This Is The End (2013)

Title: This Is The End (2013)

Director: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

Cast: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson

Review:

You all know Seth Rogen as the actor behind such films as Knocked Up (2007) and Superbad (2007). He’s currently enjoying a high point in his career working alongside people like Joseph Gordon Levitt, Michelle Williams, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz and even Barbara Streisand. Rogen has also worked with many renowned filmmakers and directors; but one thing you may not know about Rogen is that he himself writes and produces films. He is as active behind the camera as he is in front of it. Often times, Rogen collaborates with his writing buddy Evan Goldberg, with whom he has collaborated in writing films like Superbad (2007). Each of them has branched into the entertainment business in their own way, Rogen in the writing acting department, while Goldberg more on the writing producing department, but they always end up working together again. When they wrote Superbad, a teenage comedy which went on to become a smash hit, they decided their next film was going to be called Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse. This film would be about two friends who end up locked up inside of an apartment as the apocalypse is occurring outside, the two guys end up hating each other. They wrote it, shot a little trailer for it and then put it on You Tube. As of today, it’s been viewed by more than 630,000 people! So anyhow, they shopped their project around, found someone to back it up and voila! We have This Is The End, a film both written and directed by Seth Rogen and his pal Evan Goldberg. It’s obvious this was a dream project of theirs, so, how was it?

The interesting part about This Is The End is that all the actors that appear in it are playing themselves. So Seth Rogen is Seth Rogen, James Franco is James Franco and so forth. This of course isn’t entirely true because these actors are playing exaggerated or even alternate versions of themselves. But still, I gotta say it’s a fun gimmick imagining that Danny McBride is that much of an asshole. So anyways, the idea is that James Franco is putting on this party of the century type of deal where all these famous actors and performers are attending. So you’ll see Michael Cera doing lines of coke and slapping Rihanna’s ass! There’s Christopher Mintz-Plasse! There’s Paul Rudd! There’s Aziz Ansari and so forth. This part of the film is jam packed with cameos, which is fun. Even Jason Segel shows up at one point. So there’s a moment in the night where Rogen and Baruchel decide to go out to buy a pack of cigarettes when suddenly, the end of the world begins. What is triggering the end of the world? Why is blue light sucking people up to the heavens? Why is the earth opening and swallowing people up? Could this be the ‘judgment day’ that the bible talks so much about?

So yeah, the concept is that God has finally brought the end of the world upon humanity, so it’s up to these guys to figure out how they can get into heaven because apparently god didn’t think they were worthy. This is an awesome concept because I’ve always wondered how the biblical end of the world would look like. In my mind it was way more epic then what we see in This Is The End, but that has to do with the fact that This Is The End takes place almost entirely inside of James Franco’s house! This to me is one of the elements that makes this film so much fun because you hear these guys saying things like “Let’s make a sequel to Pineapple Express” and then they go on about what they actually want to do with that sequel, while smoking a joint! “We should make sequels to all our movies!” Funny, funny stuff. I loved how each of the characters takes on a persona, McBride is the hateful asshole, James Franco hates McBride, but loves Rogen. Jay Baruchel is the anti-social dude, Michael Cera is the out of line coke head. So it’s fun having all these guys partying their brains out, and then having to deal with surviving the apocalypse. That’s a double dose of funny situations.

Many will find this film extremely offensive, and it’s mostly to do with the fact that the film makes fun of all sorts of Christian beliefs. It’s the kind of film that takes all that mythology from the bible and turns it into one big fat joke, kind of like Paul (2011) did. In my opinion, this serves as a way to show just how ridiculous some of these ideas presented in the bible can get. For example, the film plays with this whole notion of ‘the rapture’. This is the event in which supposedly god takes the good people of the earth up to heaven with him while leaving the sinners down here to rot in a hell on earth. In the film, a blue beam of light sort of beams you up to heaven, kind of the way they beam you up in a Star Trek movie. Watching all this I was thinking how silly and hilarious it all is! But then you realize this isn’t so far from what the bible actually teaches! I mean all of the animals in the world fit into one boat? So you go up to heaven and you get a halo on top of your head? Come on! Eve actually talks to a snake! What? And let’s not forget the dragons with seven heads! If all these ideas sound fantastic to you, then you should know they all come out of the bible! Rogen and Goldberg take these ideas and put them in their movie and make you realize damn, this stuff’s actually funny! When James Franco is being beamed up to heaven is one of the most hilarious things in the movie, you gotta see it, I dare you not to laugh. While watching This Is The End I got a Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1990) vibe from it because same as that movie, the main characters go both to heaven and hell and they both offer us hilarious versions of these mythical places. In This Is The End heaven is one big ass party, but I ain’t gonna spoil it for you.

Aside from having fun with Christian beliefs, the film is also extremely graphic in nature. Not just with its jokes, but with its depiction of gore. For example, there’s only one porno mag in the whole house, and these five dudes have to survive the apocalypse with it, so I guess they take turns using it? Point is at one point a fight breaks out between Franco and McBride because McBride jizzed all over the magazine! This is just an example of how crazy the jokes can get, if you like your comedy cute and cuddly don’t go see this movie. If on the other hand you like your comedy raunchy, then you’re in for a treat. I read that while making this film, almost every actor (except James Franco) at one point said they wouldn’t do something because it was too crazy. I mean, Emma Watson herself stepped out of the movie half way because she thought the ideas were too crazy. She was actually supposed to be in the movie a lot more, but bowed out because she couldn’t take it. Hey, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen! So that lets you know this one will test your limits of good taste. And then there’s the gore, which is plentiful and hilarious! Ever wanted to see someone play football with some dudes decapitated head? Then this is the movie for you!

How cool was it to have all these funny guys together on the same film? I mean, this is the kind of comedy I love, where they put a bunch of funny dudes together in one movie and see what happens. Obviously there was a lot of improvisation on this film, its part of what I love about movies like this one. I mean, you can tell these were really just a bunch of friends getting together having fun making a movie. I’m sure it must have been pretty difficult to keep a straight face while shooting some of these scenes. One idea did pop into my head; maybe it should be this team of comedians that takes a stab at a Ghostbusters reboot? It would be hilarious to seethese dudes playing Peter, Eagon, Ray and Winston, but alas, that’s just me pipe dreaming. But you gotta admit it would be cool wouldn’t it?

So yeah my friends, this movie is all over the place! It’s extreme, it’s funny, it’s gory, and these characters curse like sailors even when in heaven! “Welcome to heaven motherfuckers!” Yes, this film is rated ‘R’ and don’t you forget it! I was surprised there weren’t any topless girls in this movie; it was all that was missing really. When I went to see this one, half of the theater was laughing, the other half was sitting uncomfortable in their chairs, so it’s a divisive movie. My guess is that the conservative half, the half that goes to church every Sunday was about ready to leave the theater, while the other half were laughing their asses off, I was of course laughing my ass off. After all, if there is a God, he’s gotta have a sense of humor right? I mean, he created George W. Bush didn’t he? So my advice is just go see this one with an open mind, ready to be offended, you just might find yourself having a good time.

Rating: 4 out of 5 

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Title: Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Director: Steve Pink

Cast: John Cusack, Crispin Glover, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Chevy Chase

Review:

Hot Tub Time Machine has one cool thing going for it: its title. A title like that will attract people even if the movie sucks. Same phenomenon occurred with Snakes on a Plane (2006), a terrible (though fun) film that made some bank and caused a buzz on the net simply because of its strange/catchy title, which has that ability to make people re-think it. People read titles like Hot Tub Time Machine and go: “Wait, what? A hot tub that’s a time machine? That’s got to be funny!” Unfortunately, most of the time, gimmicky titles like that one are made solely for the purpose of catching the eye of the easily impressed passers by and getting his or her butt inside the movie theater. Was this the case with Hot Tub Time Machine?

Hot Tub Time Machine basically takes the premise of Back to the Future and places it in a “guy comedy”. You know, guy comedies are those films where guys rule supreme and the female presence is kept down to a minimum so that guys can do bond and become better people. Most of the time this type of film ends up making guys look like idiots who are just salivating at the opportunity of going ape shit the minute they ditch their wives. These are comedies where girls are contractually obligated to appear topless at various points during the picture. Female characters are always secondary on these films, guys usually end up getting so stoned or hammered that they pass out. And guys say “fuck” a lot. If you want a good example of a guy comedy, then watch The Hangover (2009). Yet another film that Hot Tub Time Machine is trying to imitate. One thing you can be sure when watching Hot Tub Time Machine: originality went down the drain.

How many similarities do we have with Back to the Future and The Hangover? Let me count the ways:

- John Cusack wears a jacket that looks like a life preserver.

- A time machine is used to travel back in time.

- A character meets his parents in the past.

- A character has a bully he must confront.

- Somebody gets on stage to sing a song that has yet to be written, and the audience loves it

- When they return to their own time, things are slightly different.

- Crispin Glover (who plays George McFly in Back to the Future) plays a character

- Like in The Hangover, we have four guys looking to escape their present lives and have a bit of an “guys night out” , drug use and alcohol abuse ensues.

I mean, the similarities are all over the place, you will eventually come to the conclusion just like I did, that the filmmakers simply saw Back to the Future and wanted to make a raunchier, 'funnier' version of it. You could almost hear the producers pitch “Its going to be Back to the Future meets The Hangover! It’ll be a hit!” Sad part is it kind of was a hit, and even some reviewers thought this movie was good. Even Roger Ebert liked it, but I got a feeling it’s just because he worships John Cusack.

The only glimmer of originality in the film is that Chevy Chase plays God, you know, the all knowing, ever present, ominous character that seems to know the answers to everything. Sadly, he is underplayed. Chevy Chase needs a come back role dammit! The other thing I didn’t like about this movie is that its kind of bitter. Now, I don’t mind a bitter film, but I do mind when that film is supposed to be a comedy. On this film, practically none of the characters are likable. Not even freaking John Cusack who is like an 80’s god, and has a masters degree on playing likable characters. On Hot Tub Time Machine he plays his character so one note that you’d be well advised to check Cusack’s pulse, just to make sure the actor in him is still alive. Rob Corddry plays an asshole ever step of the way, the kind of friend that is hard to love. Craig Robinson plays himself once again. But there was one character, played by Clark Duke that I thought was kind of interesting. He is the teenager that represents the younger generation coming up, the wise ass who thinks cheesy movies are bad. Its that kid that watches a movie from the 80s, like for example Howard the Duck (1986) and is always asking questions like “a duck from another dimension? That’s freaking impossible! And stupid!” So this character goes around the whole movie pointing out the cheesy aspects of the film, as if telling the younger generation “I know, this is freaking stupid, but remember: we’re trying to be a movie from the 80’s!”

Somebody give Chevy Chase his comeback already!

Did this movie achieve its purpose? Well, it is a raunchier more vulgar version of Back to the Future. My problem with it was that the 80’s thing should have been exploited a bit further. Capturing that vibe from the 80’s should've involved more than just having your characters wear Iron Maiden t-shirts. It involves more than having a song from the 80’s play every five minutes. I think they could have worked harder to make the 80’s feel more 80’s, they should have worked harder to capture the soul of th era, but it seems to me this movie was simply made to make a quick buck, not to make a good comedy that would stand the test of time. As it is, only one scene really truly stands out as 80's, where the guys walk into this cabin, and everything is suddenly super 80s! People using cassette players, people don’t know what a cellphone or being on line is and practically everybody in the room wears neon colors. Unfortunately, after that brief sequence, the rest of the film didn’t feel that 80’s to me. I know the 80’s wasn’t a decade known for its ‘soul’, but the soul of the 80’s is what this movie failed to capture.

Another negative thing about the movie is the way it was edited. It feels too choppy. By that I mean that the movie goes from one scene to the next without smooth transitions, things are to be taken for granted that they happened, and as a result, you feel like you are watching a movie skipping chapters. As if you were watching the movie on fast forward. I think the film does this because it is such a by the numbers film. Since this movie takes so much from other films, we as an audience already know what’s coming down the road and the filmmakers know that. So they figure they’ll cut the bull and put the story on fast forward, because they know you already saw Back to the Future. They know you know the rules for this kind of film. It's so sad that this kind of movie exists actually, a movie that relies on the fact that you know how its going to be played out. So, no surprises here, this my friends is a film made without any passion.

In conclusion, Hot Tub Time Machine is an extremely forgettable movie in my book. I saw it and have no desire of re-watching it. I took nothing with me from watching even though it was trying to talk about facing your fears or something. The characters are extremely bitter, they hate their lives and as a result, we hate it with them. And take it from me, I’m a child of the 80’s I lived and breathed the 80’s when I was a kid, so I know what Im talking about when I say this movie didn’t really feel like the 80’s. I was looking to re-live that era a bit, or at the very least, make some fun of it. Unfortunately, we still need a movie that truly captures what it was like to live in that decade.

Rating: 2 out of 5