Movie Review: The World’s End (2013)

Title: The World’s End
Release Date: 19 July 2013
Director: Edgar Wright
Production Company: Relativity Media | StudioCanal | Working Title Films | Big Talk Pictures | Dentsu
Summary/Review: After Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, this is the third in the trilogy of Three Flavours Cornetto genre comedies directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Pegg plays Gary King, a 40-year-old manchild whose greatest memory is the night in 1990 when he finished school and did a famous pub crawl in his hometown of Newton Haven. Since Gary and his friends made it only to 9 of the 12 pubs, he feels that he will only find satisfaction by getting the group back together for another try.  His friends are now all successful professionals in stark contrast to Gary’s endless childhood.  The group includes Andy (Frost), Steven (Paddy Considine), Oliver (Martin Freeman), Peter (Eddie Marsan), and they are also joined by Steven’s sister Sam (Rosamund Pike).

The movie is good contrast of youthful ambitions to middle-age concessions.  Amid the great comic moments are some really great moments of these men opening their hearts about their troubled lives.  And if that wasn’t enough, there is the strange alien feeling of returning to one’s childhood hometown to find that everything seems different and no one remembers you.  In the case of this movie, it’s because Newton Haven has been taken over by actually aliens who have replaced the populace with android duplicates.

The movie blends together the science fiction story perfectly with the comedic beats and heartfelt moments.  It also has a great soundtrack of early 90s Madchester tunes, including the perfect deployment of Primal Scream’s “Loaded” in the denouement. If I have one criticism it may be the cast is too large and a friend group of 3 or 4 may have been more manageable than 5.  But it’s a small criticism in highly-entertaining movie that may just be my favorite of the trilogy.

Rating: ***1/2

Podcasts of the Week Ending July 23rd

Decoder Ring – Tootsie Shot

How the shot of a movie protagonist walking on crowded New York City sidewalk became iconic, and how its meaning has changed over time.

Radio Boston – Advocates Want To Make The T Free. So How Would That Actually Work?

Free public transportation is one of the greatest measures a city can take for its health, affordability, and reducing harm to the environment.

This Day in Esoteric Political History – The Lost Robert E. Lee Oath Theory

The American historical memory is short and twisted.  Example: on July 22, 1975 the United States Congress voted to restore citizenship to a long dead of a traitorous insurrection.

Throughline – Olympics: Behind The Five Rings

A short history of how the International Olympics Committee and corporate sponsors have exploited athletes and host cities for profits.

The Truth – Zoe Butterfly

An audio drama about an 8-year-old who connects more with a nature documentary narrator than any people in her life.

Running Tally of Podcast of the Week Awards for 2021

• Afropop Worldwide – 2
• AirSpace – 1
• Best of the Left – 2
• The Brattle Film Podcast – 1
• Code Switch – 2
• Consider This – 2
• Decoder Ring – 3
• Fresh Air – 2
• Futility Closet – 1
• Have You Heard? – 2
• Hit Parade  – 1
• Hub History – 2
• Judas and the Black Messiah – Entire series
• The Last Archive – 3
• LeVar Burton Reads – 1
• Lost Massachusetts – 2
• The Moth – 1
• The Memory Palace – 1
• 99% Invisible – 3
• Politically Re-Active – 2
• Planet Money – 2
• Radio Boston – 6
• Radiolab – 8
• Reparations: The Big Payback – 1
• Scientific American – 1
• Seizing Freedom – 2
• Sidedoor – 1
• Slow Burn – 1
• The Story Collider – 1
• Strong Songs – 1
• Stuff the British Stole – entire series
• This American Life  – 2
• This Day in Esoteric Political History – 6
• Throughline – 7
• The Tomorrow Society – 1
• The Truth – 1
• Twenty Thousand Hertz – 5
• Unf*cking the Republic – 2
• Unspooled – 1
• Up First – 1
• The War on Cars – 1
• What Next – 3