Review: Frat Boys, Frat Boys Everywhere...

**********SPOILER ALERT!!!!!**********

So, this post is going to contain spoilers about the new Seth Rogen/Zac Efron comedy Neighbors. If you haven't seen Neighbors, I recommend that you do not continue to read this post. If, you have seen Neighbors or you don't really care, then of course, continue at your own risk...

Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of the R-rated comedy. Crude, sexual humour is not really my thing, as I am not a 20 something year old boy. And that's okay, I'm not really the demographic that they're aiming for anyway. Now, with that being said, I saw Neighbors because I have heard really great things about it, and because of Zac Efron. 

I am a big fan of Zac Efron, and am glad to see that he is branching out and trying new things. While I am not a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks movies (even though I manage to somehow see all of them!), he was a real bright spot in The Lucky One and I also enjoyed That Awkward Moment with Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan. This news that Marvel may be courting him to be their new "heartthrob" is interesting, so we'll see what happens with that.

Conversely, I am not a real fan of Seth Rogen. I did not care for Knocked Up and just recently saw Pineapple Express, which I thought was okay. I did, however, really, really like Paul, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, but that may be because he was only a voice. (Although, I will admit, I actually really liked the guest spot that he did on The Mindy Project last year. He was very charming and adorable).

That being said, I really liked this movie. It was actually quite charming and I think that there was a quite a bit of character development throughout. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play characters at a cross roads in their life. That space between being young, hip adults and boring, responsible parents. Their chemistry, as a married couple who are new parents to the cutest baby in the world, was great. And the way that their relationship was portrayed was refreshing. It was nice to see a comedy where the wife of the main character isn't such a nagging, whiny bitch that you wonder what he ever saw in her in the first place. Their relationship was a partnership, much like it would be in real life. They were a united front against the world. And Rose Byrne was amazing. It was great to see her actually get to use her natural Australian accent and nice to see her comedic side. She usually plays either more serious roles or the straight man, so it was nice to see her let loose a little bit. The breastfeeding scene was very unexpected and very intimate, and she just went for it. Kudos to her for putting herself out there, both literally and figuratively.

Zac Efron, as the head of the frat, was also an interesting character. He should have been the bad guy, the jerk with no regard or respect for anyone else. But he wasn't. He was actually an interesting character, with a number of layers, that made him surprisingly multi-dimensional and little bit sympathetic. His Teddy is a boy on the cusp of manhood, who wasn't quite sure what to do next. He's a compassionate young man who let's his pride and sense of honour get the best of him.

The problems start when, after partying with the frat boys one night, Mac and Kelly (Rogen and Byrne) break their promise to not call the police later on, when the noise gets out of control. The neighbors then go to war with one another, each trying to out do the other in the hopes that one of them will finally break and give in by moving out. The gags and jokes are quite humorous, culminating in a hilarious fight between Efron and Rogen near the end of the film. The final scene, outside Abercrombie & Fitch is also extremely amusing.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie and would recommend it. Again, it is nice to see Zac Efron branching out from the mainstream "romantic lead" trap that many attractive Hollywood men get sucked into. It was also good to see Seth Rogen doing something where he wasn't actually the stoner for once. This movie was way more entertaining then I expected and had way more heart and depth than movies like this one usually do. Kudos to director Nicholas Stoller for bringing more to the party than just a few penis jokes.

Random Bits From The Week That Was...

So, here's my take on the random bits of news that I ran across this week, and was either too lazy to post about, or didn't require a full blog post to discuss....


Zack Snyder unveils the Batmobile...

Earlier this week, Zack Snyder hinted, via twitter, that it might be time for the tarp to be lifted. His tweet, accompanied by a photo of a tarp covered Batmobile, sent the internet into a tizzy. Not quite the tizzy, of course, that was caused the next day, when the picture he released was not only of the Batmobile, but a very buff and intense looking Ben Affleck as Batman. Now, I have not been a huge fan of this project from the outset, as I think that Superman deserves his own sequel... one that doesn't involve other Justice League characters and plots. As much as I didn't like the first Man of Steel, (it's not like I hated it or anything... I just think it had a lot of issues and they made it hard for me to love it). I still think that Supes is getting a bad wrap. That being said, Ben Affleck looks amazing! The black and white photo that was released is absolutely stunning! (I would frame and hang that guy on my wall!) The image invokes a tone and a feeling that I don't think all of us were expecting. While I wasn't a huge fan of the casting of Affleck at the time, upon further contemplation, I have come around to the idea. It's definitely going to be interesting, to say the least.


Channing Tatum is the new Gambit...

This news makes me less excited. While I like Channing Tatum and think that he's really grown as an actor over the last few year, I honestly don't see this as a good fit. I agree with Kristian Harloff over at The Schmoes Know, who thinks that the character is not well enough known by the general public to be played by such a popular actor. The audience is not going to see Remi LeBeau on the big screen, they are going to see Channing Tatum. And, if I'm being perfectly frank, I can't see him mastering Gambit's Cajun drawl, either. I personally believe that, while the movie wasn't well received (although I really liked it!), that the powers that be should have stuck with Taylor Kitsch, who played the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The issue with that incarnation of Gambit were not Kitsch's fault and I do think that he's a better actor than Tatum, overall. I think that the recast will be kind of confusing and I think it was completely unnecessary.


Neighbours kicks the crap out of TASM2 at the box office...

Okay, so it didn't exactly kick the crap out of it, but it did do some damage. In it's second week, TASM2 fell behind the Seth Rogan/Zac Efron comedy Neighbours, which debuted last weekend. Neighbours opened with a strong $49M domestically, surprising both the studio and forecasters alike. Dropping a whopping 61%, The Amazing Spiderman 2 brought in only $35.5M domestically in it's second weekend out. (Although, honestly, Sony can't be happy with the $92M it made in it's opening weekend, as that didn't even top the opening weekend numbers put up by the far superior Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Although it is being pulled along by the foreign markets, with stiff competition being released in the next few weeks, this movie might be hard pressed to top the box office results of the first Amazing Spiderman. Sony has got to be disappointed in these results. As of now, it is still trailing behind The Lego Movie and The Winter Soldier in regards to overall box office totals. It'll be interesting to see if it will surpass them or not, and what happens to Spiderman's numbers once both Godzilla and Days of Future Past are released in the next couple of weeks.


TV Trailers galore are dropped...

So, with the up-fronts done by all the major networks over the last few days, all kinds of juicy tidbits about the upcoming TV season have been dropped. The trailer for Gotham, debuting on Fox in the fall, looks amazing. The story of a young Detective Jim Gordon as he starts on the Gotham City police force, it's looks to be an origin story of sorts, of not only Batman, but all of his arch villains, as well. I was a little less enthused about the trailer for Constantine, debuting on NBC in the fall. Although the trailer looks interesting, this one I will have to watch a few episodes of first to fully get the tone and a feel for the series. The CW released a teaser and a full 5 minute trailer for their upcoming Flash series. The story of Barry Allen and his transformation into The Flash, this one is a spin-off of the CW's Arrow. The trailer looks fantastic, and I am optimistic, since the showrunners are virtually the same, that this will have the same kind of tone and feel as the aforementioned Arrow, which if you're not watching already, you really should be! Of course, there are many more bits and pieces out there on all the new shows that are coming, but these ones were the ones that caught my attention the most. I guess we'll see how everything looks in the fall. Usually, the ones you're looking forward to the most are disappointing and the shows that really catch your attention weren't even on your radar. Only time will tell on these ones.


Marvel's looking for a heart-throb...

So, apparently, Marvel is looking to shore up it's superhero properties, in the looks department, anyway, and has Zac Efron in mind to fill that position. I am actually a huge fan of Efron and think that he's a really solid actor. While I'm not adverse to this idea, I do think that it is almost the same issue as with Channing Tatum playing Gambit. I'm not sure if Zac Efron is too big to play a superhero or not. Rumour has it that Marvel is courting him to play one of it's heroes on their new Netflix Defenders adventure, so it will be interesting to see if there is any truth to it. I'm not sure that, at this point in his career and with the huge success of Neighbours, that Efron would be willing to take a part on TV, even if it is on Netflix. I guess we'll know soon enough, as the plan is for the first 13 episode run, rumoured to be Daredevil, to be released next summer. 


Roberto Orci confirmed as director of Star Trek 3...

So, looks like Paramount is willing to gamble with the future of their Star Trek franchise. It was finally confirmed that writer/producer extraordinaire, Roberto Orci, will be helming the next Star Trek movie. With JJ Abrams off to direct a little flick entitled Star Wars Episode VII, Orci lobbied hard to be given this project. Paramount finally made it's decision and decided to give the $200M project to a guy who has never directed anything before, in his whole entire life. Seriously, not even a commercial or a sitcom episode. Nothing. While I actually really like Orci's work (I have been a fan since he and Alex Kurtzman began writing for Hercules and Xena in the 90's), I'm not sure that this is the right move for either him or the studio. While he knows this world inside and out, having written the screenplays for the first two movies, it is a lot of pressure for a first time director. I really hope that it all works out, as I love the new Trek franchise. It'll be interesting to see what happens.


And finally, the first trailer of Interstellar drops...

So, today, the first official trailer for Christopher Nolan's hugely anticipated film, Interstellar, dropped. And boy is it amazing. There has been a lot of secrecy surrounding this project, building the anticipation to astronomical levels. And, given the fact that it's Nolan's follow-up to the spectacular Inception (the Dark Knight trilogy was not my favourite!), a lot is riding on it. From the looks of this trailer, I think it is going to live up to the hype. While it is easy to get excited for a trailer, only to be disappointed by the final product (Michael Bay, anyone?), I have a feeling that there is no reason to worry in this case. My goal now is to try and avoid any further promotional information in regards to this one, as I want to go in with no pre-conceived notions or preconceptions. We'll see how that works out! :)

So, these were the news items that caught my fancy this week... although there were many, many more exciting tid-bits that were dropped about all kinds of projects going on out there. Check out the sources that I use for my movie and television news... I promise, you won't regret it!

www.schmoesknow.com

www.youtube.com/AMCtheatres