Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

 Released Year: 2010

Directed by Oliver Stone

Casted by:

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko

Shia LaBeouf as Jacob "Jake" Moore

Josh Brolin as Bretton James

Carey Mulligan as Winnie Gekko

Eli Wallach as Julius Steinhardt

Susan Sarandon as Jake's Mother

 Story:

In 2001, Gordon Gekko is released from prison after serving eight years for insider trading and securities fraud. Seven years later, Gekko is promoting his new book Is Greed Good? - warning about the coming economic downturn. His estranged daughter, Winnie, runs a small news website and is dating Jacob Moore, a top proprietary trader at Keller Zabel Investments (KZI). Jacob is a protégé of managing director Louis Zabel, and is trying to raise money for a fusion research project which would create massive amounts of clean energy for the world.

After Keller Zabel's stock loses more than 50% of its value, Louis Zabel tries to arrange a bailout for KZI from other Wall Street banks but is blocked by Bretton James, head of rival firm Churchill Schwartz, which Louis Zabel had refused to bail out eight years earlier. The next morning Louis Zabel kills himself by jumping in front of a subway train because he cannot handle the stress and embarrassment of losing his company. Distraught, Jacob proposes marriage to Winnie, who accepts. Later, he approaches Gordon Gekko after a lecture. Gekko tells Jacob that Keller Zabel's collapse started when rumors of the company having toxic debt started to spread. Jacob and Gekko arrange a trade: Jacob will try to reconcile Winnie and Gekko's relationship, and Gekko will gather information to destroy Bretton's career to seek revenge for Louis Zabel's suicide.

Aided by Gekko, Moore learns that Bretton James profited from the Keller Zabel collapse. In revenge, he spreads rumors about the nationalization of an African oil field owned by Churchill Schwartz. The company loses $120 million, and Bretton offers Moore a job, which he accepts determined to avenge Zabel. At his new job, Moore convinces Chinese investors to fund the fusion research he has been supporting. Bretton is impressed by Jacob's initiative and is also glad for the new investment.

As the economy starts to crumble, Winnie announces to Moore she is pregnant with a boy, and Bretton reveals to Moore that the Chinese investment is going into solar panels and fossil fuels instead of fusion research, which upsets Moore. Gekko proposes a solution, using a $100 million trust fund account in Switzerland, which Gekko set up for Winnie in the 1980s, to fund the research and save the company. She signs the money over to Moore who then entrusts it to Gekko to legitimize the funds for investment in the fusion research company. However, the money never arrives, and Gekko betrays his daughter and Moore by leaving the country with Winnie's $100 million. Jacob realizes that Gordon Gekko has been using him to get the money in the account for his own gain. Distraught, Jacob confesses to Winnie that he had been secretly meeting with Gekko. Winnie then asks Jacob to leave as she neither trusts him nor feels safe around him. Jacob leaves and they remain apart for most of Winnie's pregnancy.

Moore tracks Gekko to London where he is running a hedgefund-like financial company with the $100 million. Jacob proposes one last trade: Winnie gets her money back, and Gekko can participate in his grandson's life, yet Gekko refuses. Moore pieces together everything from Keller Zabel's collapse to the economic bailout of Bretton's company and gives the information to Winnie, telling her that revealing it will bring her website publicity and credibility. Winnie runs the story, and Bretton James is exposed. The investors leave Bretton and go to Gekko on the back of his $1.1 billion return as Bretton finds himself under intense legal scrutiny by the government. As Jacob finds Winnie in New York, Gekko appears and tells them that he deposited $100 million into the fusion research's account anonymously. He apologizes to Jacob and Winnie, who then reconcile. One year later, Gekko is seen at his grandson Louis ('Louie') first birthday party along with Jacob's mother and Jacob and Winnie's friends.

L² Scored: 4/10

L² Comment: 

I have been wanting to watch this movie few years ago and finally i found it. As the movie goes on, i slowly doze off into sleep and finally i realize this is not the movie that i would like to watch even though my fav Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf is here... The storyline is a bit bored and i...i...i dont really understand a lot of the things inside lol~

The Lovely Bones

Released Year: 2009
Directed by Peter Jackson

Casted by:
Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon
Mark Wahlberg as Jack Salmon
Rachel Weisz as Abigail Salmon
Stanley Tucci as George Harvey
Susan Sarandon as Grandma Lynn
Reece Ritchi as Ray Singh
Story:

Susie Salmon, a 14 years old girl who live in a happy family on 1973 who dreams of becoming a famous photographer. She has a crush on an indian boy, Ray Singh and so does he towards Susie. Ray sliped a not for Susie for a date on the next day. As Susie walking happily back home after Ruth Conners, she bumped into her neighbour, George Harvey.

George coaxes her into seeing an underground den that he says he has built for the neighbourhood children. While in the den, Geroge raped Susie and killed her. But Susie's spirit cannot accept the facts and ran away and passed through Ruth on her way. In the meanwhile, her family was so worried and make report to the police. Susie's spirit ran home and found out the whole house was empty. She then saw Harvey soaking in the bathtub on the upstair bathroom. Her charm bracelet hanging on the sink faucet near a bloody shaving razor. Susie realize she never escaped from the den and she was dead now. Susie screams in horror and was pulled into a world-between that she can watched over her loved one. At there, she met a chinese girl, Holly who was dead too.

In the meanwhile, police investigate in the neighbourhood and found Susie's hat with blood stain. Susie's mother, Abigail broke down into total stress and move away from the sad place. She try to live on a different life and told others she only has 2 children, Lindsey & Buckley, refused to remember the death of Susie. Susie's father, Jack suspected George and followed him into the corn field but accidentally bump into a young couple which beat Jack to unconsious. Grandma Lynn then move into the house to take care of Lindsey and Buckley. Ray found out Susie's death from Ruth and was in deep sadness.

Holly urged Susie to move on to her life but Susie claimed that something has not been done yet. One day, Lindsey sneaked into George's house and discover a notebook underneath the bedroom floorboard containing a sketch of the clubhouse and Susie's hair. George was back and chased after lindsey but Lindsey escaped and went home. She was happy to see Abigail is finally back home and passed the notebook to Lynn.

George was horror and plan to runaway. He put Susie's dead body into a safe and wanna throw into a big hole which will be burried soon. Ruth and Ray were nearby and Ruth sense it. Susie's spirit entered Ruth' body and Ruth collapsed, Ray went for rescue and discover she has become Susie. Ray finally kiss Susie which completing Susie's last wish, Susie returns to heaven.

Few years later, George wanna coaxes another young girl into a car but accidentally fall backward when a large icicle knocked his head. George fall over the cliff and dead in broken pieces. Susie's spirit is still around her family and saw Lindsey happily married to a guy and Abigail finally able to step into Susie's room again. Everybody is healed.

L² Scored: 8/10

L² Comment:

Woah, this is really a nice film i must say :) Story is from Alice Sebold's novel in 2002 which created a blast :) Specially love the sentence which Susie Salmon said:

These were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections - sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent - that happened after i was gone. And i began to see things in a way that let me hold the world without me in it. The events my death brought were merely the bones of a body that would become whole at some unpredictable tome in the future. The price of what i came to see as this miraculous lifeless body has been my life.

Saoirse Ronan is seriously a beauty which in a few year times she definitely can be the next Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johanson. Even the pretty Rachel Weisz lost all her shiny beauty to this young actress.