Hello again, fellow film fans! We find ourselves in the later part of the month of May, where the first large part of the summer blockbuster season begins to draw to a close to make way for Part 2, which is June. Despite the fact that really what everybody has been talking about at the beginning of May, and in the weeks leading up to it, was of course Avengers, we’ve seen a few other films released since then. But before I give my take on what is releasing, it is time to bring on a recent collaborator of mine. The high school newspaper’s very own Angel Hsieh was able to see Pitch Perfect 2 the other day, and so the following words are her review of the film:
Pitch Perfect 2 is an exciting sequel that involves the female a cappella singing group ‘The Bellas’ competing at the world championship. The film pits our band of strange female heroes in a delusional singing world where table reading is required for every performance or it is a no go. Since their failed performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts involving Fat Amy, the President of the United States, and a wardrobe malfunction, they are suspended from a cappella. Their only way back into the circuit of a cappella is by winning the world championship. This title has never been won by an American team, as a European team has consistently won time and time again.
The Bellas are a group of girls from Barden University. They are an odd but united bunch led by Beca Mitchell, who announces this competition to be World War 2 for the girls, so they must give it their all or die trying.
In particular, there are two significant scenes in the movie. There is the club scene where they come together with the German team to showcase both groups’ talent, and the amazing performance from Anna Kendrick and Hailee Steinfeld will surely leave you clapping. An inspirational sight is the girls coming together around the campfire who say they will remember each other with the ‘Song of Cup’.
This is a blockbuster ticket you won't regret paying for.
And there you have it folks, Angel’s review for Pitch Perfect 2! So it is time to get back to the main part of the article: me! I’m kidding, it’s my writing that’s the dazzling draw for all of you readers out there! Wait, what’s that? You want me to zip it and get on with it? Okay…
Just a quick recap of the last couple of weeks at the box office: we’ve got Avengers dominating its second week with the second largest second weekend intake behind only its predecessor, although it was defeated this week by Mad Max: Fury Road and Pitch Perfect 2, but with $38 million on its third weekend, Avengers is gonna be just fine, don’t worry. And my score on it still stands after seeing it a second time, I think it’s great. We had Hot Pursuit open up a couple of weeks ago, and without going into any real detail, the consensus from critics and regular movie-goers alike is for other movie-goers to stay as far away from that film as possible. Faaaar away. I’m talking at least another auditorium away from the auditorium it is played in at a theater. Although the following week we got Mad Max and Pitch Perfect 2, so it all worked out in the end!
To talk about Mad Max though: it’s incredible. Just awesome. Again, it’s rated R, and while not overtly gory, it is still violent, still disturbing, and true to its name very much mad with a clear reason for being so. The characters operate on the instinct of survival of the fittest, the action is brutal, and unless you are a teenager going into the film having not seen this type of stuff in movies before, if you bring a child to this film, then you and I would not be talking until you sat yourself down in a room by yourself to think about how that is terrible parenting/guardianship. Enough about that though, the movie’s great, and one thing that shines out aside from the acting is how the female characters in this movie are awesome, given depth and emotion, and feel very real at the same time. The female lead, Furiousa (Charlize Theron), who is the film’s dual protagonist alongside Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), is escorting the wives of this crazy cult leader named Immortan Joe across the post-apocalyptic Australian outback so that they can have a life free of insanity. Joe does not like this one bit as he sees these wives as ‘property’, ‘things’ that belong to him. So, he chases after them and gathers two other fanatical war groups alongside his own in order to get them back. Max is caught in the middle of this, and is constantly put in danger throughout the whole thing, given only a few moments to breath and rest a little, and begrudgingly gets into another crazy situation, where he toes the lines between hero, anti-hero, and dare I say it, villain so many times it is hard to count.
I’ve heard complaints regarding the movie, saying it is ‘feminist propaganda’: okay, first off, those 9 or 10 men who started this thing, you’re all morons and crawl back under that weird, wet rock in the Marianas Trench that you came out under. Second, if this is feminist propaganda that is slowly melting our brains into thinking that women are equal to men (*gasp* SCANDALOUS, I KNOW! NEXT THEY’LL BE WANTING TO WORK FOR EQUAL PAY, OR VOTE, OR DO THINGS THAT EVERY HUMAN BEING SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO!!!), and that anyone who likes this movie is some sort of slave incapable of free thought, then gosh darn it, I want more of it! If this movie is any indication, they will be great! There is the argument to be made that the wives in the film are dressed provocatively, but considering that they are slaves to a sexist warlord, it felt appropriate. And don’t worry, all of our heroes, male and female, get their time to shine.
I would give Mad Max an enthusiastic 4.5/5 stars; if you are of high school age and are permitted to see it, go ahead and see it. I thought it was great, but it still has a specific audience as a crazy post-apocalyptic action film that is essentially a car chase throughout the whole thing. If that’s appealing to you and you have those pre-requisites of being able to see the film that I mentioned, then by all means, set aside some time in order to see it.
Looking ahead though, we’ve got a bunch more great stuff coming our way. This weekend we have Tomorrowland and the Poltergeist remake coming, so I’m excited about those. The trailers for Poltergeist have actually been pretty good, so I think that it could be okay, but it’s Tomorrowland I’m really interested in, as are most people, I feel. From what I’ve heard, it’s visually stunning with amazing action scenes, great characters and performances, and superb direction, but uneven storytelling holds it back from greatness, especially in the last act. That’s sad, because I love Brad Bird as a director, and there is not a film of his that he’s done so far that I haven’t loved. It appears that the real problem is in the writing, because Damon Lindelof, the guy who wrote this movie, has been criticized for his inability to conclude stories satisfactorily. Brad Bird did co-write, but something tells me the stumbling I’ve been hearing about is mainly on Lindelof. It seems to still be a decent movie, but not as awesome as it had the potential to be.
The following week, we get a romantic-comedy called Aloha directed by Cameron Crowe who has been lauded for his personal, character-driven films. Aloha stars Bradley Cooper as Brian Gilcrest, a defense contractor who falls for Air Force pilot Allison Nig, played by Emma Stone, so it could be cute. And let’s be honest here: guys, I’m talking to you. If you saw Emma Stone walk into wherever you happened to be, would you not feel drawn to her? Come on, don’t lie here, the answer across the board here is yes for anyone attracted to women. In the same week, we get the Rock-led film called San Andreas about a rescue-helicopter pilot and his ex-wife looking to save their estranged daughter from the biggest earthquake in history that just happens to look cool on a movie screen. Come on, the trailer has the Rock going up a wave, swerving to avoid falling buildings in a helicopter, and yelling at everybody to ‘GET DOWN!’ Are you going to sit (or stand) there and tell me that does not sound awesome to you? Anyways, I’m excited for it, so there’s that.
And looks like we arrive at the final segment for Thursdays at the Theatre, and that is looking back at older films and throwing them on here as a recommendation for you to see, or just an excuse for me to talk about it, and that is:
Yes, you may or may not have seen it folks, but I bet that most of you have heard of it. Or at least, I hope so, because this movie is just stupid popcorn fun. Seeing as San Andreas releases next week, and the old Mad Max movies are too violent for a general recommendation for everybody to see, I feel that Twister was a good one to go back to. The movie is about a bunch of crazy storm chasers, and the leader of this group is Jo Thornton, played by Helen Hunt. The group is trying to figure out what the inside of a tornado is like to get a more advanced weather warning system. Jo’s motivation for this is because she does not want a family torn apart like hers was when her father was sucked out into a tornado when she was 5 years old because her family had not been warned in time. Bill Harding, played by Bill Paxton, is her estranged husband who wants to marry another woman, so he needs Jo to sign divorce papers and they can be on their merry way. However, Bill and his bride-to-be get roped into this crazy quest, and there’s a rival group who aren’t as good as our heroes and actually ripped off their methods, there are physics-defying set-pieces, and of course, cows picked up by a tornado. Does that sound kind of dumb to you? Of course it is, and it’s perfect the way it is! I’m not going to say it’s what you would call an all around ‘quality’ film, because it was greenlit without a script after all, but darn it all if it’s not entertaining. And of course, the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman plays my favorite character in the whole movie, so there is that as well.
Okay Titans, I hope that you liked this edition of Thursdays at the Theatre because a lot went into this one. As I am writing this, in fact, I have to go to bed in a few minutes in order to not be a zombie tomorrow at school, so thank you very much for reading. Like I always say, if you want to stay updated on not just new editions of Thursdays at the Theatre but the rest of what the team has to offer here on the blog, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check back as often as you want, of course. It’s the summer movie season, blockbuster time, summer is here in little over a month, and there is currently a bottle of cool water right next to me that looks quite appealing as of right now, so I should probably end this, right now. Until next time, Titans, goodbye and stay strong!
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