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Reviews
High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008)
A Great Piece of Overly-Optimistic Escapism!
With HSM3 you get exactly what it says on the tin - a pretty good Disney musical with some catchy songs, a truck-load of unrealistically optimistic world view and a few hours of suspending disbelief and embracing the high school dream that a lot of us longed for when we were there.
HSM could never compete with the classic Disney musicals of the 20th century but it gives it a damn good shot. The choreography is much improved, the budget is clearly bigger (though not always put to the best use) and as a final bow for the cast it is an entertaining night out.
Most people seem to rate the flavour-of-the-year tween hottie Zac Efron and, for the most part, his acting is much improved. For me, however, the true star (and perhaps the dark horse) of all three HSM movies is Lucas Grabeel (the actor who plays Ryan). He out-dances, out-sings, out-acts and generally steals the show in almost every scene that he shares. Efron may be the number-one googled star of the moment but I'd put money on it that in ten years time it will be Grabeel who has proved he can go onto bigger and better successes.
As for the plot it was pure, unadulterated Disney schmaltz but most loyal Disney fans wouldn't have it any other way - if we wanted innuendo, gratuitous sex and guns blazing we'd be watching "Quantum of Solace". Disney is the last remaining studio that is uncompromising in its commitment to all-age-friendly, optimistic family entertainment in an age of economic crisis, political uncertainty and rapidly sliding standards of "quality entertainment" and there's nothing wrong with that in my book.
The catchiest musical number by far was Ryan and Sharpay's over-the-top 'I Want It All' and 'Can I Have This Dance?' was incredibly sweet if a little too repetitive in its choreography.
Troy and Gabriella were predictably true-to-form which, after two movies, got to be a bit tiresome. The new girl was under-used and quite rightly so - both the character and the actress had the screen presence and acting ability of a wet sponge. The effect, however, may be slightly lost on me since I'm English and sick to death of all English people in American movies being rich Londoners - we don't all live in the nation's capital, mix it up a bit! By far the most mind-boggling aspect of what was generally an enjoyable piece of naive escapism was any notion that there was something going on between Kelsi and Ryan! Where it came from I don't think anyone will ever know since it isn't even hinted at in the previous two instalments. Honestly, if you can watch the adorably camp Ryan sing "lovingly" to Kelsi whilst wearing pink Marc Jacobs skinnies and not burst out laughing at the idea then you're a better person than I am! Personally I think they hit the nail on the head when Troy professed a greater ease of Ryan's dancing with him than his sister's.
All in all a good night out. I went to see this film to enjoy the dancing, musical numbers and the kind of saccharine escapism that only Disney can offer - I wasn't disappointed.
Straightheads (2007)
Thought-provoking subject matter that should have been so much better *SPOILERS*
*WARNING* Contains MANY SPOILERS!
Let me start by saying I have a huge respect for Gillian Anderson's incredible talent as a varied and versatile actress - which is why I cannot comprehend her reasons for agreeing to make this film once she saw the script (or lack thereof.)
The premise of the film was, in my opinion, a great idea and there were some genuinely thought-provoking themes in there but it ended up like a collapsed soufflé. It exemplifies why I hate 99% of British cinema. It feels too long, it's tedious, for the most part, and not a lot happens after the first twenty minutes. Just when you think there's a chance of it picking up some speed it disappoints like Paula Radcliffe running a marathon. With little imaginative directing and a minimalist plot, there isn't much to keep the audience from nodding off into their popcorn. As for the script I can only surmise that the writer was trying to save a few trees, with the average scene reading something along the lines of "Alice: F*** OFF! (Adam stares. Adam runs off into woods)(Alice follows) Alice: ADAM! ADAM!" I suspect that, word for word, the actors probably got paid more than Kate Moss did for her Virgin Mobile adverts. What few lines there were didn't have a lot of variation with a frequent use of the f-word that would make Bridget Jones's friend, Shazza, proud. There is little establishment of the main characters before the main sordid event which leaves the audience lacking much sympathy for the characters beyond an automatic 'Oh that's terrible' reaction.
Alice isn't the kind of woman who courts sympathy either. She's got a great job, an expensive London apartment with roof space to die for yet she comes across on screen as conceited, bitter and dissatisfied before her life takes a turn for the worst. After the attack a few layers are peeled back which sort-of explain why she is this way to start with; she grew up with a tough-as-old-boots soldier who thought that teaching her how to shoot his gun was the ultimate expression of love so, instead of following in his footsteps, she ran away to the big city in search of something to make her feel like her life is worth living. Instead she found a group of stereotypical middle-class Toffs who look down on anyone not rich enough to drive a Lexus and the luxuries that come with an integrated security/entertainment system (i.e. becoming Mrs Robinson to a wanna-be Cockney wide-boy electrician) Someone pass me a tissue. The one saving grace of this character is that she is played by Gillian Anderson. In the hands of a lesser actress she would've been intolerably one-dimensional but Ms Anderson actually manages to inject a few fleeting moments of humanity into this otherwise lifeless human being, most notably when she's sincerely apologising for her road rage in a vain attempt to stop her attackers from continuing their assault.
I can't say that Adam fared much better either. Danny Dyer played him well as a fish-out-of-water Jack the Lad but a good performance couldn't save him from both the lack of a script and the total absence of any character background.
This film relied mostly on shock value but the timing was off and it felt far too engineered from beginning to end. As for the shock, the most shocking thing about this film is the unashamed demonstration of how painfully thin Ms Anderson has become; it was almost as unsettling to see as the brutal attack scenes. On a side note, only in a British film would a gang of violent sex attackers take the time to offer each other contraception before continuing to cheer their mates on - talk about stiff-upper-lip taken to the extreme! If this is the kind of film that the National Lottery is donating money to make then I'm not surprised that fewer and fewer people are choosing to spend their pound each week.
Saying that I hated this film is giving it too much credit, I didn't care enough about any of the characters to warrant that strong an emotion. I want that one-and-a-bit hours of my life back, please!
Steel River Blues (2004)
Breath of Fresh Air
I hate British-made television as a rule; soaps really irritate me with their unrealistic plots and don't even get me started on the subject of period dramas and police shows like the Bill.
That said, however, Steel River Blues is the best new show on television for a long time. It's got just the right mix of drama, humour and realism as well as a great soundtrack and, although it's early days yet, it shows real promise.
Not only that but now there's finally a show that doesn't treat us "Northerners" as either hub-cap-stealing Liverpudlians (Brookside)or hot-pot-eating, pint-swigging seamstresses that need a 'Cockney Geeza' and his Footballer's-wives-esque wife and kids to make the street cool (the factory girls on Corrie - come on, you don't expect me to believe that everyone in London actually speaks like that, do you? I have been there once or twice!). Both of which are such clichés and so unrealistic I can't tell you! Thank heavens there's finally someone writing something set in the North of England who actually seems to have lived here for more than a few days!
Damn good television with by far the best soundtrack of any show I've seen in a long time!