Sausage Party

Review by Bob Ignizio

It may look like the usual output of Pixar/Disney and their many imitators, but make no mistake: SAUSAGE PARTY is not for the kids. Co-directed by Greg Tiernan (an animation veteran who has worked for Disney, Don Bluth, and the folks behind Thomas the Tank Engine) and Conrad Vernon (director of MONSTERS VS. ALIENS and MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED) from a screenplay written by Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg, this is easily the edgiest animated feature to hit mainstream theatres since Ralph Bakshi's early seventies output (FRITZ THE CAT, COONSKIN, etc.).

The Interview

Review by Bob Ignizio

[possible SPOILER ALERT for anyone who has somehow managed to avoid all the media discussion of this film, it's subject, and its ending. Which is, what, two people?[

After all the drama around the Sony pictures hack and subsequent information dump, and further threats of terrorists attacks if the company went ahead with its plans to release THE INTERVIEW on Christmas Day, it looked like the James Franco/Seth Rogen comedy would go unreleased, at least in this country. The terrorists, believed to be North Korean, had apparently won. But then Sony apparently rethought their position, and while none of the major theater chains are showing the film, about 300 independent theaters across the country have decided to screen the film for those movie fans willing to take their chances. And given that the terrorist threats were never particularly credible to begin with, those chances are pretty good. Still, those who would rather not tempt fate can rent or buy the film On Demand through Youtube or Google's Play store for Android devices. More out of a desire to not have to leave the house on Christmas Eve than any fear of terrorist attacks, I decided to go the on demand route and watch the film from the comfort of home.

22 Jump Street

Review by Pete Roche

We didn’t catch 21 JUMP STREET in theatres in 2012.  Sure, we saw all the posters advertising the Jonah Hill / Channing Tatum police comedy, but didn’t think in a million years that a farcical movie adaptation of FOX’s hip late ‘80s crime series would fly.  

After all, the TV show (1987-1991) was a dark, edgy drama starring an up-and-coming Johnny Depp.  Both Hill and Tatum had already racked up some hot-shot cinema creds (Hill for SUPERBAD and MONEYBALL, Tatum for STEP UP and G.I. JOE:  RISE OF COBRA), but what were the chances their buddy cop caper would hit with audiences?

Neighbors

Review by Matt Finley

When a Delta Tau Chi-wannabe frat, led by party Poobah Teddy (Zac Efron), moves next door to thirty-something married-with-baby Mac (Seth Rogan) and Kelly (Rose Byrne), hijinks ensue. It’s about the most basic comedic premise possible, and NEIGHBORS, from GET HIM TO THE GREEK director Nicholas Stoller, is happy to traipse through it with an effortless, carefree abandon that makes for a quick, bright, one-and-done comic trifle as watchable as it is unmemorable.

Marketed as Rogen vs. Efron, the film is content to be precisely that, pitting rote versions of each actor’s public stereotypes – the latter’s droll, shrugging schlubbery and the former’s chiseled, entitled douchefulness -  against one another in a series of escalating pranks and asinine subterfuge.

  

This is the End

Review by Bob Ignizio

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the writing team responsible for the extremely funny films SUPERBAD and PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (and who were also responsible for the extremely unfunny films THE GREEN HORNET and THE WATCH) have decided to apply their talents to the goal of finding the laughs in Armageddon with THIS IS THE END. The film is based on a short Rogen and Goldberg co-wrote with Jay Stone back in 2007, and as in that earlier film Rogen and his Undeclared co-star Jay Baruchel are two of the poor souls “left behind” when the rapture takes place and all the good people get lifted into Heaven. Also left behind to suffer the torments of Hell on Earth are some of the other Hollywood types Rogen calls friends, including James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Danny McBride, and Emma Watson.

The Guilt Trip

Review by Pete Roche

The passengers in road trip movies are usually best buds or soul-mates (THELMA & LOUISE), mismatched professionals (MIDNIGHT RUN), or happenstance polar opposites whose Oscar and Felix personalities test each others’ limits (PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, DUE DATE). 

THE GUILT TRIP tweaks the formula by setting salesman Andy Brewster (Seth Rogan) on a cross-country drive in a cramped car with his overbearing single middle-aged mother, Joyce (Barbara Streisand).  Organic chemist Andy must pitch the biodegradable cleaning agent he’s invented to wholesalers in several major markets from New Jersey to San Francisco.  He funded the project with his father's inheritance, so he’s determined to hide his lack of success from his proud mother.   

Take This Waltz (opeing in Cleveland July 20th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre)

[TAKE THIS WALTZ opens in Cleveland on Friday July 20th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

New love can be thrilling and passionate, but as one older but wiser woman says in Sarah Polley's dramedy TAKE THIS WALTZ, “new gets old.” However, logic and wisdom tend not to matter much to those freshly under the sway of amore.

While visiting a historical site, travel writer Margot (Michelle Williams) has a “meet cute” with Daniel (Luke Kirby), a handsome artist/rickshaw driver (yes, really, a rickshaw driver). On the plane home the two find themselves seated next to each other, and as they talk it soon becomes clear there's a romantic spark. As if this weren't indication enough of fate at work, it turns out the two actually live across the street from each other. There's just one giant obstacle preventing them from leaping headlong into romance: Margot is married.

50/50

Review by Bob Ignizio

There are laughs to be found in any situation, no matter how grim. I truly believe that. But let's be honest, cancer has to be one of the least productive veins to mine for comedy gold. If you wanted to let someone know just how unfunny they are, you might tell them they're about as funny as cancer. Despite having the comedy odds stacked against it, 50/50 still manages to hit the mark more often than not while never losing sight of the seriousness of its premise.