The World's End

For their latest film, director Edgar Wright and co-writer/star Simon Pegg reach the end of their "Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy." The World's End, that is.

Gary King (Pegg) is a 40-year old slacker who once walked the Golden Mile in his hometown of Newton Haven. On that night, he and his chums crawled across 12 pubs...but crashed and burned before they got to the last one, The World's End. His chums, Peter (Eddie Marsan), Oliver (Martin Freeman), Steven (Paddy Considine) and Andrew (Nick Frost), have adult lives and responsibilities. Gary, who has none, gets them back together to finish what they started.

Out of drunken stupidity, Gary picks a fight with some local boys. They turn out to be alien robots. In fact, the whole town is populated by these robot "blanks." Gary decides he's got better things to do than be assimilated and leads his chums across the mile. But they'll have to bust some robot heads along the way.

It's essentially a modern day spoof of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It maybe fun, but when it gets tense, you'll really feel it. But it's still fun.

Much of the film works thanks to the cast. As "The King," Pegg is a likable slacker, the type of man you'd like to see have fun. As Andrew, Frost starts the film uptight, which makes him losing his inhibitions funnier. Their chemistry with the supporting cast is fun. One of their best scenes has them confront the leader of the robots (Bill Nighy).

Wright and Pegg's screenplay maintains a wacky tone as things get bizarre. When it gets serious, you'll feel for these characters just as much as you enjoy them. Its final twist is darkly comedic and might throw off the most unprepared viewers.

If you're prepared for bizarre times at the movies, The World's End is for you. It'll be the best fun you'll have seeing some guys drink themselves to oblivion.

The Butler

Now, we're getting to the point where the Oscar movies show themselves. One of the biggest out now is the real-life story The Butler...

Excuse me.

Lee Daniels' The Butler. Thanks a lot, Warner Bros.

Shorthand or longhand, this film is about Eugene Allen, a black man who spent over 30 years in the White House staff. Allen, who rose from "pantry man" to head butler, is represented by Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker).

After a harsh childhood in the South, Cecil finds security working at Washington DC hotels. Eventually, he joins the White House staff and learns the ropes from Freddie Fallows (Colman Domingo). He gets to know the Presidents well during events such as the Civil Rights Movement. At home, he and his wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) have to deal with their radical son Louis (David Oyelowo).

Directed by Lee Daniels, obviously, Danny Strong's screenplay was based on Wil Haywood's article A Butler Well Served By This Election. It's a screenplay that provides a great perspective into historical events. It's helped by Whitaker's sympathetic performance as Gaines. He may appear submissive to others, but really, his strength against adversity is just as good as the Civil Rights Marchers. Amongst his supporting cast, Winfrey and Oyelowo stand out immensely.

The Makeup Department, headed by Debra Denson, also deserves mention. They convincingly age Whitaker, Winfrey and Oyelowo over the years; especially so with Oyelowo, who's 37, and he begins the movie as a teenager. Alan Rickman and Jane Fonda, as the Reagans, convincingly look like their real life counterparts. John Cusack, as Richard Nixon, did not, though he at least sounds like him.

The Butler is both funny and serious, sometimes in the same scene. It's a great feel-good movie about an upstanding man. This is one history lesson you should check out.

Elysium

In his directorial debut, Neill Blomkamp made the allegorical Sci-Fi film District 9. His newest work, Elysium, is also an allegorical Sci-Fi movie. It's certainly one of the best blockbusters without a bloated budget around.

In the far future, Earth is a mess. Meanwhile, the filthy rich get to live on the space station Elysium. Its technology can cure anything from cancer to broken bones. Their idle way of life is violently protected by the evil Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hired gun, Kruger (Sharlto Copley).

On Earth, ex-con turned factory worker Max Da Costa (Matt Damon) has an accident on the job. As a result, he'll die of radiation poisoning in five days. The only way to save him is to go to Elysium. With an old buddy, Spider (Wagner Moura), Max gets equipped with a robotic exoskeleton. In exchange, Max has to get sensitive information from Delacourt's cohort, Carlyle (William Fichtner). Their plan gets complicated once they discover that Delacourt's planning to take over Elysium.

It's not in 3D, though if you're lucky, you can see it in IMAX. Either way, you'll still see some visual splendor. It's especially so with the eponymous space station. Its Earth scenes, filmed in Mexico City, portray a sprawling Los Angeles. The shear size of both environments are wonderful collaborations of production design and cinematography.

Blomkamp's script mixes in social commentary that sometimes goes to dark comedy. It's a thrilling Sc-Fi movie that gives its audience a lot to think about. It also provides a formidable villain in Kruger, played wonderfully by Copley. Elysium works on so many levels, although its graphic violence may repulse some viewers.

Elysium is sure to provide some great late summer fun. In fact, it's sure to provide some great summer fun period. It was just that good.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

It took a while, a lot longer than some page-to-screen adaptations take for sequels. But now, Rick Riordan's boy hero, Percy Jackson, has a second movie. It's called Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, and unlike the first film, this one is available in 3D.

Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is the Demigod son of Poseidon, God of the Seas. In the last installment, The Lightning Thief, he saved Mount Olympus and the World from Divine in-fighting. Now, he's wondering whether or not he's really a stand-out hero. He's now at Camp Halfblood, the Olympian summer-camp, where he's met a new rival named Clarisse (Leven Rambin), daughter of Ares.

But Percy's real enemy is Luke (Jake Abel), deranged son of Hermes. Luke and his cronies have broken down Camp Halfblood's magical barrier tree. As a result, all sorts of monsters can cause trouble. The only thing that can fix the tree is the Golden Fleece, located within the Bermuda Triangle, the eponymous Sea of Monsters. Percy and his friends, some new, some old, have to set sail to get the fleece. Luke, meanwhile, has another use in mind for the fleece...

(Let me catch my breath.)

(So, anyway...)

At 106 minutes, the film goes by pretty fast. Fortunately, it gets to the points rather well. As a result, it's a fun movie to watch. Part of the fun is from Percy's supporting cast, which includes Stanley Tucci as Dionysus. 

Through visual effects, the filmmakers create some good monsters and Divine powers. A fine example was Percy and friends' ride on a magical Taxi cab driven by the blind Graeae. Their appearances were realized by great makeup effects; if CGI was involved, I didn't notice it.

Some might complain about it being not like the book. Those who haven't read the books might get thrown off. A few monster introductions confused me, so I can see the latter issue in effect. But I won't complain much about the former issue.

That's because Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is a suitably entertaining late summer blockbuster. If all you want is a good time with Greek Mythology, this certainly won't disappoint.

The Smurfs 2

Smurfing smurfness. The Smurfs are back on the smurf-screen. As with the first smurf movie, The Smurfs 2 is in smurfing 3D and smurftacular flatscreen. But then again, a smurf of movies are available like that.

Don't mind me. Just smurfing.

This smurffest begins by recapping the origins of Smurfette (Katy Perry). To put it smurfing short, she was created by the evil Gargamel (Hank Azaria) and turned good by Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters). Speaking of Gargamel, he's in Paris, where he's the star of his own real life magic show. But he's smurfing low on Smurf essence, the source of his magical powers. To remedy this, he creates the Naughties, Vexy (Christina Ricci) and Hackus (J.B. Smoove), to nab Smurfette. Afterwards, he'll get the formula that turned Smurfette good and an unlimited supply of Smurfs.

Not unless Papa Smurf, a few of his fellow Smurfs, and their human allies, the Winslows, can stop him.

This film is certainly a mixed bag. A new character, Victor (Brendan Gleeson), starts off as completely obnoxious and annoying, but ends up sympathetic. Gargamel, and the cartoonish injuries he endures, provided the film's best laughs. Meanwhile, some of the other jokes fall just flat. This was definitely made for little kids; there's no doubt about that.

It does get more tolerable in the end, so that's a plus. But unlike the first Smurfs, I wasn't sufficiently entertained by this sequel. Perhaps you'll like this better than me.

Though, if they do make a movie about Gargamel getting cartoonishly injured, and that's all there was, I'd probably see that.