Even though I knew the story in advance I was not prepared for the ending of this movie. I love dogs, I have had a dog who was my best friend for 11 years until she died. All the sadness of losing her came rushing back to me and I was an quietly sobbing by the end of the movie. Ok, I was bawling my eyes out. They should have warnings on these kind of movies. Hachi : A Dog’s Tale is a 2009 American movie  based on the true story of a faithful Akita Inu, the titular Hachi. It is a remake of the 1987 film Hachi-ko, literally The Tale of Hachiko. It was directed by Lasse Hallström, written by Stephen P. Lindsey and stars Richard Gere, Joan Allen, and Sarah Roemer. Hachi is portrayed by three Akitas named Chico, Layla, and Forrest — each playing a different period in Hachi’s life and his home.

A 11 year old boy, Ronnie, is telling the story of Hachi in his class as a project about ‘My Hero’. A young Akita pup is sent from Japan to the United States, but his cage falls off the baggage cart at an American train station, and by mistake the tag address is ripped apart. He breaks out of his cart and roams the station of the town where he is found by college professor Parker Wilson. Parker tries to leave the pup at the lost & found but the station manager, Carl (Jason Alexander) does not want to keep him there, so the professor takes him home. His wife Cate does not want to keep the pup at their home, so Parker promises to find a home for the Akita the next day.

However he has no luck in finding space for the pup at the local pound and has flyers posted about town. He sneaks the pup onto the train and takes him to work, where a Japanese college professor, Ken, translates the symbol on the pup’s collar as ‘Hachi’, Japanese for the number 8, which signifies good fortune. Parker names the puppy Hachi and bonds with the dog. Parker attempts to play fetch with Hachi, but he refuses to join in. Meanwhile Cate receives a call about someone wanting to adopt Hachi. After seeing how close her husband has come to Hachi, however, Cate tells the caller that Hachi has already been adopted.

A couple of years pass by and one morning when Parker leaves for work Hachi follows him to the station. where he refuses to leave until Parker walks him home. That afternoon Hachi sneaks out of the house again and walks to the train station, waiting patiently for Parker’s train to come in. Parker relents and this becomes a daily routine for them – every morning Parker walks his dog to the station and after the train leaves Hachi goes back home. In the evening when Parker comes back on a returning train Hachi will be waiting for him patiently and the two walk back home. This becomes a familiar sight to a lot of the store owners, vendors and other commuters who greet Hachi in affection on seeing him. one afternoon Parker attempts to leave, but Hachi barks and refuses to go with him.

Parker eventually leaves without him, but Hachi chases him, holding his ball. Parker is surprised but pleased that Hachi is finally willing to play fetch the ball with him. Worried that he will be late for the college, Professor Parker leaves on the train despite Hachi barking at him. At work that day Parker, still holding Hachi’s ball, is teaching his music class when he suddenly suffers a fatal heart attack and dies. Meanwhile Hachi waits for several hours at the station but does not see his master. Finally Parker’s son-in-law Michael comes to bring Hachi home. The next day, Hachi returns to the station and waits, remaining all day and all night. As time passes, Cate sells the house and moves away from the town and Hachi is sent to live with her daughter Andy, her husband Michael & their new baby boy Ronnie.

However at the first opportunity Hachi sneaks out and heads first for his old home but on seeing complete strangers there he goes to the station once again waiting for Parker, eating hot dogs given to him by Jasjeet, a local vendor. Andy arrives soon after and takes him home, but lets him out the next day to return to the station, saying she wants him to live with them but will understand if he wants to leave. Hachi licks her hand goodbye and goes off. For the next 9 years Hachi goes to the station waiting in the same spot for his master and at night sleeps under an old abandoned train. His story makes it to a newspaper, that profiles his loyalty and snaps photos of him waiting in his spot. 10 years after Parker’s death Cate returns to the town and goes to her husband’s grave where she meets Ken. Arriving at the station, she is stunned to see Hachi, old, dirty and weak, still maintaining his vigil. Overcome with grief, Cate sits and waits for the next train with him.

At home, Cate tells the now ten-year-old Ronnie about Hachi. A feeble Hachi returns to the train station later that night and lies down in the snow to die, dreaming of past days with his master. His dreams include a vision of Parker once again coming through the train station doors to greet him. Hachi is then shown alone one last time lying on the snow with his eyes closed before the camera sweeps upward into the night-time sky. The movie then returns to the class room as Ronnie is winding up his story on why Hachi is his hero. His story has clearly moved his classmates, some of whom are in tears as they clap. Ronnie then leaves for home where his father is waiting for him with Ronnie’s new puppy, another Akita also named Hachi. The two then head for a walk down the same tracks where Parker and Hachi spent so many years together.

The closing cards reveal information about the real Hachiko, who was born in 1923. After the death of his owner, Hidesaburo Ueno, in 1925, Hachiko returned to the Shibuya train station the next day and every day after that for the next nine years. The final card reveals that the real Hachik0 died in March, 1934. But actually Hachiko died in March 8, 1935, not in 1934. A photo of his statue in the Shibuya train station is the last image shown before the credits roll.

I haven’t cried after watching a movie in years. This is only movie number 3 that has done that to me so far. When the final scene of Hachi just before he dies and he has visions of meeting Parker and spending time with him – that did it! I miss my dog, my Shawny, so much even 8 years after she passed away. This movie is for dog lovers everywhere and movie lovers. If don’t even get a lump in your throat by the end of your movie, please call the mortuary cause you are dead inside! 9 outta 10 for me! :_)

I honestly stayed away from trailers, promos, reviews and interviews of a lot of big budget movies this year and that is so true of Olympus Has Fallen. I almost forgot about this movie until a few days ago and finally watched it last night. Die Hard In the White House – that’s the phrase that kept playing in my head from the moment the White House was taken over by the terrorists and I feel like they should have gone with that as a tagline for the movie! You can call it an homage, to me it’s like rehashing an old formula and frankly I wasn’t very impressed. Still I stuck with it and the cliches and cheesiness of trying to make a patriotic hero out of a fallen one and – are we now going to see Arabs moving out as villains to make way for North Koreans in Hollywood blockbusters?

The movie, directed by Antoine Fuqua, stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman. Butler co-produced the film with Alan Siegel & Mark Gill. The cast is rounded out by Angela Basset, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitcher, Cole Hauser & Melissa Leo and a brief appearance by Ashley Judd. So what’s the movie about? Well we have the President Benjamin Asher boxing in a private ring with his lead Secret Service agent, Mike Banning, before he is called to get ready for a party. Banning has a friendly relationship with the Prez, the first lady & their son Connor. On their way from Camp David to a fundraiser party, a tree falls in front of the President’s convoy, making the vehicles skid out of control on black ice on a bridge. The President’s car hits a bridge and hangs on balance at the edge; Banning is able to pull Asher out but just as he does so, the car falls into the icy river below, killing the First Lady and two agents. 18 months later, Banning is now working at the Treasury Department, quite near the White House as seeing him reminds Asher of his wife’s death. So that’s fallen out of favour part. Ok, now the South Korean PM is on his way to the White House for a meeting with the US Prez. That’s when all hell breaks loose.

Among his entourage are North Korean supporters and they and a large guerrilla force who have infiltrated the group begin the attack on the white house. This group includes Dave Forbes, an ex-US Secret Service agent turned private contractor. The guerrilla forces, mount an air and ground assault that results in the capture of the White House. Several Secret service men are killed but they are able to inflict considerable damage to the Koreans before dying. In the melee Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker where Prime Minister Lee is killed by Kang Yeonsak, an ex-terrorist & the mastermind behind the attack. He hopes to reunite the two Koreas and demands that the US military withdraws it’s force from South Korea thereby leaving the nation at the mercy of the bigger military forces of the North. He also seeks to destroy all of America’s nuclear weapons in their silos and turn the United States into an irradiated wasteland as revenge for the death of his parents when his mother was killed by an American landmine and his father was executed for crimes against North Korea. He demands the access codes  to a system in the bunker called Cerberus: a fail-safe device that self-detonates any U.S. nuclear missiles during an abort, which are held by three top government officials within the bunker, including the President. Asher orders the other two officials to reveal their codes to save their lives, certain that he will not give up his code.

Banning meanwhile has shot, fought and karate chopped his way into the white house, killing a bunch of the terrorists on the way. disables the internal surveillance and gains access to Asher’s satellite phone, which he uses to maintain contact with Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), the Speaker of the House who is now the Acting President. He must first find and rescue Connor, which he does and leads him to the roof where waiting US soldiers pull him to safety. Forbes is sent to find and kill Banning but the traitor is found out and killed after a brief fight. Meanwhile, Trumbull orders an aerial SEAL assault on the White House, but Kang’s team deploys an advanced anti-aircraft gun system in his possession owned by the United States, called the Hydra 6. Banning pleads to abort it but but it proceeds and Kang’s henchwoman Lim (Malana Lea) annihilates the assault force before Banning can stop it. Kang retaliates for the attempted infiltration by killing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez. Banning then uses the controls in the Oval office to cut Kang from the communications and the terrorists bring Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan outside to kill her but with Banning’s help she escapes and several of Kang’s men are killed. With Kang’s forces dwindling, he fakes his own death as well as Asher’s death by sacrificing several of his men and the remaining hostages.

Finally it’s just a couple of his men and him, so Kang activates Cerberus and attempts to escape. Banning catches up to them kills of the men and finally engages in a violent knife fight which ends in Banning killing Kang by stabbing him in the head. Just as he promised him earlier! He then ultimately disables Cerberus with the assistance of Trumbull. Banning and Asher escape the White House. After the events, Washington begins to heal from the attack and Banning once again becomes head of the Presidential Detail with Banning observing President Asher as he addresses the public. Hero is redeamed and all is well. The end! Die Hard rules! 7 outta 10 just for the amazing effort to attack the White House!