Dance movies? Clearly people like dance movies since we are in the 4th release from the Step Up Franchise this time Step Up Revolution. And its in 3D, Yes. it. is. But this is also the franchise that had Channing Tatum in the first movie.
This time around we have Sean (Ryan Guzman) who with his best friend has a crew that does flash mobs around the city of Miami. After partying in the beach club where he works he meets a girl Emily (Kathryn McCormick) Who was a finalist from So You Think You Can Dance season 6. I watch the hell out of that show. The movie features quite a few people who are either former contestants, Twitch and Travis Wall who is a head choreographer, or judges Mia Michaels and producer Adam Shankman. This movie is almost an all-star tour, in 3D. Emily is a dancer and also the daughter of the hotelier who owns the place Sean works at and because we need some level of drama he plans to buy the neighborhood Sean lives in and tear it down.
We have flash mob, boy meets girl, girl fights with daddy, girl dances for dance company, girl joins flash mob, MORE dancing, crappy dialog, Mia Michaels being Mia although her name is Claudia, flash mob gets rebellious, best friends fight, flash mob implodes, best friends make up, flash mob dazzles all.
Really that's about it. The acting sucks, the story is contrived and there's 5 flashmob numbers. i would have been happier just watching them on youtube which is part of the premise of the movie they are trying to get 10 million hits on youtube with the flashmob videos to win $100,000.
I give this movie a wait for cable. The dancing is great but there is never a good enough storyline to carry you to the next dance number. I sat there bored and yawned several times in between numbers. I'd much rather watch them on youtube.
Step Up revolution is rated PG-13 oddly enough. Not sure why its not sexual or violent. It opens July 27th.
We take a lot of things for granted as Americans. Birthday's, graduations, marriages, things we assume our children will grow up and have. When you step back you forget that not all children have these same options. In countries around the world children don't have access to life saving vaccines. Its no secret I'm pro vaccine but statistics like this scare me.
There are already been 18,000 reported cases of Whooping Cough (pertussis) in the US this year.
Its is more than last year at the same time and we are on pace to have many more cases. It hasn't been this bad since 1959 when we had 40,000 cases. it went down for years and has spiked again.
Some moms walk 15 miles to reach life-saving vaccines for their children. They don't have the same access to vaccines as parents here in the US do, so delayed or irregular schedules make it even more difficult to ensure that these children get vaccinated.
Fifteen miles to stand in a line outside just to get their child vaccinated. I get to drive less than 2 miles away to my pediatrician's office and wait in a air-conditioned room for the same thing. I have it easy, why would i just ignore something that is preventable? People in the US are in many cases voluntarily choose not to vaccinated. Parents in other countries don't have that luxury. The rates of vaccine preventable diseases that our children were supposed to no long suffer from can be found in the chart provided by the World Heath Organization.
A child who gets vaccinated gets to reach milestones. Milestones we take for granted here. Here all children can get vaccinated for free up to age 5. In Third World countries they have to hope its even available to them. The morality rate for children under age 5 in underdeveloped countries is insane because they don't have the access we take for granted or willfully disregard on a belief or a link that's not proven.
The chance to reach a 5th birthday. The chance to meet your best friend. Doesn't every child deserve that?
I vaccinate on schedule and on time. I'm not old enough to know how terrible these diseases used to be here int he US my parents and grandparents had so many stories of children who died from these things. Why skip and risk a life? Shot@Life is helping to make sure more children around the world get vaccinated by spreading the word. Comments, tweets and posts will all help fund the movement.
Disclosure: The folks at Shot@Life are spreading te word about how vaccines save lives, after meeting the reps i jumped at the chance to help spread something i feel passionately about. I was not compensated for my post in any way.
It's the close of a book, the end of the chapter and the story has been told. The Dark Knight Rises is exactly that. The trilogy ends and while it leaves the door cracked in some places it gives you the feeling that the story has been told and is over.
I have been waiting for this movie for a long time. My love affair with all things Batman is only rivals by my James Bond allegiance. It is a strong but distance 2nd to Bond but its a story I’ve always loved and enjoyed. So the Skyfall trailer before hand had me squealing like a little girl in my seat. I don't dislike The previous treatments, the camp of Adam West and the Grit or Time Burton's films are som of my favorites for completely different reasons. (I’m pretending Batman & Robin never happened) The movie introduces a villain i knew from watching every single episode of Batman: the Animated Series, Bane. While he doesn't exactly look like the Bane i know or was expecting the idea of him at his core is correct.
A pumped up and venom filled bane (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Bane is intelligent and knows exactly what he is doing at all times. While i totally would have looked forward to the plug in model this is acceptable. Tom Hardy who we only see his full face for a brief moment is carrying the presence of Bane while holding the mood he's supposed to he's a smaller bane but he still has that walk to make you believe you have to listen to him or else. Silena Kyle AKA Catwoman is slick, cunning and well played by Anne Hathaway. Her moments as Catwoman remind me of Julie Newmar, her parts as Silena, the cunning con artist who can make any man fall for her make me feel like they drew on the elements of Poison Ivy from the cartoons.
The movie weaves together parts from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight to complete the trilogy, the story of Bane takes you back to Ra's al Ghul and how he trained Bane, yes he even makes an appearance in this and not only from flashbacks. It weaves a story you feel, even though i almost got upset when i thought they were changing canon till i realized it was a purposeful misdirect intended to shock those who don't know Batman but to make those who know the story briefly doubt themselves. While the appearance of Scarecrow was a good enough fit i have no doubt it would have instead been played by Joker had Heath Ledger still been alive. It would have been perfect. The movie takes you on this journey weaving in a overzealous Deputy Commissioner (Matthew Modine) hoping to replace Commissioner Gordon, Gordon himself still wrestling with his guilt and his lies of elevating Harvey Dent to this symbol of true and justice, and Officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) smart enough to not only know that Bruce Wayne is Batman but he has a nice little secret of his own i felt about halfway thru and was glad to see it payoff.
This movie is not non-stop action and I’d be disappointed if it was. There's a story here that needs to be told and you have to pause and get the drama from, it the interloping angles, the recalls back to the other 2 films to fully understand and appreciate this film. I can't even compare it to the Avengers which i thought was amazeballs because the 2 aren't on the same plane. Its two very different treatments of comic book superheros. They are both off the walls great but for different reasons.
I watched this movie in IMAX. The rumbling of the seats, the pictures and sound are all good. I give this movie a full price. You absolutely need to see the first 2 to get the full effect but its completely worth it. It clocks in at close to 3 hours which if you do count trailers they yeah 3 hours. This movie does not stand alone and Christopher Nolan doesn't want to, it weaves so good the only real disappointment was Miranda Tate's death wasn't what i expected but it sure puts a nail in the coffin on on the birth of Damian Wayne.
Just a few days ago DirecTV and Viacom decided to have a street fight the only way you do nowadays, in the media. In case you don't know what's going on, DirecTV is no longer carrying any of the 17 channels that Viacom owns. (Full disclosure: i have been a DirecTV customer for 12 years and i have friends who work for various Viacom entities) It all comes down to pricing. According to DirecTV they are being forced to raise customer rates to carry all the channels in the Viacom lineup and it could cost billions of dollars. Viacom says that the rate increase is really pennies. Who knows who cares either way it means paying more. When it comes to the channels though it becomes more interesting.
Viacom's channels that are currently missing are: Palladia, Centric, Tr3s, CMT, Logo, NickToons, Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nick Jr., Nick@Nite, Spike, BET, MTV, VH1, VH1 Classic, TV Land, Comedy Central.
Ask yourself how many of these channels do you watch or even know you have? Lets assume that part of the deal was an all of nothing approach? For me I’m sitting here saying to myself wait I have all these channels? I legitimately watch less than half of them. Its no secret that I have BET blocked from every TV in my house, I don't need C1 ever seeing the hot mess on that channel, its been blocked for 10 years.
Now I could take the position of Viacom and say oh hell nah DirecTV is being a little bitch and we are the victims but then Viacom decided to pull all of its streaming of its shows. Oh Snap!! Now those of you who aren't DirecTV subscribers just got slapped as collateral damage. Sounds like a greedy company right there. I then started thinking to myself since Viacom is asking for more money what are they airing that’s worth it? This is the conglomerate that gives us Dora the Explorer (who I wish would explore herself off a cliff), Jersey Shore (crap I don't watch), iCarly (C1 loves this but its being canceled), Basketball Wives, (more crap I don't watch), The Legend of Korra (I watch the shit out of that series) and the Colbert Report (OK I totally miss this, maybe bears aren't the biggest threat...) What are they putting out that new and not a reality show? Happily Divorced? Why has that not been canceled? I just don't think they are in the “New” "Fresh” highly-rated programming position to command more money. Give us new stuff, I’m already waiting till 2013 for more Korra what's in it for me the customer? DirecTV thinks its cute by pointing out that people are on vacation, which i am, right now, at my grandparents house watching Midnight in Paris on her just installed DirecTV. Kids are out of school and playing outside, its usually somewhere int he neighborhood of fry an egg and cook bugs in midair outside, kids are inside watching SpongeBob and Dora scream.really.loud. Don't give me that nobody is watching anyway. Its repeats but people are watching.
This probably will not end well. While neither side is clean here choosing to cut streaming for non-subscribers becomes even dirtier but its going beyond the 20 million customer base of DirecTV. Dish already is still having its fight against AMC and that's still dragging out. As more people drop paid TV in favor of the Netflix and Hulu accounts, I don't think the companies are realizing how this needs to work for the people who still pay for TV the old fashioned way.
Two best friends manage to create an extremely lucrative independent drug business. Ben (Aaron Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch) as well as their shared woman Ophelia (Gossip Girl's Blake Lively) aren't a crosswords with their business. Elena (Selma Hayek) is a top level Mexican drug lord, She runs the BaJa Cartel which is referred to as the Walmart of the drug world, has her guys bring an offer to to partner with Ben and Chon. Ben is looking to get out of the business, Chon likes his life and isn't ready to leave. When Elena's #1 Lieutenant Lado ( Benicio Del Toro) while casing the trio is trying to figure out their relationship as well as if they will take the deal or not gets suspicious and kidnaps O all hell breaks lose. Thruoughout the film they each call each other Savages.
O loves Ben and Chon and they both love her and would do anything to keep her. The dynamic of their relationship isn't really picked apart until O is kidnapped and spends time with Elena. O is a rich girl who feels like the only home she's ever had is with Ben & Chon. Ben is the peaceful brains of the operation, he's what make their weed so potent is highly desired, he uses much of his profits for philanthropy, building schools and installing clean water in 3rd world countries. Chon is a former Navy S.E.A.L who came back from several tours in Afghanistan morally bankrupt, soulless and with the seeds to grow some of the best weed with Ben's knowledge. He's the muscle behind Ben. They share O but its clear they love each other above everything and want to protect O.
The guys choosing to close up shop and run instead of taking Elena's deal is what sets this whole thing in motion. Mixed within all of this is a corrupt DEA agent Dennis (John Travolta) who is smart enough to play all sides of the game and leak whatever he needs to keep moving up the career ladder. All involved parts don't realize that Dennis plays them all and is only looking out for himself but they all have enjoy dirt on him to keep him in line. Lado is also double crossing Elena and making plans to unite with a recently released from prison former drug lord. He knows that with the upcoming elections Elena could lose everything and he's not going down with the ship.
The movie has the trademarks you expect from Oliver Stone, the blood, the gore, the violence, the young and yet short-sighted characters, the ruthless antagonist. Its all there and i was really enjoying this movie till i got to the final 20 minutes. The ending was just too damned neat for me. I know this is based on a book which i did not read, but the ending was clean and i don't like clean, hell Oliver Stone doesn't do clean. It just wasn't right for me. I really expected it to play out differently, even the alternate endings rewind still wasn't what make it better. I expected the ending to be somewhere between the two. It sorta killed it for me. I now need to go check out the book and see how it compares.
I give this movie a Matinee. Its good classic Stone up to a point. It could have ended differently and i would have gladly given it a full price. I really prefer drama but I'm not all for happy endings. This ending isn't all around happy only for a few people but its cleanly ended no hanging thoughts no left to the viewers imaginations.
I'm home from Type A Conference. This was the 5th year of the parenting and Social media conference and my 2nd time attending. If you may recall i was feeling very out of my element last year when i decided to attend, but came home excited and felt it was well worth it. This year i jumped on the alumni rate and got my ticket about 10 months ago.
Type A moved to Charlotte so YAY its even closer to home. I was so excited about attending i could not wait till i dropped C1 off at the airport to spend some time with her great-grandma. I have been blogging for 8 years and i still don't feel like I'm well known but it was great to see so many much more well-read bloggers say hi and remember me from last year. Those who know me know one of the biggest issues i create for myself when blogging is my "get up and go" take on life. I seem to spend more time at a tweetup or a social media party than i actually do blogging and i felt that was why i didn't belong at a blogging conference. But then i realized Type A is not just about blogging. When i sat in the great sessions like Affiliate marketing from Brian at ShareASale which i can apply to my blog i also sat in social media ones like the kick-ass Google+ session by Lynette Young. I was reminded that email is not! dead and i do love my email box, probably because i hate the Facebook one, while sitting in Phil Hollow's session. There were sessions for Tribes so you can share info and ideas with your niche, which Nicole will tell you does not rhyme with bitch but she calls me her favorite bitch.
OH!! And there's networking, they did a great cocktail hour this year. No DJ, no dimmed lights or someone talking while you type away just high top tables, drinks and business cards.
Then there's the parties which you know are at the top of my list. Sure the learning is all fun and good but I'm all about getting out. i really enjoy these things because at the end of the day I'm a social butterfly trying to turn into a social media butterfly. Hmm maybe i should start event planing? Anyway. The parties meant i got to laugh, drink and snap pictures with some of the people who i previously only knew by their twitter handles as well as connect with those who because there are several sessions at once i happened to not see during the day. That means i got to hope a ride with Anissa on her wheelchair and maybe cop a feel. (I'm nothing if not inappropriate).
Me and Robin got to act silly in a photo booth, then danced to Baby Got Back, as you do.
Thats lemmons with a P.
I did pop rocks and champagne on a dare and got one other person to do it with me. I spend the nights after the parties ended hanging out at the bar with Robyn who was always there when i heading down the escalator barefoot. Yes i still have all my toes.
I approach conferences as parties with daytime learning. It works for me and i wouldn't change a thing. Now to figure out how to get myself to Blogher 12.
