Movie Review: This Means War

Last week, the fabulous Miss Beth and I got the chance to check out an early screening of This Means War, a fluffy romcom starring Bane, Captain Kirk and June Carter. This movie is being marketed as a “something for everyone” package: violence and explosions and fun CIA gadgets for guys and the sort of disgustingly saccharine romance that makes even kittens want to punch themselves in the face for the ladies.

If you like Tom Hardy, Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon and are determined to watch every single damn movie they’re in, this movie is for you. If you like coherent plotlines, interesting characters, not having your intelligence insulted or good movies, this movie is not for you.

(They are not aiming at Reese. No matter how hard you squint.)

I won’t lie - I laughed out loud during some parts and Tom Hardy’s Tuck (which reminded me of the children’s novel Tuck Everlasting) and Chris Pine’s FDR (seriously, that was his character’s name) have great chemistry. In fact, Tuck and FDR had more chemistry than say, Tuck and Reese’s character, Laura, or FDR and Laura, or the villain and FDR and Tuck. Speaking of which…

The villain, whose name is not on IMDB but for some reason is listed as an FBI agent, had about 15 minutes total of screen time. His entire arc could have been cut completely and the movie wouldn’t have suffered (any more than it already does from, you know, the writing). His whole reason for existing in this movie is to exact revenge for the death of his… okay, I won’t spoil that for you. But basically aside from the romantic shenanigans, Tuck and FDR are also responsible for the death of someone. *cue the laughs!*

So what’s this movie about? Two men fall in love with the same woman and duke it out to win her affections. The ‘unique’ part about this tired trope is that Tuck and FDR are CIA agents who use their super special CIA resources to find out everything about Laura. They tailor their, um, seduction based off this information. So basically, when they all fall in mushy happy love with each other, it’s a lie. It’s all a big, fat frikin’ lie.

Buuut seeing as how this is a romcom I was willing to let it go, except for the ending which… Well, let me say this- if the ending were a person I’d slap it. I’d slap it for being dumb and I’d slap it just to make sure it knew how ridiculous it was being.

Bottomline: I give this movie two out of five Angela Bassets (oh, right, she was in this thing): one point for the comedy and one point for the awesomeness that is Tom Hardy in a suit. There were lots of fun action scenes and it did make me laugh but I walked out of the theater glad that our tickets were free.

(This is Tom Hardy in a suit. This is why this movie earned an extra point.)

P.S: Here’s a short version of the clever way the villain tracks down FDR and Tuck.  

Bad guy: (holding a scrap of FDR’s suit) I would like a suit made out of this material. But I want to make sure that it’s the only suit of this kind in the world.

Random Savile Row tailor: Nice fabric, yo! Oh hey, actually I made a suit out of this material like ages ago, man.

Bad guy: (flashes menacing smile) You don’t say? And where exactly does the man who owns this suit live?

Random Savile Row tailor: LA. But it’s not the real LA, it’s Vancouver made to look like LA, which…

Bad guy: Enough! 

Movie Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy

Fun fact about PN Seattle: A small group of folks from the office occasionally watch movies together after work.

I know, I know- it's weird that people who spend eight hours together in the office would willingly spend MORE time together outside of the office but hey, that's how we roll. Anyway, I digress...

A few weeks ago, we went to watch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, the guy who plays Sherlock in the BBC update, and Bane. The movie was based on the novel by John Le Carre and is considered the ultimate spy tale (the book, not the movie).

Before I wax poetic about the clothes, the atmosphere and Gary Oldman, let me tell you upfront- I really liked this movie. If I had to rate it, I would give it four out of five bottles of vodka. 

(This is an accurate description of the movie)

This movie is all about restraint. Gary Oldman plays George Smiley, a retired MI6 agent, who has to identify a mole within the agency. He's an outcast– a former top guy looking in, so with his right hand (inside) man, Peter Guillam, he's working in the shadows to uncover the traitor.

What I liked about this movie was its atmosphere. Almost everything looks faded and worn- from the SIS headquarters to Smiley's workspace and all the places in-between. Taking place during the Cold War, you get the sense that the old guard is tired (Connie's hostel and Control's home) and a bit of a mess. This is a quiet movie, where the silences carry as much meaning as the dialogue and where almost every action hides a motive. A smile, a side-eyed glance, a hesitant look over the shoulder... there's a lot left to interpretation. It's a movie that demands attention (even if you had a long day like me... shut up, Noah and Will).

What I also squee'd over were the costumes. If you enjoy men in three peice suits, this movie is for you. At first glance, you might look at the characters and think- yeah suits, so what? But I thought each character's costume was so distinct and so reflective of his state of mind. Toby Esterhase is sharp and snappy, a bit flamboyant- he is a man who cares about appearances. Bill Haydon was dressed like his older counterparts in the Circus, but he showed bits of his personality- from his cufflinks to his desert boots, and he's one of the few in the movie that displayed any light-heartedness. And of course, there's George Smiley whose somber clothing reflects his quiet personality. He peers at documents and people with equal thoughtfulness and deliberation through his glasses, which were chosen with such care in the first part of the movie. 

Peter Guillam, the young MI6 agent, is more modern and less "military" than the men he works for. I mean, look at this handsome cat (trust, I never thought I'd say that about Sherlock).

Look how dapper he is- with his flash of color and modern hairstyle. You can't see them here but he wore slightly flared trousers, which -high-five, dude! Good job rockin' those.

So bottomline? I liked this movie. A lot. Watch it and see why Gary Oldman was nominated for an Oscar. He probably won't win (whatever Clooney, you play the SAME GUY IN EVERY MOVIE) but he damn well deserves to be recognized.

Side note: While I was walking out of the theater I overheard a guy tell his friends, "I don't know what just happened." Well, Real Steel is on DVD now so maybe you might have better luck understanding that. Seriously man, some movies require a bit more concentration than a text. 

So... what movies have you seen lately?

NERD 201: A Cheat Sheet

The Reviews team here at Porter Novelli is a pretty diverse bunch. We have varied interests and wildly different personalities and backgrounds. However, for some time now, there’s been one constant among the team: we were all geeks or nerds.

We read the same blogs, referenced the same books, quoted from the same movies… Basically, we geeked out on the same stuff. For awhile, this was our ‘normal’ state of being. Geek/Nerd was our lingua franca, our common ground, and we didn’t think ourselves to be any different from other young professionals in our line of work.

With the arrival of new team members though, we soon discovered that this was not the case. Things we regularly discussed weren’t the average topics of conversation apparently <insert sarcasm here>.  So, to help our fellow team members who weren’t conversant in Nerdese or Geekspeak, the team developed a primer.

There may be more versions of this to come but in the meantime, here’s your guide to “fitting in” with our team. Of course, you may see this and vehemently disagree but in that case… go make your own list.

Star Wars or Star Trek: Choose a side (just not the dark side):

Basically your choice comes down to:

OR

Read a geek blog… for fun. Appropriate choices include:

• io9
• Gizmodo
• Engadget
• Kotaku
• Boing Boing
• Slash film

Know the basic plot of video games. Some cool ones include:

Dead Space
Silent Hill
Halo
BioShock
Mortal Kombat (old school only)
Street Fighter (old school only)

Have a strong opinion on Apple or Android (Bonus points for knowing why each one sucks)

LOLcats and other internet memes

… another great resource is Know Your Meme

Know the big fantasy fiction staples

LotR
Harry Potter

…and novelizations including Halo, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dead Space

 Awareness of cool summer blockbusters- anything involving:

• Robots and nanotechnology
• Aliens (invasions)
• Time travel
• Wizards
• Mutants
• Super Heroes
• The Undead (Vampires, Zombies)
• and the people that hunt them:

Movies by:

• Christopher Nolan
• Sam Raimi
• Guillermo del Toro
• J.J. Abrams
• Peter Jackson
• George Lucas
• Steven Spielberg
• James Cameron
• Jon Favreau

RPG/board games:

• Magic: The Gathering
• World of Warcraft
• StarCraft
• RISK
• Dungeons & Dragons

General terminology and acronyms:

• RPG: Role Playing Game
• LARP: Live Action Role Playing
• Furries: Freaks who dress up as animals. (Google/Bing CSI or Entourage episode)
• LotR: Lord of the Rings
• MMORPG: Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
• …urbandictionary.com

Got anything you think we need to add to this? Let us know?

…and bad SyFy movies are coming up in Nerd 301…

Inception: PN Seattle style

As you guys know, the Seattle office is home to the PN Reviews team. We run reviews programs (and consult every now and then) for our clients.

Today we got the newest PASIV sleep device to test out and Sam was our guinea pig. He went all the way down to Limbo (got himself killed jumping off a building in the third level of a dream- silly Sam) but we were able to pull him out.

For giggles, we hid his totem while he was under and you should have seen how panicked he got when he woke up! It was awesome- I wish we had taken a picture of it.

Disclaimer: Porter Novelli does not support Mind Crime or the use of the PASIV device for anything other than legitimate dream research.

 

Gettin’ my nerd on at gdgt Seattle

gdgt held gdgt Live in Seattle last night, a free, public, all-ages networking and preview event taking place down at Showbox SoDo for tech companies, bloggers, reporters, creative professionals, and simple tech aficionados alike. Blog founders Ryan Block and Peter Rojas hosted the event, which featured demos of the latest products from tech companies, booths with demos and samples galore, drinks such as the ‘T-mobile Rocket Cosmopolitan,’ and geeky swag for everyone that attended. Media were invited to attend a press conference before the official public event kicked off, and throughout the evening, Block and Rojas held a live discussion on stage with a rotating panel of commentators to discuss some of the latest trends and innovations coming out of the digital and consumer technology space.

A few of personal highlights (and, let’s be honest, a rundown of their swag) included checking out:    

Site/Vendor/New fangled company	Swag
Gazelle.com - a site for trading in/selling used electronics, such as an iPhone 3G	Branded sweatbands! And pretzel M&M-laden fishing tackle box
Sponsor DivX – previews of the HD video streaming quality software, as impressively demoed on the DivX-certified Samsung Wave Droid phone	A gray T-shirt
Microsoft's Windows 7 phone – booth demonstrators offered a preview of the core platform and the newest	Disappointingly, none!
Virgin America – the airline’s booth offered a preview of digital in-flight offerings	Colored audio headphones!! (pictured)

Matt Miller of ZDNet, who was particularly checking out the latest Droid phones all evening, posted a great recap and photos of the event here at ZDNet.com.

-Meghan Lockhart