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Flash Movie Review: Bottoms
THINGS CHANGED WHEN IT WAS TIME for my classmates and me to graduate. Having all of us growing up together for several years at the school, everyone knew everyone else. No one was a stranger. But now it was time for our grade to enroll into the bigger school, where we would be joined by four other schools’ graduating students. Suddenly, I would be sitting with people I did not know. I remember the feeling of joy whenever I would cross paths with a former schoolmate in the new school’s hallways, as we were going to our next class. At my suddenly “old” school, I had a couple of noteworthy events that were public. One was the selection of my science project to be displayed in the school library. Another event was being picked to form a team to play a ball game because I had a strong, fast pitch. And there was the time when I was the taffy apple king because I sold the most taffy apples for a fundraiser. With any of these events, they were not something I trained for or aspired to achieve. I thought luck played a large part in it, plus imagination. Little did I know that entering the larger school with students from other neighborhood schools would change the landscape about being a winner and being noticed. SOON AFTER THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR started, I noticed something different; there suddenly appeared a hierarchy, where students wanted to be noticed now. The students who joined various sports activities had a double hierarchy. The football players were the most popular, followed by the basketball and baseball teams. Those in the chess or debate clubs were low on the scale. Right besides the football players for being the most popular/noticed were the cheerleaders, followed by the pom-pom squad. I did not know where this desire or need to be noticed was coming from; all I wanted to do was to blend into the background. I quickly learned blending in was the safest place based on how I was seeing how some students were picking on others. If a football player made a gross error on the field, he would get picked on; and, if someone did not act or dress a certain way, they became an easy target for any aggressive, alpha type student. This is why I started dressing in dark clothing, nothing flashy or trendy. I also avoided participating in class discussions because I was too afraid of saying something wrong that would turn me into a target for ridicule. This is why I sat in wonderment, watching the main characters in this satirical, raunchy comedy try to become noticed at their school. HOPING TO LOSE THEIR VIRGINITY AND get noticed, friends form a fight club for girls. To make it work, they felt they needed to take on a different persona, one that would provide them with some notoriety. They may have taken on more than they could manage. With Rachel Sennott (Finally Dawn, Bodies Bodies Bodies) as PJ, Ayo Edebiri (Theater Camp, The Bear-TV) as Josie, Ruby Cruz (The Lost Boys, Willow-TV) as Hazel Callahan, Havana Rose Liu (No Exit, Afraid) as Isabel, and Kaia Gerber (Babylon, Palm Royale-TV) as Brittany; this film festival winner was extremely raunchy. There were elements to the script that I found amusing and satirical; but I felt a majority of the film’s story was a one-trick pony. I was getting bored with the repetition of similar scenes. The idea for the story was funny, and I liked the satirical digs in the dialog, but there were times the movie bordered on slapstick humor. And I must mention again, the script was top-heavy with raunchy dialog throughout the picture. There were outtakes during the ending credits.
2 ½ stars
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
I TOOK PIANO LESSONS FOR EIGHT years, but I did not want many people to know about it, particularly my classmates in school. The reason being, I loved classical music from such composers as Beethoven, Chopin and Tchaikovsky. One of the pieces I wanted to play on the piano was Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; talk about a lofty goal. However, my piano teacher found sheet music for it and told me to work on it during my free time. The reason I did not want too many classmates to know was because everyone I knew was into the Top 40 songs playing on the radio. I enjoyed them as much as they did, but for piano playing I preferred the classics. That was not the only music I played but when it came to my piano lessons, we focused on music from the classical composers. On my own, I would go downtown to the music store that had a whole room filled with sheet music from all different genres. I would get lost as I leafed through bin after bin of sheet music, trying to narrow my choices down to a few instead of a multitude. For me, it was all about how the music moved me; it could be a song from a Broadway musical or one from a folk singer, it did not matter. But what was more important to me was fitting in with the rest of the student body. FITTING IN WAS OF THE UTMOST importance as far as I was concerned. I saw what happened to those who did not fit in and could never find out where was the cutoff from being a little different with no repercussions to doing something that made you a target for being shunned or bullied. I think it is harder when we are younger due to the lack of exposure to different people, cultures and life experiences. When we are young, I believe, we consciously or subconsciously gravitate to like kind. Anyone who doesn’t look the same or act the same tends to set off a warning sign in our heads. I am reminded of my time at a school’s orientation weekend, sharing a dorm room with another prospective student. Accompanying him were a couple of his pet praying mantises. I thought it was an odd thing to do but did not try to avoid him, unlike the other kids on the floor. He had the desire to fit in with the rest of the floor, based on our conversations; but he did not have the will to do anything about it. Some people do not care about fitting in while others do. I only want to do it when I know I can be my authentic self. This is why I give the brothers in this animated, action adventure a lot of credit. BY THE TIME THEY REACHED ADOLESCENCE, the Turtle brothers wanted nothing more than to go above ground and be with the humans. The problem was the humans did not want to be with them; at least most of them. With Micah Abbey (Grey’s Anatomy-TV, Cousins for Life-TV) voicing Donatello, Shamon Brown Jr. (The Chi-TV) voicing Michelangelo, Nicolas Cantu (The Fabelmans, The Walking Dead: World Beyond) voicing Leonardo, Brady Noon (Marry Me, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers) voicing Raphel and Ayo Edebiri (The Sweet East, Theater Camp) voicing April O’Neil; this installment was one of the best out of the group. The animation was clever and outstanding, accompanied by a great soundtrack. The actors voicing their characters were fun and well-suited to bounce off each other. I did not have any idea this would be as good as it was, thanks to the skilled writing of Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg and Jeff Rowe. The story works for children and adults thanks to the variety of one lined comments, besides the message; a message that I appreciated. There was no need to be concerned I would be the only adult without children, there were many. I could simply be myself. There was an extra scene in the middle of the ending credits.
3 ½ stars
moviejoltz 