High School Musical 3 Movie Review

Ok, so I owe an apology to all 3 of my readers. I haven't had a chance to write out my personal review of HSM3 until now. Though I've talked with all 3 of you and undoubtedly made the remarks I am about to make here, here we go...

HSM3 was fantastic! I took Jonny on opening night and we had a blast! Jonny was totally into the popcorn and I was totally into the show. (Jonny was into the show when a huge dance number showed up on screen, but was into the popcorn during the "down times" of the movie.)

Let me just say that it is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to attend opening night on a movie like this. Half the excitement is being part of the fan club -- cheering in the middle of the movie when something great happens, dancing out of your seat (along with the rest of the crowd) when a huge hit comes on, etc. Similar to Sex in the City (of which I did not take Jonny) I cannot overemphasize the importance of being part of opening night. Ironically, it was Saw V's opening night too, so the lobby at the theatre had a great cross-section of die-hard fans :)

Now, on to the movie: It was BIG! I read a quote from Lucas Grabeil (my favorite actor in the HSM series) that eluded to the fact that in the first movie, he and his co-start Ashley Tisdale performed their huge Sharpay and Ryan hit on a dark stage with a golden ladder. In the feature film #3 version, they had over 100 dancing extras, 30 costume changes, and hours and hours of filming.

High School Musical 3 seemed to have a huge budget. I was nervous because the first 2 were so sweet on the small-screen and you never know what a crazed director might do with a ton of money to throw into a production. Well, Kenny Ortega knocked my socks off! He color and flash-back cinematography as well as flip-flopping between the real story line and the preparation for the Senior Year musical.

It was so cool to watch the theatrical side of the film - the costumes for the musical (within the musical) were FANTASTIC! The on-stage prom outfits were to die for! Chad's tuxedo even had his basketball number appliqued on the coat tails -- Watch out, Melanie Wood -- I think this is something I may need to do for Jonny when he goes to prom (like he'll let me!) Anyway, the color and the music was AWESOME! I can't wait 'til next paycheck to be able to download all the songs off Itunes... Jonny and I both liked what Zac Efron has described as the "bromance" -- the duet he and Corbin Bleu put together in a junk yard. It was funky and fresh and so fun to see two "cool" guys singing and dancing and not looking like ballerinas! It had an edge of clean hip hop which was totally refreshing.

The only thing I would have changed in the movie follows: the opening scene (not enough group pop... too much focus on Troy) and the amount of time Troy and Gabriella are one on one together. Sure, in HSM time, they've been together for a whole year (which is like a record for true high school romance) but the best parts of HSM are when the whole cast is together singing and dancing. Sure it's cute to watch young love unfold, but not when you're sitting next to your 4 year old son who's best friend thinks girls are of "the dark side," it gets a little old.

Oh, one more note... Troy has a KILLER tree house in the movie. Jonny and I made a pact to try and build a tree house like Troy's in our backyard. Anyone have the phone number for Disney?

Real reviews may be seen at the following links:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-1073770/High-School-Musical-3-



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/10/22/bfhighschool122.xml

High Def!

Yesterday I had a much needed eye exam. At my new job I've been working at the computer almost all day (except when in meetings)... By the way, it's nice to have a "real" job that requires computer work and meetings 9-5, Monday - Friday :) My new job also has provided our family with killer eye insurance (perhaps my employers are aware of the strain computer work puts on employees?) Anyway, I had a great time at my eye exam. They poofed air into my eyes and I screamed.

I was asked to look down a black tube and view a little house with a yard and all I saw was a boy on a bench putting a plastic bottle in the recycling bin. They told me that the way I saw the picture had nothing to do with my eyesight and that maybe I needed to see a psychologist (little do they know I already do... hee hee :) I met with the doctor and she said I have a bit of farsightedness (trouble seeing things up close) and an unusual issue with bringing things into focus when I see them up close. They did a couple of further tests and determined I didn' t have any serious eye problems, but she did say the inability for my eyes to adjust to things was rare.

So as I'm hearing this, I'm thinking (YES! I finally get to buy a killer pair of designer glasses!!!!) I was the kid who wanted to stand out all through grade school. I enjoyed having a head gear, braces, and really wanted glasses. When I was in 8th grade, I got a pair because I fudged on my eye exam on purpose. (Don't tell my parents!) Anyway, so I run to the designer case (you know where they have to use a key to get into the treasured goods...) I felt like Carrie Bradshaw and could hear Fergie's G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S playing in the background of my head. And then the magic words "buy one get one pair free" were spoken by the sales associate. Could this be true? I would not only get to choose one pair, but two pair of status-driven-look-at-me-I'm-important-and-smart-because-I-have-to-put-on-eyeglasses-when-I-read frames! Oh the excitement! So I chose the frames I pictured here... but the D&G pair has clear frames and leopard on the outside. Cha-ching!

So now I have really cool glasses. Oh yeah and the lenses they prescribed will help my eyes come into focus faster (I feel like I've gone from watching an old tube television to watching a high definition flat screen)... and the special coating they assigned to the lenses will help my eyes not get as strained when I'm working on the computer all day. Did I mention that the frames I chose are going to up my cool factor by about 300%?

Political Passion

My neighbor has a sign hanging off his balcony that reads "Sarah Palin" only the graphic in the background is one that you would see on trucker mud flaps (I've provided a picture here...) This infuriates me!

I was driving home with Jonny in the car when I first saw it. I stopped at my neighbor's house, got out of my car, pulled out my pocket knife key-chain and had every intention of ripping down the sign. I was furious!

I stopped when I heard Jonny's sweet little voice say, "Mommy, why are you getting out of the car?" (Louder) "Mommy, why are you going up on our neighbor's front porch?" (Screaming) "Mommy, why are you cutting down that guy's sign?" At that point it dawned on me that stealing someones sign (no matter how inappropriate I thought the sign was) would simply not be a good example for my son. Never mind the fact that one of the best parts of being in America is the protection of Free Speech.

I got back in the car and explained to Jonny that our neighbor's sign made me feel angry. I told him that women all over the country have been working hard to fight for the opportunity to be viewed as professionals and intellectuals... and that Sarah Palin's opportunity to run for Vice President was a great stride (my best friend Jane Ellis reminds me that Sarah Palin is not the first woman who has had the opportunity to run for VP, but I wasn't interested in politics last round...) So, for our neighbor to post a home-made sign that depicted Palin as a sexy silhouette just burned me up inside. Jonny just looked at me and said, "Ok mom. Can we go to McDonald's?" Men, hrmpf!

I decided to write a letter. I wrote a letter telling my neighbor that I didn't care if he was voting for Sarah Palin or not, the sign he made was inappropriate and that women like me who are trying to get beyond their sex appeal in the work force would find the sign damaging. I asked him to call me so we could talk about.

He called me and told me that he was a libertarian and that Sarah Palin was the closest candidate to Ron Paul and that he fully supported she and McCain. Never mind the fact that I do not support the McCain/Palin ticket, I told him that it wasn't the text that was inappropriate on his front porch, it was the sexy symbol. He disagreed with me and said that the symbol was his creative expression, one that he designed to catch people's eye in order to rally support for the McCain/Palin ticket.

We hung up on friendly terms (I had about 4 days to cool off before our conversation... and I didn't tell him that I was on his front porch with a pocket knife ready to cut the sign down...) We agreed to disagree about his creative expression and that was the end of it.

I'm not sure if Jesus would have written this guy a letter. I know Jesus probably wouldn't have ripped his sign down.... I wonder what Jesus would have done. Maybe He would have just gone to McDonald's with Jonny.

Batgirl

My halloween costume! (only mine won't be as fitted :)

High School

This past weekend, I celebrated my 10 year high school reunion. Not only is Westminster Christian Academy's mascot the same as the school in High School Musical (Go Wildcats!), but the environment was much the same. During our spirit week 10-14 years ago, kids were literally dancing and singing through the halls (just like the opening scene in HSM2!) At our reunion, the "kids" who put it together were right-on! They had old videos playing, yearbooks sprawled out on tables, our who's who list, and tons of old pictures... oh, and a lot of alcohol. I never thought I would celebrate my high school days with such excitement. I thought the only way to re live those days was via Disney's phenomenon. But after my high school reunion, I realized I had it even better than Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan, Chad, and the whole gang... my high school was real.