Observe and Report Impressions

Hey look, I’m talking about a comedy for once. Well, this is technically a comedy, just extremely dark. Set Rogen stars as a mall cop in this movie released around the same time as another movie about a mall cop, Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Unlike Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Observe and Report is actually funny. Evidently that wasn’t enough to make it stand out, as it is one of lowest performing movies in terms of box office receipts for Seth Rogen. That isn’t awesome at all, considering this is one of his best performances that I’ve seen. His character Ronnie has some deep psychological issues that haven’t really been entirely worked out. It also doesn’t help that he still lives with his mom. There really is a lot more to his character, but if I say anything else, it might spoil something for you. Trust me on this.

A consequence of Rogen’s character is that a lot of comedy seems out of place. Like I said, this move is seriously dark, borderline depressing. One of the supporting characters, Dennis (played by Michael Peña), keeps it from being to dark thankfully. Every scene with Dennis is wonderful,  especially one in particular,  where he and and Ronnie assault some skateboarders. Peña is an amazing actor who really should be more well known. It really was a shame he didn’t get more screen time. Ray Liotta and Anna Faris also perform admirably here.
One issue I do have with this movie is that the plot seemed to wrap itself up a little too neatly.
Because it is so dark, this movie is not for everyone, even if the comedy is expertly done. But, if you are a fan of Seth Rogen, this is definitely worth your time.

Calvary, or Oh My God, That Was Kind of Depressing

The fact that I’m willing to drive the hour it takes to get to Fort Collins to go see a movie says a lot about my priorities. The fact that I have to drive an hour to be able to see a lot of movies says a lot about Wyoming. Trade off of unbelievably cheap tuition I guess. Anyways, I’m sure you’re wondering what this has to do with movies. At this point in this blog’s life you are most likely coming to this page because I begged you to over Facebook or Twitter. Thank you for taking the time to click on this by the way. At any rate, on one of these trips I went to go see Calvary.

It stars Brendan Gleeson as a priest who gets a death threat. I was first introduced to Gleeson while watching In Bruges and he impressed me there. (I’m going to have to do a write up on In Bruges; it’s probably my favorite comedy of all time) In this movie, he is downright amazing. He plays a truly good man, something rarely seen in today’s media. Most characters are antiheros of some type. This character, Father James, is not perfect though. Some of his actions cause him to get beat up. Alcohol can do that to you. He is a human character, full of faults, but trying to do his best to fix them.

The supporting cast in this movie is phenomenal as well. They are not good people though. Most of them are downright assholes. The best by far among them is Dylan Moran as Michael Fitzgerald, a millionaire whose family has left him. Father James has a few interactions with him, including a hilarious scene where Fitzgerald pees on a priceless painting to prove that he doesn’t care about his money. Other characters include James’s daughter Fiona, a socially maladjusted young man named Milo (His conversations with James are downright hilarious), an atheist doctor Frank Hart, and an enigmatic writer, among others. They are all extremely well written and well-acted.

Calvary is technically impressive as well. The cinematography is amazing, with a muted color palette and beautiful shots of the Irish coast. The editing is spot on as well. The director, John Michael McDonagh did a great job with this movie as a whole. It’s one of my favorites so far this year.

You aren’t going to have to worry about spoilers here by the way. I don’t want to ruin this for you. The storytelling is unbelievably good. This movie changes from comedic to serious, then back to comedic in very short order. Even at a very tense scene towards the end, it throws its hilarious writing at you. It doesn’t make the drama any less cheap either. The ending is extremely depressing, yet moving. It’s extremely hard to explain without spoiling so just trust me.

I went down to Fort Collins expecting a good movie, but what I got was a near masterpiece. It blew me away. Calvary had me laughing harder at a movie than I have in a while, as well as near tears. It’s hard to find movies that balance comedy with tragedy so well.