Sky Movies Reviews - Adventureland & The Final Destination

ADVENTURELAND

Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig | Written and Directed by Greg Mottola

Adventureland boasts a cast consisting of Kristen Stewart, idol of millions of tweenage girls, Hollywood’s most likable actor, Ryan Reynolds and the surely-destined-for-the-A-list-post-The-Social-Network wunderkind, Jesse Eisenberg. There’s also support from the riotously funny Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. Could this be the best cast of 2009?

James (Eisenberg) finds himself working at the titular theme park in the summer of 1987 in order to raise cash for a post-graduate course in New York. There he meets a variety of freaks and geeks including the sardonic Joel (Martin Starr) and the beguiling Em (Stewart). He begins a tentative relationship with the latter and the film follows their ups and downs and, much like in director Greg Mottola’s previous film,Superbad, its lead character’s quest to lose his virginity. While Superbad was bold and crass, Adventureland is rather a sensitive and touching portrayal of young love and growing up. It may sound schmaltzy, but the film is enticing as its female lead and its better than average script is more than done justice by its uniformly excellent cast. Highly recommended.

THE FINAL DESTINATION

Stars: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson | Written by Eric Bress | Directed by David R. Ellis

Through a random bout of precognition, twenty-something Nick (Bobby Campo) is able to save his friends and several strangers from a grisly demise when things go horribly tits up at a car race they are watching. As ever in this franchise, however, it seems fate is unwilling to allow the survivors to live and they begin to meet their maker in a variety of unlikely ways, usually involving flammable liquids.

From its gleefully unpleasant titles onwards, The Final Destination is a tongue in cheek, cheap and cheerful splatter-fest that should please fans of the genre no end. Acting and dialogue are from priority number one here; instead, director David R Ellis keeps us guessing as to the manner in which his hapless victims are dispatched with the dial firmly set to the position marked ‘fun’. The only major quibble I had with the film was its all too obvious 3D gimmicks – a snake striking at the audience for example – which were probably exciting in the cinema, though they are lost on a home audience. Ah well.

http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/08/05/sky-movies-review-adventureland-the-final-destination/