Two of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of the recent U.S. summer season – Columbia Pictures’ “This Is The End” and Fox Searchlight’s “The Way, Way Back” – will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide starting Wednesday, Sept. 11.
Starring James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Michael Cera and Emma Watson, “This Is The End” follows six friends trapped in a house after a series of strange and catastrophic events devastate Los Angeles. As the world unravels outside, dwindling supplies and cabin fever threaten to tear apart the friendships inside. Eventually, they are forced to leave the house, facing their fate and the true meaning of friendship and redemption.
The wacky comedy grossed a whopping $100-million at the U.S. box office and posted a fresh 85% rating from critics polled at rottentomatoes.com, making it one of the year’s best success stories.
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly hails it as “the wildest screen comedy in a long time, and also the smartest, the most fearlessly inspired, and the snort-out-loud funniest,” while Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter says “The seemingly exhausted gross-out comedy genre gets a strange temporary reprieve with `This Is the End,’ an unlikable but weirdly compelling apocalyptic fantasy.”
“It is intensely raunchy and silly and joyous and tapped right into my inner teenager in a glorious way,” praises Mary F. Pols of TIME Magazine, while Odie Henderson of Chicago Sun Times raves “`This is the End’ finds a balanced tone most horror comedies fail to deliver. Gross-out humor melds easily with gross-out horror, sometimes at the same moment.”
Meanwhile, “The Way, Way Back” is a humorous and heartwarming story of self-discovery written and directed by from Academy Award® winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (“The Descendants”).
Starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell and Liam James, “The Way, Way Back” is the coming of age story of 14-year-old Duncan’s (James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Collette) and her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Carell). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen (Rockwell), the gregarious manager of the Water Wizz Water Park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world—all during a summer he will never forget.
Garnering a positive 85% score at rottentomatoes, “The Way, Way Back” is also predicted by experts to be a likely contender for honors at next year’s awards season.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone assures that the film “gets it wittily, thrillingly right. It turns the familiar into something bracingly fresh and funny. It makes you laugh, then breaks your heart,” as Claudia Puig of USA Today writes, “With its subtle wit, engaging story, topnotch ensemble cast and sparkling dialogue, it’s this summer’s `Little Miss Sunshine’.”
For Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com, the film is “Beautifully executed, loaded with sharp observational moments, and never cheats either its characters or its audience by descending into raunchy teen-movie cliché,” while Olly Richards of Empire describesit as “Funny, real and uplifting. A film that reaffirms your belief in the human spirit.”
Finally, Christopher Orr of The Atlantic praises, “Unexpected yet irresistible, `The Way Way Back’ just may be the best movie of the summer.”