This is the End

The world is going to end any minute now. By the time you’re done with this review it could already be over. At least that’s what Hollywood believes. Over the past few years it has churned out countless predictions for how humanity will meet its demise. Whether it’s a Mayan prophecy, alien invasion, zombie attack or a deathly virus Hollywood has been very creative in showing audiences worse case scenarios. But after all this tragedy some comedy relief is not far behind and this year some studios want us to go out on a high note. There is Edgar Wright’s latest Cornetto release (the series of films with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost that all have a different flavour of Cornetto in them) The World’s End as well as This Is a Disaster and Rapture-Palooza. But before them comes celebrity crammed This is the End a film so over the top it will either be an instant hit or a total flop.

In This is the End all the actors play caricatures of themselves. Jay Baruchel, from Knocked Up and How to Train your Dragon, comes to LA to visit his old friend Seth Rogen. After getting high together and playing computer games Rogen persuades Baruchel to go to a party at James Franco’s new house. There Baruchel must socialise with Rogen’s new friends who he’s made since he became a huge star. Then judgement day happens. The righteous are taken up in a blue light and the wicked, including most of the celebrities at the house party, are left on Earth to fend for themselves.

Although this doesn’t sound like this should work it does. It’s a stoner comedy that could have only come from the minds of Rogen and frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg, the team that brought us Pineapple Express and Superbad. There is a smorgasbord of talent here that all play up to the public’s perceptions of themselves. Rogen is a weed smoking nice guy; Baruchel is indie kid who hates LA; Franco is a liberal intellectual snob; Danny McBride is a gross partier; Jonah Hill is the new kid who wants to be nice. This leads to a number of extreme and comedic situations-whether it’s Franco painting a picture for Rogen to show his admiration or McBride turning up uninvited to the party. There are also characters that go against perception such as Michael Cera who plays a cocaine snorting sex-pest who receives a duel blowjob his Franco’s bathroom. The audience will laugh right the way through the film at just how ridiculous the characters are. The greatest scene has to be the one which involves Emma Watson using an axe to steal the group’s supplies. The movie should be a hit just for that.

It is possible that This is the End has unseen depths that analyse the concepts of celebrities and how they are not who we perceive them to be and in fact not good people (since most of them were left behind after the rapture). But on the surface it’s a simple buddy movie about sticking with people as they change and remembering to bring your friends with you as life goes on. That is if you were having a friendship crisis during the apocalypse. As all these actors have worked together in the past and enjoy each other’s company the chemistry is all there making the relationships believable. Baruchel is great as the geeky outsider who doesn’t like his best friend’s cooler friends.

About two thirds of the way through the film does drag a little. It probably could have had slightly less Lord of the Flies style examples of animosity growing within the house. It was not necessary to see every way in which the characters possibly fall out. But saying that the end makes up for this issue. With demon attacks, cannibalism and confrontations with the anti-Christ, the final thirty minutes is full of suspense.

This movie may be outrageous and extreme, but that is why it works so well. The cast fully get into their, sometimes self-critical, roles and play them with gusto. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but for those who have enjoy gross-out, dicks-out type comedies this is some of Rogen and Goldberg’s best work.

Degree-2:1

A hilarious film that doesn’t take itself seriously

and is better for it.

 

 

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

There are some people only a mother would love, and there are some films only Disney would make. The Odd Life of Timothy Green is one of those films. It has all their trademark kitch- a small industrial town going through a rough time; a childless and twee married couple; a cheeky, but wise young boy; and of course magic. It follows the Disney formula so precisely that the story is predictable and characters are as one-dimensional as they can be. This should be excusable in a kids film, but Timothy Green insults children’s intelligence and will bore the poor adults who have to sit through it with them.

The hard-up town is called Stanleyville and it has suffers both a drought and the potential closure of the pencil factory, the town’s main economic source. It is quite clear where this town will be going over the course of the story. Living in the town are Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joe Edgerton) who desperately want a child, but can’t conceive. After a night of drinking (probably the only realistic reaction these characters show to their situation) the couple make a list if all the qualities they wish their child would have. They then bury the list in the back garden and after a bit of magic (now that’s real Disney) the list turns into Timothy Green (C J Adams) who changes the lives of everyone in the town.

Every plot development is traditionally Disney, and can be seen coming as soon as it is hinted at and this makes the film dull. If it had been at the hands of another studio some darkness and depth may have added a bit of interest to the concept by making it a harder hitting film The closure of a major economic source to the town could have been used to show the difficulties many who work in America’s manufacturing towns are facing. However, this dark side is not present with Disney, who still has their characters live in a large house despite two poorly paid jobs.

The characters also lack any true human darkness or depth and are instead traditional Disney creations. Jennifer Garner’s Cindy is petty, over bearing, and meddlesome both at the start of the film (which is forgivable) and at the end when she should have learnt her lesson. While Joe Edgerton’s Jim is equally meddlesome, but also highly competitive and pushy in a way that will make many parents rip their hair out in despair. As a couple they are the last ones who should become parents. The only likable Green is Timothy who C J Adams manages to play as sweet and kind without overdoing it. Considering this is his second ever Hollywood role C J Adams holds his own and is the best thing about the film.

With The Odd Life of Timothy Green Disney have gone back to their usual formula, but audiences have matured beyond the simple story of magic and wishes. The film may go down well in Middle America, but over here audiences want a little more substance both at the ages of 5 and 35.

Degree-Fail

Dull, cliche and patronising. No one will enjoy this film.

Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 Poster

Have a think how far superhero films have come since the first Iron Man. Not even Nick Fury saw the transformation coming. At Iron Man’s release in 2008 Marvel hadn’t had a credible movie for years, while DC was darkening the genre with Christopher Nolan’s Batman. Then came the first step in Marvel’s grand-and now clearly successful-plan to make an unrivaled blockbuster. Iron Man was humorous without being camp, serious without being morbid. This perfect balance has become the tone of all Marvel films since then and continues in this potential finale.

After battling aliens and traveling through wormholes during Avenger’s Assemble Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is a wreck. Suffering from anxiety and PTSD he can’t sleep and busies himself improving his suits before the next attack. On top of that a terrorist known as the Mandarin is attacking America.

On the surface the plot is predictable for both die-hard fans and regular moviegoers. It refers to enough source material for fans to keep ahead. But, there are a few twists that few will see coming that make up for some predictability.

Considering the film took two years to make the plot feels oddly ‘now’. It tackles PTSD in soldiers and how it strains relationships. Downey Jr gives Stark a vulnerability not normally associated with the arrogant billionaire. The sleepless nights, panic attacks and the constant frustration vividly capture what many American soldiers go through on a daily basis.

Then there are the bombings. Early on there is a bomb attack at Hollywood’s Chinese Theater that is uncomfortably similar to the Boston Marathon attack last week. Although only a coincidence it demonstrates that Iron Man 3 has captured the spirit of this age and is serious for a comic book.

But don’t worry it’s not too serious. Like Avengers Assemble Shane Black’s and Drew Pearce’s script has laughs alongside the action. This is after all what Marvel does best. Downey Jr is given one-liners in the action scenes, in the emotional scenes, and in every scene in-between. As an added bonus the jokes don’t fall flat, but have audiences laughing.

Sometimes the film does sway a bit too far towards a punch line. There are moments, especially during the fights, where they have chosen to be goofy over cool. It may have been a sleeker movie if a few gags hadn’t been included. But then it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable. There are still plenty of geek-gasm moments and great actions scenes to avoid being branded lame. For example the final fight includes an army of Iron Man suits. It doesn’t get much more exciting than that.

While the last time the suit went out for a flight it was part of a team Iron Man 3 all about Stark putting a deserving Downey Jr in center stage. His jokes get laughs, his action drops mouths and his panic attacks warms hearts. This is the deepest Marvel has gone with any of its characters so far. Downey Jr sensitively plays a broken man by not making light of the situation, but also not becoming too enveloped in it.

The problem with it being the Robert Downey Jr Show is that other characters aren’t used as much. Ben Kinsley, Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce all do well, but the female characters aren’t as lucky. Both Gwyneth Paltrow as girlfriend Pepper Potts and Rebecca Hall as ex-fling Dr Maya Hansen have a few ace moments, but they are few and far between. Marvel has shown it can do fun non-heroic female parts, such as Agent Maria Hill or Black Widow, so it is a shame they didn’t succeed her. Instead both often stick with the damsel role.

The original Iron Man lead the way for a new style of comic genre movie and this film carries on that legacy. Overall Iron Man 3 is a marvelous addition to the franchise and explores new depths with the central hero. The tone is well balanced with humour and seriousness blended well together between fun and exhilarating action scenes. Let’s hope the rumours that Downey Jr will step out of the suit are untrue as no other actor right now could replace him.

Degree- 2:1

A well balanced and fun comic book film that would be

perfect if there were some minor tweaks.

Crawl

Australiais known best for Neighbours, shrimps on the Barbe, “G’day mate”, and Hugh Jackman. It’s the land of sun and surf, not the setting for a stand out thriller. Well that’ll be your opinion until you see Crawl by twin brothers Paul and Ben China.

Set in a nameless location in the middle of nowhere Crawl has a simple, but effective plot. A hitman called “the Croatian” is heading home after doing a job for a local bar-owner. He runs his car off the road, goes to the nearest house and ties up a local barmaid in her own home while he plans how to get away.

Some audiences will find the lack of a complex, fully thought out plot as a major flaw of the movie. However  the film does what Thrillers are meant to do and thrills audiences, without adding any extra waffle or padding.

At only 80 minutes the simpleness of the plot is refreshing compared to recent releases that are all pushing the three hour mark. However, Crawl would have benefitted with increasing the running time a little in order to spend some more time on plot and motivation development. As it is currently cut it is not clear why the Croatian acts the way he does except simply because he can. It is possible that no rational was given to make audiences feel that the situation could happen to them, but this isn’t much of an excuse.

Although it sells itself as a film that makes audiences care more about the central characters it offers little more than the bare minimum of development. Half the film is dedicated to character development and there is little to show for it. Audiences are told that the waitress, Marilyin (Georgina Haig), is about to be engaged before she is taken hostage. This news is a thinly veiled technique to make us care more for her but has the opposite effect. Other characters are similar and feel more like plot devices than well thought out figures of fiction.

The only character who has something positive to say is the Croatian. Specifically made for actor George Shevtsov the Croatian is efficient, cold, and ruthless. Shevtsov’s performance feels like Javier Bardem Oscar winning performance as the lone hitman in No Country for Old Men.

Despite these criticisms what Crawl does it does very well. It will have audiences constantly on edge for what will happen next, which is what you want from a thriller. Paul China (who wrote and directed, while his brother produced) uses music and camera angles in a way that is reminiscent of Hitchcock. To build up the tension China only uses music at tense points and it is always the same butt clenching melody. This skill at creating consistent tension once the film gets going makes up for the thin plot and lazy character development since the film thrills.

The film is very much style over substance, but the style is so effective that it can be forgiven for this. China perfectly balances the use of gore, music, and suspense to keep audiences enthralled once the action gets going. A stronger plot and more filled out characters would have added more to the film, but they are certainly not necessary for this genre. If you want something that will get your heart racing see Crawl, if you want something full of character best look somewhere else.

Degree-2:2

The suspense and tension are all there

and at 80 minutes your attention won’t drift.  But more could have 

been done to flesh out the characters.