This Is The End

 
Add every disaster movie known to man with The Exorcist and an ounce of pot and you have This Is The End, a spoof on the apocalypse and star-fueled decadence of Los Angeles. Written and Directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the creators of Superbad and Pineapple Express, Seth Rogen plays himself and reunites with his fellow actors/friends at a party that encompasses almost every actor in the Judd Apatow niche (Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, James Franco, Craig Robinson and Jay Baruchel). As drinks are devoured and cannabis is smoked, the apocalypse descends on Los Angeles leaving the six actors to try and survive the hell and earth and, more importantly,  each other.

The film begins with a satirical edge on modern Hollywood that is made up of gossip and hedonistic excess at James Franco's house. As the film progresses and disaster movies are spoofed with originality- unlike the unbearable Scary Movie franchise- the rest of movie leaves one to ask if Rogen and Goldberg were high making the film. The high hijinks give you the giggles at first, but leads to absurdity with a subtext as small as a half-eaten Milky Way bar.  In any case, This Is The End is a fun trip for the summer as well as a relief from the actual disaster movies with little or no humor or action (I'm looking at you, Grown Ups 2 and White House Down!). If your looking for a humorous satire on egocentric Hollywood and what is has produced, check out This Is The End, beautiful friends.     

3 out of 4 Stars

James Gandolfini (1961-2013)

Emmy-award winning actor James Gandolfini, known for his iconic performance on the HBO series "The Sporanos," died today at the age of 51. It is reported that he died of a heart attack in Italy. Gandolfini was found dead in Rome while working on an American remake of the BBC miniseries, "Criminal Justice." Known for his intimidating presence and soft-spoken grace, James Gandolfini has been revered for his acting on film, television, and Broadway for over twenty years.

Gandolfini began his acting career on Broadway working alongside Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin in a 1992 revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire." His film career began under the helm of director Tony Scott with roles in The Last Boy Scout, True Romance and Crimson Tide. In 1997, Gandolfini worked alongside Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott as Juror #6 in the television remake of "12 Angry Men." From 1999 to 2007, James Gandolfini portrayed the role of the anxiety-ridden mob boss, Tony Sporano, on the hit television series, "The Sopranos," which earned him three Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.

In between his work on "The Sopranos," Gandolfini worked on the Coen Brothers' 2001 film, The Man Who Wasn't There, John Tuturro's Romance and Cigarettes, and opposite Robert Redford in The Last Castle. After The Sopranos ended in 2007, Gandolfini branched out working on an eclectic array of  independent films, such as In The Loop, Not Fade Away, and in the controversial Zero Dark Thirty. Gandolfini is survived by his second wife, Deborah, and his son from a previous marriage, Michael. 

Straight Outta Cannes, sort of

This year's 66 Annual Cannes Film Festival is, and has been, the global equivalent to the Oscars. From May 15th to May 26th, filmmakers from all corners of the world gather to present their work, plug the upcoming summer blockbusters (or flops), and stars flock the south of France leaving the paparazzi in a frenzy. However, I am not at the Cannes film festival, but covering the closing ceremony thanks to the AFP live feed. Here are the winners of the major awards of the festival with brief synopsis based on websites like filmschoolrejects.com and the Cannes Official Website:

The Palme D'Or (Best Picture)-  Blue is the Warmest Color directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. The french film focuses on a young woman and her sexual identity

The Grand Prix- Inside Llewyn Davis directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in New York's Greenwich village in the early 1960s, the film is loosely based on the rise of a fictional folk musician.

Un Certain Regard- The Missing Picture, a film about Randal Douc refelecting on his childhood in Cambodia during the rise of the Khmer Rouge.

Best Director- Amat Escalante for his film, Heli. Set in Mexico, the film is described by the Cannes website as, "Estela is a 12 year old girl who has just fallen crazy in love with a young police cadet who wants to run away with her and get married. Trying to achieve this dream, her family will have to live the violence that is devastating the region."

Best Actor- Bruce Dern for Nashville.

Best Actress- Berenice Bejo for The Past.  


Well, it will be interesting to see what these films will be like when they get released in the states. Will these films become successful as the previous Cannes winners like Pulp Fiction or The Artist, or will these films fall on deaf ears? 

Room 237

Four out of Four Stars

When you think of The Shining, what first comes to mind? Is it the mass genocide of Native Americans, the Apollo Moon landing, or Jack Nicholson smashing in a door shouting “Here’s Johnny”? Most of you would think of the third example, but to the commentators/die-hard fans of The Shining, there is more to the picture than meets the eye in the documentary Room 237. Directed by Rodney Ascher, the film is a series of clips of The Shining narrated by five fans of the film and talk about their first time seeing the film, as well as dissect Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic.                                                                                   

                  

The theories posed by the five commentators, who we do not see throughout the documentary, are wild and unique since Kubrick was infamous for his obsessive compulsive eye for detail and did not reflect the details over his films during interviews leaving many forms of speculation.  One of the commentators shows two copies of the film; a copy being played from beginning to end and another copy being played from the end of the film to the beginning to point out the connection between Hitler and Jack Nicholson’s character. Another commentator discusses how The Shining is an overarching metaphor over the slaughter of Native Americans based on the décor of the Overlook Hotel, its history of being built during an attack by Native Americans, and how native American symbols can be seen during the shining sequence between Danny (Danny Lloyd) and Dick Halloran (Scatman Crothers).        

        

Some of the theories go beyond the pale of rational fact, yet the speculation into a film that Kubrick rarely commented on makes the documentary a worthwhile watch for anyone who loves The Shining, or is fascinated in film studies as BBC film critic Mark Kermode gave Room 237 its subtitle, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Film Studies.”