Monthly Movie Preview: June 2014

May was full of comic book movies, but June is about to get the summer poppin’ with a variety of family and comedy films. There are some pretty cool independent films out, too. Here’s the skinny on this upcoming months’ movies:

June 6 – Edge of Tomorrow

Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt

Another year, another Tom Cruise action flick. It’s not that I don’t think he does a poor job at being an action star, but every idea he’s in feels completely recycled. Even though the premise of the film is nothing like Oblivion, the ambiance of the films feel exactly the same, and there is absolutely nothing to convince me there is something new and exciting to see here. Actually, the plot reminds me of 2011’s Source Code; in Edge of Tomorrow, Tom Cruise is forced to repeat the same day of war against the Mimic aliens over and over again, trying to find the point in all of it. The film is borrowed from the Japanese novel All You Need is Kill. It’s a really cool concept, and looks worth seeing if you like the genre. – Sherif

June 6 – The Fault in Our Stars

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort

“Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) is an atypical teenager living with cancer, oxygen tank trailing forever behind her. While medication and frequent doctors visits have extended her life quite a bit, she is very much aware that she is dying. After being deemed depressed by both her mother and doctor, Hazel begins attending a cancer support group. It is here that she meets Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), a charismatic, sly, metaphoric loving cancer survivor determined to make his mark on the world. Together they find “a forever within the numbered days,” a love that transcends their illness, and an adventure that makes them both feel infinitely alive whilst on the border of death.” – Charlotte (an excerpt from her full spoiler-free review here)

June 13 – How to Train Your Dragon 2

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Djimon Hounsou, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig

How To Train Your Dragon was an incredibly well done movie about a boy that brings peace to his viking village and the dragons who inhabit the area. There’s several different dragon types shown in the movie (and even more are presented in the TV show spin off, The Riders of Burk). However, the spotlight shines brightest on Hiccup and his Night Fury Dragon named Toothless.The pair make an amazing team, ending a war and saving lifes, all while Hiccup learns to accept himself and discover his unique calling in life. The first movie is phenomenal, and a must see, full of moments that will make you laugh, cry, and leave you on the edge of your seat. The second movie introduced a character previously alluded to be dead, Hiccup’s mom (can’t wait to hear that explanation); it turns out that dragon training is in his blood. This reunion comes just in time as an enemy force, composed of more dragon-riding vikings, threatens to strip Hiccup and his friends of their beloved dragons. The trailers give me high hopes that this sequel can be held to the same standards as the first. The imagery is stunning (makes me sad I don’t have a dragon of my own) and there appears to be more of the same adorable dragon humor as the original. I look forward to seeing all the new dragon types and Hiccup all grown up. – Sara

June 13 – 22 Jump Street

Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube

Ever since the first modern 21 Jump Street, starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, I have loved seeing this combo on the big screen. And now that the sequel is being released, I am absolutely excited. This movie better hold up to my expectations because if it doesn’t, I might just have to go back to either high school or college and start selling drugs, and they don’t want that. In this action-packed comedy the police duo are stepping out of the little leagues and heading into the majors as they tackle college. That’s right! The big give-me-a-C-O-L-L-E-G-E, and what does that spell? It spells nothing but chaos and comedy rolled into one movie. With returning characters such as Captain Dickson, played by Ice Cube, Deputy Chief Hardy, played by Nick Offerman, and Mr. Walters, played by Rob Riggle, I believe that this will be a great movie. And if you go see this movie for anything, anything at all, you must go see it to see Channing Tatum’s flawless Hispanic accent. And I do mean flawless. So go see this movie. It will be amazing; it will be your worst…I mean best nightmare (see what I did there?). – Evan

June 20 – The Rover

Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson

A huge economic collapse happened 10 years ago in the West and now all hell breaks loose in the new drama, The Rover. This film takes place in Australia where we meet  Eric (Guy Pearce), a man whom, after the collapse, has nothing left but one possession and a gang breaks in and steals it and in the process of them trying to get away one of the gang members is  injured and left behind for dead. The gang member, Rey (Robert Pattinson), teams up with Eric to catch the gang since they left him for dead. The film seems like a good drama but it also seems like a movie that may not hit certain audiences too well. It seems like a lot of the post apocalyptic sort of drama action films like Children of Men, I Am Legend, and Book of Eli. I tend to like this genre and I will not pass any Twilight hate onto Robert Pattinson and not see the film which may end up being a performance that shows he is more than just sparkly Edward to a lot of people. If you like intense dramas definitely check this out as well as if you enjoy the end of the world with no zombies but lots of action and thrills type of film. – Jacob

June 20 – Coherence

Starring: NIcholas Brendon, Elizabeth Gracen

Honestly, the plot of Coherence is a little befuddling.  However, that won’t stop me from seeing it.  Coherence takes place in one night at a dinner party of eight close friends.  When a comet passes Earth, weird stuff starts to happen, and the friends find out about each other, them selves, and their relationships.  Every review has touted it as being incredibly well written and acted.  I will go see it purely off the cast, though.  Elizabeth Gracen, who played Amanda in The Highlander TV series is a seller.  But the winner is to Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Not only have his roles since Buffy ended been sparse, but this role doesn’t make him seem like the “nerd” he has so often portrayed.  I am excited to see him break out of his typecast shell and explore other roles.  -Adrian

 

June 27 – Transformers: Age of Extinction

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci

Say what you will about Michael Bay, but he has made some damn good Transformers movies. The fourth installment, Age of Extinction, finally lets go of the formerly famous Shia LaBeouf and choosing a more adept action hero. Marky Mark himself takes the reigns on this one; giant robots are already the fail-safe summer blockbuster, but now that Mark Wahlberg is starring instead of LaBeouf, I’m much more interested in seeing it. Since Dark of the Moon pretty much wrapped up the trilogy with Optimus Prime pretty much going Sub-Zero on Megtron, I’m not too sure where Age of Extinction is going, but it almost looks to be LEGO Movie type of thing going on, inspiring kids to pick up their Robots in Disguise one more time. The world has recovered from the Decepticons’ attack and the Transformers have officially been rendered obsolete. Somewhere along the line, the stupid, puny humans reactivate the Decepticons and create DINOBOTS! Don’t expect this to blow you away, but it’s a necessary summer action movie carried by a vetted action hero. Plus, DINOBOTS! – Sherif

June 27 – WHITEY: United States of America v. James J. Bulger

Starring: Various

Okay, I admit it. I’m a total sucker for crime documentaries; there’s just something alluring about organized crime that I love watching stories about. That being said, James Bulger’s story is straight-up frightening. There is nothing entertaining about mass murder and dealing; Bulger reign in Boston ranks up there with some of the most gruesome. It also opens up eyes in the way that he was able to stay out of prison. He had the FBI on pay-roll for decades. He was just convicted in 2011, at 81 years old. Bulger is such a bad man that he was used as the inspiration for Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello in The Departed, as well as Showtime’s Brotherhood, and an upcoming film titled Black Mass starring Johnny Depp. This won’t be for the faint of heart, or for people who are bored by the genre, but it will make for a captivating and horrifying documentary about one of America’s most notorious gangsters. – Sherif

So Far this Week… February 5, 2014

With the expansion of Hush Comics, we have decided to give bi-weekly news updates.  Anything we find news-worthy will be posted here bi-weekly.  Have anything to add?  Post it in the comments!

This week, we’re excited about several new books out, but none moreso than Ms. Marvel, which has been rebooted and features a young Muslim girl as the superhero. Read this article by The Washington Post to see why this is a BFD.

The Lex Luthor story line in the new Batman vs. Superman movie is going to be similar to something we’ve seen before.

The late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman still had a vital scene to film to complete the Mockingjay – Part II film. So what are they to do? Three words: C.G.I.

Kick-Ass news! John Romita Jr. will be coming to DC Comics to do Superman with Geoff Johns this summer. The team-up could give the Man of Steel a much-needed boost.

Voting for the 2014 Comic Alliance Readers’ Choice Awards ends soon! Go vote and feel validated!

Can anybody smell what The Rock is cooking? You can’t just Tweet out #JohnStewartCanStillWhupSupermansAss without people thinking that you will be playing the Green Lantern John Stewart in an upcoming movie.

The fairy-tale world is on fire right now – figuratively, of course. Zooey Deschanel will be producing an animated sitcom called Queen of Everything to FOX.

Long-running show Psych has been cancelled just a couple months into their eight season; the last episode airs March 26th.

Try to keep up here. The Flash’s new spin-off series, which begins filming in March, has found an actress to play Iris West, who is the love interest of Barry Allen, who is the Flash (shhhh!); her name is Candice Patton and she was in a show called The Game they also chose Broadway actor Carlos Valdez, who will play Vibe, a young and inexperienced hero who can emit powerful vibrations from his arms. He must be a hit with the ladies… Whoo, that was fast.

The next-gen release of Disney Infinity 2 will feature both Marvel and Star Wars characters. If you were looking for an excuse to buy the game, there it is!

Speaking of Star Wars, Disney has already announced that they will introduce the brand-new Star Wars Rebels series by way of original Disney Channel movie this Summer.

Sunny Day, Sweepin’ the clouds aw-Kahhhhn!!! Benedict Cumberbatch stopped by to join the cast of Sesame Street.

Bill Nye, who is like, the Guy, when it comes to science, had a debate with best-selling Christian author Ken Ham to discuss Evolutionism vs Creationism. It’s a lengthy and intelligent debate held by NPR, so get some sleep, get your grand-dad’s pipe out and watch the debate here.

It might be the news about how crappy Sochi is doing, I was just thinking the other day that there haven’t been any good movies about an Olympic tragedy in a while. Enter Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill,  who will both co-star in a film about the 1996 Atlanta bomber.

Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry will be its own $15 downloadable game, meaning you won’t have to buy AC4 to get in on the action. I hope they do this with every game’s DLC going forward. Arrrrrr.

FX’s Archer is about to dead a whole lot better, as The Walking Dead‘s Lauren Cohan (Maggie) will be joining the show for multiple episodes. She describes her character as “a wealthy corrupt President’s wife who is vaguely European.” SOLD.

If you’ve read our “Shut Up and Take My Money” article on RetroFit gaming systems, then you will geek out when the RetroFit TRIO comes out in the next couple months.

So… who is going to beat the living f*** out of George Zimmerman? There were apparently 15,000 people who applied to fight Zimmerman. What a scumbag… Details of the fight will be announced in a week.

Ubisoft had a little debacle with the trademark name of their high-profile game Watch Dogs when somebody had fraudulently filed to dissolve the trademark name of the upcoming game. Ubisoft is trying to correct the issue and it should not impede the game’s release.

They’re talking about another Duke Nukem game. Oh God, Why?? Just let it die!

Written by Sherif Elkhatib and Adrian Puryear

Weekend Wrap-Up January 26, 2014

Welcome to the weekly Wrap-Up of this week’s events in media and pop culture.  Missed the first half of the week?  Check it out here.  Anything we missed?  Leave it in the comments!

A real Wonder Woman Movie?  I guess we’ll see.  Read over here and form your own opinion.

Have Mercy!  A Full House will happen for at least 30 seconds during the SuperBowl.  Catch a preview here. 

Stan Lee is ending his streak of Marvel movie appearances.  Find out why by reading this article.

Rumor has it Pixar will do an upcoming Star Wars movie.  Believe this rumor?  Not so sure, but catch up on the news here.

Still riding the wave of Catching Fire?  Check out the new Mockingjay poster to get revved up for this year’s The Hunger Games installment.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game trailer is out.  Can’t wait to play?  It will be out this Spring on pretty much any gaming device you could imagine.  Check out the video here.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park will soon get a few new additions.  In addition to Butterbeer and Quiddtich, future Wizards and Witches can stroll through Diagon Alley and enjoy a ride to escape Gringotts.  Wanna know more?  Read about it here.

The Grammy Awards are happening tonight.  Don’t have time to sit through an awards show?  Read the winners here.  And then be thankful you don’t have to watch Madonna perform.

A Phil Collins/Adele collabo? Yes, please.

Troy and Abed say goodbye 😦 You can cry, too, by watching the full ep of Community here.

Serenity: Leaves on the Wind debuts this coming week, picking up where the movie left off.  Remember to read our review this Friday.

Oh, and this happened.

written by Adrian Puryear and Sherif Elkhatib

The Wolf of Wall Street Review

Genre – Comedy, Dark Comedy

Director – Martin Scorsese
Cast – Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, and Matthew McConaughey
Alluring element – Another Leo-Scorsese team up, bowling with little people, lots of naked chicks, Jonah Hill with dentures

Check it out if you liked –  Catch Me if You Can, Wall Street, American Gangster (but funny!)

Plot – 8
Acting – 10 
Representation of Genre – 8  
Cinematography – 9
Effects/Environment – 9
Captivity – 7
Logical consistency – 8
Originality/Creativity – 8
Soundtrack/Music – 8
Overall awesomeness – 8

“The year I turned 26, I made 49 million dollars, which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week.”  And that quote right there folks is the essence of The Wolf of Wall Street.  Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a man who ran one of the most successful “pump and dump” stock schemes in history.  By now, if you have eyes and the internet, but haven’t seen the film, you already know the movie is about filthy amounts of money, alcohol and drug use.  You probably also know its really funny.  You may have read that it has a major moral, and in other places you may have read it has no moral at all.   The “F” word is used in many varieties over 500 times.  And there are lots of naked people.  Lots.

In fact, there is so much debauchery going on in Scorsese’s nearly 3-hour tale, that a search for pictures to include in this article on Google and Tumblr probably deserved to be on the SafeSearch function. I am not shocked by much, but about 10 minutes into the movie, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.  And it wasn’t because of the “F” word.  My guess is that Vivid Entertainment may be looking to Wolf for some pointers.  And if you are under 18, don’t look up Vivid Entertainment.

It took me awhile to judge this movie.  Mostly because afterwards, I felt guilty.  I felt guilty because I laughed through the majority of it.  I laughed at severe drug abuse, objectification of women, little people and regular Joes like me who got swindled out of millions of dollars.  And I kinda liked the people who were doing it.  Which is a testament not only to the actors and director, but to the writer.  The screenplay was adapted by Terence Winter, of The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, from the book The Wolf of Wall Street by Mr. Jordan Belfort himself.  And that in itself is a little sickening.  We are living the life of this criminal through his eyes, and honestly, I kind of liked it.  And if there is a moral to the story, it is that if any of us were in the position to make millions, we would.  And then we would do very bad things with it.

As far as storytelling went, I enjoyed how unreliable our narrator was.  There are parts throughout the movie that don’t make sense.  And then there are parts that do.  That is not poor planning, but rather Scorsese showing us that this man is a drug addict. And when in a drug-addled state, he doesn’t remember what exactly happened just right, and he is already notorious for not telling the truth in his career, so what reason would he have to be honest outside of the office, too?

I do have to give a shout-out to Jonah Hill.  6 years ago as I sat in a movie theater watching Superbad,  I never would have thought that he would turn out to be an A-list actor.  He was funny in Wolf, but he certainly has matured from his days of trying to hook up with Jules.  And of course, Leonardo DiCaprio deserves applause.  This is the first time he has really been in a comedy where he himself was really funny. This may be his moment to finally win an Oscar.

There were only 2 downsides to the movie, as far as movies go.  One was that I felt it was way too long.  There was a point in the movie where a major catastrophe happens, and I was ready for the story to be over, but it still had about an hour to go.  It was a long night.  The other was that after being told Jordan started out on Wall Street in 1987, we don’t have much of an idea of what year it is.  I had to assume based off a brief sighting of a picture of President Clinton in the background, but even then, it could have been anytime in the 90’s.  I felt that the other big crime-comedy out right now, American Hustle let us know where we were, the decorations, the music the clothes were so spot on to the period, but Wolf had a hard time showing us our time period.

The Wolf of Wall Street is an enjoyable movie.  But it is not one I will watch over and over because of cinematic greatness.  And I certainly won’t be recommending it to Grandma.

written by Adrian Puryear

Monthly Movie Preview: December 2013

Oh, December.  The month of movies vying for the Oscar, the movies that didn’t fit anywhere else in the year, and the comedy to keep us laughing until the end of the year.  Here is Hush Comic’s movie preview for December:

December 6 – Out of the Furnace

Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Sam Shepard, and Zoe Saldana

With such a stellar cast, there isn’t really much else to say about this movie.  Ok, ok, I’ll talk about the plot.  Two brothers are very close.  Then, one goes missing.  The police get involved, but don’t do much.  The other brother takes matters into his own hands like Batman does.  Oh my God, the guy who takes matters into his own hands is Batman!  Crazy.  Written and directed by Scott Carpenter of Crazy Heart fame, and starring a sundry of Academy Award nominated actors, Out of the Furnace is bound to be nothing less of impressive.  – A

December 13 – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, and Benedict Cumberbatch

Come, don’t be shy… step into the light…err, I mean… The dark movie theater, to watch the second installment of The Hobbit – Desolation of Smaug. Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and the rag tag band of Dwarves continue their adventure to retrieve the Arkenstone from the former Dwarf kingdom and now home of the dangerous and deadly dragon, Smaug. The Hush team is pumped to see Orlando Bloom return as everyone’s favorite archer (sorry Katniss, but you’ve got nothing on Legolas), as well as several other new characters Tolkien-ites will be excited to see on the silver screen. Previews have teased the public with glimpses of the lurking flame giant and come release day hopefully we’ll get a full frontal of the monster. In my personal history, second installments have been my favorite – The Two Towers, The Empire Strikes Back, The Matrix Reloaded (hate on haters) – and Peter Jackson’s most recent go-around is set to please. It’s going to be the best movie on Middle Earth this year – don’t miss it! – T

December 18 – American Hustle

Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremey Renner, and Robert DeNiro

Hunger Games: Catching Fire was great – don’t get me wrong. But do you know what it was missing? Jennifer Lawrence’s boobs. And Amy Adams’ boobs. And a fat Christian Bale. This crime drama set in the late 1970s focuses on the ABSCAM project, a sting operation to help bring down corrupt politicians. Cooper’s FBI character enlists the con talents of Bale and Adams. However, the plot thickens when the grifters start their own side-hustles. This movie boasts an all-star cast and a pretty interesting story loosely based on real events. Jennifer Lawrence’s cry face in The Hunger Games drove us crazy, but she has some real emotional range and acting prowess. I wouldn’t recommend it over the other movies out this weekend, but I definitely think it’s worth checking out. For totally non-boob reasons, too. – S

December 20 – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Starring: Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, Vince Vaughn, Christina Applegate, and Baxter

I’m not usually a big fan of sequels to comedies, but I think Anchorman 2 will prove me wrong.  Following the hijinks of the news crew from San Diego, this film takes us to New York City where the gang try become number one again, but this time with “GNN”.  They say and do incredibly stupid things and in general make asses of themselves, as is expected.  Steve Carell stole the show in the preview, so he probably will do the same with the movie, and I am most definitely O.K. with that.  Stay Classy, New York? – A

December 20 – Saving Mr. Banks

Starring: Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, and Jason Schwarztman

Disney’s newest film, Saving Mr. Banks, is actually about Walt Disney (Tom Hanks), who tries, and obviously succeeds, to convince P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the author of Mary Poppins, to give the rights to make a film version of her novel.   Mr. Banks refers to Travers father, and the main inspiration for the father in Mary Poppins.  With two of the best actors to live starring, the heart-warming plot and the light humor, Saving Mr. Banks is sure to be one of the best holiday time movies to come out and will be one I definitely see this year. – A

December 25 – 47 Ronin

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Kô Shibasaki, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Keanu Reeves is back this holiday season in the awesome new samurai flick, 47 Ronin. The story follows Reeves as Kai and his 46 fellow samurai sword slingers as they work to avenge the death of their master who was taken down by a military shogun (fun fact – Ronin translates to “leaderless samurai” in Japan). This story has been told and retold for quite some time now – dating back as far as the 18 century as a playwright and a most recent rendition of a 1941 film. I’m excited to see Reeves back on the big screen – his first since The Day the Earth Stood Still remake. While that experience left the average sci-fi buff wanting more, I have much higher expectations for 47 Ronin. Released film footages tout glorious landscapes, vibrant characters, badass creatures of lore and – of course – plenty of sword fights. 47 Ronin promises to deliver flashy, action-packed samurai goodness into my Christmas week and I recommended you get it in yours as well. And don’t forget fans – this story is based on true events. So when you see Rinko Kikuchi transform into a flame spitting dragon, remember that it actually happened. – T

December 25 – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn

Based off the original story published in The New Yorker in 1939 (the same year Batman first appeared in Detective Comics…. totally unrelated, but I had to…), The Secret Life of Water Mitty is my pick for best dramatic film of the year. It was actually made into a comedy movie in 1947 and starred Danny Kaye, but this is one case where I can fully endorse the remake. Starring and directed by Ben Stiller (who is in desperate need of a comeback), Mitty has been in production for nearly a decade, with names such as Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Johnny Depp and Sacha Baron Cohen attached to it. Judging from the trailer, Stiller was a great choice. The story follows a Life magazine reporter on a journey to find a missing photo, but is really about the journey to get out and experience life. Taking on a much more inspirational mood than the original, this film is sure to make you quit your job! – S

December 25 – The Wolf of Wall Street

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Jon Favreau

“You can dis me all you want on a blog, or write whatever you want in this magazine and I’ll just be like, ‘Whatever, man. Scorsese thinks I’m awesome,” – Jonah Hill. Telling the story of Jordan Belford, a New York stockbroker who was BALLIN out of control. Literally, he was out of control. There was FBI fraud investigations and the mob got involved. It may seem outlandish, but it’s just the type of character that Leo knocks out of the park. Jay Gatsby, J. Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes, Calvin Candie – all very powerful men who see everything go up in flames around them (alright, Candie was a joke). The film was pushed back to Christmas Day so that Scorsese could kill some babies to decrease the run time 30 minutes and to try to get it from an NC-17 rating down to an R rating. Should be a great showing, and do a lot to remind you of how broke and crappy you are at life. Because no matter what you got for Christmas, you didn’t get to throw midgets at a Velcro board at the office. – S

Written by Adrian Puryear, Sherif Elkhatib and Taylor Lowe

This is the End Review

Genre – Comedy, Stoner Comedy

Director – Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Cast – Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, James Franco, Jonah Hill
Alluring element – Some of the funniest guys on the planet… oh and Emma Watson

Check it out if you liked – Pineapple Express, Superbad

Plot –  7
Acting – 8
Representation of Genre –6  
Cinematography – 5
Effects/Environment – 6
Captivity – 7
Logical consistency – 6
Originality/Creativity – 7 
Soundtrack/Music –  9
Overall awesomeness – 6

Plain and simple, this is a Stoner movie.  And perhaps I would have liked it more had I actually been stoned while watching it.  Unfortunately, I was much too sober to fully enjoy This is the End.  I was really excited to see this film because Superbad is my favorite modern comedy.  Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are a crack team at writing comedy.  All the actors, no matter how small or big a part they were, have all acted in some of the best comedies of the last 5 years.  Yet, the movie lacked the charisma the other movies had.  It’s a little hard to lack charisma when there is so much personality in one room, especially when all the actors are playing themselves, in a sense.  But I think that was the problem; there was too much personality and not enough substance.

This is the End starts with Jay coming to visit his best Canadian friend Seth.  Seth convinces an unwilling Jay to go to a party at James Franco’s home.  Once they arrive, Jay is ditched by Seth, who hangs out with all his Hollywood friends.  We meet a very coked-out and very annoying Michael Cera who slaps Rihanna’s butt.  It is great that Rihanna bitch slaps Cera, but if that scene hadn’t been previously leaked, it would have been funnier.  Craig Robinson is the life of the party singing a song to match his T-Shirt, “Take Yo Panties Off.”  This shirt was possibly the funniest character in the movie.  I want that shirt.  James Franco has two large canvasses hanging prominently in his new home that read “James Franco” and “Seth Rogen”.  Jay soon feels uncomfortable and wants to go to the corner mart.  Seth accompanies him and they argue about Jay feeling uncomfortable and the running joke that Jay and Jonah Hill hate each other.  At the corner mart, the apocalypse begins and those who are good are sent to heaven.  The rest, including our entire cast, are left to what is now hell on Earth.  And thus the large chunk of the movie ensues.

A lot of the movie felt as though the writers, and probably the actors, sat in a room for days on end, got stoned out of their minds, and then made a whole bunch of inside jokes.  Many of which weren’t funny once on screen.  There weren’t a lot of one-liners that came out of this film as being “quotable” as there were in Superbad or Knocked Up.  That is what I love about those movies, is that I can still quote them, and they are still funny.  The one scene that was memorable and quotable is *SPOILER* when the group is trying to exorcise the possessed Jonah Hill.  As Jay stands above him with a crucifix chanting “the power of Christ compels you!”, devil-Jonah mocks ” Guess what? It’s not that compelling.”  The majority of the actors play people they really aren’t and haven’t really been in any other movie.  But Danny McBride was still an ass.  And because of that, I didn’t find him funny.  I kept thinking throughout that the role would have been fitting for someone else, and someone who has never been part of that crew.  Perhaps the great JGL?  I can dream.  Many of the jokes were giggle worthy: Jonah playing with James Franco’s gun, the argument over the Milky Way, the sequel to Pineapple Express.  But some jokes just fell flat.  Discussing Emma Watson and rape in the same sentence is not funny.  And really, any joke about rape, especially written by a group of men is hard to come across as funny.  And what was with The Backstreet Boys being the music of heaven?  Its a little laughable, but it probably only makes sense to those guys.

This is the End is the one of those movies I don’t regret watching, but I probably won’t be watching it again anytime soon.  Maybe next time, Seth.

written by Adrian Puryear