Alan Rapp

Cute, but not exactly Pitch Perfect

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Pitch Perfect
  • IMDB: link

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“But you have fruit punch and Rocky!”

pitch-perfect-posterCashing in on the success of Glee, Pitch Perfect takes viewers on the wacky ride of competitive a capella competition. Based on the book by Mickey Rapkin which examined the real-life underground subculture of competitive collegiate a cappella groups at three separate universities, Pitch Perfect desperately wants a to be a celebratory parody for college choirs in the same way Bring It On was for cheerleading. Sadly, nowhere near as clever, Pitch Perfect plays much more like one of Bring It On‘s straight-to-video sequels.

Anna Kendrick stars as Beca, a disgruntled college freshman whose father (John Benjamin Hickey), a professor at the university, is forcing her to get an education (what a dick, right?) when all she wants to do is head to New York and begin a career as a DJ. Making a deal to give college life a try, Beca begins working at the college radio station and is pressured into signing up for The Barden Bellas, an all female singing group, by an upperclassman (Brittany Snow) who hears Beca singing in the shower (and jumps in to sing along with her in one of the film’s more awkward scenes).

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Hotel for Monsters

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hotel Transylvania
  • IMDB: link

hotel-transylvania-posterI usually enjoy animated films in all shapes and sizes, but I can sum up my heightened interest for Hotel Transylvania in two words – Genndy Tartakovsky. For those who don’t recognize the name, Tartakovsky is responsible for creating Dexter’s Laboratory, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and a little slice of awesome known as Samurai Jack. Tartakovsky also help produce The Powerpuff Girls (and write my favorite episode of the series).

Although Hotel Transylvania isn’t Tartakovsky’s creation, you can certainly see his fingerprints all over the film in a script he helped punch-up and his influence to push the movie towards a more high-energy animation style resembling Tex Avery’s classic cartoons. The result is a fast-paced, zany comedy with just enough of the director’s deft touches and humor to make it stand-out from more generic animated fare. At times the film certainly panders with obvious (and even cheap) jokes for the kids, but Tartakovsky’s take on a hotel for monsters is better than it has any right to be and should satisfy kids and most adults as well.

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Looper

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Looper
  • IMDB: link

looper-posterWritten and directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Looper gives us a time travel story that focuses on how far a man will go to protect his future, and how far the world will go to stop him. In the year 2072 time travel has been outlawed but is still used by gangsters and shady corporate big wigs who send their victims back in time to be killed in the days before the invention of time travel by hired assassins known as Loopers, thus creating the perfect crime.

The film centers around the actions of a single Looper named Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whose largely empty life is filled by bad diner coffee, learning French, doing lots of drugs, shooting hooded strangers who suddenly appear in an empty field and disposing of their bodies, and carrying a torch for a stripper (an alluring, and scantily clad, Piper Perabo) who cares only for his money. In other words, his life is perfect (for what he wants out of life – money, women, and drugs), at least until the arrival of his Loop (Bruce Willis) derails his entire future.

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Atomic Robo: The Flying She Devils of the Pacific #3

/ / Comics

atomic-robo-she-devils-pacific-3-coverWhile stranded on the island of the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific, Atomic Robo and the rag-tag band of fearless jet-pack-strapped female pilots come under attack by Japanese bombers, submarines, and killer robots.

The latest issue of Atomic Robo: The Flying She Devils of the Pacific #3 is pretty much nonstop action as the She-Devils’ attempts to turn back the invaders fail and they’re eventually forced to flee the island. Our atomic-powered robotic pal, in a moment of stupid heroism, helps the women escape but finds himself captured by the force led by a Japanese pilot who shot Atomic Robo down twice during WWII.

With so much action there’s not a lot of time for character and story development, but writer Brian Clevinger does find places to insert the oddball humor of the comic we’ve all come to know and love. Hopefully next issue will reveal the identities and motives of the She-Devils’ enemies and continue to bring more zany action. Worth a look.

[Red 5, $3.50]

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LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out
  • IMDB: link

star-wars-lego-empire-strikes-out

The new LEGO Star Wars special begins at the end of Star Wars, following the destruction of the first Death Star as the Rebel forces scatter and head to Hoth, Darth Vader rendezvous with the Imperial Fleet, and Luke, Han, and Leia make an unexpected side trip to Naboo to search for a hidden Stormtrooper base.

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