This is The End

This is the End, directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, was a different sort of comedy where the actors play themselves in a apocalyptic situation. It was everything I thought it would be.

The main characters in the movie are Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel. Jay had come to California to visit his good friend, Seth. After a couple hours of hanging out and getting high, Seth suggests they go to James Franco's house for his house warming party. Jay doesn't want to go because he doesn't really like the new crowd that Seth hangs out with, but he finally gives in.

So anyway, they go to the party, and Jay is having pretty much zero fun, because he hates everyone there. He comes up with the excuse of going to the convenience store so that he can escape the party. Seth goes with him. While they are out, there is an "earthquake", and Jay witnesses people being sucked up into the sky with blue rays that have come down from the heavens. Jay immediately thinks it's the apocalypse, and the ones that have been taken by the blue rays are people who have devoted themselves to God. They hurry back to Franco's house where no one has noticed anything happened. Obviously, nobody at James Franco's party has what it takes to get chosen for heaven. But there is another earthquake soon after that, and everyone runs outside, where most of them die. I won't give away any specifics here, because that would ruin it but there is a lot of death.

A few people run back into the house. The ones that make it are, Jay, Seth, James Franco, Jonah Hill (much to Jay's dismay as he hates Jonah), and Craig Robinson. They decide it will be best to wait it out in the house, so they board everything up and ration out the food. Then they go to bed.

The next morning, they find out they have another house guest. Danny McBride had passed out in the bathroom before anything had happened the night before. So he gets up and cooks up a majority of the food in a nice breakfast, not knowing that's all the food they have to survive this out. They all get up and try to tell him what happened the night before, and he doesn't believe them. He's kind of an ass. Then some random guy sticks his head through a hole in the boards and it gets chopped off, and Danny starts to believe them.

The situation intensifies when they run out of water. And people start talking bad about each other and teaming up. Danny gets kicked out of the house by popular vote - then makes the decision to leave on his own after everyone feels bad.

Things start to get out of control and they have to leave the house and go out into the real world. It's chaotic and everything is burning. No people are left alive. The group loses a few people along the way, but the movie really does have a happy ending (kinda).

It's hard to review the acting in this movie, because they are playing themselves. I really don't think most of this is true to character, but some parts I definitely think are.  I can't even compare this to anything else I have ever seen because nothing like this has ever been done, to my knowledge. Even though it was a comedy, there were a few parts where I jumped. And a few parts where I squeezed my boyfriend's hand so hard, I think it was about to fall off. But overall, it was just funny, in a very twisted way.

I think you can really tell in this movie that these boys enjoy working together. Sure, they play limited roles. But they are good at what they do, so why change? I imagine this would have been a super fun movie to be a part of even as just an extra. They had some fun cameo appearances by Micheal Cera, Emma Watson, Channing Tatum, Paul Rudd, and Jason Segel (my biggest celebrity crush ever).



If you enjoy dark comedy, then this is for you. It's pretty vulgar, kinda raunchy, and more gore than I expected. But I LOVED it! So, I hope you all get a chance to see it in theaters or rent it for home viewing.




Thanks for reading!

July Movies =)

Pretty short list for July. Couple blockbusters though.

Despicable Me 2
>It's impossible not to love the minions, I'm pretty sure. The first one was amazing, and I am sure this one won't disappoint.
The Lone Ranger
>Well, this one may be disappointing. But I still wouldn't miss it for the world. Lots of good action and comedy. Johnny Depp is okay - but highly overrated.
Pacific Rim
>Giant robots and aliens? What doesn't sound good about that?
Grown Ups 2
>Mostly just for my boyfriend. He's a huge fan of the first one and I'm a huge fan of him. So, I will see it with him.
Red 2
>As much as I tried not to like the first one, I kinda did. And this one looks to be about at the same level.
R.I.P.D.
>Kinda a cool idea for a movie. Everyone loves Kevin Bacon.Jeff Bridges is pretty talented. And some people really like Ryan Reynolds.
Turbo
>This snail is seriously adorable. Ryan Reynolds is competing against himself this weekend for the box office numbers. Kinda funny.
The Wolverine
>Well, I really enjoy the X-Men movies. Wolverine isn't necessarily my favorite, but I still will be seeing this.

Like I said, not a huge list. Hopefully most of these come to our small theater.

Epic

I took my nephew to see this movie this weekend. It was cute, but not my favorite.

Epic, directed by Chris Wedge, was a cute kid's movie but the plot was lacking and the characters were kind of boring.



The movie is about a teenage girl, Mary Katherine (Amanda Seyfried), who goes to live with her dad after something happens to her mom? I don't know - they don't really explain that, that I remember. She doesn't want to be there because she thinks her dad is a weirdo. He lives up in the forest and believes in a magical kingdom of fairies that live in the woods.

So, she decides to leave after only giving him about an hour of a chance. But she let's the three legged, one eyed, pug out on accident on her way out. So she has to chase him down through the woods. While out there, she stumbles across the fairy queen, who is dying, and she shrinks her and gives her a pod that is holding her magical power to grow and heal things in the forest.

Oh, before she leaves the house, you get some POV from the fairies where the queen goes and picks out a pod to give her power to. They are attacked by The Rot - or the insects that want to destroy the forest and she is hit with an arrow and killed.

So, Mary Katherine (MK) gets this pod and goes along with the leader of the queen's guard (who was also her lover) to take it to see Nim Galuu (Steven Tyler). They are helped along their journey by a snail and a slug, Grub and Mub, and a young man named Nod (Josh Hutcherson). Nod thinks MK is really pretty.. so does Mub or Grub - whichever one is the slug. So there is some playful banter between them about who gets the girl (You'll never guess who she chooses).



Anyway, after they take the pod to Nim, it gets stolen by the Rot King, who's name I can't remember. He wants it to bloom away from the moonlight so instead of being a new Queen of the Forest, it becomes a Prince of the Darkness. It's a kid's movie.. so I don't think I'm giving anything away when I tell you that doesn't happen. It ends up blooming where it's supposed to, a new queen is chosen, and MK grows big again (after getting a kiss from Nod). She then returns to her fathers house and helps him with his research, all the while maintaining an unrealistic relationship with a man that is two inches tall and lives in a faster moving dimension than she does. But she does get to talk to him on the phone. Weird movie.

The plot was just "bleh". The characters had nothing really lovable about them except the three legged dog. Who was adorable. The snail and slug added a bit of entertainment, but if it hadn't been for those two characters, I think I would have fallen asleep.

I like the other cartoons that Blue Sky and Twentieth Century have done (Rio and Ice Age) but this movie just didn't deliver for me.

I give it a 5 out of 10.

Thanks for reading!
Comments are always appreciated. =)

Now You See Me

I LOVED this movie.

Now You See Me, directed by Louis Leterrier, has some similarities to Ocean's Eleven or The Italian Job. The actual magic tricks aren't a big part of the movie. Most of it is the interrogating and figuring out the tricks. My summary is going to be short because I can't give any of the twists away.

The movie starts out with introducing the audience to the magicians: Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher). All of them are being watched by a mysterious man in a hoodie and they all receive a tarot card that tells them a time and place to meet up.



They all show up at the location thinking they would be the only one and surprised to find the others there. We find out that Henley used to be Daniel's assistant and he still treats her like that. He's actually a huge jerk, which is what I imagine most magicians to be like. Anyway, they can't get into the apartment that they showed up at until Jack gets there and picks the lock. Once inside, they find this elaborate setup that sets them up as a team.

The next scene takes place a year later in Las Vegas, where they are performing their first show. They have decided to call themselves The Four Horsemen. In this show, they randomly pick someone from the audience and rob his bank in Paris. Then give the money to the people in the audience. Obviously, they are arrested the next day for this. The FBI agent put on the case is Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo). He is partnered up with a woman from Interpol named Alma Dray (Melanie Laurent) and they don't necessarily get along that great at first.



The interrogations don't go that well. They can't hold them without saying that they actually believe they somehow magically robbed the bank in Paris. So they have to let them walk. Of course, they manage to get tickets to the next show in New Orleans - which is sold out after people have heard these magicians give out money to the audience. I don't want to say much about what happens in this show because I don't want to give anything away.

But before the New Orleans show, they meet up with Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), who was filming the Las Vegas show and plans on debunking them. It's from talking to him that they figure out how they pulled off their little trick in Vegas. He also goes to New Orleans to watch what they do there. Thaddeus has made a career out of showing how magicians do their tricks.

You see Alma really wants to believe in magic. She does a lot of research on what the Four Horseman are and some history of magic tricks. She's trying to figure out what is driving these guys to do what they are doing. Dylan and Alma think that The Four Horsemen are working with someone else. A fifth Horseman, if you will. But they can't figure out who it is.

There is another show in New York after New Orleans. And there are several things that I didn't see coming that happen along the way there. The end of the movie really threw me for a loop. My boyfriend said it didn't surprise him though. But that's all I can say on that.

Now You See Me was very well done. It had a lot of big names and they delivered. I've had a crush on Mark Ruffalo since Just Like Heaven and I still have a crush on him after this movie. Morgan Freeman will always be one of my favorites too. And I have a lady crush on Isla Fisher. And Dave Franco? He's adorable. This is only the second movie I have seen him in but I think he is just as talented as his brother.

My favorite character in this movie was Alma. She had a bit of a romantic personality, I think. The contrast between her and Dylan was perfect. He was hard and logical and she was big hearted and almost whimsical about some stuff. Loved their character chemistry.

I strongly recommend this movie to everyone. I think that it's something that most people will enjoy.

I give it a 10 out of 10.



Thanks for reading! =)

Fast and Furious 6

I have to be honest right away in this review, I was a little lost during the movie since I haven't seen the third, fourth, or fifth movie in this franchise. That being said - I liked it. For the most part, anyway.

The sixth installment to the Fast and the Furious franchise is directed by Justin Lin shows how far this series has come since the first movie, which was released in 2001. The special effects are better, the cars are better, the action is even more unrealistic, and the acting has gotten even worse (if that's even possible).

WARNING: Contains some spoilers.

The Fast and the Furious 6 starts out with the team in retirement/hiding. They are international criminals but Hobbs (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) needs their help catching a new baddie in Europe. He has pictures of Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) to convince them to go, because they all thought she was dead. Of course, they want something in return. The deal is: full pardons for everyone. Hobbs agrees because he doesn't know if they will help otherwise. Which is dumb, of course they would. Letty is family.



Anyway, they go after this guy - Shaw (Luke Evans) - but their first attempt isn't very successful. During the car chase through London, pretty much every car gets destroyed. Dom (Vin Diesel) goes after one car because he recognizes the driving style as Letty. He corners her, gets out of his vehicle, and she shoots him in the shoulder. Nice way to say "Hi honey, I missed you."

They find out who is making his cars - and Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Han (Sung Kang), Gisele (Gal Gadot), and Agent Riley (Gina Carano) get into a bit of a fight there with some of Shaw's crew, including Letty. They manage to kill one guy and get the car maker's cell phone. Other than that, this scene is kind of a waste of time. It's just about fifteen minutes of fist fighting in the train station. Where Roman, Han, and Riley all get their butts kicked.

Luckily, the cell phone helps them out quite a bit. It has a bunch of codes in it that connects Shaw to the drug dealer that Letty had been doing undercover work with when she "died" before. This guy is in prison now but they have to talk to him. So Brian (Paul Walker) gets on a plane and goes to the prison to talk to this guy. Under the guise of a prisoner, of course. Since he is an international criminal and all. Luckily that all goes well for Brian and he doesn't get stuck in prison; he even manages to take on three guys with shanks and win. And he finds out that Shaw doesn't let anyone close unless he wants them there. This gives away the rest of the movie, if you ask me.

Meanwhile in Europe, Dom is at a street race. And you'll never guess who else is there? That's right! Letty. How convenient. They race and get away for a nice quiet spot to talk alone. Where Dom finds out that she doesn't remember him at all. Things almost get steamy as they show each other scars on their hips and stuff. But then she speeds away and Shaw shows up. Tells Dom he can either leave now, of he will mess with his family. Of course, Dom doesn't leave.

This leads to the car chase with the tank - with the most ridiculous part of the movie. Well, it's at least tied for the most ridiculous part of the movie.




This picture above is Dom getting ready to run into the barrier at God only knows what speed, so that he can launch himself into the air, catch Letty (who is also flying through the air) and land safely on the car on the other side of the freeway. It's hilarious. They also flip the tank and catch Shaw. Yay! Movie should have ended. But it didn't.

Instead, Shaw tells them that he has captured Brian's wife, Mia (Jordana Brewster) and demands to have the chip he was after and be released. If they don't do as he demands, Shaw will kill Mia. So they release him. At this point, you also figure out who Shaw's spy is. Well, what I mean by that is it's revealed. If you haven't figured it out already, then you must have fallen asleep earlier in the movie. He threatens to kill Mia if they follow him. So Tej (Ludacris) quickly scrambles the phone grid and they are off. They follow Shaw and his gang to the longest runway ever. And proceed to have a high speed car/plane chase for about twenty minutes. This is about all I can say without giving everything away. I know I included a lot of spoilers. Sorry for that.

I wasn't lying when I said I enjoyed the movie. I did. Everyone loves car chases. I even cried at one point due to some dramatic element that I won't reveal. However, The Fast and the Furious 6 has some of the most unbelievable scenes I have ever seen in a movie. These guys should really be in the next Avenger's movie. Because there is no way that they don't have something superhuman going on.

My other problem with this movie is the acting. Those of you who know me know my distaste for Paul Walker. I guess what I don't understand is this: Vin Diesel and Paul Walker have played these two characters in five movies spaced out over twelve years. You think after that many years of playing the same character, you would get into a little more. But no, they are both so MONOTONE! Seriously, they have zero emotion. And now in the next movie they are added Jason Statham. Please no. The only way that could be worse is if they add Kristin Stewart. Maybe they are robots. That's why they can fly through the air at 100 miles an hour, collide with another body midair, land on a metal car, and walk away like it's no big deal.

Even with the predictable plot and terrible acting, I enjoyed the movie. I recommend going to see it in theaters if you can. Because theaters make action movies good. This movie won't watch the same on your couch at home, trust me.

I give it a 6 out of 10.

As always, thanks for reading and comments are appreciated.

I will leave you with this meme about the runway during the final chase.