30 August 2012

When Tomorrow Comes


This is a love letter. Yesterday we went to watch Les Mis. Due to poor timing and massive demand for the 25th Anniversary Tour, we were forced to sit in the cheap seats with the commoners. Ugh, hate when that happens, don't you? Pushed to the back and way on the right, we had a tough time making out exactly what was happening onstage.

I mean, of course you can see what's happening, but can you really see? Having watched some musicals from the very front row, I can tell you that the view from the back is a whole different experience. Enter our savior: binoculars! A few months ago I did some heavy research into binoculars as I looked to pick up a new birding hobby. I won't go into the reasons why birding is important but if you want to be a better writer, you should just do it. For my next trick I'm hoping to legally change my last name to "Franzen." Then acclaim will surely follow.

Anyway, seated in the mezzanine but outfitted with my Bushnell Falcon 7x35's, we were still able to see everything. The dirt and grime on Thenardier's face. The scars on Jean Valjean's head. Fantine's beautiful blonde hair piece. For a mere $28.52 investment, we had gone from seeing two inch figurines running around the stage to an up close and personal intimate performance. It was amazing. Through the magic of magnification, we were able to practically experience Javert's obvious halitosis.

If only the guy in front of me hadn't been so tall and so fidgety, my view of the stage would have been perfect. Why move every fifteen seconds guy? If you can't sit still, why are you here? Oh right, girlfriend. Stop moving please! Actually the binoculars helped me see through his head. No, I'm not lying. Because of something science-y involving our built-in binocular vision, the view through the mechanical binoculars allowed me to basically eliminate his head from my view. I don't know how it worked but thank you intelligent designer. You are indeed mighty.

From now on, I'm bringing my binoculars to everything. Sure it might make me a creeper but I'm going to see the whole world so much more clearly. I love you binoculars, five star review and a hearty recommend.
Having not seen Les Miserables in over a decade, I kind of forgot most of the plot points. I know the songs backwards and forwards but enacted out on stage, all of it was kind of confusing. For example, there's a lot of period jumps. Jean Valjean as a prisoner, then as a young man, then as another young man, etc. All those rebels running around singing about furniture. Who were they fighting? And I really didn't remember the end, not at all.

What stood out most from my memory was Cosette's role. In the past, when I thought of Les Mis, I thought of "Castle in a Cloud" first. But upon another viewing, that's Cosette's one and only moment. She's not the main female lead, it's Eponine! (Or an argument could be made for Fantine too.) Essentially Cosette is there to look pretty and be the object of Marius' affection. Perhaps the difference is that when you're young, you identify with Cosette and the other little kid, Gavroche. But when you're older, you realize that they were just minor characters.

And poor Eponine. She's the embodiment of Meantime Girl isn't she? I kind of hate Marius for being such a jerk. How are you asking Eponine to deliver love letters in the middle of a siege? Don't you see that Eponine is willing to die for you!? What an asshole. He doesn't deserve to have "A Little Fall of Rain" sung to him. I'm Team Eponine all the way now. If you are Team Cosette, we are enemies. En garde.

December 14th could be amazing. Hugh Jackman is gonna kill it. Also, if you're watching Les Mis live, don't hum along to the music. Ahem, Mom...

25 August 2012

Trapper Keeper

Listening to: "Hot Cheetos and Takis." This song, my goodness. I'm pushing it on everyone -- with an admittedly so-so success rate, but you need to be into it so we can be friends. "Gangnam Style" was so last month, this week it's all about H-O-T Cheetos.

This is an informative article from AAWW's Open City blog about "Gangnam Style" though: "Beyond the Horse Dance: Viral Vid 'Gangnam Style' Critiques Korea's Extreme Inequality. Okay, fine, I'm not truly over this song yet. Not at all. I just requested that my friend please, pretty please, play it at her upcoming wedding. With luck maybe she'll play both of these songs. Snack, snack, snack...

Back in school, if I forgot my planner for a day, or geezes, managed to lose it outright, my life was over. I couldn't remember anything I had scheduled, or what homework assignments were due, or maybe even what day of the week it was. In college, your planner was your security blanket. Plus, sometimes friends would leave you a note on a distant date and they could be assured you'd find it. (If a note falls in a forest and it's not written in a day planner, does it get read? Chances are, probably not.)

Ah, memories.

Somewhere along the way I lost the need for a paper planner. But I know a lot of people still rely on them. For example, my sister, neat freak and slightly Type A, once left her planner after a visit back home and she insisted I FedEx it up to her. Next day air too. So super serious.

What do I rely on now to run my ultra busy life? Google Calendar of course! It's come to my attention that a lot of people use Calendar totally wrong. As a public service announcement, I need to just show you how it should be done. The rule is "one color for each type of event." Calendar provides you with a multitude of wonderful colors and no limit on how many individual calendars you can create.

I have one for birthdays, one for work stuff, one for writing stuff, one for upcoming bills, one for Celtics games, one for travel info, etc. The most important calendar I have is "daily" which is just the generic tag I put on things I'm doing. Like next week I'm hitting up Sea World and attending a friendship bracelet making party, those go under the orange "daily" calendar.

Since I know I'm absolutely horrible at remembering when things are supposed to happen, I just offload my brain to Google Calendar and rely on technology to keep me on task. And instead of asking when a friend is in town, over and over, I just jot it down in my Calendar. Plus, a great side benefit of using all these colors and event calendars is that it looks really impressive at a glance. People will commend you on your busyness and being so "I'm right on top of that Rose."

However, I never let anyone look too closely at my Calendar, as they'd realize it's all just fluff and I'm barely busy at all. Shhh, our secret.

If you're still about the paper planner, my friend Susie (boygirlparty) makes the best ones. That's a definitive statement. The absolute best ones. Plus her to do lists are ridiculously great too. Foxes, octopuses, elephants, you're gonna want them all.

15 August 2012

Fortress Around Your Heart

I have a friend who refuses to put any apps on his iPhone and I think it's crazy. "I like to keep it uncluttered." Listen, I'm a Virgo, I understand all about having to keep stuff clean and organized. But why have an iPhone that is stripped bare of anything but Phone, Mail, Messages, Camera, etc. That's like having a premium computer and not downloading any programs. "No no, I'm good with TextEdit." There are wonderful apps out there that make your life easier. I'm not saying you have to download all of them, just the few that you'd use often.

Historically I've been against paying anything for apps but I've recently changed my stance. It's completely silly to think that I'd pay $4 for a Jamba Juice but not 99¢ for an app. For example, I recently dropped a dollar to purchase the ad-free version of Chess for Friends. I've been using this app since 2007 and every time I've made a move I've been served up an ad. For a buck I ended the nuisance.

What's crazy is that even a week after eliminating the ads, I'm still trained to move my finger down to close an ad after I push my piece. I've been hard wired to be Zynga's pawn for five years!

Having said all that, I'd like to plug a few apps that might rescue you in this dark time. I used to download and try out every Twitter client. Some of the time I was on Echofon, some of the time I was on Tweetie (until it was acquired by Twitter), and I was always on the lookout for something better. Well, that something better is Tweetbot.

Tweetbot has a clean interface, wonderful gesture based actions, and allows me to switch between accounts easily. While it's not substantially different from anything freely available, the little touches add up to make it the best Twitter client available. I was a skeptic, but after using it for a few months, I'm glad I spent the $2.99. If you use Twitter regularly, I recommend you dig out a few dollars for this app too.

Also, Tweetbot just released a Mac client as a public alpha. Tell me how it is because I can't use it. My OS is still on Snow Leopard. I know, so embarrassing! And if you're heavy on the Twitter, you should probably be using a desktop client because Twittering via browser is just silly.

Next up, Stitcher. This one is free actually. Everyone knows I'm a guy who loves his podcasts. What isn't fun is refreshing them one by one, or syncing to my computer daily. Stitcher solves this problem by making it easy to refresh all your podcasts at once and then having them streamed whenever you need them. No local storage, more space for your games and music.

The only downside is that Stitcher doesn't have every podcast I listen to, and that can make it easy to fall behind for some podcasts. However, used in combination with the native iPhone podcast application, I've streamlined my podcast consuming to all new, way more efficient levels. Rejoice. Stitcher also makes it simple to discover new podcasts by suggesting stuff based on your listening preferences.

Here's two podcasts I'm into right now: Planet Money and How Was Your Week with Julie Klausner. Usually I can't stand a lot of NPR's podcasts but their Planet Money one I can get behind. As for HWYW, each episode starts with Julie droning on about her week and after awhile it gets kind of like she's your friend and you just get invested into knowing what she's been up to. Also, she has great guests like Rob Sheffield, Tavi Gevinson, Kurt Loder, Choire Sicha, and Patton Oswalt.

Actually, my absolute favorite podcast right now is Grantland's Reality TV Friday with Dave Jacoby and Juliet Litman. I've always loved Jacoby but when Juliet came on board a few weeks ago, their podcast chemistry made them my absolute favorite couple. Like in life. I don't know two people I'd rather listen to or hang out with. I know, strong statement, but it's absolutely true. I don't even watch the shows they talk about -- mostly Bachelor and Real World -- and I still can't wait to hear them banter and discuss the trivial each week. Here's a sample episode. And by "hang out with" I mean I listen via technology while they talk and don't even know I'm alive. It's a very one-sided relationship but I'm fine with that.

08 August 2012

Stuff I've Been Consuming 7



BOOKS READ:
  • I Feel Bad About My Neck, Nora Ephron
  • Edda, Conor Kostick
  • Code Name Verity, Lizzie Wein
  • I Remember Nothing, Nora Ephron
  • How to Be a Woman, Caitlin Moran
MOVIES WATCHED:
  • The Amazing Spider-Man, Marc Webb
  • Jarhead, Sam Mendes
  • Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan
  • The Intouchables, Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano
  • Step Up Revolution, Scott Speer

I feel like my months are falling into mini-themes. May was dystopian, June was middle grade, and now July, heavy on friendship and feminism. For example, Caitlin Moran is being touted as the next Nora Ephron but that's really unncessary. Moran doesn't need to be the next anything. Her How to Be a Woman is hilarious and thought provoking without having to attach it to anybody who came before her. What's important is that both Ephron and Moran write essays that I could read over and over.

Next month I'm gonna go back and read Ephron's older essays and then turn my attention to whatever the male equivalent of this sort of writing is. Confessional, smart, and funny. (What is the male equivalent of these books?) Or I'll just stay in this lane and go either lighter with Sloane Crosley or heavier with Joan Didion. It's about time I went Didion right?
As for Code Name Verity, let me just say "wow." One of the best books I've read this year and I don't even want to tell you anything about it because it's much better going in without knowing much. Nominally it's young adult but it's not like any YA I've read. I don't know who was the lone dissenter giving this a three star review on Amazon but they were dead wrong. Code Name Verity is so great, and even if it doesn't sound like it's up your alley, you should read it. Man, I wish I could forget it so I could read it all over again.

And a quick head nod for Conor Kostick's Edda. A science fiction / fantasy YA that actually has some depth and interesting world building. Most of the YA stuff I read in this genre has only a light glossing of sci-fi, but Kostick's series actually has ideas and depth behind all the action and plot. That would make sense since he was "a designer for the world's first live action role-playing game." Plus he is a former European champion at Diplomacy, a board game I love and long to play often. Respect. I headed into Edda expecting some generic-ness and emerged wanting to check out Saga and Epic.

For the Dark Knight fanboys in the audience. Here's the deal: Dark Knight Rises wasn't that good. I'll come right out and say I'm not a huge fan of the franchise in general -- Batman's growly voice kills me -- but I can concede that it's done great things for the comic book movie. But this one especially was so hokey and littered with so many plot holes and inconceivables that afterwards I had to nitpick at each one.

Having said that, I did go back and watch it again. Upon rewatch, the first hour or so of the movie is spectacular. Christopher Nolan pushes the tempo, sets up the current day situation, and introduces Bane in a great way. However, when Bane becomes the star of the movie, putting Gotham under siege -- and Bruce Wayne gets tossed into the pit -- the movie lost me. Also, where was the fighting? Nowhere! Dark Knight Rises wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, and I loved Anne Hathaway, but I think it was a clear letdown.

Also, while we're here, I wish Fox would just stop making Spider-Man movies so the rights could revert back to Marvel. Not that Amazing Spider-Man was bad, not with Emma Stone in it, but it's totally unnecessary. Let Spider-Man join The Avengers please! And while they're at it, let Wolverine scurry back to Marvel too.

One movie I will recommend from this past month: The Intouchables. Originally the trailer put me off because it seemed like too much of a sappy feel good story. But upon a trusted friend's recommendation, Lilly and I went to go see it.

And we loved it!

The movie had so much wonderful energy, an opening featuring "September," and an utterly charming Omar Sy. The Intouchables played like a light version of The Sea Inside or The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Actually those movies had quite a lot of humor in them too, but more subtle.) It was nominated for all sorts of awards in its native France and it's definitely a perfect Sunday matinee.

There is some debate about The Intouchables' broad racial characterizations and its use of the black man as cultural liberator trope. The criticism is impossible to dismiss because the movie certainly plays into those stereotypes. While philosophically I agree 100% with those criticisms, I still think The Intouchables was delightful and worth a watch.

Also, Driss in real life is Abdel Sellou, an Arab from Algeria, conveniently blackwashed for the movie. Is that, like, a first?

06 August 2012

Five by Five

A sorta weekly feature of things I co-sign:

(1) Against Enthusiasm: The epidemic of niceness in online book culture. I've been thinking this myself. How much nice is too nice? I think it should be two bad things said for every one good. Oh wait, that is not the golden rule. (Also Emma Straub's response.)

(2) The Best Blogs for Young Adult Books. A definitive list, finally! If I'm only following two of the top ten, does that mean I have crappy taste in YA blogs?

(3) Once Upon a Time: The lure of the fairy tale. The best article I've read all year about the Brothers Grimm. Coincidentally also the only article I've read all year about the Brothers Grimm.

(4) Jessica Corra. A personal blog of a YA author that is both introspective and well, personal. It reminds me of back in the day when blogs were intimate and quiet. Start with this entry, "Worth and the Writer." Jessica's
After You comes out Spring 2013.

(5) Social Media is Not the Bullet. If social media is supposed to be a marketing tool, I've been weaponizing it all wrong. Wait, it's not for posting overly enthusiastically about things?

(*) Also, this NPR Best-Ever Teen Novels is such a sham. Don't people see that it's all link bait? Don't you see?! "Voting is now closed. Check back next week to see the list of 100 winners." A hundred winners? C'mon. We all know the real winner here is NPR. (I would vote for Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and Where the Red Fern Grows but one would probably be deemed too violent and the other too sad for today's impressionable youth.)

03 August 2012

Step Up Revolution (2012)

A highly anticipated viewing of the new Step Up has led to this, another in my continuing series of dance movie reviews. Yes I went right away to the theater to see Step Up Revolution so you wouldn't have to. Okay I know you're gonna watch it anyway. Spoilers ahead, as per usual.

Tagline: "One step can change your world."

1. Plot (4)
Emily is the daughter of a wealthy businessman who... Ah whatevers. Emily is a rich kid trying to get into a contemporary dance company, Sean is a street guy who leads an underground dance crew. There's a lot of mumbo jumbo about not losing what's yours, fighting against the rules, and backstabbing daddy. Everything here is rehashed, some of them straight from previous installments of Step Ups -- not to mention a nod to Rent. If anything, there's too much plot in Step Up Revolution and none of the threads stick for even one second. We'll give some points for the switch of locale to Miami, which provides a much more picturesque backdrop after Baltimore and New York.

2. Can the lead characters dance? (9)
Considering Kathryn McCormick finished third in her season of SYTYCD and came back for the All Star session, she's at least above average. Of course, her first dance scene almost kills everything because she's pretty terrible. The initial move she does to impress Sean is lackluster and groan worthy. Of course, this was probably scripted because Sean immediately comments on how bad it was. McCormick's strength is definitely the contemporary dance numbers but she didn't stand out much matched against Jenna Dewan, Briana Evigan, and Sharni Vinson. In fact I'm pretty sure she didn't do any hip hop type numbers in the movie now that I think about it. I was more impressed with McCormick's abilities after watching her old SYTYCD clips: cha cha / solo and contemporary to Michael Buble.

As for Ryan Guzman, he's probably the best male lead dancer of the entire series. Strong statement, I know. My movie mate and I thought it was possible he'd been genetically engineered for this role. As it turns out, Guzman was a mixed martial arts fighter and a model with no previous dancing experience. He acquits himself well and he's not only the best dancer of the series, he's also arguably the best looking. He looks like a white Ricky Martin. Oh wait, Guzman is Mexican-American, but as he says in this interview, "I always heard I look white…[but] I want to help out my culture and progress. I definitely want to try to reach out and do as much as I possibly can." Go minority casting! Sort of. (Sidenote: When are we gonna get a non-white lead for Step Up? Never probably. Do we start a petition for this or just move on to something else?)

Also, McCormick looks like a dancing Winnie Cooper. Or a grown up Alyson Stoner, who played Camille, Channing Tatum's younger sister in Step Up and Moose's girlfriend in Step Up 3. Seriously look at them and tell me you wouldn't have been confused.

3. How're the dance scenes? (8)
While there were lots of dance scenes, only a few of them stuck out. The strong opening with The Mob shutting down Ocean Boulevard and dancing on top of low riders was cool (not to mention perhaps dangerous). Crashing an art show and using wonderful body paint and lights was something I'd like to see in real life. The ending with a bajillion dancers everywhere, some strategically placed trampolines and bungee cords, had a few "oooh" moments but overall the dance stuff lacked pizzazz. Throw in some practice scenes, a few romantic duets, a dash of Emily trying out for the dance company, a ho hum office dance, and that was about it.

One thing I'd say though, is that long gone are the days of Step Up dance montages in front of dull backgrounds. This fourth version staged every dance beautifully and it was all, dare I say it, very artistic. However, sometimes all that nice framing and cleanliness took away from the energy of the dances.

It felt like this movie needed one or two more killer dances to push it over the top. Of course, at this point in the series all the dancers are good and the choreography is clean but we've mostly seen it all before. Throw in some house dancing or something. Get Fanny Pak on the line.

4. How's the love story? (2)
Bleh. Guzman and McCormick had a meet cute scene -- where they engage in a mini-dance off at a beach party and throw sand at the 3D screen -- but aside from the initial spark, there was hardly any chemistry. There were some attempts to give them more of a connection but it didn't really work. I could be generous and say that Emily and Sean inspired each other to greater heights or saved each other from disaster but let's not kid ourselves. They were just empty vessels for an empty relationship. Throw in a very weakly motivated plot point splitting them up and then the inevitable reconciliation and we have something to double yawn at.

5. Rate the sidekicks (2)
For the first time I can recall in a trashy dance movie, there was no attempt to distinguish the secondary characters at all. Sure Sean's got a surly best friend -- the actor is a dead ringer for Josh Hutcherson -- and a crew that gets the freeze frame, color splash, ID treatment, but none of it matters. There's no charismatic or wisecracking sidekick for either lead, and nothing on par with the delightful twins from the last installment. Maybe it's not a bad choice to avoid shoehorning in sidekicks but we look for standout personalities in this advanced scoring system. Step Up Revolution fails big time here.

Twitch does return from Step Up 3 but he's hardly recognizable without his silly glasses. The only semi-memorable character here was a street artist that had ridiculous hair/tattoos and an unwillingness to talk ("Pictures are worth a thousand words, get it?"). I'm awarding two points here for short cameos by Madd Chadd and Moose but other than that there was nobody to get excited about. I mean, does Peter Gallagher as Emily's father count as a sidekick? Nah.

Oh wait, let's talk about Mia Michaels, who played the head of the dance troupe. I'm generally a fan of hers so I don't want to get too harsh here but damn, Mia was channeling some Ursula from Little Mermaid shit. In one scene Mia's lurking behind Emily and she looks like she's about to steal her voice -- or eat her.

6. Best line (1)
Worst lines ever from a Step Up movie. And that's saying something. Forget just having an absence of good/bad lines, the dialogue here almost took away from the film. First time screenwriter Amanda Brody tripped over the low bar here. The very low bar. I wanted to give this category a zero but since it wasn't a silent film, I'll give it one point out of pity.

If I had to pick a semi-quotable line, it was maybe "Don't you know how this works? I hold a drink in my hand, you dance around me, make me look good." And that's only because it's in the trailer which I saw like ten times.

7. Music (5)
The soundtrack was pretty weak. In theory Timbaland, M.I.A., Busta Rhymes, Lil'Jon, Ne-Yo, Bieber, Fergie, Far East Movement and others could add some punch but there was nothing good until the credits. If anything, I found myself enjoying the songs played during the scenes Emily and Sean are slow dancing together. The Cinematic Orchestra's "To Build a Home" for example. Nice track but that's not the type of music I'm looking for from a dance movie. My movie mate is still using the Step Up 3 soundtrack on her workout playlist two years later; I doubt anything here will have that long of a shelf life.

While I'm no fan of Pitbull, it's criminal that he didn't get more shine on the soundtrack, seeing as the movie was set in his hometown. Mr. Perez has a guest spot on Fergie's track but the song as a whole sucks. The Pitbull song that should have been on the soundtrack was J.Lo's "Dance Again," which is one of this summer's sleeper fun dance songs. Can we get a redo? Call Me Maybe Remix?

8. Fashion (7)
Utilitarian. Most of the cast was dressed in hip hoppy casual stuffs. There were a few interesting haircuts, especially on the lady DJ, and lots of Beats headphones -- overpriced and sub-par as we all know. Super abs boy Guzman sported a wifebeater throughout most of the movie and McCormick shimmied around in an array of see through tops and dresses. The slightly above average grade is given solely for the art museum scene, which featured some neat costumes and especially a glowy set of ballerina tutus. Nice work.

Oh wait, an added point for the Miami Heat hat that Guzman wears in one scene. It was not even a throwback but a fake throwback that had the biggest branding sign on the back. I'm thinking it was a custom. Come to think of it, Sean wears a lot of area specific sports caps. That means that the Florida Marlins hat made its first and quite possibly last appearance in a major motion picture.

9. Cultural Impact (2)
This probably marks the film that will kill the Step Up franchise. In theory they could crank these out forever -- since they are quite profitable -- but there was nothing new or exciting added to the formula. I mean, the story tried to add some depth by presenting dance as protest but that's just ridiculous. Flash mobs are not a political statement. Any art form can say something but this isn't the movie to explore those avenues. C'mon, at the end of the film The Mob sells out to Nike. Way to stand up against the man guys.

Suspension of disbelief for this film rivaled anything I've needed since White Nights. Aside from all the "we can affect change through dance" chatter, it was hard to believe that a guerrilla dance group could repeatedly invade private spaces and everyone would just let them finish their routines. Plus they didn't even bother to obscure their faces in their videos, making it pretty hard to believe the police couldn't figure out who they were. Okay I'm probably taking this too seriously.

Unless the next Step Up goes in an entirely radical direction, I fear this series is on the decline. Then again, we thought the same thing about The Fast and the Furious and Fast Five was awesome! I think the move is to bring back Channing Tatum. Sure he's too big now but just throw ten million at him and dare him to say "no."

10. Miscellaneous (4)
Director Scott Speer did a few episodes of Legion of Extraordinary Dancers and it shows. The look of the movie was nice but just like the LXD series, it was missing a lot of oomph during the dance parts. Jon M. Chu where are you? Come back to the franchise! Bonus fact: Speer is the on-again, off-again beau of Ashley Tisdale. Not that you cared.

In the movie, Sean's crew is trying to accumulate ten million hits on their YouTube channel to win a $100,000 prize. I find it difficult to believe that they couldn't get ten million hits -- especially after going viral and even horning their way onto national newscasts. I mean, the trailer for Step Up Revolution has 9,062,853 hits right now. They couldn't get to ten million? This detail really bothered me for some reason.

On IMDB, in the search bar, the text says "Step Up 4: Miami Heat" instead of the proper name for the movie. That must have been a placeholder before the final title was announced but it's kind of funny. (Oh wait, what am I talking about, I hate the Heat! Damn you for beating my Celtics. Damn you for taking Ray Allen!)

FINAL VERDICT (44/100)
Ouch, Step Up Revolution came out with the worst scores of any dance movie I've rated. Way lower compared to my reviews for Step Up and Step Up 3. This doesn't mean it isn't worth a watch however. I mean, compared to stuff back in the day, the dancing here is spectacular. And if you were one of the old couples sitting to our right or to our left -- what were they doing at this movie opening day? -- you would be suitably impressed with what dancers are capable of these days. We've come a long way since Save the Last Dance and Honey.

Having said that, the low scores for a super lame story, no sidekicks, horrible dialogue, and nothing extra thrown into the mix really torpedoed the overall score here. This one's for dance fanatics only. Mia Michael's teacher says to Emily after her first audition [paraphrased]: "Your technique is good. Exquisite even. But you don't have any originality. Find some." That pretty much sums up Step Up Revolution. The motions are all correct but we needed more.

Of course, I am already looking forward to Step Up Whatever in 2014. Mark your calendars fellow dance movie addicts, Step Up 5 will need our full support!