Dance Flick

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: May 22, 2009

DVD Release Date: September 9, 2009

Plot 411: As the title suggests, it's a movie about dancing that spoofs a bunch of teen rom com and dance movies from the past 10+ years.

Review: Thomas (Damon Wayans Jr.) and his crew enter a dance battle only to lose both their pride and money. Sugar Bear (David Alan Grier), a big syndicate-type fellow in the same vein as Jabba the Hut, sends guys after them to collect his money. At school, Thomas meets Megan (Shoshana Bush), whose mom recently died in a car accident and who has come to the ghetto to live with her father. Megan is out of her element but quickly makes friends with Charity (Essence Atkins), Thomas' sister. Despite being a product of the Wayans brothers (and their brood), this movie does not live up to its potential. The gags are all pretty lame, even though there's a diverse selection of movie parodies. Even the dance numbers aren't on par with the original dance flicks out there. The main plot follows Save The Last Dance pretty closely, but it doesn't even do that movie justice. Many of the characters are just plain annoying and not funny at all. Also in this film are Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Kim Wayans and Amy Sedaris.

Watch It: At your own risk. You've already been warned how bad it is.

Skip It: And watch the originals. Those movies are superb works of art compared to this one.

Coach Carter

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: January 13, 2005

DVD Release Date: June 21, 2005

Plot 411: When a new basketball coach comes to town, he emphasizes both academics and athletics and changes the way his players view their future.

Review: Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to his high school alma mater and takes over the position of basketball coach. When he arrives, his players are undisciplined and barely attend classes. Some players have drama going on in their lives, such as teen pregnancy, that may jeopardize their future despite their abilities. He quickly establishes new rules that the boys must follow in order to remain on the team. Some boys like Timo Cruz (Rick Gonzalez) decide to leave the team and fall deeper into violence, gangs and drug dealing. When Carter discovers some of the boys aren't holding up their end of the deal, he cancels practices and forfeits games so that his players can study. This riles up the community, which believes that sports are the only way their kids will ever get out of poverty. Tension builds between Carter, the school, parents and the community as his atypical approach makes media headlines. This movie was produced by MTV Films and succeeds in its efforts to market toward a younger demographic in the same way it did with Save The Last Dance. It showcased a lot of young, new talent like Rob Brown, Robert Ri'chard, Channing Tatum and Ashanti. Of the bunch, Tatum has really seen his career skyrocket. The movie comes across as gritty, but somehow I don't find it very believable. It's very polished and seems like it's trying too hard to be ghetto. The cinematography is a lot different than movies such as City Of God, which I think captures the poverty and desperation of the people a lot more realistically.

Watch It: For the Hawaii connections - Denise Dowse plays the school principal and Rob Fukuzaki makes a cameo as a reporter.

Skip It: If you're looking for a realistic portrayal of the human experience. This depiction is dusted with Hollywood and MTV's glamor.

Save The Last Dance

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: January 12, 2001

DVD Release Date: June 19, 2001

Plot 411: When her mother dies, Sarah moves to Chicago's inner city to live with her astranged dad

Review: After failing her ballet audition for Juilliard, Sarah (Julia Stiles) discovers the reason her mother was late was because she died in a car accident. After this blow, Sarah decides to give up dancing and must move to Chicago to live with her father. She enrolls in a predominantly black high school in a gritty area of town. Despite being a fish out of water, she is soon befriended by Chenille (Kerry Washington). Sarah also meets a wise-cracking boy named Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), who turns out to be Chenille's brother. When Sarah goes to a club called Stepps, she encounters hip hop for the first time and realizes that there is more to dance than her classical education has taught her. She also encounters Derek's ex-girlfriend Nikki (Bianca Lawson) and the drama begins. Nikki is trying to win Derek back and sees Sarah as a threat. However, as Derek teaches Sarah hip hop dancing, they grow closer and fall in love. When Derek and is friend Malakai (Fredro Starr) are targets of a drive-by shooting, Malakai wants to take revenge. Derek is torn between helping his friend and looking toward his future. When this movie came out, I was thoroughly entralled by it like most teens. It had a good love story, great music and dancing, action and drama. It felt as though the underdog would prevail despite all obstacles. Now that I'm older, I can see it for what it is. It's a fairly average movie of this type and kind of predictable. I think it did a good job at appealing to its demographic when it was released but don't think it is anything special. The idea that opposites attract is definitely not new and have already been captured on film in Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, Dirty Dancing or Step Up.

Watch It: For a notable performance by Julia Stiles, who was just breaking out at that time.

Skip It: In favor of West Side Story, which contains much of the same plot points.