Movie Review - This Is The End

What do you get when a bunch of actors decide to "play themselves" in a crazy side project?  Well, something like this movie I guess.

This Is The End sees Jay Baruchel visiting long time friend Seth Rogen in Los Angeles.  He is hoping for a relaxing weekend chilling but Seth drags him to a housewarming party hosted by James Franco.  Then the apocalypse occurs and a small group of survivors including Jay, Seth, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride are left to work out what is going on and what the hell they are meant to do.

I'll be honest.  I've been holding off on this movie because it sounded like a pretentious exercise with a bunch of A-List actors going "Oh look, this is what we are really like and this is how we would react" when we all know that they are still just putting on an act.  What I found was a movie that was surprisingly entertaining, quite funny, ridiculously over the top with a bunch of A-List actors going "Oh look, this is what we are really like and this is how we would react" when we all know that they are still just putting on an act.

Jay Baruchel is definitely the main star of this movie.  His performance remains consistent and entertaining throughout and he functions wonderfully as the straight guy within a group of people way out of their depth.  The rest of the cast perform pretty much as you would expect them to if you are aware of any of their work.  Jonah Hill is responsible for some pretty impressive stuff later in the film and Danny McBride, well telling you too much about his highlights would require a big trip into spoiler town.  Let's just say there are good performances all round.

Since a crowd like this obviously have plenty of showbiz friends there are a number of cameos.  Michael Cera and Emma Watson make great appearances but there is an amazing brief appearance by another well know actor quite late in proceedings where a perfectly delivered still has me laughing.

The apocalypse itself is incredibly well done and there is no holding back.  This is the full biblical experience complete with the rapture, demons, considerable fire and brimstone and plenty of other apocalyptic goings on.  Effects that by all rights should have been super cheesy end up being wonderfully effective and give this movie one incredible atmosphere.

Adding further to the atmosphere are some wonderfully chosen songs to accompany certain scenes.  I am willing to say that this movie contains the best use of a particularly annoying Whitney Houston song ever.  And as for the finale... well, I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone.

The biggest triumph though is that through the absolute insanity occurring on screen This Is The End manages to remain a story about friendship.  The ups and downs of Jay and Seth's relationship pushes the plot and keeps the story relatable even while the entire world is literally going to hell.

In order to remain objective some of the above praise may come from the fact I had extremely low expectations to begin with, but I feel if you approach this movie with the aim of just enjoying a very silly spectacle then you should have a good time.

Alternate Title - Actors acting like actors freak out while everything goes to hell.

Movie Review - Spring Breakers

Wow, this is going to be a tough one to review.  Why you ask?  Because I still don't know exactly how I feel about it.  That may be a point in the movie's favour because, from what I got, it is a movie designed from the ground up to make you feel uncomfortable.

Now the following summary of the setup actually covers almost half of the movie, so mild spoiler warning okay.

The movie sees a group of friends, Faith (Selena Gomez), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) desperate to escape their boring college town and head off for the party time at spring break.  Unfortunately they are very low on cash so they do the only sensible thing and hold up a diner with water pistols and a sledge hammer.  After much partying and plenty of deep and meaningful moments they are arrested after a drug fueled mega party that completely trashes a motel room.  Luckily friendly rapper and gangster Alien (James Franco) turns up to bail them out.

From the very outset this film aims to misdirect you.  The opening sequence has more drinking, skimpy clothing and bare breasts than nearly any other movie I have seen in recent times.  It seems to scream "T and A party movie ahead".  There is also plenty of not so subtle suggestions that there will be a plethora of sexy shenanigans.  We soon find out this is a movie that makes liberal use of the abrupt cut to another scene, usually vastly different from what has just been shown.  The first abrupt cut takes us to the boring college town and some very religious classes.  There is no subtlety about one of the characters being named Faith.

The way this movie swings from one extreme to the other, and its incredibly stylised visuals and camera work really seems designed to keep the viewer as unsure as possible.  The characters themselves also vary between different facets of their personalities and it is almost impossible to keep track of their intentions or motives.  Pretty much no one in this movie is likeable, which is understandable since most of the performances do seem to be designed to make the viewer uncomfortable.  If there was an Oscar for "actor portraying the most unlikeable sleazy scumball" then James Franco would be the unchallenged winner.

As to whether I can recommend Spring Breakers... well that is a tough call.  I have had a bit of a browse around the net and it appears to be a very polarising movie.  My take is that it is a movie about escaping to some mystical promised land, only what you find when you get there is very different to what you believed.  By having the four girls as the main characters you get to see different reactions, and outcomes, to the events as they unfold and they do lead to some poignant moments.  There are also quite a few scenes in the film that almost seem religious in their intent.  Temptation features heavily, as does the consequences for those who resist, or succumb.

In the end I am going to have to let you take what you can from this review and decide for yourselves.  Again, it is a very difficult film to watch which I believe is the intention.  So if you are up for a movie that is deliberately trying to challenge you then by all means give Spring Breakers a try, just don't say I didn't warn you.

In a word - Stuff