Paul

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) are two English comic book nerds and best friends who have travelled to The United States to attend the annual San Diego Comic-Con International and to take a road trip in their recreational vehicle (RV) to visit all the sites of major extraterrestrial importance. At night along the highway they investigate a crashed car and they meet and discover an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) who is in desperate need of their help. Although shocked by the appearance of Paul, Graeme agrees to give Paul a ride, but Clive is not happy about the idea. Later, Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman), a shady government agent, arrives at the site of the crashed car and informs his mysterious female superior over the radio that he’s closing in on Paul, and she recommends using local law enforcement as back-up. Zoil then recruits two inept FBI agents, Haggard (Bill Hader) and O’Reilly (Joe Lo Truglio), to aid in his mission, without telling them the nature of their target.

Graeme, Clive and Paul pull into a motor park run by Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig), a Christian fundamentalist, and her controlling father, Moses (John Carroll Lynch). The trio bond around their campgrill and Paul reveals that since he was captured by the government, he had been advising them in all manner of scientific and sociological achievements. Yet Paul had outlived his usefulness as a receptacle of knowledge, and his captors were intending to surgically remove Paul’s brain in an attempt to harness his abilities. With help from a friend inside Area 51, Paul sent an S.O.S. to his home planet, and he was escaping to meet up with them. The next morning, Paul inadvertently reveals himself to Ruth, and the trio are forced to kidnap her and make a hasty escape. Paul then shatters Ruth’s faith by sharing his knowledge of the universe via telepathic link; at first horrified, Ruth suddenly becomes eager to sin, which her father had raised her to fear doing. She initially doesn’t trust Paul, but he heals her eye, as she has been blind in it since the age of four.

Eventually, Paul reveals his intention to return to the girl whose dog he crashed his ship on in 1947 and who subsequently saved his life, who is now an old woman, Tara Walton (Blythe Danner). After spending her life being ridiculed for what she said she saw, Tara seems grateful to see that Paul simply exists. She turns her gas cooker on to make tea, but is interrupted by Haggard and O’Reilly on one side of the house, and Zoil on the other. As the motley crew escapes and drives off with Paul, O’Reilly shoots at them, and the gas ignites, destroying the house. A winded Zoil tries to follow, but Haggard takes off first, running Moses (who’d also been tracking the RV) off the road, and catching up to the RV. However, thanks to an error of judgement, Haggard accidentally drives off a cliff, and is presumably killed, leaving Zoil in hot pursuit. He reassures his superior that he’ll have Paul within an hour, but she declares herself tired of waiting, and informs Zoil that she’s ordered a military response.

When Paul, Graeme, Clive, Ruth and Tara arrive at the rendezvous, they set off a signal and wait. Eventually, eerie orange lights show up over the surrounding trees, and everyone believes that it is Paul’s race. However, it is an army helicopter, with ‘the Big Guy’ (Sigourney Weaver) on board, Zoil’s shadowy superior. As she and three troops move to shoot Paul, Zoil arrives, and it’s revealed that he was Paul’s inside contact who had helped him to escape. Zoil disarms the men, but is shot in the shoulder. Tara punches out ‘the Big Guy’, but Moses appears with a shotgun and shoots Graeme dead. Paul heals him and then collapses, exhausted. Paul seems to be dead and everyone is silent until he coughs, to the relief of all. ‘The Big Guy’ regains consciousness, but is immediately crushed by the arriving alien ship. Paul begins to depart and informs Tara that she is going with him to live a better life and bids farewell to his friends hoping to meet them again one day. Two years later, Graeme, Clive, Ruth and even O’Reily (with a scarred face from the house explosion) are shown again at the 2011 Comic-Con convention, promoting their new mega-successful novel, Paul.

REVIEW:

We’ve all seen alien flicks, right? What about alien merchandise? It is kind of hard to have not seen at least something that has been plastered with the default alien image, but that image, according to this film, is Paul.

I really wanted to see this when it came out. These days it seems like people are afraid to make a funny comedy, at least not without it turning into a drama halfway thorough and never getting back to the funny. No worries about that with Paul.

This flick starts off funny, has a few moments of touching bonding that is to be expected from a quasi-buddy movie, and then gets right back to the funny. On top of that, there is some slapstick and sight gags here that really can have you on the floor rolling.

I was a little disappointed with the special effects here. Sure, Paul looks great, but I guess I was expecting some kind of fantastic, over-the-top alien technology like in Mars Attacks, rather than the subdued subtleties as in something like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.

Having said that, Paul’s powers sort of make-up for that. It seemed like everytime something happened we learned about some other fabulous power he possessed. No wonder the government wanted to slice him up and get the secrets. Come to think of it, I think they just wanted to slice him up for the fun of it. That seems to be more their style.

Pacing is pretty good. There aren’t any places that drag the film down. I’ve mentioned earlier how there is a scene that breaks from the comedy, but that doesn’t do anything other than help tie up some loose ends in the plot and whatnot. It doesn’t affect how the film moves along at all.

I liked the story. Knowing how cynical people are these days, I’m sure there are people who would have preferred this story to go in a totally different direction, but not me. Although, it would have been nice to see him harvest some farts (a joke Paul makes when they meet him initially).

You know these days when you have a comedy, you pretty much call in any of these actors (not counting Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). Seriously, look at almost any comedy from the past 3-5 yrs and I would bet you’d find someone’s there and here.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just an observation.

People said that when Seth Rogen lost weight, he lost his ability to be funny (now they say that about Jonah Hill). That was certainly obvious with The Green Hornet, but here it shows that he can still do it. Of course, since Paul was animated, it is possible he recorded his lines while he was still a fat guy.

British comedic actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are hilarious as these two sci-fi geeks from, yep, you guessed it, England. Their wide-eyed naivite and chemistry with both Paul and Kristen Wiig really made the film click.

In the end Paul is a good time. No, this isn’t you father’s alien flick, but it is hilarious. Sure there are some issues here and there, but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Look for a couple of surprise cameos, one is only a voice, but it is in a very funny scene. Do I think you should see this? Oh yes, most definitely! I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

4 out of 5 stars

The Rite

 

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue), disillusioned with his job as a mortician, decides to enter a seminary school and abdicate his vows upon completion, thereby getting a free college degree. Four years have passed, and Michael is being ordained to the diaconate at the seminary. However, after ordination, he writes a letter of resignation to his superior, Father Matthew, citing a lack of faith. Father Matthew (Toby Jones), apparently wanting to talk Michael out of his decision, attempts to catch up to Michael on the street. He trips as he walks over a curb, causing a cyclist to swerve into the path of an oncoming car. The cyclist, a young woman is critically injured and believes Michael to be a priest, after seeing his clerical garb, then asks him for absolution. After initial hesitation and unable to refuse, Michael comforts her and performs the blessing ritual absolving her sins. Seeing how calmly he handled the situation, Father Matthew tells Michael he is called to be a priest, whether Michael believes this or not. He later approaches Michael with an invitation to travel to Rome in order to attend a class on exorcism. Michael reluctantly accepts after being told by Father Matthew that he will be levied a $100,000 student loan if he leaves immediately, but that if he still desires to resign from his position after taking the class, then they will discuss it then (hinting that he may be free to leave).

During classes, he meets a young woman, Angelina (Alice Braga), who is also taking the course. He soon learns that she is a reporter who has been asked to cover the course for an article in a newspaper. Realizing Michael is a skeptic and is very tentative in his faith, Father Xavier (Ciarán Hinds) later asks Michael to see a friend of his, Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who is a renowned Welsh Jesuit exorcist. Michael agrees and meets Father Lucas at his home, where he sees one of the priest’s patients: a pregnant sixteen-year-old girl. It is later revealed that she was raped by her father, which led to her possession. However, Michael remains skeptical, even after witnessing several preternatural events, such as the girl coughing up three long nails and fluently speaking English. She pointedly reminds Michael of the last patient he embalmed and of his loathing for his father. He later speaks with Angelina again, who asks him to relay the information that he gets from Father Lucas to her, as she has tried to get an interview with him many times but has been refused. Michael declines. Meanwhile, the possessed girl’s condition worsens, prompting Father Lucas and Michael to have her taken to a hospital for further care. There, Father Lucas performs another exorcism on the girl while Michael observes. They leave the hospital room together with Michael while Father Lucas stays overnight outside the girl’s room. Late that night, she miscarries; the baby dies from cardiac arrest and the mother from blood loss. Disheartened, Father Lucas feels he has failed her. After Michael sees this he decides to confer with Angelina.

After the death of the young woman, Father Lucas begins behaving strangely, exhibiting signs of demonic possession. Michael and Angelina later find him sitting outside of his house in the rain. Father Lucas takes them into his house and, knowing himself to be possessed, tells Michael that he needs to find Father Xavier in order to perform the exorcism. Angelina and Michael try desperately to contact and find Father Xavier; however, they learn that he is out of contact for three days. Learning this, Michael decides to perform the exorcism on his own, with Angelina present. After constant rebuking by the demon and a long, drawn out fight, Michael regains his once lost faith and is able to force the demon to reveal its name, which is Baal. He completes the exorcism, and the powerful demon leaves Father Lucas. Successful, Michael leaves Rome, returning to the United States and to his life.

The final scene of the film shows Michael, now Father Michael Kovak, entering a confessional and beginning to hear a girl’s confession, revealing that he has found his calling as a priest and did not resign.

REVIEW:

I heard one of my friends bemoan this film as “a waste of good talent such as Anthony Hopkins and Ciaran Hinds”, and yet, I felt they were the only ones worth watching in this film.

Now, before you get the wrong idea about this film…yes, it is a horror film, but it barely can be called. I would put this more in the category with flicks such as Season of the Witch and, to a lesser extent, Constantine. It isn’t necessarily horrifying, but it does have those elements.

The effects here are few and far between, but that is because this is apparently based on something that happened in real life, so there very well can’t be these random demons flying all around the screen. Today’s audiences apparently are either too cynical for that, or just don’t have the ability to suspend disbelief that way folks used to in order to fully enjoy something like that. This is why we have to deal with a leathery looking Anthony Hopkins and a pregnant chick who is literally spitting nails.

Storywise, I think this could have been better. I’m not sure why, but I sort of just lost interest a little before the midway point. I think that was more of a pacing issue, but it felt like things were already barely moving, and then they just got murkier.

As far as exorcism films go, The Rite is alright, but it is no The Exorcist. With that being said, the performance of Anthony Hopkins after he gets possessed brings to mind the greatness we know him for in The Silence of the Lambs.

We can all but forget the rest of the cast. With the exception of some nice convolutions by the pregnant chick that was possessed and of course the eye candy that is Alice Braga, they were all forgettable. Even Ciaran Hinds turned out a dull reading. It just seemed as if there was no life to any of them. Hell, even Hopkins was a bit wooden until he got possessed. Maybe that’s what should have happened to them all?

Final verdict on The Rite…well, it is ok, but not great. The biggest flaw with this film is that the exorcism aren’t anything to write home about and they really should be. There is a line when we first meet Hopkins and he says something to the effect of don’t expect pea soup. An obvious nod to the 70s exorcism flicks, and yet something like would have made this more enjoyable for me. That point aside, I know this could have been a much more boring and drawn out flick, not to mention just an all around worse movie than the average outing it turned out to be. I’m not going to say you need to rush out and see this, but it would be something to keep in mind if you’re ever at a loss for what to watch.

3 out of 5 stars