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 

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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

Get Him to the Greek (2010)

Tags

Colm Meaney, Comedy, Elisabeth Moss, Get Him to the Greek, Jonah Hill, Movie, Rose Byrne, Russell Brand, Sean Combs

I mean, clearly people would rather watch me than him or Jonah, right?

R

Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Rose Byrne, Elisabeth Moss, Sean Combs, Colm Meaney

Sergio: Do you like his music?
Aaron: I LOVE his music.  Except for African Child.  That album sucked.
Sergio: No, you love Africa Child!  Your mother loves African Child.  It’s your girlfriend’s favorite album.  You love African Child.  You bought 10 copies on the first day.
Aaron: Oh…okay, yeah, I love African Child.  So, lie to him.
Sergio: No, we don’t lie to people.  We don’t do that.  We just believe invalid truths.

Aaron (Hill) is a lower level worker at a record company who suggests getting washed up rock star Aldous Snow (Brand) to perform a big concert at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles.  The idea is approved, which means Aaron must go to England and get the depressed, constantly partying Snow to Los Angeles in time for the concert.

I guess some characters are just funnier in small doses.  Not that this movie isn’t funny at times, because it is.  It’s just that it started to really wear me down after a while.  Russel Brand was funny as Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but I just don’t think the character is quite interesting enough to carry a movie.  Close, but not quite.

It’s a typical setup, with a more straight laced character having to deal with a wild, troublesome character who introduces him to a lot of new experiences, most of which our hero can’t handle.  Jonah Hill is not bad in this role, but he’s not exactly my favorite actor, so I wasn’t too thrilled about watching him for an hour and 45 minutes.

Still, the first half of the movie had me laughing at a fairly steady rate.  The problem is, it just degenerates into a lot of yelling, drug use, and awkward sex humor.  It got really obnoxious to watch at times, even though there were still a few laughs sprinkled in there.

I’d place this one somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as recent comedies go.  There’s just not enough material here to work with, thus it becomes repetitive and tiresome after a while.  Hopefully the Aldous Snow character’s story has been told and there won’t be a sequel.  Though, I wouldn’t mind seeing Rose Byrne get her own movie as Aldous’ girlfriend, Jackie Q.  I could watch Rose in just about anything.

Drugs are bad, mkay?

10 – 3 for the second half filled with yelling and attempts at zaniness that just don’t work – 1.1 for the two lead characters just not being able to really carry a film = 5.9

The Invention of Lying (2009)

Tags

Comedy, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Movie, Rickey Gervais, Rob Lowe, Romance, The Invention of Lying

yeah, she'll probably die soon...you see, I'm not a very good doctor...

PG-13

Rickey Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Louis C.K., Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe

Doctor: It does not look very good.  She suffered a major heart attack.  Her heart is very weak, her pulse is not very strong, her blood pressure is dropping rapidly, and she will probably suffer the fatal heart attack some time tonight.  Yes…still going to die.  Sidenote:  it’s fajita night downstairs in the cafeteria, so you might want to grab yourself a little bite down there after mom dies.

In a world where humans can only tell the truth and have no idea what fiction is, Mark Bellison (Gervais) invents the concept of lying.  He tries to use this to his advantage, with mixed results.

Speaking of mixed results, that’s what we get from this movie when it tries to be funny.  There are some very funny moments, but there are also several lulls in which nothing much funny happens at all.  Ricky Gervais is as good as always (if you like his brand of humor), and there are several good cameos as well, my favorite being a quick one from Jason Bateman as a much too honest doctor.

The problem is, the story takes a few obvious, inevitable turns that are not exactly rife with comedy gold.  When Mark tries to comfort his dying mother with the idea of an afterlife, the movie starts down a road basically featuring a one joke premise that gets old pretty quick.

My theory on the origins of this movie is that somebody, or a group of people, was sitting around thinking of what the world would be like if nobody could lie.  They came up with several funny little jokes and circumstances, then tried to write a movie around those jokes.  What results is a reasonably funny movie with a dull love story that really gives no clue as to why Mark is so interested in Anna (Garner) in the first place – other than the fact that she looks like Jennifer Garner.  It does, however, provide us with my new favorite slogan for Pepsi (which I drink every day):  “Pepsi – When they don’t have Coke.”

I wish advertising like that would really take off because I think it would result in a lot of entertaining commercials.  I think I might have to spend some time mulling over some good ideas in that realm.  “Froot Loops – no fruit, lots of sugar, just like everybody really wants!”

We should all definitely lie as much as possible.

10 – 2.8 for only being sporadically funny – .7 for a pretty weak romance = 6.5

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Tags

Bill Hader, Comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Movie, Romance, Russell Brand

why do you keep glancing at my shark's tooth necklace...?

R

Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill

Peter: How long have you lived out here?
Chuck: Pssh, man I dunno.  I quit wearing a watch when I moved out here.
Peter: Wooow, that’s so coooool.
Chuck: Yeah…nah, like my cell phone has a clock on it, so I don’t really need it.

After Peter (Segel) is dumped by Sarah (Bell), he decides to take a trip to Hawaii to take his mind off of her.  Unfortunately, Sarah is also on vacation in Hawaii with her new boyfriend.  Peter befriends a hotel worker, Rachel (Kunis), who helps him try to move on and get over Sarah.

After a slow beginning, this movie starts to take off once it arrives in Hawaii.  Overall there were fewer laughs throughout than I remembered from the first time I watched it, but it’s still a funny movie.

Segel is really good at the whole down-and-out, broken hearted guy thing.  In fact, maybe a little too good, as his constant dreary nature occasionally brings the movie down a little bit.  But then the supporting cast – like Hader, Paul Rudd, and Hill –  will jump in with a funny scene and boost things back up again.

The strongest aspect of the movie, to me, is that all of the main characters are written with depth.  They all have their good points and their faults.  No one person is really the villain, though Sarah Marshall is the closest thing to it.  But even she has a pretty good argument as to why she strayed from Peter.  Now why she ended up with Russell Brand’s character is a whole other question.

The movie felt a little overlong and probably could have been edited down a little bit, but all in all, it’s funny, has beautiful scenery, and good performances across the board.

But…Jason…let’s just keep that towel on next time, okay?  Thanks…

Hawaii looks like a pretty nice place…

10 – .8 for a slow, unfunny beginning – 1.7 for some lulls here and there and for being overlong + .1 for their little TV show parodies = 7.6