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Showing posts with the label jennifer aniston

THE IRON GIANT - REVIEW

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Before becoming one of Pixar's most valuable filmmakers, Brad Bird of course worked on The Simpsons but he also made The Iron Giant , an animated feature about a little kid who befriends a giant robot in the 1950's. Using a mix of 2D hand-drawn and computer animation to bring its characters to life, The Iron Giant was a critical hit and it soon became a beloved modern cult classic. Upon its release, however, it failed at the box-office and didn't come even close to matching its hefty $70M budget. This was due to Warner Bros. underestimating the film following a couple of financial set-backs and not wanting to invest in a proper marketing campaign. The movie eventually found its audience and the fact that it was once a flop is largely forgotten. The sweet, simple story is framed in post-war paranoia with the American government obsessed with competing against the Russians in the space race. When the titular Giant, who is far more adorable than its stature suggests earl

HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 - REVIEW

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If there was one comedy I was not expecting to ever get a sequel, it was  Horrible Bosses . Armed with a fun, clever concept and a strong cast, the film still somehow managed to be very uneven and instantly forgettable. So now we have Horrible Bosses 2 and our moronic trio are back with yet another unlikely plan involving, albeit rather indirectly, some horrible bosses. The plot sees Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day try to sell a new product of their conception called "The Shower Buddy" to a big company run by an intimidating Christoph Waltz and his spoilt, twisted son, an almost show-stealing Chris Pine. Of course, the gang are soon tricked into being ruined and selling their product for cheap to Waltz and they are soon plotting their revenge. Murder isn't so much on their mind this time as they turn their intention towards kidnapping. Or "kidnaping", rather. What follows is a series of nifty twists and turns as Pine gets involved in thei

ALONG CAME POLLY - REVIEW

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Long before Ben Stiller travelled the world looking for Sean Penn, or a piano, or whatever that Walter Mitty movie was about, he starred in light-hearted comedy Along Came Polly alongside Jennifer Aniston and introduced the notion of blind ferrets and naked Hank Azaria to the world of cinema. As a romantic comedy, Along Came Polly is exactly what you'd expect: typical by-numbers boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-new-girl, boy-loses-new-girl, boy-gets-new-girl-in-the-end fare with the obligatory corny moment here and there and the obvious third act epiphany. Nothing original there, alas. That said, as just a goofy comedy, it works surprisingly better than you expect. Remember The Heartbreak Kid ? That movie wishes it was Along Came Polly. The Stiller/Aniston pair-up works and admittedly makes for a solid central relationship to focus on but this is the supporting cast's movie. I mean, it's like these side characters were written and cast first, long before the

OFFICE SPACE - REVIEW

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Directed by Mike Judge and based on his own short cartoon series Milton , Office Space pre-dated The Office by a couple of years and although it kinda flew by unnoticed upon its original release, it eventually earned a deserved cult status. The film pokes fun at dull office settings and the ridiculous hierarchy and false urgency that these working environments can have while paying homage to Milton and telling its own Superman III -inspired plot. Ron Livingston plays a stressed-out guy who hates his life and just wishes he could simply sit back and do nothing. After a hypnotist mistakenly renders him perpetually laid-back and worry-free, he turns his life upside down and starts rebelling fully against the people that have been holding him back and his whole stagnant existence in general. He starts ignoring his boss, a show-stealing, mug-holding Gary Cole, he asks out Jennifer Aniston's waitress, and decides to jeopardise his tempting new job offer in order to help his soon-t