True Story (2015)

True Story is based on the true story (never would have seen that coming) of Christian Longo. I have seen Jonah Hill and James Franco take on non- comedic roles before and i know they are great at what they do, especially Franco. I never would have expected the duo who interacted in This is the End to take on these roles, especially together. The trailer was great and i was on board although early reviews made it seem like maybe i wouldn't be able to take them seriously. Well my worries were put to rest and i will explain exactly what my thoughts are.

Jonah Hill plays Mike Finkel of the New York Times. When he is fired for making things up in his article for dramatic effect he receives a mysterious phone call and finds out convicted murderer Christian Longo (James Franco) has been using his identity. This leads Finkel to meet Longo in prison who asks him to publish his side of the story. Finkel starts to believe that Longo could be more innocent than he seems, but is this the case? That is one of the things i really like about this film.

The Interview (2014)

The recent political controversy regarding this film will be the only thing to keep it relevant a year from now. The interview spits Katy Perry references, in fact references to a song of hers that was charting back in 2010. It throws a bunch of Lord of the Rings references. "Haters gonna hate" is an actual line in this movie! I have not heard that meme in years. This movie already feels irrelevant at the time of its release.

This movie is rather easy to sum up, because there have been any untold number of movies like it the past decade. Sure, the plot may be about killing a Korean dictator, but with these types of movies, the plot never really even matters. The whole point of this movie is to get cheap laughs with boners, toilet humor, sex jokes, drugs, and slap stick. This is YET ANOTHER movie where grown men depicted as regular American guys parade around acting like the sorriest most stupid a-holes on the face of the planet.

I really wanted to hate The Interview but I must admit, it's got its moments of hilarity. By all accounts, this movie probably should never have been green lit. While Kim Jun Un is the face of evil these days, writing and producing an over the top farce about assassinating a sitting dictator is still a terrible idea however you look at it. Seth Rogan plays the straight man in The Interview and he is, indeed, pretty good at this brand of base humor. James Franco, on the other hand, tends to overact, but then again, his entire life has been one big over-act. Perhaps some other comedic actor would have actually been a better choice than Franco - a smarmy Bill Murray or what about quirky Owen Wilson or Steve Carrell - I'm sure they were all busy and passed - ultimately the wisest choice.