Went to see it in the theatres today, all 5 showings were sold out and there was a line along the block a good half hour before it started. Given how low my expectations were set before going in, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The entire theatre was laughing, sometimes to the point where I missed a couple of the jokes.
I thought the opening scenes with Eminem were masterfully done and, as a fan of Veep, it was great seeing Jonad being Jonad in a different context. The movie kind of dragged a bit around the middle (especially the tiger scene which could have been 5 minutes shorter) but it picked up once Skylark and Kim Jong Un started hanging out.
I thought there were a couple of points though that felt a bit off. The finger biting scene, especially, seemed to come from a different movie and served no purpose since Skylark doesn’t even seem aware and it’s never brought up again. The tank crushing the people in the Jeep also seemed extremely tonally off for what was essentially a fun romp.
Also, the comic book nerd in me couldn’t help but notice that the interview still featured camera cuts, even after Aaron and Sook had left the control room! Are we to believe it was some sort of magic control room or something?
All in all, a pleasant movie that I would have been happy to catch on Netflix in a few years were it not for the controversy but I’m glad I dragged my ass to a theatre to see it!
Went to a screening of It’s a Wonderful Life last night and the indy theatre was showing The Interview afterwards (midnight showing). It was a BIG DEAL. News trucks, ENG’s, the host of Screen Junkies, etc., all lined up as we exited the theatre. I half wondered if the whole thing is one big publicity stunt.
Quite a thing to exit a theatre with a bunch of cameramen surrounding you. But I was much more interested in seeing It’s a Wonderful Life.
I’m an easy laugh and I like crude humor so I knew I’d have fun with this one. We just streamed it and laughed almost as much as I did over Pineapple Express and End of the World. Plus it had the added bonus what with the news this made and the odd irony of it all.
Also, it’ll be interesting to see what happens over the weeks with the “box office” and streaming revenue due to this unprecedented release.
I was appalled. At how it was literally about assassinating a real-life world leader (despicable as he may be). Why, really, couldn’t they have made all their political points with some fictionalization *and a made-up name. *
Sony hardly has a leg to stand on when it whines about backlash.
A couple of good laughs, nothing special about this one. Worth watching just to let Kim know what happens if you fuck with the US of A. This movie would have been panned and hardly noticed without the hacking controversy. Have to disagree with the OP, the finger biting portion was the best part of the movie. It really could have been a better comedy, and the same movie could have been made without Franco at all.
It’s about what I expected, on par with This is the End (no surprise, same director, same main actors). At least in that movie, Rogen and Franco were playing themselves… here, they’re trying to play other characters, but not for one moment could I imagine it just wasn’t Rogen and Franco. Still, some good laughs (and also some scenes that fell short).
I just finished it, it seemed like a pretty typical Seth Rogen movie (minus the pot smoking (well, most of the pot smoking, it wasn’t about pot smoking)). As much as I love Lizzie Caplan, she does need to learn to play a different character.
Overall I liked it and if someone else was watching it, I’d have no problem watching it again.
The funny thing is, there’s no real reason why Kim should have had such a major problem with people seeing it, unless he’s just worried about being ‘exposed’, but what they said in this movie happens is said about him day in and day out. What they showed in this movie was no worse, almost tame, compared to how we lampoon our own political leaders weekly on SNL. It’s just part of being famous, at least in this country. Honestly, if it was just released like any other movie I’d guess that most North Koreans would probably never see it or even hear of it.
So, my question is, are Dave and Aaron a couple? They sure seemed like it at the beginning, but only kind of in the middle and at the end it sounded like they lived together. I think what I got is that they’re either bisexual and in an open relationship or straight, but FWB with each other, but stopping before sex (hence the scene out in the field). Or…I just read too far into a very, very close relationship. I assume that was on purpose, sort of a B or C plot just to have something else going on in the background.
I think I’m going to go with the latter, that they’re just very close friends that are a little handsy/flirty with each other but that’s it.
I liked the movie. It was certainly nothing to get all upset about. It was just a comedy and it actually made me laugh, which is hard to do. I’d see it again.
Shame it didn’t get a proper theatrical release, but whatever. It will somehow make money eventually.
The NKs have their sensitivity turned up very high for insults to KJU. A London (I think it was London) barber put up a poster in his window mocking KJU’s haircut and was visited by 2 members of the NK diplomatic mission who ordered him to remove the poster. The barber told them to bugger off, kept the poster up, and told the media about his visit.
I suspect this hypersensitivity is due to KJU being more of a figurehead than the real leader of the DPRK. I think, although it’s probably NEVER said aloud or in any writing, it’s pretty much accepted that KJU is the Supreme Successor because the NK Military finds him useful in that position. I’m pretty sure the geriatrics who surround him when he’s visiting factories and installations and visibly taking copious notes in their spiral notebooks when KJU offers “guidance” pretty much, when they get back to their offices, shred and burn the notes. And it wouldn’t surprise me if some cousin is getting groomed behind the scenes as a potential replacement just in case they need one.
Anyway, I think that Kim Jong Un is certainly laughable. At least Kim Jong Il was groomed by the Eternal Leader himself and was around for a pretty good length of time before taking over. Kim Jong Un just kind of walked into the job about a year or so before his Dad died. He’s totally unqualified.
One thing I noticed was it said it was from Columbia pictures which is a part of Sony. That might be typical , they might not use the Sony name on pictures except for Sony classics which are art/indie films.
Sony’s American entertainment division consists of a major studio (Columbia Pictures) and several brands acquired over the years, including TriStar (originally a Columbia joint venture for TV production) and Screen Gems (Columbia’s former animation division, now used for genre pictures) and Sony Pictures Classics which acquires foreign and indy stuff.
Well, any sort of substantiation or reasoning then.
I think that in most cases the official dictator of a country is also the actual most powerful person in the country. Not every time, but most of the time. I dont really know of any reason to think that isnt true in this case, other than that he is young and fat. But I may be wrong.
Kim Jong-un is as much depraved monster who starves his people into worshipping him like a god as he is a world leader.
Having seen it I don’t think it’s the film depiction of Kim that set him off so much as it is whole palace coup aspect and ordinary North Koreans being shown turning against him. As far Dave’s sexuality goes; it’s just James Franco Adam Westing himself.
