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Reviews
Glee (2009)
Irony Lives! . . .and has a soul
As someone who gets hives when a Journey song comes on the radio, I was taken by surprise at how good Glee is. An exceptionally attractive and talented cast focuses a spotlight--both figuratively and literally--on the ultimate dweebs of high school: glee club.
It is no surprise that this show arises from the same writer for "Popular" . . . that short-lived and underrated second-tier network series with a similar setting. What is surprising is how well they integrate the music with the story line. What keeps it from being saccharine is the self-awareness and not-even-close-to-subtle wink to the camera that "yes, we are manipulating your feelings from high school." It is remarkably effective. At the same time it is a parody, it still connects us to that time when we all felt like the outcasts in High School. And make us feel like we could have had a voice if we only had a glee club like this one.
Contadora Is for Lovers (2006)
Awful, awful, awful
Wow, is this a bad movie. Really, really bad. Acting is stilted, dialog is trite, camera-work is amateurish. They seem to be doing everything possible to keep you from caring about these characters. The actors are sexy, sure, but they do everything they can to make you NOT care about them. Did I mention the production values? The sound is god-awful. You hear clunks and wind and background conversation -- everything but the dialog. They really could have used a SteadyCam, too. The camera constantly bounces around, suddenly lurching off to the side. The acting is so unconvincing as to be comic. There's nothing virtually nothing to recommend this movie.