Project X (2012)

Starring: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Alexis Knapp

Director: Nima Nourizadeh

Genre: Comedy

Rating: C

High school students Costa (Cooper) and J.B. (Brown) have decided to throw a party for friend Thomas (Mann)'s birthday.   Despite their status as, basically losers, they're determined that this is going to be the most epic party of all, and in a tradition of high school movies, they're all determined that they're going to get laid - which is why they invite Alexis (Knapp), the hottest girl in school, and Kirby (Blanton), Thomas' best (female) friend.  Then the party happens, and thanks to an add on Craigslist, it all goes to shit.

It should probably go without saying that this movie is horribly sexist and ridiculously immature.  While I enjoyed some of the stuff that happened - and I thought the friendship between Thomas and Kirby was cute, albeit rather predictable - a lot of the time I was watching it going "are you fucking serious?"  The sad thing is, that while the movie is completely over the top I could see at least some of if happening in real life.  A party that gets way too big and out of hand because some idiot posted it in a public announcement on Facebook or Craigslist? Yeah, I can see that happening - and in fact, since this movie's release, there have been attempts to recreate the film, which just goes to prove that high school students are idiots.

The one thing that I did actually really like about the film was the casting of complete unknowns.  Most of the core cast have had minimal acting experience before - of the four main guys, only one had ever been in a movie before, Thomas Mann, and that experience actually made it harder for him to get a role in this movie.  That being said, I was kind of surprised to hear that they're making a sequel out of this - although, I guess they'll make a sequel out of anything these days.

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Skylar Astin, Alexis Knapp, Adam DeVine, Ester Dean

Director: Jason Moore

Genre: Comedy, Music

Rating: A

"Nothing makes a girl feel more like a woman than a man who sings like a boy."

 I was really excited about this movie.  I figure it would be a lame comedy that I would love, just another one of those bad movies that you watch and really enjoy but know are bad.  I was really wrong: this ended up being a really amazing movie that I absolutely loved, and despite the fact that it was a cheesy comedy it was also legitimately good.  I laughed so hard during Pitch Perfect, despite the film's inclusion of period moments of bodily fluid humour.  I'm not sure if I've said it before, but I'll say it now: I hate humour that involves some sort of human waste or bodily fluid.

Pitch Perfect follows Beca (Kendrick), an anti-social music lover who dreams of being a music producer but is being forced by her father to attend Barden College, where he works.  While at first she fulfils the anti-social requirements eventually she is pushed into joining the Barden Bellas, one of the campus' four acapella singing groups - other groups include the Bellas' primary rival, the all male Treble Makers, lead by Bumper (DeVine).  The Bellas are lead by seniors Aubrey (Camp), who believes that the group can win it all using traditional methods, and Chloe (Snow), who's more inclined to make some changes.  Rounding out things is Treble Maker and fellow freshman Jesse (Astin), who very quickly takes an interest in Beca.

The thing I liked most about Pitch Perfect was that this movie knew exactly what it was and just went with it.  It was a lame comedy and never once tried to be anything other than that.  There were a few more dramatic moments - notably when it came to Beca's relationship with her father - but for the most part it was one liner after one liner. Rebel Wilson and Elizabeth Banks in particular were awesome, with just about everything that the two of them said being a joke.  What I really liked about the humour, though, was that there were a lot of moments where the joke completely took me by surprise and left me thinking "wait, what'd they just say?" then laughing once it sunk in - and I wasn't the only person in the theatre reacting like that.  The other thing that worked about it was the fact that even in the more dramatic moments, or even just the singing, they did a lot of cutaways to other jokes.  Elizabeth Banks' character, very minor role, is one of the commentators of the competitions and one of my favourite moments is a cutaway to her and the other commentator rocking out to the song.  It was just perfect.

One thing that has the potential to take away from the overall film is the fact that a lot of the characters fill a stereotype of some sort.  I found that it worked and I didn't personally need more development on any of the characters, but I'm sure that others might have a problem with this. Jason Moore took some stereotypical people and had fun with them, and I applaud it.