Rapture-Palooza

Directed by Paul Middleditch.

2013. Rated R, 85 minutes.

Cast:

Craig Robinson

Anna Kendrick

John Francis Daley

Rob Corddry

Ana Gasteyer

Thomas Lennon

Ken Jeong

Tyler Labine

Paul Scheer

Adrianna Costa

If you're familiar with the Bible then you know that after the Rapture, things on Earth go haywire. Well, that's where we are. Much of the population has vanished from the planet and taken up residence in Heaven. Those left behind have to deal with locusts, blood rain, falling meteorites, wraiths, and yes, The Anti-Christ in the form of Earl Grundy (Robinson) who prefers to be called, what else, The Beast. He's taken over the U.S. government, dropped nukes on Chicago and Orlando among other places around the world. Now, he's living in Seattle and has taken a liking to local girl Lindsey (Kendrick). Not being the sort of girl that goes for bad boys, but one that does have a boyfriend, she turns him down flat. Unfortunately, you just can't tell the Anti-Christ no. He gives her an ultimatum. Either she marries him or he will kill everyone in her family. She has eight hours to decide. What's a girl to do?

Immediately, we start down the path of religous satire. It's meant to be a rather irreverent one, at that. No problem. A number of good movies have successfully taken on organized religion. Even if you're a devout follower of one or another, you have to admit it's a big target. From time to time, someone is going to take a shot at it. Sadly, even if you were nodding off reading up to this point, nothing as interesting as this review happens in Rapture-Palooza. I'm not just tooting my own horn, either. Travel around to as many different sites and read as many different reviews as you want. I promise every one of them will be far more intriguing than this movie.

Our heroes are just plain bland, and yes, I purposely put two synonyms next to each other for emphasis. Anna Kendrick sleepwalks through her role in the lead. John Francis Daley, who plays her boyfriend Ben, whines his way through his. I really wanted to slap him. Hard. Twice. At least. As our villain, Craig Robinson pretty much does what Craig Robinson does. He isn't necessarily bad, just failed by the writing of his character. In a movie meant to spoof Christianity, the character of the Anti-Christ is ripe with possibilities. There are so many depths to be mined. However, this movie is content to have him talk dirty, really dirty, to Anna Kendrick. Further robbing the character of any power, his behavior, and his race merely exploit stereotypes in hopes of getting cheap laughs. It doesn't. Instead, it just plays like white guy paranoia. Literally, it feels like it's a movie about a big evil black guy out to take an innocent white woman from her loving white boyfriend. That their grand solution is trying to lock him up doesn't help matters. Oops, spoiler alert...not really.

Believe it or not, there are actually three potentially interesting characters in the movie. The first is Lindsey's mom Lora (Gasteyer). She was taken during the rapture, but was sent back. All she gets to do is cry. A loud, fake "movie" cry. Let's move on. Next is Mr. Murphy (Lennon). He's become a zombie, but doesn't try to eat anyone. Neither do any of the other zombies, but that's beside the point. Mr. Murphy seems to have a story that's begging to be told. He just pushes an imaginary lawn mower until he gets a real one. Sigh. Finally, Ben's dad Walt (Corddry). He's one of the few who has managed to make a nice living and has done so by working for The Beast. Hmmm....could be a complex character that gives us some food for thought. Nope. His job is to repeatedly urge Lindsey to marry his boss. Ugh. At least we get an unfunny cameo from Ken Jeong. SMH.

Here is where I usually try to wrap up my review with a nice tidy conclusion summarizing all of my thoughts on the movie. On a good day, I'll end it with a clever sentence. This ain't a good day, boys and girls. Rapture-Palooza sucks and I've spent far too much time on it.

MY SCORE: 0/10

Monsters University

Directed by San Scanlon.

2013. Rated PG, 104 minutes. 

Cast: 

Billy Crystal 

John Goodman 

Helen Mirren 

Steve Buscemi 

Alfred Molina 

Nathan Fillion 

John Krasinski 

Bill Hader 

AubreyPlaza 

Tyler Labine 

Julia Sweeney

Instead of continuing the story of Monsters, Inc., we take a trip back in time to the college days of our heroes. Most of our focus is on Mike (Crystal). He's wanted to be the greatest scarer of all-time since he was a very young monster. He is so obsessed with the idea, he has literally worked toward it his entire life. There is absolutely no question that he will major in Scaring when en enters Monsters University. There is one little bitty issue. Mike is not particularly scary. Soon, he meets Sully (Goodman), our other hero.

Sully is a natural, having descended from some of the industry's greats. He is much more of a jock while Mike is a bookworm. They do not get along. Their bickering even occurs in class and winds up getting them both kicked out of the Scaring program. As a last-ditch effort to get back in, they make a wager with Dean Hardscrabble (Mirren), who dislikes them both. If they, and the fraternity of misfits they're stuck with, win the campus Scare Games, they will be allowed back into the program. If they do not, they must leave school altogether.

Early on, the differences between Mike and Sully form a solid foundation for the movie. It's not just their arguing, but the choices each makes, and the people with whom they surround themselves. Best of all, Mike isn't a meek personality. He's a feisty little guy, not afraid to tell the big bad Sully what he thinks of him. Later on, their having to work together is the satisfactory development of a friendship. It is appropriately rocky, but undoubtedly on an upward swing. What's set up by all of this is a classic underdog story. When the movie launches into the Scare Games, it's fun watching the guys navigate the various events and figure out a way through them. We see them grow and bond as a team and have a good time doing it.

None of this would matter if the movie weren't funny. It is just that all the way through. Many of the jokes don't come from our heroes, though. The supporting players bring much more of the funny. The star of the show, in this regard, is Sherri Squibbles, the mother of one of the misfits. Julia Sweeney does a wonderful job with the voice and she is just a hilarious character. She lights up the screen every time she graces it. Another standout, in less screen time, is Steve Buscemi's reprisal of his role as Randy. As for Mike and Sully, they do have a number of funny moments, but they're more responsible for the drama. That drama is also well-handled. it is tense at the right times. The tension is cranked up the highest during a scene late in the movie when some horror elements are introduced. Also helping in the tension department is Helen Mirren as Dean Hardscrabble. She provides us with a solid villain with a commanding presence.

Though this is an underdog story, Monsters University is to be commended for not being satisfied with the easy finish. It seems to give us this and appears all set to ride off into the sunset. Instead, it throws us a bit of a curveball and the film continues. Rather than feeling like a false finish, it works in service of the developing relationship of our heroes and strengthens the movie for us. It directly leads to the finale which, as I mentioned, makes very nice use of horror movie tropes. When it actually does end, whether the kiddies watching realize this or not, the movie is better for going the extra mile.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

Directed by Eli Craig.

2010. Rated R, 88 minutes. 
Cast: 
Tyler Labine 
Alan Tudyk 
Katrina Bowden 
Jesse Moss 
Chelan Simmons 
Philip Granger 
Brandon Jay McLaren 
Christie Laing 
Travis Nelson 
Alex Arsenault

A group of college kids is doing what groups of college kids do in some of our favorite slasher flicks. They’re going on a camping trip deep in a secluded wooded area. These kids have seen a few of these movies themselves. Maybe they’ve seen too many. They’re even aware of the slaughter of another group of co-eds that happened twenty years ago in the very spot where they decide to roast marshmallows. Our bunch is made up of the usual cast of would-be victims: the obnoxious preppy guy, two blondes we can differentiate by cup size, a generic but not stereotypically urban black guy with matching girl, and a couple other “just dudes”. Somehow an Asian is missing, but I digress. All you really need to know is that they’re hyper-sensitive to the idea that the local yokels are homicidal maniacs itching for fresh meat.

Enter the local yokels. They’re named Tucker (Tudyk) and Dale (Labine) and are pretty obviously inspired by George and Lennie from Steinbeck’s classic “Of Mice and Men.” They are far from maniacal. Slow witted? Yes. Killers? No. They spend most of their time fishing and drinking beer. As luck would have it, they’re going into the same woods as the co-eds to fix up the old cabin Tucker has just purchased and intends to use as a vacation home. We get the idea they have not seen many slasher flicks. Through a massive misunderstanding the kids think they’ve stumbled into a real life version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Because of a series of unfortunate events, Tucker and Dale think the co-eds have some sort of weird suicide pact. Believe it or not, comedy ensues.

Yes, I said comedy. The dialogue is insanely funny and makes clear that everyone on both sides just wants out of the situation yet, no one can figure out how to make that happen. There is one exception: the obnoxious preppy guy. He’s anxious to rescue the not-as-busty blonde. It seems to him and the others that Tucker and Dale have her bound, gagged and are torturing her. More misunderstandings, of course.

On display is some seriously clever writing to keep this ruse going as long as it does. It also keeps us laughing in the process. That is, you’ll be laughing if you’re a slasher fan and/or can take a joke about our beloved genre. Oh, it helps to have a twisted sense of humor. I suppose a kid accidentally impaling himself on a spear isn’t funny to everyone. Meh…(shrugs shoulders)…I laughed and did so heartily. The wood chipper scene is even more hilarious. What can I say? Occasionally, I’m only physically an adult. No matter how mature you are, you’ll probably laugh even as you cringe. That’s because it’s all about tone. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil strikes the perfect one.

A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

Directed by Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck.

2011. Rated R, 95 minutes.

Cast:

Jason Sudeikis

Tyler Labine

Leslie Bibb

Lake Bell

Michelle Borth

Nik Kroll

Angela Sarafyan

Don Johnson

Lindsay Sloane

Martin Starr

Rhys Coiro

Will Forte

David Koechner

Dee Dee Rescher

Eric (Sudeikis) is the de facto leader of a group of guys and girls who live together, during the summer at least, at a house his father owns. They have been close friends since high school. Occasionally, they throw hugely popular theme parties. In fact, we meet them during the “White Trash Bash.” The next day, daddy (a cameo by Don Johnson) shows up with his way younger girlfriend and informs his very grown boy that he’s putting the house on the market. His realtors are pushing hard to have the house sold very shortly, making the upcoming Labor Day the gang’s last chance to have a party like no other.

Thankfully, this isn’t a dance flick or a kiddie movie. Therefore, there is no mad dash by our heroes to raise enough money to save the place. Instead, they’re resigned to their fate and merely want to come up with a theme for the final blowout. Eventually, Eric and his sidekick Mike (Labine) decide it best to not invite any outsiders to their last shindig but still go out with a bang, quite literally. They want to have an orgy with their housemates. As you might imagine, this is a hard sell to people who’ve never engaged in such activities. Even if they agree to it, going through with it is something else entirely.

Despite a good deal of raunchy dialogue and situations, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy is only funny in a few spots. Only the no holds barred scene inside real life mattress store Fred’s Beds stands out as true comic gold. That’s in the unrated version, of course. I don’t know how much of what I saw made it into the theatrical version. Most of the rest of the humor is of ho-hum caliber. Still, it’s got an odd sweetness to it. I know it’s hard to imagine a movie about group sex having such a quality, but it is there. It’s not that we’re enthralled by any of the characters, but we do sorta like these folks. The director helps out by handling things about as delicately as possible while trying to live up to the title.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of flaws. These people we sorta like really are just types rather than rounded characters. This includes Tyler Labine doing his best Jack Black impersonation. The sidebar of a love story between Mike and Kelly (Bibb), the younger realtor, feels extraneous in its execution and rushed in its resolution. Ditto for the plotline involving the house itself. With all the pros and cons balancing it out, AGOFO manages to tread water. Occasionally, it musters enough strength to do a little better than that.