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The hilarious end of the world of 8 ill-prepared people. |
| I think the question on everyone’s mind is since when are end of the world movies actually good? In the past two years from “Melancholia” to “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” to “This is the End” we’ve had a number of solid to downright brilliant end of the world movies and now “It’s a Disaster” fits neatly in the middle. | 2012 Directed by: Todd Berger Screenplay by: Todd Berger Starring: David Cross and Julia Stiles | |
| The 1970s meet the 2010s. By-the-book smarts meet reckless street smarts. Female buddy comedy meets cop drama. The above combinations result in some pretty funny jokes and humour of all sorts. “The Heat” isn’t a particularly good movie, but I think they knew that and went straight for the comedy, or should I say, went wildly for the comedy. | 2013 Directed by: Paul Feig Screenplay by: Katie Dippold Starring: Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock | |
 |  Takes a dark comedy premise and makes it funny only and light on discernment. |
| The Brass Teapot tells the story of a young married couple Alice (Juno Temple) and John (Michael Angarano). They’re educated but under-employed; they have friends but no money or safety net. After brazenly stealing a teapot from a strange antiques store, Alice discovers that the teapot produces money whenever they hurt themselves. The perfect premise for a dark comedy. Giving us humour while it pushes Alice and John and the audience towards the sharp edges of humanity. | 2012 Directed by: Ramaa Mosley Screenplay by: Tim Macy and Ramaa Mosley Starring: Juno Temple and Michael Angarano | |
 |  The evolution of lives, the devolution of a relationship, the fight of immaturity versus maturity. |
| Eighteen years later, and we once again get to look in on the lives of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) for a day. Richard Linklater is a master of dialogue; “Before Sunrise” (1995) and “Before Sunset” (2004) frequently cited as examples of the best written romantic dramas in existence. The good news is that “Before Midnight” fits in that line. Jesse and Celine have finally found time in their hectic lives to just have a meandering conversation again. | 2013 Directed by: Richard Linklater Screenplay by: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater Starring: Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy | |
 |  Eventually finds the root of all evil, at least in the heart of teenage girls living in the suburbs of fame and fortune. |
| “The Bling Ring” starts out slowly; trying to grab your attention with sports cars, night clubs and expensive clothes. But that’s a superficial attraction – it only works on a particular group of people. Meet Rebecca (Katie Chang), Marc (Israel Broussard), Chloe (Claire Julien), Nicki (Emma Watson) and Sam (Taissa Farmiga), the bling ring crew, who rob the homes of Hollywood’s rich and famous. | 2013 Directed by: Sofia Coppola Screenplay by: Sofia Coppola Based on the article by Nancy Jo Sales Starring: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard and Emma Watson | |
 |  Funny, amusing and takes just a few simple mis-steps on the way to adulthood. |
| The Kings of Summer is your average coming-of-age film for teenage boys. Boys act like men; fathers act like boys and by the end they all will shave. They just have to survive girls, the wild and snakes. Does it sound like the earlier indie hit of the year Mud? That’s because it’s the same movie, just a little more comedic, simple and a little less revolutionary. | 2013 Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Roberts Screenplay by: Chris Galletta Starring: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso and Moises Arias | |
| “The Iceman” is Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) the mob hit-man who was responsible for 100 murders. It’s an interesting story and it’s a true one. The film knows that and uses all the facts to move the story note-by-note. That unfortunately makes the film slightly less interesting than it otherwise could be. The Iceman is so nicknamed because of his emotionless attitude to killing. | 2012 Directed by: Ariel Vromen Screenplay by: Morgan Land, Ariel Vroman Starring: Michael Shannon, Winona Ryder | |
| A vanity project for a bunch of the highest paid comedic actors, playing themselves in a “stoner comedy”. So how do you make that good? By making it an hilarious, smart, insightful, satirical and scathing commentary on religion, celebrity and Hollywood. And how do you make that successful? By making it a stoner comedy about a hapless group of actors saying and doing the stupidest things. | 2013 Directed by: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen Screenplay by: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson | |
| Sometimes I think I should give “Now You See Me” more credit. It’s exactly what it’s supposed to be; the tagline “The closer you look, the less you see” couldn’t be more accurate, and I’m pretty sure the sole point of Hollywood summer fare is to be entertaining. That it is. The Four Horsemen will take you on such a fun ride that you might not notice how terrible the script is. | 2013 Directed by: Louis Letterier Screenplay by: Ed Solomon, Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco | |
| The good news is that Todd Phillips and co. figured out the mistakes they made with Part II. The bad news is that they didn’t figure out how to fix them. Instead of just repeating the identical plot in a new location, the guys are back in Las Vegas with a plot involving fall-out from their previous actions. That’s the good part. The bad part is that it’s actually kind of boring and the jokes have become very tiring. | 2013 Directed by: Todd Phillips Screenplay by: Todd Phillips, Craig Mazin Starring: Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms | |