by Joseph Rossi
Summer season is officially in gear. After a bad start with the limp Spiderman sequel we get two very good genre flicks starting. The raunchy college comedy Neighbors and a revamped spin on everyone’s favorite nuclear abomination, Godzilla.
Comedy is hard. Drama is easy. To make some one laugh is tricky. I have always felt that for comedy to work there must be a rooting interest at the core of the plot. The funniest films ever made weren’t just slapped together. Comedy must make us care, no matter how nasty the type of comedy it could be. It has to come from the realm of familiarity for us to laugh. Neighbours is about the moment where we must basically grow up, the transition period from student to responsible adult. Seth Rogen and Rachel Bryne play new parents trying fit in to their new roles as well as coping with the loss of their social lives. All hell breaks loose and their normal lives become overturned when a frat house, run by a super fit slacker (Zac Efron), moves in next door. The clash between the party animals and the perceived old people had the audience, myself included, on the floor, holding our guts due to the constant belly laughs.
The cast is actually on the money. Rogen plays the usual loveable schlub but with the added responsibility of being a parent and provider. This is a great contrast with Efron’s bad boy under-achiever. The stand out us Bryne who packs a comic wallop that I didn’t expect. I’d watch this again if only for her breast-pumping scene which, for me, is the hands down funniest thing I have seen in ages.
Godzilla is pure spectacle cinema. Yes we have seen disaster films before that involve monsters crushing cities into rubble but this is Godzilla, the granddaddy of them all, so we have to pay our respects to the king. The film slowly begins with the standard human characters talking shop about the dangers of nuclear testing, love, and sacrifice. Fine and dandy for those who like that sort of thing but come on…we want to see monsters lay waste to humankind. And do we get it. After 45 minutes of build up, we get some of the best-looking beasts Hollywood has ever given us. There are at least four massive moments where the audience either screamed or cheered. The last half hour is a seat-gripping, brawl that will have every fanboy and girl drooling with excitement.
I give props do the director Gareth Edwards because this indie director infuses big budget technology with an artist’s sensibility. There are some shots in this movie that have no place in blockbuster films. They are beautiful. He works with a palette that would make Spielberg green with envy. The big one’s reveal left my jaw opened for about a minute. If this is the first of a new franchise, bring it on.
