Picoreview: Step Up 2: The Streets: As good as your average dance movie, which means less good than Step Up, but possibly good enough to explain why there ended up being FIVE Step Up movies. It turns out this is the first one I’d seen in the theatres, and I don’t think the dancing is quite as good in it as in the first film. A lot of it seems less…controlled, although that may be deliberate, because that’s kind of the thing the main character lacks, so it may be…
Tag: picoreviews
catch-up post
Young Indiana and I went to see Home, which was a sweet little film. It’s also the first animated film I can think of since Prince of Egypt where white people were only incidental background characters instead of the homogeny, which was great. Today is Mother’s Day in Ireland. I have been greeted with a lie-in, a homemade card, and waffles with strawberries, which is a pretty nice start to the day. I was gonna go see Insurgent, except it doesn’t start until next week. Darn it. Maybe I can…
Picoreview: Step Up
Picoreview: Step Up: Better than your average Wrong Side Of The Tracks Dance Movie. I have an unashamed love for Wrong Side Of The Tracks dance movies while being perfectly capable of recognising that their usual range of quality falls somewhere between “not good” and “excrutiating”. Most feature at least one lead who cannot. act. at. all. Some feature two. In the real humdingers, not only can neither of the leads act but neither can any of the supporting cast, either. However, they can all dance, which is really all…
Picoreview: Jupiter Rising
Picoreview: Jupiter Rising: I’m putting my money down now: Channing Tatum is not going to be the problem with the Gambit movie. This is not to say there will not be innumerable problems with it, because it would take a miracle of untold proportions for it to be any good, but what Jupiter Ascending did was convince me that Tatum could actually do a damn fine job playing the Ragin’ Cajun. My current expectation is that it’s going to be the equivalent of Catwoman, in which I maintain poor Halle…
Picoreview: Into the Woods
Picoreview: Into the Woods: Not bad. Not *nearly* as bad as it could have been, which sounds damning with faint praise and isn’t intended to. It may even verge on satisfying, although it’s not entirely satisfying, because I’m too familiar with the stage play. Many of the performances are very, very good. Most, even. Chris Pine is terrific as Cinderella’s Prince, Shatnering it up way more than he does in Star Trek, and, as everybody has said, the Princes’ Agony is very funny indeed. Meryl Streep is–well, she’s Meryl Streep.…