Tagged with Movies …

Sep 12 2012
Leave a comment
Movies

Celeste and Jesse Forever: Romantic and Hilarious

As you might have already extrapolated from previous posts, we are NBC devotees. Yes, we recognize that our eisre for a network to succeed is not actually rational. But nevertheless, we sense the spirit at NBC and by association love its many talented actors and actresses–particularly those in comedies.

So obviously, we were super pumped when we saw that Rashida Jones (The Office, Parks and Recreation) and Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live) were starring in a movie together! Better yet, we saw the trailer and were genuinely excited to see Celeste and Jesse Forever. Rom-coms are obviously our jam, especially when they are written by women! Yes, Rashida Jones actually co-wrote Celeste and Jesse Forever, allowing us to hope that the movie would at the least have more three-dimensional characters than in your average rom-com.

On that front, our hopes were not disappointed in the least. All of the characters felt fully fleshed-out and like people that you could meet in your everyday life. We especially loved Elijah Wood as Celeste’s best gay friend who tries and fails to be sassy. Even when we were frustrated with Jesse and/or Celeste, we were rarely asking “Why would they do that??”

We were pleasantly surprised by the direction that the movie took–one that we hadn’t anticipated from watching the trailers. The setup for Celeste and Jesse is that Celeste and Jesse got married very young, grew apart, and decided to divorce but remain best friends. While we found that a super interesting dynamic to explore, we weren’t sure it could carry an entire movie. Don’t worry–it isn’t asked to. As much as anything, the movie is really about Celeste and Jesse each finding their paths to actually growing up.

Celeste and Jesse Forever was both adorable and hilarious–as well as making us cry at one point. Go support women in filmmaking and see this movie–and spend time with the delightful Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg. It’s a win-win situation, people!

Related articles
Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Sep 05 2012
1 Comment
Movies, Music

Sparkle: Only For You, Whitney

When we first saw the trailer for Sparkle, we could not have been more excited. Whitney Houston’s last on-screen appearance! A plot that looked a lot like Dreamgirls! What more could you want in a movie?

Well, as it turns out… kind of a lot. We sat through that movie, and it was mostly long and boring.

The biggest problem with Sparkle? The title character is easily the most boring person involved in the entire movie. Here, let us describe the major characters for you:

  • A former alcoholic/druggie/singer who has become an upstanding member of society. She is mother to three daughters, owns a dressmaking shop and her own home, and is a pillar of her church community.
  • Whitney Houston’s eldest daughter, who has moved back home after a failed marriage. She’s approaching 30 in an era where that means death in the marriage market but is exceptionally pretty and can really put over a song. Though she’s sometimes over-focused on material things, she cares deeply for her sisters.
  • The second daughter, who is crazy smart and plans to go to medical school. She is only interested in a singing group because it would help her pay for med school. She does cool, unconventional things like shaving her head.
  • The youngest daughter, whose only characteristics are “good girl” and “likes writing songs.”

Yes, as you might have guessed, the last one is Sparkle. Also named Sparkle, which seems unlikely considering that her sisters go by “Sister” and “Dolores” and their mother is vehemently opposed to their vanity. What?

So everyone in it was fine. It was great to see Whitney sing “His Eye Is On the Sparrow” and all. Carmen Ejogo, who played Sister, was awesome. Jordin Sparks did what she could with what she had. Everyone sounded great. We just kind of kept wishing that the movie was much, much shorter and/or had far more musical numbers.

That being said: we’re glad we paid to see Whitney’s last movie role. She really was a once-in-a-generation talent, and hearing her voice truly reminded us of that. If nothing else, Sparkle just reminds us all how Whitney can make even something dull shine.

Related articles
Tagged , , , , , ,
Aug 26 2012
1 Comment
Movies, THINGS WE LOVE

Taken 2: Kidnapping is Still Bad Guys

Guys, Liam Neeson has finally answered all of our prayers by making a sequel to the movie Taken, titled….wait for it…..Taken 2! Now we don’t know about the rest of you, but the moment we saw this trailer we rejoiced. Out of all the bad movies Liam Neeson has found himself in the last few years (Batman Begins being the exception), Taken is definitely our favorite. Liam Neeson may seem an unlikely action star, but we absolutely LOVE watching him kick ass to save his daughter from evil human traffickers. Basically, Liam Neeson is kind of the best and we’d rather watch Taken over James Bond any day. (Sorry folks, it’s true – no disrespect to 007 intended.)   

Now as many of you know, sequels are always iffy because they bring up the question: ‘Will the director totally change the plot / invalidate a lot of the first movie?’ For example, after Ocean’s Eleven, a movie about how eleven people pulled off a truly incredible heist successfully, they decided to make Ocean’s Twelve, a movie about how they weren’t actually that successful because Andy Garcia figured out who robbed him and wants his money back. They then have to go rob some folks in Europe to get his money back. Whoops. Seriously, don’t try to pull one on Andy Garcia. However, we don’t have to worry about that with Taken 2, because based on the trailer they are not changing anything. They actually seem to be making the exact same movie as the first one!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, observe the basic arc of the Taken trailers.

Beginning

  • HUGS: Obligatory hug from daughter in first minute of the trailer, this establishes that they are happy and everything is all good. (0:12 in Taken and 0:40 in Taken 2)
  • HOTELS: Several shots of them being in hotel rooms with lots of windows…. this establishes that they are on vacation. Why are they always on vacation? WHY ARE THEY NEVER AT HOME?


Middle:

  • The Kidnapping: The kidnappers show up and this is where the windows (see: ‘Beginning’) become important. The daughter either watches the kidnapping through the windows or climbs out of one.
  • THE PHONE CALL: Liam Neeson gives instructions to people over the phone, during which he establishes that he is a complete badass and the kidnappers should just give up right now. BUT THEY DON’T. Fools.


End:

  • EXPLOSIONS: Liam Neeson wins. Always.


For more proof see the trailers below:

 

Taken

 

 

Taken 2

 

In sum, Liam Neeson knows if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles
Tagged , , ,
Jul 29 2012
Leave a comment
Movies

Step Up: Revolution–We’re Just Here To Dance

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, we saw Step Up: Revolution – and is anyone surprised? Of course not, we see every movie that is expected to be below average. And let us just say, that we, as viewers of the movie (with like 10 other people) were not that surprised either. Step Up: Revolution was pretty much exactly what we expected: awesome dancing, cringe-worthy acting and a questionable plot at best.

So honestly not that much happened that you couldn’t have guessed from the trailer… so our post on that applies here as well, since indeed the plot was as questionable as we guessed. Some of the cast members were better at acting than others… but obviously none of them were that great. Let us present you with a breakdown of the Step Up: Revolution cast!

Ryan Guzman: Ok ladies, this guy is seriously super hot. So he’s got that going for him, but that still doesn’t mean that he is the greatest actor in the world. Here is how he scored in our book:

  • Acting: 6. He was pretty solid as far as acting goes. He even pulled off some pretty cheesy lines, but he was really cast in this role because he is attractive and a great dancer.
  • Dancing: 8. This guy can DANCE. He wasn’t the best dancer in the movie (only because he was next to some truly spectacular dancers). But even more than his dancing, he has charisma as a performer. We really liked all of his dance scenes. Except the awkward beach dance… that was weird.

Kathryn McCormick: So she is the lead, playing this rich girl whose evil father wants to tear down the part of the city where the dancers live. She also manages to fall in love with the lead of a protest dance crew… as you do.

  • Acting: 4. She was generally pretty believable as a rich girl but struggled as someone who would get involved with protesting. Also at one point she called the lead guy “John” rather than his actual name, “Sean.” How did we not edit that out, people??
  • Dancing: 9. Girlfriend can dance. We were particularly impressed that she could manage both the lyrical/modern style that she was supposed to be aspiring to and the more hip-hop influenced style of the crew.

Peter Gallagher: Peter Gallagher and his eyebrows were playing the evil development father, a role that we continue to have problems with because of his past as Sandy Cohen on The O.C., where he frequently opposed his evil father-in-law’s development work. But whatever.

  • Acting: 7. One of the few people appearing in this film who can pull off more than 3 emotions. Unfortunately, the film didn’t want for him to have multiple emotions. Problematic, but he did the best he could and created a character who (although he was supposed to be the villain) was three-dimensional and had a real relationship with his daughter.
  • Dancing: 0. For mysterious reasons, Peter Gallagher did not dance in this movie. It would have been so much more legit if he had.

Misha Gabriel: So Misha Gabriel had the unfortunate job of playing the most unlikable character in the whole movie. His character was a obnoxious, unreasonable, and jealous jerk. He was even more unlikable than the evil developers in the film. We are still getting over his character’s personality, so these might be a little skewed.

  • Acting: 5. To be fair, he was playing a pretty obnoxious and unbelievable character who was so unreasonable it was ridiculous. So maybe it was just the writing.
  • Dancing: 6. We don’t really remember his dance scenes… he wasn’t prominently featured in them so he ranks a 6 – good but not great.

Adam G. Sevani (Moose): Obvi Moose has been a definitive character for the last couple of installments of the Step Up franchise, and they managed to convince him to make a cameo in this one. While this was great, his five minutes on the screen did manage to make him more interesting of a character than any of the ones we’d been watching for an hour and a half. Really?? Why wasn’t he more involved in this movie?

  • Acting: 8. Sevani only showed up for a few minutes, but he has such a grip on Moose that he felt way more like a character we knew and cared about than either of the leads.
  • Dancing: 10. Adam G. Sevani is a super legit dancer, and we were just glad we got to see him to do anything at all. It’s bad when the best dancer in your dance movie only stays for about 5 minutes, though.

All in all, if you like dance movies, go see Step Up: Revolution. This is a dance movie for dance people. We were cracking up through pretty much every scene except the dancing ones because, ladies and gentlemen, the plot and acting are quite questionable. However, the athleticism and artistry of all the dancers is truly amazing – you won’t find better dancing in any other movies this summer.

 

 

Related articles
Tagged , , , , , , ,
Jul 25 2012
5 Comments
Movies, Music

Pitch Perfect: Off Key But Mesmerizing

We aren’t going to lie: we watch a lot of crappy movies. We are suckers for anything that involves singing and/or dancing, and Pitch Perfect, a movie about (no joke) an a cappella competition clearly fits the bill here. Additionally, we are strong supporters of Anna Kendrick, even though we don’t fully understand her career choices. Like, “Great, I was just nominated for an Oscar and starred in 50/50 with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the Twilight franchise is finally ending! Clearly I should star in a terrible-looking a cappella movie!”

Fortunately Anna Kendrick can relax: Rebel Wilson (the roommate from Bridesmaids) is here to save the day and the movie. We are so excited for Pitch Perfect, y’all, and we aren’t even ashamed of it. Check out the trailer here:

How we can tell we are going to love this movie:

  • “Your official B.U. rape whistle.” Let us just say, we were not handed official rape whistles when we arrived at college. Missed opportunity.
  • Fat Amy calls herself that “so twiggy bitches like you won’t do it behind my back.” When Rebel Wilson shows up, you know good things are coming.
  • That shower scene. Ummm our reaction, were we to be walked in on by some rando in the shower, would NOT be to calmly sing and capitulate to the crazy’s wishes. Clearly, if there was ever a time for the rape whistle, this was it. However, we do like the fact that Anna Kendrick was basically just bullied into joining an a cappella group WHILE IN THE SHOWER. Promising things ahead, team. Also, promising shirtless guy.
  • “Oh, boy, the bad boys of a cappella have just gotten badder!” Everything about that quote is amazing. First of all, the fact that there are bad boys of a cappella is questionable at best. Secondly, “badder” isn’t a word, which really tells you everything you need to know about this movie.
  • The noises Rebel Wilson makes when talking about bikini car washes. Why is she so amazing???
  • Rebel Wilson horizontal running. Basically Anna Kendrick’s character, ostensibly the lead, is a sideshow in her own trailer… because Rebel Wilson just horizontal ran away with this movie.
  • Did Anna Kendrick just interrupt an a cappella version of Hey Mickey? Oh yes. She did. That’s how VITAL singing is to her.
  • “Let’s remix this business!” We’re going to start saying this in our day-to-day lives.
  • “You guys are gonna get pitch slapped so hard, your man boobs are gonna concave.” Rebel Wilson once again, ladies and gentlemen. We are strong supporters of puns.
  • “I sometimes have the feeling that I should do crystal meth, but then I think, mmmm, better not.” GUYS REBEL WILSON IS ROCKING THIS TRAILER SO HARD. She alone is clearly worth seeing this movie for.

Basically, even though Pitch Perfect is clearly going to be… less than perfect, we are seriously so excited for this movie. Singing, dancing, lots of laughs and a little romance… what more could you want in a fall movie? Rebel Wilson? So yeah, perfect.

Related articles

Tagged , , , , , ,
Jul 22 2012
Leave a comment
Movies, THINGS WE LOVE

Batman Remains Quality: The Dark Knight Rises

Like everyone else in the world, we went to see The Dark Knight Rises this weekend. And also like everyone else in the world, we had been anticipating this movie for a very long time. Seriously, who hasn’t?? The Dark Knight came out in 2008, and four years without Batman is entirely too long.

Anyway, so we were extremely excited to see it, and we were not at all disappointed. Christopher Nolan did a fantastic job with wrapping up his trilogy. And it was not only Christopher Nolan who did a fantastic job, pretty much every single person in the cast was phenomenal. He may use the same 10 actors in all of his movies, but damn, can they act. We kept waiting for Leonardo DiCaprio to show up but alas (spoiler alert) he did not. :( Here is a brief breakdown of all of the performances from this movie. They were all great!

  • Christian Bale: First things first, we have the Batman. He may be a cray, but Christian Bale is a fantastic leading man and continued to be awesome as Batman. Even though Batman is a super hero, Bale makes him seem more like a tragic hero from an epic Greek play or something… it’s crazy. When you watch this movie it does not feel like a campy superhero franchise (we’re looking at you Avengers), it feels like an intense character drama. Props to Christian Bale for real. No wonder he won an Oscar in 2011, he’s amazing.
  • Joseph Gordon Levitt: We love JGL, so we were never going to be very objective on this one. He was introduced as a new character in The Dark Knight Rises, the cop Blake. We were really concerned that Christopher Nolan was going to make him be the bad guy, but it is impossible for Levitt to ever seem like a bad person. He is just too likable! Anyway, his faith in Batman was incredibly endearing, and he was the character most consistently trying to do the right thing throughout the movie… and JGL did a fantastic job in making us believe every minute of it. Hey, Nolan: You sure you’re done with Batman? Because we would love to watch you make some sequels with JGL. Just throwing it out there.
  • Anne Hathaway: Okay, so everyone was a little dubious when it was announced that Anne Hathaway was going to be playing Catwoman. We can all admit it. But fortunately SHE TOTALLY PULLED IT OFF. Our girl Anne was sexy, strong, and generally awesome, and we were always looking forward to the next time that there was a scene with her. Girlfriend was believably conflicted but still someone worth rooting for. We would totally watch Catwoman spinoffs, for what it’s worth.
  • Tom Hardy: He is unrecognizable in this movie, and not just because he had a giant mask over his face for Bane and a shaved head. Physically he looked like a different person and his acting, despite the mask, was awesome. It is so challenging to act and have half of your face covered – but Hardy took on the challenge and was a terrifying, but believable villain.
  • Marion Cotillard: So obviously she is a fantastic actress in absolutely everything that she’s in, so there’s not that much of a point in telling you that she’s good. Surprise: she was great! We don’t want to give anything away, but we can say that she did well with playing many different emotions/situations throughout the course of the film. One of the nicest things about The Dark Knight Rises is the total lack of a damsel in distress character: both Miranda and Selina are clearly strong women who can get through a crisis with any means necessary.
  • Gary Oldman: Who doesn’t like Gary Oldman? Seriously. He was great! We maybe want to join the police now because of him! Even though he was lying down in a hospital bed for the majority of the movie we were still in awe of him. He’s just kind of the bomb.

In conclusion, this movie is really, really good. We know, you’re shocked. The action is awesome, the plot (minus some holes) is intriguing and there is a serious twist at the end that will take you by surprise! We even paid extra money to see this movie in a fancy theater (a big deal for us, we’re cheap remember) and we can say with certainty, that this film is worth every penny.

 

Related articles
Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Jul 15 2012
Leave a comment
Movies

Tyler Perry Plays… Not Tyler Perry?

Full disclosure: we are fans of Tyler Perry. He is a prolific entertainer who has built an incredibly successful media empire all out of his own characters and creativity. Even if you don’t personally enjoy his work, there is no denying that he is incredibly popular and a creative force–he has primary creative control on almost all of the movies that he’s involved with. So, when we heard that he was going to be acting in a new movie, we naturally had to check it out – especially since he wasn’t directing/writing/producing it! We went to the trailer link expecting a comedy (he’s a great comedian!) and we saw this. Trailer below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXtRKrcPwKE

So, okay apparently we should have known that it was based off a James Patterson novel. While we do know that James Patterson is a thriller writer…. STILL. Was this what you expected when you think – oh hey, Tyler Perry has a new movie! It sure wasn’t what we were thinking… but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Honestly, Tyler Perry looks like he is going to be good in this movie! We never really thought of him as a leading man in a drama – but after this trailer we are intrigued.

It looks like the plot is basically that there’s a serial killer and Tyler Perry is the lead investigator on this case. Then the serial killer starts threatening Tyler Perry and his family personally, and TYLER PERRY DOES NOT MESS AROUND WHEN YOU THREATEN HIS FAMILY. Then there are lots of explosions and shootings and stuff. Tyler Perry’s wife is very pretty and looks like she’ll be a great damsel in distress. Also, Matthew Fox from Lost is in this for some reason. It looks like he’s a bad guy. And not just a bad guy – THE bad guy. We are confused but curious. More importantly: Dr. Cox from Scrubs (actual name: John McGinley) is in this movie. We loved him on Scrubs and miss him a lot, so we’re excited that he’s here!

Basically, this the rare Tyler Perry movie that does not involve him playing a grandmother in drag–so if that’s your problem with him, consider seeing this movie as an opportunity to see that Tyler Perry is genuinely a talented guy in arenas other than comedy! Haters to the left–we think this is going to be very successful, and we are always happy to see studio movies that acknowledge that people who are not white exist in this world–especially when they’re allowed to be leads. Props, Tyler Perry. We are on board and excited to see Cross!

Related articles
Tagged , , , , , ,
Jul 12 2012
5 Comments
Movies

Does Anyone Actually Like Scary Movies?

We don’t like scary movies, and we’re not ashamed of it. We don’t really understand the purpose–so you go, and then you’re scared, but then it’s just a movie? Honestly, we’d rather just watch a rom-com. We’re fans of happy endings. And cute montages.

However, we are extremely committed to supporting our favorite actors as they attempt to broaden their careers. Which is why it is so frustrating that so many of them are now choosing to do scary movies. Really? How are we supposed to decide between seeing movies we know we won’t enjoy and supporting actors’ careers?

Actors who are currently making our lives more difficult than necessary:

1.) J-Law – Jennifer Lawrence, the star of that one giant franchise The Hunger Games decided to be part of a particularly disturbing (and ill-titled) movie called The House at the End of the Street. Trailer below.

WHAAAAT? Wasn’t that so scary? It is a serious tragedy for us, because first of all, it has Jennifer Lawrence who we like to support. We, along with like 12 other people (besides the Academy) actually saw Winter’s Bone. Additionally, with the great chemistry between Jennifer Lawrence and Max Thieriot (from Nancy Drew, yes we saw it – don’t judge) it looks like it could have been a great rom-com. We love rom-coms! Instead they are ruining our lives and trying to make us see a horror movie!

2.) Tom Felton – Literally everyone from our generation loves Harry Potter! How can you not? And watching the stars of the movie grow up was such a magical (ha!) process for us, because we were growing up too! Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton…. we feel like we basically grew up with them! Of course we have to support their careers! Until of course they decide to start making scary movies. We are looking at you Daniel Radcliffe (we saw The Woman in Black and it was terrifying) and Tom Felton who is starring in the upcoming movie The Apparition.

Wait. What? If you believe in ghosts they are real??? ….We believe in ghosts…. FRIENDLY ONES. What happened to Casper????? We do not support this film.

3.) Ryan Kwanten. Although you might not know him by name, Ryan Kwanten plays Jason on True Blood and is by far one of the most consistent actors on that wildly uneven show–and one of the reasons we still watch it. We would like nothing more than for Ryan Kwanten to become a big star. BUT WHAT IS THIS???

No. No, no, no, no, no. We do not need more reasons to be scared of flying. We especially do not need to worry about ghosts the next time that we are on an international flight. We are busy concentrating very hard on making sure that the plane continues flying, and we don’t need ghosts DISTRACTING US. Who are these people, and why would they make this movie??

Between The Hunger Games and her Oscar nomination, Jennifer Lawrence is going to be a gigantic star whether or not we go see her horror movie. So fine, J-Law, we won’t feel bad about being too scared. But Tom Felton and Ryan Kwanten need our support (similar to Taylor Kitsch) in order to truly succeed in Hollywood! And yet… we really, really, really don’t want to see their movies. GUYS. Stop making it so hard to love you!

Related articles
Tagged , , , , , , ,
Jul 08 2012
4 Comments
Movies

The Amazing Spider-Man: Maybe Unnecessary, Definitely Worth It

Generally speaking, we like superhero movies. Who doesn’t? But even we, fans of superheroes in general and Spiderman specifically, were a little skeptical when The Amazing Spider-Man was announced. Really? Didn’t we just have a Spiderman franchise? Is it time for another one? Also, when you have to put the word ‘Amazing’ in front of Spiderman in the title it’s a little worrying…. It is kind of like describing someone as a super Superhero. The fact that he is amazing does not have to be explicitly stated.

But despite these doubts, The Amazing Spider-Man turned out to be REALLY GOOD, you guys! We admit, we had our doubts about Andrew Garfield being a worthy Spiderman at first. Eduardo from The Social Network? As a superhero? Then we watched this:

YOU GUYS. Did you just watch that? And die of happiness? We know sometimes you don’t watch things that we say to but this one is seriously worth it. We even SQUEE’ed a little bit!! Over a SUPERHERO!!

So yeah, the movie. Once we saw Andrew Garfield talk about how much he loved Spiderman personally, it was pretty much set. We thought that he was absolutely fantastic in the movie Also this really awesome person, Emma Stone is in it. We love her.

Reasons Why This Is An Upgrade, Not a Reboot:

1.) Gwen Stacy. So like everyone else in the entire world, we absolutely love Emma Stone, and we were expecting to like her character as well. What we weren’t aware of was how much cooler she would be than Mary Jane. Gwen Stacy is smarter than Peter (she makes sure he knows that he’s number 2 in their high school class), has a family that loves her (as opposed to MJ’s weird situation and awful boyfriends), and saves the day herself multiple times (as opposed to MJ’s entire life). Gwen Stacy rocks, y’all, and we didn’t miss MJ a bit. Sorry, Kirsten Dunst.

2.) Martin Sheen!! OMG, guys. We want Uncle Ben to be our uncle! He is the best – so wise and so cool at the same time. Martin Sheen was hilarious and moving in his performance and we maybe teared up a little bit when he was killed….

3.) Andrew Garfield’s entire persona. Andrew Garfield really gets Spiderman in a way that it seems like many actors don’t understand superheroes. You can tell while watching that he’s fully immersed himself in Peter Parker’s life, and makes Peter Parker a real teenage boy in addition to being an awesome superhero–without being crazy angsty all of the time. Ahem, Tobey Maguire.

4.) Villain treatment. Instead of having like 20 plots going on, this movie sticks to one villain and one main plot. Not only is this easier for the viewer to follow, but it is also more fully developed. The villain in this movie is one that you can empathize with and understand. While still the pretty classic, ‘Mad-Scientist’ character, the writers and Rhys Ifans (previously known only to us as the unlikable character in The Five Year Engagement) added some depth to Dr. Conners and made the movie a lot better.

5.) Seeing Peter’s parents. You don’t really ever see why Peter Parker lives with his aunt and uncle in the previous Spiderman trilogy. In The Amazing Spider-Man, though, we get a whole opening with an absolutely adorable young Peter having to be left behind by his parents. Getting a complete backstory on Peter’s parents gave far more motivations to Peter, and made his feelings of abandonment (and delight in new superpowers) make way more sense.

In conclusion, we finally understood why they put ‘Amazing’ in the title. It helps people distinguish this AMAZING Spider-Man movie from the rather mediocre (but still successful) Spiderman franchise that came before it. This is definitely worth seeing, even for the 3-D price! With this movie, Andrew Garfield is becoming a real movie star, and you will definitely want to see it.

Related articles
Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Jul 04 2012
Leave a comment
Movies

Step Up Revolution: Dance 10, Plot 3

For all you dance lovers out there, the Step Up movie franchise is back this summer with a… ahem… revolutionary new film! First of all, it has to be said, that ever since we saw this trailer, we knew that we were going to go see this movie. We are so on board with dance movies of all shapes and sizes. However, our approach to dance movies is fairly laid back. We have high expectations in the dance department and next to no expectations in any other department. The Step Up franchise is the perfect example of this: the dancing is always awesome, the plots and actors (Channing Tatum being the exception) are generally pretty questionable.

Coolest Dance Moments:
1.) Pacman is in this movie!! So, anybody who watches America’s Best Dance Crew should know the winners from Season 6, IaMmE crew. They are pretty much the coolest crew ever and they are the first crew from Texas (woo!) to win! Pacman, one of the founders / genius choreographers is in this movie at 0:55. Yes, he is the one covered in paint….
2.) The salsa scene at 1:04. Is a Step Up movie complete without an obligatory Latin/Salsa dance? No. Especially when the movie is set in Miami.
3.) Use of the police barricade things as dance screens. Excellent use of props, even if Billy Elliot: The Musical did do it first. No judgment, it works really well.
4.) The use of rappelling at 2:18. We only get to see a few seconds, but it appears that some male dancers are basically dancing on a rappelling wall, attached to lines. WHAT?? This is seriously so cool and we can’t wait to see the full sequence.
5.) As questionable as the whole “dance initiation” thing is, the dance on the escalator in business suits actually looks really cool at 1:17.

Most Questionable Plot Moments:
1.) Peter Gallagher, who played Sandy Cohen on The O.C., is cast as the villain land developer in Step Up: Revolution. STEP OFF. Sandy Cohen spent his entire career fighting against such land developments, and we just refuse to believe that anyone who would randomly adopt such a troubled kid as Ryan Atwood would be a villain. Don’t you try to convince us that Sandy Cohen isn’t one of the good guys.
2.) That weird scene in the museum. Like seriously, what museum has people stand around on tables in it and then start dancing? None that we have ever been to.
3.) The TV news clip where that girl goes, “We love you!” She looks weirdly put together to be a random street interviewer. No one ever looks good on the news other than the broadcasters.
4.) “She’s dancing lead. Consider it your initiation.” First of all, surely no one dances lead on their first time with a dance crew. Second of all, do dance crews have initiations? Are they secretly like gangs? What are we even getting into here?
5.) “Enough performance art. It’s time for protest art!” Immortal. This line is when we knew this movie was going to be something special. We’ve taken it to quoting it to each other at random moments, because it is truly funny in absolutely any context.

Guys, clearly there was never any doubt on whether we were going to see this movie or not… even if the director is a guy who is perhaps best known for being Ashley Tisdale’s boyfriend. You just have to approach dance movies with the appropriate amount of skepticism: expect great dancing and don’t care about anything else. This looks like it has the potential to have some absolutely hilarious dialogue and some truly great dancing, so we are completely on board! When a dance movie promises a revolution in the title, you know you want to be there.

Related articles
Tagged , , , , ,
← Older posts
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 29 other followers