The Interview

Excellent movie! It met most and exceeded many expectations. I'm sure some people will think it's vulgar and crude (because it it). Yes, some of the humor is a little less than mature, but if you've seen Pineapple Express or This is the End, you should not be surprised. I think they accomplished exactly what they wanted to do. More importantly, the way in which Rogan and Franco actually "take [Kim] out," is well done on a number of levels and while I won't speak to the hype or whether or not the film lived up to said hype, I will say that this is possibly the best Rogan/Franco buddy comedy yet. I haven't disliked any Seth Rogan film (except for Knocked Up, which was a nightmare scenario for me when it came out and I haven't been able to bring myself to watch Guilt Trip), so this review is not completely impartial, his comedic ability to handle life's most uncomfortable situations is painfully hilarious. This is also some of Franco's best work, he does meta-theatrical situations well (I also enjoyed Oz the Great and Powerful, again not completely impartial), but the final scene with Park crying, singing Firework is perfect.

Some of the critical response looks disappointing, but I believe they did what they set out to do. I'll pay again to see it in the theater too. Looking forward to the the Blu Ray and deleted scenes.

Red Vs Blue: Season 12 [Blu-ray]

If you found your way here on accident and don't really know what you're looking at - go to roosterteeth 's website and watch some of RvB (every episode is available to stream there), each season has a bunch of episodes and their seasons are grouped into series. Seasons 1-5 are a series, then 6-8, then 9-10, season 11 and 12 are part of another series which will conclude with season 13.

You can start each series without needing a whole lot of backstory - but the backstory is awesome, so while the beginning of any particular season might be a logical start-off point to check them out, I still recommend starting from the beginning. Then come back here and buy their DVDs to support the artists so they keep making more!

Shameless: Season 4

 

Shameless is one of my favorite TV shows. It has consistently stayed well written and acted and directed through four seasons now. Season 4 might be the strongest and best season yet. How Emmy Rossum, William H. Macy, and Jeremy Allen White have been overlooked for the last three years for Emmy nominations is beyond me. While William H. Macy (Frank Gallagher) is a bit underused this season, Emmy Rossum (Fiona Gallagher) and Jeremy Allen White (Phillip "Lip" Gallagher) give their best performances yet.

Season 4 is just like the previous three seasons, lots of laughs, lots of raw emotion, nudity, drug and alcohol use, and shocking moments. After every season ends, my girlfriend and I miss spending time with the Gallagher family. It seems like the season flies by, even though waiting week to week for a new episode seems to last forever. I can't wait to rewatch season 4 without any week long breaks. If you haven't seen season 4 yet, you're in for a big shocker at the end of the season finale. So when the credits start to roll on the final episode of season 4, don't turn it off. There is a big shocker during the end credits. If you haven't watched Shameless yet, you need to. FULLY APPROVED.

Elsa & Fred

ELSA AND FRED is the story of two people who, at the end of the road, discover that it's never too late to love. After losing his wife, Fred (Christopher Plumer) feels disturbed, confused and alone, so his daughter (Marcia Gay Harden) helps move him into a small apartment where he meets Elsa (Shirley Maclaine). From that moment on, everything changes. Elsa bursts into Fred s life like a whirlwind, determined to teach him that the time he has left to live be it more or less is precious and that he should enjoy it as he pleases.

Tusk [Blu-ray]

I honestly don't know how many stars to give this weird, creepy little movie. I love Kevin Smith, but this is Kevin Smith doing his version of the Human Centipede. (Though I guess if I think of it in those terms, it was much better than Human Centipede if only because in this alternative reality of greatly suspended disbelief, the idea of turning someone into a walrus is much more believable than sewing people together rear-to-mouth. I mean, come on, the centipede's whole digestive and excretory system is completely unworkable, while turning someone into a walrus is .... oh, never mind.)

The soon-to-be walrusized Justin Long is really (and I assume deliberately) unlikeable in this movie, which I find complicated my loyalties as a viewer. While I was horrified at the idea of anyone being mutilated like this, having it happen to someone as unfeeling, crass and utterly lacking in humanity left me wondering whose side I was actually on. Even his girlfriend's ruminations on "what happened to the guy I fell in love with" (i.e. the one who cried at Winnie the Pooh) only made me wonder, "What are you still doing with this jerk? Are you sure you want to go find him?"

Yet I will confess, I was impressed by Long's ability to recognize literary quotes from Hemingway to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; he may be a jerk, but he's a well-read jerk, and that means a lot to a writer and former English major like me.

What is enjoyable (though not as much as I would have hoped) is the "KevinSmithism" humor that creeps in. The passport guy at the airport is perhaps the funniest part of the movie. Canadian humor, eh?

Joel Haley Osment, who no longer sees dead people because right after that enormous success he suffered the fate of so many child actors: a growth spurt into puberty that rendered his once too-cuteness into something of rather awkward proportions. Luckily he seems to have grown into his features now. But he has such a tiny part in this movie, it's wasted.

I don't know how many people even know that Johnny Depp is in this movie, even after they've seen the movie. I give Depp credit as an actor for completely disappearing into the character of a Clouseau-like French Canadian detective. I had to Google to see if it actually was him. However, like most of this movie, he'd have been better and funnier with a little less screen time. LIke so many movies and tv shows, you get the feeling this was a good joke that would have made a great half-hour skit, but a really slow two-hour-ish movie.