by Rebekah Stogner | Jun 7, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, Opinion
I can be spontaneous sometimes. I got off work at 9 p.m. on a Friday night and saw a friend of mine Tweet, “Someone go see Insidious 3 with me.” I responded, “Okay,” jokingly of course, only to have him reply that he was serious and wanted to go see the movie in an hour at the last showtime of the night. At that point, I really couldn’t say no, so here we are. Sitting at a 61% Rotten Tomatoes rating (though I believe it deserves higher), and in the top three at the box office as of writing this, Insidious: Chapter 3 is actually a prequel to the two films before it. It follows a young girl named Quinn Brenner, whose mother passed away from cancer, as she seeks the help of saga psychic Elise Rainier, who has recently given up use of her other-worldly power due to an entity that haunted her. As Elise tries to contact Quinn’s mother, she accidentally summons a horrifying demon, named “The Man Who Can’t Breathe,” who begins to attach himself to Quinn and wreak havoc. I have a love-hate relationship with horror films, usually. I enjoy the thrills and haunting atmospheres (as well as the screaming audience members in the showings with me), but usually not the acting or much of the setup. Here, I thought the setup and performances were very interesting. Newcomer Stefanie Scott did a great job steering away from the horror movie teenage girl cliches, and Lin Shaye delivers a strong performance as Elise. Much of the second and third acts of the movie focus on her backstory and abilities,...
by Rebekah Stogner | May 30, 2015 | Arts and Entertainment, Opinion
I remember three years ago when a former voice coach gave me two free passes to see some movie called Pitch Perfect. I passed, thinking that it looked incredibly stupid and would probably bomb at the theaters. Oh, how far we have come. Currently the reigning movie at the box office with 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, Pitch Perfect 2 is the second big blockbuster of the summer that girls everywhere (and probably a few boys) are flocking to see. Even though the movie’s been out for over two weeks, a large group of high school girls and even two grandmothers piled into the matinee I saw. As a fan of the original movie (and a capella singing in general), I was really hyped to see this. I adore Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld and was excited to hear more amazing mashups of popular songs through beat-boxing and harmonies. My main problem with this movie is the amount of rehashing of the plot and the jokes. In 2012, we saw the Barden Bellas struggle to redeem their boring routine with the help of newcomer Beca and go on to win the national title. Here, we see them struggle to redeem the world-renowned status of their group after a mishap at a national performance with the help of newcomer Emily as they try to win the world title. Fat Amy and creepy Lily’s one-liners have the same formula as before, even though Wilson improvises most of her lines, and the jokes relating to racial and sexual minorities still play to the lowest common denominator of their stereotypes. Sequels are supposed to...
