At the Movies: Pitch Perfect

The Deal: Beca isn't exactly thrilled to start her freshman year at Barden University - where her father works and which she attends for free- she would much rather be in L.A. working toward becoming a D.J. 

But she's stuck at Barden, and eventually agrees to join the a capella singing group The Bellas, even if she doesn't really love the songs they sing. 

Still, the Bellas's leaders Chloe and Aubrey are determined to re-deem themselves after a disappointing performance in the previous year's A Capella National Championships (where Aubrey quite literally lost her cookies), and they put together a motley crew of singing voices. 

My Thoughts: I'm very torn about Pitch Perfect. On one hand I thought it was really funny and I loved almost all the characters, and the singing was pretty awesome. 

I particularly loved Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, Brittany Snow as Chloe and Anna Camp as Aubrey (she's awesomely neurotic), but I HATED Anna Kendrick as Beca!! She doesn't care about anything or anyone but her dream of becoming a DJ, she's often rude and hurtful toward people who are just trying to be nice to her and I couldn't very well find it within me to like her. 

Also, I understand she was some type of musical genius but I don't understand why Chloe trusts her so fast. I quite frankly couldn't understand why anyone liked Beca, like, at all. 

Other than that, the movie is very funny and if it had had a leading lady a little more likable, I would probably be giving this movie an A. As things are, though, I think is more B- material. 

At the Movies: The Lorax

Ted Wiggins lives in "Thneed-Ville" a place were everything is artificial and people like it that way, and Ted doesn't really care either way until the day Audrey - the pretty, older girl next door - tells him her biggest dream in life is to see a real, living three. 

Ted sets out to find a real three for Audrey, and the only advice he gets comes from his grandma: to go out of the city's walls and talk to the Once-ler. The Once-lear lives on the wasteland outside the city, and is a bit of a recluse who grumpily agrees to tell Ted what happened to all the threes if he agrees to listen to his story over the course of several visits. 

Ted agrees but his sneaking out of the city catches the attention of Mr. O'Hare, the richest man of the city  who owns a bottled-air company, and who really wants Ted to desists. But Ted doesn't and eventually learns how the Once-ler arrived to a valley full of Truffula Trees and discovers the tufts from these threes are the perfect material for his invention. 

However, his chopping trees doesn't sit well with the valley's dwellers and The Lorax - an orange spirit that speaks for the threes - is summoned. The Lorax is annoying and is out to teach the Once-ler a lesson, but the two reluctantly become friends.

This movie is cute! Very cute in fact, and for the most part I really loved it. It had a good message, the animation was good and I think that even very small kids can understand it. My one problem with it were the musicals... there were about four musicals too many and they just kept chopping the rhythm of the movie, and only two or three of the songs were any good.

Over all, I would give it a B-

At the Movies: My Sassy Girl

Charlie was on his way to visit his aunt - whose son recently died - when he found a young woman leaning over the rails at the subway station, and he rushes to save her life. The young woman's name is Jordan and from that moment on she kind of takes over Charlie's life, dragging him into all sorts of crazy adventures and generally getting him in trouble. even with her father. 

Charlie comes from a middle-class midwestern family and his dream is to get into this big agricultural company that his father has worked for for most of his life, but he keeps getting derailed by Jordan and they start to fall in love - even after Jordan confesses that her fiance recently left her. 

I'm going to stop there because I don't want to give away spoilers. I have such a fond memory of the first time I saw this movie - because it was during a rare visit with my best friend Vi and we saw this movie and we both loved it. 

I liked it because it's a funny, little romantic comedy and it felt like that - I've found that so-called romantic movies of late, are anything both, someone always die or is such a ridiculous struggle for people to get together and half the time I don't buy they are going to stay together; but I totally bought into Jordan and Charlie's story.

Jordan could be a bit much at times but she was fun and I liked this movie over all. It is more the kind of movie you would watch with friends. It's a small, unassuming movie though the story-telling might be contrived at times. By the way, this is based on a Korean movie by the same name.

And I give it a B-

At the Movies: A Walk to Remember

If there has ever been a movie that was better than the book, that it's definitely A Walk To Remember.

The story is fairly simple. Bad Boy Landon Carter gets caught after pulling a prank on another kid and to avoid further problems he gets roped into helping in the school musical opposite Jamie Sullivan, the reverend's daughter and owner of exactly one sweater.

At first, he doesn't want anything to do with Jamie, as she doesn't fit in with his life or his friends, but through getting to know her, he falls deeply in love with her, and is ready to do just about anything to make her family.

Of course, this being a Nicholas Sparks book, things take a turn for the tragic when Jamie confesses that she has leukemia. In the book, the ending is more ambiguous, but in the movie is pretty clear that Jamie dies and I confess to crying or at least getting teary eyed each time.

Plus, I love both Mandy Moore and Shane West and I buy them together.

A Walk To Remember is one of those movies that makes me have a good, nice cry each time I watch it and I really like it for it. So I give it a B-

At the Movies: Friends With Benefits

When Jamie, a head hunter, hires Dylan to move to New York and work for GQ, the two of them strike a friendship. Dylan doesn't know anyone in the city and Jamie becomes his first friend. 

They learn that they have both gone through bad break ups recently, and often have fun talking about why their relationships haven't worked. And eventually decide to bring sex into their relationship while remaining strictly friends.

But relationships are never easy when you throw sex into it, especially when you really like the other person, and really get to know them and their family drama.

I have to say that though I didn't think this was the most awesome movie ever, it was quite fun. It was very similar to No String Attached with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, but I liked this one better - found a little funnier. 

Plus, after so many years watching That's 70's show, I have a real liking for Mila Kunis so I was inclined to like her character anyway. I don't really like Justin as an actor but he doesn't suck. 

I would say that Friends with Benefits is a good movie to kill time and I give it a B-