Hey what’s up. Remember that movie from last year, The Cabin In The Woods? That was awesome, right? Everybody saw it. But like The Crying Game, the thing about that movie was there were so many crazy plot twists that it was really best to go in without knowing anything about the movie at all. Such is the case with this new film, This Is The End, which I saw at a screening last night. Walking into the theater, all I knew about it was that I recognized a bunch of actors on the poster from various Judd Apatow movies. And I’m telling you, that is all you need to know. Continue reading Recommended Viewing: This Is The End→
If you’ve read Cormac McCarthy’s chilling, post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, or seen the movie based on the book, you will surely recall the scene where The Man and The Boy come upon an abandoned farmhouse in which they hope to seek shelter, only to discover that its basement is occupied by unfortunate survivors who’ve been unwittingly captured and trapped there to await, let’s just say for the sake of avoiding spoilers, a ‘fate worse than death.’ Now, take that scene, dial back the ‘grisly-mind-numbing-horror’ factor by about sixty percent, turn it into an “Old West-style” stand off and expand to 84 minutes and you have the basic plot of The Day, a new action/drama opening nationwide this Wednesday, August 29th.
I’ve been curious to see the film Safety Not Guaranteed, starring Aubrey Plaza of TV’s Parks & Recreation since I first read about the film’s premise months ago. With an engaging script by Derek Connolly, Safety Not Guaranteed tells the story of a group of Seattle-based journalists who set out to investigate and report on the story behind the person who placed a classified newspaper ad that reads:
“Wanted: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. Safety not guaranteed.”
That’s supposedly a real ad placed in an unnamed newspaper back in 1997, but the rest of the story is fiction, and it’s just the perfect blend of quirky laughs, unexpected suspense and compelling, heartfelt characters to make this probably my favorite film of the year so far. I’m so glad I let my fondness for Aubrey Plaza and the universally glowing reviews for this film convince me to see it, despite the fact that the film co-stars actor/producer Mark Duplass — who has either starred in or had his name attached to four (4!) of the most unbelievably disappointing and just plain heinous indie films in the history of cinema (those films being The Puffy Chair, Bag Head, Hump Day and Cyrus). Seriously, the guy was maybe one film away from becoming the Indie Film version of Adam Sandler to me. Thank god that Duplass, who plays Kenneth, the charming, loner sci-fi geek seeking a time traveling companion, is terrific in this film! Maybe that’s because he didn’t write the script? Who knows; maybe he just finally hit his stride. I’ve always wanted to like him, but have you seenCyrus? Even Marissa Tomei and John C. Reilly can’t save it from being complete torture to sit through!
Anyway, there are lots of fun surprises in the film, great chemistry between Duplass‘ and Plaza‘s characters and hilarious supporting performances by Jake Johnson and Karan Soni as Plaza’s boss and fellow magazine intern respectively. In two hours I grew to care about these characters and was so excited to see if there would be any actual time travel involved. I don’t want to write any spoilers in this post so if you like Aubrey Plaza and the plot sounds interesting to you, I’m guessing you’ll love this movie. Go see it while it’s still in theaters!
The Worley Gig Gives Safety Not Guaranteed Five out of Five Stars!
On This Date, April 2nd in 1981: The Penelope Spheeris-directed Punk Rock Documentary, The Decline Of Western Civilization debuted in Southern California. Capturing the ferocity of the thriving and wildly influential LA and Orange County Punk music scene, Decline featured live performances from Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, Fear, Alice Bag Band, X, Catholic Discipline and The Germs, whose now long-deceased lead singer, Darby Crash graces the movie poster. Many of the film’s live performance scenes were shot at The Fleetwood, a cavernous live music venue near the pier in Redondo Beach, which I believe was formerly home to a Bowling Alley or Skate Rink.
