Bandslam

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The premise of this movie is not extraordinary. I say it's pretty common. The ingredients are: (1) a boy (of the unpopular type) who has a charisma (understands music, although he doesn't seem to play an instrument) moves to a new town because his mom got a new job (2) a single mom (of the teenage boy) (3) a girl (of the cheerleader type) who likes boy 1 (4) another boy (of the popular type this time) who use to be the boyfriend of popular girl 3 and learns to hate boy 1 (5) A public contest of some sort... ...(wait this is exactly like the ingredients of ...The Karate Kid!)...except for Mr. Miyagi! ... and (6) Vanessa Hudgens playing a good girl (!) of the lonely type who also happens to like boy 1. Anyway. This doesn't look or feels nothing like The Karate Kid despite my comparison! It's basically a teen dramedy. Young hopes. Young love. Friendship. It's enjoyable enough. It has music and some (not very good) teeny songs. It may attract the younger audience but this movie is far from deep or interesting. Pretty standard stuff really. If it's on TV or something, check it out

I really didn't expect much out of the viewing experience as I settled in to watch "Bandslam". Pretty much the only reason I rented it was because of the "Vanessa Hudgens" name and the fact that I thought my younger sister and I would enjoy watching it together. Pretty faces and good music...what can go wrong, right? Unfortunately, the film fell short of even those somewhat less than lofty expectations. For a quick plot summary, the film centers on young high-schooler Will Burton (Gaelen Connell) in the midst of changing schools. Burton, a classic-rock savant of sorts, is quickly befriended/recruited by fellow student and band-leader Charlotte (Alyson Michalka) in order to use his talents to try and win the school's upcoming "Bandslam" competition. Also in the mix is Sam (Hudgens), an unemotional loner who intrigues Will. The biggest problem with this film (besides featuring some of the dumbest exposition in film history) is that, while it markets itself towards children, the subject matter (classic bands, music terminology) is by and large geared towards nostalgic 80s-teens. In this aspect, it suffers from the same problem as 2003's "The School of Rock", although that movie was able to pull through due to the crazy antics of Jack Black. Not only that, but the relationships are so contrived that even young children (like my sister) won't be suckered into them. Further bumping this film down a notch is the poor acting, on the whole. Hudgens (while very beautiful) is by no means a star thespian, while Lisa Kudrow (playing "Mom Burton") plays such an annoying character that it is almost physically uncomfortable to watch. Michalka turns in easily the best performance of the entire piece, with Connell doing a decent job as the lead. Other than that, there's nothing to get excited about. Thus, if you are considering viewing this video due to Hudgens' "High School Musical" reputation, I would recommend the following: Put it down and look elsewhere (as previously mentioned, "School of Rock" would be an excellent same-genre choice). Unless you are easily suckered into the cheesiest of plots/characters, you'll be wondering why you wasted two hours on this.

Let me say this, it was nothing that I expected... I thought this would be a movie on the heels of HSM, Camp Rock etc etc, GREAT MOVIES that I enjoyed but were made for the whole family and ESPECIALLY for kids, but Bandslam is well and truly a Teen movie and which even adults would thoroughly enjoy. Bandslam is the story of Will, an unpopular kid who lacks friends and a social life, so when his mom breaks to him the news that they are moving to another town, he greets it initially with enthusiasm and excitement but it was short lived as he realizes it wouldn't be much different there as he believes his personality and character would always be that of an 'social outcast'. However when he does arrive at his new school an occurrence makes him pose a question to Sa5m (the 5 is silent)which turns out to Will making his first 'friend' and future crush/love interest. He is also eyed by Charlotte (a reformed ex cheerleader and junior prom queen)who recognizes Will's extraordinary encyclopedic knowledge of music and recruits him to be her band's manager who also soon becomes Will's best friend. The rest of the story revolves around how Will starts fitting into socially and making friends... ...thereby making the title 'Bandslam' quite irrelevant. The title indicates it to be a movie about a dance competition (like Camp Rock) but in reality, the 'Bandslam' competition is just a sub-plot of this movie which actually revolves around the life of Will and him making new friends. This movie actually kind of touched me as it shows how troubled and lonely some kids are, however they shouldn't ever lose hope, there is always somebody who is going to be your friend, you should be able to go and talk to them as communication is always the base of friendship. I absolutely loved the characters, Vanessa Hudgens playing Sa5m acted brilliant in the mysterious mystical character her role required but I absolutely loved Aly Michalka's performance as Charlotte (does anyone else think she greatly resembles Chelsea Staub?)It makes you (as a guy) want to have a best friend like Charlotte. Overall all the actors played their roles brilliantly and there weren't any real so called 'Bad Boys', it was a movie about friendship and it greatly lived to it. My only disappointment was how it was handled commercially, bad marketing, ridiculous title (although Bandslam is a cool name it was totally inappropriate) and it's meaningless tag line. I would recommend everybody to watch Bandslam, it's a very enjoyable experience.

I really enjoyed watching this film. It had the right amount of humor, drama, romance, and some great music, too! Aly Mashalka and Vanessa Hudgens did a wonderful job, and i loved the David Bowie guest appearance. The CBGB scene was just awesome. This movie will have you laughing hysterically, and even get you tearing up. This movie had a great plot, and it's that kind of movie that you can watch over and over again to the point where you're reciting the lines. Yeah, some parts were cheesy, some kind of awkward, some totally unrealistic, (like when David Bowie offers the band a record deal) but overall i really enjoyed this movie and think it should get more credit than it did. It had good music, good characters, and anyone from 5 to 85 would enjoy it. I think this is a movie that everyone should go see.:]

Invited to a screening of the film on 7-27-2009. I had read about the film and expected a so so movie. Very pleasantly surprised by the story, characters and music in the film. Would recommend this to all ages. Some very funny lines with this one, sit back and enjoy Will as he leaves one school and begins anew in Lodi NJ. As an outsider/loner he is paired with SAM for a class project. The outcome is both fun to watch and makes you feel good about him and his role in the film. Partly told via Will's emails to his idol, David Bowie, the film concludes with a Bowie cameo. The film's web site should be looked at only after you see the film as it will give away too much of the story line. The soundtrack is excellent and contains tracks from the various bands performing in the annual Band Slam competition.

I went to Bandslam expecting to find Vanessa Hudgens as cute as ever, but the rest of the movie a trite formulaic noughties version of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland going "I know, let's put on the show right here!" Wrong! Well, not 100% wrong, because there's quite a lot of formula in here, but the movie does move off model from time to time as well. There is at least an attempt at rounding out the main characters, and some of the more obvious plot developments either don't happen, or else don't happen exactly in the way you expected. At the heart of the story is misfit music nut Will Burton trying to fit in a new school, his unexpected friendship with hottie senior Charlotte, and his growing love for quiet nonconformist Sa5m (no, it's not a typo). As Will, Gaelan Connell does well in a part which might have been written for Michael Cera. Alyson Michalka is an effective Charlotte and, while Vanessa Hudgens isn't stretched, Sa5m enables her to show off some comedy, singing, and decent guitar picking. I thoroughly enjoyed the climactic musical number (though not much of the rest of the music). And there's a terrific first kiss scene - great fun, and summons up very clearly what it's like to be in that first flush of love. I liked this little film a lot.