We Might Be Hollow, But We're Brave: Spring Breakers and The Bling Ring (and Lorde)

But every song's like: Gold teeth, Grey Goose, Tripping in the bathroom, Bloodstains, Ball gowns, Trashing the hotel roomWe don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams
But everybody's like: Crystal, Maybach, Diamonds on your timepiece, Jet planes, Islands, Tigers on a gold leashWe don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair

Why the hook from Lorde's uber-phenomenonal song, Royals? It isn't just that I'm madly in love with the girl who makes me feel largely inadequate as someone in a school year ahead of her (damn you talent god for not making me musical), but because Royals became somewhat of an anthem for the NZ teenager, and somehow the rest of the world caught on. I mean, last week (or last year, whatever), I bought a copy of Vogue Magazine, purely because it had Jessica Chastain on the cover, and I was confused by how there were 65 pages of advertisements before the actual magazine started, and one of the options for a Christmas gift were $490 place-card name holders. Like, it was a big deal that I spent $25 on buying my Mum The Heat for Christmas. But hey, this is a reality for some people - and that reality is something that has been touched upon by many films in 2013 that I've unofficially called the "Look at My Shit New Wave". Falling under the umbrella of this slice of history that we'll no doubt be studying in a few years is The Wolf of Wall Street, Side Effects, Blue Jasmine, Pain & Gain, The Great Gatsby and The Bling Ring and Spring Breakers, which I'll be focusing on in this post. I'm told that films like American Hustle and The Counselor could fall under this umbrella, but I haven't had a chance to see them yet.

It is kinda funny how Lorde's music became big in 2013, defining teenagerdom, when we had The Bling Ring and Spring Breakers to define teenagerdom in film (bar The Spectacular Now, which paints a different, if equally true picture). The funny thing is that several songs off Lorde's album, particularly 'White Teeth Teens' and 'Tennis Court' wouldn't be out of place if they were to headline the soundtracks of those two films. They both depict the obsessive nature of teenagers, and how they dream of projecting a better life filled with diamonds on their timepieces and tigers on gold leashes. However, where The Bling Ring has already privileged teens wanting more, Spring Breakers has empty teenagers left broke and bored by their studies trying to achieve the kind of life the kids of The Bling Ring already have.

DVD--Ramona and Beezus

or: Being a kid again

One word to sum it up: Sweet

Jeez, how long has it been since we've had a good live action family film? Well, since the world seems to love shoving tales with little innocence and happiness down our throats, not many. But along comes Ramona and Beezus, an adaption of the popular book by Beverly Cleary. For once, a family movie with a great deal of fantasy seems perfectly realistic, as it seems to get into the mindset of our nine year old heroine: Ramona Quimby.

The plot is very straightfoward: Ramona and Beezus focusses on the misadventures of nine year old girl Ramona (Joey King) and the trouble she causes for her family. It also takes a look at her relationship with her sister Beezus (Selena Gomez), her Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her father who is newly jobless, which slowly tears a hole in her family.

Ramona and Beezus just seems a little different than the other family films. You either see kids having magic powers or a really depressing family to make them stand out from the others, but Ramona is more wrapped up in her whimsical fantasies and incidentally causing trouble for everyone else, which makes her more special than everyone else. While her antics get a little repetitive towards the end, it's always fun to watch her as it reminds one of how cool it is to be young and seemingly unaffected by the outside world. It's also good to have someone as likeable as young Joey King taking the lead role in her small, fragile shoulders.

Many Disney stragglers will go for this since it has Selena Gomez from 'Wizards of Waverly Place' in it. Surprisingly, unlike Miley Cyrus, Gomez makes a good transition from TV to the bigger screen without becoming too dependent on her pre-determined stardom. And thank goodness she isn't annoying. Well known actors like Josh Duhamel, Ginnifer Goodwin, Bridget Moynahan, Sandra Oh and John Corbett round out an excellent cast which give this a little more goodness than it should have any right to have. Ramona and Beezus is far more enjoyable than it should have been, and would make a sweet movie to watch with any girl under 12...there's enough for the adults to enjoy.

THE VERDICT: Sweet, family fun.

What I hoped for:

What I got: