Linora Low | Movie Review

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Horrible Bosses Review

On August 10, 2011 By Linora Low

Rated R for Rowdy, Raunchy, Rude and REALLY hilarious!

Tagline: “Ever Wish Your Boss Was Dead?”

Do you hate your boss? Do you they make your life a living hell? Do you just want them GONE GONE GONE?

That’s how Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) felt with their bosses who were absolute pains! You have three guys, who can’t stand their bosses – (in sequence) Kevin Spacey playing Dave Harken the ass of a boss, Colin Farrell as Bobby Pellit who is an absolute “tool” and Jennifer Aniston who plays man eater boss Dr Julia Harris. Quitting is not and option, and getting another job seems to difficult. But after a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from an ex-con, Mother F***er Jones (Jamie Foxx ), they come up with the brilliant plan to kill each other’s bosses. Not such a bad plan actually, minus one small problem… the boys are absolute retards in being assassins haha.

Food for Thought:

There seem to be quite a number of movies doing the male bonding theme lately. I know the bro code is cool and all but come on.. Where is the sister code eh? And no i don’t want a chicky flicky like Monte Carlo.

The Show Stealer:

This goes to Charlie Day for me. He’s probably the saddest and most tragic out of the trio, but that makes him all the more endearing. Sure you would think that having your boss for herself on you would be heaven to some. For his character Dale, it really just isn’t cool. His overly wild, innocently stupid behaviour had me in stitches.

Love These Moments:

Jennifer Aniston! i’m so happy that i finally get to see you in a different character that is away from Rachel and the lil-miss-rom-com act. She was such a mean and horny boss in this film. i love it! It’s a side you don’t always see her play on the silver screen. She was rude, obnoxious, the perfect man eater. There’s one line that is just stuck in my head. She retorts to Dale when she brings his fiance to the dental clinic and gets her unconscious from the anesthesia “Let’s use her like a bed!” LIKE WHAT?????
The car chase scene or rather accident scene. There was one part where the cinematography was brilliant. You know when you smash into something in front of you, you just want to close your eyes, cause you want to protect yourself from the impact. Well they managed to do that for the scene where the umm range rover was banging into the car the guys were driving.
Nicee to see Jamie Fox play a bad a** character.. who is actually not all that bad a** really. He’s just a real smart con man! haha. Everytime he cocked his eyebrow and took a sip from his drink, it just made me crack up. hahaha it’s like he’s trying to say, i’m serious and you don’t mess with me.. in a weird funny way. Hard to explain it.. just go watch it, you’ll get what i’m trying to say.
If you thought Collin Farrel was going to be hot in this movie. Well he is soooo not! Instead he plays nasty, cokehead son, Bobby who is a real “tool” requesting for the overweight people to be fired just because he can’t stand looking at them. Wow what an a**!!!! It looks like he’s balding too, and with a horrible slurry texan accent.. he sounded like the alien from MIB the big cockroach if you listen carefully >.<. His performance was kinda short lived though, not a lot of him was shown in the movie, which is a shame! Cause i liked his weird character.
And of allllll things, my favourite Mr Fantastic does a cameo in the movie as a man who urinates on other man to make money. Hahaha imagine my horror. Another cameo that had me jumping in my seat was seeing the Old Spice guy Isaiah Mustaffa!
Seth Gordon, does the wonderful thing of just taking a step aside and letting his cast do the things they do best. By being absolute goofballs.

The chemistry between the actors was very believable and it seemed like they had been friends forever. You can tell they had a lot of fun making this movie. Especially when you watch the credits, cause there are tons of behind the scene footage. the best one had to be when Jason Sudeikiss was saying to Jason Bateman, Watch out for this conversation!

Kurt: Tell you what, I’d like to bend her over a barrel and show her the fifty states, you know what I’m saying?
Nick: No..
Kurt: Sounds like something from a movie…
Nick: i don’t think so…
Kurt (now as Jason Sudeikiss) : it is now!
Kevin Spacey is probably the most evil boss ever. Giving himself a promotion, when clearly other people deserve it. He’s the kind of boss that will make you work till very late, make you miss your grandma’s funeral, then make you think that you are going to get the golden carrot, then he yanks it away. Mean!!

Favourite Quotes:
The scriptwriting of Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley, and Jonathan Goldstein, gave the film, very amusing situations and snappy retorts. The actors just brought the lines all to life! Below are just some of the quotes i love from the film.

Kurt: You can’t win a marathon without putting some bandaids on your nipples!
Dean ‘MF’ Jones: I can’t walk around this f**kin neighborhood with that Disney-ass name.
Dale: We are MEN, SEEKING A MAN!
Nick: I don’t have sleeve gloves!
Dale: You’re a raper, you raped me, that’s a RAPE!

“Critical” Thoughts:

For those of you who enjoyed The Hangover, Horrible Bosses falls in the same category. However i find that it probably has a more enjoyable storyline. There was maybe a bit of pacing problem at first. Cause the beginning seemed a bit draggy, but towards the middle portion it picked up a lot! Making the movie a lot more exciting to watch, especially during the car chase scene.

Rating:

See it / Skip it:

i say see it! Not necessarily cinema but it’s still a nice comedy to catch!

General Release Date: 11th August 2011

On Air
Be the 9th SMS-er through when your hear the cue to win 4 open passes to the movie “Horrible Bosses“! Just tune in to Eleven 2 Three with Lexie, Drive with Terry & Evening with Arnold for your cue to SMS.

Special thanks to Warner Bros. Pictures

Larry Crowne Review

On July 13, 2011 By Linora Low

In an age where everything is about movie effects sometimes it’s nice to just sit down and watch a simple Romantic Comedy movie. Just appreciate the film for what it is. A film that will just make you laugh, ponder a bit on life and make you smile at certain moments.

First thoughts on the film, i didn’t expect anything big out of it, and when i had read reviews saying it was going to be so-so it didn’t surprise me too much either. I wanted to watch it though purely because it is Tom Hanks and it had Julia Roberts in it, whom i haven’t seen in a while since Duplicity and Valentine’s Day.

Despite the partially negative reviews, i went in with a clear mind that i was going to be entertained. And entertained i was!

Tom Hanks who directed, produced and wrote the film Larry Crowne gave a very heart warming performance. A bit of a nerdy guy, who’s world falls apart when he’s fired from a job. The film has been in the works for the longest time and it was inspired a lot from his own time during Junior College.

“He notes: ?This was in the mid-‘70s, and there was a sensibility of flux. In my class, there was somebody who was middle-aged, somebody in his fifties, somebody who was just back from Vietnam. I became friends with almost everybody in class, and I found this rich life experience amongst them.”

I love how they showed his emotional toll as he goes through unemployment. Like just the simple part scene of him filling up his SUV with petrol, he notices how a person on a scooter only pays about 4 dollars to fill his vespa’s tank – in comparison to his SUV that goes up to about 76 dollars. Then he pops back the fuel cap in frustration. That scene spoke a lot more than when he had to bargain with his friend, Lamar played by Cedric the Entertainer, to sell him the scooter for 900. Where Larry keeps telling Lamar that he’s broke and he’s got no job, so sell the scooter to him for 200 bucks! Cedric’s portrayal of Lamar being the bargaining King, just made it hilarious to watch, cause he was so dead pan serious on selling his item at a higher price. A conversation would go something like this..

person A: i want to buy this table for 4 dollars

Lamar: i’ll sell it to you for 10

person A: 4 dollars
Lamar: i’ll give it to you for 9

person A: oh come on, 4 dollars

Lamar: ok tell you what, i’ll give it to you for 9.25..

person A: ok how bout 5 dollars.

Lamar: my final offer 9 dollars and i’ll make sure it’s clean!

Seriously the bargaining process could go on forever. Now imagine him bargaining with a seriously dead straight face!

Upon being fired, Larry unlike the normal person doesn’t sue for being downsized, heads back to school where he meets Mercedes Tainot (Julia Roberts) and makes a whole bunch of new friends. Mercedes / Mercy is having her own rough time, with her porn addicted husband who happens to think he does work as a blogger (i feel a stab of pain as i write this, cause technically I’m a blogger too >.<). She’s lost the reason on why she became a teacher and wonders if what she teaches even makes any difference to the lives in her class.

Talia played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw had a very infectious smile and personality. Bubbly and terribly friendly, you almost wonder is there really such a person with such a sweet-i-help-you-and -i’ll-befriend-you mentality. Her introducing Larry to her scooter gang and giving him tips on how to dress cooler were very endearing to watch.

Wilmer Valderrama who plays Dell Gordo is a joy to watch. I’ve always enjoyed his works since his days on That 70′s Show. He plays the very cool-rocker dude on a vespa boyfriend to Talia. I really enjoyed his performance here as the not overly possessive boyfriend, but keeps his guard up while keeping an eye on people who got to close with his girl.

One line i really enjoyed from him was when he saw Larry checking out what seemed to be a tattoo at her lower back. Dell then says through the glass window “I can still see you, this is glass, i can see through glass!” Hahahaha hilarious, and for a brief moment the foreign exchange student Fez from That 70′s show surfaced a bit with that all knowing lisp.

“I discovered this wonderful community that was so passionate and proud about their scooting,” Wilmer Valderrama says. ?It was so charming and special to see people who enjoy something so much. It‘s terrific that Tom is able to highlight this unique culture.

Mbatha-Raw was able to experience a little of that magic when she went with Hanks and a group of 20 scooter enthusiasts to take over streets in the San Fernando Valley for the filming of a montage sequence on the open road. ?Tom and I were scooting in the Californian sunshine, and then we were joined by the whole group,? the actress recounts. ?I felt that sense of unity, and it was wonderful. – Larry Crowne production notes.

The moment, Ms Tainot realises there is something interesting about Larry Crowne.

Her teaching in her class Speech 217

Among the students, in the speech class is Steve Dibiasi played Rami Malek . Hahaha he had some really duh lines in the film. and that’s just how it is in class isn’t it. You’ll have like the pretty girl, the weird one and the very duh person who makes you laugh out loud at his weird antics. At first glance you might almost mistaken him for Bruno Mars!

By the way , the lil hints on Star Trek were hilarious. You’ve got one person who dresses up in a Star Trek outfit and gives an explanation about it for show and tell in Larry’s class. George Takei from the original Star Trek series makes an appearance as the econs lecturer, Dr Matsutani, with the oddest laugh ever!! He reminds me so much of my lecturers in Monash! You gotta love his pompous but encouraging economics behaviour. Where egotistical lines like this just suits his character to a T - “ Although I am brilliant, and people would be wise to follow my guidance.” LOL!!!

Sorry i just have to say this Wilmer Valderrama is very very hot! Random but he is!!!

What I really like is that the movie isn’t too far-fetched. Maybe the idea of suddenly meeting the lady of your dreams, making friends with a pretty girl in school and being accepted immediately into the “cool crowd”, on top of that you find a job you like – may seem a bit of a dream. However the movie was still real enough that it made you connect with the characters and you could relate with their situations.

It’s for every man and woman out there.

We all replaceable, that’s just the reality.. i know i’ve felt it a couple of times in the line of work I do. Ultimately, it’s how you move on after that. That’s exemplified a lot in Larry, who’s comfort zone is removed the minute he gets fired.

I also love how, in the movie, it shows how we can always learn something from one another. Ms. Tainot learns that life isn’t as meaningless as it seems to be. She learns that what she has to offer in school can bring changes to people’s lives, like that of Larry and his classmates. Who probably would’ve always been introverts if not for her class. Informal speech, don’t take it lightly ok.. it’s difficult to stand up in front of an audience and just talk as mentioned by the actors themselves.

Admittedly, the public-speaking aspect of those scenes proved to be the most disconcerting of the shoot for all the trained actors. Roberts is the first to admit the experience was awkward: ?One of my first days of filming, we shot in the classroom, and I was standing in front of this group of 10 people. I was unhinged. If I locked eyes with somebody, I would forget my place. It was nerve-wracking. It wasn‘t until the end of that week where, one by one, everyone else had to get up and sit in my spot to give their final essay to the class. She laughs, ?Every single person who got up there, including Tom, said, ”It is horrible up here.” - Larry Crowne production notes.

And how can i forget about the wonderful soundtrack! The movies score composer is none other than James Newton Howard. One of the most versatile and respected composers currently working in film.

To date, Howard has received eight Oscar® nominations, including six for Best Original Score for his work on Defiance, Michael Clayton, The Village, The Fugitive, The Prince of Tides and My Best Friend’s Wedding. He was also nominated for Best Original Song for the films Junior and One Fine Day. - Larry Crowne production notes.

Overall, if you’re looking for a film that’s just lightehearted, you don’t have to think to much and you just want to have good laugh. Then Larry Crowne is for you!

My rating for the film

Rating:

You can win cinepasses to catch Larry Crowne in the cinema all this week on Red FM too! Just listen out for the cue to SMS TO 33988!

Attack The Block Review

On July 7, 2011 By Linora Low

The first thing that came to my mind was.”Who the heck is Joe Cornish and whats Attack The Block”? Well that’s not going to happen ever again. Joe Cornish is now in my list of directors i would loyally show support by watching his movies.

Here’s a video i made on my two cents on the film, which by the way i thought was very very entertaining and had all the right amounts of suspence, humour and amount of blood. LOL

If you haven’t seen the movie yet? I highly recommend this film. At only 1 hour 30 minutes the movie is not too long and is great for a quick chill out time with maybe your siblings at the cinema… which is what i did hehe.. i watched it with my lil brother.

Go in knowing that this is not your standard alien invasion movie out of Hollywood. This isn’t a megabudget movie filled with name actors and huge explosions. There aren’t any special effects or CGIs that would throw your eyes into a warzone to figure what is killing what. NO… if anything at all it’s your basic film, with a man dressed up in a suit chasing humans. Think ET and Gremlins.. back to the good old films of the 80s-90s.

In his words

“The films I love are high-concept, low-budget movies. Directors who, for their first film, go “I’m going to do something a little too big, but I’m going to try to do it in a resourceful, clever way.” Like ‘Terminator,’ like an early Besson movie, like ‘Duel, like ‘THX1138.’ I’m going to bite off a little bit more than I can chew – I’m talking about those films, the ones I aspire to – and for everything they lack in production values that’s equaled or surpassed by authorship or invention or resourcefulness.

For me, a high-concept, low-budget film is cooler and more rewarding than a high-concept, high-budget film. They’ve had to try harder to get there, do you know what I mean? It’s like animation. You can feel the love that’s gone into every frame, which you sometimes can’t with cynical, big budget things.”

- Joe Cornish interview with Peter Hall from Moviefone.

Here are the kids out to kill the blinds gorilla looking alien (L-R) Jerome – Leoon Jones, Biggz – Simon Howard, Moses – John Boyega, Pest – Alex Esmail and Dennis – Franz Drameh. All are brand new actors to the screen but my did they play their parts well. Look out for them in future movies yo!

The really but ugly looking alien, that looks like it plastered on some fake teeth and decided to wear a furry coat!

my rating for the film?

Rating:

So go ahead make a date with one of the best sci-fi/comedy/horror/action mash-ups you’re ever going to see.

X-Men:First Class Review

On June 2, 2011 By Linora Low

i managed to catch the media screening of X-Men: First Class and i was blown away. The movie is really good and it is highly highly recommended to be watched at your local cinema. A big thank you to 20th Century Fox for the passes. Here’s a short review.. yes it’s short.. of what i thought about the movie.

Here are some shots of the film ^_^

James McAvoy as the charming Professor Xavier. That was his consistant pose, to show he was using his mind to do some telephatic thingy.

Michael Fassbender as the very hot, hot hot ho Magneto! I would join him anyday… did i mention that he’s HOT!

Jennifer Lawrence as Raven before she chose her name as Mystique and here she is in her controlled “human looking form”

Lucas Till plays the cute and mischievous Alex Summers / Havol (his power is indeed havoc if not under control), brother of Scott Summers / Cyclops

Caleb Landry Jones as the humorous Sean Cassidy / Banshee! I really enjoyed his hippy -mutant teen angst performance. ^_^

I’m in love (in an admiration if you please ) with January Joneswho plays the amazing Emma Frost. She practically sizzles on screen! I want her body! or at least her face! gorgeous!!!

Still of Álex González in X-Men: First Class

Álex González as Riptide.

Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy who has transformed to Beast due to an unfortunate experiment.

Edi Gathegi as Darwin, whom i feel his time was so short lived

Zoë Kravitz as Angel. Personally she would be the easiest mutant to try and copycat for a Halloween party. but man her powers are quite lame and her spitting out fire..is almost redundant haha.

Jason Flemyng as a very red Azazel who is Nightcrawler’s dad.

Here’s the full team of the X-Men before they got separated by differences.

There’s not much around on Kevin in the trailer but i managed to find one for you

Kevin Bacon as the dashingly evil Sebastian Shaw (actually his character doesn’t really follow the comics >.<) and of course the gorgeous Emma Frost!

oohhhh and this has to be shared. in conjunction with Xmen: First Class check out this really funny commercial of an insurance company using Beast and Alex Summers!!

Another post is coming up!! Stay tuned!

Avatar the Movie (2009)

On December 16, 2009 By Linora Low

A much anticipated movie it is: Avatar the movie. Not too be confused with Avatar the last Airbender. I watched the movie last night and i will say that it left me glued to my seat. It had strong actors, fair script, wonderful editing, gorgeous ‘backdrops’ rendered in CG and a mesmerizing soundtrack. The movie was made with a budget of 230million and about 5 years to produce. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdxXPV9GNQ[/youtube] Synopsis in short An ex marine, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is ported to the world of Pandora so that he can take on a research project which is to understand the indigenous clan called the Na’vi, a humanoid tribe. The project is funded by Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribis) and he is trying to come to a compromise with the Na’vi, with the aid of the research scientist Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) and military Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Instead the ways of communication turn into a battle between the humans and the Na’vi. Jake steps into his new life as an Avatar and meets one of the local people, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) who at first wants to kill him. But instead teaches him the ways of their tribe. Along the way Jake has to decide where his loyalty rides, to the people who hired him or the people who have brought him in as family? **Oh and how cool is this you have a Pandora Encyclopedia. Think it like another Star Wars in the making? Acting Superb performance by all actors. Considering that nearly 80% of the film was done with CGI, i can understand how hard it would be for the actors, to try and imagine a magnificent world when all they have around them are grey walls. Worthington, is becoming a fast rising star and he’s showing his skills as an actor gallantly. Sigourney does not disappoint at all in this film as the sarcastic hard-headed no nonsense scientist. But the one that blew me away had to be Zoe Saldana. avatar_zoe_mocap-thumb-585xauto-7962 I’m very very impressed and happy at how she is growing in the industry. Despite the fact that a lot of motion capture (yes i do that for a living ^_^) is involved, it doesn’t deter the actors from showing the raw emotions they need for their role. CGI Amazing! Everything looked very very real. As real as it can get anyway. It was almost magical as you stepped in the world of Pandora. Everytime a character stepped on the ground, a part of the ground will light up. Nothing cheap about the effects here. You can tell i’m taking more about the background and environment in the movie. The trees, mountains, skies and weird animals were gorgeous! As for the alien race, well they weren’t perfect, but as far as animation goes, it was still a very well done job. If you look close enough you will be able to recognise the facial features of the actors who played the alien race. I didn’t know Zoe was going to be in it, but judging from the mannerism and how Neytiri was made, it was not hard for me to put two and two together and recognise it was her. Being a Guild Wars fan, i couldn’t help but feel it was like the landscape of Ascalon and Action Jam packed with bows flying in the air next to bombs that are ready to explode. I loved the scenes here. Just watch the show and you’ll get it. (pictures courtesy of OfficialAvatarMovie’s photostream) Soundtrack What can i possibly even say? It is James Horner, the man who composed the Titanic OST and made the Celion Dion song “My Heart Will Go On” shoot to stardom and irritate me as i could never NOT hear it whenever i went out for that entire year! So yes the music is fantastic. With hints of tribal, asian, and sci-fi elements. Think Battlestar Gallactica OST. Listening to the theme song “I See You” written by James Horner and sung by Leona Lewis is enough to get my hair standing All one needs for a 10 star rated film. But i will give it 9/10 because some small parts felt just a tad draggy and also storyline was not entirely original. Imagine Avatar to be a mix of Pocahontas, Titanic and Atlantis all into one. Still the movie was told beautifully by James Cameron.

The Dark Knight Lost?

On July 20, 2008 By Linora Low

I just came back from the cinema again after watching for a second time.

I’m still BLOWN AWAY!

I don’t care how many times you let me watch that movie, I don’t think I could get sick of it. I knew I was going to watch it again with Mister G, hence i purposely allowed myself to slip away from certain things for the first time I watched it. So i kept my eye open even more to notice little things which i hadn’t noticed before. The one thing i enjoy about watching movies with Mister G – other than the fact i get to hold his hand in the cinema – is how i get to tell him about some trivia or behind the scenes stuff which i found either online or through articles and also by the fact, we start to discuss about a film after having seen it. It’s a lot of fun having a good talk out session with him even though we end up in a bit of a debate in the process.

***note for those who have not yet seen the movie, please turn away NOW – you have been warned!***

It’s all… part of the plan… wa hahahahahahahaha

You know despite the fact the JOker keeps on insisting that he has no plan, I think he is a down right hypocrite.. everything he did… seemed like a well thought out plan. If not why would he have to keep on asking or looking at his watch whether his schemes have taken place.

So who is the victim here? The clown who believes that the city is governed by too many rules? The man who fights for justice but on his terms? Or the man who lost everything in order to save the city from bad men?

Anyway the debate was about differences in premises.

He believes that the Joker won in the end and managed a ‘checkmate’ position where everything he had hoped for fell to his advantage. Meaning not only did he manage to get Harvey Dent mad, making him lose his reputation and die, but in the process he made Batman into a wanted man, because Batman had to take the fall of Harvey Dent in order to ensure the people still had hope for some sort of good in the corrupted city. In this, the Joker had caused Batman to go from being a hero to a zero, a person who is against the law. So either way, Joker won in that sense.

I just needed a reason to put this poster up cause it’s the first time i’m seeing it.

Where as I believe that the Joker only managed to ‘eat the queen’ and didn’t get to confirm the death of the ‘king’. My argument is the Joker didn’t not get his wish of causing people to lose hope in goodness, he did not get to see people be as sick as him. He did not get to see the citizens of Gotham City lose hope in a person who is able to help them. I believe the Joker wanted the people to realise that they could not trust anyone, that they have no one to turn too. That everyone is just out to save their own skin. The Joker did not get to see the two ships being blown to smithereens and the citizens did not see the wrong doing of the man they believed in. So to me i don’t think the Joker won.

The Dark Knight takes on the blame of the wrongs of another... does that make him a fallen hero?

I don’t know what do you people think? Do you think at the end of the movie, the Joker won what he had set out to do? Or do you think some level of justice still prevailed and the Joker’s wishes were ruined?

Horrible Bosses Review

Larry Crowne Review

Attack The Block Review

X-Men:First Class Review

Avatar the Movie (2009)

The Dark Knight Lost?

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