Pitch Perfect: simply perfect just the way you are~~

Poster:

Trailer:


Plot:
Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick), a newly arrived freshman at Barden University, has no desire in attending college, though she is forced to attend by her father (John Benjamin Hickey), a professor at the university who intends on her having at least one good collegiate memory. The father-daughter has been strained since the divorce and his father remarrying. Beca sort of keep everything to herself, content of having music to occupy her minds instead of relating to others.

Wishing to instead move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music making, Beca takes up an internship at the school radio station mans by  Luke Morgan (Freddie Stroma), where she meets fellow freshman Jesse Swanson (Skylar Astin), who develops a not-so-secret crush on her.

oh so comel!

When Beca's father discovers she has not been attending classes, he comes to her with a proposition: if she joins a club and still does not want to remain at college, he will allow and pay for Beca to move to Los Angeles.
 

Chloe is impressed with Beca's shower singing of Titanium

After some persuasion from Chloe Beale (Brittany Snow), who really thinks Beca has the potential to do some good to the recruiting all-girl acapella group Barden Bellas, Beca attends the audition and managed to wow everybody with her simple impromptu rendition of "Cups Song".



It is noted that group leader Aubrey Posen (Anna Camp) might have reservations regarding Beca but she welcomes her to Barden Bellas all the same, joining alongside a group of other women who do not fit the Bellas' typical mold: the misunderstood Cynthia-Rose (Ester Dean), the sexually driven Stacie Conrad (Alexis Knapp), the awkwardly quiet Lilly Onakuramara (Hana Mae Lee), who speaks inaudibly, and the irresponsible and eccentric Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson).

Aubrey loses it at the previous year Nationals and never even starts to recover from it

At group rehearsal, Aubrey's controlling nature gets on the nerves of the other girls, especially Beca.

She is constantly critical and insists that they use the same set list and performing styles the Bellas have been using for years, which clashes with Beca's original style.

Meanwhile, Beca hangs out with Jesse, who has joined the Treblemakers, the Bellas' main rival. Aubrey warns the group not to have any sexual contact with the Treblemakers, or they'll be forced to leave the Bellas.

The acapella groups at the university were later having a riff-raf, the battle to win the infamous microphone some famous artist had used there. the Treblemakers seem to own the night until Beca gets in with her infectious "no diggity" and get the audience to join them.



Nonetheless, the biased referee picked the Treblemakers as the winner due to a technicality issue. yet, it is apparent to others that Beca is really gifted.

Spending more time with Jesse, Beca plays several of her own mixes of contemporary songs for him, and he compliments her for her talent. After learning that Beca doesn't like movies, never even making it through a movie from beginning to end because she loses interest, Jesse tries to get Beca to watch the ending of The Breakfast Club, one of his favorite movies.

Jesse been coaxing Beca to watch The Breakfast Club movie to the end

Meanwhile, the Bellas attempt to put aside their issues and participate in the Southeastern regional competition at Carolina University.

In spite of their distasteful set list, the group manages to place second at the regional a cappella competition behind the all-time favourite the Treblemakers led by Bumper Allen (Adam DeVine), which gives them the bid to semi-finals. however, after the competition is over, the Treblemakers got into an altercation with another senior a capella group. defending Jesse who refused to get into the fight, Beca got involved. however she scuffles with Fat Amy who tries to take the cup away from the Treblemakers resulting in a window wall being smashed. as Fat Amy and the rest got away, Beca was booked by the police for the deed.

released on bail, Beca was pleasantly surprised to see Jesse waiting for her outside the police compound. however her pleasure turns into irritation when she finds out that Jesse has called her father along who in turn yells at her. the deal about LA is off. she in turn yells at Jesse and returns to her dorm, pissed off. there, her temper simply cools down as the Bellas were waiting for her. it was sweet, really.

On their way to the semi-finals, however, the Bellas stops for gas where Fat Amy is hit with a burrito by Bumper, as they drive past in their own bus. After the other girls clean her up, they continue on their way feeling rather joyful as they sang "Party in USA" together. unfortunately the bus run out of gas, as Fat Amy had forgotten to actually pump gas into the bus after getting hit with the burrito. They are then forced to call the Treblemakers to drive them to the venue, which then leads to some smack talk during the car ride there.

Once at the semi-finals, Beca notices how bored the audience is with Aubrey's traditional and overused arrangement, so she provides impromptu back-up, La Roux's "Bulletproof." The Bellas come in third in the competition behind the Treblemakers and the Footnotes; even though the audience seemed to enjoy Beca's remix, Aubrey becomes furious and yells at Beca, who quits the group after yelling at both Aubrey and Jesse. When the Footnotes are disqualified after the discovery that their lead singer was still in high school, the Barden Bellas are called to Nationals in their place. The Bellas get back together after returning from spring break, with the notable exception of Beca.

During this time, Beca begins working as a DJ at the Barden radio station, playing her music on the overnight shift while also steadily distancing herself from Jesse. Upon finding a copy of The Breakfast Club and watching it in its entirety, however, she realizes how much she needs the Bellas and Jesse in her life. Beca went to see Jesse to apologise and perhaps make it up with him again.

At his door though, Jesse blows Beca off as he was frustrated that Beca still doesn't get it that she does have an issue about having people care for her. Until she figures that out, he can't be with her or somewhat (my memory is getting hazy at this point, huhu)

Confused, she went to see her father in order to get some consolation regarding her upheaval. He convinces her to rejoin the Bellas, and to do what's right with her life. During the rehearsal, Bellas are having tussles over Aubrey's domineering self who after criticisms from others turns up losing control by vomiting all over.

Beca arrived and apologised for her adlib during the semi-finals. She turns to leave but Aubrey stops her and finally explains why she was so uptight and controlling: Aubrey's father said to her "if u fail the first time, get your bags packing".

it started off a heart-to-heart session in which the Bellas revealed secrets about themselves:  Stacie (simply too much sex), Cynthia Rose (been addicted to gambling since she split from her gf), Lilly ("i eat my twin in the womb"), Fat Amy ("i'm actually Fat Patricia!"), Beca (no girl friends outside the Bellas), Chloe (can't hit high notes from now on as she had removed her nodes when the Bellas failed to advance to the Nationals at first). the Bellas then appoint Beca as their group leader and decide to adopt Beca's more modern music style.



Meanwhile, Bumper leaves the Treblemakers after being offered a job as a back-up singer for John Mayer. With Nationals approaching and the group short a member, Jesse becomes the new group leader and persuades the Trebles to allow his socially awkward roomie, Benji (Ben Platt) to join the group in Bumper's place.

the Bellas brought their distinctive individual styles that simply blend together nicely

At the Nationals, the Bellas sing a piece arranged by Beca, the tune catchy and fresh "Price Tad/Don't You Forget About Me/Give me Everything". the song mashup is a bit special you see, for it has the ending song of the Breakfast Club movie "Don't You Forget About Me". Once their performance is over, Beca reunites with Jesse with a kiss.

Fast forward to six months later, auditions are beginning for the new year and the Treblemakers and the Bellas are preparing to select new members for their groups; Jesse and Benji are shown sitting at a desk in the auditions hall, followed by Beca and the Barden Bellas, along with their trophy from Nationals.

Special Featurette, the Cast!

• Anna Kendrick as Beca Mitchell, a reclusive girl who wants to pursue a music career; she joins the Barden Bellas to appease her father and finds herself being caught up in their world.
• Skylar Astin as Jesse Swanson, a member of the Treblemakers who serves as the main love interest for Beca.
• Anna Camp as Aubrey Posen, the uptight and traditionalist co-leader of the Bellas; when she vomited at Nationals, she ruined the Bellas' chance at winning the previous year. She is constantly critical and insists that The Bellas use the same set list the Bellas have been using for years.
• Brittany Snow as Chloe Beale, the kinder and more civil co-leader of the Bellas, whose attempts to get Aubrey to listen to Beca's suggestions get ignored. Chloe gets "nodes" (nodules) but continues to sing when she discovers she can now sing in a lower tone after the surgery.
• Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, a comedic and irresponsible member of the Bellas from Tasmania.
• Ester Dean as Cynthia-Rose Adams, a member of the Bellas, a misunderstood lesbian.
• Alexis Knapp as Stacie Conrad, a highly sexual member of the Bellas.
• Hana Mae Lee as Lilly Onakuramara, an Asian member of the Bellas who speaks too quietly to be heard.
• Ben Platt as Benji Applebaum, Jesse's nerdy roommate and an illusionist, who is is initially rejected from the Treblemakers, and is later accepted to replace Bumper.
• Adam DeVine as Bumper Allen, the egotistical leader of the Treblemakers.
• Utkarsh Ambudkar as Donald, Bumper's right-hand man, who beatboxes, raps, and is a main vocalist.
• Freddie Stroma as Luke Morgan, the radio station manager who plays Beca's DJ mixes on the air.
• Jinhee Joung as Kimmy-Jin, Beca's unfriendly Korean roommate.
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Tommy, the university's constantly harassed audition launcher.
• John Michael Higgins as John Smith, a misogynistic commentator for the ICCAs.
• Elizabeth Banks as Gail Abernath-McKadden, a commentator for the ICCAs.
• John Benjamin Hickey as Dr. Mitchell, Beca's father, a professor at the college who insists that she attends.

Riviu:
forgive me for overloading this post with GIF images. i really can't help it, the muvi is really that good, i wish to relive everything the morning after and the days onwards. a 5 star Queen of the bubble-gum fun realm :)

do get the OST: it's for keeps!

i was listening to the songs from the movie since last week and haven't been bored at all. it was really a nice, good-feeling movie really, the cast chemistry is really electric and believable. and last night finally watching it, i can't stop smiling :)

at first i was watching this movie for Anna Kendrick, she's really talented you see and in this movie, my respect for her simply manifolds. then there is this Fat Amy persona. RW really steals the show with her oneliners. i love her quips and antics which are really hilarious. her horizontal running, OMG funny! then her comments about Cynthia Rose and Lilly ("don't shout now!") put me in stitches :)

Fat Amy blew Bumper off!

the rest of the Bellas were nice also. Aubrey was surprisingly a nice person really, underneath it all. her voice was pleasant and AC had her controlling mannerisms right to the tee. Chloe was a good singer too and she was nice, loyal to Aubrey though she agrees with Beca's PoV. as for Bumper, he's really obnoxious, to a tee, also :)

but then, a gem in a decent guy was also found. i was nuts for Skylar Astin, he's really good in this movie, you get to wish he was someone u knew in your life. i mean, he's smart, funny and a perfect male friend. genuinely nice, really!

like Beca, i'm smitten!

you guys can check out this clip for their rehearsal:


trust me, GO WATCH (AND BUY) THIS MOVIE!

the Help: Oscar-worthy !

tada! a 5-star movie at last :)

the Poster:

the Trailer:


the Plot:
an aspiring journalist, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) returned back town after graduating from University of Missisippi to find that her beloved Bibik, Constantine (Cicely Tyson) was gone. Her mom, Charlotte Phelan (Allison Janney) simply said that Constantine had quit and moved to stay with her daughter, Rachel at Chicago.

During her conversation with Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) who is her best friend, Elizabeth(Ahna O'Reilly)'s Bibik, Skeeter managed to sniff out that the circumstances of Constantine quitting was rather fishy. and her initial conversation with Aibileen had exposed that something was not right with the Town's treatment of their colored maids.

the Town during Skeeter's absence had made Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) somehow the ringleader of the young mothers, snooty and self-important, with Hilly the worst of them all. she was extremely prejudiced and maltreated her Help, Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) to the extreme of insisting that the Help of her friends to use different toilet in fear of contracting the diseases of the colored people.

Skeeter was rather more respectful of the maids as she was lovingly raised by Constantine. upon hearing Hilly's absurd and often cruel treatment of the maid, and noticing Aibileen's openness to share her story without much persuasion, Skeeter roped her into making a book titled "the Help", an honest recount of the maids' experiences working for the White folk. little did they knew, though initially the other maids were reluctant to share the good and the bad account of their lives, soon after there was killing of a colored man who was vocal against the injustice dished out to the colored people and the brutal arrest of Hilly's latest maid (for attempting to pawn one of Hilly's essentially worthless rings to pay for her twins' college tuition, after Hilly had refused to give her a loan), everybody came forward with their stories.

the first to came after Aibileen was Minny. She was Aibileen's best friend and very defiant towards Hilly's cruel oppression. during a violent tornado rage, Minny had to take a leak in Hilly's bathroom instead of going out to her own toilet. this sparked Hilly's wrath and scorn that she poisoned other women in the Town to not take Minny on as a maid by accusing Minny of thievery.

this cost Minny her meagre income and she had to suffer beatings from her husband and her eldest daughter had to quit school and became a maid herself. luckily, Minny was hired by Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain) who was outcasted as White Trash by Hilly and her gang just for being an outsider AND marrying Hilly's ex boy friend, Johnny (Mike Vogel). Celia was a very sweet lady and deeply grateful for Minny's help at her house unbeknownst to her rich husband's knowledge.

after collecting all the maids' stories, it's time for Skeeter to find out the truth about Constantine. in a moment of truth, Charlotte finally explained that though she was fond of Constantine, she had to fire her in order to save face during a reception. Afterwards feeling guilty about it, Charlotte sends Skeeter's brother to bring Constantine home from Chicago, but he discovered that she had died not long after leaving Jackson.

soon the book titled "the Help" was later on published by Miss Stein (Mary Steenburgen) and became an instant hit though the names and the Jackson town name were changed. only Hilly (and all the maids plus Skeeter) knew for sure of the truth that the book was based on the recounts of Jackson's maids. it's due to a chapter titled "Terrible Awful" based on Minny's experience. and for that, Hilly's bent on revenge in petty ways. it also cost Skeeter her first real romance with Stuart (Chris Lowell) who was related to Hilly by marriage. but it was worth it. Skeeter was offered a job in New York and was urged by the maids to go, after all, she has burnt all the bridges that were left at Jackson.

Later on, Hilly hatched a plan to get rid of Aibileen as Elizabeth's help, by falsely accusing her of stealing silver while arranging it for meetings. As Aibileen tried to convince Hilly and Elizabeth of her innocence, Elizabeth's daughter, Mae Mobley, arrived and jumped on top of her, watching Aibileen being fired. Aibileen denounced Hilly as a godless woman and told her that she will never have peace if she continued her vindictive ways and left her in limbo. Elizabeth was forced to accept the unacceptable firing of Aibileen, and Mae Mobley cried by the window shouting for Aibileen, as the Help leaves to start her own life.

the Riviu:
this movie is a touching story, empowering and simply about the miserable fate that the Helps had to endure during the apartheid in Mississippi. i can relate to Skeeter who was really close to her Bibik and thus turned out to be more understanding of the Maids. her being an old maid had also struck a resonant cord as someone who was committed to her education and career instead of following Hilly's footsteps.

Aibileen was the pillar of this story. it started with her son's mindless death upon the carelessness of his White employer. Treelore had a bright future ahead of him, being graduated and all, but alas, he was involved in an accident at his workplace and his employer abandoned him at the Black People's hospital to die. it broke Aibileen's heart and caused her to feel acceptance of fate was too much to swallow. nonetheless she lovingly raised 17 babies in her tenure as a lowly paid Help. watching this movie and witnessing her pain, i cried. she deserved to get her Oscar but somehow the Oscar people don't think so. but Victoria Spencer's portrayal of sassy-mouth Minny did get numerous accolades. who can forget her account of Terrible Awful, kan?

as for Hilly, well, everyone loved to hate her. her mean spite underneath all the sweetness that won't melt butter was spot on. yup, i hate her more, and more after Twilight and Eclipse.

Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote was endearing. she was the complete opposite of Hilly. i was sympathetic when she kept losing her babies. and the way she had to endure Hilly's open disdain and ridicule.. no wonder JC also got nominated for Supporting Actress for the Oscar. and only losing to VS who was superb in this movie, well, that's ok.

all in all, i really love this movie and wouldn't mind putting it on rewind. the fact that it lost to "the Artist" was kinda a remise of them Oscar people. i surely must see the latter movie to find out what is special about the movie. but then Oscar's winners usually boggle the mind... :sigh:

oh ya, i really love the ending. it was poignant and hopeful...

the Pix:

Constantine who was the big influence in Skeeter's upbringing.

Skeeter's job in giving cleaning advices at the Jackson's paper gave her opportunities to talk to Aibileen and thereon to produce a book on the Maids' perspective.

the Act that earned Hilly's wrath and Minny's dismissal despite the fact that Minny is best cook in Jackson.

Minny with her apology and the Terrible Awful pie just for Miss Hilly

Minny recounting the Terrible Awful incident as insurance lest Hilly and the Gang found out that the stories are too similar with their lives.

Celia Foote asking Aibileen to recommend her a Maid.

the bottom shared the buddy-like bond between Celia and Minny. the middle is the the White girls having bridge. Celia Foote was not invited. the top is when Skeeter was told to go to New York and grab that job as all the bridges at Jackson were burnt.

the Maids adamant to share their stories.

Celia serving food to Minny as a thankful gift for teaching her to cook well for Johnny

Aibileen with her last baby, Mae Mobley.

the chant that Aibileen taught Mae Mobley as Elizabeth, the mother was having a post-partum symptom and won't even care for her baby. it's heart-wrenching for Aibileen to watch the distance Elizabeth created from her own child..

Emma Stone was again in an Oscar-worthy film after Easy A. i like her choices :)