In 2011 a crack burglary ring was sentenced to prison by a Los Angeles court for a series of crimes they most certainly committed. This group of mostly girls had burglarized the homes of nearly a dozen high-profile celebrities, making off with nearly $3 million in clothes and jewelry. Today, a film based on their exploits is being shown in theatres. If you can find it, if there’s little else playing or you’re tired of hearing about Man of Steel, maybe you can see The Bling Ring.

I write that because I’m still not sure what Sofia Coppola’s new movie is about — it opens with Nicki (Emma Watson) giving one of those humanitarian speeches that clearly wasn’t proof-read by an attorney and has about as much basis in thought as — Ooo! A penny! And then follows Marc (Israel Broussard), the awkward new kid at the remidial school. He’s mocked and picked on, partly because he’s the new kid, partly because he harbors some cross-dressing tendencies.

Fortunately one of his classmates, Rebecca (Katie Chang) befriends him and, during a casual drive, asks which if any of friends are out of town. He mentions one. She suggests they break into the house. And they do. And they steal some cash, clothes, and jewelry. They meet up with some other friends afterwards and brag about robbing the poor saps.

I’ve had, for some time, the suspicion that the current comedy troop of Rogen, Hill, Cera, and Franco would eventually get to the point where, instead of a script, they would just sit around and talk. Now we have This Is the End, and if this isn’t the logical conclusion of the gang’s comedy, it’s damn close.

The premise is that Jay Baruchel is in LA to visit his friend Seth Rogen. Their friendship has been on the skids, and Rogen’s insistence that they attend a party at James Franco’s house instead of, I don’t know, hang out and smoke weed. doesn’t help. At Franco’s they meet up with Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, and several others within or slightly out of their group’s ever-expanding radius, such as Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, Martin Starr, Chritopher Mintz-Plasse, and now, I guess, Emma Watson.

Freak disruptions start to occur all over the place — sinkholes swallow up many of the party-goers, others are lifted to heaven in columns of blue light, fires explode across Hollywood, and the five find themselves barricaded in Franco’s house — until Danny McBride shows up and makes their sixth.

April Fools Day is usually a day that brings tons of fake news, including trailer releases (like that Legend of Zelda trailer that will never be made into a movie *sadface*). But this year, April 1st was the release date of the red band trailer for the unbelievably star-packed action comedy This Is The End starring James Franco (who has had an already packed 2013 with the release of Spring Breakers and Oz The Great and Powerful), Seth Rogen, Emma Watson, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, and that’s just the supposed “main cast.” From just watching the trailer, expect appearances by Michael Cera, Rihanna, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Mindy Kaling, and more. Holy freaking casting!

The main plot of the movie is simple: James Franco is throwing a kick-ass party and invites all his friends (because celebrities always party with tons of other celebrities) to have a crazy good time. Until the apocalypse happens. Los Angeles is engulfed in fire and brimstone, monsters and aliens are running rampant, people are looting and killing, mass hysteria basically.

Eventually, the main cast barricade themselves in what’s left of Franco’s house and try to survive. At one point, Emma Watson breaks in with an ax (a freaking AX) to try her hand at some looting, which looks to be successful based on the apparent self-testimonial video that is shot by the guys who are documenting what’s going on during the end of days.

The story picks up where Part I left off. If you really need to know, you can always rewatch the last movie (Heaven help you), but I’m a casual fan and had no trouble jumping right in. Harry and co are holed up in the Weasley family safehouse with Mr. Ollivander (John Hurt) and one of the goblin bankers of the Wizard World’s enormous vault Gringott’s. The group needs him to break into the vault and destroy a chalice that holds part of the soul of Lord Voldemort (or “Horcruxes” for the Potter fans)—and break in (and escape) they do. I’m pretty sure the entire sequence is the most accurate movie representation of the US’s financial collapse we’re likely to see.

From there they travel back to the wizarding school Hogwarts to destroy another Horcrux and oust Snape as the acting Headmaster. At the same time, Voldemort’s army (why was the wizarding world so scared of him before? It appears the whole of them were his allies?) prepares to march on Hogwarts while Harry scrambles to finish up the tasks that will ensure Voldemort’s total destruction. I won’t dwell on recapping because 1) it’s not particularly necessary and 2) anyone reading this will likely already know, so we may as well just get right into the review.

For all the complaints that were and could be (justifiably) leveled against Part I, Part II is a rather wonderful return to form, evoking the grandeur of the previous Potter films but furthering it with higher stakes and a more serious tone. Many have lauded the later Potter films for their “darkness,” and while I didn’t quite agree with them then, the credit is now well deserved.

As sad as it may be the inevitable is about to happen. The final Harry Potter film adaptation of the phenomenally successful book series is set to arrive this week.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will mark the end of the saga and bring to a close one of the most successful film franchises in history. To commemorate that milestone, some talented folks have put together a little restrospective of the series and its characters.

In this video you get to see the progression of Harry, Hermione, Ron and the rest of the characters as they go through all the films. It’s really pretty interesting to see how things have changed over the years.

Check out the video after the break. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Opens on Friday.