movie journal: telladegan nights, step up

I was already a sucker for good dance film. the previous highlight of dance film is richard gere's "shall we dance" which is delicate and melancholy and i liked it a lot. althoght not exactly the j.lo part i thought she's more latin salsa dance than ballroom dance but that's not the point. step up is a great urban film depicting a rather sullen Maryland, baltimore area where heavy industrialization left people drifting and angry. a bit like chicago in "shall we dance". black violence and hip hop culture permeats the backdrop of the whole film, but the lead dude's performance was more than adequate. he's a chiselled-bodied young alpha male of native indian, italian and some other heritage and all in a good mix pot. we last seen him in "she's the man" acting as a love interest for the leading lady in that film. best thing about "step up" though is undoubted its music and dancing. the dude and the chic leading roles are reported to be dating which is all the merrier.

Telladegan night or whatever it's called is a stupid laughing movie for the socially alienated bunch. For the record, NASCAR is a bunch of lead fuel sucking 1950's technology rusty tin cars racing constantly on a left bend oval. a robot can drive these cars and it's bad for the environment. But to me personally this idea of oval tracks is simply laughable: how do you expect driving skills to show in these races?