‘Pitch Perfect 2’ (2015) Review

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) Review Why do we even bother any more?Seriously, why do we bother with comedy sequels? Of all the trash Hollywood has pushed down the throats of the movie going public, comedy sequels are probably the absolute worst. They are notoriously difficult to pull off and more or less end up being a retread of the same plot of the original, sometimes with the same exact jokes and story beats. If you want proof of this phenomenon, just look at the Hangover franchise.Sure, the original takes you on such a ride that you don't want it to end, but you don't want to go on the same ride over and over. The only time I can think of that didn't succumb to the consecutive comedy curse is 22 Jump Street, and that film was predicated on making fun of why comedy sequels are so historically bad. Ironically, comedies are probably the only genre of film that get less funny as their franchises go on. For instance, the original Gremlins scared the life out of me as a kid, but Gremlins 2 is a live action looney tunes movie. Think that's a joke? Here's the film's opening.*rests case*Sadly 'Pitch Perfect 2' doesn't exactly convince me otherwise.While I commend the film for being one of the first sequels in a while to put a 2 in its title, it doesn't exactly open with bugs and daffy. Continuing the adventures of the…

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‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (2015) Review

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) Review It seems as though there's always some form of impending doom on earth. The sea levels will rise, we'll run out of water, the dead may rise again. Whatever news you follow, you can always find something to be extremely paranoid about. Something out there that will bring about the end of this thing we call life on earth. Thing is though, this has always been the case. There's always been some prophecy of impending doom. In my lifetime, short as it's been, there's been at least 3 instances in which the world was supposed to end. I'm so desensitized to it at this point, that last time I made a sign saying "THE END IS NIGH" a la Watchmen. But as art tends to draw from life, it's not really surprising that there are countless fictional universes which deal with the end of the world.Sometimes it's an uprising of cyborgs, of apes, or just the oppressed majority of society. Sometimes it's the collapse of infrastructure and the massive lack of resources. Sometimes it's a case of blowing it all up. Whatever the cause usually is, the best of these stories are those that have the most to say about the people living in this new post-apocalyptic world. We generally don't care to see the world ending, we're much more fascinated by what happens after that. We're not sure what exactly would happen, but fiction seems to…

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‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ (2015) Review

Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015) Review In the months leading up to the release of 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' the anticipation for the sequel was far less skeptical than the original. How could a movie that purported to balance six different characters from films that, while in the superhero genre, were said to have come from drastically different worlds, actually work? Could the world of "science so advanced its magic" of Thor work with the advanced, yet grounded sci-fi of Iron Man? Many thought that characters would be short changed as a result of sharing the silver screen, ultimately doing a disservice to the universe that they were trying to advance. The real question is, why in the world would any of that be a concern?Picture, if you will:A man who wears a robot suit that flies around the world shooting lasers out of his armsThe world's first superhuman who carries an indestructible shield that works almost like a boomerang.The literal Norse God of thunder; hammer and allA Hulk.That is not a combination of things that you should worry about putting into your film. That is the kind of combination that is the formula for printing legal tender.As the conversation leading up to the sequel wasn't "Will it make any money?", but rather, "It will probably make ALL the money.", it's safe to say that formula worked. But really, there's no reason to think it wouldn't. Comics and television shows have always crafted giant crossovers of this…

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