Aca-excited

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

7.2/10 on IMDb
68% on Rotten Tomatoes
We are finally reunited with the Barden Bellas, our favourite acapella group! We see them in their senior year, after a string of successful performances and wins over the previous years. BUT!!! The film kicks off with a really unfortunate mishap that spirals the Barden Bellas into nearly being banned from performing again, signalling the end of the acapella group. The rest of the film then follows the Bellas as they desperately try to regain their credibility by trying to win the world championships.

Okay, so first things first. If you liked Pitch Perfect, and if you were remotely interested in Pitch Perfect 2, you will like Pitch Perfect 2.

Of course it's not the best movie out there, and it's not as great as its ancestor, but it's a pretty good sequel to a popular movie, and no one is watching Pitch Perfect 2 to dissect and analyse. You go in wanting to have some good laughs and fangirl over Anna Kendrick, and you get some good laughs and a great dose of Anna Kendrick.

The acapella in this was great, especially from Das Sound Machine. Rebel Wilson had more time to shine in this film, and you will be able to laugh throughout the whole film.

On the downside, some of the scenes dragged out for too long, and went from awkwardly funny to just awkward. The storyline also got a bit complicated, with some unnecessary 'side quests' (I don't know how else to explain it; Aca-camp just seemed like a secondary adventure and Bella's internship gets no mention at the end) and a lot of side romances being introduced that only meant the neglect of Bella and Jesse's relationship.

However, as I said, if you were even slightly keen to watch Pitch Perfect 2, you would like this movie. The film made me laugh, the songs were enjoyable, and Anna Kendrick is so beautiful that we can overlook these negativities. But if you're not that keen, save your money and watch it on the TV or something.

A few side notes:

Every time they yelled out "DSM", my mind would think of psych

Elizabeth Banks is so funny

This is Elizabeth Banks' directorial debut and I think she did a pretty good job

The ways that all the battles ended were extremely lame; that scene was just so poorly written

Tobias Fünke, you are a legend


Ex Machina (2015)

7.9/10 on IMDb
92% on Rotten Tomatoes
Ex Machina focuses on Caleb, a programmer who wins a competition to visit a retreat owned by the boss of his company. However, upon arriving, he soon discovers that this is no holiday, but actually an experiment. Caleb's job here is to test an artificial intelligence, in the form of an attractive female robot, and determine whether or not she can pass off as a human.

Firstly, this film is quite an indie film (it didn't even play at Event Cinemas), and I'm not familiar with indie movies, but it was pretty well executed. They didn't have much marketing going for it, but the trailer looked good enough for me to be interested. Their marketing stunt on Tinder was also pretty impressive, and so by the time I went to the cinema I was pretty hyped (also because I had never been to Dendy before and it was a really weird experience - they didn't even have allocated seating; it was a massive free-for-all!).

Anyway, the film doesn't mess around; it dives straight into the plot. At the beginning of the film you already get the feeling of it being about technology; you can understand how everything links to technology, with everyone being monitored.

Whilst the film throughout was intense, the pacing was actually a bit slow. Sometimes, this made it even more intense, but other times it seemed to just drag out too long. However, seeing as this is an indie film, I guess it's nothing to be surprised about.

The actors were also fantastic. Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb was pretty good; there was no hint of him being the same person as he was in About Time (2013), mainly because of the accent, but still. He actually looked really cute in this film too, something I didn't notice in About Time. Oscar Isaac was also great; I'm really excited for everything he's going to be doing in these next few years (X-Men: Apocalypse as Apocalypse and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens).

However, the person who stole the limelight was Alicia Vikander as Ava, the artificially intelligent robot. This girl absolutely killed this role, like everything about her performance was fantastic. She was beautiful, but there was always this unsettling sense about her like something wasn't quite right, whether it was her mesmerising voice or her just-a-tad-off hair or whatever. She pulled this role off perfectly.

Can we also just appreciate the fact that this was director Alex Garland's FIRST FILM. Like, EVER. He has never directed anything in his life except this. That is pretty darn amazing, Garland.

The movie is also a very quotable movie. My favourite quote is when Caleb tells Nathan, "If you've created a conscious machine, it's not the history of man. It's the history of gods."

There is also no way you could watch this movie without thinking of Frankenstein or Bladerunner if you analysed those texts for HSC. Honestly, I bet that in 20 years' time, people will be analysing Ex Machina compared to Frankenstein. All the themes were visible: What makes us human? Can robots be more human than human? Should humans try and be like God, creating life? And more importantly... Why does everything seem to relate to that darned Prometheus?!

In the end, this film was a good film. It was creepy, and made you (or maybe just me) shiver like crazy. Would I watch it again? Not in the near future. Would I recommend it? Well, it's hard to say. The slow pacing of the film, and the fact that it's an indie film that wasn't even released in Event Cinemas, means that it's inherently not for everyone. I'm not too sure how much I would enjoy it upon a second viewing, and I'm not too sure how a lot of people would enjoy it upon their first. If you are interesting in AI (as in Artificial Intelligence, not Al-fred or something), or you are sort of interested in this film, I think it is a good film to check out, but it won't be to everyone's taste.

Oh, what a day! What a lovely day!

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

8.8/10 on IMDb
98% on Rotten Tomatoes

Chloe's thoughts: A must-see
Watch it if you: Want to watch a perfect film; love cars/explosions/action (but hey watch it even if you don't even love all that stuff because this film is so much more than that)


Okay, so I was super keen for this movie already, but the controversies of the Men's Rights Activists just made me even MORE keen to watch this film.

Yehp, in a world where Pitch Perfect 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road become unlikely candidates for reigning over box office, the film with a male title character and male target audience still proves to be the better film for females.

Whilst the film revolves around it's male protagonist Mad Max, he's a character that is inherently not going to be the most interesting. He's a man of action rather than words, so he doesn't say much, he's awfully reserved and he's fine with taking orders from someone who knows more than him. No, the true focus of the film is not Mad Max, the true focus of the film is the strong female presence. So pervasive is the power and strength of the females in this film that it's getting the MRA's panties all tied up, because how dare we make a film with strong females in it.

No, this isn't anything new... we've seen strong female characters in action films before (Alien, Hunger Games, Edge of Tomorrow). The thing that makes this so shocking and different is that the title of the film implies a male as a main character, and yet while Tom Hardy's Mad Max is a strong male character, Charlize Theron's Furiosa shines as the furious main character.

The film dives straight into it, with a voice-over setting the tone of the whole film: gritty and tough. It dives straight into the action sequences; there's no mucking around with George Miller. From the onset, the film gives you non-stop, back-to-back action sequences. We are introduced to the world of dystopian Australia, where warriors are in dire need of a bucket of lipbalm each day, where the highlight of the day is sending out a truck to fetch oil, where everyone has an amazing eye for custom car jobs, and where javelins can frikkin explode. While Mad Max is a character of interest, he becomes nothing more than a car accessory for the first part of the film, while Furiosa calls the shots and literally drives the plot.

In fact, you wouldn't think that I could describe the most epic 2-hour long car chase you have and will ever see as having a good plot, but you'd be surprised. Whilst the film, as I said before, had constant action sequences revolving around the car chase, they managed to cleverly put in a good plot as well. Women are selectively picked to breed healthy children for the citadel's leaders, but what if, dare I say it, they don't want to be breeders? What if they don't want their little boys to grow up as lunatic warriors? What happens then?

Another great thing about the plot was that I don't recall seeing any cheap deus ex machina moments where something last minute comes out to save the day. It's gritty and realistic; not everyone is going to live.

The actors were fantastic. Tom Hardy was typically good in this, and I have to give Nicholas Hoult a tremendous round of applause for his performance (he looks, sounds and acts completely different) and for expressing the best line of the film in the most perfect way (cf. the title of the post). However, as you probably guessed it, the true star was Charlize Theron. She was simply divine in this.

That being said, every single character was amazing. The make up, costuming, and car jobs were also true perfection. They had between USD100-150 million as their budget, and according to IMDb, 80% of the effects were practical effects, with CGI being used only sparingly for the landscape, removing stunt rigging, and Furiosa's prosthetic.

Unfortunately, they didn't have much money left for marketing, but hey, thank goodness for the MRA complaints, yeah? It literally made people more inclined to watch the film than if they didn't, so thanks guys.

Overall, with this being a heavily male-targeted film (seriously, there are so many explosions in this, the movie is essentially Michael Bay's wet dream) with heavy feminist values (and when I say feminist I mean the notion of females being able to also be strong and powerful; I don't mean the man-hating feminazis that everyone hates), I would say this film is a must for EVERYONE.

Literally everyone needs to watch it, and everyone needs to experience it for the first time IN CINEMAS. This is really important. I can't stress how much you would be missing out on if your first experience of this film is on your laptop or even on your TV. And, dare I say it, I think this will remain my favourite film of 2015.

A few side notes:

I can't get the music out of my head; it's fantastic

Doof Warrior, 'nuff said.

Music is catharsis

I can't seem to find release or enjoyment out of anything else.

Crying is cathartic, but by the end your eyes are all swollen and you just feel shit.

Eating no longer is therapeutic because every mouthful, even if it's a healthy meal, is followed by a strong urge to vomit it up.

I can't read.

I can't watch movies or TV shows at home because I don't feel like it.

I can't exercise because I can't push myself to start.

It takes every ounce of energy for me to concentrate on my studies, to the point where I don't have the energy to do anything else, even if it's to sit back and watch something mindlessly.

But music is the definition of catharsis.

There are no songs about eating disorders, and I can't think of many that are related to depression, but everyone understands love, and how heartbreak feels.

In a time where I feel more lonely than ever, more people are reaching out to me. My family is being more loving and caring than I've ever seen them be. In a way, it's great. In a different way, it's shit.

I have to go through heartache and the end of an era of love for them to support and care for me. Because they wouldn't show this same amount of support for other things. It's only because everyone loves and knows what love is. It's only because heartbreak is something everyone understands and everyone goes through in life, most often more than once.

So do I have to keep getting my heart broken for my family to love me?

Why don't they support me through my depression or my eating disorder?

In a way, I feel more lonely than ever.

Pain demands to be felt

In The Fault in Our Stars, Augustus says, "That’s the thing about pain. It demands to be felt."

I thought I would be okay at uni today, as I had a long day and I thought it could provide a good distraction. Unfortunately, I was mistaken.

At uni, I feel this presence constantly in my peripherals. Like a creepy stalker you can never quite catch. But it wasn't a stalker, it was Pain.

Pain followed me on the bus and sat next to me, but I was trying not to look at him. Pain walked behind me in between classes, breathing down upon my neck. I tried to ignore him. In class, Pain kept pulling on my sleeves. For a brief moment, I looked at Pain, tears welling up in my eyes. But I was in class, and Pain had to be dealt with later. And then in class, we were discussing eating disorders and it eventually gave Pain a chance to speak, with his voice of non-reason adding more layers to my agony. But I still tried to suppress Pain. I'm trying to study on my break right now, trying to give my mind something to do, but Pain keeps whispering in my ear and I can't concentrate.

It hurts because I don't want to succumb to it, but I know that when I get home, away from the eyes of strangers, away from the busyness of the public, Pain will overcome me. And I will be too weak to stop him. But that's okay, because Pain demands to be felt.

This too shall pass

If I ever got a tattoo it'd be one that goes around my ring finger and says "This too shall pass."

There's a lovely story I like about a powerful, but wise, king that wants something to humble himself. He tells someone to make something for him that, when he is happy, will make him sad, and when he is sad, will make him happy. The person comes back with a ring that says, "This too shall pass." So now, whenever the king is happy, he just needs to look at his ring to realise that, sadly, this happiness will pass. But when he is sad, he just needs to look at his ring to realise that, in time, this sadness will pass.

This is pretty much how I've been feeling today, on a day where I have been flooded by overwhelming feelings of sadness and loneliness.

I have a ring that says this line, and it honestly does help me feel better. I look at this ring and I realise that I've been sad before. I've cried before. I've been in pain before. But it passed.

So why shouldn't my current pain pass now?

It's all about the bigger picture. Nobody likes change, but the only constant in life is change.

So we should embrace the change, and know that the change that has just occurred will, eventually, change.