Archive for the 'Dancing' Category

Hitch

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 4, 2007
in Comedy, Dancing, New York and Romance
. 0 Comments

Starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes and Kevin James, this is a movie I remember hearing college students, where I work, talk unceasingly about back in ‘05, along with The Notebook - which I still haven’t seen. I didn’t really know what all the hub-bub was about and after two years it finally found its way to slot #1 on my Netflix list.

This is a movie partly about a man hiring a dating coach to help instill confidence in himself while pursuing the woman of his dreams. The other half is the dating coach also pursuing the woman of his dreams. If you know much about the actors listed above, I’m sure you’ve already guessed that Will Smith is the suave and sophisticated dating coach while Kevin James is the somewhat nerdy and uncoordinated client. James’ character, Albert, is after a woman he used to work for and Smith’s character, Hitch, is after Sara, a woman he met in a bar. Throughout the movie we watch Hitch give Albert tips and lessons on how he should conduct himself in public and around his date. We also see Hitch putting his own advice into action while Sara is after this mystery man that supposedly helped to ruin her best friend’s life.

That man turns out to be Hitch, or so Sara thinks. She eventually exposes him in her gossip column, ruining Hitch’s career and the relationships his clients have made or are in the process of forming. Things turn out in the end though - this is a PG-13 feel good, happy, dating movie after all. The last 20 minutes are so do get pretty cheesy for me, but overall I enjoyed myself while watching this.

MAD HOT BALLROOM!

Published
by
nathanshorb
on June 25, 2005
in Coming of age, Dancing, Documentary, Music and New York
. 2 Comments

Hello, movies blog, sorry for neglecting you. But I must admit, I’ve been neglecting movies in general until recently.

We saw Mad Hot Ballroom last night, a documentary about a ballroom dancing program/competition that goes on in the New York City public schools. It’s full of lots of darling inner-city children shaking their hips.

The dancing is beautiful and amazing. Dancing is a lost art in our world, and it’s a shame. The benefits of this program are many and great . . . manners, knowledge of culture, new opportunities, and heck, just being able to back your thing up. No but seriously, it’s important to know how to shake your bon-bon.

So the dancing is really incredible. These kids are GOOD. And the children are funny and adorable. They’re pretty good at stealing your heart right away. It’s full of funny and beautiful moments that will make you smile and laugh and feel good.

But unfortunately, that’s about it. While it was an enjoyable film, as a documentary, it lacked major substance. You didn’t learn a whole lot about the kids themselves, their families, or their backgrounds. While it was fun to watch the dancing, that’s about all it was, 1 hour and 45 minutes of watching them dance. And this is all good and fine, but you can only carry a movie for so long on children making cute and awkward and funny faces while dancing.

You’ll enjoy it, but it’s just really not all that impressive in the end. People have been comparing it to Spellbound, but this is nowhere near the documentary that Spellbound is. Watching dancing is more fun than watching spelling, but you need more than just that.