The closing chapter to the loosely-connected Cornetto Trilogy increases not only the budget and scope of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but also the main cast. Instead of focusing solely on the always-reliable duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, The World's End adds three more main characters to expand the reunited set of adolescent friends, and is all the better for it. It helps when you have three brilliant actors in Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine, of course. An apocalyptic sci-fi comedy based around a pub crawl is certainly an ambitious undertaking, but Edgar Wright pulls it off brilliantly with the main cast clearly enjoying themselves. Each character gets plenty of individual moments (both dramatic and comedic) so as not to get lost in the shuffle, helped by a screenplay from Wright and Pegg that is both heartfelt and hilarious in equal measure. Despite the addition of Freeman, Marsan and Considine, Pegg and Frost again carry the movie with the latter revelling in playing the straight man for a change, while the former gives a career-best performance as main protagonist Gary King. Runner-Up: This Is The End Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride essentially play versions of themselves in this summer's other apocalyptic comedy, which sees them holed up in Franco's mansion as the end of the world takes place around them. Borderline meta, and featuring cameos aplenty (most of whom die horribly in the first-half hour), the actors riff mercilessly on their public and private personas, and the real-life camaraderie between the stars lends itself brilliantly to several laugh-out-loud group discussions. However, it doesn't answer a burning question I've always had; is Danny McBride an intensely talented comedic actor or is the character he plays in almost every movie just an extension of himself? Answers on a postcard, please.
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