BEFORE: Learning that there were not one but TWO apocalypse-theme films released in 2013, within just days of each other, both starring Craig Robinson - well, that's just like organizational catnip to me. I couldn't resist putting them next to each other. And as you might surmise from the title, this was SUPPOSED to be the arbitrary stopping point for this project - at one point I had just enough films on the watchlist to make this be the ever-lovin' end, in form as well as in name. But time moved forward, more films got added to the list, and mathematically it became impossible to stop here - but it still remained the stopping point for the year, from a thematic point of view.
This was RUMORED to be the final film ever rented from Blockbuster Video, before that company went out of business. It's a nice story, but it wasn't true. How would someone even know that, anyway, considering how many stores there were in the chain? Was there some sort of centralized computer that logs in rentals from hundreds of locations, and who's to say two movies couldn't be rented at the exact same time, in which case which one is really last? Don't believe the hype...
AFTER: This is the film where Seth Rogen, James Franco and a bunch of other actors play themselves, or rather un-idealized versions of themselves, confronted by the rapture and the apocalypse going on around them. Makes sense, since if you believe in the Book of Revelation, Hollywood will probably be toast, being the hotbed of liberalism and egotism and self-serving attitudes that it is. You know those creative types, a bunch of spoiled, rich, self-serving and self-obsessed drug fiends, am I right?
Again, one hopes that these actors are merely poking fun at their own images, or are aware of what the public thinks of them, and took an opportunity to make comedy out of it and laugh at themselves at the same time. If not, then this is just a chance to put themselves on display in all their own self-obsessed glory, and they've ended up proving their own point. But let's assume the former for the sake of argument.
There's a party at James Franco's house, and drugs are involved, and wild sex is involved, and then in the middle of everything, the rapture happens. Big shock, no one at the party is affected, not at first, because they're all heathens. Like last night's film, this portrays what happens to those left behind in the post-rapture world, who have to deal with the hell that Earth has become. Fire, demons, demonic possession, looting, cannibalism, and just a general feeling of "Oh, fuck, what do we do now?"
The answer, of course, is panic. But once the panic subsides and everyone has a better handle on what's going on, perhaps more panic is in order. But THEN, it turns out that the Rapture might not be the end of it all, and heaven might not be closed for business, it just requires an act of sacrifice to get beamed up there.
This is all supremely silly, right? I mean, is the world going to end with a bang or a whimper? Is there going to be the bright light leading to the heavenly choir, or are we just going to all die because of a plague or a virus or a zombie attack? If the end is nigh, will it bring pain or pleasure or neither? And can we all get past this silly nature that we'll ascend into heaven? I mean, "Up" is a relative direction, right? My "up" isn't the same vector as the "up" for someone in China or Australia, their "up" points in different ways. So where is heaven, if it exists, since the Earth is surrounded by "up"?
I am liking that the Biblical endtimes are now largely portrayed in the same way that sci-fi monster movies are. The Book of Revelation was really like the first doomsday science-fiction ever written, or maybe if we count all religion as fantasy, then the Greek or Egyptian mythologies were the first examples of science fiction. Am I way off base here?
Of course, since it turns out this wasn't the last film rented from Blockbuster, it wasn't the end of video rentals, and it's not the end of my project either. I'll take a few weeks off and get some other stuff done, like finally organizing my comic books, and getting ready for the holidays. Wow, I'm kind of wasting a film with a lot of linkage on my last slot of the year - since I'll start in January with a clean slate. I'll get a 2014 wrap-up written sometime in the next week or so, detailing what I learned this year.
Also starring Seth Rogen (last seen in "50/50"), Jay Baruchel (last seen in "Goon"), James Franco (last seen in "Oz the Great and Powerful"), Jonah Hill (last seen in "Django Unchained"), Danny McBride (last heard in "Kung Fu Panda 2"), Michael Cera (last seen in "Youth in Revolt"), Emma Watson (last seen in "My Week with Marilyn"), with cameos from Mindy Kaling (last seen in "No Strings Attached"), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (last seen in "Kick-Ass 2"), Paul Rudd (last seen in "This Is 40"), Jason Segel (ditto), Martin Starr, Channing Tatum (last seen in "The Vow"), Rihanna, David Krumholtz, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, and the Backstreet Boys.
RATING: 4 out of 10 bottles of water
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