Thursday Movie Picks: Movies about Music/Making Music/Musicians

I rarely seem to contribute to Thursday Movie Picks, which is strange because I love it and everytime I see everyone's posts I think 'damn it I had a great idea for that...humph!'  Anyway, enough about me.....

Thursday Movie Picks is a great series hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves, where each week she picks a theme and we all choose 3 movies that we feel fit. This week’s theme is movies about music/making music/musicians (no biopics allowed).

I was so excited when I saw the theme for this week, here are my picks:

Begin Again (2013)

A chance encounter between Gretta (Keira Knightley) a young musician just arrived in New York and Dan (Mark Ruffalo) a disgraced music executive, leads them to collaborating on a musical journey creating and reviving their careers.  I love this film, because it's so different to any other music based movie I have seen and the music was great....plus Adam Levine! *Swoon*

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Beca (Anna Kendrick) is a newbie at Bardon University and is encouraged (while naked) to join the Bardon Bellas the college's female a capella singing group.  Beca's presence provides the Bellas with a much needed shake up and helps them face off against the local boys group, The Trebles.  This was mine and Allie's very first review, way back when (check it out here) and we both loved it.  Its ridiculously hilarious, no matter how many time I watch it I laugh out loud and the music has me tapping my feet and singing along every time. (and I still blast 'Cups' in my car!!)

Whiplash (2014)

Andrew (Miles Teller) is desperate to be the World's best jazz drummer and gets into a prestigious music conservatory only to be pushed to his limits by the iron fist of Fletcher (J K Simmons).  I was amazed after watching this film as not a huge amount happens in the story, but I was completely and utterly engaged the whole time, I didn't take my eyes off the screen once.

Happy Birthday Anna Kendrick!

Anna Kendrick turns 29 today and I thought it might be nice to share with you all my Top 5 Anna Kendrick films. I first saw her in the Twilight series back in 2008 and since then she just seems to have popped up in loads of other films I've seen!

Anna hasn't actually been in an awful lot of films if you take a look through her filmography, but she has an awful lot coming up in the next 2 years so my Top 5 list could well look completely different by then.

 

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's Twilight. But this is the first time I ever saw Anna, and I think she played her character really well, and stayed true to the book version. Plus, her graduation speech Twilight Eclipse was brilliant, and made me cry a little. Not that it takes much to make me cry!

 

 

End of Watch makes my list purely for the scene with her and Jake Gyllenhaal singing in the car. It was just so natural and I think Anna's natural charm really shined during the scene. I don't know how true this is, but I heard that the song just happened to be playing anyway and the scene was completely improvised. Cute if true!

 

 

I wasn't a huge fan of 50/50 to be honest, but Anna's character was just so down to earth that I mainly enjoyed it just for her. Although her character is very similar (I think anyway) to her character in Up in the Air, the completely different topic kept it fresh for me.

As someone who gets to travel a little for work, I really appreciated Up in the Air and I just loved how it didn't follow a predictable plot. Anna played the role of a some what cold, by the book professional really well, a role which I don't think reflects her true personality at all.

 

 

I'm a human of the female variety, it's just in my nature to love Pitch Perfect, sorry! Just everything, from her dress sense, her non-cornforming attitude to her singing just had me smiling throughout the whole film. If there was ever a film on my life (highly doubtful, and a box office flop if so), I would love Anna Kendrick to play me!

 

What's your favourite Anna Kendrick film?

Review: Pitch Perfect (2012)

After it was announced that Pitch Perfect was getting a sequel, my girl-friends (Jenna included) were horrified to hear that I hadn't seen the film yet! It's been on my ever-growing list for a while now but I finally got around to watching it.

Pitch Perfect is the ultimate girls night in comedy. It stars Anna Kendrick, a freshman at Barden University called Beca, who produces her own mash-up music tracks and dreams of being a DJ in Los Angeles. She's a bit of a loner but is forced by her father to join a club and make some friends. She ends up joining an all-girl A capella group, and the events that follow are hilarious.

I have to be honest, the plot was completely predictable, but that really didn't matter because the humour and the musical moments just blew me away! The Riff-Off was a favourite moment of mine. 



I'm really looking forward to the sequel now!

The ultimate chick flick (so what a good review to start Flick Chicks on!), what I would call the chicks version of the Hangover.  Plus I love the music and I'm not usually one for noticing music in films let alone commenting on it but this had me dancing and singing along!

Rebel Wilson is currently one of my favourite actresses, she can blink and she has me in stitches, leading me to my two favourite parts of the movie:

Wilson, without a doubt, steals the show.

I don't know, I have to say that Anna Kendrick was amazing in this! She's literally gone from 'that annoying one in Twilight' to one of my favourite actresses right now.

The plot is the standard formula for comedy chick flick but that does not take away from this movie at all.  It may be a bit hard for some to consider watching this after the horrific phenomenon of Glee and I can fully relate to that BUT this might be wrapped up like Glee, but inside it's all sarcastic, gross out comedy goodness that everyone should try!  I myself have called it a chick flick but have found my 61 year old Dad watching it, twice! 

Sadly I couldn't get my better half to watch this with me, I got a mumbled 'not watching that Glee nonsense' response to my invitation! 

I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who wants to laugh their socks off and (pretend not to) sing along to this awesome soundtrack.  Here's hoping the sequel can hold up against the original.