My Shocking ‘This Is The End’ Didn’t Completely Suck Movie Review
This is the End is an apocalyptic comedy film where James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson all portray fictional characters of themselves as they are forced to face the true meaning of friendship and redemption as the world ends around them. Does that sound stupid to you or what? Well, it certainly does/did to me. When I first saw the trailer to this one I was COMPLETELY stupefied. I was like really? However, a critic must remain open minded and whenever possible check all emotions and biases toward a feature at the door and judge the film accordingly in regards to merit, story, structure, characters, resolutions, themes, acting, etc. So in a nutshell, that’s exactly what I did here. I locked up all animosity I had towards this project and tossed the key out my driver’s window before I walked into Monday night’s press screening. I hoped to be at least mildly surprised like I was with last month’s After Earth, but I wasn’t going to put the chicken before the egg either. I’m all for mediocracy here, isn’t that sad? Continue reading ‘My Shocking ‘This Is The End’ Didn’t Completely Suck Movie Review’
Apparently I have been watching and enjoying a lot of coming-of-age films in recent months (
The Purge is a good example of an interesting premise being overtaken by idiotic characters. Here’s a thriller that has a killer setup: all crime is legal for 12 hours a year. Even if the film is limited in scope and budget, there are a lot of places one could take this idea and find ways to hit upon social commentary in a violent but exciting sort of way. Unfortunately, The Purge never really delivers on being anything more than a basic home invasion thriller that is not very thrilling. It wastes away its potential originality by having every character behave in remarkably dumb fashion and squanders the chance to play up its 1%-ers-on-a-rampage angle in a way that is anything more than just an excuse for violence. I can enjoy a good thriller, but The Purge misses out on capitalizing on a concept of capitalists committing crime.
I remember it like it was only yesterday. It was a cold, blistering day back in 2012 when my writing partner, girlfriend and I were sharing a conversation with producer Tyler Davidson (Compliance), an Ohio native, in a quaint Chagrin Falls, OH cafe. We were talking about our feature film project and also discussing his next one. The one on the tip of his tongue that day was a movie called Toy’s House, which ironically was filmed mostly in the Chagrin Falls area that previous summer. Later on I came to find out that the film’s title had been changed to The Kings of Summer, but not before it made its debut under the Toy’s House moniker January 19th at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. I believe its first public showing under the new name was at the Cleveland International Film Festival on April 3rd last month. Regardless of the name, congrats on all your success Tyler! I loved Compliance a lot (it made my Top 10 of 2012 list 
One would have thought that following the box office success of Wedding Crashers, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson would have teamed up again sooner in an effort to ride on top of that momentum. Especially given that instead of doing a redundant sequel to a film, they have instead come up with a new premise that has some relevance to society today, even if setting the base at Google feels kind of dated, let alone an excuse to promote Google as the greatest thing their ever was. The Internship is a new comedy from Vaughn and Wilson, but only time will tell (or at least the box office totals this upcoming weekend) whether or not audiences are still looking forward to seeing this duo play around in films together. Of course, whether or not the film is a solid comedy will also factor in and I can at least say that I had a good time overall, despite various issues. Maybe jumping into the premise of this movie about new beginnings will reveal more.
Every so often an idea or a treatment comes across that’s so ludicrous and insane that you just can’t help wondering if it can be properly pulled off and executed, I don’t want to say flawlessly, but let’s loosely use the word skillfully for the time being. The Purge just so happens to be one of those movies that caught my eye as of late, well rather my girlfriend’s, but I was the one who reluctantly signed up for the brutality and punishment here within so let the games begin. Err…I mean The Purge. You see, The Purge is an annual 12-hour period from evening to morning, in the not so distant future, during which ALL CRIME is legal and emergency services are suspended and non-responsive. Yep. You read that right…and I repeat…ALL CRME IS LEGAL…murder, rape, theft…you name it. See! I told you this concept sounded ludicrous, but I’d be the first to admit that I was hellbent curious to see how this would work and play out on the big screen. The believability aspect and suspension of disbelief are two things I take very seriously in my films. So here we are. Let’s get down to business. What say you? The Purge… 
In the midst of all of the summer blockbusters going around, I was happy to be just as thrilled by a film that involves nothing but lengthy conversations and arguments. I am not going to be that person who tries to say that summer blockbusters are nothing compared to exquisite art house films, as I have been happy to enjoy many of the action spectacles so far this summer, but I cannot deny that Before Midnight is a wonderful film that relies on a very minimalist approach to engage the viewer for 109 minutes. Being the natural follow-up to the previous entries in this series (Before Sunrise and Before Sunset) from writer/director Richard Linklater, who co-wrote the film with stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, Before Midnight completes a series of films that could easily go down as one of the better film trilogies of all time, assuming we never a see a Before The Crystal Skull. It is a film that plays out very naturally, does not necessarily rely on knowledge of the previous entries, and provides a perspective on life and relationships that feels very appropriate, regardless of how closely associated one his with this depiction of reality.
I have been fairly vocal about two films I have been looking forward to this year from filmmakers who have been written off by almost everyone. The first was Pain & Gain, which I found to be interesting, but director Michael Bay’s style was still a component that hurt the film overall. Now I have seen the second film I was surprised to find myself looking forward to, After Earth, the latest feature from director M. Night Shyamalan. I wish I could have found myself enjoying the film more, but there is a real lack of energy in this fairly somber coming-of-age/survival story about a father and son stranded on a foreign land (which happens to be Earth). The problem is pretty simple, for a movie that talks about fear being a choice, After Earth is afraid of doing anything truly radical, settling instead for minimalist concept that disregards being anything more than functional.
I remember a title being thrown around called 1000 A.E.. However, I really never gave any though to what ever happened to it…that is until now. Why you ask? Well, I just found out that After Earth, the reason you are reading this review right now, was originally known as that. But I have to be honest folks. And I’d hope you feel the same way after you read this first paragraph. I went into this press screening with a heightened sense of uneasiness and uncertainty. I swore to myself that after I witnessed the abomination known as The Last Airbender, I would never see another M. Night Shyamalan film again for as long as I lived. So what was I doing here? I’m a liar. Haha. Jsut kidding. Quite honestly, I’m new to the Austin scene and I wanted to make a good first impression with the PR people who bring joy to my moviegoing life. But I guess it’s not the M. Night thing that made me so nervous. It’s the fact that it’s based on an idea by Will Smith and also co-written by him too, which also stars him and his Karate Kid son, Jaden Smith. 
Now You See Me is the kind of movie that is both a lot of fast-paced fun throughout and still annoying due to how clever it thinks it is. I can see a large audience enjoying this movie quite a bit, as everything is moving so quickly that there is rarely a chance to stop and consider what it took to achieve certain spectacles, if one were to apply logic. However, the annoying thing is that the movie acknowledges that it knows it doesn’t make too much sense if one were to look closely and encourages its audience to essentially look the other way, much like one does at a magic show. The pretty magician’s assistant is on one side, while the trick being performed is happening elsewhere, and as long as the viewer stares at the assistant, they should ideally have a fun time watching a story about a team of 
The East is a low-budget thriller about espionage and eco-terrorism. It comes from writer/director Zal Batmanglij and co-writer/star Brit Marling, who previously collaborated together on 2012’s The Sound of My Voice. With that film, along with 2011’s Another Earth, I have been quite impressed with Marling’s work in features thus far, and The East continues that trend. Marling is quite good in this film, which has her playing a character living a dual life in order to infiltrate an anarchist collective. The rest of the film features some solid performances, interesting ideas, and a nice handle of its overall presentation as a sort of counterculture spy thriller. My only issue is how the film did not quite rise above anything like it. I can certainly appreciate a young director working with the goodwill he already has to make another original feature, but the film did not fully involve me in the same way the leader of The East was able to obtain full commitment from his crew.
This is the year that the Fast & Furious franchise came to play. While 2011’s wonderfully entertaining (and superior) 
The Hangover franchise is one of the best examples of diminishing returns. The first film in the series was a big success and generally well liked. Part II presented the same story in a different location, but had enough goodwill to make it a success anyway. Time has not been kind to Part II, as there are few that really want to stand up for it. Regardless, we now have Part III and it is awful. Some may want to commend the film for not rehashing the same plot again, which would be all well and good if this new take on the structure of the plot had something good or intriguing to offer. That really is not the case here. The Hangover Part III is a comedy that forgot to have good jokes. Do these actors and filmmakers with good comedic sensibilities know how to elicit a smile from their audience every so often? Of course, but it feels more than apparent that no matter how big this film wants to make itself seem, there is no real punch to it. It just sits there and the worst kind of movie for me is a comedy that isn’t funny.
Given how 2013’s Memorial Day weekend is packed with action and comedy for adults with both Fast & Furiou6 and The Hangover Part III hitting screens everywhere, it is only right to have some counter-programming for kids and family audiences. I only wish that the film Epic lived up to its title. As it stands, Epic is perfectly acceptable as a fairly unchallenging film, with some wonderful animation, rousing action sequences, and humor, I just wish it had more to offer. The film feels like a friendly, but action-heavy take on The Borrowers crossed with FernGully: The Last Rainforest. It flirts with a few interesting ideas, but overall, Epic is merely an average and fairly traditional animated feature.
Let’s see…where did we last leave off? Oh yeah! When we last saw the Wolf Pack, Alan (Zach Galifianakis) had just surprised Dr. Stu (Ed Helms), I mean the dentist, with Mike Tyson at his Thailand wedding (read all about the good times 
Black Rock is an incredibly simplistic thriller, which finds three women fighting for their lives after circumstances lead to them to dealing with some deadly individuals. The film is not terribly deep, as it is basically an extended period of setup, followed by standard chase thriller plot machinations, but it does reach points of effective, high stakes drama, matched with adequate filmmaking. Having females working together and playing against certain standards in regards to these types of films is notable as well. However, there are also many other genre stereotypes at play, along with a lack of logic in some instances. Given how minimal the story is overall, it works on an overall level of satisfaction, but I have seen other, similar films (The Decent), which make much better use of the ideas on display.
Mud is the latest film from writer/director Jeff Nichols, who previously made Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter. It is a nice change of pace, as Mud is the Nichols’ film with the most humor so far. With Mud, Nichols continues to make wildly different films, despite setting them in the same type of locations with the same types of people. He has a knack for this sort of representation of Americana on film, with these stories set in rural and swampy areas, mainly because he gets great work from the people cast in his films. Matthew McConaughey is indeed fantastic in Mud, just as the rest of the cast is, given that no one feels out of place. The title may literally sound dirty, but it is a film that is a big success, given it feels both familiar and unique in the way it presents its story.
I have honestly not tried to make a big deal out of this more publicly, but my interest in Star Trek as a franchise is almost non-existent. Do I respect what it has brought to the world? Sure. Do I enjoy the work of many involved in the making of this newest entry? Of course. Do I begrudge anyone for liking this series? Of course not. My relationship to Star Trek is similar to food I don’t like, because of the taste. It may not be bad for me and others may enjoy it, but it just isn’t my thing. Do I need to be as clichéd as possible to state that I’m a Star Wars guy? I would not think so, but it is true, and even my father informed me that ever since I was very young that was the case, after I rejected a Starship Enterprise toy, because it wasn’t something Star Wars. So with this ridiculous disclaimer out of the way, my assessment of Star Trek Into Darkness is pretty simple – it’s fine. If you like what J.J. Abrams did with the 2009 reboot, than I would say that ‘Into Darkness’ offers a lot more of the same, except bigger.
