"30 Minutes or Less" is 1 Hour and 23 Minutes of Dangerous Fun

Two years after his surprise hit Zombieland comes Ruben Fleischer's next comedy 30 Minutes or Less also starring Jesse Eisenberg.  This time, instead of battling the undead, Eisenberg must deal with a couple of idiotic criminals that force him to rob a bank.  As goofy as the premise may seem, the movie still works to some extent even with a few misfires.  Danny McBride and Nick Swardson, who play the criminal "masterminds" Dwayne and Travis, come up with a plan to have Dwayne's father killed so they can inherit the one or two million dollars he has left after winning the lottery in hopes of opening up a prostitution ring to then make even more money.  They decide to hire a hit man to do the job, but must come up with 100 grand to pay him.  Thus, comes the brilliant idea of capturing a pizza boy (Eisenberg as Nick), strapping a bomb to his chest, and demanding that he rob a bank unless he wants to explode.  Sounds pretty moronic, right?  Right.  And that's the fun of it.

Following Zombieland and The Social Network, Eisenberg plays a character that is a combination of the nerdy and nervous boy we saw in the horror spoof and the self-centered and hated genius in the Oscar nominated film.  There is even a scene when the girl Nick loves, who also happens to be his best friend Chet's sister, mentions someone's Facebook page and Eisenberg says "You know I don't use that.  I'm off the grid." Ha ha.  Danny McBride, on the other hand, is no different than the characters he has portrayed in every other piece of work you've seen him in.  I don't think he will ever be asked to play a role that doesn't require excessive use of the F-bomb and a handful of blow job jokes.  And boy are there a lot.  The good thing, however, is that it doesn't cross the line of too dirty and offensive.  It manages to remain funny throughout.  The same goes for Nick Swardson, who has a few laugh out loud moments.

The real star though is Aziz Ansari as Chet.  He is consistently funny in everything I've seen him do, from standup comedy to his role as Tom Haverford on Parks and Recreation.  Every scene he is in guarantees a laugh.  Overall, every character is funny, even Michael Peña as the hit man, and I normally can't stand him because he tries way too hard to be hysterical.

Although the movie has a foolish plot, it's aware of its absurdity, making it a hilariously good time.  The ending is probably the least believable part, but as you'll come to expect throughout the whole film, Aziz saves it with one line.  If you're a college student like myself and only have time to see one more movie before you go back to school, I'd recommend 30 Minutes or Less.

The Summer Has Been Taken Over By "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"

With the summer movie season heading into its final month after a plethora of below average blockbusters, a highly entertaining and well crafted motion picture has come along to wow audiences around the globe.  I, however, did not expect such an intelligent movie after seeing the first trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  I thought it would be another notch on the belt for James Franco (who does everything) as well as a subpar addition to the number of films injected with an abundance of special effects.  Apes certainly has some cool effects, with all of the chimps being CGI, and a standard performance from Franco, but it also contains wit, humor, and a whole lot of heart.
James Franco's character, Will Rodman, has just developed a possible cure for Alzheimer's disease, and tests the virus on chimpanzees in his lab.  When one escapes and runs wild, however, fearing that the scientists will hurt the baby she has just given birth to, all of them are put down, except for her child who Will takes home.  After seeing how happy it makes his father, Charles, who happens to have Alzheimer's disease, Will decides to keep the ape and name him Caesar.  The baby has inherited the drug, which provides a high level of intelligence, from his mother who received a sample of the cure and becomes smarter and smarter as years go by.  Caesar also becomes very attached to Will and his father and after seeing someone yell at Charles for crashing his car due to his confused condition, Caesar runs amok and is forced into a primate facility.
This is where Caesar begins to turn on the humans after being treated horribly by the employees of the facility, especially Tom Felton's character Dodge.  He acted exactly like his well known role of Draco Malfoy and I was just waiting for him to shout "Stupid Potter!"  His acting may have been hard to watch, but a fantastic performance comes from Andy Serkis, known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, the man in the suit creating every facial expression and gesture as Caesar.
Caesar eventually steals the new version of the virus, which actually kills humans (although no one knows it yet) and lets it loose among all the apes in the facility, leading to an epic scene when after thinking "Hey, didn't they talk in the other movies?" throughout the first hour, you see it unfold.  Then, obviously, they begin to take over.  The idea behind what can sound like a silly premise becomes much more real in this adaptation of the classic film.  Everyone knows what will happen since Rise is obviously a prequel, but seeing exactly what led to the takeover is what makes this film so enjoyable beyond the effects and work of Serkis.  The only somewhat dissatisfying thing about it, other than Felton's goofy performance, is that in the end it seems that everyone in San Francisco, after witnessing apes go crazy, decide to just let them hang out in the forest.  I guess after the police force got their asses handed to them, they figured, "They're pretty smart...and pretty strong.  I guess if all they want is respect and to be left alone then that's fine with me."  They're not evil, but their revolution is just like any other in history.  They want something, and in this case to be treated with respect.  And finally, moviemakers respect the audience and deliver a great summer blockbuster.