Summer Movie Musings: Pitch Perfect 2

I had the pleasure of watching Pitch Perfect 2 last week, the sequel to the awesome smash hit original film from 2012. While this sequel succeeds on many fronts, it stumbles in others making it good movie but not a great one.

We pick up with the Barden Bellas during their senior year. With graduation on the horizon and winning streak behind them (and an unfortunate embarrassment that endangers the Bellas forever), they head to a worldwide a cappella competition to save the group for the future and try to be the first American group to win the global title.

The newest major addition to the cast is Hailee Steinfeld as a new student, Emily, to Barden and a legacy Bella. She melds in well with the established ladies of the group, and provides a future for the franchise if they so choose (they probably will). All the favorite cast members from the original pop up in one way or another. Beca (Anna Kendrick) is the lead of the Bellas now and still gets a majority of the screen time alongside Rebel Wilson's Fat Amy. Another new addition to the Bellas that is one of the low points of the film is Flo (Chrissie Fit) who is a Guatemalan student. Her one-liner jokes fell completely flat for me and even bordered on racist stereotypes. The bits were stupid, low hanging fruit that felt a bit below the rest of the film. I appreciate their attempt to add more diversity to the cast but she added nothing to the story and the rest of the movie would have been better without her unfortunately.

The music is on point, as always. We have all new songs from the Bellas, the Treblemakers, the new foe of the film: Das Sound Machine, as well as others which show up during a fun new a cappella battle and the worldwide competition. While I'm honestly not as huge into the music aspect of it all, it's definitely of a high caliber again in this sequel.

I really appreciated the story beats they hit toward the end of the film especially. With all of the core cast graduating and moving on to their new lives, Steinfeld's Emily finding herself at college, and understanding the value and beauty of a sisterhood like the Barden Bellas, it was an awesome way to capitalize on the deeper meaning that can made from an already simply fun movie. These films have been original, fun, fresh, and great female led movies for a generation of young women that I'm proud exist.

I definitely recommend seeing Pitch Perfect 2 if you can. If not, it will be definitely worth a rental to check out down the line. It's a good time at the movies and it's very worthwhile to support movies like this versus something like Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. That's just my opinion.

Check out my other summer movie review for Avengers: Age of Ultron!

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Top Movies I'm Looking Forward to in 2015

2015 is looking to be a standout year with some awesome big films on the horizon. While 2014 has its triumphs, the slate of movies coming down the pipeline have me really excited. Only time will tell if I still feel the same way this time next year, but for now, here is what I'm looking forward to this year in movies:

Avengers: Age of Ultron

This is pretty much a given. The two trailers we've gotten so far look amazing and I'm a big fan of what Marvel has been churning out lately with their movies and television offerings. Ant-Man has me curious but doesn't make the list since I have only seen the one trailer and have no basis for the character. Once some early reviews come in for that one I might come around but for now, Age of Ultron is going to be my big movie for the year that I know should be great.  If you haven't kept up with Marvel's movies and television shows, I recommend you catch up since this should be the movie event of the year!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2

After seeing Part 1 this past fall, I am very eager to watch this final chapter. The previous movie did a good job of setting this one up for success and I have really gotten into the whole Hunger Games universe. It's an engaging, smart, mature story that is something good for young adults to explore. I haven't read the books so I don't know how it ends, but I have heard the ending isn't great so I'm curious to see if it is changed for the film at all. I didn't really expect to like this film series but after three solid movies, I'm hooked!

Inside Out

A new original concept from Pixar, Inside Out is about those emotional voices inside our heads and how we make decisions based off them. As many others also do I'm sure, I have loved pretty much all of Pixar's movies. The Toy Story movies, Up, and Wall-E, are some of my favorites of the bunch. This premise looks like it could be really good so I'm excited to check it out. I'm glad they're making some unique like this too, since something like Monsters University was good, but felt like a good concept was there that could have stood on its own without the Monsters Inc universe hovering over it.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

While this one should be another given, I'm still cautiously optimistic about this one until I see a full trailer. The teaser did get me excited but we still don't know a lot about the movie or characters. I'm always stoked to head back into the Star Wars universe but this movie could end up not being able to live up to the high expectations it has just like the Prequel Trilogy, and perhaps now it has even higher stakes because of the lackluster former movies. It has to be amazing in order to reclaim all the lost faith in the franchise, it can't just be okay. We'll see what comes of this soon as we see more and learn more about the film.

Pitch Perfect 2

The first film was a breakaway success, especially amongst the college aged crowd I am privileged to serve everyday. I enjoyed it as well, as it was a fast, fun, and smart movie with a great cast. While comedy sequels have classically struggled, I am willing to give this one a chance. Anna Kendrick is always awesome and I have faith she can carry the movie through well. This may be the most shaky movie on the list but I really hope it is good!

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