Another Earth [review]

This is a low-budget film, but let's not turn it down just because of that. Frankly, a lot of low-budget films have taken me by surprise and this is no different. I'm mesmerized, to say the least. It's a mix of drama and science fiction. From the poster or...this picture below, you'd see a planet just like ours so close and real as if you can just reach out your hand to it. In this film, astronomy just got even more interesting when fellow scientists discover that there's another Earth out there, which they named as Earth 2. They believe that it's a mirror to our own planet, which means that there just could be another us living there. Just recall Fringe and its alternate universe theory. But the main story isn't about this other planet, in fact, the title can be rather misleading. I was actually watching this expecting theories and a bunch of scientists trying to figure out this new planet. But it turns out to be a whole other kind of plot. However, it's still great, if not very moving.

The main character is a smart high school graduate, Rhoda, who just got accepted into MIT for astrophysics (if I'm not wrong), but a mere recklessness, often found in youngsters having too much fun, caused her to run into another vehicle carrying a family of 4 including an unborn baby. She was under the influence of alcohol, I presume. The catch here is that she was actually looking out the window to the sky, trying to spot the duplicate planet as she hears the radio about it and didn't notice her front.

Spending 4 years in jail as a minor, upon release, she is accepted back into her loving family, but can't help feeling guilt-ridden for her past that claimed 3 lives, hence a suicide attempt that failed.  Although she is once a bright student, she doesn't continue down that road but prefers to work whereby she doesn't need to communicate much with people and work with hands. She lands a job as a janitor at a local high school. One night, out of curiosity, she begins to investigate the remaining survivor of the crash, a Yale Professor, a composer named John Burroughs.

She goes to his house, thinking to apologize for what she did, but in the end, can't do it and finds herself disguising as a cleaner instead. Her fake trial cleaning plan and a cleaning company that doesn't exist are somehow believable for John. John has been living in the dirty and unkempt condition ever since he awakens from coma and Rhoda thinks she should do something just to let him live better.

Meanwhile, Rhoda enters the competition to win a a trip to Earth 2 by submitting an essay of 500 words. Her honesty in the essay wins her the spot finally. 

Music with the saw.....amazing!

As I'm not going to spoil it all for you, let's go to the performances and ultimately, whether this film is worthy of your time. Rhoda is portrayed by Brit Marling, who also serves as a co-writer of this film. I think this is her first film I've watched, can't compare with her others but the character is very real, raw and convincing as an ex-convict. That said, I think Brit plays Rhoda beautifully. As for the character, I don't sympathize with her much, but at the same time, you're pulled into her world and before long, it makes you want to know what will eventually become of her. Her co-star, William Mapother, also does John justice. He manages to put this miserable, lonely and messy John out there that I do feel for him. They have great chemistry with each other. Just a special mention, I really like her relationship with the co-janitor she's working with. That tiny arc of his is quite moving too. So performances by the actors are top-notch. What else contributes to this film?

The scenes... are breathtaking and carefully captured to convey certain emotions. I love almost the entire film and how the director shoots it. There's also constant scenes to show audiences Earth 2, some in the most appealing way ever that I can't take my eyes off them. Sometimes I'd just push the reverse button for that.

Having said that, this award winning film at Sundance is about forgiving, hope and chance to start anew. It's not heavy but enough to captivate, at least I truly enjoy it. Though the title may not seem to have any relation to the plot, there's a hidden message to it. I'm left wanting more at the ending scene, but it'd definitely surprise you.

Rating: 9/10 - for the way this is filmed by Mike Cahill (director) and superb acting performances

Horrible Bosses [review]

Gosh…I don’t even know where to begin with this post. I’m having a hard time trying to specify the exact genre of Horrible Bosses. Comedy seems to be the obvious and right choice but not until you get to the part when the characters begin to device plans to kill each others’ bosses. That’s when things get really messy and crazy and just plain outrageous. I wonder if this is shown in our local cinemas though because of the excessive explicit words but without the profanity, it won’t be as funny as it is supposed to be. I get turned off by some movies which use them almost every other minute or seconds even, but for this show, it’s rather amusing and very much needed for the effect.

So we have three characters, Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day) and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) who have their respective ‘horrible bosses’ played by Kevin Spacey (Harken), Jennifer Anniston (Julia) and Colin Farrell (Pellit). You have here a full solid cast and I know some of us are thinking, no way…there has to be some weak points that’ll bring the film down. I admit I actually was trying to find where the movie goes wrong but not much success there. I do have few things to complain but they’re trivial enough to be covered by the overall premise. Before I get to that, I think it’d be good to just warm up to the story itself first.

Nick has been working his ass off for months, and getting hints from his boss Harken (who complains like hell even if he’s 2 minutes late), that he’ll be granted a higher post. However, when the day arrives for his supposed appointment, Harken unbelievably appointed himself instead of Nick to hold the post, not to mention he even crushed down the walls just to make his own larger. This is when Nick has a sudden fantasy of him dragging Harken across the hallway and threw him out the nth floor. Next we have Dale who was a sex offender. No, he didn’t rape or sexually harass anybody. Actually as repeatedly explained by him, he was just finding a decent place to pee after getting badly drunk one night and the nearest venue right beside the bar was the playground. And no, there were no kids around to be terrified either. Poor guy got arrested and labelled for the rest of his life, causing him extreme difficulties in finding jobs. Luckily he landed one at Julia’s dental, or not. It turned out Julia is a sick and I’d say, real sexual harasser who makes bold advancements to him everyday. Usually, it’s the girls who get sexually harassed right? Well, it’s the opposite for Dale.

Lastly, Kurt is happily working under a kind boss until he passed away due to a heart attack and his hellish days begin when his son, Pellit takes over. Pellit, I’d say isn’t as horrible as the former two, by comparison because his only crime is doing himself in broad daylight and threatens to fire off several workers. Well, that is if you don’t take fooling around with girls in the office every day into account. But that must have been enough to drive loyal worker like Kurt crazy enough to come up with the hypothetical plan – kill their bosses.

 They then randomly stumbles into this guy played by Jamie Foxx who gives them the genius plan for 5 grand – kill each other’s bosses and make them look like accidents. And so the surveillance begins as they stack out on all three bosses to find their weaknesses. That is until the whole plan deviates from their initial plan, but still it does get rid of them monsters. It turns out that Harken is a psycho who doesn’t think twice in shooting someone dead. And that ends my spoilers. I think I’ve given enough.

Like I mentioned, I know it’s a comedy and it does come off as that right from the beginning, but things suddenly turned really serious and a bit deranged thanks to Harken of course. I think if I were to find another movie most similar to this, it’d be Date Night – basically a mix of comedy and thriller crime. It’s funny though that Julia somehow turned out to be unaffected the most out of the three bosses. Of course Dale did get his revenge done, but it’s a bit tame for what she has done to him lol. I guess I was expecting too much on how Dale will deal with her and to see it end like that was a bit disappointing. Another annoying factor is Dale’s voice. Well, the actor Charlie’s whiny voice kinda turned me off a bit every now and then when he cries out loud or..whine like a baby. But that’s his natural voice so can’t blame him. 

There are tonnes of amazing memorable quotes so I’d just like to take this chance to say kudos to the writers. I’ll just list a few of my favs here:

“You shoved his whole bathroom up your ass!” – Dale to Kurt when he practically yes, shoves Pellit’s toothbrush and shaver in his ass, just to get back at him during their intel.

Julia: So from now on, what I’d like you to do is just tell me, you know…when and if I cross the line. Okay?

Dale: Okay. Now.

Julia: What?

Dale: Well now you’re crossing a line, coz you’re naked.

Nick: You did 10 years for video privacy? (staring at Jones)

Kurt: We’ve been taking murder advice from some guy whose biggest crime is taping an Ethan Hawke movie.

Kurt: If there’s anything I can do to help out before the baby gets here, let me know.

Marge: What baby?

Kurt: Your baby (touches Marge’s belly gently)

Marge: I’m not pregnant.

Kurt: So I’m just touching you? (grin wears off immediately)

Overall, this is a must watch for those who wants something to laugh off at. It's not something to be taken seriously but you'll be amused. If I were to choose which of the three main to be the most hilarious, it's going to be Dale, hands down. His character is well written and he's got the most hilarious lines, some of which are the best. Kurt comes as a close second while Nick is just too sensible for his own good. Out of the three bosses, the most amusing is definitely Kevin Spacey's psychotic Harken. Hey the man gave me a shock! As for Jennifer Anniston, it's refreshing to see her in a role like Julia's because I don't think she's done something like this before, well not recently that is. Though it's limited since she's not the main, Julia stands out as this sexually driven boss. And gosh! Whatever happens to Colin Farrell's hair?! I hope he's just wearing a wig there coz seriously, his HAIR! LOL...good one though. I had to look at him more than twice just to verify it's him on the screen when he first appeared.

Rating: 9/10 - watch it, just don't get too carried away and murder your bosses xDD