Looper
Run time 116 minutes.
Not for children.
I generally like time warp movies. To give this one credit, it is ingenious, but entirely too cold-bloodedly violent. Written and directed by Rian Johnson it is set inKansasLooprun). of a strange son who lives.
Pitch Perfect
Run time 113 minutes.
Not for children.
This is a musical that is more annoying than entertaining. Starring Anna Kendrick and Brittany Snow, it’s the story of a bunch of freshmen in college, misfits who attend college but devote every waking moment to an a cappella singing contest.
Like Glee, the film encourages sexual promiscuity by making light of it. Since the film is obviously aimed at teenaged girls (it’s unlikely anybody older than 15 could be entertained by this), it is irresponsible to show young people having sex willy-nilly without consequences. The way Glee and movies like this wink their collective eyes at teenaged sexual promiscuity is deplorable.
The setup scenes are ludicrous, featuring a campus where the various singing teams hang around the campus as groups, breaking out into song with the least possible provocation. Some of the characters are equally ludicrous. One, in particular, is an Asian girl who speaks with such a low voice that basically all she does is move her lips. I guess this is intended to be funny when it is only irritating. There are a couple of vomiting scenes that are more disgusting than funny.
The movie is supposed to be about singing and music but there are only a couple of production numbers that are worth watching. In fact, the most entertaining song was a short rendition of the Miley Cyrus 2009 hit, “Party in theUSA” (written by Jessie J, Dr. Luke, and Claude Kelley). Alas, it was not only far too short, the way it was presented, the girls singing it on a bus on the way to a performance competition, made no sense.
Brittany Snow’s character as the group leader was so over-the-top, it led the list of annoyances, although Kendrick’s character and performance weren’t far behind. Those deficiencies should properly be laid at the feet of director Jason Moore, though, than blaming the two actresses. It’s hard to believe, at least it is for me, but this is based on a book by Mickey Rapkin. A whole book on this? There isn’t enough story here to make a half hour sitcom. How could somebody write a whole book on this? Can you spell “flimsy premise?”
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