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RARELY, IF EVER, has the US president been required to intervene to ensure the release of a Hollywood film but after all the hassle and hype about ‘The Interview’ is it actually any use?
Having originally cancelled the film’s release following a cyber attack and threats against moviegoers, Sony surprised people by putting it online for US viewers on Christmas Eve with it then opening in selected cinemas across the States yesterday.
The comedy, starring Seth Rogen (who also co-directs) and James Franco, depicts how TV presenter Dave Skylark (Franco) and his producer (Rogen) secure an unlikely exclusive interview with North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un before being roped into a CIA plot to assassinate the reclusive dictator.
So, is it any good? You’re probably not all that surprised to hear that the reviews are not great.
The Verge says “the least important element of the story of The Interview is The Interview itself”. Emily Yoshida writes:
The Interview is substandard Apatovian bro-fare to the point of self-parody, full of the offensive Asian accents and dick-joke-a-minute banter one would expect.
She also has a message for those of you – and we’re sure there are many of you – that are thinking of going to see the film purely because of the hype:
If you are not the kind of person who would normally go see The Interview, but have been swept up in the mania surrounding it and have a ticket to a brick-and-mortar screening on Christmas Day, maybe take a moment to ask yourself why. Consider spending those two hours with your families or loved ones instead; they probably miss you and love you.
Her review did not go down well with one star of the film:
AFP wonderfully describes Franco’s character, Skylark, as a “girl-chasing, hard-partying, always fashionable tabloid TV presenter” while poor Rogen is reduced to merely “his producer”. Of the film it says:
A bawdy, expletive-laden tale full of sexual innuendo and scatological humor, the film starring Rogen and James Franco is a silly, low-brow romp about a CIA plot to assassinate Kim.
The New York Times‘s A.O. Scott perhaps nails it by pointing to the fact that Rogen and Franco have previous:
“This Is the End,” the previous Rogen-(Evan) Goldberg-Franco feature, seemed to leave the raunchy bro-com genre with nowhere new to go. It was funny, for sure, but its apocalyptic high jinks couldn’t quite disguise its conceptual exhaustion. “The Interview” confirms this impression.
The reviewer describes the film as “a goofy, strenuously naughty, hit-and-miss farce, propelled not by any particular political ideas but by the usual spectacle of male sexual, emotional and existential confusion”.
RogerEbert.com‘s Steven Boone is a little kinder, noting that while the interview is “nothing new” it does look good on screen:
Its widescreen visuals are James Bond/”Mission: Impossible” chrome-plated sleekness. The camera glides, shakes and catches the occasional wispy anamorphic lens flare as characters flit through control rooms, conference rooms, hotel suites and grand chambers. You expect Kanye West and some X-Men to show up.
Deadline’s Jeremy Gerard describes the film as Rogen and Franco’s “Christmas Turkey” but does pull back a little by noting it “isn’t the worst movie ever made. It’s not even the worst movie Sony released this holiday season”. He adds:
It’s an awfully stupid movie, and by stupid, I don’t mean good-stupid, the kind that makes you laugh so hard you forget to be embarrassed. The Interview is so drenched in flop sweat that anyone seeing it for reasons of patriotism should be saluted.
Variety might well nail it with its chief film critic Scott Foundas saying that North Korea is right to object to the film’s release as “Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Kim Jong-un assassination farce is a terror attack … against comedy.” It doesn’t end with that humdinger as he adds:
This half-baked burlesque about a couple of cable-news bottom-feeders tasked with assassinating Korean dictator Kim Jong-un won’t bring global diplomacy to its knees, but should feel like a kind of terror attack to any audience with a limited tolerance for anal penetration jokes.
It’s not all bad though.
Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers is a big fan of the movie, noting that succeeds in its mission “to make audiences piss themselves laughing” describing it as “killer funny” before adding:
It’s stupid. It’s in bad taste. It impossible. I know all that. Look, Quentin Tarantino killed Hitler in Inglourious Basterds and the neo-Nazis stayed quiet. It’s a farce, people. From the opening scene in which a North Korean schoolgirl sings about Americans drowning in their own blood to a face-melting climax for Kim, The Interview strives hard, sometimes way too hard, to push the envelope.
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Protected cycle lanes are needed in Dublin. Painting a white line on the road and calling it a cycle lane does not offer any protection to cyclists.
@Nomis Andrews: hardened rubber uprights need to be parallel to every cycle lane
Damaged bumper rather than an injured cyclist
@Nomis Andrews:
The lycra brigade never use the cycle lane in my experience
Try riding a bike to work for a year in traffic, see if the reasons become apparent to you.
@Nomis Andrews: the article says the bus was turning right, so it would seem the victim was on the right hand side of the lane.
Condolences to the family of Mary White. And also the driver must be given a bit of sympathy as well. The faults/reasons in this incident are difficult at best to side on. Instead of taking sides why dont both motorists and cyclists show each other more due care and attention.
On a side note, I cycle myself late at night, but my lights are rated at 700 lumens front and dual 50 lumen rear reds. You should not be driving or cycling if you cant notice something that bright. Was Mary’s lighting strong enough for the driver to notice her? Visibility is paramount for cyclists. Im not trying to say her lights were at fault. A sad incident. Be safe everyone.
@Finn Faulkner: you’re right it’s a tragic and difficult case, but a court of law, having heard all the established facts, found him guilty. That in itself is rare enough.
@IrishSportives.ie: with respect, it’s not rare. The outrage that often follows in such cases from certain quarters usually hangs on it ‘only’ being a suspended sentence – not that the person is found not guilty.
@IrishSportives.ie: Yes, i completely agree. My sympathy for the driver is limited, but he will have to live with that for the rest of his life. He maybe should have pleaded guilty…..
@Finn Faulkner: I believe he should have pleaded guilty, but I suppose he had his livelihood to consider. He also allowed his barrister to try and victim blame the woman who died, but a Garda witness put the record straight on that one.
I noticed that more and more drivers are cutting the corners when they are turning right at a junction. They show a complete disregard for the safety of others road users.
@Vincent: Same with curves in the road too. Cutting them to “straighten out” the road.
@John Flood: yep. Driving to fast to take the curve in their lane.
Very sad.
So deeply remorseful yet you plead not guilty there needs to be a penalty for the not guilty plea
@Seán O’Sullivan: Exactly. If he was that remorseful he would have taken a plea deal and avoided dragging the family through court. He was obviously desperate to save his job and happy to sacrifice them on the way
Life is so cheap in this country…
This Bus driver will live on to drive one of the biggest vehicles on the road, to pass many more cyclists and pedestrians…
Who knows what could happen, the potential is there again for him to kill due to his carelessness, he wanted to save a few seconds by cutting a corner, yet he cut the life of the victim off permanently…
It’s almost impossible to get any jail time in this country if you kill a vulnerable road user with a motor vehicle on Irish roads..
@Dotty Dunleary: can’t see any bus company giving him a job, not after being found responsible for a death, the insurance would be phenomenal.
@edelno5 .: As far as I know, Dublin Bus insures itself.
May you Rest In Peace Mary.
Your soft voice, sincere smile, compassion, and sincerity, will always be remembered by your previous work colleagues at OLHSC.
Very good video by the RSA on just how vulnerable cyclists are when moving with HGVs and LPSVs, it shows clearly how often in the space of seconds cyclists are not seen as they pass vehicles that have by their nature blind spots. Sympathy to the family of the cyclist and spare a thought for the driver.
@William Bryan: hi I am taxi driver and when I am behind cyclist in traffic in bus lane I stay behind till gap in traffic I know there situation :ie manhole or gully or pot holes I cycle for years to and from work
WTF Judge Useless & very wrong let Driver walk free
@Brian Flavin: After reading the full story I disagree with you.
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: i m disagree you
@Brian Flavin: No, you disagree with the sentence.
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: how can he disagree with a sentence if he can’t write one?
@Eoin Byrne: watch out lads the grammar Nazi is about!!!!
1. 13 tonne buses don’t cut corners on their own .
2. Since the driver was Deacon couldn’t a confession or a few prayers be prescribed.
No jail time for killing a person. Well done..
It is difficult for me to accept the judge’s ruling as it was for me to accept the jury’s finding about the Wellington Quay deaths.
@Denis Patrick Gill: W@nker comment of the week, and it only Monday.
RIP to the lady who lost her life. Perhaps we should all be more aware of the dangers to both cyclists and motorists on the roads. Last Thursday night we were stopped at traffic lights on the quays travelling towards O’Connell Street. We had a clear left indicator on signalling our intention to turn left after the lights changed. Cyclists came up our left hand side and remained there despite the indicator being on. Rolling down the window I asked the nearest cyclist did he not see our indicator. Having removed his headphone he asked what I had said. Then he apologised and moved in front of us. What would have happened if we hadn’t spotted him and the lights had turned green? Just an observation.
@Mary Dunphy:
(b) A pedal cyclist may overtake on the left where vehicles to the pedal cyclist’s right are stationary or are moving more slowly than the overtaking pedal cycle, except where the vehicle to be overtaken—
(i) has signalled an intention to turn to the left and there is a reasonable expectation that the vehicle in which the driver has signalled an intention to turn to the left will execute a movement to the left before the cycle overtakes the vehicle,
SOURCE: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2012/si/332/made/en/print
One can deduce with certainty that the vehicle you were travelling in was stationary at the traffic lights by way of your observation that whilst stopped at the traffic lights, “cyclists came down our left hand side and remained there”. This certainty is further supplemented by the fact you were able to engage in conversation with one of them at the traffic lights.
“What would have happened if we hadn’t spotted him and the lights had turned green?”
Goodness knows but should a driver of a vehicle turn left in the very circumstances you describe above, s/he would be fully liable for any collisions that may occur on grounds of negligent driving.
@Mary Dunphy: You need some driving lessons love. Indicators do not and never have allowed priority. It’s amazing you don’t know this.
So Mary Dunpy came to a story about an incompetent driver to declare that she’s an incompetent driver.
@Bob Moore: As you may not have noticed I was not driving at the time. We did indeed notice the cyclist and asked if he had seen that we were indicating to turn left. Having removed his headphones he admitted he hadn’t as he was feeling quite tired at the time. It was merely a point in observation which was applied to both motorists and cyclists and obviously you have some type of chip on your shoulder if this is your nasty reaction to an observation. There was never any danger to the cyclist under the circumstances so what’s your point?
@Mary Dunphy: “what’s your point?”
You came to a story about an incompetent driver to declare that you’re an incompetent driver.
Incredibly sad. She had all the “necessary” equipment and yet it proved to be no use against careless driving. The sentence handed down by the judge is bitterly disappointing.
My thoughts are with her family and friends, justice wasn’t served.
@C Moloney:
Bus driver is still on the roads. The courts allowed a killer bus driver to carry on over Christmas.
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