The Interview (2014)

Directed By – Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen

Screenplay By – Dan Sterling

Cinematography By – Brandon Trost

Starring James Franco & Seth Rogen

112 min.

I know. You’re thinking “But Bear, The Interview isn’t a foreign film, aren’t you breaking you year of foreign films rule?” Yeah I am so fuck off! Clearly you’re underestimating how much I love Seth Rogen movies, especially when him and Evan Goldberg are directing and when he’s teaming up with his old pal James Franco to make something hilarious for us all.

While The Interview is no This Is The End, it is funny and a fucking good time. If you have a problem with that well suck on my teets, The Interview is funny end of story. Also everyone knows that there’s the sophomore slump and The Interview is a dang good second entry for Rogen and Goldberg’s directing filmographies.

James Franco comes out of the gates hilarious in this opening of this movie. He’s ridiculously absurd and outlandish in the greatest James Franco way possible. Seth Rogen is our standard straight yet funny man and I enjoyed the hell out of it like always.

Am I a sucker for this team of filmmakers, you bet your sweet ass I am and there is no shame either because these guys are just fucking funny. I will continue to support their work as long as they keep giving us their all like they have been.

And the whole North Korea going to war over this movie thing only adds to the hilarity of this film as they even make Kim Jong Un into a kind of a total dictator badass who’s honeydicking everyone but also likes Katy Perry and margaritas…but who doesn’t?

God Bless America

Take This Waltz (2011)

Directed By – Sarah Polley

Screenplay By – Sarah Polley

Cinematography By – Luc Montpellier

Starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen & Luke Kirby

116 min.

I really really like this movie. There’s something about how honest it is that draws me to it. A part of that honesty is that I actually hate Michelle Williams’ character in this movie. I don’t hate her because she is a terrible person but I hate her because she is everything we “don’t” want in our protagonist, i.e. she doesn’t make the “right/good” choice. She does what she wants even when everyone around her tells her she is making a mistake. She isn’t a drug addict or a criminal. She doesn’t kill babies, she merely does what she thinks she needs. She doesn’t even cheat on her husband behind his back, she is just her.

Michelle Williams’ character, Margot, is so unlike anything we get in American cinema that I love to hate her. This is a special movie and one that I will revisit again in the future. It not only a commentary on relationships but about our personal needs in life and what it means to be an individual in this world. Take This Waltz is not just about a marriage it is about the void that exists in all of us as humans and how we handle that void. I really really like this movie.

God Bless America

This Is the End (2013)

Directed By – Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen

Screenplay By – Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg

Cinematography By – Brandon Trost

Starring James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride & Craig Robinson

107 min.

I fucking love this movie.

I will continue to watch this movie because I fucking love it.

God Bless America

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Directed By – Judd Apatow

Screenplay By – Judd Apatow & Steve Carell

Cinematography By – Jack Green

Starring Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd & Seth Rogen

116 min.

What I consider the Apatow Revolution started with The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The Apatow Revolution changed the way comedies are made and what consists of a Hollywood comedy. While taking Carell and Apatow a step up in the world of celebrity culture, The 40-Year-Old Virgin was Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd’s coming out party. Of course, Rudd had been in the industry a much longer time then Rogen but the two’s association with Apatow would make them comedic stars, especially in their next movie together, Apatow’s Knocked Up (2007).

Everything in this movie is hilarious. It is raunchy yet heartfelt. It doesn’t hold its punches yet it never takes a cheap shot just because. The 40-Year-Old Virgin in my opinion is a perfect comedy using the cast impeccably with a completely original script. It introduced us to a new style of comedy in the heavy influence of improvisation but it also introduced us to a profusion of comedic geniuses that would take over the genre for the next decade to come.

If you haven’t watched The 40-Year-Old Virgin in a while, go watch it because it’s hilarious and brilliant on so many levels.

God Bless America