Movie Review: Pitch Perfect

Alright, before I get this review rolling, I have a confession to make: I'm in an a cappella group.

Yeah, that's right. And we're called Acappellics Anonymous. Get over it.

It isn't a huge secret or anything, but often when people learn this about me they kind of smirk and laugh a bit to themselves, then put on serious face as if they don't think it's rediculous. Well you know what? It is ridiculous. A cappella music, at its core, is silly, over the top, and just about the nerdiest thing someone can do, but I love it. You see, no matter how weird singing all a cappella arrangements to pop songs can be, it is still just one of the funnest things ever.

So when I heard that a movie was being made about collegiate a cappella groups, I just about died. During my college experience, being in an a cappella group has been one of my greatest experiences. I've made amazing friends, won some awesome competitions, and been able to sing my little heart out. My hopes were that this movie, in its infinite potential, would show just how great, albeit strange, a cappella can be.

With that in mind Pitch Perfect, from the opening scene, is very up front about what it is and what it is here to do. It isn't here to win any oscars, or even any grammy's,  but it is here to win a few hearts.

The story follows Becca (Anna Kendrick), a totally rad chick who wants to be a DJ and move to Los Angeles, not attend college like her dad wants. Upon her father's bargain to try out school for at least a year and become involved in an extracurricular activity, Becca begrudgingly auditions for the down-and-out Barden Bellas, an all female a cappella group that tragically lost last years nationals competition, along with most of its members. Along the way, the new batch of motley recruits must work together in order to get their act together in order to win the nationals a cappella competition. And, along the way, they may just learn a valuable lesson or two.

Ok, so sure, it has some pretty standard movie tropes. There's the underdogs, the distanced main character, and a plucky love interest that somehow puts up with all of Becca's bullshit. However, at the same time, the movie is constantly moving and somehow turning these tropes on their heads with clever jokes and physical humor. Like I said, it is completely and totally aware of just how silly a cappella competitions can be. Instead of taking themselves too seriously, they allow a large amount of room for a healthy dose of meta-humor and off the wall comedy. Sure, you probably will be able to guess most of what's going to happen, but you will have a hell of a time despite that.

"What, you mad?"

The cast also does a great job of striking just the right balance of puppy-like cuteness and raunchy sensibility. The lot of them are pretty damn funny and even allow to paint it on a little thick from time to time for effect. They are smart girls who are playing it smart. Too much in either direction would have been a mess, but because of their efforts the movie sticks comfortably between heart warming and bat-shit crazy. Also,  I dare anyone to look at Anna Kendrick's face and not fall in love with her. Double-dog-dare.

LOOK AT IT!!!

Rounding out the group we also have Brittany Snow (in the "what has she been doing?" category), Anna Camp, and Rebel Wilson. They nail their comedic timing, but also have surprisingly nice voices. Nothing that is going to blow you away, mind you, but completely cute and functional singing voices.

As adorable as Anna may always be perpetually and for all time, it is often Rebel Wilson who steals the show. Her off-color one liners will, in many scenes, be the saving grace that holds it all together. Now, while you are watching the movie you may not notice it, but afterwords you may realize her character, called "Fat" Amy, is less of a character and more of a gag machine. It doesn't make or break the movie, but it's still something that can feel a little disappointing.

In fact, my only real gripe with Pitch Perfect is how thin the characters can be at times. In order to get all of the chart topping numbers crammed into this little movie, most of the character development is kind of shaved down the bare minimum. Yet, the movie, in its ever wise understanding of movie pitfalls, calls to attention that some characters have "been there the whole time" even if the audience has never really noticed. It's pretty funny, and also refreshing in a world of movies that try desperately to hide these inevitable movie downsides.

So, yeah, Pitch Perfect isn't in fact perfect, but it gets pretty close. Take all of the film's high points and join it with some killer a cappella arrangements, and you have a movie that will have you smiling and cheering in spite of yourself.

Just make sure you are aca-prepared to have some fun.

How Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Films are Weirdly Like The Simpsons Movie

Batmam and The Simpsons: two trademarks that are synonymous with America pop culture. For much of the 90's you couldn't walk town the street without catching a glance at a bright yellow bat symbol, or a t-shirt splattered with one of Bart Simpson's catchphrases. These two entities have finessed themselves into nearly every pocket of the media including comic books, television, and countless children's happy meal toys

However, the two entities could not be more different.

One tells the adventures of an orphaned billionaire who moonlights as a masked vigilante in the troubled and corrupt Gotham City, while the other follows the wacky hijinks of a dysfunctional middle class family in the small town of Springfield, Anywhere. See, different. Both awesome, but, you know, different.

In the mid-2000's both properties found themselves at the top of the box office charts. The Simpsons, after two decades on the air, had finally succeeded at the big-budget picture fan's had been looking forward to for years. Around the same time, Christopher Nolan was gaining praise for his realistic Batman film series starting with Batman Begins and concluding with The Dark Knight Rises just this past summer.

Weirdly enough, upon closer inspection, The Simpsons Movie as well The Dark Knight Trilogy, have some pretty striking similarities. "That's crazy," you say. "Nolan's realistic crime drama is nothing like Matt Groening's satirical animated family."

Well, guess what, they totally are. And here's why.



1) Russ Cargill from The Simpsons Movie and Ra's Al Ghul from The Dark Knight Trilogy are basically the same character.

Think about it. Both Cargill and Al Ghul are the head of an organization that most people don't know about. Ra's Al Ghul runs the League of Shadows, a group of assassins that work in secret to rid the world of evil, no matter the cost. Russ Cargill is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency that is slightly lack luster and has little pull with the government. In fact, even Cargill admits that the EPA is "the least successful government agency." For one reason of another the groups that these two men lead have their own level of anonymity. 

Also, both of these two men sought to abuse their power to destroy an entire city due to pollution. For Ra's Al Ghul it was the pollution of corruption, greed, and hate that seems to spew out of Gotham and into the world at large. His life's work was to rid the world of evil, so destroying Gotham and killing everyone that lives inside, to him, seemed the most effective way to wipe out this "evil". 

Ok, no one ever said he was an entirely rational man.

He is, however, still a BAMF.

Russ Cargill, on the other hand, planned to rid Springfield due to its pollution of...well, pollution. In The Simpsons Movie the town had become so overrun with garbage and filth due to the townspeoples' lovable ignorance that Cargill eventually decides just to completely destroy the town and its inhabitants, effectively cutting off the possible environmental impacts it may poison the world with.

In their spare time these two also run a youth "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute" program, of EVIL.



2) Marge Simpson chooses the protection of her city over a long standing romantic relationship, much like Bruce Wayne.

Near the climax of The Simpsons Movie after the Simpsons have escaped an isolated Springfield and made a new life for themselves in Alaska, Marge suddenly learns that Cargill has planned to completely obliterate Springfield and all the inhabitants inside of it. When she decided to pull up stakes in order to go save her friends, she asks her husband, Homer (duh, you know who Marge Simpson is married to), to trust her in her decision. 

This moment mirrors Homer's plea to Marge earlier in the film to trust his outlandish decision to move the family all the way to Alaska while on the run from the EPA. Homer, in the moment, is not capable of the same understanding that Marge had earlier in the film and completely objects to the notion of leaving their comfortable new set-up. Hurt, Marge takes the kids and departs in the night to save her town, leaving Homer alone and heartbroken. To make him understand that this is the last shot she is giving her screw-up husband, she tapes the message over their wedding video.

Bruce Wayne has a similar connection to his city of Gotham. Throughout Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne and Rachel Dawes constantly struggle with their life-long romantic tension. Rachel totally has Wayne Fever, but she knows that their relationship would never work unless Bruce discarded the Batman persona in order to have a normal life with Rachel.

As you can probably guess, or if you aren't a space alien and have seen these movies, Bruce Wayne can't quite give up being Batman. For as much as he feels that Gotham must have the Batman to help it on its way to recovery and redemption, it is also a pivotal part of who he is. But Rachel, true to her word, chooses not to be with Bruce until the day he can finally give up his double life. Unfortunately, Bruce can't let that happen until Gotham has the hero it "needs", which is basically never since Gotham is always in need of saving and whatnot.

Things end up much better for Homer and Marge, who reconcile after Homer comes to save the day. Bruce and Rachel? Well, that relationship kind of blew up in smoke. (pause for laughter)



3) The EPA, as well as Bane, isolate a U.S. city from the rest of the world, preventing all movement in or out.

Sure, Russ Cargill used his influence with the EPA to put a giant, nearly unbreakable dome, over the city of Springfield while Bane isolated Gotham by blocking the tunnels and destroying the bridges into the island, but the theory of their actions remain the same. They locked everyone in and they blocked everyone out. becoming radical terrorists for the "good" of mankind. 

I mean, the trope of blocking off a city and holding the people prisoner is hardly a new concept. In fact, lets be real, it's one of the oldest war tactics there are, but the similarities between these two are striking. They are able to control and isolate a city not entirely with physical force or manpower, but by making it nearly impossible to to leave. 

The citizens of both cities are even teased by the diluting possibility of escape. Bane, in his nefarious hold on the city, leaves one bridge undestroyed. However, if one were to cross it, he would destroy the city even sooner than scheduled. Russ Cargill, after a time, leaves a small hole open at the tippy-top of the dome open for all to see. Several try to climb a rope and out to freedom, but no one is able to make it out.

Hmm, that also reminds me of another hole someone tried to climb out of once...

4) Once the city is blocked off, supporting characters lifted themselves up to self-elected positions of power.

Somehow, whether we cared or not, the character of Jonathan Crane (A.K.A. The Scarecrow) made it into every single one of Nolan's Batman movies. Sure, it gave the films a close-to-funny cameo in films that are almost completely devoid of humor, and also established even more continuity within itself, but for the most part, it was pretty unnecessary.

After Bane releases nearly every Gotham criminal out of prison near the end of The Dark Knight Rises, Dr. Crane quickly established himself as the Super Evil Judge of Everything. As silly as it may have been for the character to appear again, it did work well to demonstrate the ever deteriorating foundation of Gotham's judicial system while criminals merrily overran the city with their annoying after-prison potluck. Or, you know, whatever it is that they do.

To make things worse, Crane then begins issuing the choice of either exile or death to Gotham's elite and wealthy. The irony is, however, that both options ultimately end in death. Very clever, Mr. Scarecrow.

Well, it turns out that when cities get completely blocked off from the rest of civilization, only the mildly interesting people come out of the woodwork to take control. When Springfield was at it's lowest point it was Moe, the man who ran Springfield's worst bar, who ascended to power. When Marge asks Moe why he is dressed in an old bathrobe with a traffic cone on his head he replies, "Well, I don't like to brag, but I am now the Emperor of Springfield."

Above: The Second Worst Political Figure of 2007 *Ba-Dum-Bum*

5) A giant ticking bomb was the last resort to rid the world of these two cities.

Now, I have severe issues with the use of ticking bombs as a plot devise in almost any story. It's overused and honestly just a cheap way for the writers to build tension before a big finale. The fact that Nolan's subtle and beautiful Batman series ended with such an overdone and unrealistic scenario still pisses me off, but whatever. I'm not going to gripe about it. Much.

In The Dark Knight Rises it appears that Wayne Enterprises had apparently been building a big ol' fusion reactor underneath the harbor of the city. Of course, after you see it, you instantly know that Bane is going to march in there about an hour after it's introduced and demand that he turn it into a huge fucking bomb. Because, of course, it's always just that easy. Most multi-billion dollar government project meant to do the world good can instantly be made into a convenient weapon without, without any relation to the rest of the film's plot. 

Ok, sorry, I'll stop. Back on track.

When the ticking bomb is used in the The Simpsons Movie as a way for Russ Cargill to destroy evidence of his mad attack on Springfield, I can let it slide. The Simpsons, for the most part, is silly and satirical. He could have tried to overrun the city with rabid chinchillas and it would have worked, because it's The Simpsons, and being ridiculous is part of its charm. Also because chinchillas totally rule, and need to be in more movies. 

In the end, both Homer Simpson and Bruce Wayne risk their lives to carry the bomb far outside the city limits and away from the blast radius. Somehow, along the way, the also work on their daddy issues 
that have been causing their severe and total disfunction for their entire lives.

Above: Daddy issues.