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Lambada: Set the Night on Fire

There is nothing I can really add to the fiery debate surrounding the 1990 release, Lambada, Set the Night on Fire. Suffice to say, that the movie was not included in AFI's Top 100 movies of all time list offended many in the dance movie community.

Hidden somewhere in the bowels of Showtime Sunday morning programming, the movie puts you square into the hell that was Beverley Hills in the early nineties. The new math teacher, Mr. something or other, inspires his students to love math during the day and at night, disappears from his family to venture into the barrio as the leather clad "Blade", where he dances the Lambada...the Forbidden Dance. Blade meets many underprivileged kids and feels he must do something to make a difference - so at the end of the night, he gathers a group of dancers to teach them mathematics so that they can go out and get their GEDs.

Still with me?

Meanwhile, Jan from the Office becomes hot for teacher when she spies him as his alter ego and pursues him relentlessly. This causes some major issues with her Latino gang member boyfriend, who threatens him with a knife. Mr. something or other resists her advances, as she's a minor and a student and he's married, but all that is forgotten while they are dancing together every night. Soon, they are discovered and he's fired, but not before the math class breaks out into dancing. His firing is tragic. After all, he taught his students to love math (in one pivotal scene, the class jock uses his protractor to discover that a telephone pole stands at a 90 degree angle to the street).

The class ventures to the barrio to confront the Latino gang member who turned in their teacher and a huge dance fight breaks out. "Blade" appears and breaks up the fight and they all agree to settle this out once and for all - at a math competition.

This movie made me want to learn the Lambada and dust off my trigonometry. It also set the gold standard in "dance as a way to settle racial differences" themes so prevalent in today's modern dance movies, such as Step Up 2 The Streets and You Got Served - while one can argue that West Side Story, which is on the AFI Top 100 list, is far superior, consider that the Jets never carried slide-rules.

I give this movie 4 out of 4 slide rules. Contains elements of Dance, Statutory Rape.

Trailer: Lambada

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American Ninja was the best ninja movie made in the 80's

Joe Armstrong, an orphaned drifter will little respect for much other than martial arts, finds himself on an American Army base in The Philippines after a judge gives him a choice of enlistment or prison. On his first missions driving a convoy, his platoon is attacked by a group of rebels who try to steal the weapons the platoon is transporting and kidnap Patricia, the base colonel's daughter, who happens to be along for the ride. Joe rescues Patricia, but everyone else in the platoon is killed, leading his superiors to conclude that Joe is guilty of cowardice, collaboration or simple incompetence. At the same time, the rebel leader vows revenge against the serviceman who disrupted his plans, and sends an army of ninjas to assassinate him and bring back Patricia. If he wants to survive and save the girl, Joe's going to have to draw on every last ounce of his training.

Transformers!

kids - don't let the reviews scare you. Transformers was quite possibly the most fun I've had in a movie theater in a looooong time. Say what you will about Michael Bay, but its clear that he loved the show as a cartoon and does what he can to bring through the personalities of our metal buds. You saw a star being born with Shia Labouf (the next Indiana Jones) AND I guarantee you that it will it will do for action movies what LOTR did for special effects. Go see it.

And just because I can, here's a picture of Megan Fox:

Where Shaun of the Dead left off...

oh man. Thanks to Sara for the heads-up!

Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Its close enough, I can smell it. Less than 3 weeks time.

Hey Seattle: Go see Once, featuring Glen Hansard!

What a weekend NOT to be in Seattle. I'm crushed!
Once is an independant movie garnering a lot of buzz. Featuring Glen Hansard of the Frames and Marketa Irglova of Swell Season, its a simple, moving story featuring some of the most amazing music to come out of Ireland.

And he's going to be in Seattle this Friday to show his little movie and play a little music afterwards. Do yourself a favor, read below, and go. Its free, I guarantee you'll enjoy it, and if you haven't heard of the Frames before, you'll have a new favorite band.

Go See a Movie featuring the Frames!
KEXP listeners are invited to attend a screening of the film, "Once" A modern day musical set on the streets of Dublin.  Featuring Glen Hansard and his Irish band "The Frames," the film tells the story of a street musician and a Czech immigrant during an eventful week as they write, rehearse and record songs that reveal their unique love story. KEXP's very own DJ El Toro will be hosting the ONCE screening and the Q&A/Performance.

ONCE
Friday, May 18
7:00 PM
Museum of History & Industry - Prevue Theatre

If you want to attend this sreening send an email with this subject line "ONCE/KEXP" to: michelle@janetwainwright.com

City of God

So I wrapped up City of God last night...a really, really superb movie. Even dreamed about it. Its a gangster movie, its a drama, its a coming of age story, its a light on parts of the civilized world you never hear about. Its original and has a feel of importance throughout: its important that you watch the movie. You just don't see films like this any more, with everything being so contrived and scripted and fluffy. Just really good stuff.

McIvor turned me onto this movie, saying that it was his favorite of all time and I can't blame him. I have to imagine that its the kind of movie that all directors dream of making.

Reno 911!: Miami

Has anyone seen the TV spot for the Reno 911!: Miami movie?

All I'm going to say is, 1) the movie's gonna rock and 2) never try to push a beached whale off the beach.