Tag Archives: anna kendrick

Pitch Perfect

Director: Jason Moore
Writer: Kay Cannon. Based on Pitch Perfect by Mickey Rapkin
Released: September 2012
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Okay, this movie was actually pretty funny! I felt like I needed to suppress my laughing fits so that nobody thought I had such a weird sense of humour – which this movie kind of does.

I really enjoyed it – perhaps more than I would care to let on since it is just a chick flick… But it’s not your typical “boy gets girl”, “random dudes stripping off”, “getting drunk and hooking up”… Okay, well that’s a lie, there was all of the above, but the movie tended to make fun of these stereotypical characteristics of the genre, which set it apart.

Beca – the protagonist – is played by the awesome Anna Kendrick… I reckon Ellen Page would have suited this character too…

Also, the fact that it certainly focussed on the music more than anything – you should see the list of songs in the credits! Plus, I liked how Pitch Perfect had a ‘point’ despite being just a fun, entertaining film. It emphasised diversity and non-conformity while either avoiding stereotypes, or blatantly stating them.

I guess I’m missing out on the main point of the movie, which is that it was all about the competitive world of acapella. I thought “Glee + Bring It On”, but it was actually a thousand times better than either of those. Competitions between numerous groups of dudes and girls who battle for the best performance of any song using nothing but their vocal chords. They all sounded fantastic… Even though their voices were obviously perfected in post. Almost too flawless actually…

Fat Amy has to be everybody’s favourite character, just because she is so freakin’ hilarious. I was so disappointed that they didn’t include the “pirate dancing” scene though… They replaced it with the “mermaid dancing” scene. So, here is the pirate dancing clip since you won’t see it in the movie (25 seconds in):

But the character who made me laugh the most was actually Lilly aka “The Quiet One”… I shan’t give away too many details – but look out for her!

My favourite thing about the movie? Probably that it was set in a university and not a High School! I’m so fed up of 20-something year old actors playing 16 year olds… Also, the love story took a major back seat! So refreshing!! There were also a lot of rather funny one-liners. Most of them being puns… Which were really quite “punny”… Ha.

The worst part? The pointless and really weird idea of having a character that has a tendency to vomit… A lot. Not only does it take you by surprise, but it makes one ponder the reasoning behind why this addition was actually required.

Over all, a very funny film that is worth seeing!

Jodie’s rating: 7.5/10
(Omg, higher than Looper!)

Up in the Air

Up in the air

Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (based on novel by Walter Kirn)
Released: December 2009
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick
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At face value, this may seem like just another shallow idea with a typical love story. But this is far from it.

It’s an incredible story that has a very serious undertone, indeed. It is actually documenting the effects of the start of the financial downfall that we are now experiencing globally.

The movie is not told from the perspective of an employee being let go and the inevitable family and financial problems that would accompany it, but from the point of view of the man that is hired by the boss to tell their employers they no longer have a job.

This is a song that a man named Kevin Renick wrote after losing his job. He sent it to Jason Reitman after hearing about the film and the song is played on the credits. Shows how real this film is, I think.

It’s a fantastic – yet heartbreaking – perspective, because we also see how technology is ruining human connection. For example, it is proposed that instead of Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) flying from city to city letting these people go face to face, that he could actually tell them online via a camera which would be more ‘efficient’, but obviously much less personal. This proposition doesn’t work for Bingham whatsoever. Let alone the people getting told they’re losing a job.

One of my favourite scenes with J.K Simmons playing 'Bob' who gets firedIt’s a sad story of how people’s worlds collapse, how in many respects the odds are against us and that people can no longer rely on each other since it is predominately all about profit. It addresses how we have stopped being personal, only professional, and how a job can become somebody’s life. How it can be their only reliable thing.

Of course, being the director of Juno, Jason Reitman has created another fantastic comedy with very quirky lines. I love this kind of humour, particularly in the scene showed in the photo above.

Ryan: I’m not a shrink, Bob. I’m a wake-up call. You know why kids love athletes?
Bob (JK Simmons): I don’t know. Cause they screw lingerie models?
Ryan: No, that’s why we love athletes. Kids love athletes because they follow their dreams… Your resume` says that you minored in French culinary arts. Most students, they work on the fryer at KFC, but you bussed tables at Il Picador to support yourself. Then you get out of college and then you come and you work here. How much did they first pay you to give up on your dreams?
Bob: 27 grand a year.
Ryan: And when were you going to stop and come back and do what makes you happy?
Bob: Good point.

My favourite part is when George Clooney’s character is deliberating which line to join for security screening in an airport:

This fantastic film is pretty much about all the different ways somebody can feel ‘up in the air’ with little substance and solidarity in their life.

It is a sad film if you look beyond its face value, with not much of a happy ending which I think is very appropriate since we are not quite out of the dark yet. However, it’s strong, underlying current of humour keeps us afloat and captured throughout the whole film.

Jodie’s rating: 9/10