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Movie Review: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Popstar-Never-Stop-Never-Stopping

Photo Source: Universal Pictures

Conner4Real loves Snapchat. He loves updating his fans on his surreal lifestyle and acting like everything is ok, even though it isn’t.

Recognizing how social media allows stars to control how fans perceive their lives, it’s entertaining to watch a mockumentary about what could actually go on behind the scenes. In this case, the footage is about Conner (Andy Samberg), a singer whose time in the spotlight is going to end unless he repairs his relationship with his childhood buddies. In real life, Conner’s former Style Boyz band mates Owen (Jorma Taccone) and Lawrence (Akiva Schaffer) make up the rest of The Lonely Island and they also co-produced and directed Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

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Movie Review: Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Neighbors 2

As far as sequels are concerned, this is a good one. In Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Mac Radner (Seth Rogen) and Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron) return to the big screen for another adventure involving young college students who are more concerned with partying than showing respect to their middle-aged neighbours.

This time around, it revolves around a sorority led by Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz AKA Brooklyn Beckham’s girlfriend), a girl who insists that if fraternities can host parties, then sororities can too. Shelby’s new sorority complicates things for Mac and his pregnant wife Kelly whose house next door is in escrow. Things escalate very quickly and before you know it, Shelby and her friends rob Mac’s house, hack his phone and become his worst nightmare.

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Movie Review: Obit

Hot Docs - Obit - Bruce Weber and Vanessa Gould

Director & Producer Vanessa Gould and Reporter Bruce Weber

What do you consider a newsworthy death?

Well, the New York Times’ obituaries section is not limited to celebrities and politicians, as there are many ordinary people doing extraordinary things and their stories deserve to be told in print and online. By flipping to the obits section, you can access history from the perspective of a skilful reporter who wrote a retrospective about a person who led a meaningful life. That’s something worth reading.

After job shadowing a movie critic at The Globe and Mail during high school, I was intrigued by the movie Obit, as it promises to offer a behind the scenes look at The New York Times. Thankfully, Vanessa Gould’s movie is insightful and engaging and you don’t need to be a journalist to enjoy this documentary at Hot Docs. After all, the obits are written for everyone. One of the reporters communicated this effectively when he said that their challenge is to craft an entertaining piece about history for people who don’t know history.

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Book Review: The Choice

TheChoiceBanner

Photo Source: ComingSoon.net

Motivated by the success of his hit novel The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks aimed to recreate similar characters and obstacles in The Choice. I don’t think The Choice deserves to be a classic like The Notebook, but it’s definitely worth reading.

The Choice is about two neighbours, Travis and Gabby, who fall in love. In their first face-to-face encounter, Gabby storms over to Travis’ deck and falsely accuses his dog of impregnating her dog. I’m not an animal lover, but I didn’t mind reading about their pets. Sparks sprinkles in their dogs Moby and Molly just enough and doesn’t go into great detail when describing the animals at Travis’ veterinary clinic.

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Movie Review: Teenage Paparazzo

Adrian+Grenier+Austin+Visschedyk

Photo Source: Zimbio

After Entourage star Adrian Grenier met Austin Visschedyk, he convinced the teenage paparazzo to film a documentary with him about celebrity culture. Watching Teenage Paparazzo (2010) allows you to explore the parasocial relationships between celebrities and fans, which refers to fans’ disillusion that they know celebrities like they know their friends when really there is a one-way relationship. Without it, there would be less demand for celebrity gossip and photos.

The movie comprehensively captures the dynamic between celebrities and fans, as well as between celebrities and the paparazzi. To achieve this, Adrian interviewed academics and authors as well as well-established paparazzi and celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Eva Longoria. But most of the movie focuses on Austin, a self-assured teenager who invests in the best camera equipment to capture celebrities.

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