Scott Hicks

Based on Nicholas Sparks` bestseller The Lucky One, Zac Efron (``17 Again,`` ``Charlie St. Cloud``) stars alongside Taylor Schilling (TV`s ``Mercy``) and Blythe Danner (``Meet the Parents`` franchise) in this romantic drama directed by Academy Award-nominated writer/director Scott Hicks (``Shine,`` ``No Reservations``). 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 alivea photograph he found of a woman he doesn`t even know. Learning her name is Beth (Schilling) and where she lives, he shows up at her door, and ends up taking a job at her family-run local 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.

Ace Chef Kate is very intense in and out of kitchen as well. Kate has this no nonsense persona that impresses and intimidates people around her. But her passion towards job is extra ordinary. She is a perfectionist and wants to give her best shot all the time. But all her skills are put to test by the arrival of new sous chef Nick Palmer. He is a free wheeling and high spirited. His persona is totally opposite of Kate's. He is everything what Kate is not. But just like two opposites attract, the chemistry between them is unmistakable. Amidst Kate's busy work schedule, she has to juggle between her job and her nine year old Zoe (Abigail Breslin) who has come to live with her. Zoe is a smart and thinking young girl. Don't know what infuriates Kate the most. Is it Nick's charming persona or his talent to back his charm? But he manages to strike a chord with Zoe. Even she finds it easier to talk to Nick than Kate. And if Kate wants to develop real lasting bond with Zoe, she must find the right balance between her professional and personal life. But most importantly, she must learn to express herself freely. So will she able to adjust to all of this?

Middle-aged photographer and businessman Robert "Bobby" Garfield (Anton Yelchin) returns to his old hometown upon learning that his best friend, decorated soldier John "Sully" Sullivan (Will Rothhaar) has died in a traffic accident and begins recollecting his past when he visits an abandoned house where he used to live. Bobby finds that his other friend Carol also died a few years ago. During a summer in the 1960s, an eleven-year-old Bobby lives with his widowed mother, self-centered Liz Garfield (Hope Davis) (she is a bitter and vain woman), and has two friends, Carol Gerbe (Mika Boorem) and Sully. They experienced many things together, the most mysterious of which was meeting an older gentleman named Ted Brautigan (Sir Anthony Hopkins), whom Liz takes in as a boarder. Liz does not trust Ted at all (as he has all his belongings in a paper bag) but needs the money. Liz is having an affair with her boss Don Biderman (Adam LeFevre). Carol & Bobby have a special affection for one another including sharing a kiss "by which all others will be measured". Mrs. Gerber (Deirdre O'Connell) is Carol's mother. Ted takes the lonely Bobby under his wing, while his mother is busy with her job. The two form a paternal father-son bond, and it slowly becomes evident that Ted has some psychic and telekinetic powers. After reading Bobby's mind and realizing that the boy dreams of owning a bicycle; Ted kindly offers Bobby $1 a week in exchange for his reading a newspaper out loud. Bobby quickly figures out that Ted has some other purpose in mind. These same powers are the reason that Brautigan has come to this sleepy town. In due course Ted entrusts Bobby with the knowledge that he has escaped the grasp of the "Low Men", strange people who would stop at nothing to get him back in their control. dark clothes and dark hats, moving in packs in flashy cars. Ted says they want him back under their control. Ted reads Bobby's mind and tells him tales about how Ted and Bobby's father were at the same football game. He tells how an aging footballer was playing that day. His team was losing. He kept fighting and kept crawling 5 - 10 yards at each pass. Eventually, it was a miracle, and the aging footballer won the game for his team. Mysteriously, Ted asks Bobby to keep an eye on the neighborhood looking for any signs of announcements about missing pets (which could allude to the presence of "low men"). Ted can sense that Bobby also has mind reading abilities and is almost training him for it. Bobby attends the carnival and is able to play the card guessing game really well. He wins every time. He has the gift, and he scares himself with it. Bobby sees "low men" in town, but does not tell Ted, afraid to lose his new friend (Ted had told him that he would have to leave, in case the "low men" came to town). Bobby, Carol and John have frequent conflicts with the local town bully, Harry Doolin (Timmy Reifsnyder), whom Ted is able to scare away by looking into his mind and finding out that his violence is used to cover up the fact that he is secretly a cross-dresser. Liz leaves Bobby in Ted's care when she goes with her boss for the weekend for a seminar. She was reluctant, but there was no other babysitter available, who would do it for free. Ted and Bobby have a close shave with the "low men", when they pass by in their car. Ted asks Bobby to think about happy memories to confuse them. Ted prepares to leave town. However, at one point, Harry harasses and injures Carol, and when Ted manipulates her dislocated shoulder into place. Liz arrives, after being sexually assaulted by her boss, and mistakenly believes that Ted is a child molester. She is confronted by Ted's ability to tell her the truth about what she has been through, and how her behavior is affecting her relationship with her son, providing another reason that Ted must leave. That and the "low men" are closing in on him. Ted is eventually captured with the help of a tip from Liz. As some form of closure, Ted yells to Bobby as he is being driven away that he wouldn't have missed a moment "not for all the world", and later Bobby mirrors the same feelings. Bobby is later confronted by Harry, but Bobby grabs the latter's baseball bat and beats him with it. Liz later finds a new job in Boston and moves the family there. Before he leaves, Bobby and Carol say their goodbyes and share a final kiss. Returning to the present, Bobby turns to leave his old home wherein he meets a young girl named Molly. The two strike up a conversation wherein Molly reveals that she is Carol's daughter and that Carol died in recent years. Bobby gives Molly a photograph of a young Carol and the two become friends.

In the town of Mossyrock, WA, fisherman Carl Heine, Jr. (Eric Thal), is reported missing after staying out in his fishing boat at night in heavy fog. After scouring the waters around the island, Carl's boat is found, with Carl found dead in his fishing nets. Being a family man with no reason to kill himself, the townspeople suspect foul play. After searching Carl's boat, a spare battery is found to power the boat, that doesn't appear to fit. The battery is soon found out to be the property of Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune), a Japanese fisherman who was known to be friends with Carl as a boy. This evidence immediately makes Kazuo a prime suspect, and he is arrested, and put on trial for the murder of Carl. Covering the story is a man named Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke), who assumed the job of running the town's small newspaper upon the death of his Father. Ishmael takes an interest in the case, because of Kazuo's wife, Hatsue (Youki Kudoh). Many years before, Ishmael and Hatsue were both young lovers, though segregation regarding the town's Japanese population was evident in many places. Ishmael and Hatsue (Reeve Carney and Anne Suzuki during their younger years) continued to meet in private, but then the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. After these events, the Japanese population of the town was forced to move into internment camps for the remainder of the wartime, separating the two lovers. At the camp, Hatsue's Mother (Ako) intercepts a letter from Ishmael that reveals her daughter's relationship with him. Hatsue's Mother is adamant that her daughter stop communicating with Ishmael, and Hatsue ends up writing him a letter stating that she didn't really love him, but praising his "gentle heart". Hatsue soon married Kazuo Miyamoto, and although Kazuo soon leaves to fight in Europe, the two had a family by the time they returned to Mossyrock. During this time, Ishmael was sent off to the Pacific to fight in the war. Hatsue's letter, coupled with the loss of his arm, left him bitter in the aftermath of the war. He asks Hatsue for just one embrace, but she refuses. He carries on his father's work on the Island newspaper, but not his father's strong opinions, which had lead to death threats as he supported treating the Japanese the same as Italian and German citizens. As Kazuo is put on trial, he is represented by Nels Gudmundsson (Max von Sydow), an old man who believes strongly in justice. The prosecuting attorney in the case is a man named Alvin Hooks (James Rebhorn). Alvin and Nels question a number of different witnesses. Judge Fielding (James Cromwell) in the judge of that case. During the trial, the questioning brings flashbacks to Ishmael, Hatsue and Kazuo that tell the stories of the affair and the internment. One of the first is the coroner Horace Whaley (Max Wright), who claims that Carl's head appeared to have been struck by a heavy object. The coroner at one point speculates that the strike reminded him of how someone's head would have been impacted by a kendo stick. The art of kendo is practiced by the Japanese, and many of the Japanese men taught this ancient sport to their own children, including Kazuo. Another witness brought forth is Carl's mother, Etta (Celia Weston). Etta explains how Carl Jr. and Kazuo were childhood friends. Their fathers were also good friends, though Etta hints at her disliking of the Japanese in the town. Kazuo's father (Akira Takayama), a tenant farmer on land owned by Etta and her husband, requested to purchase 7 acres of land from Carl Sr. (Daniel von Bargen). Though Etta also voiced her indifference to this deal, Carl Sr. still went ahead with the deal. Due to the law preventing immigrant Asians from owning title to land, they would pay the Heine's over a period of 10 years, with title to pass when Kazou, born in the US, was old enough to own the land. However, before the last payment could be made, the Miyamoto's were taken to an internment camp. During the time they were away, Carl Sr. died, and Etta was unable to care for the farm (her son was away at the time fighting the Japanese, so he was unable to help her either). Etta then sold the farm (including the 7 acres) to another farmer named Ole Jurgensen. Etta claimed she sent the Miyamoto's their money back, but once the war had ended, Kazuo showed up at her doorstep, wanting to finish the purchase of the 7 acres. When Etta explained what had happened, Kazuo accused her of selling the land out from under his family while they were away. Sometime later, Ole Jurgensen (Jan Rubens) suffered a stroke, and was unable to continue farming. It was then that Carl Jr. (having returned from the war by this time), purchased Ole's land. Kazuo had intended to purchase the 7 acres again, but was informed that Ole had sold the land to Carl shortly before his arrival. During the case, Ishmael grows curious about the location of Carl's boat. Carl's boat was found floating in a channel where larger ships were known to pass sometimes in the night. He visits the Coast Guard Light House station, and finds records there that a freighter went through the channel around the time that Carl was reported to have died. However, Ishmael does not reveal his discovery about this to anyone. The trial continues, with the Defense calling Hatsue to be questioned. Alvin Hooks makes note how once it became known that Carl was dead and the Police were looking for any answers, her husband didn't come forward. Hatsue makes it known that they were afraid as to what people might think, given the situation. Kazuo is questioned as well, regarding his meeting with Carl, as he was the last person to see him alive. Kazuo had also been out fishing in the night, and had spotted Carl's boat, with a lantern on the mast, signaling that he needed help. Kazuo came to Carl's boat, to find that the engine had died. Kazuo loaned Carl one of his batteries to get the ship started. The talk the turned to the subject of the 7 acres of land. Kazuo explained that Carl said he would see him in a day or two, and try to work something out. Hooks questions Kazuo's credibility, since he had changed his story after being arrested and getting an attorney. In the closing statements, Alvin Hooks paints a picture in the jury's mind of Kazuo Miyamoto being a man who felt wronged, and wanted revenge, claiming that the meeting between the two on the boat eventually led to Kazuo murdering his childhood friend, and covering it up. Nels Gudmundsson takes a more low-key approach, and claims that Hooks wishes the jury to see not a man, but an 'enemy.' Nels explains how Kazuo was a member of the US Armed Services, and a highly decorated man who served his country. He notes that evidence shows that Carl was still considering Kazuo's offer - why would he murder him if he thought he might receive what he had been seeking for so long? As the jury deliberates Kazuo's fate, Ishmael contemplates his life. After coming to a deep trough regarding letting go of the bitterness over his past, decides to come forward with what he found regarding the shipping channel. Ishmael shows his information to the local police, who go with him to see Carl's boat. Kazuo claimed there was a lantern tied to the mast, but one is not found. However, there appears to be rope where something was once lashed to the mast. Also upon closer inspection, an indent was found in the side of the boat, with some hair stuck in the wood. Ishmael and Sheriff Art Moran (Richard Jenkins) then meet with Nels, Alvin, and the Judge (James Cromwell) regarding this new evidence. Ishmael tells the information he found. According to a log regarding ships going through the channel, a freighter passed through the channel around 1:42am. Carl was wearing a watch when he was found, with the hands stopped around the same time. Ishmael then provides his theory: After Kazuo left, Carl climbed the mast to cut loose the light he had tied. However, after he had cut the lantern down, the freighter mentioned in the log came through the channel. It's wake caused Carl's boat to pitch wildly, sending him falling from the mast, hitting his head on the rail, before falling into his fishing nets where he drowned. The Judge considers this evidence, decides the death was accidental, and releases Kazuo. After these events, Hatsue gives Ishmael a hug, thanking him for his 'gentle heart'.