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Arts & Entertainment

Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>Paul</em> Vs. <em>Limitless</em>

By

Robert Horan

Published Mar 18, 2011

Modified Mar 18, 2011

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Nerds of America get psyched, because today the newest Nick Frost and Simon Pegg comedy Paul hits theaters, and if those names sound familiar to you (which they should), you know what all the excitement's about. The two star as a pair of nerdy slackers (that's a stretch) who visit Area 51 (remember, they're nerds) and stumble upon an alien slacker named Paul, voiced by Seth Rogen. The two haven't always starred in the best movies, but whenever they're the writers behind it, it tends to be pretty great. This is the first big movie they've written that didn't have Edgar Wright at the helm, having instead been directed by Greg Motolla (director of Superbad and the underrated and underappreciated Adventureland). Although most fans are waiting for part three of the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy; The Worlds End (following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz), we're sure they'd love something to hold them over other than reruns of Spaced.Reviews have been very mixed (we don't really see that stopping anyone already planning to see it), with Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club saying: "With Paul, Pegg, Frost, and director Greg Mottola (Superbad) play it both ways, lightly spoofing messianic cinematic extraterrestrials like E.T. through its title character—a pot-smoking, party-hearty space alien in a hurry to return home—while still gleaning wide-eyed wonder from everyday guys bonding with a visitor from another world."Paul is more slapdash than Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, but it shares many of those film’s virtues and underlying sweetness, though the alien sometimes comes off as a Poochie-like exemplar of in-your-face attitude. Yet by the time it reaches an appropriately epic conclusion, the film has earned its laughs as well as its big dramatic moments. Paul is a little sloppy and a little sappy, but the filmmakers’ passion for their subject matter carries it over the occasional rough spot."

 

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By

Robert Horan

Published Mar 18, 2011

Modified Mar 18, 2011

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Click on the film stills for more details and reviews of this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include: Paul, Limitless, The Lincoln Lawyer, Win Win, Bill Cunningham New York, The Music Never Stopped, Cracks, Auto-Remakes, Taxi Driver, and The Goonies.

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