How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (2008)

Directed by: Robert B. Weide

Written by: Peter Straughan & Toby Young (book)

British Simon Young has been writing for a humorous gossip magazine, but he gets an offer to join a high profile magazine in New York. The ride is bumpier than he'd expect.

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I don't remember why I originally added this on my list on Netflix. I'm pretty sure I did not read to plot description. I mostly looked at the name and went with it. The name of the movie is strong and weak at the same time. It attracts attention, it certainly gives you a certain feel to the movie before you watch it. But eventually, is it accurate? And is it too long for people to remember, therefore making it harder for people to talk about it? "Hey, have you seen How to Lose Friends And Alienate People" just doesn't come so naturally to people. Thank god we can discuss it mostly online or in text messages.

The plot is intriguing because of two things: the beginning and Simon as a character. 

The beginning is a scene closer to the end - the "You're probably wondering how I got into this situation" kind of beginning. And when the movie actually starts, the contrast is amazing. You know where the main character Simon Young is going to be, but the how of the trip is intriguing considering the beginning doesn't seem to go so smoothly for him.

Somehow the beginning while interesting also made me sigh in frustration. Someone moves to New York? That certainly has never been done before! The story can be different, but the setting is getting tired. Is New York really that great? And people living in New York, don't come after me after I wrote that remark, you hear? 

Simon Young as a character is interesting. What are fictional journalists usually like? They always want to write serious stuff, win prizes and make a difference. That's always the way it goes, right? But Simon Young is into all the gossip articles. His priorities (he wants to have humorous, ironic look on different celebrities) are different from the people in other movies, and all the characters around him. Again, wonderful contrast. Now, is Simon Young likeable? He's a bit sympathetic, but some details about him annoy the audience. But what makes you mostly root for him is the way his opponent is even more annoying. There's nothing likeable in that guy, so you root for Simon. And eventually, you really like him, and you want to see him shine. 

Those are the two reasons that make you want to watch the entire movie. You want to know how Simon Young got to the place shown in the beginning, and you want him to be better than the more annoying character. Of course the movie is also enjoyable and fun, but those two are way more effective. If a movie is fun, but there's nothing else interesting going on, audience might not be as motivated reach the end.

It was weird listening to this movie. Almost every song on the soundtrack is on some playlist of mine. There's a chance it gets annoying if a movie is filled with recognisable, popular songs after another. In How to Lose Friends and Alienate People it works. Songs go well with the scenes, and they don't feel as forced as songs that are there just to trick you into enjoying a scene.

There are many typical details to How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, but it's also extremely refreshing. It's fun, even if a bit annoyingly vulgar at times, but at the end extremely enjoyable. It feels like this movie could be analysed way more - there's so much going on under the surface.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

7 / 10

Austin Powers movie series (1997-2002)

Lately I've been watching a lot of movies and shows I used to love years ago - Men in Black, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Ginga Nagareboshi Gin... It is time for a movie series I first watched when I was eleven. 

Usually if movies are unnecessarily dirty it's slightly annoying to me, but in Austin Powers movies that doesn't matter. Why? Because that's what they mostly are - dirty spy comedies. Yes, it feels a bit corny now, but that's mostly because I watched them at the age where all that was incredible funny. Now it feels mostly nostalgic and sometimes slightly cringe-worthy. Best part of the dirty humour are the names of certain female characters. And apart from all the dirty humour, these movies are still pretty funny - like all the clever ways of covering up people's private parts.

I'll always prefer agent movies as a comedy instead of that grim dark angst, very serious agent movies á la James Bond. Yes, being a spy is a serious business, I will always prefer stuff like Austin Powers, Archer, Johnny English and Get Smart over James Bond and whatever else spy movies there are. On the top of my head I can't even name anything else than James Bond, I just automatically dislike all the serious spy movies, unless they really, really stand out.

Casts are always unbelievable, even though closer to the end it feels like the cast is 50 % Mike Myers. Still, every movie has at least that one actor or actress who is just so incredible - like Beyoncé Knowles Michael Caine in the third one.

It's hard to say if the stories are interesting when I've seen all the movies at least five times and they are extremely familiar already. Still they are enjoyable to watch.

My score for all these movies is

☆☆☆☆☆☆

6 / 10

Rush Hour 2 (2001)

Directed by. Brett Ratner

Written by: Ross LaManna (characters) & Jeff Nathanson

Lee and Carter are on a vacation in Hong Kong, when they get pulled into another criminal investigation, that includes a bombing and counterfeit money scam.

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Watching sequels is a risky business. Sometimes your love for the original gets butchered because the quality of the sequels dropped somewhere along the way - writers changed, maybe even director changed. Luckily Rush Hour 2 shares the quality with the original, and is not clearly worse. And hey, how much originality do you want from action comedies anyway? 

Pretty much everything that was good and right in the first one is good in the sequel. Rush Hour 2 is still hilarious and entertaining, and makes you laugh out loud. The fight scenes are as amazing as previously, and now even Carter seems to have learned something. Still, Jackie Chan's skills are far more astonishing.

The only thing that makes me feel a little disappointed is how you'd expect this movie to take place entirely in Hong Kong, but no, they go back to the US. There are enough movies taking place there, couldn't we have had this one in Hong Kong? The languages are pretty and the scenery feels refreshing compared to the tired streets of Los Angeles. 

The chemistry between the actors is still excellent. It might be even better now that the characters know each other better and aren't just two random people thrown into a same case - but it might not be as interesting to the audience. It was more interesting to see two strangers trying to get along and work together, but this works as well.

Rush Hour 2 is still a decent action comedy. It speaks about the quality when a director is the same in the sequels and in original. Usually when the director changes into someone not as good, the quality drops, sometimes as badly as in the Hostel series. But Rush Hour and at least this second sequel seems to be just as good - predictable and stereotypical, but still entertaining.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10

Rush Hour (1998)

Directed by: Brett Ratner 

Written by: Ross LaManna & Jim Kouf

When Chinese consul's daughter is kidnapped, the consul wants to get help from his best detective Lee in Hong Kong. Because FBI doesn't want Lee to ruin their operation, they pair him up with a big-mouthed loose cannon from  the LAPD. 

---

I saw Max Landis talk about this movie on Twitter, but I didn't pay much attention to the conversation. My dad and I were looking for movies to watch on Netflix, and Rush Hour popped up. Since we wanted to watch an action comedy, it seemed perfect. 

Rush Hour is absolutely hilarious! Most of the comedy comes from the clash between two main characters. There are cultural and characteristic differences, which are so much fun and cause a lot of misunderstandings and unfortunate but hysterical situations.

Rush Hour is definitely a thrilling action movie. It just happens to be predictable as well. You know what's going to happen, because you've seen tons of movies like this one. What makes that better is that you don't know how it's going to happen, so Rush Hour - and all the other movies such as this one - may still manage to surprise you by taking you to the predictable destination by different means than you expected. And usually no one expects action comedies to be completely unpredictable, even if the old, boring ways are annoying. Action comedies are fun, and the movie being fun and thrilling is more important than it being unpredictable and completely new.

Hand to hand combat scenes are a pleasure to watch. They are well coordinated and the choreography is incredible. Most of that is because of Jackie Chan's wonderful talent.

Not only is Jackie Chan talented, he's absolutely charming. I've only seen him in the Chinese movie The Twins Effect (or Vampire Effect) in a small role, and this is the first time I saw him playing a main character. Of course the character he plays - Lee - is a bit typical, but still delightful. Chris Tucker, on the other hand, played a really typical character when it comes to  a black man in an action comedy, but I'd rather blame the director and writers than him. I've seen him before in Jackie Brown and that one David O. Russell movie I barely remember watching. Both characters are lovable and their chemistry works. Different characters would've made the movie a whole lot different.

I definitely liked this movie. My dad already asked if we're going to watch the sequels. Damn right we are. I don't know if the stories will be as interesting, but I love the characters more, and it will be interesting to see how their chemistry works now that they know each other better in the sequels. 

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

8 / 10

August - Short Reviews

15. 8. Teen Spirit (2011) - 2 / 10

I felt like watching a high school comedy, but it's hard to even try enjoying this film.

Teen Spirit is like Mean Girls meets ghosts, which seems so ridiculous it could be something good. There is a lot of potential in the story. With the right writers it could be hilarious. Well, they failed. The whole film just makes you cringe. It has every bad cliché trope in the book and eventually everything deep feels fake. This is the kind of high school movie 8-year-olds like, but anyone else probably just feels annoyed.

I for one want to forget I ever saw this movie. Sure, there were few feel-good moments (that's why I'm giving this movie a 2 instead of 1), but apart from that 6 % of the film everything feels forced and just... horrible..

17. 8. Barely Lethal (2015) - 7 / 10

There's something more important than watching good movies, and that's watching movies that make you feel good. So whether it's an award winner praised by critics or a silly high school / secret agent movie, it doesn't matter. Barely Lethal is such a nice and fun movie, which is why I saw it again, even if it isn't the best movie out there.

19.8. Shark Tale (2005) - 7 / 10

It always makes me nervous to watch old childhood favourites. Like, how bad were they this time?

But luckily Shark Tale (which I always thought was Shark's Tale) isn't as embarrassing as childhood favourites can be. Sure, there are a few immature jokes, but hey, what kid movie hasn't? But this movie is still genuinely funny.

The best part of this Shark Tale is that the plot could easily be changed so it could fit the human world, in which case it would be quite a hard crime thriller. You could even keep the music which would give it a nice feeling.

Of course Shark Tale isn't as good as it could be, but at least I'm not embarrassed since I loved this movie when I was eight. Shark Tale was the first movie I watched in English, and it remains the only movie I've seen with the commentary.

21,8. Down with Love (2003) - 3 / 10

I once saw pieces of Down with Love on TV. The film is extremely silly and over the top. That was the first thing that caught my eye then and made me interested. However, after all these years that level of silliness just feels annoying. Of course this movie has something amazing as well, like the kind of plot twists you would never see coming, and a lot of them. Still, even they don't seem to be enough to salvage the movie. It's boring, and eventually quite predictable, if you don't the plot twists that shuffle the pack a bit. The 60's aesthetic and music is a nice touch, but eventually this movie was a big let down. The cast is excellent, though.

24,8, Take Me Home Tonight (2011) - 4 / 10

I saw this DVD sitting on the shelf at the rental store so many times, and I finally decided to actually watch it. Eventually it turned out to be such a disappointment. I hoped for more plot than just "LOL we are at the party and that's my crush" and blah blah blah, whatever this movie was supposed to be about. The story is really boring and only a few characters are relatable.

The cover promised me the talented cast will make me laugh out loud. Sure, the cast is talented, like Topher Grace, Anna Faris, etc, but I don't think I laughed out loud once.

The best thing about this movie is the 80s aesthetic, that's it.

26.8. Men in Black II (2002) - 9 / 10

I've always loved Men in Black and I think it's hard to try to review your childhood favourites. I mean it's one thing if you watched the movie when you were certain age but not afterwards, but I've watch Men in Black II several times.

Still, Men in Black films are always fun. They are fun whether you are a kid, a teenager or an adult, and that shows something. They have interesting technology and aliens in them. It's the kind of franchise I always want to know more about the alien species and the widgets and maybe the history of MIB, all that. Maybe the things that are briefly viewed in the movies aren't thoroughly thought out, but they always look like so much fun.

I like the story and I like the characters, the music, almost everything. Sure, the first one is much more interesting than this one, but that's mostly because the first one feels so new and we can see it through J's eyes, because it's just as new to him. While the second movie is just as good and interesting, it doesn't feel as fresh. Still, an excellent film, the best kind of science fiction there is.

28.8. Men in Black 3 (2012) - 10 / 10

For some reason it has been hard for me to begin writing this small review.

Most of the time sequels are horrible, if the filmmakers just come up with them instead of knowing there will be a certain number of movies. However, Men in Black 3 is just as excellent as the first two, but it has something new to give, since agent J has to go back in time to save his partner agent K. We get to know more about K, even if some of the knowledge we get is in contradiction with other stuff.

Everything that's good with the first two movies is still good in the  third one, and it offers newer things: more alien species and more celebrities who are in fact aliens or MIB agents, stuff like that. These films never fail to make me smile, even if there are very heart-breaking scenes in them as well.

29.8. The Last Heist (2016) - 1 / 10

You know how there are those B-movies with the weirdest concepts like giant spiders fighting a shark with four heads? Well, The Last Heist is a bit like that, but a lot more boring: bank robbers versus a serial killer. Nothing in this movie was good.

Five TV Shows That Kept Me Occupied During Summer 2016

Summers are a time when I have no motivation to start a movie and sit through it and pay attention wholly. It's easier to watch a TV show from Netflix, especially when the episodes are around 20 minutes long, because then you don't have to focus on them 100 % and you can do something else while watching. This is something I like to do when I have trouble concentrating on a movie that lasts 1,5 - 2 hours. 

ARCHER

I tried to watch Archer previously, but I didn't even make it through the first episode, because I didn't think this TV show was right for me. But during this Summer I wanted to find something to watch while I was waiting for new seasons of the shows I already loved. Eventually I managed to watch Archer and I started to like it. True, many of the running jokes annoyed me, and there is something in Archer that I just don't like, but in the end Archer is a really funny show, even if I don't necessarily enjoy the genre.

BOJACK HORSEMAN

I've seen first two seasons before, but the third season came out in July. I was so psyched and it didn't take too long for me to watch the third show as well. BoJack Horseman is probably one of my favourite shows. It feels like a typical, dirty adult animation, but it is so much more. There are many episodes that are just horrifyingly sad, and when you're watching this show alone at night it just makes you feel kind of... weird. As if you might achieve everything and still not be happy. This show manages to make me miserable yet I enjoy it. It's astonishing.

THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR

I've seen the first season maybe ten times, but finally I managed to actually watch the rest too - even if I'm still in the middle of the last season. This show is hilarious yet there are few really sad episodes. I love the way Will breaks the fourth wall. Since I watched this show when I was little most of these characters feel like family to me. True, Will's character is kind of an asshole sometimes, but hey, he is so charming it's easy to forget that.

FROM DUSK TILL DAWN

Yes I started watching this show before this summer, but I started re-watching the first season since I bought the DVD. I love this show, it's enchanting and it feels like the lore goes on and on yet it's never fully revealed. I'm looking forward to the third season.

MISFITS

I love this show, and I started watching it again, mostly because my little sister hadn't seen it before. I've finished season three but never gotten past that, but I'm planning on watching the rest with my sister ASAP.