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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Watch Trailer

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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The Watch

There Goes The Neighborhood

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Rated: R  Some strong sexual content, sexual references, pervasive language and violent images.
Release Date: July 27, 2012
Runtime:  1 hour 42 minutes

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Director: Akiva Schaffer
Writers: Jared Stern, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Cast:  Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Rosemarie DeWitt, Will Forte, R. Lee Ermey, Doug Jones

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SYNOPSIS: Four guys in a suburban neighborhood form a patrolling watch groups, but find themselves ill-prepared to face an intergalactic alien threat.

REVIEW: Saturday Night Live writer and director Akiva Schaffer, who directed Adam Samberg in Hot Rod, leaves the comfort of weekly last night television behind to take on the task of the Seth Rogen (The Green Hornet), Jared Stern (Mr. Popper's Penguins) and Evan Goldberg (Goon) written R-rated comedy involving bored suburban family men and and aliens - not from south of the border, but from south of the Milky Way.

Evan (Ben Stiller, Tower Heist), a married man living the American dream in suburban Ohio, has worked hard his entire life and has risen to the position of manager of the local bulk warehouse Costco.  When a co-worker turns up dead and missing his skin, Evan takes it upon himself to start yet another club to go along with his elderly Spanish courses and running group. Starting a neighborhood watch program, Evan is joined by fun-loving Bob (Vince Vaughn, The Dilemma), police force washout Franklin (Jonah Hill, 21 Jump Street), and tall accented Indian-type Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade, Bunny and the Bull). After getting their feet wet taking down mischievous kids, the quartet thinks its got the hang of patrolling. When the hunt for the Costco co-worker killer turns into the finding of strange energy sources and come face-to-face with an actual alien creature, they realize that they may be out of their depth, but continue on in order to keep their streets safe.

The Watch, formerly Neighborhood Watch, is a silly, foul-mouthed tale of discovery, both of the terrestrial and extraterrestrial varieties. From the trailers, you can put together the gist of the entire film, but what you do not see in the trailer are all of the hilarious moments that occur in between what was plastered on Youtube.com and television commercials. If an alien invasion isn't enough to whet thy appetite, a troubled marriage between Evan and his wife Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister) and dad Bob's tribulations of a daughter Chelsea (Erin Moriarty) coming of age adds a little bit more dimension to the story. With all that said, The Watch is still a semi-serious silly story with less akin to Will Smith's Independence Day and more like Old School. 

What makes the film over all is the actors. Ben Stiller assembles a new team of misfits for The Watch, making more promising choices than the results of the not as funny Tower Heist. I was disappointed in the missed opportunities with Eddie Murphy and Matthew Broderick. Vince Vaughn embodies the up-for-anything father who loves his kid as much as having an avenue to blow off a little extra steam with his brothers-in-arms - just like his role in Old School. Jonah Hill, still holding off most of the weight he lost for 21 Jump Street, throws his weight around as the police squad dropout with Jonah's Superbad confidence and a butterfly knife. Ben Stiller continues his uptight, calculating ways as Even, channelling his work from any of the Focker films. Rounding out the neighborhood watch is Richard Ayoade as Jamarcus, a fresh as a penny lanky import character with the sense and sensibilities of work from shows like Flight of the Conchords. Every character is based on the strengths of the actor that portrays him. Like a well oiled machine, each brings his comedy A-game.

The members of the neighborhood watch break out of every scene. Vaughn goes over the top with his physical loud comedic presence. Hill commands with double-takes and wide-eyed stars. Ayoade quietly makes the audience laugh out loud. Stiller plays the straight man as well as he ever does. In addition, there are other characters to acknowledge. Evan's workplace, Costco, is a pivotal piece of architecture. The inept police department, led by Sgt. Bressman (Will Forte, Rock of Ages), makes you wonder how they stayed in a job at all. R. Lee Ermey's, (Toy Story 3) Manfred is fun to watch, if only for his well-practiced drill sergeant antics. Evan's neighbor Paul (Billy Crudup, Almost Famous) makes you want to believe in otherworldly life. And not to be forgotten, Doug Jones (Legion) is wholly responsible for bringing the biggest alien to life.

The practical and special effects are surprisingly slick and cool. I was impressed by the alien creature design and execution. Director Akiva Schaffer balances perfectly the straight situational comedy with the science fiction extraterrestrial action. Throw in a couple of personal dilemmas for half of the watch squad, and you have a solid effort.

The Watch is funny throughout, sometimes surprising with its wit and humor. Not for all moviegoers because of its raunchy and foul language and brief sexual content, for those who are fans of Old School and similar films, The Watch will delight and bring a tear to your eye... from laughing!

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WORTH: Matinee or DVD

21 Jump Street

Vulgar and Hilarious

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Rated: R  Drug material, crude and sexual content, pervasive language, some violence and teen drinking
Release Date: March 16, 2012
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins

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Director:  Phil Lord, Chris Miller

Writers: Michael Bacall, Jonah Hill, based on the television series created by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell
Cast:  Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, DeRay Davis, Ice Cube, Chris Parnell, Ellie Kemper

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SYNOPSIS: A pair of over enthusiastic and underachieving are demoted to a defunct police program where they are sent undercover as high school students to discover the source of a synthetic drug ring.

REVIEW: From Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directors of the soon-to-be classic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Am I kidding? You be the judge), takes a shot at their first big-screen non-animated adventure. Based on a script and story by Michael Bacall (Project X) and Jonah Hill, and sourced from Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh's 1980s Fox television series of the same name, will 21 Jump Street be a bulls eye or miss the mark entirely?

Insecure geek Schmidt (Jonah Hill, The Sitter) and slacker jock Jenko (Channing Tatum, The Vow) graduate high school without going to prom. Schmidt didn't have a date and Jenko was barred from attending. A few years later, they find themselves face to face again as they both sign up for the Metropolitan City Police Department academy. Schmidt excels at the paperwork, while Jenko uses his muscles and athletics to overcome the obstacle course and shooter ranges. Knowing they can't graduate without the expertise of the other, they team up to get to graduation. Their dreams of car chases, gun fights, and explosions are short-lived as they are assigned to bicycle patrol. When their first bust goes without Miranda and the perp is set free, Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation) demotes the pair to a revived cancelled undercover program due to their youthful appearance headquartered at 21 Jump Street. After a drug-related death of a high school student, Captain Dickson (Ice Cube, Lottery Ticket) assigns Schmidt and Jenko to go undercover as brothers in the same high school to root out the drug's dealers and supplier. Because of a screw-up, Schmidt is put into the breeze classes like Drama and Photography, while Jenko is put into AP Chemistry. Along the way, Schmidt finds himself out of his element as he cozies up to the popular Eco-cool crowd with Eric (Dave Franco, Fright Night) and Molly (Brie Larson, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). Jenko has the same issues while running with the geek squad including members like Zack (Dax Flame, Project X).

If you are looking for the 1987 Fox television series 21 Jump Street that you grew up on, or watched in syndication, you will be both pleased and disappointed. Sure, cops with young-ish looks are thrust into undercover work at the high school level. The tone of the film is completely different from the TV series, leaning to the vulgar and the hilarious over actual dramatic substance. In fact, while keeping with some of the same concepts as from the show, the writers (including Jonah Hill) actually poke fun at those same concepts as well. A cool classic car is included, but Deputy Chief Hardy makes a funny and obvious reference to old retreaded ideas, and chemistry teacher Ms. Griggs (Ellie Kemper, Bridesmaids) and Mr. Walters (Rob Riggle, Big Miracle) have obvious reactions to Jenko's chiseled muscle presence.

Jonah Hill brings his signature style to the role of Schmidt, channeling a bit of Superbad and The Sitter. He's fun to watch, with good comic timing and hilarious wide-eyed expressions. Channing Tatum flexes his comedy muscles as Jonah's athletic straight man, surprising me with his likability beyond his romantic and dramatic efforts. Dave Franco, younger brother to James Franco, carves his own path as the shark-smiled snark drug dealer who, unlike many of his brother's stoner roles, does not use his own product. Riggle tries to be the mature one as one of the teachers, voluming down his manic nature a notch or two. Also notable is Ice Cube's Captain Dickson who embraces the angry African American police captain stereotype.

21 Jump Street is a hilarious farce that pays homage to the Stephen J. Cannell source material. Typical genre stereotypes are embraced or put on end. Throughout the film, laughter follows hilarious disgust and funny prat falls. Filled with phallic references, dry humping, coarse language and some nudity, fans of The Hangover and the American Pie series will be doubling over in laughter at this re-envisioned take of the original. As evident from the trailer, even Holly Robinson Peete makes an appearance with a reprised role of Officer Judy Hoffs.  

21 Jump Street is a great enjoyable surprise. I knew from the trailers that it was angling for action comedy over young action drama, but I left the theater with a smile on my face and good things to say. The R rating is warranted and proves that the film is not for the youngest of crowds, but even those kids who managed to get into the audience enjoyed Hill on the high school stage in tights and wires. 21 Jump Street is not what we remember from 1987, and is better for it. I wonder when the Richard Grieco Booker movie is scheduled to come out to the silver screen?

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WORTH: Matinee and DVD

The Sitter

No Adventure In Babysitting

Director: David Gordon Green

Writers: Brian Gatewood, Alessandro Tanaka
Cast: Jonah Hill, Sam Rockwell, Max Records, Landry Bender, Kevin Hernandez, Ari Graynor, J.B. Smoove, Kylie Bunbury

SYNOPSIS: Suspended college student Noah Griffith decides to get off his butt to babysit three kids in order to help his divorced mother go out for a nice evening. Little does he know that a request from his girlfriend will lead him and the kids on a wild ride.

REVIEW: David Gordon Green, director of Pineapple Express and Your Highness, sets his sights on a movie about mishaps in childcare. From a script by relative newcomers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, director David Gordon Green looks to make the next great babysitting flick to rival Elizabeth Shue's 1987 Adventures in Babysitting and Christina Applegate's 1991 Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead.

Noah Griffith (Jonah Hill, Get Him to the Greek) finds himself college school-less and living with his mother without a job or any motivation to make something of his young life. When his divorced mother's opportunity to meet a new beau at a dinner party is threatened because the Pedulla family needs a babysitter, Noah begrudgedly relented to babysitting their three children, phobic Slater (max Records, Where the Wild Things Are), celebritant wannabe Blithe (Landry Bender), and recently adopted Venezuelan explosives lover Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez). During a early evening of boundary crossing and authority bucking by the kids, Noah gets a call from his not-so-girlfriend Marisa for the promise of sex if he picks up and pays for some nose candy for her at a party she is attending. Weighing the options, Noah packs up the Pedulla minivan with the kids and begins a journey that starts with exploding toilets and ends with carjacking, car chases, gun fights, and revelations.

Filled with crude language and lots of sexual references, The Sitter is certainly not geared to kids, no matter how many unaccompanied minors are strapped into the back seats of the family soccer mobile. Jonah Hill manages to be both crude and cuddly, childishly naive while painfully insightful. The kids, each with their own too-grown-up problems, funnel their frustrations at the novice Noah with barbed bravado. Noah's girlfriend Marisa (Ari Graynor, What's Your Number?) is to die for at the start of the film, but ends up someone you want to kill by the end. The highlights of the film? Drug kingpin due Karl with a K (Sam Rockwell, Cowboys & Aliens) and Julio (J.B. Smoove, Date Night), and Soul Baby (Reggie Alvin Green, Coney Island Baby). Rockwell is disarming, maniacal, and in desperate need of friends more than eight. Smoove, as Rockwell's wingman and business partner, enables Karl at every turn, probably fearful of any stray retribution. And Green's Soul Baby, lends a little swagger and jazz cool as the doorman of a downtown New York pool hall.

At some times funny and silly, at other times foul and crude, The Sitter is a film that you would expect Jonah Hill to star in - in 2007. With recent films under his belt like Moneyball  and Get Him to the Greek,   I expect more from Hill but see why he would return to the type of films that he started off with. The pace of the story is fine, but the situations that Noah and his charges find themselves in become increasingly far fetched and coincidental. Even the supposed love interest Roxanne (Kylie Bunbury, Prom) gets minimal screen and scene time with Noah. Maybe that's for the best since Noah has his hands full with all of the other problems on his plate.

The Sitter is not the 80s-styled formula flick that we remember with the late decade Adventures in Babysitting, although some of the soundtrack is reminiscent. The heady days of good natured ill-advised childcare hi-jinks is so last century. Today, The Sitter, with all of its foul-mouth angst seems to be the standard for this century. Oh, to be young again.

WORTH: Rental

Moneyball

The Romance of Baseball

Director: Bennett Miller

Writers: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin, Michael Lewis (book: "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game")

Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop

SYNOPSIS: Billy Beane, General Manager of the Oakland A's, struggles to put together a baseball team on a budget, ultimately bucking the tried-and-true established tradition of recruiting baseball players by employing computer-generated analysis.

REVIEW: Bennett Miller, director of Capote from 2006, returns to the captain's chair to direct te new sports drama Moneyball. Based on the book "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" penned by Michael Lewis and brought to the big screen by Steven Zaillian (Scindler's List, Gangs of New York), Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The Social Network) from a story by Stan Chervin, the film follows the struggles of Major League Baseball's Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane and his struggles to field a competitive and competent baseball team with a monetary budget a fraction of the amount that successful winning teams have.

Centering around the General Manager of the Oakland A's from the end of the 2001 season where the A's lost the ALDS series to the Yankees, getting to the play-offs with stars like Jason Giambi, Jason Isringhausen, and Johnny Damon. After losing the series, big-market ball clubs pick off the A's premier stars with bigger paydays. Trying to rework his team, former player turned scout turned A's General Manager Billy Beane struggles to replace and rebuild due to the monetary cap of the small-market club. Where the New York Yankees have $142 million to spend on their players, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) attempts to put a competitive team together with a 1/5th that amount. Realizing that the tried-and-true "five tools" method of scouting and recruiting isn't going to help him develop a winning franchise, he runs across Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a Yale graduate with a economics degree providing player analysis for the Cleveland Indians, and starts prospecting for the 2002 season with players that are undervalued on paper according to Brand but contradicts all the scouting wisdom that had become the mainstay for recruiting.


For the novice or the sports ignorant, Billy Beane's quest for the Oakland A's to return to the post-season is illuminating and riveting. Can a team from the "...island of misfit toys..." complete and excel against powerhouse ball clubs? Will the fans, sports radio and the public turn against Beane because of his unorthodox decisions? Will Beane and Brand have the support of the A's ownership, the coach, the scouts and the players?


Brad Pitt is worthy of the role he embodies for Moneyball. With an easy smile that hides an uneasy major league ball player past, a failed marriage and a daughter he only wants the best for, Pitt's character is both fearless and fearful, filled with regret and desire to change the game for the better. Jonah Hill's Peter Brand statistics analyst is stoic and smart. His deadpan deliveries during interchanges with Beane get quite a few laughs, even while Hill plays the straight man. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays A's coach Art Howe like a lumbering bear, reluctant to work with Beane's new strategies while he tries to keep his own job and reputation above reproach. Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreations) joins as unsure first baseman Scott Hatteberg and Stephen Bishop rounds out the primary cast as over-the-hill unwanted veteran David Justice.


Not as epic as The Natural, silly as A League of their Own, or nostalgic as Field of Dreams, Moneyball is a grounded and interesting look at a real-life modern major league ballclub, looking at Beane and Brand as both innovators and madmen, daring to throw away decades of tradition surrounding America's Favorite Pastime. The aforementioned films serve to romanticize a sport that is engrained in our national consciousness, but Moneyball throws in a solid sliding pitch into the sports drama genre.

WORTH: Matinee or DVD

Megamind

Mega Hit, Maybe

[Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Davis Cross, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill]

image from screenrant.com

RANT: I was lucky enough to get a free movie ticket yesterday when I went to see "Due Date" because I regularly use my Regal Movie Rewards card. Of course, when I was going to redeem it today for "Megamind", I couldn't! That's what happens when you try to use a freebie at a no-pass movie on opening weekend. Oh well, maybe next week.

SYNOPSIS: Megamind and Metro Man, having Superman beginnings from dying planets, end up as archenemies as adults. Constantly plotting Metro Man's demise by using reporter Roxanne Ritchi as the damsel in distress, Megamind is faced with a uncertain future when he actually defeats Metro Man for the first time.

Tom McGrath, director of both "Madagascar" movies and an actual voice actor in both movies and many of their spin-offs, takes on a different popular character set with caped superheros and villains. As with "Despicable Me" where the villain is the protagonist, "Megamind" delves into the megamind of Megamind! What happens when two infants from neighboring dying planets are jettisoned into space and head to earth? What happens when one infant lands under the Christmas tree in a mansion and the other bounces like a skipped stone on a quiet pond into a state prison? And what happens, after years of competition and constant failure, to finally be handed a victory?

All of the voice talent is pitch perfect in this new animated adventure. Will Ferrell provides just the right amount of wit and wickedness for the large bald blue-headed menace. Brad Pitt, although maybe just a little mature for a superhero in real life, gives Metro Man just what's needed in a city's flying invulnerable protector. Tina Fey continues her film career as Metro Man's constant damsel in distress as Metro City's reporter Roxanne Ritchi, almost unrecognizable in her voice work as her usual snark was tempered just a bit. David Cross plays Megamind's fish out of water side-kick, Minion to great effect, especially as Megamind builds him more and more elaborate cybersuits. And lastly, Jonah Hill plays Roxanne's cameraman with aspirations for greatness and Roxanne's heart.

The movie is funny, adventurous, touching, and visually pleasing. The comic geek in me enjoyed the cityscape battles between good and evil. Meanwhile, the inner child enjoyed Megamind's drones biting him on the arm as he was desperately trying to exude menace with Roxanne as his captive. And the rest of me enjoyed both the witting one-liners and the deeper story of an extraordinary alien with moral dilemmas and the search for purpose and, in fact, love.

"Megamind" is a little "The Incredibles" and a little "Despicable Me". It is not a better amalgam of those films, but it does try its best to deliver. This is an animated film that has a good story both kids and parents can enjoy, plenty of heart, and cuteness to boot. At the end of the day, that is all you can really expect.

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!