Rapture-Palooza (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Trailer-x 3 but not for this film
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	81:26
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Paul Middleditch
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Chris Matheson Anna Kendrick Thomas Lennon John Francis Daley Ken Jeong Rob Corddry Craig Robinson
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Joachim Horsley

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes, lots of weed
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     The Rapture prophesised in the Bible has arrived; those who were good churchgoers have been taken up to heaven, leaving behind on Earth the ungodly and the non-churchgoers, including in Seattle sweet young Lindsay (Anna Kendrick) and her boyfriend Ben House (John Francis Daley), although some who were taken up were soon returned, such as Lindsay’s mother (Ana Gasteyer) who started a fight in heaven. For those left behind on Earth things continued on as before, sort of, amid the plague of insects or the rain of blood sent by God, the undead wraiths and zombies or the flaming boulders that crash to earth, killing people and destroying property. And then appeared the Anti-Christ (Craig Robinson), aka Earl Grundy ex-politician from Idaho, aka The Beast, who sets up in a mansion in Seattle where he fights with his ex-wife on the phone, initiates missile strikes that obliterate cities and otherwise indulges his whims and kills people.

     Some in the community, including Ben’s father (Rob Corddry), decide the best way to get ahead in the new world is to work for The Beast although Lindsay and Ben try to get by operating a sandwich cart. But when their cart is destroyed by a flaming boulder from the sky, Mr House offers to get them a temporary job in The Beast’s mansion. When they arrive at the mansion, The Beast takes one look at the sweet, young virgin Lindsay and decides that he wants to marry her right away and have lots of babies. When Lindsay resists, she is given 8 hours to decide whether to have sex with the Anti-Christ or have her family and all her friends killed. It is up to Lindsay and Ben to come up with a plan to save her virginity, avoid the guards, defeat the Anti-Christ and maybe even save what is left of the world.

     Rapture-Palooza was written by Chris Matheson, who is probably best known for writing Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), but the best thing about the film is Anna Kendrick. She was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for Up in the Air (2009) (but lost out to Mo’Nique in Precious), made the most of her part in End of Watch (2012) and was wonderful in Pitch Perfect (2012). In Rapture-Palooza her Lindsay has just the right blend of naivety, awkwardness and charm and she plays her role straight, being a perfect foil for Craig Robinson who goes way over the top as the Anti-Christ and has a lot of fun. Others in the cast who are also good include Ana Gasteyer (Saturday Night Live) as Lindsay’s hysterical mother, and Rob Corddry as Ben’s father.

     Rapture-Palooza is often amusing and occasionally very funny. Yet one feels that with this wild and way out premise, and those connected with the project, it could have been much funnier if the filmmakers had not all too frequently fallen onto profanities and crass sexual humour for laughs. Nevertheless, with so many serious end of the world films around, it is fun to watch one that has a different take on the apocalypse.

Video

     Rapture-Palooza is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The print is very sharp with good crisp detail in both close-ups and wider shots. The print was, however, on the light side where brightness was concerned which did make the skin tones very pale and the colours somewhat washed out. However, blacks are solid and shadow detail very good.

     There are a artefacts on show, including a fair bit of aliasing against surfaces such as the house roof and vertical lines, some motion blur and noise reduction in a couple of darker scenes. Marks were not evident.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are available in a largish white font.

     The layer change at 38:22 was at a scene change.

     A print with good detail and some artefacts.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps plus an English descriptive audio for the vision impaired by a male voice at Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps.

     Dialogue could be a bit hard to hear sometimes, including some of Anna Kendrick’s voiceover, but there are always the subtitles. The surrounds were not overused but did produce ambient noise, music and weather effects. The gunshots had a nice resonance and the subwoofer supported the music, boulder hits and explosions without overdoing it.

    Lip synchronisation was fine.

     The original score by Joachim Horsley was supported by some spirituals and some devil themed rap songs.

     The audio track was effective and did what was required.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     On start-up the following trailers play and need to be skipped: Scary Movie V (2:02), The Details (1:51) and Mud (2:19). They cannot be selected from the menu. There are no other extras.

     The Region 1 US DVD of Rapture-Palooza includes an audio commentary with cast members Craig Robinson, Rob Huebel and Rob Corddry that is described as “disappointing”, three short featurettes and deleted scenes. Still a win to Region 1 I think. The Region 2 UK DVD is not due to be released until the end of October 2013.

     Rapture-Palooza is often amusing and occasionally very funny but it could have been better if it hadn’t fallen back often into profanities and crass sexual humour for its humour. Nevertheless, a different take on the apocalypse is welcome and Anna Kendrick is definitely worth watching.

     The video is acceptable and the audio good. Extras are only trailers for other films and we miss out on the extras available in Region 1.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall