THE WORLD'S END By Brenton Thom THE WORLD'S END is the third installment of the “Cornetto Trilogy.” If you don't know what that is, in plain English terms, it’s the third film in the loose trilogy that compliments SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ. All three films are made by the comedy trio of Edgar Wright (director and co-writer), Simon Pegg (actor and co-writer), and Nick Frost (actor). The story follows Gary King (Pegg), an alcoholic who sets on a mission to finish a pub crawl from his youth - "The Golden Mile" of 12 pubs - with his old friends, one being Andy (Frost). As each of the gang has grown up and has lives of their own, it is clear to all of them that Gary has not grown up at all; he's more determined to finish and drink at all the pubs than the rest of the gang. To make matters worse, they quickly discover their old home town is secretly being invaded by an alien race. That's the the story in a nutshell. There is more to it than I'm revealing, but I don't want to give any spoilers. Comparing this movie to SHAUN... and HOT FUZZ wouldn't be fair, because they are their own movies and parody their respective genres in their own ways. But of the three films, this one is definitely the darkest, and by darkest, I don't mean in terms of lighting (although a majority of this movie does take place at night, so you could argue it is, in fact, literally the darkest). What I mean by darkest is in terms of subject matter. While there are plenty of jokes, a fast-pace, wit, humor, and quick dialogue, the film does deal with some serious issues. Our main character Gary King is an alcoholic and continues to drink just to re-live the "glory days" of his youth. Alcoholism is touched upon as Andy refuses to drink because he gave it up. Director Edgar Wright should be given praise for his style. Both the visuals and audio are superb. Like all of his movies, he creates a great blend of score music and source music that reflects the film and the era that's being evoked. Also touching on the visual style, Wright has his signature camera movements and sped-up actions to emphasize particular moments or show a passage of time. His other signature technique - and I guess story-telling hallmark - is to have his characters caught up in something they don't fully understand. There are always perfectly timed walking beats and head movements and all these eyes looking you, and you recognize something strange is going on, but you don't know exactly what. You first see this in SHAUN... with everyone moving in sync with each other. It carries over to THE WORLD'S END. That, I think, is one thing Edgar Wright never gets praised enough for: his visuals and sound designs in his films. They are seamless and are perfectly fitted into each of his films. This film was very similar in style to Wright's past films, but is also a great standalone film in the sci-fi parody genre. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL are two films that are clearly an influence on this one. If you are a fan of sci-fi movies, you will see references and homages to these (and other) past films. I'd recommend this movie to anybody over the age of 18. I've always been a fan of British humor and this trio has failed to let me down in both humor and story. RED 2 by Brenton Thom RED 2 is the sequel the film RED (2010), which is an acronym for “Retired Extremely Dangerous.” The film stars Bruce Willis as Frank Moses, Mary-Louise Parker as his girlfriend, Sarah Ross, and John Malkovich as Marvin. There are also roles for Catherine Zeta-Jones as a Russian, Helen Mirren as the British assassin, Victoria (also from the previous film), Lee Byung-huh as a private hit man, and Sir Anthony Hopkins as a kooky scientist, Bailey. To top it all off, we also have Brian Cox reprising his role from the first film, too. The movie starts out as Bruce Willis (and who really cares what the character names are, it's the Bruce and other actors) and Mary-Louise are shopping at a store (in a snapshot of their “normal” lives), and they are surprised by Malkovich showing up telling Bruce, the government needs him again. So does Mary-Louise. They both need action in their lives. So Bruce is at it once again, this time Mary-Louise is along for the ride and wanting to get her hands dirty. In some ways, this movie reminds me of THE WHOLE NINE YARDS. It’s an action comedy with a bunch of big players but a kind of bland story. Basically the plot is about a secret bomb was discovered by some leaked files on the internet and the group has to break out the very person who created the bomb (Anthony Hopkins, who did a marvelous job playing a scientist locked up for 32 years). At the same time there's a hit put out on Bruce Willis by another contract killer (Lee Byung-huh) and Helen Mirren. So Bruce, Mary-Louise, and Malkovich are on the run from these killers, while trying to find the scientist and find the bomb before anyone else does. The movie has an over-the-top action feel to it; people are flying and crashing, there are explosions and Bruce walks away with out scratches. A very comic book feel. And they try to emphasize that, too, with comic book-y stills and transitions in the film. Which I guess makes sense, as the movies are based off the comics/graphic novel of the same name. I wish I could give more insight into this flick. I haven’t seen the first one or even read any of the comics, but overall the movie was fun and had its moments. Would I recommend this movie to others? Maybe if you are looking for something to do. I could wait until it comes out on DVD versus paying for the movie theater ticket, but I enjoyed it, all things considered. R.I.P.D. by Brenton Thom R.I.P.D. - The Rest In Peace Department - is a secret organization that rounds up and "arrests" dead souls that refuse to go to judgment. Upon seeing the trailer for this, my first thought was that this movie was going to basically be MEN IN BLACK, but with spirits and the afterlife instead of aliens. I assumed that Jeff Bridges' character, Roy, would be "training" a partner to replace him so he could go into the afterlife (just as Tommy Lee Jones' character did in MIB). Boy was I wrong. And I'm glad for it; the story was original. Ryan Remolds as Nick and Roy team up in the afterlife to take out the deados - dead soles that refuse to leave the living world and pass over from after life to judgment – leading to a big climax and world-ending scenario. Mary-Louise Parker is in the flick, too. She plays the Proctor, the “police-chief” of the afterlife, similar to Rip Torn as the head honcho in MIB. If this movie has any big similarities, the climax would be similar to TRANSFORMERS 3 and THE AVENGERS with the other world trying to pass into our world and raise "hell." Oh, did I forget to mention Kevin Bacon is in this movie? That should be selling you to see this movie, too, and he does a good job too. He plays Nick’s police partner, Hayes. My first thought of Kevin Bacon in this movie comes to two other movies. STIR OF ECHOES and X-MEN FIRST CLASS. SPOILER ALERT: It's not really a surprise that Bacon becomes a villain. But he's not the villain that we follow throughout the whole movie; he actually has a smaller role and places a small part in a bigger scheme. END SPOILERS. Sorry about that, but I'd like to talk about Kevin Bacon's performance without spoiling anything. Let's just say this: they make use of his talents and stunning looks. A nod to his cameo in the beginning of PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES. The director, Robert Schwentke, does a good job in visually telling a story. The one thing I thought of right off the bat was the great cinematography and camera movement. My first thought was that the director took a page from action director Michael Bay's playbook. The camera movement is fluid and helps create the atmosphere and other "world" in this movie. Jeff Bridges does a fun job playing his character. I haven't see Bridges have fun with a character like this since THE VANISHING. Granted he played a psychopath in that flick, but the accent alone was funny. Bridges feels like a character back from that time. If I could bridge MIB and RIPD together: Ryan Reynolds was the Tommy Lee Jones character and Jeff Bridges is the Rip Torn and Will Smith character. A character that always has some wise cracking witty to say. One thing I noticed in the movie was how they poked fun of and objectified women. Jeff Bridges' human world cover is a well curved woman with large proportions, and the people, mainly men, would ogle her. But this isn't a thesis/sociological study. This is a review of a movie and whether the audiences should watch it. Overall I enjoyed the flick and would recommend this movie to people of all kinds. It was a light comedy with a touch of drama for people to connect with, but not a die-hard drama or comedy. It was a nice blend. A perfect movie to watch on a weekend or hang out with family or friends. Check it out. Now...or forever rest in pieces...
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