Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow

Pitch Perfect 2 is a really good movie musically speaking. It features some killer arrangements, with a whole variety of songs. The sing off is awesome, especially Das Sound Machine, their arrangements are superb. The amount of work that would’ve had to have gone into their arrangements. They are also awesome and they know it “Darlings, please don’t try to beat us, you can’t, we’re the best”.

Character interaction, and relationships is also done really well. The girls lose their style at the beginning of the movie, and work throughout the movie to get their style back. This movie shows the girls being lost, and scared of moving on after being known as having shown their junk to the president. Amy says to Becca “You’re the most talented person I know and I’ve met three of the Wiggles intimately”, when Becca is feeling down about herself.

Humour is once again very much present, but there are some things that are taken too far, almost to the point that it may be offensive. Fat Amy is pivotal in most of the humour (that is actually funny) “I’m a free-range pony that can’t be tamed, I can’t be tied down”. Another funny line “you’re physically flawless but that doesn’t mean I like you” – Becca trying to talk down to DSM but failing, quite hilariously.

However, there are some things that are taken too far “girls who are too ugly to be cheerleaders”, “that’s what happens when you send girls to college”, there is even a comment about “going back to Mexico”.  This movie has tried to ‘amp’ up from the first movie, however have possibly taken it too far.

Some awesome quotes from the movie

“you’re ginger that’s punishment enough”

“let’s not be dicks about it”

“what do American kids say? Jelly”

“you? The kicker of ass? You’re so tiny”

“Sure blame the minority” … “I’m black, gay and a woman”

“what kind of white shit is this”? – when the group are singing Torn

“you’re Becca and Chloe, together you’re Bhloe”

If you haven't, go check out my Pitch Perfect (2012) review:

http://moviereviewmq.blogspot.com.au/2017/05/pitch-perfect-2012-starring-anna.html

Pitch Perfect 2 trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgPm-yaLoyo

Image from:  http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/pitch-perfect/images/3/3f/Pitch_Perfect_2_poster.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20161125115018

Blade Runner (1982)

Directed by Ridley Scott.
Staring, Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

Blade Runner is a unique sci fi which is distinct and set apart from many of the films of the genre. It is set in a dystopian-esque los angeles in the year 2019, and follows Rick Deckard, a man who is tasked with the job to locate and find replicants which are bioengineed androids that are banned on earth due to the problems they’ve caused. In this near future, almost all trees and animals have become extinct, sacrificed in favour of an unchecked human population. In this world cities sprawl beyond the horizon. The film itself heavily relies on the subtly visuals and lets the audience be engrossed in the scenes, rather than using dialogue to explain everything that is going on. Overall this movie is a must see classic for those into sci fi and philosophical story telling.

Quote
“The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long – and you have burned so very, very brightly roy”



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLoQygDnrsk

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp

If you’re a music lover, then watch this movie if you haven’t already. The music scenes are awesome. They are super complex, with counter melodies, multiple harmonies, and killer vocals. The Just The Way You Are scene for example, has counter melodies, with the two melodies intertwining together. It also features many harmonies, and really cool timing patterns. There are vocals acting as drums, bass, and guitar. To arrange this would have been very complex, and not to mention having to sing the arrangement.

The riff off is an awesome scene. There is groups battling each other with awesome arrangements of songs and sass, and they are working together. It shows the first sign of real bondage between the groups. The songs they sang too, with the variety from rap to pop and ballads, were really cool.

The movie also has great character development, with just the right amount of romance, that you end up cheering for the characters. Pitch Perfect does romance and friendship a whole lot better than Glee, so don’t compare it to Glee. At the end when Becca and Jessie finally get together, so cute. At the beginning of the movie, he air guitar’s to her when he doesn’t even know her, he brings juice and killer movies, for something else to do together instead of just stacking CD’s and using record covers as faces. “you’re an acapella girl and I’m an acapella boy”.

It’s pretty cool to see a group of strangers become really good friends. It is cool to see Aubrey finally “loosen the rails”, she asks Becca for help at the end, rather than puking like she did twice because she was stressed. She let someone else take some control, and turned them from being good to being awesome.

This movie has some really cool lines.

“Amy what are you doing”? “I’m vertical running”

“Excuse me bitch no need to shout” – when the girl finally speaks up

“you’ll be spending a lot of downtime together so please no sex on the bench, I’ve been warned before”

Becca- “Kimmy Jin is my friend” ... Kimmy Jin-” nope”

“Your man boobs are going to concave”

And also, when Jessie sings “I guess it’s the women in you that brings out the man in me” to Becca – so cute

“Aca-believe it”

Pitch Perfect Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dItOM6eYXY

Pitch Perfect 2 trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgPm-yaLoyo

image from http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8526/8642176033_f9c1dd148b.jpg

Eye in the sky (2015)

Starring: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman

Eye in the sky is a nerve-wrecking movie that shows us a war zone placed in Kenya, in a terrorist owned territory. The British government is working with the Kenyan and American governments to track high-risk terrorist they have been chasing for years and those terrorist ended up being in this place in Kenya.

To create empathy, the movie presents aside with the main story, a little girl different from the people in that area. She is intelligent and sweet, learning maths and languages. When not playing or studying, she helps her mom selling bread to others in the village.

The whole movie is about on major decision. The highly wanted terrorists are planning to strike with 2 bomb-men. They are placed in the house next door to that little girl.. The decision they need to make is either to strike, maybe kill the girl and prevent the attack, or not to strike and maybe let many other people die from the attack.

It seems easy to choose between one life versus many lives, but in my opinion the ethics behind that decision go much further. It brings us the thought of the care of the government towards its citizens. For example, I pay my taxes for the government to protect me, not shoot a bomb from a drone and as a collateral damage, kill me or the ones around me. However, many may think it was a necessary damage, because many other people would die from that bomb. But my point is to see this issue as bad guys (terrorists) killing versus good guys (government) killing its own citizens.

My favourite quote is when they talk about war propaganda: “If they kill 80 people, we win the propaganda war. If we kill one child, they do.”

Trailer:

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Starring: Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper

 Wow. What a killer movie!! Guardians of The Galaxy is probably my favourite marvel movie. It is everything that suicide squad tried to be but failed at miserably. Sorry, well no, no I’m not. The only good thing from Suicide Squad was Heathens by 21 pilots. Love that song. Anyway, Guardians, they took misunderstood characters, notice not ‘evil’ characters, like in Suicide Squad, with a ton of humour and made a killing of a movie, and most likely money too.

Guardians of The Galaxy also had character relationship and friendship, which is pivotal in the story plot. The characters start off trying to capture each other due to different needs but end up being really good friends by the end. In the movie, Chris Pratts character, tries to emphasize friendship and says “The movie shows a group of people working together, originally, in order to get out of prison and to make money, however by the end, they are working with the people who captured them into prison, in order to save the world that they live in. When they are escaping from prison, Gamora says “I’m going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots”, but at the end when they are saving their planet she says, “I will be grateful to die amongst my friends”.

 It has tons of action, and the production they would’ve needed to create the many awesome sceneries that they had.  Like all the space scenes, the one where Star-lord goes out to save Gamora, and the scenes with Thanos in them. The scenes in this movie are really cool, the scene where they are barricading the ship so that it doesn’t come down and destroy the world.

Groot is so cute! And loving too even though he can literally only say “I and Am and Groot exclusively in that order”, at least until the end of the movie when he says, “we are Groot”. That scene is so cute!! He kills himself to save his friends. Also when he creates the flower for the girl. Aww.  At the end of movie too, when he’s a baby. He’s dancing to I Want You Back by the Jackson 5, and every time that Drax turns around.

  

The movie has some really funny quotes and some meaningful ones too.

“I have part of a plan” “12%” – Rocket

Raises his middle finger “Oh I didn’t know how this machine works” – Star-lord

 “He says he’s an A-hole but not 100% a dick”

“they got my dick message”

“I’m distracting you, big turd blossom”

“Dance off bro, me and you”

“It’s pleasing to once again have friends”

“The walking thesaurus”

“I know they are the only friends we’ve ever had” – Rocket

“You said it yourself bitch, we’re the guardians of the galaxy”

image from https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/1/12/Guardians-of-the-Galaxy_first_Screenshot.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140101012755

Power Rangers (2017)

Starring: Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott and RJ Cyler.

I could not be more unsatisfied with a movie than I am with the new Power Rangers. It has been a long time since the last Power Rangers movie and when I saw the trailer about a brand new film I got really excited. The morphing-time looked amazing. The special effects looked great. Even the story sounded more exciting than before. It wasn’t.

My first thought when the movie started playing was “wow, Zac Efron lost a bit of weight to look like a teenager”. Later on, I discovered it was not him, but an Australian actor called Dacre Montgomery. Then, we jump into the same old and extremely childish story. So many unexplained facts. For example, they just accepted the fact they were "rangers" without further explanations or details of what that meant.

I think what drew my eyes to go to the cinema was a piece of news I saw when scrolling through my Facebook feed, saying that the film would explore the homosexuality of one of the Rangers. And they did it, very badly. It was such an unnecessary scene that made me feel awkward and embarrassed. Nobody was talking about relationships at that point. In my opinion, they just put it in the movie to get the attention, since LGBT characters have been a hot topic everywhere.

I guess the only funny part was the giant villain Goldar: made of gold. Yes, a pretty expensive villain. And then it comes my favourite quote of the movie, said by Zack Taylor when he sees Goldar: “That's a lot of gold”.

Trailer:

Eddie the Eagle (2016)

Photo source: www.showfilmfirst.com

Directed by	Dexter Fletcher
Starring	Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Tom Costello, Jack Costello, Christopher Walken, Iris Berben, Jim Broadbent
Music by	Matthew Margeson

Short Story:
Eddie the Eagle tells the story of Eddie Edwards (magnificently played by Taron Egerton), the first ever British Olympic ski jumper.

It was Eddie's childhood dream to become on Olympian and despite the numerous setbacks, continuous discouragement from all around him, it is only though sheer determination that he manages to make his dream come true.

He nearly kills himself a couple of times before he meets Hugh Jackman a.k.a. coach Bronson Peary. Peary used to be a very promising ski jumper himself, but a big ego and an even bigger drinking problem cut his career short. As expected, Peary is reluctant to coach Eddie in the beginning, but Eddie is nothing if not persistent. As they go on and prepare for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, both of them are faced with complete and utter disdain from all other coaches and athletes, including Eddie's own compatriots.

By the time we reach the end of the movie, Eddie's determination and affable manner wins him not the Olympics, but the hearts and respect of athletes, coaches and public alike.

Verdict:
In an interview given to The Guardian in 2016, Michael (Eddie) Edwards admitted that the movie moved him to tears and even though the actual facts are only 5% accurate, it portrayed the heart and soul of Britain's first ski jumper flawlessly.
This is an inspirational movie at its very best. It will leave you elated, on the top of the world and feeling that NOTHING can stop you from making your own dreams come true.


Favourite quotes:

Eddie: [voice over] "For as long as I can remember it has been my ambition to become an Olympian. I just needed to find the right sport.“

Eddie's Mom: "Harry, he’s off to the Olympics again."
Eddie [to his Dad]: "I told mom I’m going to the Olympics—I held my breath for 58 seconds!"
Eddie's Mom: "When is it all going to end?"
Eddie: "When I become an Olympian."
Eddie's Dad: "Enough is enough. … You are coming to work with me."
Eddie: "What about my Olympics preparations?"
Eddie's Dad: "Eddie, you are not an athlete!"
Eddie: "Dad, you’re a genius! You’re right; I’m never going to go to the Olympics. I’m gonna go to the Winter Olympics!"

Bjørn the Norwegian Coach: [loosely quoting Pierre de Corbertin]: "Most important thing is not to win but to take part. It’s not the triumph but the struggle."

Eddie: "I just thought we’d have a little chat about me being a ski jumper. Just looking for a few tips. "
Bronson Peary: "Give up. There’s one for free."

Eddie: "I’m not deluded. I know there are plenty of other athletes more deserving than me, so if my antics took away from their accomplishments, forgive me. … As someone [wise] said, … I love [ski jumping] very nearly as much as I love proving people wrong, which is why I’ve decided to jump the 90m. To compete in the Olympics doesn’t mean anything if you sell yourself short. I did not come to the Olympics as a novelty act and I will not be going home as one."