HORRIBLE BOSSES
By Shaer Reaz
As any other typical summer Hollywood comedy goes, “Horrible Bosses” has three clueless guys wandering around doing things that make us laugh. That's about it.
Nick, Dale and Kurt hate their bosses. Nick is just another pebble caught up in the vicious wheel of the corporate world; sticking to his boss Mr. Harken's every beck and call in hopes of a promotion. He goes to work at 6AM every day, and has to accept whatever twisted punishment Harken decides to bestowon him for being two minutes late. Dale is an assistant to a dentist, Dr. Julia Harris. Dale once landed himself on a list of child offenders through a mix-up, and thus his only hope of a job lies with his current boss, who is a master of workplace harassment. The fact that Julia can ruin Dale's engagement to his fiancée using some incriminating photos makes things even more complicated for Dale. Kurt genuinely loves his job, or at least until his lovable boss dies in a car crash, leaving his psychotic drug abusing son (Bobby Pellit) in charge of the company.
They all contemplate quitting their respective jobs, until they meet an old friend, a Princeton graduate who used to work for the disastrous Lehmann Brothers up in New York. Shaken by his sorry state of things, the three friends realise quitting their jobs in this economy would be idiotic to the power of infinity.
What else would you do? Kill the bosses, of course.
The three morons have no idea how to kill their bosses, so they ask Kurt's car navigation (and an Indian guy called Atmanand, also known as George from NavGuide) to find them the seediest bar in town. How do you find a killer-for-hire in a bar? You ask the African-American bartender of course. They somehow manage to find themselves a “murder consultant”, and everything goes downhill from there, as expected. The crude humour and clumsy characters are a hoot, obviously.
The all-star cast delivers on all levels, with the horrible bosses played perfectly by Jennifer Aniston (Dr. Julia Harris), Kevin Spacey (Mr. Harken) and Colin Farrell (Bobby Pellit). Good to see Jennifer Aniston still kicking it and looking as good as ever. Jason Bateman, of Arrested Development fame, plays Nick, with Jason Sudeikis as Kurt and Charlie Day as Dale. The script is brilliantly written, with the funniest quips and quotes from any movie this year. Being a typical Hollywood comedy, parental guidance is recommended for the younger audience.
“Horrible Bosses” is a good, lighthearted comedy, worth more than a few laughs. Cross your fingers and pray they don't make a sequel like Hangover 2.
ALBUM REVIEW
Blink 182
neigborhoods
By Munawar Mobin
After eight (damn) long years Blink 182 is back with their sixth album, “Neighborhoods”. Their last album, released in 2005, marked the end of Blink-182 but they have since reformed and have ended their infamous hiatus on the 27th of September.
We're sure most of your have heard about Blink-182. That band with the amazing guitar riffs, the upbeat drumming, and the creative lyrics about love, growing up and lots of other teen issues? Just Google them.
The album compliments new attributes about the band members while it also highlights some of the undersides about this reform. You have to take into consideration that this band was split for over six years before they got back together. Yet, the album meets expectations.
Mark's classic Blink riffs are present in most of the tracks, Travis is Travis, which is brilliance at the highest level and Tom's lyrics and vocals seem to vary with each track but are always in sublime cohesion with the rest of the band. Certain tracks such as “Up all Night”, “After Midnight” and “Wishing Well” will definitely remind the listener about the '90s Blink 182, when everything was simple yet beautifully complicated. Those romance induced rock songs have also crept into this album, because hey, it's Blink 182 after all.
What this band has managed to do is that they have come back with an album which shows that reform is possible. The album tells us that this is a band which can look back on the past but not so much as to heavily rely on it, but rather to remember it when looking to the future. Mark, Tom and Travis have all matured as they've all been quite successful with their side projects. Mark and Travis have acquired quite the fan base with their band “+44” and Tom has done well with “Angels and Airwaves”. Still, they've all managed to come back together and mix their newly acquired tastes and takes on music.
“After Midnight” has a touch of the sounds from an Angels and Airwaves track while the classic Blink 182 attributes are still present. That is what makes “Neighborhoods” such a hit. It's an album about three guys and how they're growing up but not losing the edge they had.
Go out and get it (read: download as soon as possible)
By Mahir Khan
This year has provided gamers with a good number of first person shooters and the consistency is upheld by Deus Ex: Human Revolution which was brought out this August by Square Enix. Although not one of the best games but it was entertaining while it lasted.
Adam Jensen, the leading role in this game is the chief of security of Sarif Industries. Their headquarters was attacked by mercenaries just before Sarif was to make a declaration of regarding a revolutionary breakthrough. Jensen stood to his job but was taken out by one of the heavily augmented [surgically placed mechanical components] mercenary. Critically injured, he was augmented and revived and now he must uncover the conspiracy behind the attack.
This game has a really complicated story which at some points become really hard to keep track of. The cut scenes and conversations are unusually long which can be frustrating. Also, the controls of the game take a little time to get used to.
The game provides a good variety of weapons for gamers to unleash but the better option is to use the augmentations. Using these you can be invisible, see through and smash walls, set off explosions around yourself, do a little hacking and use machines to your advantage. Another likable aspect of the game is that it rewards creativity. The more creative you are with your augmentations the more experience you get to upgrade your system. The game also slips into the RPG genre as the player can choose the reactions of Jensen, which decides the type of personality Jensen develops.
Although Deus Ex: HR would perhaps have made a better third person shooter, it's still the top selling game of August 2011 (of course, it had very little competition). So, if you want a good shooting game to warm up before Modern Warfare 3 or Battlefield 3 comes out later this year, then you can try this one out.
