This Is The End

COMEDY/HORROR

Last Ditch Efforts

8.25 out of 10 | DVD or RENTAL

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Rated: R  Crude and sexual content, brief graphic nudity, drug use, pervasive language and some violence
Release Date: June 12, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes

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Director: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Writers: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, based on the short film Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse by Jason Stone
Cast: Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Michael Cera, Emma Watson, Rihanna

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SYNOPSIS:  While attending a party at James Franco's house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse.

REVIEW: Seth Rogen is an actor (The Guilt Trip), a writer (The Watch), and now a director! The Canadian-born star brings his unique bong-y perspective from Vancouver, British Columbia, and teams with long-time collaborating writer Evan Goldberg to adapt the Jason Stone short film that Seth and Jay Baruchel Jason and Seth created in 2007.

Seth Rogen (Green Hornet) waits at LAX for his Canadian childhood pal Jay Baruchel (She's Out of my League) to deplane. After Jay arrives they go back to Seth's house and party up with weed, alcohol, and 3D television and video games. When Seth asks Jay to accompany him to James Franco's housewarming, Jay hesitantly goes. After joining the party and meeting up with Franco (147 Hours), Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Craig Robinson (Peeples), Emma Watson (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Kevin Hart (Think Like a Man), and others, Jay tires of the LA scene and wants to go back to Seth's place. When he and Seth go to a convenience store for more smokes, an earthquake rocks the neighborhood and people are transported Into the sky via blue lights. With the neighborhood – Seth and Jay decide to get back to Franco's house to wait out the coming apocalypse.

What happens when a bunch of actors get together for a housewarming party and end up having to face down the end of the world? When it comes to Rogen, Franco, Baruchel, Robinson, and Hill, they wait out the End of Days with beer, weed, some water, and no idea as to what to do next. Watching these guys muddle their way through the Rapture is like watching a bunch of five-year-olds fight over the last cookie on the plate. Ludicrous, unbelievable, and over-the-top, This Is The End is a hilarious look at how these these weed-toting, liquor-consuming, fun-loving friends could possibly survive.

There's three things that are clever about this movie. The first is that every character that these guys play are themselves… or are the caricatures of what we expect these actors to be in their personal lives. The second is that I never would have expected a film from these guys in the way that they laid it out. Even though Rogen and Franco and crew have come up with some strange tales, This Is The End takes the prize. And lastly Rogan and his crew made a funny movie and seemed to have a great time doing it.

Besides the main cast, there are plenty of other cameo appearances from their acting friends. From Mindy Kaling (The 40-Year-old Virgin) to Emma Watson, to Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), and others, each brings their familiar pattern to what we expect from them while pulling back the curtain on the more hidden and explicit parts of their lives.

Starting off like a scene from Less Than Zero, This Is The End quickly turns into an all-out hilarious supernatural, and out-of-this-world, post-apocalyptic nightmare. There are plenty of laughs to be had, from Jonah Hill playing around with a prop gun, to a standoff between James Franco and Danny McBride over Franco's porn magazines, to a discussion as to how six survivors should deal with Emma Watson without being 'rape-y'. There's pretty decent special effects - way beyond anything that the boys have done while making Pineapple Express, Super Bad for some of their other efforts.

This juvenile, vulgar comedy is not for everyone. But if you love Seth Rogen's and his buddies' work on film before now, this film will be a raunchy, fun, entertaining delight.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

End of a Wild Wizarding Ride

Director: David Yates
Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Jason Isaacs, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright

SYNOPSIS: Harry, Ronald and Hermione continue their quest to find and destroy Lord Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, culminating in an epic battle between good and evil, and between He Who Should Not Be Named and The Boy Who Lived.

REVIEW: Ten years, eight films, seven books, five directors and one amazing author have brought us a literary phenomenon, a $6 billion plus movie franchise, and an epic story of three wizarding friends that changed the landscape of both print and cinema. Launching a dozen or more other children's novel film franchise hopefuls including The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the Harry Potter series remains at the top of the food chain. A generation of children and adults have grown to love the action, adventure and spell-binding charms of a boy with a lightning bolt scar and possibly the Chosen One against the darkest of the dark arts.

David Yates, director of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, takes a treatment from J.K. Rowling's trusted adaptation scribe Steve Kloves (except Order of the Phoenix), and brings the road trip home in time for the ultimate battle between the forces of good and darkness.

Where Part 1 was a epic road trip, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is a epic war film. An amalgam of Star Wars and Saving Private Ryan - and the culmination of the Potter films that preceded it - this Deathly Hallows is filled with vast slow-motion battles, a variety of creatures, good and evil wizards, and our trio of teenage "Year 7" heroes. Veiled in deep dark tones, and seeped with swirling dust and rubble, Part 2's gritty portrayal of the end of Hogswart's and the spellcasters that oppose Voldemort is both sad, despairing - with a glimmer of hope and perseverance. How can anyone stand up to the tide of darkness that He Who Should Not Be Named leads?

Remember how you felt when Luke finally faced Darth Vader in the third act of The Empire Strikes Back for their lightsaber battle? When Lord Vordemort and the Elder Wand faces off against Harry and the weapon he disarmed from Draco in Part 1, we bear witness to a magical duel we have never seen before and have been waiting for eight films. In a word, brilliant!

I need not explain the story to the readers and viewers since the majority of the planet have read the entire series of novels. That been said, the same fans who will cheer at Neville Longbottom and Professor McGonagall, avid fans will complain about some of the omissions from the source material or scene edits that seem to expect the moviegoer to know the background of the film they are watching. How does Hagrid end up at the end of ropes, captured by the Deatheaters? Some scenes are kept in because the readers would have been horrified if they were cut, but the loss and triumphs of the Weasley family during the final battles seemed more like background noise instead of center pieces.

Once the dust settled and the smoke clears you will be happy to be able to tell people you witnessed the end, but will be immediately sad that the franchise is over. All we can hope for is for Rowling to start writing or releasing the "lost" stories of Harry Potter and his friends, so we can renew our adventures in the magical and wizarding world of the Hogwart's universe.

WORTH: Friday Night Opening and BluRay

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Real World Magic

[Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes]

image from cbc.ca

RANT: Actually went to the theater on opening night for a change. What? Are you serious? Because the backlog of films to be watched in building, I actually had to try and get ahead of it if I could. Now I know why I go to the matinee. The theater was filled with 14 year old kids trying to save 5 extra seats for their friends, constantly calling and texting to see where their missing comrades were, constantly sending one or two out to see if anyone showed up to the box office. And even though they did not shut up during the previews (poor form), they actually sat quietly, or as quietly as 14 year olds can be throughout the film.

SYNOPSIS: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley race against time as they try to find and destroy the Horcruxes that contain pieces of Lord Voldemort soul, learning along the way that there exists a powerful trinity of magical items - the Deathly Hallows.

David Yates, the director of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" returns with part one of the last installment of J.K Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" with a screenplay by the film series scribe, Steve Kloves. This film focuses mostly on Harry, Ron and Hermione, playing out like a road trip movie. But there are other influences as well.

Inside the Ministry of Magic, as the hero trio attempt to find and recover the third Horcrux that contains a fragment of Lord Voldemort's soul, the scenery and pace is reminiscent of Orwell's "1984" or Lucas' "THX 1138". Big Brother is watching and the oppressed magical masses shuffle along, heads down and eyes averted, fearful of being singled out, buying into the ministry machine now spouting out muggle mudblood propaganda. Later, as Ron, Hermione and Harry, hide out in the wilderness trying to destroy the Horcrux in their possession, the visual style changes into something more raw and wild, the colors washing out into gray autumn and winter.

Remembering back to the first four films, I hearken back to a simpler, more naive mystical world of wonderment. But as we all grow up, so also is the magic stripping away and the harshness of reality seeping in. With the death of Dumbledore at the end of the "Half-Blood Prince", any glowing glamour of innocence is gone. These school kids have grown up and are meeting maturity as most children shouldn't be expected to. They face hard times with harsh decisions and difficult decisions.

Although some critics have panned this entry of the series as a teaser for part 2, I enjoyed the film. And, of course, this IS a teaser for the second half of "Deathly Hallows". But that's like saying that "LOTR" Fellowship of the Ring" was a teaser for the second and third installments of that franchise. There is a lot of story to be told in Harry Potter's final year, and at 2 hours 27 minutes for part 1, there is plenty to see.

Worth: Matinee and DVD

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!