The Film Club Vote - Feb 2013

Directed by Nick Cassavetes, this adaptation of author Nicholas Sparks' bestselling novel revolves around Noah Calhoun's (James Garner) regular visits to a female patron (Gena Rowlands) of an area nursing home. Rather than bore her with the inanities of everyday life, Calhoun reads from an old, faded notebook containing the sweeping account of a young couple (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) whose love affair was tragically put to a halt after their separation in the midst of World War II. Seven years later, the couple was reunited, and, despite having taken radically different paths, they found themselves unable to resist the call of a second chance.

A grieving widow finds her husband's warmth radiating from the afterlife when she discovers that he left her a series of tasks to be revealed in ten monthly messages and designed to help her overcome her sorrow while gradually making the transition into a new life. Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) is a New York real estate broker whose good-humored husband, Irishman Gerry (Gerard Butler), always stood by her side. Suddenly, and seemingly out of nowhere, Gerry succumbs to a brain tumor and Holly is left to face an uncertain future. No one in the world knows Holly better than Gerry, not even her mother (Kathy Bates) or her best friends, Sharon (Gina Gershon) and Denise (Lisa Kudrow). But while Holly remains unsure if she can go on without the love of her life to help guide her, Gerry has planned ahead.

The best-seller by sentimental novelist Nicholas Sparks becomes this teen melodrama set in a coastal North Carolina port. Cocky, popular high school student Landon Carter (Shane West) is the big man on campus at Beaufort High School until a hazing incident leaves a fellow student paralyzed. Sentenced to community service and membership in his school's drama club, Landon is forced to seek help from Jamie Sullivan (pop singer Mandy Moore), the conservative, religious, plain-Jane daughter of the town's Baptist minister (Peter Coyote). When the two students begin to fall in love, Landon struggles with the drop in popularity that his new friendship brings, while Jamie is forced to deal with her strict father and a secret that she's keeping from her schoolmates

A newlywed couple recovers from a car accident that puts the wife in a coma. Waking up with severe memory loss, her husband endeavors to win her heart again

His relationship with his father strained in the wake of a family tragedy, rebellious New Yorker Tyler (Robert Pattinson) finds love with the one girl who understands him. Tyler wasn't looking for love, but that's exactly what he found when he met Ally (Emilie de Ravin). Enchanted by her beauty and inspired by her spirit, Tyler finds that his strange life suddenly makes sense when he's around Ally. As their relationship grows, Tyler learns to live his life with passion, and value the little things. When buried secrets threaten to tear the young couple apart, Tyler realizes that sometimes love is worth fighting for.

Miley Cyrus stars as a teenager who reconnects with her father years after her parents go through a nasty divorce in this adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel. The novelist also provides the screenplay for the production, which is directed by Julie Ann Robinson.