Moana

 Released Year: 2016

Directed by Ron Clements & John Musker

Voiced by:

Auli'i Cravalho as Moana

Dwayne Johnson as Maui

Rachel House as Tala

Temuera Morrison as Tui

Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa

Nicole Scherzinger as Sina

Alan Tudyk as Heihei

 Story:

A small pounamu stone that is the mystical heart of the island goddess, Te Fiti, is stolen by the wind and sea demigod, Maui, who plans to give it to humanity as a gift. As Maui makes his escape, he is attacked by Te Kā, a lava demon of Earth and fire, causing his power-granting magical fishhook and the heart of Te Fiti to be lost in the ocean.

A millennium later, Moana, daughter and heir of the chief on the small Polynesian island of Motunui, is chosen by the ocean to receive the heart, but drops it when her father, Tui comes to get her. He insists the island provides everything the villagers need. Years later, a blight strikes the island as fish become scarce and the island's vegetation begins dying. Moana proposes going beyond the reef to find more fish. Tui rejects her request, claiming that sailing past the reef is forbidden.

Moana's grandmother, Tala, shows Moana a secret cave behind a waterfall where she finds boats inside and discovers her ancestors were voyagers, sailing and discovering new islands across the world. Tala explains that they stopped voyaging because Maui stole the heart of Te Fiti, causing monsters to appear in the ocean. Tala then says Te Kā's darkness has been spreading from island to island, slowly killing them. Tala returns the heart of Te Fiti to Moana, which she had recovered after Moana dropped it.

Tala falls ill, and with her dying breaths, tells Moana to set sail. Moana and her pet rooster, Heihei, depart in a drua to find Maui. A manta ray, Tala's reincarnation, follows. After a typhoon wave flips her sailboat and knocks her unconscious, she awakens the next morning on an island inhabited by Maui, who traps her in a cave and takes her sailboat to search for his fishhook. After escaping and catching up to Maui, Moana tries to convince him to return the heart, but Maui refuses, fearing its power will attract dark creatures.

Sentient coconut pirates called Kakamora surround the boat and steal the heart, but Moana and Maui retrieve it. Maui agrees to help return the heart, but only after he reclaims his hook, which is hidden in Lalotai, the Realm of Monsters. At Lalotai, they retrieve it by tricking Tamatoa, a giant coconut crab who collects rare sea treasures. Maui teaches Moana how to properly sail and navigate. They arrive at Te Fiti, where Te Kā attacks. Maui is overpowered and Te Kā badly cracks his hook and repels their boat far out to sea. Finally having enough of Moana's meddling and fearful that returning to fight Te Kā will destroy his hook, an angry Maui abandons her.

Distraught, Moana begs the ocean to take the heart and choose another person to return it to Te Fiti. The spirit of Tala comes to her and encourages Moana to find her true calling within herself. Inspired, Moana retrieves the heart and returns to Te Fiti alone. Maui, having had a change of heart, returns and distracts the lava demon, but his hook is destroyed in the battle. Realizing that Te Kā is a corrupted Te Fiti without her heart, Moana asks the ocean to clear a path for Te Kā to approach her. Moana then sings a song to help Te Kā remember who she truly is, and she allows Moana to restore her heart. Te Fiti returns and gives a new boat to Moana and a new magical fishhook to Maui before returning to her island form.

Moana bids farewell to Maui and returns to her recovering island with Heihei. Later, the villagers and Moana (who becomes their new chief) begin voyaging and set sail in search of new islands, as Maui and Tala accompany them in their giant hawk and manta ray forms, respectively.

In a post-credits scene, Tamatoa, who has been stranded on his back during Moana and Maui's escape, tells the audience they would help him if he was a Jamaican crab named Sebastian.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment: 

A great production from Disney again :) This time a Polynesian's myth was brought into the cartoon. The myth is actually the demigod Maui, but disney as usual, they will focus more on a female character, that's why Moana's character occur...Love the storyline as its not like the usual Disney "princess & prince", but a bravery of a girl attracted me... And it has gross a lot, nice job :)

The Great Wall 長城

Released Year: 2016

Directed by 张艺谋 Zhang Yi Mou 

Casted by:

Matt Damon as William Garin

景甜 Jing Tian as 林梅 Commander Lin Mae

Pedro Pascal as Pero Tovar

刘德华 Andy Lau as 王军师 Strategist Wang

Willem Dafoe as Ballard

鹿晗 Lu Han as 彭勇 Peng Yong

张涵予 Zhang Hanyu as 邵殿帅 Commander Shao

彭于晏 Eddie Peng as 吴将军 Commander Wu

林更新 Lin Gengxin as 陈将军 Commander Chen

黄轩 Huang Xuan as 邓将军 Commander Teng

 Story:

During the Song dynasty, a few miles north of the Great Wall, William, Tovar, and three other survivors from a European mercenary group searching for black powder are pursued by Khitan bandits. Upon escaping they seek refuge in a cave, but are attacked by a shadowy monster, leaving only William and Tovar alive, the former having slashed off the monster's hand. The next day, they stumble upon the Great Wall and are taken prisoner by Chinese soldiers, who are led by General Shao, General Lin, and Strategist Wang. The officers have been preparing for a monster invasion which happens once every sixty years. However, they are frightened upon seeing the monster's hand, identified as a member of the Taotie species, as they believed the invasion was still weeks away. Suddenly, a wave of monsters attack the Great Wall, and the soldiers respond with archery, ballistas, and catapaults which throw burning rocks. Lin leads a company of female soldiers who jump off the Wall and are pulled back with elastic cords. The monsters are more intelligent and numerous than the soldiers' expectations, but are repelled with William and Tovar's assistance, which earns the soldiers' respect. Later, William and Tovar meet Sir Ballard, a European who, like them, had ventured east twenty-two years ago in search of black powder, which might be sold for a fortune back in Europe. However, Ballard was also taken prisoner, and has been serving as an English and Latin teacher. The three men discuss plans to steal black powder from the store-room and flee while the soldiers are occupied by battle.

During the night, two monsters manage to climb the Great Wall and kill a guard. Shao and Lin lead a platoon to investigate, but they are ambushed and Shao is killed, leaving Lin in charge. Around this time, an envoy from the capital, Bianliang, arrives with an ancient scroll, which suggests that the monsters are pacified by magnets. To test this theory, William suggests that Lin should capture a monster alive using harpoons laced with sedatives, and delays his escape plans to help. At the next battle, several monsters are ensnared, and William bravely slides down a chain to ensure that an ensnared monster is not freed by other monsters. Tovar delays his escape to assist William, to Ballard's disappointment. The soldiers resist the monsters by fighting vertically along the Wall while tied to a chain, and by using spinning mechanical blades. As the monsters are too numerous, Lin resorts to using black powder rockets, whose existence had been a secret. After the battle, the captured monster is taken to the capital by the envoy. A short while later, a hole is discovered in the base of the Great Wall, which the monsters have used as a bypass, a reflection of their cleverness. While Lin investigates, Tovar and Ballard try to escape, and knock William unconscious for resisting. Some distance away, Ballard abandons Tovar, stealing his horse, but is captured by the Khitans, who accidentally ignite a bomb killing themselves and Ballard. Tovar reclaims the horses, but is captured by Chinese riders.

Knowing that the monsters are nearing the capital, Lin orders the use of an unstable technology, namely hot-air balloons, to reach the capital more quickly. Most of the balloons catch fire and the soldiers fall to their deaths. William boards the last balloon with Wang, following Lin to the capital, where they find most of the city already ruined. However, they think of a plan to kill the queen monster by tying explosives to the captured monster from earlier, and giving the monster meat to deliver to the queen. The three people climb a tower to shoot a black powder rocket to detonate the explosives, during which Wang is killed. Two rockets fail, but the third succeeds, after William throws a magnetic stone at the queen right before the rocket hits. In the aftermath, Lin is promoted to regional marshal, and William forgoes a reward in exchange for freeing Tovar. The two are allowed to return to Europe and a contingent of cavalry are sent to protect them.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

This is the first english-language movie that is directed by Zhang Yi Mou in his 33 years of being a director. He has won a lot of awards in Asian but can he won one from the Western country by this movie, let's see... Using the same concept of his 2002 movie HERO, he used sharp colors to differentiate the team of army in this movie.I love the storyline of the movie, very exciting and new while the way of defensing The Great Wall are fascinating as well. Matt Damon still look superb, being the few only western actor, he managed to shine together with the Asian actor but not overly outcast-ed his fellow actors in the same film, which i think is quite important as well... Of course this movie also let a lot of the Asian actors & actresses has the chance to show their face in Hollywood, good work Zhang Yi Mou :)

Finding Dory

 Released Year: 2016

Directed by Andrew Stanton

Voiced by: 

Ellen DeGeneres as Dory

Albert Brooks as Marlin

Hayden Rolence as Nemo

Ed O'Neill as Hank

Diane Keaton as Jenny

Eugene Levy as Charlie

Kaitlin Olson as Destiny

Ty Burrell as Bailey

 Story: 

Dory, as a child, gets separated from her parents. As she grows up, Dory attempts to search for them, gradually forgetting them due to her short-term memory loss. After accidentally running in with Marlin, a clownfish, who's looking for his missing son, she goes to help him.

One year after reuniting Nemo with Marlin, Dory has become a helping hand in raising Nemo. One day during a field trip with Nemo's class to learn about migration, Dory recalls through a childhood flashback that she has a family. She decides to look for them but finds her short-term memory loss to be an obstacle. The only thing she remembers is that they lived at the Jewel of Morro Bay.

Marlin and Nemo accompany Dory in her quest. With the help of Crush, they ride a water current to California. Upon arrival, Dory accidentally awakens a predatory squid, who immediately pursues them, almost devouring Nemo during the chase. Marlin tends to his son afterwards and berates Dory for almost getting him killed. Feeling hurt, Dory travels to the surface to seek help and is captured by staff members from the nearby Marine Life Institute after being caught in six pack rings.

Dory is sent to the quarantine section and tagged. There she meets a grouchy yet well-meaning, seven-legged octopus named Hank. Dory's tag shows that she will be sent to an aquarium in Cleveland. Due to a traumatic ocean life, Hank wants to live in the aquarium instead of being released back into the ocean, so he agrees to help Dory find her parents in exchange for her tag. In one exhibit, Dory encounters her childhood friend Destiny, a nearsighted whale shark who used to communicate with Dory through pipes, and Bailey, a beluga whale who believes he has lost his ability to echolocate. Dory subsequently has flashbacks of life with her parents and struggles to recall details, but finally remembers how she became separated from her parents: she overheard her mother crying one night, left home to retrieve a shell in hopes of cheering her up, and was pulled away by an undertow current. Subsequently, she learns that the rest of her regal blue tangs species are being moved to Cleveland.

Marlin and Nemo attempt to rescue Dory. With the help of two sea lions named Fluke and Rudder and a disfigured common loon named Becky, they manage to get into the institute, and reunite with her in the pipe system. Back in Quarantine, they locate the tank of blue tangs who tell them that Dory's parents escaped the Institute a long time ago to search for Dory but never came back. This leaves Dory under the impression that they died. Hank retrieves Dory from the tank, accidentally leaving Marlin and Nemo behind. He is then apprehended by one of the employees and unintentionally drops Dory into the drain flushing her to the ocean. Whilst wandering aimlessly, she comes across a trail of shells; remembering that when she was young, her parents had set out a similar trail to teach her how to find her way back home, she follows it. At the end of the trail, Dory finds an empty home with multiple shell trails leading away from it. As she turns to leave, she sees her parents Jenny and Charlie in the distance and joyfully reunites with them. They tell her they have spent years forming trails for her to follow in the hopes that she would eventually find them.

Marlin, Nemo, and Hank end up in the truck taking various aquatic life to Cleveland. Destiny and Bailey escape from their exhibit to help Dory rescue them. Once on board the truck, Dory persuades Hank to return to the sea with her, and together, they hijack the truck and drive it down a busy road before crashing it into the water, freeing all the fish. Dory, along with her parents and new friends, return to the reef with Marlin and Nemo.

In the post-credits scene, the Tank Gang from the first film, still trapped inside their (now algae-covered) plastic bags, reach California one year after floating across the Pacific Ocean. They are promptly rescued by the staff members from before, with Bloat asking for the second time, "Now what?"

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

Wow wow wow... This is really nice :) Love this movie as much as I love Finding Nemo. The crazy Dory seems to have a very pitiful background and its touching but at the same time funny as well. Marlin teams up with Nemo this time to look for the amnesiac Dory who is busying finding her parents when she managed to remember some of her memory. The whole story brought out almost the whole life Dory has... I couldnt stop laughing but at the same time feel pity for her...It really touched my heart at the scene where Dory thought her parents were dead... But finding them again, gosh, the story is real damn good.... By grossing over $1billion worldwide, this has cross the mark of Toy Story 3 in Pixar, let's hope it will win some awards this year, best of luck :)

Finding Nemo

 Released Year: 2003

Directed by Andrew Stanton

Voiced by:

Albert Brooks as Marlin

Ellen DeGeneres as Dory

Alexander Gould as Nemo

Willem Dafoe as Gill

Geoffrey Rush as Nigel

Barry Humphries as Bruce

Eric Bana as Anchor

Bruce Spence as Chum

 Story: 

Two clownfish, Marlin and Coral, admire their new home in the Great Barrier Reef and their clutch of eggs when a barracuda attacks, knocking Marlin unconscious. He wakes up to find that Coral and all but one of the eggs have been eaten by the barracuda. Marlin names this last egg Nemo.

Following his birth, Nemo develops a smaller right fin due to damage to his egg, which limits his swimming ability. Worried about Nemo's safety, Marlin embarrasses Nemo during a school field trip. Nemo sneaks away from the reef and is captured by scuba divers. As the boat departs, a diver accidentally knocks his diving mask overboard. While attempting to save Nemo, Marlin meets Dory, a good-hearted and optimistic regal blue tang with short-term memory loss. Marlin and Dory meet three Australian sharks – Bruce, Anchor and Chum – who claim to be vegetarians. Marlin discovers the diver's mask and notices an address written on it. When he argues with Dory and accidentally gives her a nosebleed, the blood causes Bruce to enter a violent feeding frenzy. The pair escape from Bruce, but the mask falls into a trench in the deep sea.

During a hazardous struggle with an Anglerfish in the trench, Dory sees the diving mask and reads the address located at 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. As Dory finishes reading the address on the mask, Marlin is able to trap the Anglerfish using the eyepiece of the mask. To her own disbelief, Dory is able to remember the address on her own despite her short-term memory loss. The pair swims on, receiving directions to Sydney from a school of moonfish. Marlin and Dory encounter a bloom of jellyfish that nearly kills them. Marlin loses consciousness and wakes up on a sea turtle named Crush, who takes Marlin and Dory on the East Australian Current. Marlin tells the details of his long journey with a group of sea turtles, and his story is spread across the ocean. He also sees how Crush gets along well with his son Squirt.

Meanwhile, Nemo is placed in a fish tank in the office of Phillip Sherman, a dentist. He meets aquarium fish called the Tank Gang, led by Gill, a moorish idol. The fish learn that Nemo is to be given to Sherman's niece, Darla, who previously killed a fish by constantly shaking its bag. Gill then reveals his plan to escape, jamming the tank's filter. The fish would be placed in plastic bags so that Sherman can clean the tank, and then they would roll out the window and into the harbor. Nemo attempts to jam the filter, but fails, almost getting himself killed in the process. Near the harbor, a pelican, Nigel, flies to Sherman's office and brings news of Marlin's adventure. Inspired by his father's determination, Nemo makes a second attempt to jam the filter. Unlike the first attempt, he is able to successfully render the filter useless, but to the tank gang's dismay, Sherman installs a new high-tech filter before they can escape.

After leaving the Current, Marlin and Dory are engulfed by a blue whale. Inside the whale's mouth, Dory communicates with the whale, which carries them to Port Jackson and expels them through his blowhole. They meet Nigel, and after helping the pair escape from a massive flock of Seagulls, he takes them to Sherman's office. Darla has just arrived and the dentist is handing Nemo to her. Nemo plays dead to save himself as Nigel arrives, causing Darla to scream. Upon seeing Nemo, Marlin mistakenly believes he is dead, before Nigel is violently thrown out. In despair, Marlin leaves Dory and begins to swim home. Gill helps Nemo escape into a drain that leads to the ocean. Dory loses her memory and becomes confused, and meets Nemo, who reaches the ocean. Eventually, Dory's memory returns after she reads the word "Sydney" on a drainpipe. She reunites Nemo with Marlin, but she is caught in a fishing net with a school of grouper. Nemo enters the net and orders the group to swim downward to break the net, enabling them to escape. After returning home, Nemo leaves for school, with Crush's son Squirt, and Marlin and Dory proudly watch Mr. Ray carry Nemo and his friends to school.

In a mid-credits sequence, the high-tech filter in Sherman's tank breaks down, and the Tank Gang escape into the harbour. Bloat realizes that they now have to find a way to get out of their plastic bags.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment:

Wow, I never realize it has been more than 10 years of this cartoon and this is only the second time i rewatch this multiple awards winner movie.This year Finding Dory is out but i didnt have the time to watch it in the cinema :( So before i watch it from any website before end of this year, i need to rewatch this first movie to refresh my memory of the crazy Dory hehe.

The whole storyline is just perfect, the character is damn cute. My favorite one is Peach "the starfish" in the aquarium haha...

The Secret of NIMH

 Released Year: 1982

Directed by Don Bluth

Voiced by:

 Elizabeth Hartman as Mrs. Brisby

Derek Jacobi as Nicodemus

Hermione Baddeley as Auntie Shrew

John Carradine as The Great Owl

Dom DeLuise as Jeremy the Crow

Arthur Malet as Mr. Ages

Peter Strauss as Justin

Paul Shenar as Jenner

Story:

Mrs. Brisby, a timid widowed field mouse, lives in a cinder block with her children in a field on the Fitzgibbons' farm. She prepares to move her family out of the field as plowing time approaches, but her son Timothy has fallen ill. She visits Mr. Ages, another mouse and friend of her late husband, Jonathan, who diagnoses Timothy with pneumonia and provides her with medicine. Mr. Ages warns her that Timothy must stay inside for at least three weeks or he will die. On her way home, she encounters Jeremy, a clumsy but friendly crow. They both narrowly escape from the Fitzgibbons' cat, Dragon.

The next day, Mrs. Brisby discovers that Farmer Fitzgibbons has started plowing early. Although her neighbor Auntie Shrew helps her disable his tractor, Mrs. Brisby knows she must devise another plan. Jeremy takes her to visit the Great Owl, who tells her to visit a group of rats that live beneath a rose bush on the farm and ask for Nicodemus, their wise and mystical leader.

Mrs. Brisby enters the rose bush and encounters a tough and aggressive guard rat named Brutus, who chases her away with a battle axe. She is led back in by Mr. Ages (who now has his leg bandaged up) and is amazed to see the rats' use of electricity and other technology. She meets Nicodemus and Justin, the Captain of the Guard, and a ruthless, power-hungry rat named Jenner. From Nicodemus, she learns that many years ago her husband, along with the rats and Mr. Ages, were part of a series of experiments at a place known as NIMH, the National Institute of Mental Health. The experiments boosted their intelligence, enabling them to escape, as well as extending their lifespans. However, they are unable to live only as rats, needing human technology to survive, which they have only accomplished by stealing. The rats have concocted "The Plan", which is to leave the farm and live independently. Nicodemus gives Mrs. Brisby an amulet called "The Stone", that gives magical power when its wearer is courageous.

Because of her husband's relationship with the rats, they agree to help Mrs. Brisby move her home. First, they need to drug Dragon to sleep so that they can complete the move safely. Only Mrs. Brisby can do this, as only mice are small enough to fit through the hole leading into the house; Jonathan was killed by Dragon in a previous attempt, while Mr. Ages broke his leg in another. That night, she puts the drug into the cat's food dish, but the Fitzgibbons' son Billy catches her. While trapped in a birdcage, she overhears a telephone conversation between Farmer Fitzgibbons and NIMH and learns that the Institute intends to exterminate the rats the next day. She escapes from the cage and runs off to warn Justin and the others.

The rats are moving the Brisby home, with the children inside, using a rope and pulley system during a thunderstorm. Jenner, who wishes for the rats to remain in the rose bush, sabotages the ropes with his reluctant accomplice Sullivan, causing the assembly to fly apart and kill Nicodemus. Mrs. Brisby arrives and tries to convince the rats that NIMH is coming and they must leave, but Jenner calls her a hysterical liar, attacks her, and attempts to take the amulet from her neck. Sullivan alerts Justin, who rushes to Mrs. Brisby's aid. After mortally wounding Sullivan, Jenner engages Justin in a sword fight, which ends in Justin stabbing him. Justin then addresses the other rats to prepare for their departure from the farm. Jenner recovers and advances on an unaware Justin, but the dying Sullivan hurls his own dagger into Jenner's back, killing him.

The Brisby house begins to sink into the mud, but Justin and the rats are unable to raise it. Mrs. Brisby's will to save her children gives power to the amulet, which she uses to lift the house and move it to safety. The rats depart to Thorn Valley with Justin as their new leader, and Timothy begins to recover. Jeremy eventually meets "Miss Right", another crow who is just as clumsy as he is, and the two fly away together.

 L² Scored: 10/10

L² Comment: 

I'm so thankful to Ellie coz she has been mentioning about this animation to me for more than 10 times. I never watch this anime before and since I went over to her place last night to take something, I decided to watch it when she ask me to.

This movie is based on the children book of Robert C.O'Brien "Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH". The movie follow exactly the original story of the novel except changing Mrs Frisby to Mrs Brisby due to the trademark concern of the Frisbee disc. This movie has make a hit back in 1982, it has beaten down a lot of famous movie such as Poltergeist, Rocky III, Firefox, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; but it still lose to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It has also won Saturn Award's Best Animated Film.

Though it has some fantasy in this movie, but it never hide anything that was not suppose to "occur" in the children movie such as "killing" & "dead", which is impossible to occur back in those days. The storyline is great of meaningful morals and yet it is not boring. The graphic might look dull if you watch this old 1982 movie, but a reboot of this movie has been announce in 2015, but not sure when it will be release then... 

Van Helsing

Released Year: 2004

Directed by Stephen Sommers

Casted by:

Hugh Jackman as Gabriel Van Helsing

Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious

Richard Roxburgh as Count Vladislaus Dracula

David Wenham as Carl

Kevin J. O'Connor as Igor

Will Kemp as Velkan Valerious

Silvia Colloca as Verona

Josie Maran as Marishka

Elena Anaya as Aleera

Story:

In 1887 Transylvania, Doctor Victor Frankenstein creates a monster with the anticipated aid of Count Dracula, who reveals that he plans to use the creature for his own evil plans and kills the doctor as his castle is raided by a mob of villagers. His assistant Igor escapes, but the villagers chase the monster to an old windmill and set it ablaze. The villagers are scared off by Dracula and his brides, who witness the monster and the doctor's research apparently destroyed by the fire.

One year later, after killing the elusive Mr. Hyde at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, monster hunter Van Helsing returns to the Vatican in Rome. He learns his mission to destroy Dracula and his amnesia are penance for past, unremembered sins that cause nightmares. He is tasked with helping the last of bloodline, Velkan Valerious and his sister Anna, who must kill Dracula before their ancestors may enter Heaven. Carl, a friar provides Van Helsing with aid and weapons. Meanwhile, in Transylvania, Velkan is apparently killed during an attempt to trap and kill a werewolf, and Anna is attacked by Dracula's brides shortly after Van Helsing's arrival. He saves her life and kills Marishka, one of the brides, but as the last of her line Anna becomes more determined to kill Dracula. In order to protect her, Van Helsing knocks her out to prevent her from leaving. Later that night, she awakens and encounters Velkan, who reveals Dracula has a dark secret, but to her horror, he becomes a werewolf and attacks. After she and Van Helsing track him to Frankenstein's castle, they discover that the vampires are attempting to give life to their born-dead children, using Velkan as the source of the power. Van Helsing, dubbed "Gabriel" by Dracula, realizes they had ties in the past. Van Helsing refuses Dracula's offer to return his memory and escapes. The experiment fails however, and the vampire children die, but Velkan turns on Anna as he becomes completely consumed by his curse. The pair then escape together.

Under the remains of the old windmill, Van Helsing and Anna encounter the monster. Because he is not evil, Van Helsing cannot allow it to be killed, even though he claims to be the key to the failed experiment. The werewolf witnesses this and escapes to inform Dracula. Meanwhile, Carl discovers a painting that comes to life, depicting a werewolf and a vampire battling. They travel by carriage to Budapest, successfully luring the remaining brides into a trap and killing Verona. Velkan ambushes the real carriage and bites Van Helsing before being shot and killed. Anna is captured and held as a bargaining chip to exchange her for the monster. They hide the monster in a crypt, but he is taken by the count's undead underlings while Van Helsing and Carl rescue Anna from the count's trap. Returning to the Valerious' castle, Carl discovers an inscription, part of which Van Helsing received in Rome and creates a doorway to the castle. After failing to free the monster from his imprisonment, he lets them know of a cure to lycanthropy that Dracula possesses. Carl determines that the bite of a werewolf is the only way to kill Dracula. He and Anna take Igor to find the cure while Van Helsing goes to free the monster. Igor escapes while the final bride, Aleera, assaults Anna as Carl tries to deliver the cure to Van Helsing. After escaping, the monster saves Anna and urges her to help Carl and Van Helsing. She kills Aleera and arrives at the castle. Meanwhile, the werewolf Van Helsing and Dracula battle. Dracula tries to reason with the werewolf, but Van Helsing bites Dracula, who dissolves into a skeleton. Anna bursts in and is attacked and killed by Van Helsing, but not before she delivers the cure. Van Helsing returns to normal, stricken with grief over what he has done.

At a pyre funeral, Van Helsing witnesses the spirits of Anna and her family ascending into the clouds while Frankenstein's monster rows away on a raft out to sea. Van Helsing and Carl ride off into the sunset.

L² Scored: 9.5/10

L² Comment:

Finally its time for me to re-watch this movie after so many years. I don't quite remember this movie which I have watch in cinema many years ago, seems like a lot of the scenes were censored off in my country. My favorite part of coz is the scene which vampire battle against the warewolf... I think its the peak of this movie, but too bad Beckinsale was killed at the end of the movie by the one she loved... so sad...

Star Trek Beyond

Released Year: 2016

Directed by Justin Lin

Casted by:

Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk

Zachary Quinto as Commander Spock

Karl Urban as Lieutenant Commander Leonard McCoy

Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura

Simon Pegg as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott

John Cho as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu

Anton Yelchin as Ensign Pavel Chekov

Idris Elba as Krall / Captain Balthazar Edison

Sofia Boutella as Jaylah

Story:

Three years into its five year mission, the USS Enterprise arrives at Starbase Yorktown, a massive space station, to resupply the ship and shore leave for her tired crew. Struggling to find continued meaning in their mission, Captain James Kirk has applied for a promotion to Vice Admiral. He recommends Spock as the new captain of the Enterprise. Meanwhile, Hikaru Sulu reunites with his husband and daughter, Spock and Nyota Uhura have amicably ended their relationship, and Montgomery Scott works to keep the ship operational. Spock also receives word from New Vulcan that Ambassador Spock has passed away.

An escape pod drifts out of a nearby nebula. The survivor, Kalara, claims her ship is stranded on Altamid, a planet in the nebula, and the Enterprise is dispatched on a rescue mission. The rescue turns into an ambush when the Enterprise is easily overwhelmed by a massive swarm of ships and is quickly torn apart. The swarm's alien commander, Krall and his crew board the ship, and unsuccessfully search for an alien artifact called the Abronath that Kirk had obtained on a recent mission. The swarm demolishes the Enterprise, and the saucer section crashes to the planet as the crew abandons ship in escape pods.

On the planet's surface, Sulu, Uhura and other surviving crew are captured by Krall. Kirk and navigator Pavel Chekov, accompanied by Kalara, find the wreckage of the saucer section. Kalara is discovered to be Krall's ally when she attempts to retrieve the Abronath for him. To escape Krall's soldiers, Kirk activates the still functional boosters, causing the saucer to lurch forward and killing Kalara as it flips over on itself. Meanwhile, a wounded Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy search for the other survivors. Spock tells McCoy that he intends to leave Starfleet to continue the late Ambassador Spock's work on New Vulcan. Meanwhile, Scott is rescued by Jaylah, a scavenger who previously escaped Krall's encampment. She takes him to her makeshift home, the wreck of the USS Franklin, an early Starfleet vessel that went missing over a hundred years ago. With Scott's help, the ship is repaired and powered back up. Scott, Kirk, Chekov, McCoy and Spock are reunited and use the ship as a base. The group plot to raid Krall's camp to rescue the crew and transport them to the Franklin, then escape the planet. Meanwhile, Krall coerces a member of Kirk's crew to hand over the Abronath that she had kept hidden for Kirk. The Abronath is the missing half of an ancient bioweapon, created by the planet's original inhabitants, that can disintegrate a humanoid lifeform in seconds. With the device now complete, Krall intends to attack Yorktown and kill its inhabitants, and, using its advanced technology, go on to attack the Federation. Kirk and the others free the crew as Krall launches from the planet with the bioweapon, leading his fleet to Yorktown.

The Enterprise crew pursues Krall in the Franklin. Scott transports Spock and McCoy into one of Krall's drone ships. After ejecting the pilots they discover how the drone vessels coordinate. Krall's communications is disrupted with VHF transmissions, causing mass confusion that results in the fleet's destruction. Krall and his three remaining officers crash in Yorktown. As Krall escapes into the city, Uhura and Kirk discover from the Franklin's logs that 'Krall' is actually Balthazar Edison, the original captain of the Franklin. A pre-Federation human soldier, Edison became disillusioned after peace was established throughout the Alpha Quadrant powers - believing other alien races will always be potential threats. When he and his two remaining crew were stranded on Altamid by a rogue wormhole, he believed the Federation had deliberately abandoned him. Having prolonged their lives with the vampiric technology of the planet's extinct natives (at the cost of their human biology), and re-purposing that species' dormant drone workers into the swarm, he now plans to destroy the Federation in revenge. Kirk pursues Krall, who has consumed enough human life energy to pass as a human, into the Yorktown's ventilation system, where Krall activates the bioweapon. Before the bioweapon can be unleashed, Kirk causes the weapon and Krall to be ejected into the vacuum of space, where Krall is consumed by the bioweapon. Spock and McCoy save Kirk seconds before he is also blown into space.

Kirk is offered the promotion to Vice Admiral, but he opts to remain as captain. Spock chooses to remain in Starfleet and resumes his relationship with Uhura, while Jaylah is accepted into Starfleet Academy. As the crew celebrates Kirk's birthday, they view the construction of their new ship, the USS Enterprise-A.

L² Scored: 9.5/10

L² Comment:

This is the third movie of Star Trek's Reboot Series... Now only i realize that I have never watch the first & second movie from this series, what a shame :p Not only this, I didn't even watch any single movie of The Next Generation Series; while only the first two movie of The Original Series were watched and blogged at here...Under this kind of circumstances, I cannot call myself as the "fans" lol~ Well, overall the movie is nice and the excitement keeps on coming without a second to lose. I think I better buck up my movies lately or else I will be very outdated dy...