The World's End

ACTION/ADVENTURE, COMEDY

The Golden Mile

8.25 out of 10 | Movie or DVD

---

Rated: R Sexual references and pervasive language
Release Date: August 23, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes

---

Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan 

---

Watch Trailer

SYNOPSIS: Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind's only hope for survival.

REVIEW: Edgar Wright has made a name for himself with brilliant and off-beat genre comedies, starting with the zombie/romantic/comedy he wrote with star Simon Pegg - Shaun of the Dead. Following that, Wright, Pegg and actor Nick Frost returned with the buddy cop flick Hot Fuzz. Now, the trio returns with the last bookend of their film trilogy with the flick The World's End. 

Gary King (Simon Pegg, Paul) ruled the town of Newton Haven as a young man. On the last day of his high school career, Gary decides to take his friends on the local pub crawl. Steve Prince (Paddy Considine, The Bourne Ultimatum), Peter Page (Eddie Marsan, Jack the Giant Slayer), Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) and Andy Knightley (Nick Frost, Paul) all join Gary, making the night the best of Gary's life. Flash forward twenty years and Gary tires of regaling that night, deciding to get all of his old friends back together to finish the pub crawl at The World's End instead of three bars short during the attempt in the summer of 1990. But this time around, the quintet is surprised at how different the town, ultimately making the discovery that some of the towns citizens have been replaced by robots versions. Desperate to survive, Gary comes up with the plan to continue with the Golden Mile to finish the pub crawl at The Worlds End - even if it the last thing he and his friends do.

Gary King's Newton Haven Golden Mile Pub Crawl List

1. The First Post
2. The Old Familiar
3. The Famous Cock
4. The Crossed Hands
5. The Good Companions
6. The Trusty Servant
7. The Two-Headed Dog
8. The Mermaid
9. The Beehive
10. The King's Head
11. The Hole in the Wall
12. The World's End

Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost did not plan to create a trilogy of films. Shaun of the Dead, a brilliant addition to the zombie genre, made the trio household names in the industry. The film quickly became a cult favorite, allowing Wright, Pegg and Frost to come back to riddle another genre full of bullet holes - Hot Fuzz. They even referenced action flick DVDs in the film itself. For fans of these creative visionaries, the police shoot-em-up became the second must-have DVD to add to the collection. Now, with some theaters planning to show all three of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's films in a row, The World's End may becomes the possible must-have bookend to the 'triliogy'.

The World's End… The elusive holy grail that Gary King is searching for. Questing after the pub as if he was King Arthur of Camelot. While his friends have found their footing in life with jobs, families and homes, Gary lives his life of freedom, imprisoned by the fact that his best days are most likely behind them. While the group's fearless leader when they were younger, the reality of modern day is too hard on Gary. His friends still join him, though, in spite of their better judgment.

What starts off as an effort to recapture ones youth turns into a cross between The Stepford Wives, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Village of the Damned. To Gary it is obvious why nobody remembers the 'King', because they are all robot versions of the people he remembers. Once the melee ensues between human and nonhuman, Jerry and his drunken band of friends soldier on to finish the pub crawl and survive the night intact.

Taking a serious look at yet a third genre, Edgar Wright and Simon Peg look at a small town turn alien proving ground at a different level. Snarky and witty as Simon is want to do, The World's End doesn't treat itself like a comedy. Instead it takes a serious note on the story, while maintaining an air of humor with Simon at its center. Like Shaun of the Dead before it, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg do not try to make their efforts slapstick for the sake of it. They just take a different slant and keep all of the characters on the straight and narrow.

What makes The World's End so fun is the over-the-top, but 'dim' performance of Simon Pegg as Gary King. We all know individuals from our adolescence whose life peaked in high school. Gary is somebody to be pitied and felt sorry for, while still being charming enough to get old friends to along with his insane schemes. Gary King may be trying to find his elusive past, but his friends are also trying to recapture something lost as well.

Edgar Wright has come along way from Shaun of the Dead, more wise and seasoned in his film making and putting together a solid cinematic experience. The story and its progress are chaotic and "all over the place "but for me that just works in it's favor. Admittedly I am a Simon Pegg fan through and through, so I enjoy how he tackles every roll with a different persona but the same timing and wit.

Simon Pegg's merry band of misfits consists of straight laced businessmen needing a night out. Nick Frost returns in a role contrary to the stoner freeloader we expect. Martin Freeman's Oliver has a career but has forgotten how to let loose. Eddie Marsan's Pete, settles into a subservient role to his father at work and his wife and kids at home, shaped by a childhood filled with bullying and cowardice. Paddy Considine's Steve also holds a long standing issues, resenting Gary for his freewheeling life that he thought he deserved. Even though he follows Gary back to their hometown, Steve is quick to point out the failures of their youth.

The World's End is a little dodgy and a little drawn out in spots, but classic in terms of expectations of what Wright, Pegg, and Frost are known for. If you are an existing fan, then you will get a kick out of this flick. If not a fan of British styled sci-fi dramedies, then maybe you'll want to skip this pub crawl.

---

Star Trek Into Darkness

ACTION/ADVENTURE, SCI-FI/FANTASY

Wrath

8.5 out of 10 | MOVIE, DVD

---

Rated: PG-13  Intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence
Release Date: May 16, 2013
Runtime: 2 hours 12 minutes

---

Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, based on the characters and television series created by Gene Roddenberry
Cast: Chris Pine, Zachry Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Alice Eve

---

Watch Trailer

SYNOPSIS:  After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

REVIEW: J.J. Abrams (Super 8) returns with his highly anticipated follow-up to his grand re-imagining of the Star Trek universe. With fans clamoring for the next installment, Roberto Orci (Cowboys and Aliens), Alex Kurtzman (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), and Damon Lindeloff (Prometheus) draft a retelling of, perhaps, the most beloved Star Trek big screen tale that doesn't involve whales.

James T Kirk (Chris Pine, Rise of the Guardians) is the captain of the USS enterprise. Ignoring Starfleet Federation prime directive, Kirk and McCoy (Karl Urban, Dredd 3D) steal a religious scroll in order to lure the planet's primitive inhabitants away from danger. When Spock (Zachery Quinto, What's Your Number?) gets into mortal danger, Kirk again ignores regulation to save his friend. With catastrophe adverted, Spock and Kirk face disciplinary action back on Earth, with Kirk losing command of the Enterprise and Spock being reassigned. Their demotions and reassignment are short lived when a terrorist within the Federation bombs a London technology archive and then targets the captains and commanders of all the local Starfleet ships. After the second attack, Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller, RoboCop) declares an all out a manhunt for the man named Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch, War Horse). Armed with a classified payload of photon torpedoes, Kirk is reinstated as captain of the Enterprise and sets off to the neutral zone in pursuit of Harrison. But when he and his crew arrive, their ship is disabled and Kirk's conscious get the better of him against the man who killed so many. Instead of bombing Harrison on the planet with the torpedoes, Kirk decides to arrest him and make him face the charges against him. But there is more than meets the eye as Harrison reveals that there is a bigger conspiracy within the Federation. Kirk and crew must decide whether to investigate Harrison's claims or ship him back to Earth for trial.

J.J. Abrams is a huge fan of the Star Trek universe and deserve the accolades of his reboot/prequel/sequel of the long-standing series. How do you take a 50-year-old franchise back to its roots in a satisfactory way? Abrams took all the time-warping story-twisting that Star Trek is known for to make a phenomenal reboot of the franchise. Many speculated that this second film of Abrams would be similar in scope to the second film of the original cast films with the story of Khan. I believe any fan of the universe will realize that Cumberbatch is the villain as soon as they see any of the trailers or commercials. Abrams must be an encyclopedia of Star Trek lore. He adds in details, Easter eggs, and nuances that may be evident to only the most diehard Trekkie fans. Sure, there are references that any casual fan will recognize, but there are also other references that would not be known unless a true die hard of the Star Trek mythos pointed them out. All add to the familiar, but new, trek universe that the director has created.

Pine, Urban, Saldana (Colombiana), Quinto, Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), Cho (Identity Thief), and Yelchin (Fright Night) fall into their old roles of Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, and Checkov, respectively, with ease, more natural in their takes of their characters than ever before. The brash young, seemingly infallible Kirk learns the hard way that luck, a cavalier attitude, and a blatant direspect for the rules will not always win the day. Uhura and Spock learn that logic and emotion are not mutually exclusive. McCoy continues to spout out mixed metaphors in the face of adversity. Sulu finds his voice and confidence, seemingly ready to become a star fleet captain himself one day. Scotty, always wary of the shenanigans of his superiors off the Enterprise, puts himself in several picarous situations when his mouth runs too long. And Checkov continues to be a jack of all trades, helping the bridge, running engineering, and figuring out complex formulas. Benedict Cumberbatch, as the infamous Khan, takes a classic original series villainous character and turns the new incarnation on its ear. Still a brilliant warrior with advanced genetics, Cumberbatch is even more savvy and charismatic than that played by Ricardo Montelban. Cumberbatch looks menacing, superior, and self-assured just standing at attention in the Enterprise's brig.

Abrams Delighted with his re-imagined Enterprise in the original Star Trek mythos. He follows up with the story that every fan wanted to see, giving the fans what they wanted in an familiar, but unexpected way. New fans will love this story that was put together, while older die hard fans of the original films may be bothered by the fact that one of their beloved antiheroes has changed so much.

The use of anamorphic photography continues from the first film, adding extra dimension to every frame of celluloid. The CG effects are astounding, the battle sequences are amazing, the story is strong, and the characters are just what you want them to be. For the franchise uninitiated or deeply devoted, Star Trek Into Darkness should be a fun warp ride into the unknown frontier.

---

The Adventures of Tintin - Secrets of the Unicorn

Journey Into Mystery

---

Rated: PG Adventure action violence, some drunkenness and brief smoking
Release Date: December 21, 2011
Runtime: 1 hr 47 min

---

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, based on the comic book series by Herge
Cast: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Daniel Mays, Toby Jones

---

---

SYNOPSIS: Young journalist Tintin and his trusted dog Snowy stumble upon a intriguing story of lost treasure, danger, and a drunken sea captain named Haddock when he unwittingly finds a clue hidden in a model man of war ship.

---

REVIEW: Director Steven Spielberg returns with his second film of the season with an adaptation of the Adventures of Tintin, one of the most popular European comics of the last century. In print since 1929, the Belgian comic strip eventually was collected into dozens of graphic collections, a magazine, and previously adapted for film, radio, TV and theater. Created originally by Belgian artist Hergé, Spielberg's version is deftly written by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who), Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead), Joe Cornish (Attack the Block).

Young Belgian journalist Tintin (Jamie Bell, The Eagle) and his trusty terrier Snowy stumble upon adventure when he buys a model sailing ship at a outside market. Tintin finds out that there are more parties interested in the model ship than he bargained for after his apartment is ransacked and the model ship stolen. Running against the henchmen of a determined man named Sakharine (Daniel Craig, Quantum of Solace), Tintin and Snowy find themselves teaming up with a drunken sea captain Haddock (Andy Serkis, Lord of the Rings) to chase down Sakharine in a race to uncover and decipher the clues that could lead them to a sunken man of war ship and possible treasure of Haddock's ancestor Sir Francis.

The Adventures of Tintin encapsulates and touches on plot points from three of the twenty four collected works of the comic series. Using elements from "The Crab with the Golden Claws", "The Secret of the Unicorn", and "Red Rackham's Treasure", the highly detailed animated film is a swashbuckling adventure with mystery and exotic locales. Several of the original recurring characters turn up, including the aforementioned Haddock, and a pair of bumbling look-alike detectives named Thomson (Nick Frost, Attack the Block) and Thompson (Simon Pegg, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), adding slap-stick and humor.

Spielberg borrows much of the film's settings from the experiences he cultivated from films like his Raiders of the Lost Ark. Warm in tone, each landscape is cast in high detail and laid out in epic proportions. When Haddock, in a sobering moment of clarity, regals Tintin with a remembered tale from his ancestor sea captain Sir Francis, the dunes of North Africa seamlessly turn to tidal waves carrying the original Man of War ship named The Unicorn and the pirate incursion that followed. Also like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tintin is plunged into a grand dangerous chase through the street of a Moroccan port village after a hawk, followed by henchman, raging rapids, and a military tank. But neither of these seem to compare to the climatic sparking dock duel at the end of the film.

Accounting for the fact that the film is an animation, Spielberg walks a double edged cutlass with both ultra realism and comic caricatures. While the backdrops and props border on the tangible and Tintin looks like he may step out of the screen like Jeff Daniels in The Purple Rose of Cairo, secondary characters and absurd action sometimes detract from the magic of the movie's escapism. When a military tank following Tintin carries an entire building on its shell from its foundation to the sea, it cuts into the superb action that Tintin manages up to that point.

Unfamiliar with the graphic exploits of the young journalist named Tintin before this film, I can see why the comics have been so popular during the majority of the twentieth century. Filled with mystery that would shame the Hardy Boys, and period action that would impress even Dr. Jones himself, The Adventures of Tintin has appeal for both children and adults. Let's hope that Tintin's journeys can continue. 

---

WORTH: Matinee and DVD

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol: An IMAX Experience

Disavowed at its Best

---

Rated: PG-13 Sequences of intense action and violence
Release Date: December 16, 2011
Runtime: 2 hrs 13 min

---

Director: Brad Bird
Writers: Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, based on the TV series "Mission: Impossible" by Bruce Geller
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Samuli Edelmann

---

---

SYNOPSIS: When the IMP is disavowed and shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt and a small rogue team are all that's left to clear the organization's name.

---

REVIEW: This movie, if you choose to accept it, may be the best of the series. Filled with exotic locations, action, and humor, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol has all of the elements for a hard hitting, heart racing thrill ride. Brad Bird, now the fourth director in the movie franchise - following Brian De Palma, John Woo, and J.J. Abrams - brings his own take to the franchise. Director of the well-received animations The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, Brad Bird takes a story from "Happy Town", "Life on Mars", and "Alias" writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec and molds its into his own unique style, while keeping the core of what makes the franchise the success it is.

Ghost Protocol opens with an operative Hanaway (Josh Holloway, "Lost") with a satchel running from armed assailants. The outcome of that mission leads to another mission. Fresh field agent communications and computer specialist Benji (Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead) and vet field team leader Jane (Paula Patton, Jumping the Broom) lead an IMF extraction mission for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, Knight and Day) from an eastern block maximum security prison. Once released, Ethan and the extraction team are tasked with a new mission to break in the Kremlin's Archives room to retrieve data on a nuclear terrorist known as 'Cobalt'. When a man named Henricks (Michael Nyqvist, The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo, 2009) retrieves the data first and sets off an explosion in the Kremlin, Ethan is captured. Both his team and the IMP organization is implicated in the terrorist act and is disavowed by the United States Government. Escaping from Russian custody and pursued by investigator Sidorov (Vladimir Mashkov, Behind Enemy Lines), Ethan reteams with Benji, Jane, and European chief analyst Brandt (Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker) to hunt down Hendricks and his henchman Wistrom (Samuli Edelmann) to clear the IMF's name and to advert nuclear disaster.

Ghost Protocol combines extreme action, international intrigue, high-tech gadgetry, and a sharp well-paced story to bring another impossible pulse-pounding, thrill ride of a mission to life. From Moscow to Dubai to Mumbai, the rogue IMF team has to manage without any outside support. With only themselves to count on, the stakes are higher, more personal, and more dire.

Cruise's continues to amaze with his stunt work and stamina. Like a coiled panther, his character Ethan is always ready to pounce into action with a calculated regard for his own life. Joining him, Paula Patton as Jane is a tortured, ass-kicking exotic beauty able to use her body and her brawn to get the job done. Simon Pegg, an action hero in his own right with Hot Fuzz, steps aside for Cruise to have a chance at the action spotlight and supplies the quirky laughs, mugs and double takes that has made this entry of the franchise the most funny and entertaining. Renner's Brandt is a wild card, supplying necessary intel to the team after their disconnect from the IMF databases. Renner also brings a checkered, tortured secret and some mixed martial arts fighting skills that do not match his occupation. 

With exotic locales and extreme stunts, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, brings it and leaves it all on the silver screen. For an actioner of this caliber, one would have expected Ghost Protocol to be more comfortable with a Summer release slot. All the better for Cruise, crew, and the franchise to avoid the action white noise of the hotter months.

From an insane window hugging, death-defying climb outside of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, in Dubai, to a high-tech parking garage showdown in Mumbai, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol has enough for any adrenaline junkie. Couple that with a fast-paced engrossing story, Ghost Protocol is a mission I will certainly accept!

---

WORTH: Matinee and DVD

Paul

A Cute Encounter Of The Third Kind

Director: Greg Mottola

Writer: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg

Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, John Carroll Lynch

RANT: Movie-going with my housemate. Always a roll of the dice if she is going to like the movies she says she wants to go to. I was lucky this time, although she is not the reviewer here. Another interesting development... I purchased a soda and, halfway through the movie, my housemate stuck her hand in the cup to get some ice. Instead of ice, she pulled out the nozzle from the soda fountain. What a crazy day!

SYNOPSIS: Two Londoners make a trip of a lifetime, starting with the San Diego Com-Con and planning a trip to tourist alien hot spots across the American West. Their plans go out the window when they "encounter" a true alien, Paul.

Director Greg Mottola strays from raunchy and stoic comedy to beam in on an action/comedy/adventure/buddy/road-trip flick starring a wide-eyed extra-terrestrial named Paul. Gathering all of his acting pals from Arrested Development (Jason Bateman), Adventureland (Kristin Wiig, Bill Hader), the writers of Paul (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost) and Superbad (Seth Rogen).

Following Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost) on their American holiday from their starting point at the San Diego Comic Com with plans to visit alien hot spots across the west, they unwittingly have a close encounter with Paul, an alien on the run from the government after working with them for 60 years. When Paul pleads for help, Graeme and Clive roll the dice and strike out on an adventure they never expected. In their travels, they find the government, hill-billies and a bible-thumping shotgun-toting father all chasing after them and their RV.

Seth Rogen, voicing Paul, uses his distinct frat boy, man-child with a heart of gold style to perfection. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost look like they had come directly from Shaun of the Dead (minus Nick being a video game playing zombie), still best of friends. Kristin Wiig brings her kooky, sometimes distracting, characters from SNL and rolled them into Bible devotee Ruth Buggs.

Paul is a quick-paced road trip, complete with car chases, big guns and bigger government-issued sun glasses. Not only does Mottola take us into the Comic Com, he pays homage to a slew of comic, sci-fi and pop culture films throughout Graeme and Clive's adventures. Paul is a high-flying saucer ride - witty, funny and tender. Just be advised, Paul seems like it was made for kids, but it is rated-R for a foul-mouthed reason.

Worth: Matinee or DVD

Butter Popcorn Meter