Transformers

 Released Year: 2007

Directed by Michael Bay

Casted by:

Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky

Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes

Josh Duhamel as William Lennox

Tyrese Gibson as U.S. Air Force Sergeant Robert Epps

Rachael Taylor as Maggie Madsen

Anthony Anderson as Glen Whitmann

Jon Voight as John Keller.

John Turturro as Agent Seymour Simmons

Vocal By:

Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime

Mark Ryan as Bumblebee

Hugo Weaving as Megatron

 Story: 

Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, narrates the collapse of the Transformers' home world, Cybertron. It was rendered uninhabitable by war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Led by Megatron, the Decepticons are searching for the AllSpark so they could use it to take over the universe. The Autobots want to find the AllSpark so they can use it to rebuild Cybertron and end the war. Megatron managed to locate the AllSpark on Earth, but crash-landed in the Arctic Circle and froze in the ice. After stumbling upon his frozen body in 1897, explorer Captain Archibald Witwicky accidentally activated Megatron's navigational system and his eyeglasses were imprinted with the coordinates of the AllSpark's location, an incident that left him blind and mentally unstable. Sector 7, a secret government organization created by President Herbert Hoover, discovered the AllSpark in the Colorado River and built the Hoover Dam around it to mask its energy emissions. The still-frozen Megatron was moved into this facility and was used to advance human technology through reverse engineering.

In the present day, the Decepticon known as Blackout attacks a U.S. military base in Qatar in order to find the location of Megatron and the AllSpark. He tries to hack into the files of the computer base but is stopped when the base commander cuts the computer hard lines. Captain William Lennox and his team manage to escape from the base and search for help. Back in the United States, Captain Witwicky's descendant Sam Witwicky buys his first car, which turns out to be the Autobot scout Bumblebee, who tries to help him woo his crush Mikaela Banes. Later, Sam catches a glimpse of Bumblebee's true form when he signals the other Autobots.

On Air Force One, another Decepticon named Frenzy infiltrates the plane and tries to hack into the network again, only this time is more successful until he is stopped by the U.S. intelligence operatives before he can retrieve the file information. Frenzy is then picked up by his partner Barricade, and they pursue Sam after discovering he has the glasses with the AllSpark's coordinates. Witwicky is rescued by Bumblebee, and Mikaela also learns of the Transformers' existence. Bumblebee fights Barricade and manages to subdue him while Sam and Mikaela decapitate Frenzy although he still survives and disguises himself as Mikaela's phone.

Meanwhile, Scorponok, who was sent by Blackout, fights Captain Lennox and his team, killing Donnelly. and injuring Figueroa. During the battle, Scorponok is forced to retreat when he gets injured by sabot rounds fired on him by the U.S. Air Force. Lennox and his team then return to the United States and report their findings on the Decepticons to the Pentagon.

Sam and Mikaela soon meet Optimus Prime and his other Autobot partners Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet. They explain their origins to the two humans and insist on the urgency to get to the AllSpark first before the Decepticons, knowing that the Decepticons plan to use it to turn all of Earth's technologies into a new army of Decepticons and render humans extinct. The Autobots bring the two humans back to Sam's house to find the glasses, and they nearly reveal their existence to Sam's parents by accident. However, Sector 7 agent Seymour Simmons and his team find Sam and take his family away to a classified location after learning Sam came into contact with the Autobots. Optimus and the Autobots try to rescue Witwicky and Banes, however they fail and Bumblebee ends up getting captured along with Witwicky and Banes. The Autobots, however, retrieve the glasses and use them to find the AllSpark's location so they can destroy it before the Decepticons use it. Sam and Mikaela are taken to Hoover Dam, along with Maggie Madsen and Glen Whitmann, two hackers who were captured by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for trying to decipher the information Frenzy stole while working in the Pentagon.

Frenzy, who was transported to the dam while in disguise, finds the AllSpark and contacts the other Decepticons, Starscream, Bonecrusher, Brawl, Barricade, and Blackout. Starscream attacks the dam and Frenzy frees Megatron from his frozen prison, where he joins his cohorts into pursuing Sam and the Autobots. Bumblebee shrinks the cube to a reasonable size so they can escape with it. They then arrive at Mission City, where a large battle ensues. Working together, the Autobots and human soldiers defeat and kill Bonecrusher, Brawl, and Blackout. However, Bumblebee is crippled, and Jazz is killed by Megatron. When Megatron begins to gain the upper hand in the fight, Optimus urges Sam to put the AllSpark in his chest, which will destroy them both. Instead, Witwicky inserts the cube into Megatron's chest, which kills him and destroys the AllSpark.

In the aftermath, the dead Transformer bodies are dumped into the Laurentian Abyss in the Atlantic Ocean to be hidden, the government orders the closure of Sector 7, and the Witwicky family is released from custody. Sam and Mikaela soon start a new relationship, and Optimus says that the Autobots' fates have given them a new home, Earth, and sends a message calling out all surviving Autobots to join them. In a mid-credits scene, Starscream escapes into space, presaging the events of the second movie.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

The first movie of this franchise film is still my favorite among the rest :)  I remember when i watch it in the cinema 8 years back, i was so excited, especially the scene where the transformers are fighting. 8 years later, it steal took my breath away when i was watching this scene :) A very good movie which i believe everyone agrees with me, right?

Midnight Cowboy

Released Year: 1969
Directed by John Schlesinger

Casted by:
Jon Voight as Joe Buck
Dustin Hoffman as Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo
Story:

The film follows the story of a young Texan named Joe Buck, who works as a dishwasher in a diner. As the film opens, Joe dresses himself like a rodeo cowboy, packs a suitcase, and quits his job. He heads to New York City in the hope of leading the life of a hustler.

Joe's naïveté becomes evident as quickly as his cash disappears upon his arrival in New York. He is unsuccessful in his attempts to be hired by wealthy women. When finally successful in bedding a middle-aged New Yorker, Joe's attempt to "talk business" results in the woman breaking down in tears and Joe giving her $20 instead. Joe meets the crippled Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, a third-rate con man who easily tricks Joe out of $20 by offering to introduce him to a well-known pimp, who instead turns out to be a religious fanatic. Joe flees the scene in pursuit of Rizzo, but he is long gone.

Once broke, Joe is locked out of his hotel room for failure to pay the bill. He finally attempts to make money by submitting to oral sex from a young man in the seats of a movie theatre, but even this plan goes awry when the teenager reveals he has no money. The next day, Joe spots an unsuspecting Rizzo at a lunch counter. He angrily shakes Rizzo down for every penny he has — all sixty-four of them — but Rizzo surprisingly offers to help Joe, by sharing his place, an apartment in a condemned building. Joe reluctantly accepts the offer, and they begin a business relationship, helping each other pickpocket, steal and further attempt to get Joe hired as a stud. They are both completely alone without each other, and a genuine bond develops between the two men. Rizzo had a cough when the two first met during the summer and, as the story progresses into winter, his health steadily worsens. Joe and Enrico

The events of Joe's early life are told through fast-cutting flashbacks interspersed throughout the film. He had been to church and baptized as a boy but has only frightening memories of the experience. The two people Joe had loved were his grandmother, Sally Buck, and his onetime girlfriend, Crazy Annie. His grandmother raised Joe after his mother abandoned him but often left him alone to go off with boyfriends; one of them, a wrangler named Woodsy Niles, was Joe's only father figure. Annie had been a promiscuous girl who changed her ways after meeting Joe, but this did not sit well with the men of their hometown: the two were caught and raped by a gang of males. Annie was later sent to a mental institution; Joe joined the army. Sally Buck died while Joe was away serving in the Army, and Annie remains a constant presence in Joe's mind.

Rizzo's backstory comes mostly through the things he tells Joe. His father was an illiterate shoe shiner who worked deep in a subway station, developed a bad back, and "coughed his lungs out breathin' in that wax every day!" Rizzo learned shining from his father, but refuses to follow (such as he could, after polio crippled one leg) in the old man's footsteps.

At one point, an odd-looking couple approach Joe and Ratso in a diner and hand Joe a flyer inviting him to a party. They enter into a Warhol-esque party scene (with Warhol superstars Viva, Ultra Violet and others in cameo appearances). The naive Joe smokes most of a joint thinking it's a cigarette, then takes a pill offered to him and begins to hallucinate. He leaves the party with a socialite, who agrees to pay him $20 for spending the night with her. Rizzo falls down a flight of stairs as they are leaving; he insists he is fine. Joe and the socialite attempt to have sex, but he suffers from temporary impotence. They play a game of scribbage together in which Joe reveals his limited academic prowess. She teasingly suggests that Joe may be a homosexual, and that does the trick: he is suddenly able to perform, and the two have lively, aggressive sex. In the morning, the socialite sets up a friend of hers to be Joe's next customer, and it appears his career is on its way.

When Joe returns home later, Rizzo is in bed, sweating and feverish, and admits to Joe that he is unable to walk. Joe wants to take Rizzo to a doctor, but Rizzo adamantly refuses. He wants to leave New York for Miami; this has been his goal the whole time. A frightened Joe is determined to take care of his friend and leaves the apartment to scrounge some money. He picks up an older male customer, but the man tries to send him away at the last minute out of guilt. Joe's desperation boils over when the man gives him a religious medallion instead of cash. He beats and robs the man, stuffing the telephone receiver into his mouth when he thinks the man is calling the hotel front desk for help.

With the money, Joe buys two bus tickets to Florida. During the long journey, Rizzo's already serious physical condition deteriorates further. During a rest stop, Joe touchingly buys bright new clothing for Rizzo and himself. He throws away his cowboy outfit and admits "I ain't no kinda hustler." As they reach Florida and near Miami, Joe talks about plans to get a regular job, only to realize that Rizzo has died in the seat beside him. After Joe informs the bus driver, the driver tells him that there is nothing else to do but continue on to Miami.

The film ends with Joe seated with his arm around his dead friend, numbly staring out the bus window as row after row of palm trees go by.

L² Scored: 7/10

L² Comment:

Well, guess what? Jon Voight is Angelina Jolie's father. That's why u see Angelina is so hot... Coz the father is hot as well. This movie has won the best film in oscar academy awards. And both Dustin and Jon has been nominated as the best actor but did not won.

The whole film is kinda simple but the "gay relationship" is kinda hidden between the 2 guys in this film. Well, i would love to watch more of Jon Voight's movie soon :)