"The Interview" (2014) REVIEW

"Haters gonna hate, and ain'ters gonna ain't."

With all the controversy surrounding the movie, curiosity overwhelmed me to check out this movie. In fact, I looked forward to it, and I think the same could be said about most of the other people who watched it.

TV talk show host Dave Skylark (James Franco) and producer of the show Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) have been working together for ten years, producing a thousand episodes of the hottest celebrity gossip. However, Aaron feels like they should move in a different direction, start covering real news like politics but keep the charm of Dave Skylark. Dave then comes up with an idea to land an interview Kim Jong-Un, leader of North Korea, who happens to be a huge fan of the show. Once this news reaches the public, the CIA contact Dave and Aaron, wanting them to "take out" Kim Jong-Un.

The Interview is most certainly a goofy comedy, but plays it off very well. The jokes are clever, both well thought out and with perfect timing. The chemistry between James Franco and Seth Rogen is perfect, their conversations never missing a beat with the movies snappy dialogue. However, some of the fun dies down for a portion of the movie where Franco and Rogen are in separate scenes, but the movie picks back up with even more laugh-out-loud comedy and very well-executed action sequences.

The Interview is definitely a controversial film, but its quirkiness and charm makes it a very fun film to watch.

4/5 Stars

Comments

"Need for Speed" (2014) REVIEW

I know I'm not the only one who thought this movie was going to be a flop. I mean, not only is it a high-speed street racing movie, but it's also a videogame movie. Still, I gave it a shot, but mostly for the D-Box experience. Even with the earnings from winning illegal street races, Tobey Marshall (Aaron Paul) is still unable to keep his auto repair shop from his father open. For a chance to get $500,000, Tobey takes an offer from his street racing rival and successful car dealer Dino Brewster (Domonic Cooper) to finish building the Ford Mustang that Caroll Shelby was working on when he died. After building the car and selling it without Dino's consent, Dino challenges Tobey and Tobey's friend, Pete, to a street race for the money. Nearing the end of the race, desperate for revenge, Dino pushes Pete over a bridge and drives away, leaving Tobey to be blamed for vehicular manslaughter. Two years later, fresh out of prison, Tobey seeks out to knock Dino off his p...

Books on Film by Black Authors

There's no real order to this list, nor can I guarantee which ones are worth reading or not. However, the quality of the books are not the point, but rather we should lend these voices our eyes, ears, and time, giving them a stronger voice than they would have had without at least mentioning them. Titles link to the Goodreads page for the specific book and additional links will be listed to buy the book from Barnes & Noble and/or Thriftbooks (non-affiliated). Don't forget to see if your local bookstore might have these in stock! Missing your favorite? Tweet me @AuthorKLau and I'll update the article! Independent Visions: A Critical Introduction to Recent Independent American Film by Donald Lyon Far from the big money movie machine of Hollywood lies the cutting-edge, artistically fresh world of American independent film. These independent filmmakers, working outside the formulas and constraints of the big studios, produce today’s most exciting and innovative movies. In ...

Blue Beetle Rebirth Vol. 1: The More Things Change (Rebirth #1, #1-#6)

2/5 Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle has interested me and been on my reading list for a while. When I first discovered the character watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold , seeing Jaime as a relatable teen arguing with the sentient suit that gives him his powers, his New 52 line had already been cancelled. Then Geoff Johns wrote Rebirth and added a little scene with Jaime Reyes that I thought was both very interesting and promising. In short, Keith Giffen doesn't deliver in this volume until issue #6, where he kind of gives a small splice of what the series could be. Getting the obvious out of the way, the dialogue here is absolutely horrible. I tell myself it feels like a first draft, but then there are moments of repetition and sentences upon sentences of nothing going on. By then, it feels more like a very bloated outline with the characters speaking mostly hot air. The dialogue here isn't flat, it's completely empty. This, in turn, makes all the charac...

Kevin Lau

Search This Blog