Internship

Watched: October 3, 2013
Rating: 2.5
Duration: 2:05:15
Genre: Comedy

“Google should have just shown snippets of this movie on YouTube”

Working for Google seems to be the coolest job. We may have the advantage of knowing since we are partially working for Google, as a contractor more so. Anyone would notice Google’s unending pursuit for innovation, for positive change, for making a difference. Upon watching Internship, it feels so tacky we feel bad for Google. We feel bad that Google agreed to be associated to this crap of a movie

The CONS

We have two middle-aged guys, in the form of talented actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who have just lost their sales gig because their company shut down, and are now desperate to look for a job in the same field. We are led to believe that they are a very good sales man. So Owen would risk his new job selling mattress, for an interview to an internship that may or may not land them a job in Google

This is a two-hour film where the audience knows exactly what’s going to happen in the end. Billy and Nick (Vince and Owen) will land that job in Google. This is not a spoiler, it’s a given. How else would Internship end? The jokes were not that funny. We laughed when the team is screwing up Owen and Vince on the Professor X prank. Then the two actually found someone who looks like professor X, and it we thought the joke was misdirected

Then the team went partying one night despite a stressful “create an app” challenge that they decided to neglect in lieu of partying and having fun. They also went to a strip club and did all wild stuff possible, that eventually got them into trouble. In one scene where they hung out overlooking the golden gate, one of the geeks was asked to admit that it was the best night of his life, and he said it was. Really? No wonder Billy and Nick couldn’t get a proper job. They chose to party instead of meeting deadline for a difficult work assignment. Miraculously, they were able to the create the best selling app. And they had to be drunk for that

This movie is filled with pretensions and cliches are all over the place. It is a waste of talent coming from Vince and Owen, and a misuse of Google branding, references, and association

The PROS

We appreciate that we get to see the Google headquarters as portrayed in the movie. We love to see Owen and Vince team up. They have the dynamics and chemistry that can work in any comedy, well, given the proper story and settings. Even though Nick tries to hook up with a Google employee, the lovely Rose Byrne, we’re glad that Billy didn’t try to have sex with teammate Tiya Sicar, or any other female Google employee for that matter. We like Max Minghella playing as the antagonist. He is gorgeous on the outside, but pure evil within

VERDICT. 2.5 rating. If you want to get an idea on how the Google HQ looks like, maybe you could browse through the movie, but don’t sit through it

This is 40

Watched: October 2, 2013
Rating: 4.5
Duration: 2:17:03
Genre: Comedy / Romance

“Rudd and Mann look stunning, they didn’t convince us that they’re 40”

Movies have a certain impact to the viewer. Most movies have little impact. The viewer leaves the movie house, goes home, and forgets about the movie entirely. Some movies make minimal impact. After watching, the viewer is compelled to discuss the movie with others who saw it. It doesn’t have to be with close friends, it can be with mere acquaintances. And then the discussion ends, and the movie is soon forgotten. There are movies that have very awesome references you try to look them up yourself. You Google the info while watching, maybe pause the DVD as you research on the internet. There are movies that are good with references, they make you want to watch another movie, a TV show, or listen to an unknown artist. In the case of This is 40, it makes me want to watch Lost. Yes, I have seen episodes of Lost, but no, I did not follow through with the last few seasons. Upon watching This is 40, I have the sudden urge to rent the show and watch at least the last episode

The CONS

The movie is a little more than 2 hours. We are not the type who complains if the movie is too long or too short as long as it doesn’t seem to waste our very valuable time. This is 40 did not waste out time, but we felt it could have been shortened by taking out some unnecessary scenes. One example we find worthy of “cutting” is that scene with the Asian girl assistant having some psycho episode or something. It was funny at first, then it became creepy, then weird, then finally, not funny. We wanted to see more of Megan Fox, thought she was a nice view to look at when watching this movie. When she was at a table with Jason Segel and that British guy, we felt that that scene could be something that can be taken out of the storyline. Another con, that hideous haircut of Paul Rudd. Can’t imagine any guy of 40 having that kind of haircut simply by manner of choice

The PROS

This is our third Paul Rudd film in the last 3 weeks. It was not an obsession to Paul Rudd, but we are just confident in his good taste in accepting roles in his movies. It is not to refuse being a fan of Rudd, actually it is the opposite, as we had admitted from previous posts. But in our quest to watch one movie a day, despite tight work schedule and family obligations, we are tasked to pick movies that are worth a watch. And every Paul Rudd movie seems like a good choice to us

Awesome references. This movie is filled with some of the coolest references that we felt we had to take note of. There’s Simon and Garfunkel and Lost. Actually there’s just two that we took note of, not because we don’t know that reference, but because we decided we will go watch the last episode of Lost to get that movie reference

Funny things happen nonstop. There were comic moments with the foul-mouthed mother of that kid with Justin Bieber hair. There was this constant bickering between the two sisters, a thing that is relatable to many siblings. They’ve been showing off iPads, gadgets and other pop culture references, something that gives the movie some sort of realism

And finally, the one movie about married couple who didn’t commit infidelity. We know the two fight a lot and hate each other at one point. But we’re happy that the film didn’t have to make the couple look for comfort via extramarital sex. It doesn’t have to. We’re glad they remained faithful, even though they were about to give up on each other

VERDICT: 4.5 rating. Don’t need to be 40 to enjoy this spin-off comedy

[TV Edition] Homeland S03E01: Tin Man is Down

The first episode of the new season has given us more that what we expected. We just sit there in awe. With Clare Danes’ superb acting, all we can say is that we can’t wait for next week’s episode. We seriously hope there are leaked episodes out there. We are so desperate to go that route

The CONS

The only con we can think of is the fact that they didn’t include the lead character, Brody, on the first episode. Surely, it goes along with the story. Brody doesn’t seem to be needed in this episode. They may be trying to give the audience some hint of mystery. Or elude the poor audience to long for a glimpse, a quick glimpse of Brody, get an idea of his whereabouts. Whatever the purpose is, we still think it would be nicer to have at least a quick clip and show us Brody. Otherwise, we’re fine

The PROS

EVERYTHING… from start to finish. When season two ended, we were thinking of possible ways to open season 3. We thought they would show Brody doing some farm work at some remote land in west Asia. Or a scene showing Carrie looking at her GPS and trying to track down Brody. Or Brody’s wife in a wedding gown, getting married to ex-lover Mike. Our best bet was the first scenario. But we’re overwhelmed with surprise seeing how the first episode turned out. Another adrenaline-packed episode. Each time we see Carrie we automatically grab the coffee mug, we feel we have to supplement the intense and gripping moment with a dose of caffeine. The interrogation part was really intense. We start to have predictions that the senator looks very much like the next antagonist, but we can be wrong, because this is a TV series where things don’t seem what they look like, and characters behave so unpredictably. The only predictable thing is perhaps Claire Danes’ giving out superb performance as Carrie. In this episode we saw her in an emotion-filled scene. We knew it was not just the desire for an Emmy award that drove her to be at her best in acting, but it was that passion for the role and the ability to challenge the contemporary status quo of American cable TV

VERDICT: 9 out of 10 rating on the Likely to be Remembered scale

[TV Edition] How I Met Your Mother S09E03: Last Time in New York

OK let’s go straight to the CONS

We hate the running joke on elderly people. We didn’t think it was funny. Not one shred of laughter, not even a hiccup, was elicited. It was not to say that the jokes were disrespectful, because, it is just a sitcom anyway, but the idea they were honing around old people and selling that idea to us as something funny; we didn’t buy it. We thought it was a desperate attempt at comedy. The comparison to zombies and that Mandy Patikin reference didn’t appear funny to us.

The PROS

The cliffhanger ending was just superb. We have seen HIMYM does cliffhanger endings, and even cliffhanger season enders, but not to this degree of anticipation and the feeling of being left hanging. At first, we thought that the Waldo outfit was too much. But it did work for Mosby. As the show centered around Barney and Robin’s romances, the Mosby in us still longed for that Ted Mosby moment. There hasn’t been enough Ted moment in the last few episodes of the series. Many times they showcased Marshall and Lily, Barney and Robin, actual conflicts and things that happen between the two couples. And Ted stands silently at the background, bit much like a supporting player in a show where his future self is the narrator. We’re hoping that this episode would kick it in and put the spotlight back to Ted

VERDICT: 8 out of 10 rating on the Likely to be Remembered scale

Admission

Watched: October 1, 2013
Rating: 3.9
Duration: 1:47:07
Genre: Comedy / Romance

“Something about college admission that doesn’t strike funny to many people”

We love Tina Fey. We don’t love her from the 30 Rock days. We love her just now, upon seeing the movie that we’re about to review. To be totally honest, we haven’t seen any of Tina Fey’s before Admission. We caught few episodes of 30 Rock. Thought she was funny. Thought it was just appropriate to view her as funny, given the several Emmy awards received by the TV show. But we hadn’t had the chance to admire her talent as an actor, until we watch the hilarious movie Admission

The CONS

The jokes are not laugh-out-loud funny; they are average and too obvious. But we still get a good laugh here and there. The surrealism seems bleak and ally mcbeal-ish. Other floating characters are like… for a lack of a better term… just floating around the two central characters: Tina Fey and Paul Rudd. Admission is a good movie, it just feels like we’re in a different dimension seeing the characters onscreen. Too many weird stuff. Weird developmental school. Weird encounters with ex-fiance. Weird misbehaving mom

The PROS

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Not long ago, we got ourselves to admit of our fondness for Paul Rudd. One of the main driving forces why we chose to watch this movie is because of Paul Rudd, and secondly, Tina Fey. Luckily, we are not disappointed. Rudd is such a natural when it comes to acting. Here, he has a difficult role to act like a jerk, without knowing that he is one. Fey and Rudd expose themselves to reach that climax in acting. The peak where you feel a certain connection on the way the characters behave. We are brought to wonder why these characters behave differently than what we expect

Some of the funniest are Fey’s comebacks and punch lines. It is easier to imagine because these are coming from Tina Fey, and we totally give her credit for that, boy she’s got amazing talent. The chemistry between Fey’s Portia and Rudd’s John blends well in this movie. We believe in an instant that they like each other, and they even look cute together. As the movie progresses we imagine how crazy it must be in trying to apply for Princeton. We remember when we applied in a state university and got waitlisted, but never felt bad about it. overall we think there is a bit exaggeration on the stress level they put towards selection for college applicants, but the movie is so good it makes this seem realistic to the viewers

VERDICT: Highly recommended. 4.3 rating. Watch it and try to reminisce those college admission days

[Asian Horror Weekend] R-Point

Watched: September 29, 2013
Rating: 3.9
Duration: 1:47:23
Genre: Horror

“don’t be afraid of living people, be afraid of those that are dead”

When it comes to giving a scare, the Koreans are the obvious expert. With R-Point, they turn a simple war movie into a gripping, puzzling, and terrifying ghost story. The suspense is perpetual, and we keep on guessing who’s the killer or what has happened to the troops. It’s an ultimate ride to one of the scariest movies we’ve seen

The CONS

The ending seems to be a bit off and weird. Don’t wanna give out any spoiler, but we felt that the ending scene was a bit odd. The pacing feels slow. We feel there are redundant moments, or it could be that we just don’t think that the subtitle was concise enough to give us full understanding of the content of the dialog exchange. Other than this, there wasn’t any much con that we can point out

The PROS

The scary part is not the ghosts or the ghostly images, but the creepy and mysterious things that are happening in R-Point. We know that they are doomed and are bound to die. We don’t have any hope that these soldiers would ever survive, but the big question is, how? And what’s going on? The movie is able to contain the mystery, and keeps the viewers glued on the screen, anticipating for the worse, expecting for the most horrifying to happen. When we finally learned what’s going on, we are still driven to madness, puzzled on what will happen next. And even with the weird ending, we just sit there, speechless, trying to recall the previous scenes, trying to connect the dots. There isn’t any big twist, but this movie will sure keep you at the edge of your seats

VERDICT: 3.9 rating. Highly recommended for horror fans

Rush

Watched: September 28, 2013
Rating: 3.5
Duration: 2:03:12
Genre: Drama

 

“It’s not the rush from fleeing, but from the exhilarating film scenes”

 

When we saw the movie poster of Rush, the first impression that came up was that the movie was a spoof of the popular series Fast and Furious. When we saw that it was a Ron Howard film, we completely surrendered and decided to see the movie. We have the preconceived notion that anything related to Ron Howard is worth a watch (Read: Arrested Development)

 

Back to Rush.

 

The CONS

 

First, we have to address the fact that it was not a comedy spoof. The movie is based on a true story, and if you think that it was all about racers competing with each other, well, you are not exactly wrong. There are two central characters in the movie, James Hunt and Niki Lauda. As a viewer, we are compelled to choose sides, simply because the two characters are supposed to compete with each other, and thus, are on the opposing side. It is not really an actual con, but how the movie presented the character of Chris Hemsworth (James Hunt); we didn’t find him likeable. Even towards the end part of the movie, we still find ourselves rooting for Niki Lauda. When the end credits roll, we find the movie to achieve what it’s been tasked to, show the interconnecting lives of the characters based on their true stories. There were no additional drama, no embellishment. Which is both a con and a pro, depending on the type of moviegoer

 

The PROS

 

 

The movie is right on the spot demonstrating the story behind Formula one car racing: the enduring power of the human spirit. As it goes with any sports, there are ups and downs, and the movie explored with the many ups and downs that the characters have gone through. We feel the different emotions that the two men feel; onscreen they have shown us how it feels like to win, and also to lose
Ron Howard’s brilliance in story telling has not only shown us the lives of two amazing race car drivers, but also the interconnecting stories, the power of perseverance, and the greatness in every hardship
VERDICT: 3.5 rating. Typical story on human achievement and the spirit of winning

Trance

Watched: September 27, 2013
Rating: 4.3
Duration: 1:41:49
Genre: Thriller / Suspense

“A hypnosis movie that can hypnotize the viewer”

Movies with multiple timelines and dimensions tend to confuse the audience, and they felt that they have to back out a little to understand what’s going on. When we watched Vanilla Sky, we had the same reaction of confusion, but at the end it was satisfactory to know that the confusion paid off with a nice, subtle, unrevealing ending

Back to Trance.

The CONS

The movie starts strong. We get hooked almost instantly. We do not have certain fondness for art and paintings, but with Trance our interest soared. James McAvoy is narrating onset. This can be fun. Mysterious perhaps. We start imagining how it sounds like it’s the movie Wanted, with McAvoy narrating and all. The interest heightens; we know we are glued to the screen. We cannot miss a scene, even if we feel like going to the john, we have to stay put and watch what’s going on
Then we learn where the movie’s heading. The story starts unfolding, and we realize…. Wait a sec, that’s it??? That’s the conflict? You want us to buy into that problem? He forgot where he placed it? We do that too, we do that every day with the remote. We can’t help but rationalize: there is no actual conflict in this film. It’s like everything is imagined, and it might as well be

The PROS

You might think we’re contradicting ourselves. First, the CON that we mentioned is the conflict presented in the film, the driving force in the plot. We do not buy in to that. We are not convinced. However, the movie, in its entirety, is awesome. The shifting from one timeline to another is mind-boggling but fun. The movie is highly entertaining. Every scene is a puzzle, we have to stick around

When the story unfolds, we get excited, we anticipate what’s gonna happen, and we expect that we are wrong. So many things going on, reality and hypnosis are presented in the same platform, so the audience is given the freedom to decide and choose. Because of the film is multilayered we are forced to make a guess, forced to take a shot of knowing the unknown. The scenes toward the latter part came as a surprise, and we feel we have to engage in a surprise, and make our own guess on what is real, and what’s the truth. Of course we are wrong, and when the truth is revealed on the last part, we feel cheated, we feel we are misdirected, but still, we are satisfied. It is like we are put in a trance, and we just go along with it

VERDICT. 4.3 rating. It’s this one movie where you would feel that owning an iPad is the coolest thing

The beat that my heart skipped

Watched: September 26, 2013
Rating: 3.9
Duration: 1:42:15
Genre: Drama

“You can’t certainly go wrong with French movies”

French films have the tendency to be existentialist even if the main theme is not about human nature or the overall social condition. In Amelie, we are presented with a protagonist who helps people unconditionally, while trying to also cover her identity. In terms of cinema, the audience don’t often get this kind of altruism movie theme. Undoubtedly, the cinematography of French films captures some of the most beautiful cinematic settings of movies we have watched. If the setting is in Paris, the audience is shown breath taking scenes of Montmartre, of the brick road leading to the busy streets, or of the magnificent Eiffel tower standing in the background

Back to The beat that my heart skipped.

The CONS

There are a lot of things going on so fast so sudden. We try to understand how things are working on the real estate business as shown in the movie, but we are unable to catch up because there are sub plots happening one after the other. Maybe we’re just not familiar with the real estate industry. Or maybe, the movie has had too many jargon and we are unable to grasp some of them. It was not so much impacting to how we appreciate the movie overall, but it does boggle the mind

When Thomas starts playing the piano, we are reminded of this brilliant Chinese movie, Together. It is difficult for a movie to incorporate music, let alone classical music, to the plot. It takes some thoughtful planning on the plot and story line  because that classical music must have that gravitated impact to the audience, even for those who are not exactly music lovers. This clever movie-making technique was clearly demonstrated by Together. We were so moved I had to download the Violin soundtrack and add it to my playlist (given that I’m not a classical music lover). TBTMHS has not completely achieved this. We are not moved by the piano solos. We don’t find the classical movement interesting. We feel there is little connection of the music to the character, and of the music to the entirety of the story

The PROS

While not everybody appreciates French films for their serious approach and fondness of realism, we enjoy each movie aspect and feel that this is something that can be adapted by the local movie industry. We won’t say that there’s subtlety employed in this movie, since there are a lot of things going on and happening all of a sudden, it may be difficult for one to catch up. But the complication itself gives this movie the grandness, and the variety gives it the pique in interest

Casting Romain Duris gives this movie its powerful boost. He has the range of varying emotions, and is able to constrain them at the same time. In one scene where the camera focuses directly on his face, we think Duris would explode any moment by the way he tries to constrain the emotions inside, We can clearly see that something is about to explode from within. Oddly, some of the funniest moments in the movie involved Duris and a Chinese character who is his piano tutor. The tutor doesn’t speak French and Thomas (Duris) doesn’t speak Chinese. He cannot possibly learn from this tutor. But we understand that the language of music is universal, and on the last few scenes, we smile heartily to realize that the movie has shown us that music is not the only universal language, butsomething else is

VERDICT: 3.9 rating. Add it to your to-watch list. Doesn’t need to be a fan of classical music to enjoy this movie

+1

Watched: September 25, 2013
Rating: 2.9
Duration: 1:36:12
Genre: Sci-fi / Thriller

“The weirdest Doppelganger movie”

I have been watching movies with wild parties and I feel I’ve had enough of “party” movies. The last “party” movie I watched was the loud and messy Great Gatsby, which I found to be highly entertaining but was void of content and emotional satisfaction

Back to +1

The CONS

I have a serious problem with the movie’s plot. While the movie got us interested at the start with its unique idea, it turns out too weird and with a lot of unnecessary violence going on. The whole movie concentrated and got confined to this one college party, which was good because anything can happen at a college party. But then it got too weird. The movie went on to focus on the protagonist’s attempt to win back his girlfriend, but weird things continue to happen (as they should because that’s where the movie’s heading) and they didn’t tie up to the romantic pursuit of the lead guy. When the story starts to unfold and we now understand what’s fully going on, things become messy, with the movie having no clear direction of resolving the denouement. And with the movie’s last chance to redeem its mess, it fails and ended with a total disappointment. We would have suggested a more effective and well-thought ending

The PROS

Like I said, anything can happen at a college party, and things did happen. There were sex scenes and frontal nudity, and they’re not there to make a soft porn out of this movie (although it somewhat did), but more on showing us what college parties are like, show the audience wild stuff that can happen at a party filled with drunk and horny teenagers. I enjoyed the frontal nudity, haven’t seen that many pairs of breasts in a long time, haha

VERDICT. 2.9 rating. If you are to use similar rating in accordance to Customer Satisfaction score, this means it’s barely passing, or almost watchable