Baggage Claim [2013]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RE.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (D)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky ) review

Baggage Claim [2013] (written and directed by African American writer, playwright and film-maker David E. Talbert) is an African-American oriented romantic comedy in which, in contrast to most Hollywood produced films, almost all of the characters and the actors/actresses playing them are African American.  The "niche" quality of the film would help explain why despite the luke-warm (to worse...) reception of the film by most mainstream movie critics, the film had a buzz in the African American press [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] and three weeks out it remained in the top ten at the American box office.  (Note that quite impressively the CNS/USCCB's own reviewer gave the film a basically positive review).

So what's the film about?  Montana Moore (played by Paula Patton) is a young/attractive Baltimore based African American flight attendant who doesn't have much of a care in the world until her mother (played by Jenifer Lewis) arrives with news that Montana's _younger sister_ Sheree (played by Lauren London) just got engaged to get married and then (Sheree's still in college) to a college Heisman Trophy contender (ie the guy's "a catch").  The news sends older sis Montana's inner life into a spin revealing resentments against mom ("she's been married FIVE TIMES...") and insecurities ("Why can't I seem to find a guy?").

Well it turns out that Montana's kinda got a guy, a Chicago businessman named Graham (played by Boris Kodjoe) who she's been dating for a while and who's invited her to Chicago for Thanksgiving (a few weeks away).  "He's invited me over for THANKSGIVING," Montana tells her fellow flight attendant BBFs Gail (played by Jill Scott) and Sam (played by Adam Brody), "And that can only mean one thing!"  Poor Montana thinks that one thing is AN ENGAGEMENT RING, but it turns out that Graham has quite another thing in mind:  After enjoying an afternoon with her on his yacht on Lake Michigan (as a Chicagoan, I found this one scene the most amusing of the film as ... NO ONE IN HIS/HER RIGHT MIND WOULD TAKE  A DATE ON A "ROMANTIC CRUISE" ON HIS/HER YACHT ON LAKE MICHIGAN IN LATE NOVEMBER as it would be either raining or practically SNOWING in Chicago at that time ;-) he delivers her to a posh hotel room in the city and tells her that he "has to fly to Washington for a meeting" (She just flew-in from the Baltimore-Washington DC area to be with him) but that "he'll be back" and he "got her the best hotel suite in the city."  Hmmm...

When Montana calls her friend Gail back home, Gail smell a rat ... and of course Gail's right.  Turns out Graham is married and wanted a girlfriend waiting for him "in the best hotel suite in the city" in case he got tired of spending Thanksgiving with his pregnant wife at home ... Men can be really slimy jerks...

So Montana returns home from Thanksgiving without a ring and in something of a panic as she thinks she's just gonna _die_ if she, as her little sister's "maid of honor," doesn't have a date for her littler sister's Engagement party sometime just after the New Year.  What to do?

That's when Sam, her other flight attendant BFF, comes up with a plan: As a flight attendant, Montana's gone out with all kinds of interesting, eligible men over the years.  Sure most of them turned out to be jerks BUT "that was then" maybe one or two of them "changed" since then.  And since she's a flight attendant with friends across the industry, it should not be hard for her friends (in reservations, at the check-in counters, heck even at the TSA check-points) to let her know when said past boyfriends would be traveling so that she could "just happen to run into them" again -- on a flight "between LA and Houston" or "Atlanta and New York", etc (Okay, IT'S KINDA CORNY ... BUT IT'S A ROM-COM.  ROM-COMS ARE GENERALLY KINDA CORNY ;-)

So during much of the rest of the movie, we get to see Montana "just happen to run into" one former schmuck after another and, surprise, surprise, most of the former schmucks turn out to continue to remain schmucks... BUT there's ALSO another guy, named William WRIGHT (played by Derek Luke) who doesn't travel at all, who's actually her neighbor back in Baltimore, who she actually knew all her life and went to school with, who's just RIGHT THERE, ALL THE TIME ... ;-).  Well you figure it out ;-) ;-)

Rom-coms have to END WELL.  So ... YES the I return to the obvious observation that the story's "kinda corny" ... BUT it's also kinda cute/endearing ;-).  And I do agree with the CNS/USCCB reviewer that while, yes, the film continues to suggest that extra-marital sex between SOs is "okay" (and we in the Church would, of course, "beg to differ") all things considered, this rom-com is actually quite good and has a nice modest message: You don't have to be a jet-setter (or rich or "important") to be happy ... Montana learns that and perhaps many viewers will appreciate that message as well ;-)


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With You, Without You (orig. Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka) [2013]

MPAA (Unrated)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing

With You, Without You (orig. Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka) [2013] (written and directed by Prasanna Vithanage) is a Sri Lankan film (subtitled in English) that played recently at the 2013 (49th) Chicago International Film Festival.

Set presumably in northern Sri Lanka, and in the context of the recent (more-or-less) end of the 30 year Tamil (ethnically-South Indian) insurgency in Sri Lanka against the indigenous-Buddhist majority, the film is about a still relatively young Sri Lankan (Buddhist) pawnbroker Sarathsiri (played by Shyam Fernando) who falls in love with and marries a Tamil (interestingly CATHOLIC) refugee named Selvi (played by Anjali Patil).

Now where were either Sarathsiri's or Selvi's kin?  Everything else about the film's setting and the characters presented would suggest that the story was taking place in a rather traditional part of Sri Lanka and that the  two main characters came from traditional backgrounds.  Where did Sarathsiri get the money to start, presumably on his own (without his family ...) pawnbroker business?  And what was Selvi's story?  It's clear at the beginning of the film that she was living with relatively distant (and relatively resentful...) relatives and that she was "from somewhere else" but from where? and why?

The story, often beautifully filmed (both the lovely Sri Lankan countryside and honestly the lovely actress Anjali Patil are beautiful to watch), evokes a gentle "personalist" air akin to that of the Brazilian film Central Station (orig. Central do Brazil [1998] about a previously "hardened by life" middle-aged woman deciding to help a 10 year old recently orphaned Rio de Janeiro street kid who comes into her life, and the more recent Mexican small-in-scope immigration drama Here and There (orig. Aquí y Allá) [2012] about a simple family from a nondescript village situated somewhere in the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, whose husband/father comes into and out of their lives whenever he returns back from working in the United States only to leave again for the States when(ever) the money runs out...

The difference between the two films I mention and the current one is that I found the ending of the current film to be far more depressing than it needed to be.  On the other hand, Sri Lanka has gone through a terrible 30 year Civil War and the Tamil minority in particular had suffered tremendously.  So it may be hard as yet to see a light at the end of such a deep and sad tunnel.

ADDENDUM: The part of India that my religious order the Friar Servants of Mary is present in is Tamil Nadu.  So I do know a little about the conflict involving the Tamils living in Sri Lanka.


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Don Jon [2013]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RE.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (A.A. Down) review

Don Jon [2013] (written/directed and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt) IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR KIDS.  It's definitely an R-rated movie and I struggle to imagine any conceivable reason why a Parent would want to take a minor to the film.  That said, readers of my blog would know that I do seek to reward originality and youth and here I simply have to applaud the originality of Levitt's re-imagining of the legendary Don Juan in the person of "Don Jon" a young, buff, blue-collar New Jersey (as "Jersey Shore") sex/porn addict, who early in the film, in the spirit of both the legendary character and of an addict who, of course, doesn't yet see himself as such unabashedly seeks to present to the audience THE CASE _FOR_ PORN :-).

And his "case for porn" is quite simple: Real relationships with real women (and real people in general) are, well, much more complicated than, well, porn.  And therein actually lies the simplest indication that there's something inherently wrong (sinful) with porn.  Sin, be it lying, cheating, stealing, or even murder is almost always "a short cut," a chosen attempt to avoid the pain that is often required to do things honestly/right.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself ... ;-)

Anyway, Don Jon (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) presents himself to the audience as one who lives by a set of simple values:  He loves "his boys" (his buddies), he loves "his girls" (who he picks up and sleeps with), he loves "his ride" (car), he loves "his Church" (where despite picking-up and sleeping with at least one random, good-looking girl a week, plus of course his hours of watching porn, he goes to Confession each week) and he loves "his Porn" (in which he "loses himself" after a long hard day, or even after having sex with the random woman he's picked-up and brought home...  Yes, no matter how gorgeous/willing said random woman was, she didn't seem to satisfy him the way his Porn did...).

Now there will be both Catholics and perhaps especially non-Catholics that would find Don's weekly excursions to the Confessional (after week after week of more-or-less-obviously unreflective debauchery) appalling.  Here I'd like to say that Levitt is overly simplifying things.  I'd find it hard to believe that a Confessor would let someone like Don off that easily.  After all, at minimum, the Penitent is supposed to show remorse and Don more or less obviously does not.

At minimum, _I'd_ ask Don "Why do you look at all that porn?  After all, don't you know that at minimum you're watching (and presumably getting off watching) other people breaking the 6th Commandment?"  "Well who cares?"  "Well, if you DON'T CARE, I CAN'T GIVE YOU ABSOLUTION."  And if said Don started getting into the question of "I DO CARE but ..." THEN there begins a basis for a dialogue that could end with a Penance and Absolution.  But bottom line, the Penitent has to show/indicate remorse.  So as delightfully Don Jon's character is otherwise drawn in this film, I do have object to the way the Confessional scenes were portrayed. 

Similarly, the story's resolution leaves much to be desired from a Catholic moral perspective.  It's probably not much of a spoiler alert to say that at the end of the film Don "leaves his porn behind" ... to enter into an uncommitted but presumably monogamous sexual relationship with a woman.  Yet, while I'd agree that the Confessor's response to Don's objection to the Priest's not "lowering" his Penance when Don proudly tells him that he's left porn for an uncommitted if presumably for the time being monogamous relationship, is "lame," the priest was fundamentally correct.  To be in an uncommitted if monogamous sexual relationship with someone is still (as mentioned above) "a short cut" (and hence a sin).  Here Pope Paul VI, writing in his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae was right that sex only attains its full purpose when it takes place in the context of marriage and is open to the creation of new life.  Anything less, is well, less (and hence, at least to some degree necessarily sinful).

So while contemporary society might applaud Don's decision to "leave porn" and enter into an uncommitted monogamous sexual relationship with someone, the Priest was right, Don was still not where he should be.

But even if Levitt's film IS NOT ANYWHERE NEAR PERFECT from a Catholic Moral Perspective, what a discussion piece it makes!  And then the other characters, including Don's parents (played by Glenne Headly and Tony Danza), Don's gum-chewing / ever texting younger sister (played by Brie Larsen) and the two women, one younger, one older (played by Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore respectively) who "complicate" poor simple Don Jon's life are ALL EXQUISITELY and often HILARIOUSLY DRAWN. 

If nothing else, Don Jon [2013] deserves a screen-play (original or adapted?) nod ;-)


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Gravity [2013]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChiTribune (3 1/2 Stars)  RE.com (4 Stars)  AVClub (B+)  Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
Chicago Tribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller-Seitz) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

Gravity [2013] (directed and cowritten by Alfonso Cuarón along with Jonás Cuarón) in the present day about a routine near-earth space mission that goes horribly awry is certainly one of the best films of 2013 and ought to garner a slew of Academy Award nominations come Oscar time including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay (!), Best Cinematography (!) and almost certainly a Best Actress in a Leading Role (!!) nomination for Sandra Bullock who probably gives her best (and most serious) performance of her life in this film. 

The film begins with three astronauts -- mission specialist Ryan Stone (played by Sandra Bullock), career astronaut Matt Kowalski (played by George Clooney) and another international mission specialist named Shariff (voiced by Paul Sharma) -- on a seemingly routine space walk outside of an American space shuttle performing a maintenance/upgrading mission on the Hubble Telescope.  Then they get word from Mission Control (voiced by Ed Harris) first unconcerned then increasingly alarmed about a Russian space-missile test to destroy one of its own satellites that had just taken place in another part of near Earth space that had spiraled out of control: Yes, the Russian missile had blown-up its intended target, but the result debris field had crashed into other near earth orbiting satellites destroying/dismembering them as well producing a wild, cascading and increasingly chaotic/expanding cloud of space shrapnel threatening everything in its path, including the said, staid Space Shuttle with HT in tow and its crew.

The three are thus summarily ordered to stop what they are doing and begin immediately the process of returning back to their craft.  Ryan Stone, though still suffering from motion sickness (its been her first time in space) still wants to get "her boards" into the Hubble Telescope.  After all, she's been training and waiting A LONG TIME to put these circuit boards into the telescope and to just stop NOW (!) doesn't make sense to her.  But, of course, one of those boards is now taking its time to power-up ...

A few moments later it does not matter, the debris field of space shrapnel arrives to shred the Hubble and put holes into the Space shuttle, apparently killing poor-ole Shariff and sending the newbie mission specialist Ryan Stone as well as veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (at least wearing a jet pack) hurling off into ... empty Space.

OMG ... what now?  Well vet Matt Kowalski is able to retrieve the hurling/spinning Ryan Stone with his trusty ole jet pack and then set them off in the direction of the relatively nearby International Space Station.  But they're not exactly carrying a lot of oxygen with them as theirs had supposed to have been a _routine space walk mission_ taking place just outside a happily well-functioning space shuttle (now destroyed).  What to do?  What the heck to do?

What follows is a both visually AND ABOVE ALL PSYCHOLOGICALLY STUNNING SURVIVAL STORY.  And remember the two main characters in this story are "tech people."  They're practical.  And yet they are thrown here into truly terrifying chaos.  And in this horrifying chaos Ryan comes to realize that facing imminent, horrific and seemingly utterly random/meaningless Death that it'd actually be A REALLY GOOD TIME TO _PRAY_ (!).  And yet, practical as she has been all her life (and probably brought up to be that way) NO ONE EVER TAUGHT HER HOW TO PRAY.  WOW!

And though this movie is thankfully tight/short (only 96 minutes long) ... at this point there's still about 20-30 minutes to go!

This is just an incredible film.  It is chock full of horrifying and utterly impersonal action as only "space shrapnel," hurling about in a both terrifying and yet utterly Newtonian (mechanistic) manner crashing through spaceships (and astronauts...), could provide.  But the action is also beside the point.  This film is ultimately a crash course about Meaning.  And wow, what a crash course it is!


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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 [2013]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-II)  ChiTrib (3 Stars)  RE.com (2.5 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune.com (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (B. Tallerico) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 [2013] (directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, characters by Judi and Ron Barrett, story by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Erica Rivinova, screenplay by John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein and Erica Rivinoya) continues and arguably deepens the amiable story begun in the 2009 first cinematic installment of this franchise even as it also arguably muddles its message.

At the end of the first film, the nerdy and starry-eyed wannabe child-inventor Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) growing-up on a remote island somewhere in the Atlantic and the son of a humble sardine fisherman (voiced by James Caan) had succeeded in taming his "Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator" (FLDSMDFR for short ;-).  Flint had designed the contraption to convert simple water into all kinds of kid-friendly/exciting food (in contrast to the sardines that everyone in the town had been accustomed to eating).  However, his machine had gone amuck in that first episode, having been carried into the clouds in a balloon.  The FLDSMDFR then produced such meteorological horrors as spaghetti tornadoes and torrents of cheeseburger and jelly bean rain ;-).   Being able to first find and then "bring down to earth" his contraption, Flint was able to save his island and quite possibly the world from a fearsome if perhaps surprisingly tasty Apocalypse ;-). 

This second installment in the story began with Flint and his friends being visited upon by Flint's Steve Jobs-like idol named Chester V (voiced by Will Forte) the CEO of the most awesome, innovative company on the planet called LIVE, Corp.  

Chester first arrives with "bad news."  He tells Flint as well as the other residents of the island that his company has been contracted by the government to do the "clean-up" of the island, which had been ravaged by the food storms caused by Flint's FLDSMDFR, and in order that his company be able to do so, all the residents will have to be evacuated off the island.  But neither Flint, nor his father and friends -- including Flint's new found girl-friend, the spunky "weather-channel intern" Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Faris) and her utterly unflappable/no-nonsense "has seen it all" camera man Manny (voiced by Benjamin Bratt), friend of the family/hometown tough guy cop Earl Deveraux (voiced this time by Terry Crews) and local jock/looker and former bully (who used to pick on Flint but now has made-up with him) Brent McHale (voiced by Andy Samberg) -- want to leave.  But Chester insists that they do.  (Hmmm, why would he want them to do that?  What was he up to?)  Finally, to "sweeten the deal," Chester offers Flint an internship at LIVE, Corp's phenomenal (dare one say fabulous ;-) Apple/Google-like HQ in San FranJose and offers to pay for Flints friends to go there as well.  Obviously, Chester's up-to-something ...

Well, Flint is excited as pie to go to LIVE, Corp's HQ to work in one of its sea of cubicles an inventoraror intern and the rest are promised by Chester that they could "come along" to "help" Flint. 

Now each year, at a gigantic stadium-sized company meeting Chester would pick just one of the sea of interns as the inventorator of the year (and reward that exactly one person with an actual paying job ... ;-).  Flint, who's invented a new device that he calls "party in a box" humiliates himself at said gigantic stadium-sized company meeting when he prematurely sets the "party in a box" off to celebrate his "victory" ... when indeed, he hadn't been picked.  Sigh ...

No matter.  Chester has another job for him.  He now wants him and his friends to go back to their island and to find Flint's FLDSMDFR, which it becomes increasingly clear had been Chester's true interest in coming to the island to "clean it up" to begin with.

When the gang returns to the island, they find it marvelously changed.  It's still covered by food (Chester's LIVE, Corp didn't seem to do a lot of "clean-up"), but the food's become "alive" ;-).  Obvious homages to Jurassic Park [1993], the original Despicable Me [2010] and even to Veggie Tales [1993-] follow as the island is portrayed as being covered by Cheesespiders (giant cheeseburgers walking on french-fry legs, catching prey in cheese spray), Shrimpanzees, ferocious Tacodyles protecting their newly hatched "baby tacos," and perhaps most amusingly, sardine-loving pickle-men, who Flint's dad soon happily takes fishing.  

And at the center of it all is Flint's old FLDSMDFR that's brought all these happy and whimsical (and presumably edible) creatures alive.

At the end of the film, Flint has to decide whether to hand over the FLDSMDFR that has created all this unexpected and utterly marvelous life to his idol/mentor Chester V, founder of LIVE, Corp (what does LIVE, Corp spell backwards? ;-) or just let all these whimsical foodimals with their robotic Creator live?   And what about Flint's friends?  He has to choose between Chester and them as well.

It all makes for a remarkable and ... rather mouth-watering parable ;-).  And it may help youngsters treat their food (and the animals from which their food came from) with greater respect.

Except for some occasional (and thankfully rare) "potty humor," and a suprisingly/oddly anti-Silicon Valley message (produced/financed by the gigantic Japanese tech behemoth Sony ... ;-) ... which seems amusingly self-serving/contradictory ;-) I found this to be very enjoyable kid/family friendly film.  So generally good job folks!  Generally good job! ;-)


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Taking a One Month Hiatus to Attend Servite General Chapter (Sept 12 - Oct 10, 2013)

Dear Readers,

I'm taking a one month hiatus to attend as a delegate of the Servites Friars of the U.S.A. Province our Order's General Chapter being held at the Servite Shrine at Weissenstein-Piatralba outside of Bosen-Bolzano, Italy.  Afterwards, I will take about a week's time to visit my relatives in the Czech Republic.  I should be back online with this blog on Oct 10 ;-).

Sincerely and in Christ,

Fr. Dennis Kriz, OSM

Riddick [2013]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  ChiTribune (3 Stars) RE.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (B+)  Fr. Dennis (2 Stars w. Expl.)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

Riddick [2013] (directed by David Twohy, screenplay by Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell, based on the charcters created by Jim and Ken Wheat) is part 3 of a decade-long Conan-evoking sci-fi survivalist drama featuring Riddick (played in all three cinematic installments as well as on the various video-game versions by Vin Diesel).  And certainly on the plus side of the current film, the first 25 minutes or so contain (as many of the reviewers cited above also attest) some of the BEST use of CGI ever.  One really feels like one is stranded with Riddick on an utterly alien desert planet where "everything's out to kill him" from vulcan-eared hyena-like jackal-dogs and giant reptilian "serpents" with even larger scorpion-like tails.  (After about 15 minutes of mayhem on this red-tinged, bubbling, volcanic world, Riddick takes a surviving pup from a pack of those hyena-like jackal dogs that he's taken-down and raises him as his faithful canine companion.  HONESTLY, HOW UTTERLY COOL IS THAT? ;-)

Things go downhill, IMHO, in the film when Riddick realizes that "rain is coming" (which he understands to  mean that something even worse that what's already beset him will follow).  So when he comes across an abandoned "merc" camp ("merc for mercenary"), he activates the camp's distress beacon and ... since the beacon immediately scans/determines Riddick's identity ... soon not one but two bands of bounty-hunters come to "retrieve him."  Interestingly enough, Riddick was deemed such a menace to the civilized order existing up there among the stars that the bounty for him was twice as high for bringing him back DEAD than ALIVE ;-). 

The two bands of bounty hunters that show-up to retrieve Riddick were, naturally, not exactly the most savory of types.  One was headed by a particularly vicious Hispanic accented man named Santana (played by Jordi Mollà) who arrived with a clear plexiglass box to put Riddick's head in after "taking care of him" (probably a mistake to arrive like that, given Riddick's deadly reputation...).  The other band was headed by a cooler-headed Anglo-American looking merc (need one say more ... the real villains in these kind of stories are ALWAYS "non-Anglos...")  named Boss Johns (played by Matt Nable).  He arrives with, among others, a really tough-looking professed lesbian named Dahl (played by Katee Sackhoff) who Riddick promises to "take" (hence probably rape ...) "after it's all over."  YES PARENTS, THIS FILM CERTAINLY BECOMES "NOT FOR THE KIDS..."  In the midst of one or the other of these motley crews is a naive Scripture quoting teenager, who, honestly it's hard to understand what exactly he's doing there.  But he is present, and he's occasionally asked to say some nice words over one or another of the adult Mercs who had died one or another randomly awful death.  Much (often mayhem...) of course ensues ...

So what possible value could a film like this have?  Well, as I mentioned above, the portrayal of the planet itself is simply breathtaking.  Then, YES, this film is definitely not for kids, and yes the Mercs are portrayed as certainly "dregs of society."  But then, one would imagine that "mercs" today aren't exactly the most "politically correct" of people as well (they certainly weren't known to be so in the past ... They haven't been called the "Dogs of War" for nothing...).

So this is a really hard-boiled tale that I would hope that _no one_ would take moral lessons from.  Still I found the CGI portrayal of the planet itself astounding and if combined with (honestly) "kinder gentler" portrayals of the infinite possibilities for adventure existing out there in the cosmos, this could be actually inspiring to viewers.  Just do leave the random and evil mayhem behind...


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Drinking Buddies [2013]

MPAA (R)  RE.com (1 Star)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (B. Kenigsberg) review

Drinking Buddies [2013] (written and directed by Joe Swanberg) is a current/arguably insightful if rather slow-moving "indie piece" about two 20-something couples in which one from each of the two couples, Kate (played by Olivia Wilde) and Luke (played by Jake Johnson), work in a microbrewery in Chicago.  The film is currently playing at "art theaters" here in Chicago and is also available Amazon Instant Video.  Since the beverages made at the brewery where the two main characters work are available as something a perk to the employees, the title for the film "flows" quite naturally ...

When one generally thinks of "drinking buddies," one generally thinks of a group of guys.  The wrinkle thrown into this film is, of course, that Kate and Luke are not of the same sex and neither are their SOs.  Kate has been going out with Chris (played by Ron Livingston) for about 8 months, while Luke has been living with Jill (played by Anne Kendrick) for long enough that it's become increasingly difficult for the two to explain to both themselves/each other and to others why they're not yet getting married.  And yet it doesn't seem that they are ...

Things take a turn when the two couples go up to Kate's beau's cabin by the Lake (Michigan) for a weekend, where the status of pretty much all the relationships -- "just friends," "living together/practically married," "gee who's that neat other person who I've never really met" -- is challenged.

It's not a bad movie.  It reminds me of the movie that the Kevin Bacon character in the Christopher Guest movie The Big Picture [1989] pined to make.  It's just kinda slow. 

And it does ask the question: Can one really be just a "drinking buddy" with someone who one's at least partly (sexually) attracted to?


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Sept 3, 2013 - Movies reviewed here available in U.S. for Rent / Streaming

Sept 3, 2013

Blancanieves [2012] - PG-13 - Foreign (Spain, subtitled), Independent/Art House  - 4 Stars - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [Netflix] [Vudu]

Iron Man 3 [2013] - PG-13 / A-III - 4 Stars - Teens, Young Adults, Action/Adventure - [Amazon InstVid]

Now You See Me [2013] - PG-13 - 3 Stars - Young Adults, Action/Adventure - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

Oblivion [2013] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 Stars - Adventure/SciFi, Teens, Young Adults -  [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

The Place Beyond the Pines [2013] - R - 3 1/2 Stars - Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]



New Releases over the Past Month
August 27, 2013

Pain & Gain [2013] - R / O - 1 1/2 Stars -  Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

The Great Gatsby [2013] - PG-13 / A-III - 4 Stars - Teens, Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [iTunes] [Vudu]

The Reluctant Fundamentalist [2012] - PG-13 - 4 Stars - Independent/Art House, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [iTunes]


August 20, 2013

Amour [2012] - R / L - 1 Star - Foreign (France/Austria, subtitled), Independent/Art House, Adult Families, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

Epic [2013] - PG / A-III - 3 Stars - Kids, Teens, Action/Adventure - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [Vudu]

Pain & Gain [2013] - R / O - 1 1/2 Stars -  Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes]

Shadow Dancer [2012] - R - Drama - 3 1/2 Stars - Foreign (U.K./Ireland), Independent/Art House, Drama, Young Adults - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [Netflix]

Startrek Into Darkness [2013] - PG-13 / A-III - 2 1/2 Stars - Action/Adventure, Teens, Young Adults - [Amazon InstVid]

The Big Wedding [2013] - R / O - 0 Stars - Comedy - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

The Great Gatsby [2013] - PG-13 / A-III - 4 Stars - Teens, Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes]


Aug 13, 2013

42 [2013] - PG-13 / A-III - 4 Stars - Teens, Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster][iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

Emperor [2013] - PG-13 - 3 1/2 Stars - Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

Olympus Has Fallen [2013] - R / L - 3 Stars - Action/Adventure - [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

The Big Wedding [2013] - R / O - 0 Stars - Comedy - [Blockbuster] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

The Company You Keep [2011] - R - 3 Stars - Drama, Independent/Art House - [Blockbuster] [Netflix] [Vudu]

To the Wonder [2012] - R - Drama - 3 1/2 Stars - Religious, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [Netflix] [Redbox]


Aug 6, 2013

Emperor [2013] - PG-13 - 3 1/2 Stars - Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Vudu]

Epic [2013] - PG / A-III - 3 Stars - Kids - [Amazon InstVid]

Mud [2012] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 1/2 Stars - Teens, Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

Oblivion [2013] - PG-13 / A-III - 3 Stars - Adventure/SciFi, Teens, Young Adults - [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes] [Vudu]

Olympus Has Fallen [2013] - R / L - 3 Stars - Action/Adventure - [Amazon InstVid]

On the Road [2012] - R - 4 Stars - Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox]

The Place Beyond the Pines [2013] - R - 3 1/2 Stars - Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [iTunes]
 [Vudu]

The Sapphires [2012] - PG-13 - 4 Stars - Young Adults, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [iTunes] [Netflix] [Redbox] [Vudu]

To the Wonder [2012] - R - Drama - 3 1/2 Stars - Religious, Drama - [Amazon InstVid] [Blockbuster] [Netflix]

 
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In a World ... [2013]

MPAA (R)  RE.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (M. D'Angelo) review

In a World ... [2013], screenplay written and directed by and starring Lake Bell, is an indie film about a 20-30 something young woman named Carol (played by Lake Bell) a voice coach, who's been trying to step out of the shadow of her talented but often overbearing and not particularly supportive father named Sam (played by Fred Malemed) presented in the film as something of a "living legend" in the "voice over" field. 

How to be taken seriously by a father who loves you but likes his position (on top of his family and his field of choice/career) and who actually dates a young woman your own age?  That's the somewhat exaggerated (for comic effect) but very real challenge facing the central protagonist in this film. 

Signund Freud had a rather dismal view of intergenerational rivalry.  One the one hand, he postulated that children are destined to "murder" their same-sex parent even as they put them up (after they've "murdered" them) on a pedestal to venerate them.  On the other hand, Freud postulated that children would be (sexually) attracted to their opposite sex parent. 

Freud saw these "fundamental relationships" between children and their parents expressed in the Classical story of Oedipus.  Oedipus' parents, after being informed by an Oracle that Oedipus was destined to murder his father and sleep with his mother, put him up for adoption.  Oedipus in turn, when as a young adult is told by anpther Oracle that he's destined to murder his father and sleep with his mother, runs away from his adopted parents only to come across his biological father (and kills him) and then his biological mother (whom he marries ...).  The point of the Classical Greek story was to say that one is largely unable to escape one's Destiny, no matter how horrible it was to be.  Freud understood the story symbolically, postulating that in one way or another, one ultimately "murders" (supersedes) one's same sex parent and one ultimately "marries" (someone very much like) one's opposite sex parent. 

In our more androgynous times ("In a world..." / "In our world ..."), we're given the parable of this film in which Carol both looks up to, but despises, her father (her mother is long dead) while her father is actually dating someone who could be her sister (be just like her ...). 

So there's a lot of potential for tension in this film ... and yet it is still light enough to be a comedy.  Again, one (generally rather benign) way that Sigmund Freud suggested that "tension" is dissipated is through humor.

So as "light" as this film is (about a father and daughter who both make their livings in the rather obscure fields of "voice coaching" and "voice overs") there's A LOT TO THIS FILM below the surface that makes it very interesting.

AMONG THE THINGS that makes the film interesting is that Carol's dad's girlfriend (played by Alexandra Holden) turns out to not be a particularly bad character.  Sure she's Carol's age, but it turns out that she both understands Carol's point of view and appears to be the only one who is able to express it clearly to her father.  Fascinating ... and arguably redemptive.

But then Hollywood is ultimately about finding "a happy ending.."  Freud may have made his mark by looking for the psychological roots of tension/conflict.  But "Hollywood" knows that a good story has to end well.  To leave people in despair doesn't sell tickets.  So after exposing the tensions present in the modern "Father - Daughter" relationship, Hollywood seeks to find a happy resolution.

And here I would argue that Our Religion (Christianity) seeks to do the same.  Jesus came to the world preaching Good News.  And Jesus' Resurrection (following his awful Death) was, in fact, the Ultimate "Happy Ending."  Thus we too, fundamentally believe that the tensions that exist in our society today (or any day) will Ultimately turn out well.

But in any case, this was a good and surprisingly "deep" story.  Honestly, good job ;-)


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Closed Circuit [2013]

MPAA (PG-13)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RE.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (2 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (P. Sobczynski) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

Closed Circuit [2013] (directed by John Crowley, screenplay by Steven Knight) is a somewhat predictable film about the current Anglo-American status of things in the war on terror.  That is, though set in the U.K., the story could have easily been set in the United States as well.

In the opening sequence of the film, a truck bomb explodes in an open air produce market in London.  The attack is chronicled by at least a dozen security cams but there appeared nothing that security forces could have done to prevent it.

The rest of the film is about the lead-up to the trial of the attack's supposed ring-leader, a Turkish immigrant named Faroukh Erdogan (played by Denis Moschitto) arrested a few days after the attack at his home in London.  Faroukh had moved back to London three years previous after having been "away" (where? well... somewhere...) several years previous, and when he had returned he had frequented various (radical) mosques in the London area.  We're also told that he was turned-in by a source that the authorities would not like to disclose.  So, and this is the film ... Faroukh was going to be tried under a famously problematic post-9/11 (or in the U.K. post 7/7) legal regime.

What kind of legal regime?  Well, at least part of his trial was going to be held in secret to protect the authorities' "sources and methods."  Neither the defendant nor his primary defense attorney (played in the film by Eric Bana) were going to be allowed to see the secret evidence against the defendant tying him to the bombing.   Instead, A SEPARATE attorney (played in the film by Rebecca Hall) with appropriate clearance was going to see (and argue in parallel if secret proceedings) this secret evidence.  Thus the open trial would quite literally be "for show."  The real action was going to be held in secret, though FOR SOME REASON there remained the belief on the part of the society/legal system that the "open trial" would somehow reach the same conclusions as the secret one (despite not ever seeing and challenging/vetting secret evidence against the defendant). 

Such a story basically writes itself:  For I am positive that any group of 3-4 twenty-year olds given a description of the legal regime in which such a trial would proceed could come up with truly innumerable ways that such a trial would end in disaster (at minimum for the defendant and quite possibly for society as well).

Indeed, I remember well when this kind of legal regime was being imposed in the U.S. in the years after 9/11.  I remember wondering: Wait a minute, one (I/we) could be simply abducted from the streets (err ... "arrested") by shadowy, black-garbed / black-masked security personnel, held indefinitely in some "undisclosed location" (secret prison) somewhere, charged, tried, convicted, sentenced and even shot all on basis of evidence that one (I/we) would never be allowed to see and without the authorities never needing to acknowledge that they even had one (me/us) in custody ALL TO PROTECT "SOURCES AND METHODS."
 
And to be honest, while the (never acknowledged but no doubt stroke induced) half-smiling G.W. Bush-era V.P. Dick Cheney is long gone, none of this has really gone away under the better smiling / more photogenic Obama Administration. 

Anyway, this film plays out one of really countless possible "nightmare scenarios" that could occur when a court system / security apparatus isn't required to be openly accountable to the citizenry, and we do live in a time when we are asked to simply trust the powers that be.

Is this a great film?  To be honest, not particularly, but it reminds us (again) of the times in which we live.


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Austenland [2013]

MPAA (PG-13)  RE.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (D)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
RogerEbert.com (S. Wloszczyna) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

Austenland [2013] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Jerusha Hess along with Shannon Hale [IMDb] on whose novel the film was based) is probably not for everybody (and apparently not for a lot of critics ;-).

However, the concept is IMHO really quite good (dare one say "brilliant" ... ;-) and the more one thinks about it, the more I believe that even the most ardent "rolling their eyes" initial skeptics would have to concede that the story-tellers/film-makers here were onto something (Twilight Saga's Stephenie Meyer was a producer).   And if you've ever been obsessed by a particular author or a particular era, or have known someone who was, then this film could really be for you ;-)

The story revolves around Jane Hayes (played by Keri Russell) a late 20s/early 30 something woman from New York today who's been a life-long Jane Austen fanatic.  She's memorized the first three chapters of Pride and Prejudice since first reading it in high school.  She carries an I <3 Darcy handbag.  There's a I <3 Darcy banner in her cubicle at work.  She drinks from an I <3 Darcy coffee cup.  Her bedroom in her apartment looks like it could have come from a "Regency Era" doll-house.  She has figurines of Jane Austen characters scattered all over her house and in her cubicle at work.  She has a life-sized cut-out poster of Colin Firth playing Mr. Darcy in her living room.  Finally, she's been dumped by boyfriends because when she's brought them-up to her apartment and put-on a dvd of a Jane Austen story, she's really wanted to watch the film ("Wait, wait, you're gonna miss the best part..." ;-)

So it becomes inevitable that someone like Jane would catch wind of a England based resort called "Austenland" that promises patrons an "authentic immersive experience" into the "Regency Era" of Jane Austen's novels and against her best friend's advice Jane drops the better portion of her life-savings (at her age, probably a few grand) to have the Jane Austen experience of her dreams.  Still thinking that Jane's making a terrible mistake, her best friend nevertheless buys her a nice Austen-era country dress with matching hat and wishing her well drops Jane off in said attire, Jane looking like Jane Austen's Emma, at JFK airport for her flight "over the pond..." 

Things take a turn when she arrives at London's Heathrow Airport the next day.  While waiting to be picked-up by Austenland's "shuttle,"  Jane runs into another American who's going to Austenland as well.  A rather curvy late-30s/40-ish woman (played by Jennifer Coolidge) who one gets the sense probably never actually cracked-open a Jane Austen novel though she's probably read a fair number of Harlequin Romance knock-offs, she comes if not dressed yet for the part then with at least a plausibly Austenish sounding name calling herself Miss Elizabeth Charming.  And even if somewhat/largely clueless, she seems quite sincere/sweet and ... apparently she also comes loaded.

That the simple, sincere if largely clueless 40ish Elizabeth Charming is rich, while the far better versed, indeed über-versed Jane, is not becomes IMMEDIATELY IMPORTANT when the two arrive at the gate of Austenland's Estate: The wealthy Elizabeth Charming is led into her posh Regency Era quarters filled with all the amenities and all kinds of dresses of the time (the dresses often challenging for her to fit into, but available to her).  In contrast, Jane who may have dropped her life's-savings to go on this experience, nevertheless didn't exactly impress Mrs Wattlesbrook (played by Jane Seymour) running the experence as "hardly belonging to landed gentry" ;-).  Thus Jane, given the last name "Erstwhile" for the experience is rather unceremoniously given a rather spartan room in the "Servants' Quarters." Mrs Wattlesbrook then introduces Jane to the others in the experience as an "orphaned, poor relation" who the Wattlesbrooks had nevertheless "taken in, out of the goodness of our hearts." ;-) WELCOME FOLKS TO THE CLASS DISTINCTIONS OF JANE AUSTEN'S TIME ;-)

However, "poor relation" though she may be, JANE IS STILL ALLOWED TO BE "A RELATION."  Thus she's able, in fact, to be with BOTH "the servants" notably with a dashing "gardener" / "stable hand" named "Martin" (played by Bret McKenzie) whose last name, true to the custom of the time, apparently would not have been of any consequence to anyone, AND WITH THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF THE OWNERS OF THE MANOR ESTATE, "the Wattlesbrooks." 

And actually it's Mrs Wattlesbrook (played again wonderfully by Jane Seymour) who really runs the show.  Mr Wattlesbrook (played by Rupert Vansittart) is shown mostly drunk, quite literally farting around in the background most of the time.  He only comes to fore once when in a somewhat drunken stupor he lunges at "poor relation" Jane apparently to try to sexually assault her after he spots her coming back from stable hand Martin's hovel one evening.  Again, welcome to some of the dirt / hypocrisy of the "Regency Age" ... ;-).

The other characters (played by actors for the experience) are a hoot.  There's the pipe smoking, brandy drinking mustached "Colonel Andrews" (played by James Callis) who's visiting the Wattlesbrooks after spending "some years" out "in the Punjab."  There's "Lady Emilia Hartwright" (played by Georgia King) who apparently loved the experience so much the previous year that she's back for more.  There's the dashing (and generally shirtless) "Captain George East" (played by Ricky Whittle) who comes in "from the West Indies" midway through the experience with grand tales of fighting off pirates and Napoleon's warships to the distraction of both "Miss Charming" and "Miss Lady Hartwright."  And then there is the rather stiff "Mr. Henry Nobley' (played by J.J. Feild) introduced as Mrs. Wattlesbrook's nephew, spending time at the estate that summer after some unfortunate (and initially unclear) "recent experience with unrequited love." 


Okay folks ... what a setup to a story! ;-)  Much ensues ... and amusingly true to the film's often quite honest and "deconstructive" take on Jane Austen's era ... much of it has to do with KNITTING ;-) ... Why KNITTING?  Well ... what did young women from wealthier families living in the English countryside do in the 1820s?  THEY READ TO EACH OTHER BOOKS, THEY PLAYED CARDS, THEY PLAYED CROQUET, THEY SIGHED ... and THEY KNITTED ;-) ;-) ... while their MEN "HUNTED", drank brandy, smoked cigars and did other "manly things" of the time ;-)

What follows is just a great film.  Yes, there are a lot of romantic twists and turns.  Yes, there's "a Ball" near the end.  Yes, it doesn't "just end at the Ball" ... But yes it has to end well.  As a light, romantic film, one really couldn't ask for much more.

Stylistically, I would add that the film owes much to Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette [2006], blending the period clothes/sets with a contemporary soundtrack and perhaps to Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris [2011] (which too was about "going back to another time" in that case Paris of the 1920s).  Then Jane is definitely a young contemporary heroine (Stefanie Meyers' imprimatur is clearly felt).  Mrs Wattlesbrook may run the estate at Austenland but this is definitely modern 28 year-old Jane's story ...

All in all, the film's not going to be for everybody ... but for those who'd enjoy "time traveling" in this way, the film's a blast ;-).


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The World's End [2013]

MPAA (R)  ChicagoTribune (3 1/2 Stars) RE.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (A-)  Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars)

IMDb listing
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

The World's End [2013] (directed and cowritten by Edgar Wright along with Simon Pegg) is certainly one of the most creative and I would say ONE OF THE BEST (Anglo-American) films of this year.  Since the Oscars offer now up to 10 spots for BEST PICTURE, if there's any justice at all, this film ought to get a nomination in that category as well as a nod for BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY.  In a fairly dismal year in at least Hollywood movies, I honestly found the film a veritable BREATH OF FRESH AIR ;-).

So what's the film about? ;-).  It's about Gary King (played by Simon Pegg) reminiscing today about how 20 years past on the night of their (high school) graduation he and his 4 best friends set-off on an epic "bar crawl" of 12 pubs in their hometown of Newton Haven somewhere in the rolling countryside of "small town England."  Recalling the night to his AA group ... ;-) ... he noted that one of his companions dropped out at 4 pubs, another at 6 and none of them were able to get past 9 ... that they never made it to the last pub, at the edge of town, named "The World's End."  Rolling their eyes (no doubt frustrated that Gary didn't seem to "get it" as to what the AA group was about ;-) some of the other members of the AA group nevertheless concede that his had been an "epic" quest. 

And so Gary King (or "King Gary" as he had been known when he had been "at the top of the world" in high school) leaves his London-based AA meeting with the goal of recreating and FINISHING this "epic journey" with his old high school buddies.  The problem is, of course, that ALL FOUR OF HIS HIGH SCHOOL BUDDIES have since established themselves and have gone on with their lives.  NONE of them recall their "high school days" as fondly as Gary and indeed, it would seem that ALL OF THEM have for one reason or another dumped Gary as a friend years ago as well ;-(.  What to do? 

With an enthusiasm akin to Jake and Elmwood Blues from The Blues Brothers [1980], Gary cajols, guilts and to one, his former best friend, Andy Knightley (played by Nick Frost), he flat-out lies (telling Andy that his mother had died and that she always loved him as the best of all his friends ...) to get them together to do this thing. 

So they all meet at a London Tube station at the edge of town on a Friday night.  Gary, of course, is late ... ;-) ... None the other four is surprised ... ;-).  But when he does show-up, they are ALL astounded to see him arrive with his old legendary car.  "Is THAT the Beast?" one asks.  Gary proudly replies: "Well, except for the brakes, the suspension, the carburetor, transmission, the whole engine really, upholstering on a couple of the seats, and a fender or two, YES IT IS!"  The four, ALL a "few pounds worse for their wear" get in ... and they are off!

Soon they approach their home town of Newton Haven, which NONE of them had gone back to in years, in good part because it was, well, except for those 12 pubs ... BORING.  How boring?  Well, it's claim to fame appears to have been that it was "the site of the first round-about in England" (those horrible traffic circles that exist all over England/Ireland and are supposedly "safer" than traffic lights).  So ... quaint as the town may have been (or may be ...), this was a town that was ... quite boring.

No matter.  The five check into a bed and breakfast somewhere at the edge of town and are soon off to their first pub.  To Gary's disappointment, the pub, though with its old name-plate hanging outside, inside LOOKS NOTHING LIKE the pub of old.  Instead, it looks just like any pub that one could expect to see anywhere in London or any other big English city.  And instead of serving anything "local," the employee at the tap just tells Gary that "they serve beer."  As disappointed as Gary may have been, one of the four accompanying him shrugs without much surprise saying: "Just another example of the 'Starbuckization' of the world..."

No matter (again ;-).  The next pub's gonna be better, 'cept ... ;-) ... the next pub, except for the sign outside, INSIDE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE FIRST ONE.  Depressed after their pint (they are at 2 now ...), they head to the third pub.

Now the third pub starts to look a little bit different (maybe 'cause they've had a few pints ..).  But here first Gary and then the rest start to notice THAT THE PEOPLE of their old home town, WHICH ALL OF THEM HAD LEFT YEARS AGO, seemed "odd."  How odd?  Well ... that's the rest of the film ;-).

The rest of the film requires a certain flexibility of the audience that a lot of people may not have.  This is because the film does make a leap into "science fiction land" (I'm not going to say more ;-).  But for those who can make the leap (or prove at least willing to try ...) THE FILM OFFERS ENORMOUS REWARDS.  This is because this "stupid little film" about a drunk and arguably "loser" trying to "relive his past" becomes surprisingly profound:  What exactly makes us human?  And is anyone really a "loser" so long as one remains free?  Yes free to make mistakes, free to pay for them, but still free.

Honestly, I am in awe of this film.  As silly / stupid as it seems at first, it really packs a punch ;-).

So a final question: Do the five make it to "The World's End"?  ... Go see the movie, I'm not gonna say :-)


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