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Reviews
High School Musical (2006)
Cheesy, but an overall good film.
"High School Musical" tells the story of Troy and Gabriella, who meet at a ski lodge over winter break and randomly end up singing karaoke together, which they, in the end, enjoy. There is an instant attraction between them, which sparks when they both sing together.
Then, after break is over, Troy returns to his normal, non-singing life, where he is the captain, and star, of his schools Varsity basketball team. But, just when everything is about to return to normal for East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we - the viewers and Troy - realize that Grabriella is a new student at the school. The old attraction is still there, even though Troy is a popular jock and Grabriella a nerd. Their friends don't think too much about it at first, but when they both try out, and get called back, for the Winter Musicale, their friends devise a plan to separate Troy and Gabriella's relationship. Too bad their plan backfires, causing both of our stars a lot of hurt emotions.
This movie is filled with clichés, cheesy dialogue, and a strange view on school popularity (along with jocks, the drama 'nerds' are the most popular people at my school). But, while watching this movie, you are able to overlook the clichés and cheesiness of the movie because of the singing (which has a good beat, even if the words are just as corny as the dialogue) and the extremely strong chemistry between Zac Efron (Troy) and Vanessa Anne Hudgens (Gabriella). Most people probably felt hurt along with Gabriella when Troy said those things about her, even though we all knew he didn't mean it.
However, aside for the corniness of the movie, there were a couple other things that bothered me in this movie.
The first one was Zac Efron's expression throughout the movie. I'm sure you noticed it. Were you not afraid that he was just going to start breaking down and crying? He had that expression - the one of about to burst into tears - throughout the whole film, which distracted me a bit from the movie.
Also, the whole happy ending was a bit TOO cliché for me. I know, it's a Disney movie and they all have to have happy endings, but they could've at least kept Sharpay and Ryan bitter, since there are going to be two sequels. But who knows, maybe Sharpay being nice to Gabriella at the end was an act?
Overall, this movie had a good message, which is not to care what your friends, and other people, think or you and to just follow your heart.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
Great book, but the movie left out/changed important plot points.
'The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants' is a great book. In the movie, Lena is portrayed by Alexis Bledel (of 'Gilmore Girls'), Carmen by America Ferrera (of 'Real Women Have Curves'), Tibby by Amber Tamblyn (of 'Joan of Arcadia') and Bridget by newcomer Blake Lively. These four girls have been best friends since before they were born and have never been apart, until the summer after their sophomore year of high school, when they're 15 going on 16. Carmen, expecting to have a great summer with her dad, begins to feel invisible when she finds out that he's engaged to a rich woman with two perfect blonde children. Lena goes to Greece and meets a boy. Bridget goes to an all-girls summer soccer camp and seduces one of the male coaches. And Tibby, left at home, gets a job and meets a girl who teaches her a valuable lesson.
The reason I give the movie a 7 is because they changed too much of the plot for my liking. First of all, Bridget has a twin brother named Perry. Lena was born first of them all, not Bridget. Lena's grandparents try to set Lena up with Kostos, but in the movie, Lena's family and Kostos's family hate each other, making Lena's love a forbidden one. Lena also has a sister named Effie. A minor thing is that Tibby has a two-year-old brother and a one-year-old sister in the book, not a four-year-old sister and a one-year-old brother. However, the one that gets me the most of the storyline for Lena.
7/10.