Only two major releases this weekend, both of which are sequels to films I haven’t seen.
Pitch Perfect 2: I’m totally out of touch on this one. I remember the original being some sort of phenomenon and judging from the box office (low 60’s for the weekend) the heat hasn’t died down one bit. Is it a Glee type thing? An all-out musical? I don’t know and you really shouldn’t be listening to anything I have to say (which is nothing) about this. A third film should be a lock, obviously. Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson star.
Rotten Tomatoes: 68%
Metacritic: 66%
Personal interest factor: _______?
Mad Max: Fury Road: Despite being a child of the 80’s, I’ve never actually watched a Mad Max film from beginning to end. The post-apocalyptic vehicular mayhem should have appealed to me, but I think it was the Australian-ness of it all that turned me off. It wasn’t until Crocodile Dundee hit several years after Beyond Thunderdome that I began to understand (and later embrace) their alien culture.
The making of this film seems just as interesting as the finished product to me (production started way back in 2011, there were multiple delays, reshoots, the budget just exploding and the two leads allegedly despised each other) but the reviews are absolutely ecstatic and it seems like a safe bet for pretty much anyone. Go see it.
Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
Metacritic: 89%
Personal interest factor: 10
From what I can discern, Pitch Perfect is a Glee-type thing that appeals to tween to teen girls. I played the Cup Song in my class and all the girls knew the words. Never underestimate the buying power of thirteen-year-old girls.
Max is great. Get out and see it everyone.