The Lucky One

The Lucky One (2012)
Starring: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, and Blythe Danner
Based on the novel by: Nicholas Sparks
Directed by: Scott Hicks
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Grade: A+

I loved the book that this movie was based on. And this movie was another great adaptation of a novel. U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault (Efron) returns from his third tour of duty in Iraq, with the one thing he credits with keeping him alive - a photograph he found of a woman he doesn't even know. Discovering her name is Beth (Schilling) and where she lives, he shows up at her door, and ends up taking a job offered by her mother (Danner) at her family-run kennel. Despite her initial mistrust and the complications in her life, a romance develops between them, giving Logan hope that Beth could be much more than his good luck charm. This was Efron's best performance in a movie yet and Schilling was extremely believable as a lonely single mother. Now, I just have to wait a year for Sparks' next novel, Safe Haven, to be turned into a movie (with Josh Duhamel...yay!)

Charlie St. Cloud

Charlie St. Cloud (2010)
Starring: Zac Efron, Charlie Tahan, and Amanda Crew
Directed by: Burr Steers
Tagline: Life is for living.
Grade: B

I love Zac Efron. He's one of my favorite actors (and he's very cute) and I can't wait for The Lucky One to come out. I was interested to see this movie, but not so much that I went to the theater. But I did get it when it came on video. It's pretty good, but I didn't really like the supernatural edge to it. Charlie (Efron) has a very good future ahead of him, until the death of his brother, Sam (Tahan), makes him give up on life. He takes a job as caretaker of the cemetary, because he wants to carry on the relationship with his brother, so much so that he even begins to see and talk to him. But then a girl (Crew) comes into his life and messes up his relationship with his brother, because, as his brother points out, "the more you're in her world [meaning, the real world], the less you can be in mine." Overall, pretty good, well acted, especially by Efron and newcomer Amanda Crew, who you can see as the hilariously dumb Kia in She's the Man.