Double Feature: Crawl (2019) & Bumblebee (2018)

Welcome back to another double feature! Today, we are looking at an interesting pairing to say the least. One is a creature feature with alligators and the other is another Transformers movie but more of a spin-off of how Bumblebee ended up on Earth. Its a pretty fun double feature

Crawl (2019)

Director: Alexandre Aja

Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd Clark, Ross Anderson, Jose Palma, George Somner

A young woman, while attempting to save her father during a category 5 hurricane, finds herself trapped in a flooding house and must fight for her life against alligators. – IMDB

*Originally posted as Friday Film Club on Movies and Tea HERE*

While sharks are primarily the star of creature features, Crawl takes on a lesser used monster as it takes a disaster film and pairs it with a horror film where a father, daughter and their dog gets trapped in their basement crawl space and hunted down by alligators during a Category 5 hurricane. As in any of these films, it is about survival. Directed by Alexandre Aja who is no stranger to directing horror films, Crawl takes on a decent form from the atmosphere and how the whole story goes as it builds gripping tension with these characters and this quiet predator.

Starring Kaya Scodelario as a rising swimming athlete in university called Haley who goes to check on her father Dave played by Barry Pepper, she ends up finding him in a crawl space unconscious and their own salvation is behind these pipes that the alligators hunting them can’t get through. As the crawl space fills up with water, they need to find a way to escape without being noticed by these alligators. Just looking at the character designs, it definitely feels like a rather contrived way to put a swimmer as a central character in a flood and yet, if you can get past that (and you should), Crawl manages to create some gripping moments and build up a decent  bit of tension while also making the whole crawl space experience to play well in the claustrophobic and time-sensitive situation.

There’s a lot to love about Crawl. For one, it uses a lesser used “monster” which definitely needs to be used more as quiet predators create some good surprise attack moments. At the same time, the characters are pretty good. While there is still some family drama to sort out between the father and daughter, the focus on survival is the priority. At the same time, the script makes an effort to give reasoning for why these alligators have gathered in this crawl space and it all does come together in the end. Plus, the director manages to not only use the crawl space and the claustrophobia of that setting to its potential but when it migrates out of there, it still manages to use its environment and the hurricane to its advantage as well. Crawl definitely delivers a great creature feature film that’s well worth a watch.

Bumblebee (2018)

Director: Travis Knight

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Cena, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon, Stephen Schneider, Ricardo Hoyos, John Ortiz

On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small California beach town. On the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, Charlie Watson discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. – IMDB

While I don’t have any major qualms with Transformers to this certain point but knowing that its really just mindless entertainment, Bumblebee is a whole different level. I guess nothing looks so bad until you find something better that comes along. Bumblebee is a fun movie and brings so much to the table because its so goofy and really about the unlikely friendship between Bumblebee and Charlie as she learns gradually about what he is, maybe not fully as this movie also shows how he loses his voice and ends up finding it again with the help of Charlie and her mechanic skills.

Hailee Steinfeld has gone a long way in her acting career. She’s had some misses, mostly due to the overall movie and not her. Bumblebee sees her in a blockbuster role that she really does take on very well. Her character is a tad bitter about her life with her own burdens in her current life situation while at the same time, her sarcasm adds to the humor especially when playing off of Bumblebee who also is discovering Earth and just how it all works despite his amnesia. Its a bit of a fish out of water story in a Transformer point of view and its executed so well.

If there was anything that I disliked about Transformers, it would have to be the annoying John Cena character which plays a little like Samuel L. Jackson’s role in Kong: Skull Island who pursues Bumblebee like he is a threat and the army gets manipulated by the Decepticons (because you know, who wouldn’t believe anyone called Decepticons, right?).

Overall, Bumblebee is a fun time. It definitely has much more substance and gives an origin story angle for Bumblebee which works very well. It balances between the comedy, drama and action a lot and also manages to get in a lot of  screen time for the Autobots and Depcepticons instead of the humans. Really good job here!

That’s it for this double feature!
Have you seen these two films? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Music Obsessions – April 2018

March is now behind us and Spring has arrived! I’m not sure that I’ve listened to a lot of new music lately but I am catching up on some nice stuff. Its been a while that my list has been listened on repeat so frequently with just those few songs. Plus, I’m going back to some music that I loved a ton from months ago and added some music that I had taken out back in. March has been great in some ways but a whole lot of soul searching. Maybe its the getting older that makes me think and reflect on life in general. Either way, when I hit those moments, I like to block out a lot of everything and find back my balance through music. This segment is supposed to be nice and fun so I’ll skip the drama and share some music I’ve loved this month.

Let Me Go – Hailee Steinfeld, Alesso ft. Florida Georgia Line, WATT

So why suddenly Hailee Steinfeld? Because I recently rewatched Pitch Perfect 2 and it kind of was nice background music as I caught up with a ton of blog housekeeping and putting together new graphics for the upcoming podcast. At the same time, she’s been on the radio whenever we’re in the car. Lots of reasons but I’m a fan of Alesso so this one peaked my interest and its really grown on me.

我們不一樣 We Are Not The Same – 大壯 Da Zhuang 

A rather sporadic discovery is this song which showed up in my recommended on the home page of Youtube. This song doesn’t only have a singer which has a really nice rough voice which adds to the strength of the song but the song lyrics itself is very well-written and is meaningful especially when the video emphasizes on its content by showcasing different in a certain city in China and the different professions. I love meaningful music that isn’t about love and heartbreak since its really not that frequent that we encounter it nowadays, or I’m just not searching in the right places.

Try – Jay Chou & Patrick Brasca

I haven’t seen Kung Fu Panda 3 yet and I have no idea whether this song was part of just the Asia/Taiwan/China release but its such a fun and cheerful song. Its been a while that I’ve visited Jay Chou music and he has such a high standard for the quality of music that he delivers that its really so great to get back into his newer music. Although I still have some immense love for his debut album or first few ones. He makes this music with like stories in its lyrics but of course, he really writes the music (which I always love the style) and has a great lyricist which I think writes a lot of his songs (at least most of the ones I love). Either way, this one, he teams up with a very young artist who is Taiwanese-Canadian called Patrick Brasca who fits into this songs fun elements.

告白氣球 Love Confession – Jay Chou

I probably should have reversed the song before and this one because its through this video that I found out about Patrick Brasca. The video here is adorable and not to mention, Jay Chou’s latest music that I absolutely love. In this entire Music Obsessions this time around, I’ve been listening the most especially since it makes me want to learn how to sing it. Jay Chou music is hard because of his ability to sing complex lyrics really rapidly. Mandarin is my second language Chinese dialect so sometimes its hard to get it all out however, I loved the challenge and maybe I’ll share a snippet of the singing one day ;).

Before He Cheats – Carrie Underwood

Finally song is Before He Cheats and it has to do very much with the first choice in this list because of Pitch Perfect 2 where the Barden Bellas go for the riff-off and Anna Kendrick follows with this song. Every time I watch Pitch Perfect 2 and it hits that part, I always end up bringing back this song since its really fun in general to listen to and sing.

Thats it for this month’s Music Obsessions!
What music have you been listening to?

Double Feature: A Stork’s Journey (2017) & The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

As I work through maintaining a little bit of everything every single week, here we are with the double feature of the week showcasing a free movie for a limited time on Google Play Store called A Stork’s Journey and 2016’s teenage coming of age favorite, The Edge of Seventeen. Going into both of these is completely fresh, for one, I just saw Storks and this is A Stork’s Journey, a movie I know nothing about, while on the other hand,  I don’t know much about The Edge of Seventeen, but Hailee Steinfeld has yet to convince me that she is a young actress to watch out for. Maybe this will be the one to do it.

Let’s check it out!

A Stork’s Journey (2017)

Director: Toby Genkel & Reza Memari

Voice Cast: Drake Bell, iJustine, Jane Lynch

Even though everybody else thinks he’s a sparrow – Richard himself holds tight to the conviction that he is in fact a stork. – IMDB

A Stork’s Journey is a pretty generic story. While there is some fun acting and some cool use of characters and play with words as well as incorporating the modern terms, it still has moments where it does fall flat a little. What does it give an edge is perhaps Jane Lynch doing the voice of Olga, the Pygmy Owl. This is definitely a rag-tag aviary team as Richard sets off to prove that he is a stork by making it to Africa, and on the way meeting other birds which are different in their own way to their own type of bird, be it an oversized pygmy owl or an over the top parakeet that wants to be a singing star and the great amount of techie pigeons that divulge a lot of information. A Stork’s Journey is a simple and innocent journey that pretty much tells us to dream big and never downsize ourselves. We can be whatever we want to be but also accept that we are who we are, big or small, and have our purpose and excellence. Absolutely a family-friendly film and probably geared towards a younger audience.

I mean, I probably wouldn’t pay to see this but it was free on Google Play Store and might still be, if you know, then do leave a comment below. I can’t see the price because I own it now. Its a tad cliche as a bird adventure story which might remind you a little of Rio at parts, but the story that move along fast enough and the animation has some adorable bits and I personally love Jane Lynch and her voice for Olga was really cool. There are some clever word plays and I like those in anything. I’m kind of in the middle here. Its not exact a hit but not exactly a  miss either.

The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

Director (and writer): Kelly Fremon Craig

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Haley Lu Richardson, Blake Jenner, Hayden Szeto, Woody Harrelson, Kyra Sedgwick

High-school life gets even more unbearable for Nadine when her best friend, Krista, starts dating her older brother. – IMDB

At this point, I’ve watched The Edge of Seventeen once and then rewatched it two more times. I’ve seen The Edge of Seventeen be compared to Sixteen Candles and in some ways, I can see it particularly with an awkward main character who loathes the idea of high school and is really over it. Suffice to say that I like this one a whole lot. Part of it is that the story is written so well with enough awkward dialogue and awesome characters that really highlight the melodrama of being in high school. For Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), this means losing her only friend to her popular and hot (almost perfect) brother who already has everything and takes away her only spark of joy as well. Call this a blessing in disguise, while Nadine flips out in her odd ways and makes some stupid decisions (as you would expect), she ends up meeting Erwin (Hayden Szeto), a fellow classmate who reaches out to her unexpectedly in her time of need.

The Edge of Seventeen is full of great characters. I’d have to say that the highlight is the equally awkward Erwin, played by Hayden Szeto. He took portrayed his awkwardness with silly joke and the dialogue between him and Hailee Steinfeld’s Nadine was a lot of fun. All their scenes were quite fun and meaningful. On the other hand, the scenes with Hailee Steinfeld and Woody Harrelson was also really great as its mostly pretty hilarious with his unexpected brutal honesty. Woody Harrelson’s Mr. Bruner is somewhat of a odd support system, his straight forward answers or comments on her situation spoke a lot of the harsh truth and in many ways, as someone that is past the high school phase, it reminds me of why someone didn’t point those things out.

Honestly, its been a while that I’ve seen something so fun with coming of age elements and kind of at a point really tugged at my heartstrings. I’m starting to see that potential in Hailee Steinfeld although, I do believe the fantastic script and the great cast all around made this memorable. I totally recommend this movie!

Have you seen A Stork’s Journey and/or The Edge of Seventeen?

(Sorry for the later than expected post. I thought I had posted this up. Apparently, I forgot to schedule it…)

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Pitch Perfect was a hit for myself a few years back. You can find that review here. It had so much fun and crazy and musically catching. There was so much that worked even if it hit some absurd notes here and there. While I had my criticisms, it proves to be one that I watch over and over again and somehow love more and more. The way the first movie ended left it wide open for a sequel and in 2015, we got one. I’m not sure why I waited so long but maybe its a part of me that wonders how feasible a second one could be.

Lets check it out!

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld, Skylar Astin, Adam Devine, Ben Platt, Anna Camp

Oh, Pitch Perfect 2, so much good and yet so much felt a little overboard and disjointed. This franchise’s strength is in its musical numbers and in many ways, the sequel follows a similar formula to the first. Disaster at performance, loses credibility, new girl new ideas, losing group magic and journey to regain it and finally the final hurrah and of course, you can’t forget to throw in a great rival. What Pitch Perfect 2 adds is that these girls are all heading into graduation and call it a final showdown before they grow up and go their separate ways or whatnot, its also about letting go of this safety net they built and finding the courage to move on. This sequel also has following and gives them a pass because there is already some knowledge about these young ladies and we can’t help but at least like them. If they are leaving, then how are we getting a Pitch Perfect 3? While I don’t quite know the answer to that, there is something of a handing down the baton as we get a new member here played by Hailee Steinfeld and she, like Becca in Pitch Perfect, changes the formula of the Barden Bellas.

Pitch Perfect 2 didn’t quite hit the greatness of its predecessor. The main reason being it seemed slightly disjointed. Some absurdities was really there because they could put it there and never seemed to serve much purpose. However, you can probably argue that these moments define the characters and show off the essence of the movie and is for comedic effects. And in some ways, it certainly delivers. In others, perhaps it tests where your funny bone lies, aka what makes you laugh. There was certainly a lot of humor here that worked for myself because I had the background of the first one and the respective characters. However, there were some rather ridiculous bits that just felt a tad a stupid and unnecessary.

Fact is, Pitch Perfect 2 has a lot of parallels to Pitch Perfect. The rivalry or the riff off now called something else. There’s the bonding and rebonding. There are familiar faces that come back and extensions of relationships. There are new hurdles as they step into a new world just like the previous. The mash-ups aren’t as good as the first one but they are acceptable. It really elevates the concept that Pitch Perfect was great for its cast and this one brings them out as much as they can. They create more growth for Becca as she somehow strives hard to grow outside of the Bellas, Fat Amy connects with herself a little more and with Bumper (who makes a reappearance after his irresponsible exit in the first movie), Anna Camp stops by for a tough love bonding experience cameo, etc. Hailee Steinfeld plays Emily, the new addition with a knack for making original music and adds to their skill set

Overall, there really isn’t a whole lot to say about Pitch Perfect 2. It made me want to watch Pitch Perfect (again) and see the movie in its full glory. There’s a lot of similarities in the second one even in the story arcs and yet it never quite lives up to the original perhaps it lacked its own personality. The new characters didn’t bring anything new. The old characters still had their charm which is what kept it fun to watch. There were some laughs and equally some meh and some WTFs. In the end, it was an average experience.

Have you seen Pitch Perfect 2?