It's a Disaster

Take three couples with festering issues, add a new beau accompanying a woman on their third date to a brunch with the others, add a nerve gas attack, sit back and enjoy the fireworks. A low budget effort, "It's a Disaster" admirably examines the group dynamic and the nature of 21st Century commitment. The disaster is, really, the inability of these thirty-somethings to relate in reasonable ways (and a brunch no one wants to attend). There's a swinging couple who not only invite the new beau (a restrained David Cross) into a threesome but who have also bedded, separately, another couple; a couple planning to announce their divorce; an alienated couple who are barely coupled (America Ferrara shines). Each character speaks in a unique voice from comic book reading conspiracy theorist to dim bulb pretty boy and girl and a commitmentphobe doctor. Well-modulated and spare, their relating never deteriorates into screamfests or expected vitriol. Listen carefully or you'll miss many a terrific line hissed sotto voce. They all take the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it in stride and that's the point. It's their narcissism at the center of the film, not impending death by nerve gas. This film may also cause certain viewers to seriously reassess their bad habit of arriving late to functions. "It's a Disaster" is by no means earth-shattering, but it is entertaining, thoughtful, surprising, and maintains the precarious balance between comedy and tragedy. Though a bit abrupt, the end is a hoot that rings true. Couples who view the film may find fodder in their own relating, and there's enough happening to spark post-viewing debate. This film may bookend well with "This Is the End" (2013).

Finally a REALLY FUNNY + GREAT SCRIPT from Hollywood !!! And i loved it !! I'm a guy and i like action movies, but the past few years Hollywood has been making REALLY DUMB CRAPPY NO BRAINER ACTION MOVIES... where you'll see them EXPLODING just ANYTHING for NO GOD DAMN REASON. And so i was really surprised when i saw this one.. I READ THE IMDb REVIEWS here first.. which was mostly positive. And so i went and watched this.. and I'M GLAD I DID. From the beginning till the end, i was just HOOKED IN TO THE STORY.. I loved this so much that i actually went out and BOUGHT A BLURAY COPY to keep this as MY CLASSICS COLLECTION. And i HOPE THEY MAKE SEQUEL to this... because THERE'S A CLIFFHANGER IN THE END...

And it shows. No outside shots when the whole thing is in the context of a global disaster. The promised threesome never materializes and the bi man is shot down. Some so-called christian character is losing his girlfriend. More talking ensues.

Why would I give 9/10 to a movie, where nothing really heartfelt happens? It is very much an indie movie, in the sense that it is smallish production - a one house set, plus a street view - but the message of the story is not in the movie in the relations between people, it IS the movie, in the way everyone arrives at this point for themselves. The message is a song for the choir. It could be displayed by rocks on a beach to be viewed from a plane, or by synchronously turning on street lamps at night nationwide to spell the message to the night sky. An easy enough message, and quite simple. The content is the affirmative defiance that got us all here in the first place. It's the reason we grow older and older, just because that's possible. it's the reason we colonized all those other continents. The reason why we make inventions and wars and diplomacy and bake sales to collect for the needy, and fill all working hours with work to put ourselves and family though education, and why we stay alive waiting for relatives to arrive at our death bed; why we get a new dog even though we're possibly too old to follow it through to the end; why we take evening classes in philosophy in old age, and why we invest in the most unlikely projects and ideas, and live to do it again, and to write books about losing it all as well as winning, and why we fall in love at any age - it is that, which makes us human. And I really mean that literally. See 'It's a disaster' for yourself. You'll have fun, and be uncertain about the reality of things, and recognize characters you know, as well as traits inside yourself. And find yourself ultimately united with everyone else alive, and all who has lived to take everyone to where we are. For good and for bad, this is what we are. This is as close to spoilers, as I will take you. Enjoy. I did. I give it 9 - just for this message. The rest is fine, fine, fine, but the message!

So, the latest season of 'Arrested Development' came out not long ago and, though it was mediocre at best, it brought David Cross back into my consciousness. This movie sounded like it might be worth watching - dark comedy, David Cross, end of the world - what could be better? Unfortunately, the movie stinks from start to finish. It's about a gaggle of whining middle-class hipsters who get together to moan about their worthless relationships. None of them, including Cross's character, says or does a single thing of interest. Then there's some kind of off-screen terrorist attack and they all have to sit around being wacky and playing acoustic guitars until the writer got bored and just stopped typing. And there are no jokes! I never even smiled, let alone laughed. I read some reviews that implied that the comedy was perhaps too sophisticated for a general audience. But this movie is as empty and humorless (if not as hateful) as any Adam Sandler comedy. 'It's a Disaster' made me feel glad that everyone hates me and I never get invited to parties. If I'd been invited to this one, I'd have taken my chances with the nerve gas.

The plot. Eight friends meet for their monthly couples brunch. But what starts as an impromptu therapy session/airing of domestic grievances takes a sudden, catastrophic turn when the city falls victim to a mysterious attack. Trapped in the house and unsure of their fates, these seemingly normal people become increasingly unhinged to surprising results. This is one of the worst movies you will ever see. I am shocked that it got some good reviews here. The movie is nearly unwatchable. It's poorly directed and poorly acted. In fact, there is no acting. It appears the dialog is ad-libbed because if it's not, it's even worse than worse than awful. Half the movie are the actors jumping up and down. Honestly I have never seen such an amateurish film. It's as if a monkey was given a camera and this was the result. It's worse than a student film!!!

God-awful, unsatisfying movie about a bunch of really clueless people, each more annoying than the one before, who get caught in a house during a national multi-city dirty bomb attack that is killing everything that comes in contact with the air outside. They tape up the cracks to the outside but at some point come to the conclusion that they are doomed and there is no way they will be able to ride out the gas and it will eventually leak in. One of the group, in an attempt to help everyone have a spiritually benign afterlife, adds rat poison and barbiturates to some wine for everyone to enjoy. When this is discovered a discussion ensues, and it's finally decided that, tho no one believes in the culprit's religious views, drinking the wine will in fact allow them to escape the horrible death from the gas that awaits them. They decide to drink the wine on the count of three and the movie ends abruptly after they twice balk at doing it. This is all sort of played for laughs, by the way, but the ending isn't funny. It's up to us to imagine it. I feel sure that people don't get to make and market moronic movies like this in the rest of the world. What is wrong with our culture that this kind of thing is brought before us as a major release with talented actors? Someone has too much money. I'm not going to try and deconstruct the action that takes place during the hour or so before the final scene...what these people go through, the parts they play, the games they play with one another while contemplating the end of their lives...because it is all so clichéd, trite and uninteresting. See for yourself. I will confess to enjoying two or three good lines but all in all a great, great waste of time.

One of the more popular genres lately as been the Apocalyptic film, and they're usually comedies of late. Perhaps it's a sign of growing optimism or maybe we're just getting further from the dark days of 9/11, but in any event, these films can be tiresome and I generally steer away from them --- mainly because it is a tightly jacketed plot structure. Just how many places can the writer take this? Well, two actually...everyone lives miraculously (and pretty unbelievably) or they die. Fortunately, Todd Berger's It's a Disaster plays this limited plot line for all it's worth, taking it to such depths of black comedy and Seinfeld-esque minutia bickering, that it's impossible to take seriously, thereby rendering the whole affair that much more enjoyable. It's set among a group of late thirtysomethings on a Sunday at noon, at the home of Emma and Peter Mandrake, where they are hosting the latest in a seemingly interminable series of "Couples Brunches" for themselves and six other married/engaged/otherwise entangled friends. This is a clever conceit in itself: just the fact that Emma regularly plans and executes these events tells you a lot about her character, and also imbues the other characters with a lot of rich background material (something not all good ensemble pieces can pull off so effortlessly). And there's a lot to feast on, besides the Vegan stew brought by Tracy (Julia Stiles) and her new boyfriend Ben (David Cross). Over the course of the day, many hidden lusts and relationships rear their ugly heads, along with everyone's requisite resentments and suppressed ragings. What makes this film special are its performances, none of which seem forced or stagey, and its script, which lithely darts from dead-on skewering of our addiction to mobile devices and other technophilia to comedy of manner moments deft enough to make Larry David and Noel Coward smile just a bit. In the midst of all that, it manages to achieve some touching moments between the couples, all of whom manage to leave their relatively small character roles etched on your brain for a while afterward. No one actor dominates this production as you might expect (Julia Stiles...you would think). But she doesn't, although Rachel Boston gives a pitch perfect manic performance as nymphomaniacal free-spirit Lexie. This is a surprisingly engaging debut from Todd Berger, who previously has done a lot of short films, and makes a funny cameo here as a brunch crasher wearing...what else...a HazMat Suit. And if you don't know what that is, I certainly won't spoil it for you.

Great blend of characters and relationships and the film manages to steam on through the ninety minutes. The viewer needs to be savvy to this kind of humour to pick up the nuances of the play, which I am sure most will, though some may not and will end up switching off before the somewhat unpredictably predictable end. I feel the drama would work better on stage and can;t honestly see the point in bringing the stageplay to the silver screen. Yes it works realtively well, well acted and some minutely funny parts but at times it does become repetitive and begins to tire. There is only so much one can take in 90 minutes of husband wife partner partner relationship issues and the ensuing trevails. Worth a watch but it is what it is a stageplay on screen. 5 / 10

A dirty bomb goes off in Los Angeles. Presumably the entire city is wiped out. Hilarious, right? Just the kind of thing I want to watch after the Boston bombing. Now, it's always good to find a way to laugh in the face of disaster, and I know the filmmakers were trying to make a funny film about the end of the world. And that's OK, if you do it with a certain level of intelligence. What's not OK? Every single character in this film. They're horrible people. Vacant. Stupid. Selfish. Totally unlikable. And completely void of any humanity. If that's how you're going to write/edit your characters, then I say just go for it and really show just how awful people can be. Make it a real satire. I believe another user commented that this would have worked better as a play, and I agree that it might be a decent play if someone punched up the dialogue and cast better actors. However, I give major props to Julia Stiles and David Cross for acting their way through a very mediocre script. In the end, this film IS a disaster, so I guess the filmmakers got at least one thing right. Oof.