Pitch Perfect 2 / *** (PG-13)

Beca: Anna Kendrick

Fat Amy: Rebel Wilson

Emily: Hailee Steinfeld

Chloe: Brittany Snow

Jesse: Skylar Astin

Bumper: Adam DeVine

Kommissar: Birgitte Hjort Sørensen

Pieter Krämer: Flula Borg

John: John Michael Higgins

Gail: Elizabeth Banks

Universal Pictures presents a film directed by Elizabeth Banks. Written by Kay Cannon. Running time: 115 min. Rated PG-13 (for innuendo and language).

So when “Pitch Perfect” was released in theaters in 2012, I’m guessing I wasn’t alone in thinking, “Yeah, a movie about a cappella singing competitions? I’ll catch it at home if it gets good reviews.” The movie only made a little over $5 million on its opening weekend. Not exactly breaking the box office. Then people started talking about it, and word of mouth was that it was worth the admission price. By the end of the year it had netted over $68 million at the U.S. box office and was a huge hit on home video formats. A $5 million opening weekend isn’t supposed to do that.

With its snappy dialogue, great musical numbers and the introduction of Rebel Wilson as a fresh face in comedy, a “Pitch Perfect” sequel became inevitable. So here it is three years later, the girls who make up the musical group The Bellas are three years older, and the audience gets pretty much the same treatment for their encore. That’s what we’re paying for, so that isn’t a complaint. As a critic, it leaves little to discuss beyond the plot, but I enjoyed myself, so I’ll give it another whirl too.

Poltergeist / ** (PG-13)

Eric Bowen: Sam Rockwell

Amy Bowen: Rosemarie DeWitt

Kendra Bowen: Saxon Sharbino

Griffin Bowen: Kyle Catlett

Madison Bowen: Kennedi Clements

Carrigan Burke: Jared Harris

Dr. Brooke Powell: Jane Adams

Boyd: Nicholas Braun

Sophie: Susan Heyward

20^th Century Fox and MGM present a film directed by Gil Kenan. Written by David Lindsay-Abaire. Based on the 1982 screenplay by Steven Spielberg. Running time: 93 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense frightening images, brief suggestive material, and some language).

There are some who are calling the present period in cinematic history the Golden Age of Independent Horror. It is true that there have been a good deal of innovative horror films released over the past decade. We’ve seen the rise of Spanish and Korean horror masters, like Guillermo del Toro and Joon-ho Bong. “Saw” changed the horror landscape forever. The first “Paranormal Activity” was original and genuinely frightening. And even as recently as this year we’ve seen innovative horror films like “It Follows”. Perhaps, however, horror directors are getting a little full of themselves and are forgetting the basics of filmmaking as they apply to horror.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Palo Alto (2014) **

R, 100 min.

Director: Gia Coppola

Writers: Gia Coppola, James Franco (short stories)

Starring: Jack Kilmer, Emma Roberts, Nat Wolff, James Franco, Zoe Levin, Olivia Crocicchia, Claudia Levy, Val Kilmer

This is one of those rare occasions where I’ve actually read the book upon which the movie is based. I read James Franco’s collection of short stories, “Palo Alto: Stories”, and I didn’t particularly like it. He has a natural hand for writing, but it seemed he was trying too hard to be indifferent about his characters’ lives. He writes about harsh lives of adolescence and bad choices, but he seemed too willing to leave his characters hanging without any judgment or catharsis.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Pompeii (2014) *½

PG-13, 105 min.

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Writers: Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Bathler, Michael Robert Johnson

Starring: Kit Harrington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jared Harris, Carrie-Anne Moss, Sasha Roiz, Jessica Lucas, Joe Pingue, Currie Graham

I’m not sure what I did wrong to be subjected to two Paul W.S. Anderson movies in one week. Truth is it’s my own fault. I voluntarily watched both of them and I should know better. I couldn’t shake “Event Horizon” from my head after seeing “Interstellar” for some reason and then “Pompeii” came through the mail from Netflix. I didn’t want it sitting around without something good coming to replace it, so I watched it. True, I’m the one that put it in my queue, but I thought a movie about Pompeii would be really interesting until I learned that Paul W.S. Anderson had directed it. By that point, it was already in my queue, and I was a bit curious as to just how much he could screw it up.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Planet of the Apes (2001) **½

PG-13, 119 min.

Director: Tim Burton

Writers: William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Pierre Boulle (novel “La Planéte des Singes”)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, David Warner, Kris Kristofferson, Erick Avari, Luke Eberl, Evan Dexter Parke, Glenn Shadix, Freda Foh Shen, Chris Ellis, Anne Ramsay, Lisa Marie

Tim Burton’s 2001 remake “Planet of the Apes” stands as the bastard child of the franchise. Even in comparison to such wretched entries to the series as 1973’s “Battle for the Planet of the Apes”, Burton’s film is held with contempt in fans’ minds. I was never in this camp of thinking. In fact, when I first reviewed the film upon its theatrical release, I gave it 3½ stars. In light of the recent reboot series, my initial thoughts on Burton’s take seem ill conceived.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Philomena (2013) ***½

PG-13, 98 min.

Director: Stephen Frears

Writers: Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope, Martin Sixsmith (book “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee”)

Starring: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham, Barbara Jefford, Ruth McCabe, Peter Hermann, Sean Mahon, Anna Maxwell Martin, Michelle Fairley

The U.S. trailers might leave a viewer to believe that “Philomena” is a comedy about a hardened journalist forced to do a human interest story about a woman searching for a child she once gave up for adoption. The woman is a quirky old person who isn’t very well traveled, and the movie will be a comedic exploration of how these two opposites will learn to live with and love each other. This is not the case.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Person of Interest, season 3 (2013-2014) **½

TV-14, 23 45-min. episodes

Creator: Jonathan Nolan

Directors: Chris Fisher, Fredrick E.O. Toye, Omar Madha, Stephen Williams, Kenneth Fink, Helen Shaver, Stephen Surjik, Sylvain White, Richard J. Lewis, Jeffrey Hunt, Jeff T. Thomas, Jeffrey Lee Gibson, Kevin Hooks,

Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Greg Plageman, Denise Thé, Sean Hennen, Nic Van Zeebroeck, Mike Sopczynski, Erik Mountain, Amanda Segel, Melissa Scrivner Love, David Slack, Dan Dietz, Lucas O’Connor, Tony Camerino,

Starring: Jim Caviezel, Michael Emerson, Sarah Shahi, Amy Acker, Kevin Chapman, Taraji P. Henson

Guest starring: Ray Valentin, Max Martini, Bruce Altman, Alano Miller, David Valcin, Enrico Colantoni, David Alan Basch, Clarke Peters, Leslie Odom Jr., Gary Basaraba, Paige Turco, Warren Kole, Boris McGiver, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Paul Ben-Victor, Annika Boras, Al Sapienza, Brian Wiles, Daniel Cosgrove, Treach, Danielle Kotch, Morgan Spector, Robert John Burke, Kirk Acevedo, Michael Esper, Donnie Keshawarz, Aaron Staton, Jennifer Ferrin, Laz Alonso, Ben Livingston, Lee Tergesen, Khalil Kain, Richard Brooks, Brian Tarantina, Saul Rubinek, Tuck Milligan, Camryn Manheim, Jennifer Lim, Chris Bert, Jennifer Serralles, Sally Pressman, Samm Levine, Elaine Tan, Henri Lubatti, Gene Farber, Melissa Sagemiller, Gavin Stenhouse, Kathleen McNanny, David Andrew Macdonald, Anthony Mangano, Tyler Evans, Neil Jackson, Jay O. Sanders, John Nolan, Joseph Mazzello, Julian Ovenden, Casey Siemaszko, Annie Parrise, Dillon Arrick, Yul Vazquez, Colin Donnell, Nazneen Contractor, Haaz Sleiman, Michel Gil, Nestor Carbonell, John Doman, John Heard, Carrie Preston, Joseph Melendez, Peter Scanavino, Diane Davis

I’ve never been totally on board with CBS’s Jonathan Nolan created cyber-thriller series “Person of Interest”, although it’s third season has certainly proved its most interesting to date. I watch it because my wife does, and I’ve seen enough to be invested, but if we stopped watching tomorrow, it wouldn’t break my heart. Still, the show is finally beginning to go in direction I would’ve expected from Jonathan Nolan, brother of Christopher Nolan and writer of the original story upon which Christopher Nolan’s breakout film “Memento” was based.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—The Place Beyond the Pines (2013) ***

R, 140 min.

Director: Derek Cianfrance

Writers: Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, Darius Marder

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Eva Mendez, Mahershala Ali, Ben Mendelsohn, Olga Merediz, Gabe Fazio, Rose Byrne, Harris Yulin, Robert Clohessy, Bruce Greenwood, Ray Liotta

“The Place Beyond the Pines” was a fairly anticipated indie drama that reteamed writer/director Derek Cianfrance and actor Ryan Gosling for the second time since their Oscar nominated 2010 film “Blue Valentine”. It seemed to disappoint critics once it finally arrived in theaters. Perhaps this was because of the unique nature of the story, which spans a number of years and involves two generations of two families who seem fated to have a negative impact on each other.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) **

PG, 106 min.

Director: Thor Freudenthal

Writers: Marc Guggenheim, Rick Riordan (novel “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters”)

Starring: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Douglas Smith, Leven Rambin, Brandon T.  Jackson, Jake Abel, Anthony Stewart Head, Stanley Tucci, Nathan Fillion

So, like, “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” is, like, so trying to be so cray-cray amazes that, like, it’s like a pre-teen losing his… a-hem before he a-ha’s. This movie tries so hard to be good that it creates a secondary entertainment in spotting all the clichés and failed attempts of depth that it can possibly produce.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Patriot Games (1992) **½

R, 117 min.

Director: Phillip Noyce

Writers: W. Peter Iliff, Donald Stewart, Tom Clancy (novel)

Starring: Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, Patrick Bergen, Sean Bean, Thora Birch, James Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, Polly Walker, J.E. Freeman, James Earl Jones, Richard Harris, Alex Norton, Hugh Fraser, David Threlfall, Alun Armstrong

“Patriot Games” has always been the weakest Jack Ryan entry in my eyes. The plot doesn’t seem to have the world affecting scope of the others, and therefore doesn’t seem worthy of the attention of a character of Ryan’s capacity.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—Prince Avalanche (2013) ***½

R, 94 min.

Director: David Gordon Green

Writers: David Gordon Green, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigur∂sson (film “Either Way”)

Starring: Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch, Lance LeGault, Joyce Payne

“Sometimes I can do things that aren’t really possible.”—Alvin, “Prince Avalanche”

Perhaps that’s what writer/director David Gordon Green thought when he decided to abandon his indie film roots and start making stupid big budget stoner comedies. Like most others, I very much enjoyed the stoner ramblings of “Pineapple Express”; but Green’s next two outings “Your Highness” and “The Sitter” were two of the worst movies of the past five years. What’s worse, Green seemed to abandon the ideals that had made him a unique and imaginative artistic force in his previous work. Because of this, “Prince Avalanche” is more than just a return to form for one of the most promising film artists of the Aughts, but it is a reassurance that he hasn’t totally lost his mind and bought into the Hollywood machine.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—Phantom (2013) **½

R, 98 min.

Director/Writer: Todd Robinson

Starring: Ed Harris, David Duchovny, William Fitchner, Lance Henriksen, Jonathan Scheach, Jason Beghe, Dagmara Dominczyk, Derek Magyar, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jason Gray-Stanford, Julian Adams, Kip Pardue, Jordan Bridges

“Phantom” is a satisfying submarine thriller in the vein of “The Hunt for Red October” that should please audiences of such fare, until the final five minutes, when it is likely to lose most of its audience with some trickery that just doesn’t quite fit the mood of the piece. It’s not a totally devastating misstep, but a misstep that is sure to distract from the rest of the movie experience.

Horror Thoughts ‘13—ParaNorman (2012) ***½

PG, 92 min.

Directors: Sam Fell, Chris Butler

Writer: Chris Butler

Voices: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plaase, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, Jodelle Ferland, Tempestt Bledsoe, Alex Borstein, John Goodman

I don’t think I gave this movie enough credit when I wrote my theatrical review of it a little more than a year ago. I was blown away by its production design, but I didn’t have as much to say about the story. Although I liked it, I was wrong. This isn’t merely a good movie; it’s darn near great. Now that I wasn’t so distracted by the beautiful images I was seeing, I paid a little more attention to the storytelling craft. This is a wonderful story and a wonderfully witty screenplay.

Horror Thoughts ‘13—Pelts (2006) **½

TV-MA, 58 min.

Director: Dario Argento

Writers: F. Paul Wilson, Matt Venne

Starring: Meat Loaf Aday, Ellen Ewusie, Link Baker, Emilio Salituro, Elsie Lew, John Saxon, Michal Suchanek, Brenda McDonald

Italian horror maestro Dario Argento’s second entry into the “Masters of Horror” television series, “Pelts”, is a better effort than his first. While “Jenifer” gave me the impression that Argento was pretty much just used as a hired hand, “Pelts” has more visual style that can be attributed to the Argento vision.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—Piranha (1978) **½

R, 94 min.

Director: Joe Dante

Writers: John Sayles, Richard Robinson

Starring: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Dick Miller, Barbara Steele, Belinda Balaski, Melody Thomas, Bruce Gordon, Barry Brown, Paul Bartel, Shannon Collins, Shawn Nelson, Richard Deacon

So back in 1978 everybody was trying to make the next “Jaws”. “Piranha” was producer Roger Corman’s attempt at replicating the searing success that came along with that original summer blockbuster. For a Corman picture, “Piranha” really isn’t all that bad. That could have something to do with a script by John Sayles, who populates the characters with more ordinary problems before the absurd issue of swimming in a lake full of man-eating piranha becomes the focus of their concerns.

Horror Thoughts ‘13—Phenomena (1985) ***

R, 110 min.

Director: Dario Argento
Writer: Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini

Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Donald Pleasence, Daria Nicololi, Fiore Argento, Federica Mastroianni, Fiorenza Tessari, Dalila De Lazzaro, Patrick Bauchau, Mario Donatone

Dario Argento’s follow up to “Tenebre” adds the supernatural back into his signature stylized filmmaking in “Phenomena”. Starring a young Jennifer Connelly, it tells the story of a girl who has the ability to communicate with insects. She is teased by her fellow students at a Swiss private school, but when a series of murders targets young women of the same age as those at the school, an entomologist point out to her how her special ability can help to solve the case.

Horror Thoughts ‘13—Prince of Darkness (1987) ***½

R, 102 min.

Director: John Carpenter

Writer: John Carpenter (as Martin Quartermass)

Starring: Jameson Parker, Donald Pleasance, Lisa Blount, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Susan Blanchard, Anne Howard, Ann Yen, Ken Wright, Dirk Blocker, Jessie Lawrence Ferguson, Peter Jason, Robert Grasmere, Thom Bray, Joanna Merlin, Alice Cooper

Horrorfest 2013 kicks off with one of my favorite horror flicks out there. It isn’t one of the best, but there’s something about John Carpenter’s “Prince of Darkness” that just gets me going into the horror mood. Perhaps it’s Carpenter’s signature minimalist electronic score. Perhaps it’s the nearly whispered impression of his delivery. Perhaps it’s just Carpenter’s stripped down style, giving the audience nothing but the essentials they need to understand the story without any extraneous photography or set up. He just gives us the horror of it all and nothing else.

Prisoners / ***½ (R)

Keller Dover: Hugh Jackman

Detective Loki: Jake Gyllenhaal

Grace Dover: Maria Bello

Nancy Birch: Viola Davis

Franklin Birch: Terrence Howard

Alex Jones: Paul Dano

Holly Jones: Melissa Leo

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by Denis Villeneuve. Written by Aaron Guzikowski. Running time: 153 min. Rated R (for disturbing violence content including torture, and language throughout).

School shootings. Child abduction. The gun debate. Religious zealotry. And People just trying to live their lives by doing what’s right. “Prisoners” is a new thriller made for the times in which we live. It doesn’t take sides on any of these issues, but it incorporates them all and more into a parent’s worst nightmare.

Hugh Jackman stars as Keller Dover, a God fearing man who lives life by the mantra “Pray for the best, prepare for the worst.” After watching his son make his first kill on a hunting trip in the opening scene, Keller tells the boy that when it comes down to the worst-case scenario, the only person one can rely on is himself. He’s proud of his boy for making a good clean kill, and he lets him know it. He’s a good man and a good father.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—Papillon (1973) ***½

R, 150 min.

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers: Dalton Trumbo, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Henri Charriére (book)

Starring: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon, Anthony Zerbe, Robert Deman, Woodrow Parfrey, Bill Mumy, George Coulouris, Ratna Assan, William Smithers

I never thought of Steve McQueen as much of an actor until I saw him in “The Cincinnati Kid”. Even in that film, his acting was on such a subtle level, that it would be easy to miss it if you weren’t a trained actor. He still plays pretty much the same type of character in that film as he usually does. In “Papillon” he really stretches his acting chops, and the results are surprisingly impressive.

Penny Thoughts ‘13—The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) ***½

PG-13, 102 min.

Director/Writer: Stephen Chbosky (also novel)

Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Paul Rudd, Nina Dobrev, Johnny Simmons, Dylan McDermott, Fran Walsh, Melanie Lynskey, Erin Wilhelmi, Adam Hagenbuch, Joan Cusack

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is essentially “The Breakfast Club” for the Y or Z generation, with a little added twist of personal drama. I’m not sure how necessary that personal drama is to the proceedings, but it is an interesting subject that is not often tackled in a movie focused on teens.