Todd Phillips is best known for making movies about grown men acting like teenagers. think Old School and The Hangover. So, it makes sense that he'd be the man-child (and producer) behind Project X, the R-rated party movie that opens Friday, March 2, featuring teenagers partying like, well, teenagers.
The movie's directed by Nima Nourizadeh, but it has Phillips' fingerprints all over it. Here's the gist: Thomas' (Thomas Mann) parents are going out of town, so his friends Costa (Oliver Cooper) and JB (Jonathan Daniel Brown) throw a rager that's captured on film by Dax (Dax Flame), the A/V Club wizard. Costa, an obnoxious little shit, tells everyone, and then everyone shows up, including the super hot-girl Alexis (Alexis Knapp) and Thomas' longtime friend Kirby (Kirby Bliss Blanton). Things get seriously out of control, and Thomas' house—his entire neighborhood, actually— gets seriously trashed.
Thing is, it's 2012. this isn't Weird Science. There's no magic way to fix the damage done by this epic debauchery. does the popularity, self-confidence and notoriety Thomas takes away from the party make up for the damage when the whole thing boils into a full-on riot. I asked Knapp and Blanton if they thought it was worth it, and though they were in sync on almost every other point, on this one they had different answers.
"He's a changed kid," Blanton said. "He's found his confidence, and I think he realizes that even if something happens, it's not the end of the world. When you see his face at the end of the movie, he's so stoked. You really do root for him."
Knapp, who confesses to being a Star Trek-watching, World of Warcraft-playing nerd, had a more pragmatic answer. "He's got a record for the rest of his life. There are other routes to go in life to find your confidence, rather than throw a party that almost kills the entire neighborhood. his van is all burnt. He's pretty fucked."
There you go. And now, unlike the kids who pick up those little white pills from Thomas' backyard, you know exactly what you're getting yourself into.
OpeningCoral Reef Adventures: Skip the SCUBA lessons and go underwater in this gorgeous IMAX film screening at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.Dr. Seuss' the Lorax: Let's hope the voice talents of Zac Efron and Taylor Swift don't overshadow the good Doctor's environmental message. Everest: Plenty of people get killed trying to scale the world's tallest mountain. But you can do it on Fridays from the comfort of the IMAX theater at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.in Darkness: Oscar-nominated Polish film about a sewer-maintenance man who hides a group of Jews during WWII. Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West: call it the original American road trip, screening Fridays in the IMAX theater at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.Lula, Son of Brazil: Biopic about former Brazilian Prime Minister Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Rampart: the first time Oren Moverman made a movie (The Messenger), Woody Harrelson got an Oscar nomination. here, Harrelson shines as a bad cop in Moverman's second feature, which was co-written by James Ellroy, a guy who knows a thing or two about writing about bad cops. Read our review.Secret of the Cardboard Rocket: two kids build a rocket in their garage and end up in outer space in this IMAX film screening Saturday mornings in March at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie: Based on the Adult Swim show, Tim and Eric are forced to skip town when they totally blow the billion bucks they were given to make a movie.one Time OnlyI love You, Man: Jason Segal and Paul Rudd get all bromatic at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 29, at the Pearl Hotel in Point Loma. Free.Iranian Taboo: Documentary, shot by a filmmaker banned from even entering his native Iran, about a woman and her child who sell everything in hopes of taking refuge in the West. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, at Hillcrest Cinemas. An Affair to Remember: Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr fall for one another, despite being engaged to other people. so, they plan to meet at the Empire State Building in six months. That's plenty of time to ditch a fiancé. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, at Reading Town Square in Clairemont. the Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah's anti-Western masterpiece stars William Holden and Ernest Borgnine as aging bandits trying to survive in a world that's happily trying to move along without bandits. Screens at 2:30 p.m. Friday, March 2, at the Central Library, Downtown. Free.Dead Man: Johnny Depp plays William Blake, a mild-mannered accountant on the run in Jim Jarmusch's dream-like western. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday, March 2, at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park.Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: the oft-overlooked sequel screens at midnight, Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3, at the Ken Cinema.All About Eve: Bette Davis at her bitchiest at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 3, and Tuesday, March 6, at Reading Cinemas Gaslamp.the Philadelphia Story: Tough call for Katharine Hepburn: Cary Grant or James Stewart. oh, and she's rich. How very 1-percent. Screens at 7 p.m. Monday, March 5, at Reading Town Square in Clairemont.the Lie: Joshua Leonard stars in his own directorial debut as a 30-something parent whose marriage is starting to fade. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, at the Central Library, Downtown. Free.Avatar: not as awesome in 2D. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, at the Pearl Hotel in Point Loma. Free.Now PlayingThin Ice: Greg Kinnear and Alan Arkin reunite for this twisty little crime comedy that's like a weird cross between Fargo and little Miss Sunshine.Act of Valor: Navy SEALS go after a bunch of brown-skinned guys who have kidnapped a CIA agent. the movie stars real-life SEALS, so it's worth wondering if it's an action movie or a recruitment video. Chico & Rita: A surprise entry in the best Animated Film Oscar field, it tells the story of a young piano player (Chico) and a gorgeous singer (Rita) whose pursuit of their dreams and each other sends them from Havana to Vegas to Hollywood to Paris in the 1940s and '50s. Father's Day: the latest film from the schlockmeisters at Troma is about a man obsessed with finding his father's murderer. Expect gore galore at the Ken Cinema.Gone: two years earlier, Amanda Seyfriend's character escaped from a nasty kidnapper. Now he's got her sister, and she's not happy about it. Perfect Sense: as an unknown disease slowly steals humanity's senses, a chef (Ewan McGregor) and an epidemiologist (Eva Green) begin an affair that helps them deal with everything going on in the world. It's an apocalypse film, but David Mackenzie's movie is less about the end of the world than it is about what we truly need to survive.Tyler Perry's good Deeds: Depending upon your point of view, his good deeds may not include making movies. Wanderlust: After Paul Rudd is laid off, he and Jennifer Aniston leave New York, only to end up on a commune with the likes of Justin Theroux, Alan Alda and Malin Akerman.the Flowers of War: Christian Bale poses as a priest to try to save a number of Chinese women from the Japanese during the attack on Nanking in 1937. Ends March 1 at Hillcrest Cinemas.Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance: Man, Nicolas Cage must really need the money. the Secret World of Arrietty: Legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki wrote the screenplay for this anime take on the Borrowers. this Means War: Chris Pine and Tom Hardy are secret-agent best friends who face off against each other when they both fall for Reese Witherspoon while trying to capture a Eurotrash terrorist. It's as stupid as it sounds, but everyone is so good-looking and charming that you might be willing to overlook that. Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu: in this Bollywood romcom screening at Horton Plaza, a man wakes up in Vegas and realizes he married a hairstylist the night before.Journey 2: Mysterious Island: Sort of a sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth, in that it's an adaptation of a Jules Verne book made family-friendly and in 3-D.the Oscar-Nominated Short Films: They move from the Ken Cinema to Reading Gaslamp Cinemas on Friday, March 2.Pina: Wim Wenders directed this film about dance legend Pina Bausch. Don't miss it, and make sure you see it in 3-D. Safe House: Young CIA buck Ryan Reynolds must team up with wily veteran Denzel Washington to kill a bunch of bad guys. Star Wars Episode I: the Phantom Menace 3D: the Force was not so strong with this one.the Vow: After Rachel McAdams loses her memory in a car crash, husband Channing Tatum has to make her fall in love with him again.W.E.: Madonna's new movie—she directed it—parallels the relationship between King Edward VIII and the American divorcée over whom he abdicated the crown and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a security guard. Ends March 1 at Hillcrest Cinemas.Black Holes: the Other side of Infinity: Liam Neeson narrates this IMAX film, screening at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. Chronicle: Three Seattle high-schoolers discover that in order to enjoy their newfound superpowers, they have to face the dark side. the Woman in Black: Daniel Radcliffe tries to break out of the Harry Potter mold with this PG-13 horror movie.Albert Nobbs: Glenn Close plays a 19th-century Irishwoman masquerading as a male butler. It's a great idea that isn't well executed. Ends March 1 at La Jolla Village Cinemas.the Grey: Liam Neeson, who somehow became an action star in the last few years, is the lead in Joe Carnahan's film about a group of Alaskan oil workers trying to survive a pack of wolves after a plane crash. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Stephen Daldry's new film about an awkward little boy whose father, Tom Hanks, died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, will polarize audiences, who'll either experience an intense emotional connection or find it sentimental and exploitative.Red Tails: George Lucas produced this film, which may be the biggest action film ever with a primarily black cast. Set during WWII, a group of Tuskegee Airmen finds itself oversees, fighting the enemy.A Separation: Lovely Iranian movie about a couple going through a divorce who have to endure that country's labyrinthine legal system when their housekeeper is injured. Just won the Golden Globe for best Foreign Language Film.the Iron Lady: not even Meryl Streep can solve the problems faced by this ham-handed biopic.Rescue: this IMAX movie looks at first-responders across the globe and includes footage shot during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. It screens at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.the Artist: this silent film about a silent-film star (Jean Dujardin) whose world begins to collapse as the talkies take over is a fully realized vision and a legitimate best Picture contender. the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Now with more English! David Fincher's reboot is far slicker than the Swedish original, but not, perhaps, particularly necessary.Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol: believe it or not, no. 4 is the best of the bunch, probably because it's the first live-action film from director Brad Bird, the guy behind the Incredibles. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Gary Oldman is great as George Smiley, the semi-retired British spy brought back in to unmask a traitor during the Cold War, but the entire exercise is probably too slow for American audiences.War Horse: Spielberg's other big holiday film is about a horse that's taken from the boy who raised him, serves as an officer's mount in WWI and ends up seeing action from opposite trenches.Hugo: Hell hath apparently frozen over—Martin Scorsese has made a 3-D PG family film.my Week with Marilyn: Eddie Redmayne is Colin Clark, an assistant to Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh), who has to manage his boss' relationship with Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) during a production of the Prince and the Showgirl.the Descendants: Alexander Payne's first film since Sideways is more straightforward than his previous work, but just as rewarding. George Clooney's terrific as Matt King, a father trying to reconnect with his daughters after his wife's injured in an accident.Midnight in Paris: Woody Allen's most charming film in years stars Owen Wilson as a Jazz Age-infatuated screenwriter and aspiring novelist who ends up hanging with the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald.Born to be Wild 3-D: Despite sounding like yet another animated animal movie, this is an IMAX film about baby elephants and orangutans and the people who love them. oh, and it's narrated by Morgan Freeman. Collective sigh for the baby monkeys, please.the Rocky Horror Picture show: the camp classic continues its ongoing run, Fridays at midnight at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas.
Teens fight for their right to party in 'Project X'
