This Is the End (2013)

Tags

Comedy, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Emma Watson, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Movie, Seth Rogen, This is the End

So none of you guys invited Jason Segel…?

Well, if you’re looking for theological accuracy, this one probably isn’t for you.  But, if you want to have a few laughs (and see Hollywood types get terrorized during the apocalypse), you’re in luck.

It’s an all star cast of guys who some people love and some people hate.  Yes, all the polarizing actors are there.  Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel…even Michael Cera, all playing themselves.  The good thing is, they know how to have fun with their images, especially James Franco.  I enjoyed his performance the best, followed closely by Danny McBride.

Not much room for women in this one, aside from a brief appearance by Emma Watson, and I think it suffers a little for that.

Still, it’s a comedy, and what’s important is if I laughed.  And yes, I did.  Not throughout the whole thing, but enough to say it’s worth a watch.

7.2/10 

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Tags

Action, America Ferrera, Animated, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Comedy, Craig Ferguson, Drama, Gerard Butler, How to Train Your Dragon, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Movie, T.J. Miller

could you eat this instead of me, please? thanks.

PG

Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Gobber: And with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole.  And I saw the look in his face – I was delicious!  He must have passed the word because it wasn’t a month before another one of them took my leg!

After a young Viking, Hiccup (Baruchel), wounds a dragon in battle, he befriends it and begins to learn that the dragons his people have been fighting for years might not be exactly what they seem to be.

There’s a lot to like about this one, but a few things that hold it back from being one of my animated favorites.

First, the good.  The visuals are pretty amazing, and I’m sure would’ve been even more stunning in 3-D on the big screen.  Still, they’re impressive enough at home in HD.  Also great was the story of Hiccup befriending the dragon – which he named Toothless – and his realizations about all of the dragons’ true natures.  Obviously there are lessons here about getting to know your perceived enemy and understanding exactly why you’re fighting each other in the first place.

All that stuff was handled quite well, but what I wasn’t a huge fan of was the tired storyline of a single father with a son who is not living up to his expectations.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with that storyline, but it seems to be a fallback for animated films these days.  Off the top of my head, it’s used to some extent in Kung Fu Panda, Finding Nemo, and most obviously in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  It’s just such an obvious and predictable road to go down.

Also…Jay Baruchel’s voice bugs me.  I know that seems like a minor complaint, but in an animated movie where he’s the star, that can severely hamper a person’s ability to enjoy it at times.  The other voices are all fine.  His just got on my nerves for some reason.

Regardless, it’s a movie worth watching.  The dragons storyline is good, and the visuals are captivating.  Though, I’m still wondering why none of the kids had the same accent that all the adults had…

Always carry around a smoked eel if you think there’s a chance that you’ll encounter a dragon.

10 – 1 for the overused father/son storyline – .7 because Baruchel’s voice annoyed me – .5 because I think the script could have been a little wittier = 7.8

She’s Out of My League (2010)

Tags

Alice Eve, Comedy, Jay Baruchel, Krysten Ritter, Mike Vogel, Movie, Nate Torrence, Romance, She's Out of My League, T.J. Miller

soooooo...do you believe in life imitating art...?

R

Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Krysten Ritter

Kirk: No no no…she’s not into me.  There are very few things in life that I am absolutely certain of…um, this chick does not like me.
Devon: Don’t be such a Lay Down Larry.
Kirk: I’m not being a-…Lay Down Larry??  It’s just like me saying I’ll never go to the moon, and I’m alright with that too.
Stainer: You don’t want to go to the moon?  Bulls***!
Kirk: No, I’m saying I never WILL go to the moon, and that’s fine because I never expected to.
Devon: You don’t know that…technology and stuff…you just might go to the moon.
Stainer: He’s right.

A geeky guy, Kirk (Baruchel), meets a beautiful girl, Molly (Eve), who seems to really like him, but Kirk can’t accept that a girl like her would like a guy like him.

Well, this one isn’t going to win any points for originality, but fortunately it has a fair amount of laughs and some generally likable characters that drag it up just above mediocrity.  Though, it almost undermines its entire premise in the first 10 minutes by having our geeky hero’s ex-girlfriend played by a rather attractive actress as well.  Sure, she’s annoying, but why is this guy so lacking in confidence if he’s already dated an attractive girl in the past?

Anyways…

Jay Baruchel (I guess Eisenberg and Cera were both busy) seems to be channeling Christian Slater, specifically J.D. from Heathers, at times, but otherwise he comes off as a mostly likable guy that you can root for.  Alice Eve fairs well too, as a pleasantly normal female lead in a romantic comedy.  Usually they’re much more neurotic, clumsy, and needy.  She seems like a nice, grounded, intelligent person, at least compared to what we often get in a movie like this.

The comedy is up and down, but I laughed enough.  I have a feeling some people might get annoyed by T.J. Miller (you may remember him as the voice behind the camera in Cloverfield), but I thought he was funny.  In fact, Kirk’s collection of friends, overall, was much less annoying than the usual group you’d see advising the hero in the ways of women.  They didn’t score a huge amount of laughs, outside of Miller, but at least they were tolerable.

The movie veers into “gross out” territory a couple times, and though it doesn’t entirely miss the mark with those scenes, they felt a little unnecessary.  I thought the movie could have survived just fine without at least one of them (the shaving scene), but I’m probably pretty alone in that opinion.

So yeah, nothing amazing here, but at least it’s better than some of the other awful comedies from recent years.  Does it use just about every modern comedy cliche?  Yes.  Is there too much contrived drama at the end?  Absolutely.  Does it bring much of anything new to the table?  Not really.  Did I laugh enough to recommend it?  Just barely.

Movies are nothing like real life…

10 – 1.5 for not even trying to be original – 1 for some very contrived drama and problems at the end – 1 for some failed comedy attempts = 6.5

“no no no…she’s not into me.  There are very few things in life that I am absolutely certain of…um, this chick does not like me.”

“don’t be such a lay down larry.”

“I’m not being a…lay down larry??”

“it’s just like me saying I’ll never go to the moon, and I’m alright with that too.”

“you don’t want to go to the moon??  Bullshit!”

“no, I’m saying I never WILL go to the moon, and that’s fine because I never expected to.”

“you don’t know that…technology and stuff…you just might go to the moon.”

“he’s right.”