Seth Rogen

The Interview

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  • Title: The Interview
  • IMDb: link

The InterviewThe Interview is known mostly for North Korean pressure stopping its wide release in theaters. The controversy that followed brought attention to a throwaway cheap-laugh comedy that would have otherwise been quickly forgotten. The script by Dan Sterling is part Spies Like Us and part Saturday Night Live skit as the star (James Franco) and producer (Seth Rogen) of a talk show get an inclusive interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Randall Park). The pair are quickly approached by the CIA who attempt to use the opportunity to kill Kim by turning a pair of complete morons into assassins without proper training or back-up.

Franco and Rogen are funny guys but they’re just going through the motions of various gags (including a surprisingly bloody action sequence). In someone else’s hands the premise might have led to a subversive satire but its clear Rogen and company only care about stuffing the film with as many cheap laughs as possible with the Franco-Rogen bromance in full swing complete with several dick jokes and multiple discussions of hiding spy gear up Rogen’s ass.

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This is the End

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: This is the End
  • IMDB: link

This is the End

With a host of celebrities all playing themselves during the apocalypse (which begins halfway through a party at James Franco‘s house) This is the End is the kind of big dumb summer comedy you can loose yourself in for a couple of hours. The concept runs out of gas before co-writers and co-directors Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen run out of film, and the movie is stuck with an unnecessary DreamWorks’ style dance number to end things, but there are certainly some fun moments to be had over its 107-minute running time.

The film begins with Seth Rogen welcoming his longtime friend Jay Baruchel to Los Angeles before dragging him to a party at James Franco’s house which is full of LA people Baruchel can’t stand. While escaping the party for cigarettes the pair get their first signs of something be seriously wrong when several people are pulled up into the heavens by a mysterious blue light while others are left to deal with the giant sinkholes, earthquakes, and fires that begin erupting all over the city. Eventually the wanton destruction leaves only a handful of the partygoers alive in Franco’s house.

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50/50

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  • Title: 50/50
  • IMDB: link

50-50-blu-rayWhen a 27 year-old journalist (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wakes up to discover he has a rare form of cancer he’s unprepared for how much his life will change in the coming months. He’s afraid to tell his overprotective mother (Anjelica Huston), his girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) tries but fails to handle the situation, and his best friend (Seth Rogen) thinks he should use his situation to try and pick up chicks.

Director Jonathan Levine and screenwriter Will Reiser deliver a story that balances humor and the drama of the situation well for most of the film’s 100 min. running time. Sure the film goes for laughs, but its also surprisingly frank about the emotion of the situation (which is not surprising given the story was adapted from Reiser’s own experiences).

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Kung Fu Panda 2

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Kung Fu Panda 2
  • IMDb: link

Three years ago DreamWorks Animation put out a little film called Kung Fu Panda about a Panda with a destiny to learn Kung Fu and save his village from a shadowy warrior. It turned out to be one of my favorite films of 2008. While it might not be as good as the original (a film which I love to no end), the sequel brings plenty of awesome back to the screen.

Kung Fu Panda 2 fills in Po’s (Jack Black) back story as an attack on his village will lead him on a quest to discover where he comes from. Also back for the sequel are Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Crane (David Cross), and Viper (Lucy Liu).

The film also gives us a deadly new enemy in a deranged peacock (played with malevolent glee by Gary Oldman) who wants to rule all of China by the force of a new deadly weapon which could mean the end of Kung Fu. We also get a few new characters voiced by the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme as a Kung Fu crocodile (admit it, that’s pretty awesome), and Michelle Yeoh as the Soothsayer who holds all the answers to both Po’s past and future.

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