake Gyllenhaal as Captain Colter Stevens
Michelle Monaghan as Christina Warren
Vera Farmiga as Captain Colleen Goodwin
Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Rutledge
Michael Arden as Derek Frost
Story:

Captain Colter Stevens is a decorated army helicopter pilot whose last memory is of his recent mission in Afghanistan, flying with his team while taking on enemy gunfire. He awakens on a train headed for Chicago with no memory of how he arrived there. His reflection is of a different man and his wallet says his name is Sean Fentress. Sitting across from him is a woman named Christina Warren who seems to know him as Fentress. But before he can understand what is happening, a bomb goes off and destroys the train.

Stevens then awakens inside a chamber, where he is greeted through a computer screen by Capt. Colleen Goodwin, an Air Force officer who tells Stevens that he is inside the Source Code, a program that allows him to take over someone's body in his or her last eight minutes of life. Earlier that day, a bomb exploded and destroyed a train headed into Chicago, the train that Stevens awoke on. Stevens' mission is to locate the bomb, discover who built it, and report back to Goodwin before the bomber can detonate a second larger bomb, a dirty nuclear device, in downtown Chicago which could cause the deaths of millions of people.

Stevens is sent back to the train, where he locates the bomb in the ventilation shaft above the bathroom. The bomb explodes again, activated by a cell phone detonator. After the bomb goes off, Stevens sees blurred images of a round highly polished artistic structure in a park-like setting. Stevens reawakens in the chamber, where Goodwin and the Source Code's creator, Dr. Rutledge, tell him that the Source Code is not a simulation, but a visit into the past in the form of an alternative reality. Stevens can perform different actions each time and learn from those actions. He's told that he cannot truly alter the past to save Christina or any of the other passengers. But hopefully the intel he gathers can be used to alter the future and prevent a future attack.

Confused and frustrated, Stevens wonders how he got assigned to this project if it felt like just yesterday he was on mission in Afghanistan. He suspects that Goodwin is not telling him the whole truth when she says that he has been with the Source Code project for two months. Stevens catches a glimpse of Goodwin's uniform insignia during one debriefing, and discovers where Goodwin and Rutledge are assigned. Using a cellphone, he eventually discovers that he supposedly died in the war two months ago and that his injured body was apparently appropriated by the Air Force and used by Rutledge to enter the Source Code. He was chosen because his physical attributes are a close match to Sean Fentress, and his particular injuries allow him to be connected to the Source Code system, due to half of his brain still being "active".

Stevens is sent back several more times. Each time he learns more, and each time the bomb goes off he sees the blurred images of a round highly polished structure, and is then returned to the chamber. During one debriefing Stevens is made to hear an emotional audio statement from his father concerning his death. Stevens resolves to complete his mission, now with the personal goal of saving Christina and the people on the train if at all possible. On one trip he retrieves a gun from the conductor's compartment on the train and eventually discovers that the bomber is an American extremist named Derek Frost. Stevens confronts Frost and is able to inform Goodwin before Frost activates the second bomb. Authorities are then able to apprehend Frost and save Chicago. However, the train is still destroyed by this first bomb and Christina is still dead.

Earlier, Stevens had asked Goodwin and Rutledge to let him die after the mission is completed, and Rutledge agreed to that. But now that the mission is over, Rutledge decides that Stevens is too valuable to the Source Code project and, unknown to Stevens, Rutledge orders Stevens' memory wiped/erased instead. But Stevens persuades Goodwin to send him in one more time and give him one last chance to avert the train disaster before they pull the plug on him.

With the information he has uncovered from previous sorties, Stevens is able to defuse the bomb and capture Frost before he can destroy the train. Stevens then sends an email to Goodwin, and later makes a phone call to hear his father's heartfelt voice one last time, telling his father that he was Sean Fentress, a soldier that served with his son and was there when his son died. Frost is arrested by the police and the people on the train are saved. Stevens and Christina kiss in the last seconds before the plug is to be pulled at the eight-minute mark, but, to his surprise, he does not return to the chamber. Instead, his mind remains in Sean Fentress' body (what happens to the real Sean Fentress is unresolved).

Stevens - now in Fentress's body - leaves the train with Christina. While walking together in Millennium Park in Chicago, they come to the Cloud Gate sculpture which turns out to be the structure Stevens had seen blurred images of every time he returned back to the chamber from a mission.

Now in an alternate timeline, back at Nellis Air Base, Goodwin receives the email sent by Stevens while he was on the train. The message details the averted train crisis, and outlines that it was Stevens and Goodwin and the Source Code project that averted the train disaster - however because the train disaster was averted Stevens was never sent to the train. Goodwin starts to tell Rutledge about the email, but in the process she hears about the bomber that got caught earlier that day and the averted train disaster and that if the bomber had set off a bomb it would have been a good opportunity to try the Source Code. Goodwin then decides to hold off telling Rutledge about the email.

L² Scored: 5/10

L² Comment:

Though i love Gyllenhaal, Farmiga & Monaghan, but i feel this movie is kinda weird. Maybe this kind of sci-fic movie is not my type. There's not much connection between these few characters and i dont like it. Maybe the novel of Ben Ripley is good, but not necessary in the movie. Too bad

City Slickers

Released Year: 1991
Directed by Ron Underwood

Casted by:
Billy Crystal as Mitch Robbins
Daniel Stern as Phil Berquist
Bruno Kirby as Ed Furillo
Jack Palance as Curly Washburn
Story:

Mitch Robbins has just turned 39 years old, and is thick in the middle of a midlife crisis. His best friends are also having midlife crises of their own. Phil is stuck managing his father-in-law's grocery store, while trapped in a sexless marriage with an overbearing wife (who leaves him after it is revealed Phil is having an affair). Ed is a successful businessman and playboy, having recently married an underwear model, is struggling with the idea of monogamous marriage and the pressure to have kids. Ed often invites his two best friends on his various adventures, which are not always appreciated by Mitch, as six months earlier he suffered a mortifying injury during a vacation to Pamplona, Spain during the running of the bulls.

At Mitch's birthday party, Phil and Ed present their joint gift: a two-week Southwestern cattle drive for all three men. After his wife insists he go, Mitch accepts the gift and travels to New Mexico, where the three men meet the several other participants of the cattle drive. The men slowly "learn the ropes" of moving a herd and even have a tense encounter with the two professional cowboys (T.R. and Jeff) who work the drive while being drunk. The encounter is stopped with the arrival of Curly, the wise, tough-as-nails trail boss, who chastises the cowboys for being intoxicated on the job and warns them strongly not to let it happen again.

Curly, the cowboys, and all the participants begin the long drive to Colorado. Mitch and Curly immediately dislike one another after Curly inadvertently humiliates Mitch, and while Mitch fairly gets along with the majority of the others, opinions get worse when he inadvertently causes a destructive stampede. Afterwards, Curly and Mitch ride alone in the canyons to find some stray cows, and after being forced to spend the night alone, the two finally bond with one another. Mitch discovers that despite Curly's tough exterior, he is in reality a very wise man, as he gives Mitch advice as how to face his problems by thinking about just "one thing", which he will discover to be his secret of life. The next morning, Curly and Mitch are forced to deliver the calf of a pregnant cow. After the mother cow dies (Curly delivers the coup de grace by shooting the mother cow in the head), Mitch adopts the calf and names it "Norman." The two then rejoin the main drive.

The drive runs into trouble shortly afterwords, when Curly dies unexpectedly. Cookie the cook accidentally gets drunk and breaks both his legs, requiring him to be taken to a hospital by two participants. T.R. and Jeff discover Cookie's booze stash and, with Curly not around, quickly become very drunk, making loud noises and eventually goading Mitch into challenging them by threatening Norman. They begin to assault Mitch, but Ed and Phil quickly intervene. The cowboys are disarmed by Phil after he snaps under a near-lifetime stress. Though Phil comes to his senses and urges Jeff and T.R. to "sleep it off," they abandon the group in the wilderness, leaving them with no trail boss or map. The remaining individuals decide to abandon the herd and seek civilization. Phil and Ed, driven by determination to succeed and their devotion to duty, persist in driving the herd to Colorado, despite the pleas of Mitch to reconsider. The next day, the others ride on, but later Mitch returns unexpectedly (wearing Curly's notable black hat) to join his fellow "city slickers" in completing the drive.

The final test of the drive means crossing a dangerous river. The men drive the herd across the river during a storm, but Norman starts to drown. Mitch rescues him with a lasso (something he did not master previously in the story) but gets caught in the rapids. Phil and Ed race down the bank and save Mitch and Norman. The men smile on the river bank, all having overcome their crises. The three lead the herd back successfully to the Colorado ranch, where they are rewarded for overcoming such adversity by Clay Stone (the ranch's owner) giving them the trip for free. However, to their slight dismay, the three learn that Stone intends to sell the cows to a meat company for a huge profit. Mitch returns to his family in New York a happy man, having realized that his "one thing" is his family. Ed returns home and tells his newlywed wife he is fine introducing children to their marriage, and Phil has started a new relationship with Bonnie, the sole female on the cattle drive, who has moved to New York City to be with him.

In addition, Mitch spares Norman from slaughter by purchasing him and bringing the calf home as a pet.

L² Scored: 6.5/10

L² Comment:

Never expected to watch this movie at all~ until Chad say so... ok well... Its not bad actually, have the chance to watch all the nice view of Colorado and New Mexico :)

I m wondering whether they still got this kind of trip or not? Its worth trying once in a life time :) And Jake Gyllenhaal 1st movie :) 11yo as Billy Crystal's son in the movie. So damn cute :)

And Jack Palance won the best supporting actor in both academy awards & Golden globes.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Released Year: 2010
Directed by Mike Newell

Casted by:
Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan
Gemma Arterton as Princess Tamina
Ben Kingsley as Nizam
Alfred Molina as Sheik Amar
Richard Coyle as Prince Tus
Toby Kebbell as Prince Garsiv
Story:

Dastan, an orphan in the Persian Empire, commits an act of courage in a public market place and is adopted by the king because of it. Fifteen years later Dastan, his royal-blooded foster brothers, Tus and Garsiv, and his uncle, Nizam are planning an attack on the sacred city of Alamut, which is believed to be selling weapons to Persia's enemies. Despite his doubts as to whether they should attack a sacred city, and orders to avoid the front-line of the fighting, Dastan leads the way in breaching the walls of Alamut. In the confusion, the princess of Alamut, Tamina, instructs one of her guards to take a dagger from a shrine to safety. During the fight, however, Dastan defeats this guard, and steals the dagger. Alamut falls to the Persians and Tamina is captured. In order to pacify the captured city, Tus suggests that he and Tamina marry, which she agrees to only upon seeing that the dagger has fallen into Dastan's possession.

When the king of Persia arrives at Alamut, he reproaches Tus (the eldest son) for having made the decision to attack the city. He suggests that Dastan, rather than Tus should marry Tamina. Prince Dastan unknowingly presents a poisoned robe, given to him by Tus, to his father, King Sharaman who dies upon donning it. Dastan is blamed for the king's murder and flees Alamut with Princess Tamina. In their first camp, Tamina attempts to kill the prince and recover the dagger, during which Dastan finds out what the dagger is capable of and believes that Tus framed Dastan for their father's murder in an attempt to seize the throne and the Dagger. During their journey, the duo meet an ostrich racing-organizer and tax-averse shady entrepreneur Sheik Amar, with his knife-throwing African friend Seso. Dastan offers Tamina up as a slave in return for supplies, however Amar betrays him because he recognizes him as the murderer of the king, for whom there is an "obscene" price being offered. Dastan and Tamina escape and return to Persia for King Sharaman's funeral; here, Dastan attempts to convince his uncle Nizam that he did not kill his father. Dastan discovers that Tamina has taken the Dagger; however, he then notices Nizam's hands are burned. Garsiv and the city guards appear and attack Dastan and he is forced to escape.

Dastan catches up with Tamina and explains that the villainous brother of the King, Nizam, was behind the murder. He wanted the Dagger of Time to use it with the massive Sandglass to go back in time and undo saving Sharaman from a lion so he can become king: however, opening the hourglass would trigger a sandstorm that would end the world. He fabricated the false allegations that Alamut had been dealing weapons to Persia's enemies so that he would have the opportunity to search the city for the Sandglass. The pair put aside their differences and agree to work together to protect the Dagger. Meanwhile, back in Persia, Nizam tries to convince Tus and Garsiv that Dastan is trying to overthrow them and must be killed. When this fails, Nizam hires the Hassansins, a group of highly skilled warriors who once served as hired killers for Persian royalty, to slay Dastan.

Dastan and Tamina are again captured by Sheik Amar and Seso, seeking to rebuild his ruined business by turning them in for a bounty. But that night, when everyone is asleep, the Hassansin leader attacks the group by controlling a number of vipers. Many of the group die, but Dastan uses the Dagger to rewind time and foreseeing the attack, manages to kill all the snakes and saves everyone. The Hassansin leader then leaves in a sand dervish. The next day, the pair accompanied by Sheik and Seso travel to the secret sanctuary in the mountains near India, where it is possible to seal away the Dagger. However, they run into Garsiv's men. Dastan manages to persuade his brother that he is innocent, only for Garsiv to be fatally wounded by a Hassansin. The Hassansins attack, killing many of the group, while their leader manages to snatch the Dagger of Time from Tamina. However, Dastan is saved from the last Hassansin by Garsiv, who then dies of his wounds.

The group returns to Alamut to reveal the truth about Nizam and the Dagger to Tus. Seso duels to the death with a Hassansin and is mortally wounded, though he manages to kill the Hassansin and get the Dagger to the others before dying. Dastan confronts Tus and explains the Dagger's mechanics to him and then kills himself; Tus brings Dastan back to life by rewinding time and realises his brother has been innocent all along. Soon after, however, Nizam arrives and kills Tus, leaving his Hassansin guard to kill Dastan. The Dagger is once again in Nizam's hands, but Dastan manages to defeat the Hassansin with Tamina's help. Nizam goes to the Sandglass caves beneath Alamut, as Dastan and Tamina take a more secret route. After a short battle with the Hassansins' leader, fatally wounding him and sending him plummeting to his death in a chasm, Dastan and Tamina kiss. They then reach Nizam before he can pierce the Sandglass with the Dagger, but he knocks Tamina and Dastan over the edge of the chasm. Dastan holds on to Tamina but she reveals that it is actually Dastan's destiny to stop Nizam, not her's, and releases her grip on his hand; Tamina professes her love for Dastan and then lets go, falling to her death. Driven to fight on, Dastan manages to pull himself up. Nizam stabs the Sandglass with the Dagger, but Dastan grabs a hold and opens the Dagger, rather than activating it, causing the Sands of Time to flow through freely, reversing time to when Dastan first obtained the Dagger, fully aware of all that occurred since. Dastan stops the siege of Alamut, revealing Nizam's treachery. Nizam attempts to kill Dastan, but is killed by Tus. After apologizing for the ransacking of her city, Tus suggests that perhaps Tamina should become Dastan's wife as a sign of good will. The Prince returns the Dagger of Time to her. The two take a walk together and Dastan expresses his feelings for her.

L² Scored: 6.5/10

L² Comment:

Due to time consuming, i got the story review from wikipedia. What do we expect a film based on a video game? Storyline? Nope, coz its predictable. What i look at is the effect and graphic. Obviously its good and nice. Jake Gyllenhaal still being hot, never wonders Gemma would be this hot :)

Wonder whether there will be a sequel for this prince of persia...