There are some subjects in life that are very serious subjects and you never know the impact that they have on people because we are all wired differently. One of those subjects that is tough to deal with is the topic of divorce which is very commonplace today. Today’s film A.C.O.D. (Adult Children Of Divorce) deals with the subject matter, but in a different way. Carter (Adam Scott) has been dealing with life in his very own way. Carter is a child of a very ugly divorce who has constantly been in the middle. Fats forward and he is an adult who hears that his brother Trey (Clark Duke) is getting married and he wants his parents to attend even though they hate each other. Carter has to figure out how to get them together in one room, but when he does and he finds out that they’ve hooked back up as a result, his life begins to spin out of control. The film also stars Richard Jenkins (Step Brothers) as Hugh, Catherine O’Hara (Home Alone) as Melissa, Amy Poehler (Sisters) as Sondra, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) as Lauren, Ken Howard (The Judge) as Gary, Valerie Tian (Juno) as Kieko, Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four) as Michelle, Jane Lynch (40 Year Old Virgin) as Dr. Judith, and the film was directed by Stu Zicherman (The Americans).
To say the least, this was a very interesting and entertaining film to watch for today. I had actually been putting this one off for a while now and due to some unforeseen circumstances decided to finally see it. I have been becoming a huge fan of Adam Scott, I can definitely appreciate his style of acting and what he brings to the table. It was cool to see him work with some of his familiar co-stars like Richard Jenkins (on Step Brothers) and Clark Duke (on Hot Tub Time Machine 2) because you can see that they possess a chemistry that is established. Jane Lynch is absolutely amazing in the film and very important to the plot. You see Carter discovers that all the years of therapy he thought he was getting was just research for a book that Lynch’s character writes. She then explains to him that she is writing a sequel to the book and that she has called it A.C.O.D. (Adult Children Of Divorce). It’s because of that and the fact that his parents have hooked up again that has thrown his life into chaos. There was just too much to write to put it above so now you have the rest of it. The film is listed as a comedy, but I call it a smart persons comedy cause it’s not a stupid comedy. That is why I enjoyed the film and loved seeing Jessica Alba (loved her look in the film) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade. It’s available on Netflix right now.
I was looking for something to watch today and I saw that Epix Drive In was having an 80’s takeover weekend. So out of all the movies they were showing today and tonight, She’s Having A Baby is the only one I hadn’t seen. The film stars Kevin Bacon (Footloose) and 
There is nothing I love more in this world than Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express) and comedies that he is involved in. So, naturally when I saw that The Night Before was available to rent, I definitely jumped on the opportunity to watch it. Issac (Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) have been spending the last ten Christmases with their friend Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) ever since his parents passed away. The only problem is that things change and people grow up, but Ethan hasn’t it while the other two have moved on. Now, it’s the last Christmas the three friends are ever going to spend together and they’re going to be spending it at a ball that they’ve been trying to get into for the last ten years, but will they make it in one piece? The film also stars Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street) as Betsy, Lizzy Caplan (Hot Tub Time Machine) as Diana, Heléne Yorke (Masters Of Sex) as Cindy, Mindy Kaling (Inside Out) as Sarah, Michael Shannon (Man Of Steel) as Mr. Green, Ilana Glazer (Broad City) as Rebecca Grinch, James Franco (Pineapple Express) as James Franco, Tracy Morgan (Cop Out) as the Narrator, and the film was written and directed by Jonathan Levine (50/50).
I want to start this paragraph out by saying that this film reminds me of why I loved Seth Rogen movies in the first place. Seth Rogen on drugs equals some of the funniest moments of a film because he plays it so well. When he is freaking out on shrooms in the film is some of the funniest material and his interaction with James Franco is priceless. This film could seriously be the new Christmas classic that we have all been looking for since Home Alone or Die Hard, and Big which are both mentioned in the film (almost like an homage). The film even manages to fit in some Scrooge kind of stuff with Michael Shannon playing essentially the ghost of Christmas past, present, and future all in the form of a drug dealing Great Gatsby. Believe me, it will all make sense to you once you watch the film for yourself. One of the funniest scenes in the whole film is the church scene with Seth Rogen, couldn’t stop laughing it was so funny and what a great choice to play his wife in the film in Jillian Bell who is pretty funny in the film. Listen, you know exactly what you are getting from a Seth Rogen comedy, there is nothing smart about it other than that it’s just funny. You have to naturally have a sense of humor to love comedies like this and I have to say that this should’ve been a hit at the box office. The addition of Mackie and Levitt were icing on the cake ad the chemistry between the three was there and it just felt natural. The film is available online and in Redbox so check it out if you need some good laughs. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.
For today’s 365 Movies In 365 Days challenge film, I wanted to choose a film that the late, great David Bowie (Labyrinth) starred in that I had not seen yet to help celebrate his legacy. I stumbled upon the Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas) directed 1988 film The Last Temptation Of Christ which stars Willem Dafoe (Platoon) as Jesus Christ in this fictional take on his life and the teachings of the bible. The film was based off of a book that was written by Nikos Kazantzakis that explores all the trials and tribulations of Jesus Christ as he journeys through life wondering what his purpose is, what exactly does God want from him, and his last temptation while on the cross. The film also stars Harvey Keitel (From Dusk Till Dawn) as Judas, Barbara Hershey (Falling Down) as Mary Magdalene, Steve Shill (Dexter) as Centurian, Verna Bloom (Animal House) as Mary, Roberts Blossom (Home Alone) as Aged Master, Barry Miller (Saturday Night Fever) as Jeroboam, Gary Basaraba (The Smurfs) as Andrew, Apostle, Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back) as Zebedee, Victor Argo (Taxi Driver) as Peter, Apostle, Paul Herman (American Hustle) as Phillip, David Bowie as Pontius Pilot, and Andre Gregory (Demolition Man) as John The Baptist.
This must have been one of the ballsiest films to come out in 1988 and it must have insulted Christians everywhere at the time. I an only imagine seeing images of Jesus not knowing what he is talking about and saying that if I just open my mouth God will speak for me. One sequence that must have pissed off Christians everywhere is the idea that a guardian angel comes down and saves him from the cross and he goes on to live a long life with a wife and children until the rude awakening comes. I am not the biggest Willem Dafoe fan in the world, but I give the man props for have the guts to do the film and for his performance. What the film does for people is that it dumbs down the bible so that everyone can get it. It shows you that he was human after all and he went through the same emotions that we did. They keep a lot of the historical information in the film, but they twist it around a little bit. One scene that I thought was powerful was during the last temptation when Jesus confronts a man preaching about him and his death even though he is alive. Jesus tells him to stop the lies, but the man (played by Harry Dean Stanton) tells him that he refuses to stop because his version of Jesus dying on the cross is a lot better and people will believe that story to give them hope than to know that he was still alive. When I saw that scene, I was shocked and could only think of the word wow. If you can look past that the film is almost three hours long, that they say it’s fiction right from the start, then you should be able to enjoy this great piece of art. I am giving the film an A- for a final grade because the cinematography is great, the sets were amazing, and the soundtrack was very good as well.
Another simple case of nothing else on television and not enough time to view anything. Believe it or not, I actually avoided this movie for about this long, but I decided to check out Superstar. The film was a huge skit on Saturday Night Live and it starred Molly Shannon (Never Been Kissed) as Mary Katherine Gallagher, a high school girl with lots of issues. All Mary wants to do in life is get her first kiss from the high school hunk in Sky Corrigan (Will Farrell). She figures that is she wins the talent show at her catholic school which guarantees you a role as an extra in film that she will get her first kiss, but she’ll have some pretty hefty obstacles in her way from her bully. The film also stars Elaine Hendrix (The Parent Trap) as Evian, Harland Williams (Half Baked) as Slater, Mark McKinney (Kids In The Hall) as Father Ritley, Glynis Johns (Mary Poppins) as Grandma, Jason Blicker (The Day After Tomorrow) as Howard, Gerry Bamman (Home Alone) as Father John, Emmy Laybourne (Mystery Men) as Helen, Jennifer Irwin (The Gate) as Maria, Tom Green (Freddy Got Fingered) as Dylan, and the film was directed by Bruce McCulloch (Stealing Harvard).
Looking back on this film, I believe the skits on Saturday Night Live were a lot better than the film. In my opinion, this was one of those cases where the film wasn’t as great as the skits. Don’t get me wrong, the film had some memorable quotes and some funny scenes, but it just wasn’t laugh out loud funny. I like the fact though that it seemed like a fusion between SNL and Kids In The Hall (which was a great TV skit show in its own right) with an actor and director from the series combined with actors and a skit from SNL. Molly Shannon of course emboddied the role of Mary Katherine Gallagher as it was her role entirely from the get go, but I have to say that I loved seeing Will Farrell more as Jesus than Sky Corrigan. Anytime he showed up as Jesus, I thought it was hilarious and I couldn’t get enough of it. Tom Green is his typical self in the movie where he goes a little over the top in what he does, but I miss Tom Green. I don’t really have much else to say about the movie so I’ll cut to the chase and give the film it’s grade. I am going to give this movie a B- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 