Quick Review: This Is The End

And now back to our regularly scheduled movie review programming. (I hope.) I expected a lot from the trailer for This Is The End and, unlike a lot of movies recently, this one mostly lived up to my expectations. A comedy in which the Apocalypse takes place is one thing. When it focuses on how this event affects Hollywood celebrities, that's another story. And when those celebrities -- James Franco, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Danny McBride are the stars, with many other cameos, from Rihanna to Michael Cera to Channing Tatum -- are playing exaggerated versions of themselves, it goes to the next level. Lots of raunch, but also lots of laughs and some meta commentary about the celebs themselves, their importance (or lack thereof), how they're perceived by the public and media, etc., and a little stab at religious beliefs (after all, the Apocalypse is happening). Had me laughing almost from the start to the finish. My grade: A-minus.

Quick Review: The Social Network

For a film that has no chase scenes or buildings blowing up, "The Social Network" is surprisingly energetic. If you're looking for it to be the completely true story of the creation of Facebook, you're out of luck. It's structured around depositions in two different lawsuits against co-creator and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). In one, Harvard rowers and identical twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea for a website to allow Harvard students to connect with each other. (One twin is played by Armie Hammer, and the other by Josh Pence's body with Hammer's face and voice digitally added -- weird! And impossible to notice, at least for me.) The other suit was filed by his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), whose algorithm was used by Zuckerberg in the creation of "The Facebook," which started with Harvard and then moved to other schools (and eventually to all of us, of course, losing the "The" in the process). His shares in the company were reduced from one-third ownership to less than one percent after Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), creator of Napster, was brought into the company by Zuckerberg. None of the principals were involved with the movie, whose screenplay (by Aaron Sorkin of "West Wing" fame) was based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. It tries not to take sides so it's up to the viewer to decide, for example, if Zuckerberg is an insensitive jerk and a lying thief or merely a misunderstood genius. (Although it pretty much paints "the Winklevi," as Zuckerberg refers to the twins, as entitled snobs, and Parker as a party animal whose new friendship with Zuckerberg ends up destroying Zuckerberg's friendship with Saverin.) In a movie that's well-acted throughout, Eisenberg is the biggest revelation here. He is extremely successful in breaking out of that sensitive-soft-voiced Michael Cera mold. Cera himself made a start, but only a start, in breaking his own mold in playing Scott Pilgrim. He should take on a more challenging role, as Eisenberg has done here. My grade: A-minus.

Become Michael Cera! And Another Movie Thing...

I don't know when this was made but I'm sad it didn't mention Scott Pilgrim...



Speaking of which, I was thinking about my movie grades. I gave "Toy Story 3" an A, while "Despicable Me" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" both got A-minus grades. Yet the latter two movies were the only ones I wanted to, and did, go back and see a second time. So should I reverse these grades, or at least downgrade "Toy Story 3" a little? I still sort of think it was the superior movie, but I didn't have the same pull to see it again as I did the other two. Thoughts?

Quick Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

This is probably one of those movies that younger audiences will get, while the elders who dare to go might sit there scratching their heads. I think "Kick-Ass" had a similar problem, which is part of the reason it didn't do as well at the box office as some thought. And the same thing has happened to "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," which is, like "Kick-Ass," based on a graphic novel series. Fortunately, as I am sometimes (but not always) more able to adapt to the ways of the youth than other cranky 48-year-olds, I rolled with it. It was like watching a cartoon, a video game, an action flick, a comedy and a romance all rolled up into one. Scott (Michael Cera) is the slacker 23-year-old bass player for the band "Sex Bob-omb" and, while he's all Michael Cera-y with that soft voice and gawky boyishness, he's also kind of a cad. An ex-girlfriend is the band's drummer, and he's currently dating a 17-year-old girl, and then starts cheating on her when he meets, and falls for, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Then Scott learns that Ramona has seven evil exes -- among them, movie heroes Chris "Human Torch" Evans and Brandon "Superman" Routh -- and that he must defeat them in battle in order for Ramona to keep dating him. Throughout the movie, but particularly in the fight scenes, there's a variety of graphic additions on-screen, from little pop-up notes about characters to TV-Batman "K-POW!" blasts during the fight scenes, to video game graphics and sound effects. It's funny and moves quickly, although there's a bit of a lack of logic now and then that even I can't completely overlook. And then there's the fine performance by Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells, Scott's sarcastic (and gay) friend and roommate -- Wallace may be the funniest part of the movie. He's not the typical gay best friend by any means. He's a much more fully-formed character, and he has a love life. Which is interesting, since Wallace's and Scott's small apartment has only one bed. My grade: A-minus.

Quick Review: Youth In Revolt

Question: can Michael Cera break out of the mold of sensitive, soft-spoken, sort of cute in a pale, skinny, hairless sort of way teenager that he's filled in "Juno" and "Superbad" and "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist"? All of those are fine movies, but still, is there more to Cera than meets the eye? We don't quite get an answer in his latest film, "Youth In Revolt," but we can see he's trying to branch out. Here Cera plays 16-year-old Nick Twisp -- another typical Cera character -- who falls for Sheeni, a beautiful girl he meets at a mobile home park where his mother (Jean Smart) and her boyfriend of the moment (Zach Galifianakis) have dragged him to. Alas, Sheeni's just not that into Nick. She likes the bad boy type, and has a jones for all things France. Enter Francois Dillinger, an alter ego Nick creates in his mind to help win Sheeni over. Cera plays Francois as well (with a pencil-thin mustache, tight pants and cigarettes), and the imaginary Francois goads Nick into some drastic actions that have serious consequences. There are some good laughs, particularly after Francois shows up. It's not an enormous stretch for Cera, but it does bode well for his future. My grade: B.

Quick Review: Zombieland

So, Jesse Eisenberg and Michael Cera: if they ever appeared in the same movie, would that cause a rift in the space-time continuum? Are they not the same person? Skinny, pale, sensitive, etc.? In "Zombieland" Eisenberg plays a college student in Austin, Texas who has managed to survive the collapse of society (caused by an outbreak that led to most people turning into zombies). He's trying to get to Columbus, Ohio to find his parents and meets up with Woody Harrelson, who's on his way to Tallahassee, Florida. Harrelson's character insists that no real names be used, so they refer to each other by their destinations.

Columbus and Tallahassee run into two girls, Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), at a grocery store. After various plot twists, they're on their way to an amusement park in California because the girls heard there are no zombies there. There's lots of zombie violence and some good lines; Columbus narrates throughout, highlighting his list of rules for surviving in Zombieland (number 1, for obvious reasons: cardio!). On the way to the amusement park they hit Hollywood, and decide to sleep at the home of a major star. This segment, featuring a cameo by said star, is easily the best part of the movie. I will not spoil it by revealing the star's name, but the whole thing is utterly brilliant. My grade: B-plus.

Reminder: there's a link on the home page that leads to a list of my grades for every movie I've seen in 2009.