Tag Archives: teen movies

So I finally got to see Step Up Revolution, and I am happy to report that it was everything I dreamed it would be — and more! So many of the classic Teen Dance Movie clichés were represented in this movie, including:

• ★ Boy and girl from opposite sides of “the tracks”
• ★ First meeting between the main characters involving a dance-off
• ★ Dance school snobs
• ★ Characters getting sprayed by water, turning their white t-shirts transparent
• ★ “Street” dancers vs. “legitimate” dancers
• ★ Stern-but-loving parent who initially disapproves of their child’s dance aspirations, but comes around in the end
• ★ Someone delivering the line “Rules are meant to be broken!”
• ★ Overprotective best friend
• ★ A misunderstanding that drives the main couple apart
• ★ Epic Final Dance Scene (of course — it wouldn’t be a Teen Dance Movie without this)

And, you guys! AND! Not only does the movie contain all of those tried-and-true plot devices, it ALSO features some v. important social commentary, which is a departure from the previous Step Up movies. You see, the male protagonist, Sean, grew up in the “barrio” in Miami, where people are poor but have artistic souls and plenty of street cred. The female lead, Emily, is the daughter of a rich hotel tycoon played by Peter Gallagher…

What the hell am I doing in this movie?? I’m Sandy Cohen! Someone please get my agent on the phone…

…who is planning on razing Sean’s entire neighbourhood to the ground to build a new hotel chain. Clearly this is unacceptable, so the dance crew (called “The Mob”) stages a series of guerilla dance protest events in order to bring down the greedy corporate suits and their plans for gentrification.

Do they succeed?

Well…you’ll just have to go see it to find out!

Oh, and also?

Moose is back!

MOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so there’s something that I should disclose right off the top here: I have horrible taste in movies. Well, that’s not totally accurate. I do enjoy all sorts of movies, including very good ones. It’s just that I will watch pretty much anything, quite contentedly. I once sat through Trojan War, a 1997 teen flick starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Will Friedle* in which the main character spends the entire movie trying to find a condom in order to lose his virginity to the school’s hot, slutty, popular girl (Marley Shelton), while his BFF, J.Love, (in the time-honored** role of ‘overlooked-but-pretty best friend of the doofus main character who is secretly in love with him even though he totally ignores her until the very end of the movie when he suddenly realizes she’s actually quite beautiful and totally right for him, a fact that anyone with eyes and half a brain in their head — i.e. his friends, his parents, the rest of the school, the entire movie-going audience*** — has already figured out’ ) pouts and overacts her way through all of her scenes. It is truly an awful film.

*Will Friedle played the older brother character, whose name was Eric****, on the ABC Family show Boy Meets World, of which I have watched many an episode.

**Seriously, this is totally a character trope. Please see Secret Admirer and Some Kind of Wonderful for further examples.

*** “The entire movie-going audience”, in this case, consisting solely of me and my friend Caroline.

****I didn’t even have to look that up.

But I digress. The point of this post is to talk about the start of SUMMER MOVIE SEASON! (I believe this deserves the all-caps treatment, as I am very excited about it) and the fact that while I was away for two weeks, quite a few movies were released that I want to see. Including, but not limited to:

MOONRISE KINGDOM

This is a no-brainer, obviously. Wes Anderson is a complete and utter genius and I have adored every movie he has previously made, so it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that I will love this one.

KATY PERRY: PART OF ME

This is Katy Perry’s behind-the-scenes concert documentary. I think the following exchange I just had with a friend of mine pretty much sums up my feelings on this one:

TAKE THIS WALTZ

Canadian director Sarah Polley’s most recent project, starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen. It’s set in Toronto! I can’t resist that.

ROCK OF AGES

Look, just admit it. You too are curious to see Tom Cruise in the role of a long-haired heavy metal rock god. He is obviously going to be amazing. This movie is also being advertised on billboards throughout France, where it is curiously titled ‘Rock Forever’, which made me laugh. I mean, it’s not like they translated the title into French – they just changed it to an alternate English name. So random.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

I wasn’t really feeling this one until I read a great review of it here, and now I am kind of excited.

MAGIC MIKE

I have had a soft spot for Channing Tatum ever since his career-defining roles in Step Up and She’s the Man (probably the greatest cinematic masterpiece of our time – more on this later as it is clearly a movie deserving of its own post). So the fact that he wrote this one, based loosely on his early experiences as a male stripper, has me intrigued (…no, no, not because of the male stripper part – I am just interested to see if he can write a good story. Seriously. Male strippers are kind of gross. Um, so I have heard?)

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

I have to throw a rom-com into the mix, of course. And nothing says ‘romantic comedy’ like a speeding asteroid heading towards Earth on a path of devastation and destruction.

SAVAGES

Oliver Stone’s latest project has been getting a lot of buzz. Whether it’s good or not is really immaterial as it features both Aaron Johnson and Tim Riggins.
TIM RIGGINS!!!!!!!!*

*Also deserving of the all-caps treatment, obviously.

MARLEY

This was actually playing on the plane on the way home from Paris, but I watched Friends With Benefits instead. Gah. I hate myself.*

*But I secretly enjoyed ‘Friends With Benefits’. I told you — I’ll watch anything. ANYTHING.

INTOUCHABLES

A new friend of mine just recommended this French film and said it’s one of the best movies she’s seen in a while. I in turn suggested that she watch Step Up 2: The Streets, and since she’s already e-mailed me to tell me that she loved it, I feel that we have similar taste in movies. So I’m gonna check this one out.

TO ROME WITH LOVE

Woody Allen’s latest offering. Since I was totally obsessed with Midnight in Paris last year, I am super excited to see this one.

Well, that’s it for me (for now). Obviously I’d better get cracking if I’m going to catch all of these flicks. Thaddeus, I am decamping to the local cineplex for the foreseeable future. Please forward my calls.

How about you? What movies – if any– have piqued your interest this summer? Any and all recommendations are welcome…

Okay. I just learned about something yesterday that I am REALLY EXCITED about. Apparently – and I can’t believe I didn’t know about this sooner – there is another Step Up movie coming out!

YESSSSSSSSS.

Don’t laugh at me, but I love the Step Up franchise. Actually, go ahead and laugh if you want – they are ridiculous movies, with totally predictable plot lines and acting that is generally pretty lamentable (although: could I do better? No, I could not)*.

*Well, actually, I think I probably could do better than the acting in Step Up: 3D. That was just atrocious.

Anyway! Step Up: Revolution (a.k.a. Step Up 4) is coming to theatres in July, and I am utterly confident that it will contain all of the requisite Teen Dance Movie tropes. If you are not familiar with the story arc of the modern Teen Dance Movie, let me break it down for you:

The main characters are always a guy and a girl from opposite sides of the tracks. Usually one of them has grown up accustomed to a life of privilege and the other has endured a hardscrabble upbringing in foster homes, or the projects, or whatever (see Nora and Tyler in the original Step Up). Sometimes the writers shake things up a little and it is the girl who had it rough growing up and the boy who is more well off (see Andie and Chase in Step Up 2: The Streets).

Whatever the case, at the beginning of the movie we learn that the protagonists are both insanely talented dancers, of course. They also instantly dislike one another when they first meet, and this is because 1) they don’t understand each other’s worlds, and 2) they are actually secretly totally attracted to one another but haven’t realized it yet, and sparks fly. I can assure you that no matter which Teen Dance Movie you are watching, this — the initial setup — will always, always be the same.

Anyway, the rest of the action generally goes something like this:

The protagonists are thrown together for some reason (community service, someone’s regular partner gets injured, etc.) and have to learn to dance together, even though their styles are so different. They are reluctant and resentful at first, but gradually come to appreciate and admire one another’s strengths, and teach each other new moves. There is usually some kind of mash-up where classical ballet steps are incorporated with crunking or whatever, and a new hybrid style of dancing is invented that is so original and amazing that you know it will of course be featured in the Epic Final Dance Scene (more on this later). And obviously the main characters totally fall in love, although they don’t get a chance to admit this to one another because of a Huge Misunderstanding of some sort (one of them gets expelled, or gets back together with their original-partner-who-was–injured-but-is-now-better-and-is-the-safer-choice, or something along those lines).

At this point in the movie, one or both parties’ participation in the Epic Final Dance Scene is looking doubtful, but do not fear, because now we come to the denouement of our story, starting with the Last Minute Change of Heart, in which someone realizes that they have been wrong/stubborn/blind to their true feelings, and has to race across town to the recital hall/abandoned warehouse/rain-soaked street where the dance-off is taking place in order to make it on time for the performance. And then there is the culmination of the movie…the scene we have all been waiting for…the payoff to all the buildup…the Epic Final Dance Scene. And it is always BEYOND SPECTACULAR. Moves are flying, people are doing crazy things that no one has ever seen before, grudges are put aside, enemies become friends, and everyone is brought together by the power of dance. Life is beautiful.

If you don’t believe me, check out the EFDS from Step Up 2: The Streets.

And please remember these wise words: “It’s not about what you got…it’s about what you make of what you got”. A lesson for us all.