Tag Archives: channing tatum

Dancing to T Pain

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I wouldn’t really call myself a T. Pain fan, nor would I ever endorse the lyrics of this song which is just wrong on so many levels. But I have to admit I loved the scene in Step Up 2 where Tyler (Channing Tatum) and Andie (Briana Evigan) had a dance-off to this song.

I’ve seen other people dancing to this song after that, but I’ve never really liked it since I always invariably compare it to the dance scene in Step Up 2. But then I saw Twitch and Courtney using NappyTabs’ choreography in So You Think You Can Dance, and I have to say – I liked this as well. Here’s the full video of the performance.

Who’s the Man? She’s the Man!

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shes-the-man--poster-shes-the-man-687673_351_500

Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them. – William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (Act 2, Scene 5)

So maybe a line that profound is out of place in a teen flick, but what the hey, Channing Tatum pulled it off. His character Duke Orsino said it to Viola (played by Amanda Bynes) when she told him the truth of her identity in the romantic comedy She’s the Man. I just have to give it to Amanda; she’s really the man, with her freaky boyish facial expressions and movements.

I’ve only read one Shakespeare play in my entire life (The Merchant of Venice), and found it interesting but pretty tedious so I’m not sure if I’m going to ever read another one. But if I do decide to read one more Shakespeare before I die, it will probably be Twelfth Night, the play where the movie She’s the Man was based.

Here are some interesting similarities and differences between the play Twelfth Night and the movie She’s the Man:

– The names used in both the movie and the play were the same for Viola, Sebastian and Olivia.

– In both the movie and the play, Orsino tried to get Viola to help him win over Olivia, but Viola ends up falling in love with him instead and Olivia ends up falling in love with the male version of Viola.

– In both the movie and the play, Sebastian and Olivia got together at the end.

– In the play, Viola fell in love with Orsino, who is a Duke. In the movie, Viola fell in love with her roommate and soccer teammate named Duke Orsino.

– In the play, the country where the shipwrecked Viola found herself was named Illyria. In the movie, Illyria was the name of the school where she transferred to join the boy’s soccer team.

– In the play, Cesario was the name Viola used when she pretended to be a man (not Sebastian, since she was not impersonating her twin). In the movie, Cesario was the name of the restaurant where the high school kids hung out.

– In the movie, Duke’s best friends are named Toby and Andrew. In the play, Toby is the name of Olivia’s uncle and Andrew is the name of one of her suitors.

– In the movie, Malvolio is Malcolm’s tarantula. In the play, Malvolio is Olivia’s steward.

The Inspiring Coach Carter

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Last night, I watched Coach Carter in its entirety for the first time. I’ve seen about half of it a couple of months ago at the insistence of my boyfriend, Sidney. We were flipping channels, and it was on HBO, but I didn’t want to see it because I thought it was just another feel-good basketball movie. But he won out, and even though it is a feel-good basketball movie, it’s also based on a true story, and some parts made me cry. As a bonus, Channing Tatum is in the movie, although I noticed that only after I’ve seen Step Up, when Sidney was enumerating Channing’s movies which I’ve seen before (namely She’s the Man and Coach Carter.)

As an aside, I read that before playing the Jason Lyle character in this movie, Channing has never played basketball before. He had to get some personal training to get him up to speed with the other players, one of which was Antwon Tanner, who plays the role of Skills in my favorite TV show One Tree Hill. But more on OTH on a future post.

Here are my favorite inspirational moments from Coach Carter (in chronological order):

#1 When Timo Cruz couldn’t finish his task of 1000 suicides and 2500 pushups in one week (which was his punishment for leaving the team the first time), Jason Lyle (played by Channing Tatum) stepped up and offered to do pushups for his teammate. He told Coach Carter, “You said we’re a team. One person struggles, we all struggle. One person triumphs, we all triumph.” The entire team followed suit and did their part to help the exhausted Timo complete his punishment.

#2 When the people wanted to forcibly end the lockout and let the boys play despite the fact that more than half of them were failing in class, Coach Ken Carter got up to say the following:

“You really need to consider the message you’re sending this boys by ending the lockout. It’s the same message that we as a culture send to our professional athletes; and that is that they are above the law. If these boys cannot honor the simple rules of a basketball contract, how long do you think it will be before they’re out there breaking the law? I played ball here at Richmond high 30 years ago. It was the same thing then; some of my teammates went to prison, some of them even ended up dead. If you vote to end the lockout, you won’t have to terminate me; I’ll quit.”

#3 When the board ended up voting in favor of ending the lockout, Coach Carter went back to the gym to pack up his things and go home. He was stunned to see his players sitting on desks and studying in the middle of the court. Jason said, “Sir, they can cut the chains off the door, but they can’t make us play.” Damien explained, “We’ve decided we’re going to finish what you’ve started, sir.” And Worm couldn’t resist adding, “Yeah, so leave us be, Coach. We’ve got sh*t to do, sir.” That was funny and touching at the same time. But the best moment has to be when Timo stood up (and you remember how he was when he went to Coach Carter’s house in the middle of the night after his cousin got shot), and quoted the words of Marianne Williamson, which Nelson Mandela once used in a speech. This is what he said:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Wow. That’s really something. It’s more powerful if you see it in the context of the entire movie. The final song they played after the team lost their playoffs game is also a must-see (“Hope” by Twista featuring Faith Evans), and Channing is in the music video so that’s a bonus for me. 

Stepping Up the Game with Step Up 2: The Streets

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I’ve always been a fan of dance movies, so it’s no wonder I was so excited to watch the sequel of my favorite dance movie of all time, Step Up. I got even more excited when my boyfriend told me that Channing Tatum will be reprising his role as Tyler Gage, even if it’s just for a few minutes. I immediately asked him if Tyler was doing any dancing, and when he said yes, I knew I had to watch this movie. Anyway, here are my favorite scenes:

Step-Up-2-The-Streets-Andie-vs-Tyler-Gage

#1 The dance battle between Tyler and Andie West (Brianna Evigan), and it’s not just because Channing was there. The dancing was fun, with the trampolines and the back flip from the DJ booth. My favorite part in that entire dance was when he jumped off the trampoline and hooked his long sleeves, so that when he jumped back to the floor he was only in his sleeveless shirt. After that move, the DJ screamed, “It’s over! It’s over!”

I also thought putting the dance-off in the movie was very smart because of the following reasons:

a) It provides continuity from Step Up 1 to Step Up 2 – it was like Tyler was passing the torch to Andie and Chase (whom we see freestyling at the Dragon Club in his black hoodie) By the way, speaking of hoodies, the black and white hoodie he was wearing was Nike. I hope they’ll sell it here. So anyway, unlike other sequels where you don’t really understand how one is related to the other (such as the Bring It On movies – you just know that everything’s about cheerleading), the short scenes with Tyler connect the two movies without seeming contrived or forced.

b) It explains the absence of both him and Nora from the rest of the movie. Remember when he told Andie that “Me and Nora goin’ on tour” then did this silly dance? It showed that they were still together, and they were both going places now, which is actually the case in real life for them too. In case you didn’t know, Channing Tatum (who played Tyler Gage) and Jenna Dewan (who played Nora Clark) are still going strong as a couple and as individual actors with promising careers.

c) It ensured that all Channing fans will go see the movie (mostly to see him dance). It also completed Tyler’s character transformation since Step Up 1 from unambitious kid who’s going nowhere fast to a driven rolemodel whom Andie’s guardian believed set a great example to all the other kids in the block.

So thanks to director Jon Chu for getting him there, though I wish Jenna had a cameo as well (even without dancing since the whole ballet thing probably wouldn’t work with the storyline).

moose-stairs-dance-step-up-2-the-streets

#2 The amazing moves of Moose (Adam Sevani) to the song “The Way I Are” on the stairs. First of all, can I just say he’s the spitting image of Gordo from the Lizzie McGuire show? They both got this nerdy geeky thing going for them.

This is Moose:

This is Gordo:

Anyway, what’s so funny about Moose’s dancing is that he’s such a nerd so you’d never think he’s capable of doing even the most basic dance moves. When Andie heard his ring tone, she disbelievingly said, “That is not your ring tone,” mainly because it’s not the type of music you’d expect a nerd to like. Then Moose does this funny beat box and weird moves and says, “Watch me” then started free styling up the stairs. Talk about shock value! The New York Times even said he “might be the baddest nerd in movie history.”

The little ballerina stole the scene in Step Up 1 when she glared at Tyler, who couldn’t keep laughing while doing ballet. For Step Up 2, the scene stealer has got to be Moose. I mean, he even won an award for it at the 2008 Young Hollywood Award.

Step-Up-2-Hypnotism

#3 The final dance of the MSA crew, especially Moose in “Bounce” and the pair dancing of Andie and Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman) towards the end. I’ve never seen two more evenly matched dancers together. Tyler and Nora were matched as well, but they were good in different styles. Both Andie and Chase are amazing hip-hop dancers. I loved watching them together.

Reasons Why I Love STEP UP

Here are some of the reasons why I love STEP UP.

#1 The story didn’t focus on the rich girl – poor guy angle (also known as the heaven and earth plot line, which is so overused in Philippine movies). Instead, they focused on the differences of Tyler Gage and Nora Clark as individuals.

#2 Tyler and Nora didn’t get together until AFTER she has broken up with her boyfriend Brett. Cheating on your boyfriend, no matter how big an ass he may be, is just a huge no-no in my book. I mean seriously, can’t you at least make a phone call to break up with the person you’re with before you hook up with someone else?

#3 The dance sequences and the music were really interesting. I have this thing for combining two different genres, like old-school church hymns with punk rock tempos (like “It Is Well with My Soul” my Jars of Clay” or sappy love songs like “Always Be My Baby” with rock star vocalists like David Cook. So combining ballet with hip-hop, and strings with percussions (such as in Bout It by Yung Joc featuring 3LW and Imma Shine by Youngbloodz) really worked for me.

#4 I totally understand Tyler about not wanting anything so that it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t get it. I’m like that myself sometimes (or most of the time? I am SO unambitious). But I guess it’s time to “think I can have them” too.

#5 Channing Tatum. Seeing him on screen is enough of a reason to like any movie. After seeing him in Step Up and researching about him on the internet, I realized that I’ve seen him before in Coach Carter and She’s the Man, and in the music video of “Get Up” by Ciara.

Definitely a Step Up in the Dance Movie Genre

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07 May 2008 was an important day for me for one simple reason… It was the first time I saw the hit dance movie STEP UP, and it’s now officially my favorite dance movie.

Okay, okay, so Step Up is a pretty old movie, and it was shown here in the Philippines about two years ago I think. It’s probably not the best movie to write about for my first blog entry since it’s not very current. For some reason, although I am a huge fan of musicals and dance movies, I didn’t watch Step Up when it was showing because it seemed formulaic and predictable to me. Rich, stuck up ballerina meets edgy bad-boy street dancer. They fight. They fall in love. They dance together in the end – maybe she does hip-hop, or he does ballet (ew).

My boyfriend Sidney (who’s a pretty good dancer himself) has seen the movie before and liked it, so he told me about a month ago that it was going to be on Star Movies and that I should try to catch it. I said okay half-heartedly, without really planning to check it out. I remember even being a bit irritable when he asked me for the fourth or fifth time if I’ve already caught the movie on cable.

That is, until it was the deadline for my Shelfari challenge with Mike R. I was planning to stay up late on the night of May 7 just to add all the books I have previously read in my lifetime to my Shelfari account in order to win a geeky bet. I flicked on the TV to keep me company, and I chanced on Step Up. It was the scene where Tyler Gage (played by Channing Tatum) was cleaning the muddy floor of MSA (which is in the first one third of the movie, so I wasn’t missing much). I called my boyfriend to ask whether this guy was a janitor or something, and he explained the whole community service thing.

I got sucked into the story when Nora Clark (Jenna Dewan) held auditions for her temporary partner, and these lithe ballerinos (is that even a term? ballerinos as opposed to ballerinas who are female?) showed up and couldn’t manage to lift or hold on to her. That was so hilarious, and I found myself leaving my seat in front of the computer and taking a seat in front of the TV to enjoy the movie better. Then Tyler went down the ladder (after he finished cleaning the windows), wiped his hands, and approached Nora:

Tyler: I’ll do it
Nora: Do what?
Tyler: I don’t know, whatever y’all were trying to do out here.
Nora: (looking at him in disbelief) You want to lift me? Are you kidding?
Tyler: (with a tough-guy expression) Does it look like I’m kidding?

By the time they started rehearsing, I knew I was hooked. It was funny, and sweet, and had an interesting plot – never mind my previous apprehensions on the storyline, they didn’t really focus on the rich girl-poor guy angle that I loathe. I also instantly noticed that they were doing their own dancing (unlike in Save the Last Dance where it was SO obvious that Julia Stiles had a dance double in the ballet sequences). Then came the club scene, which became my favorite.

The very next day I watched the club scene repeatedly on Youtube and bought a DVD of Step Up before I went home. I was up until the wee hours of the morning just watching the movie again and again, especially the dance sequences.

I’ve always wanted to have my own blog, but for some reason I never got around to doing it. Sure, I wrote a couple of blog entries for my Friendster blog account, but I was never serious about keeping it because I felt like I was going to run out of topics sooner or later. But now, I think I have one topic I can talk about for a couple of blog entries worth.