Hollywood Bowl: Aniston's stripper act and McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths

We’re The Millers released this week and there’s only one thing you should know: Jennifer Aniston plays a stripper in the film. And yes, she has enough sequences in the film — amazingly left uncensored by our censor boards – to justify her profession. If you are a man, this is probably all you need to know to go watch We’re The Millers NOW.

In case you are a woman, or a man who clearly doesn’t know what’s good for him, We’re the Millers is also one of the funniest movies out this year, after The Heat of course. Filled with massively inappropriate humour that is offensive to just about everybody (and hence, hilarious), We’re the Millers is a road trip movie about a drug dealer (Jason Sudeikis) who hires a stripper, a homeless girl (Emma Roberts) and a kid in his building (Will Poulter) to smuggle drugs across the US-Mexico border. The movie’s script brings out every comedy cliché in the book, but the brilliant cast delivers them so well, it’s hard to stop laughing.

Will Poulter (the star of two of the British indie films of the last decade, Wild Bill and Son of Rambow) is easily the best thing about the movie (apart from Aniston’s anti-ageing body, obviously) and with his hilarious performance, he’s guaranteed for himself a long career of frat pack comedies, once Vince Vaughn finally realizes he’s too old for this s**t.

Two other films released this week: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, and Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and they are exactly as clunky as their names. Percy Jackson is still a decent-ish watch, merely because of the presence of Nathan Fillion, who makes anything a decent-ish watch (although Stanley Tucci is pretty damn good too). Mortal Bones had a better cast on paper, with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Lena Headey, Robert Sheehan and the like joining in, but at a length of more than two hours, the movie is 2 hours longer than it needed to be.

DVD Roundup

Undoubtedly my favourite film that’s out on DVD this year is Safety Not Guaranteed. It’s about three magazine employees who travel to a small town to interview a guy who has placed an ad looking for a companion to time travel with. Based on a true incident, the film is a must-watch. Aubrey Plaza is the indie Jennifer Lawrence (read: awesome) and Jake M. Johnson (New Girl’s Nick) is downright hilarious and should do a lot more movies. There’s also an Indian kid making his debut: Karan Soni, and he’s far better than the clichéd love-less nerd role that he plays. The script by Derek Connolly is genuinely one of the funniest, most hopeful, and strangely moving you’ll come across, and Colin Trevorrow’s assured direction has landed him the job of directing Jurassic Park IV. Don’t miss it!

Another comedy that should be watched just for the street cred of those involved in it is the British indie flick, Seven Psychopaths, directed by the outstanding In Bruges director, Martin McDonagh. The stunning cast includes Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. A black comedy about seven psychopaths (with the most awesome reasons for being so), the movie is as original, unique, disruptive and mad as they come. Farrell is a struggling screenwriter who gets entangled with the mob because of his psychopath friends. Seven Psychopaths will make you laugh and leave you in awe.

Hong Kong-based director Johnnie To’s new crime and underworld film, Drug War is out, and though it’s not as fantastic as some of his other gangster films like Election, it’s a perfectly decent watch. About a cartel boss who is arrested in a raid, the film takes on the usual crime themes of betrayals and survival in its own unique way: a mix of equal parts of art and pulp. One and a half hours of a solid action thriller.

Trailer roundup

You need to watch the trailer of Under the Skin to realize why there can never be enough horror films. British director Jonathan Glazer’s (of Sexy Beast fame) creepy-as-hell nod to the Alien movies, starring Scarlett Johansson as the alien in human form, will leave you afraid to see more while wanting it desperately, at the same time.

Kill Your Darlings is a film about Allen Ginsberg and Lucien Carr and it also brings to life Jack Kerouac and William Boroughs. It’s probably every beat poetry fan’s wet dream. Exciting new talent Dane DeHaan stars along with Harry Potter, er, Daniel Radcliffe in what promises to be a heady movie about a heady time in literary history with a heady trailer to boot.

And then there is Neighbors. From Nicholas Stoller, the director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, here comes your new R-rated comedy starring Seth Rogen. A film where Zac Efron is the douchebag to Rogen and Rose Byrne’s mellow husband-wife couple? Also starring Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow and Jake M. Johnson and Carla Gallo in what seems like a battle of the generations? Please gods of comedy, please let this actually be funny.

A film that could potentially be Matthew McConaughey’s genuine shot at an Oscar, Dallas Buyers Club (directed by C.R.A.Z.Y. director Jean-Marc Vallee) about a Dallas cowboy who contracts AIDS and then illegally helps treat people with HIV, looks like the kind of movie we’ll all be talking about. Check it out.

Also out: British indie crime flick, The Rise, starring the who’s who of young Brit talent; James Franco’s weird teaser for his next as director, Child of God; Bounty Killer, a B-movie that looks quite mad; The Turning, a collection of short stories with a trailer of short shots that have no meaning whatsoever, and Ass Backwards, one of those Sundance comedies that are supposed to be heartwarming, but, umm, aren’t.