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

,

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

How to meet girls from a distance

Watched: September 23, 2013

Rating: 4.7

Duration: 1:20:49

Genre: Comedy / Romance

“Clever writing. Cute story. Nice acting. Amazing twist.”

There are movies you tell friends about because it made an impact to you. There are movies that touch on economic and social dilemmas, and you are struck with the social significance so you start loving the movie for its originality and value. There are movies that you have to watch over and over again, and each time you feel exasperated, like you’ve been submerged in water and you had to swim your way up for air (read: Atonement). There are really good movies that you admire because of its clever writing. And you ended up writing a short story, or starting a movie blog. And there are movies that you simply adore, for its subtlety, bluntness, and sheer ability to make you laugh. A movie that gets you, and you ultimately get the movie too.  I’m talking about this refreshing comedy from the Land Down Under, the Wellywood movie How to meet girls from a distance

The CONS

I can’t think of any. I may be biased. My judgment may have been shrouded by the movie’s relate-ability to me. The movie isn’t perfect, nothing is. It is flawed by blunt jokes. By over-acting. By characters obviously trying to be weirdos to get a good chemistry of this marvel of a movie. Perhaps the only actual con I could say is that I wanted to see more and the movie ended too soon. Not that it should have been long, I completely agree that an hour and 20 minutes is enough time to show everything. But I wanted to see more, may be some behind the scenes, or heck, a sequel maybe.

The PROS

So far, this is the highest-rated movie on this blog. And although the rating is completely based on my prerogative, I still owe the readers an explanation why I gave this movie a 4.7, 0.3 shy of being perfect

1. Casting Richard Falkner as Toby. He’s just perfect for the role. He looks timid enough to be that timid, “torpe” guy. His receding hairline shows that he is not the best looking, but we know he is talented and got skills, and that should make girls fall for him. He looks weird enough to be type-cast as a psycho stalker. I could not imagine other actors playing as Toby
2. The movie gets me. I could relate to the movie in a level that I tend to look back at my old self and think: I should have done that! I really should! It gets me because it talks to the viewers in the ordinary, “regular-people” level. Although it is a Kiwi film, there were very minimal cultural references, and we are all hooked up until the end part, and when Toby said that last word I was about to do a chicken dance, but then, I was in a crowded MRT train and that would be too embarrasing
3. Clever writing, awesome twist. The detective work that Toby does is amazing. It gave me an idea on how to manipulate someone’s life. If I have to proceed with that plan this movie would be my practical guide. When Toby does his stalking, we tend to neglect how the girl would feel, given that the local equivalent of stalking in the Phils is adoring someone and most folks want that kind of attention

VERDICT. 4.7 rating. Highest-rated so far. Watched it for 3 times. You should too, at least once. You owe yourself that favor

Middleton

watched: September 20, 2013

rating: 2.3

duration: 1:36:13

genre: Romance

“perfect movie for insomniacs”

College admissions tours are fun. I remember I attended one, it was also the first day of school. Parents were not included in the tour, but I still have some memory of the tour because the guy who was leading the tour was really friendly and was one of the very active students in the student org. Well, the reason I brought this up is because of my personal belief that college admissions tours are a good topic to choose when doing a movie, and it would’ve been relatable to some audience at some level

Back to Middleton.

The CONS

The movie’s boring. I hate to admit but I fell asleep while watching the movie. I caught up on missed scenes by going backwards. The movie was just halfway through when I dozed off. The movie wants us to believe that two middle-aged individuals, who are married and are supposed to be with their kids on a college tour, could fall in love as they do crazy stuff, act like teenagers, and neglect their kids completely, all for the name of love and fun times spent together. The two parents, both professionals and matured, steal bikes, sneak in a theatre class, smoked weed, and worse, lie to their kids to stay away from them. It isn’t the recklessness and the experimenting that alienate me, it’s how the filmmakers tried to cram everything in one day so that there is reason for the two to fall in love, even in that short amount of time

The PROS

The cinematography is gorgeous. I am partial to settings made in college campuses. It kinda gives me some sort of nostalgia and a bleak motivation to visit my previous college. When Conrad told his dad, Andy Garcia, that the college is small, on the back of my head I said, wait till you see how small the local campuses here in the Phils are. I like the way where the story is heading, even seeing this turning into a short story. The scene where the two were against the sunset was an absolute beauty. It was truly poignant and was a good use of camera for cinema technique

VERDICT: skip it. if you are trying to kill time, do something else. If you can’t sleep and want something to help you catch 40 winks, then go ahead and watch this movie