MOVIE : Camp Takota

I’ve seen the movie with a twenty some year old who has it all: the perfect fiance, a job that will let her grow and do great things, then takes a major blow and loses it all. The one I haven’t seen is where she goes back to summer camp and her estranged best friends who never left. I’m used to seeing her journey to self-actualization where she realizes she doesn’t need a man (but ends up finding one anyway). It gets tiring to see the same movie again and again, which is why the plot twist that Camp Takota has is refreshing.
Our main character with the short lived “perfect” life is Elise (Grace Helbig). Alcohol leads to drunk phone calls, causing her life to crash down like a sloppy drunk walking home. She finds herself back to square one, working at the all-girls camp she attended as a kid. She’s greeted by her childhood best friends, leader and lesbian cook, Allison (Hannah Hart) and obnoxious Maxine (Mamrie Hart). The rest of the plot is for the most part, predictable but done so well that I really dont care. Elise doesn’t spend her time wallowing in self pity and trying to find her next guy; she struggles to adapt to camp life but finally regresses back to her golden days as a teenage girl falling in love and everything falls into place. That is, until the big wig developer swoops in like a vulture on its prey, trying to rip the camp they grew up in to shreds. Of course the self actualized girls bond together and won’t allow themselves or their childhood to become prey. Take a guess who wins?
It almost seems like this is a movie for teenage girls but more so for the adult women who needs to remember being a kid is good for you. It’s fitting seeing as though the main characters are adult youtube stars who are known for their childlike tendencies. It’s an independent film but you wouldn’t guess that right away. It was written to entertain and does just that, not to mention a great score and production. It’s a shame this feel good movie got swept under the Netflix rug.

MUSIC: The Pretty Reckless

It may be explicit, it may be labeled hardcore, but isn’t that what rock is supposed to be? The Pretty Reckless is an acquired taste; the lead singer has a love affair with swear words and does not hide it. She also has something against the world at times. But there is a grit in her voice that is just missing from mainstream music. As for her band, I haven’t heard drums or guitar solos like theirs since classic rock.
In their album “Light me Up”, there is a slow, reflective feel with “Nothing Left to Lose” in which she sounds almost like Stevie Nicks, a hard voice to parallel. In the same album she switches to “Make Me Wanna Die”, one of their more popular tracks with a bass and guitar line so intense it takes the song into a dark, haunting tone.
“The Pretty Reckless” is the definition of rock. They write about the demise of the world, pain, sorrow, and anger. Lying under the deep, crude lyrics is driving instrumentals. I’ve never heard a drum beat so intense, you know it’s good when the bass drum beats your heart for you. Matching the complexity of the drums is the guitar and bass, how their fingers move fast enough to do what they do is beyond me.