2 Guns (2013)

I saw this film last night and surprisingly the ingredients were "all in the right mix".

Honestly its been a while since I've seen Mark Wahlberg in a good film. Maybe because he perfectly fits in this type of comedy-action flicks. I haven't seen Pain & Gain but other reviews were saying it was terrible so i never had prioritized watching it. 2 Guns had been making me curious for the past months since its first trailer was released.

In this film i will just talk about the how general idea of the movie have impact on me and not mainly because of the good actors involved in the film. Sometimes it works when you only know the basic premise with what your watching, nothing more on the details. Lesser expectations, bigger surprises.

First and foremost, I haven't heard of the director (Baltasar Kormakur) in his overall works except that he also did a film - "Contraband" last year with Wahlberg which was pretty much only on the average level in my opinion.

What i like in this movie is that it had me in its "roller-coaster ride" from the beginning until the end. It had some stylish way of showing some old used scenes which had it become appealing and effective. They had a scene there towards the end of the movie like putting all the villains in one venue (it was really not an original idea) but its take to convey it blends perfectly well and contributory to the script.

Character development of Wahlberg and Denzel Washington was also effective that basically all scenes becomes necessary to the overall story. Like Walhberg as a "sharp shooter", he was not presented in a typical shooting range or a "fight sequence" but rather on a "joke" scene by making him shoot some buried chicken with just their heads showing from the ground. Not a single miss he had, all chicken heads were hit bullseye while ironically eating a piece of fried chicken on his other hand.

Denzel's take on his role also was also impressive as usual that he doesn't have to do a "Flight" type of film to show how good he can act.  For whatever worth's saying, both main actors had great chemistry on film. On the other hand, all the other supporting casts like Paula Patton, James Marsden, Edward James Olmos, and Bill Paxton were very contributory to the overall result of the film.

Finally, what kept me engaged all throughout this film is its dialogue and story. Interesting good one-liners, a generous amount of humor, and surprises in each corner of its complex intended form of a simple old story had the reel all rolling smoothly.

Internship (2013)

It's been a while since my last post. I really just want to have a material to start again like a feel-good, laid-back & fun-movie. And that's exactly what I had on a Friday evening yesterday.

Always been a fan with these Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson duos. Wedding Crashers was rude and blatant at times, but this was just the exact opposite. "The boys" apparently had some clean fun with their trademark antics very visible all throughout the film. I guess a typical film reviewer would say the movie had nothing new to offer to its audiences. But one of the main agenda of the film to take the viewers on a tour to "Google-land" was definitely a first one. I should say as a comedy on its "level", the film gets 7/10 stars.

I'm categorizing the movie as one of those "viceral comedy films" touches more on the feelings of humanity rather having an intellectual film. Ironic because relating to google, it should have presented a more intellectual perspective. But well, that was not the case and what the filmmakers want to convey. They just want us to have fun at the Google home base.

Countable flaws, yes, but it defies the purpose of having two goofball characters delivering their kind of jokes without it. Not to further expound on Vince and Owen, but they were just the same loud Vince and slow Owen but hey just perfect for the characters. I dunno if there was a script before picking them or the story evolved and became organic from those two characters they were portraying.

Some characters like the uncredited John Goodman and Will Ferrell were not necessary but  hence its called "the cameos" right? For me those were always their trademarks and continuing to love it and will be expecting more of it.

The lovely and sensual Rose Byrne was also effective in portraying a "sexy geek" executive and yes there were no "skin" necessary for her role.

On the other hand, that new guy from "the Social Network" had a small role as the villain. Max Minghella seems to have a promising acting career ahead of him. Maybe this was one of his low-key roles going out of the radar from his serious films like "Ides of March" and Agora. Also, that special role for the "Book of Mormons" guy was definitely a good one and I never realized it was him until he started speaking.

Thus, director Shawn Levy has still his magic in tact with him clearly in his type of genre. See the film in theaters now or soon in DVD/BluRay at home if you want to have some good laughs.