Romance

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
  • IMDb: link

seeking-a-friend-for-the-end-of-the-world

What if Armageddon had failed? Well, if you’re writer/director Lorene Scafaria the story might lead to a quirky odd couple road trip which mixes in equal measure romantic comedy and art film sensibilities. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World opens with insurance salesman Dodge (Steve Carell) and his wife Linda (Nancy Carell) in their car hearing the news that NASA’s last ditch shuttle mission to deflect the asteroid hurtling to the Earth has failed.

People react differently to the news that everyone on the planet has three weeks to live. Linda immediately runs from the car never to be seen again, deciding to embrace the affair and life she’s kept hidden from her husband for months. Dodge’s best friends (Rob Corddry, Connie Britton) throw all caution to the wind going out with a bang that involves a non-stop party, drugs, and booze (even for their kids). Over the course of the film we’ll also see rioters unable to cope with the situation and survivalists planning to start a new world following the end of this one.

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Rock of Ages

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Rock of Ages
  • IMDB: link

 

 

rock-of-ages-posterBrought from Broadway to the silver screen by director Adam Shankman and screenwriters Justin Theroux, Chris D’Arienzo, and Allan Loeb, Rock of Ages is a celebration of classic 1980’s rock that gives us the story of a small town girl (Julianne Hough) and a city boy raised in south Detroit (Diego Boneta) whose paths cross in a famous Hollywood bar on the Sunset Strip known as The Bourbon Room.

Adapted from the Broadway musical of the same name, the film makes both big and small changes in regards to both characters and music.

For two-hours the script weaves Drew (Boneta) and Sherrie (Hough), and countless supporting characters, through a story built on the back of several 80’s hits from the likes of Journey, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Bon Jovi,  Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Night Ranger, Warrant, Poison, Guns N’ Roses, Twisted Sister, and REO Speedwagon which the characters not only perform, but live.

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Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
  • IMDb: link

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Adapted from the novel of the same name by Paul Torday, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the kind of quirky reserved British romantic comedy that won’t knock your socks off, but, when it’s not getting in its own way, will deliver an enjoyable time at the movies.

Ewan McGregor stars as Dr. Alfred Jones, a scientist for the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence who is pressured by his boss (Conleth Hill), the British Prime Minister’s Press Secretary (Kristin Scott Thomas), and the representative (Emily Blunt) of a Yemeni sheikh (Amr Waked) into helping the sheikh in his rather absurd dream to introduce salmon fishing to the deserts of Yemen.

Despite his incredulity at a project he believes impossible, Alfred finds himself in a situation where money is no object and the British Government, hungry for a good PR story, are willing to do anything to see the project succeed. And the longer he spends on the project the more Alfred becomes won over by the sheikh’s dream and Harriet (Blunt).

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Like Crazy

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Like Crazy
  • IMDB: link

like-crazy-posterLike Crazy wants to be this year’s Blue Valentine. Paradoxically it also wants to be a romantic love story. Despite some nice performances and an understated feel, the movie leaves much unsaid about a pair of people who, even after spending two hours with them, we’re not sure if they belong together.

The film has a documentary feel that stresses real moments. This gives us small petty fights and cute moments with the pair in bed together, but it also shares with us long stretches that would have been better off on the cutting room floor. Too often the film’s rabid embrace of realism gets in the way of basic storytelling.

Like Crazy begins with the meeting of British exchange student Anna (Felicity Jones – think a more bubbly version of Emma Roberts) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin). The pair hit it off immediately and the glory days of their relationship is a montage blur until Anna’s Visa expires and she has to return home. Against the advice of some very cool movie parents (Alex Kingston, Oliver Muirhead) Anna overstays her time in America.

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A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
  • IMDB: link

a-good-old-fashioned-orgy-posterSome movies get rushed through production and hit theaters mere weeks after the final frame of film is shot. Others, for a variety of reasons, go through multiple edits and end up sitting on the shelf for years. A Good Old Fashioned Orgy (which was filmed back in the Spring of 2008) is the later.

The story centers around Eric (Jason Sudeikis) and his friends (Tyler Labine, Michelle Borth, Lake Bell, Lindsay Sloane, Nick Kroll, Angela Sarafyan, Martin Starr) who have thrown legendary parties at his family’s summer home for years. When his father (Don Johnson) announces his plan to sell the house the group tries to figure out how best to through their final end of summer bash. Their solution? An orgy!

The film is a mix of old friends saying goodbye to a tradition and a group of unsure thirty-somethings trying to recapture a youthful sexual spirit with a night of debauchery. The relationships work well, and we actually feel like these people would stay friends over the years. As to whether they’d all sleep together…

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