Mini movie review: This Is the End

This Is the End, the apocalyptic comedy starring Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride and with guest shots of Michael Cera, Rihanna, Paul Rudd, Aziz Ansari, Emma Watson, Channing Tatum and many, many more, was not all I'd hoped for.  It started strong - the over-the-top party at Franco's house (pre-apocalypse) was quite funny - I particularly loved evil Michael Cera, finally breaking free of his type.  But once the world ended, the movie devolved into a bunch of the guys stuck in the house and yelling at each other.  I guess it's hit or miss for me with this Apatow-esque group's comedies: I loved Superbad but didn't much care for Pineapple Express, liked 40 Year Old Virgin but not Knocked Up, and so on.  It certainly looked like the gang had a great time making the movie, at least, but I found it monotonous - and the special effects were sucky.  These guys have enough money that they could have made the demons more sophisticated than the ones from Ghostbusters, for crying out loud.

Reaper review

A young, well-above-average-looking college drop-out, who works a drudge of a job and has a loyal cadre of misfit friends, has thrust upon [third person pronoun] a calling to fight against supernatural forces. It’s Buffy, right, the show nearest and dearest to my heart? Well, yes, but it’s also the CW’s new Reaper, which premiered last night and which has been racking up quite a few comparisons to BTVS.

Upon his 21st birthday, Sam discovers that his parents sold his soul to the Devil before he was born, and now Old Nick (Ray Wise, clearly enjoying himself) has come to collect what is due. He gives Sam a new job as a bounty hunter (Sam is a floor clerk at some amorphous big-box store) , collecting souls that have escaped back to earth from Hell. Sam’s buddies think this new gig is cool and soon this 2007 version of the Scoobies is sleuthing, tracking and sucking demons back where they belong. There’s also a love interest from whom Sam feels the need to hide his new otherworldliness: she looks like Hilary Swank and is played by Missy Peregrym (most recently Candice, the shape-shifting bad girl from Heroes. Guess we won’t being seeing Candice so much this season).

I was pleasantly surprised by Reaper. I thought the two main characters, Sam and his best friend “Sock,” had great long-time friend chemistry and were fairly funny. I even laughed out loud three times – that’s a lot for regular TV for me – although it may have been more due to guest director Kevin Smith’s hand on the helm than from the writing. Time will tell. While I won’t spend precious time recapping this one for you (sorry!), I am more than willing to keep it on my DVR record list until further notice. Pretty good job, CW (although I’ll still never forgive you for canceling Veronica Mars)!