Yesterday the trailer for “Step Up 4” or “Step Up: All In” hit the net, and we were psyched to see the movie return with some of the series best characters. There will be plenty of dancing, and a lot of excellent choreography and that’s all the fans care about with these movies. They’re fun entertaining films, and we’re definitely in on the new installment. In honor of the upcoming sequel, here are five great contemporary dance films.
The kids romp “Camp Nowhere” is yet another of the many “Home Alone” clones of the nineties that provides us with kids smarter than actual working adults that happen in to a situation both extraordinary and fantastic. What kid wouldn’t want to make their own summer camp and do what they want rather than stick to schedules, structure and physical activities? “Camp Nowhere” works mainly as a film you have to suspend disbelief for, if only because it’s hard to believe any of these adults could be fooled by children. But then in the nineties every kid was at least ten times smarter than any adult, and they knew their way around the world.
One thing Lars Von Trier makes it apparent from the outset is that the sex in his epic tale of a nymphomaniac named Joe is never erotic. It’s ugly, uncomfortable, weird, funny, disgusting, and surreal. But never erotic. He begins the tale of her discovering her sexuality as a toddler, and then explores her pre-pubescent obsession with her “sensations” between her legs and the tricky methods she implemented to experience them, and then recalls the awkward encounter where she lost her virginity to a local boy that garnered immense pain and unusual emotions.
I loved the original Chris Weitz dramedy “About A Boy.” It’s easily one of my favorite comedies of all time and one of the rare Hugh Grant performances I can stomach. It’s not a surprise that the US would seek to adapt it in to a television show, I’m just saddened it’s on NBC in America. I mean, could you have picked a more incompetent channel with no idea how to handle new series’? In either case, “About a Boy,” granted it lasts more than one season, is a decent adaptation of the movie, but doesn’t do anything with the concept at all. For some reason the writers have completely side stepped the narration, and have eliminated a ton of interesting supporting characters from the series.
It’s a shame to see a movie filled with so much talent all to add up to absolutely nothing. “Boiler Room” trots out a who’s who of really good actors, many of whom were in vogue performers that eventually got their due. I’m especially a fan of Nicky Katt. That said, “Boiler Room” is a crummy retread of “Glenngarry Glenn Ross” sans the plays on “Death of a Salesman.” Ben Affleck appears twice to give a really raucous and loud speech to perspective stock brokers, and really you can’t help but think that Alec Baldwin did it better.
The moment Max Lyons steps out of prison and enters in to the world, not only is his life on the line, but his soul is too. He’s still a very weathered prisoner who is a victim to his drug addiction, and his grasp for a normal life is hopelessly out of his reach. Lyons is one of the many poor ex-convicts hanging on by a thread, and director E.B. Hughes’ crime drama about a man fighting for his soul is a brilliant take on what is typically a tired sub-genre of dramas.
For me, “Sparks” was an easy sell. I’m someone who loves serials, and classic pulp heroes that used their fists and fell for dames while fighting crime. Though “Sparks” is obviously an indie production, it garners the spirit of classic pulp heroes through and through. From a murder mystery, hard boiled cops, masked heroes, and the like, “Sparks” is an entertaining throwback to pulp heroes that, while flawed, is still worth a watch. If only for the great cast. Directors Todd Burrows and Christopher Folino leave no stone unturned in their ode to classic forties comic books, even featuring characters that smoke like it’s going out of style.