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TIT

'Urban 4 in 1 Collection'
(DVD / PG-13 & R / 2015 / Mill Creek Entertainment)

Overview: Want to Watch Something Meaningful and Life-changing?! Then check out this 4 in 1 DVD: You Got Served, Stomp The Yard, Gridiron Gang and Finding Forrester.

DVD Verdict: 'You Got Served' (Starring: Marques Houston, Omari Grandberry, Jarell Houston) introduces us to Mr. Rad's Warehouse, where the best hip hop crews in L.A. compete for money and respect. But when a suburban crew crashes the party, stealing their dancers-and their moves-two friends have to pull together to represent the street. The movie has some great dance spots but not much in terms of plot or originality. The makers of You Got Served only had one thing on their mind and that was to wow its audience with its dancing. They succeeded at making the dancing really good but failed to make a good movie. If you watch it just to check out the dancing and ignore everything else then you will enjoy it.

'Stomp the Yard' (Starring: Columbus Short, Meagan Good, Ne-YO) introduces us to DJ, an underground street dancer, who does not get along with the wealthier students on campus. After he decides to join an official step group he must learn to stop dancing as an individual, and start stepping as part of a team. When I first watched this movie, I honestly hated it. The storyline was, naturally, predictable and the acting was just alright. But I ended up watching the movie again and it grew on me. I love all the dancing and stepping, and I've learned to deal with the plot. It's really just the dancing that made this one of my now favorite movies. So Stomp the Yard doesn't have the best storyline. The good parts about this movie are the dancing and music, which to be fair, isn't that what it promises anyway?!

'Gridiron Gang' (Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Szibit, L. Scott Caldwell) tells the uplifting story of detention camp probation officer Sean Porter who creates a high-school-level football team from a ragtag group of dangerous teenage inmates as a means to teach them self-respect and social responsibility. 'Gridiron Gang' is a movie that understands who its audience is, and it plays them like a fiddle. But you know what else? I don't care. My friends all loved it regardless. I've had people watching it with me who cheered when the gang got a touchdown, they grimaced at every painful tackle, and they chanted for Johnny Betts to take his shirt off. Hey, I thought it was a little out of place as well, but who am I to deny my female friends their eye candy?!

'Finding Forrester' (Starring: Sean Connnery, Rob Brown, Anna Paquin, F. Murray Abraham) comes with the tag line, In an ordinary place, he found the one person to make his life extraordinary. Jamal Wallace (Brown) is a talented 16-year-old basketball player in New York City whose secret passion is writing. William Forrester (Connery) is a reclusive Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who never gave the world a second novel. After an accidental meeting, Forrester becomes Jamal's unlikely mentor, providing guidance to help develop the young man's exceptional skills. The acting is wonderful, particularly from the experienced Sean Connery, playing the title character, and from newcomer Robert Brown, as Jamal. Even the more minor parts in the film, such as Jamal's older brother, played by Busta Rhymes, and Jamal's friends and teachers are well-acted. Anna Paquin is well suited for her role as Claire, a rich girl from the prep school that Jamal transfers to. The two seem to make a connection, but a romantic subplot is not pursued very far in the film. I found this a refreshing change, and one of the factors that kept the movie from being too predictable, as well as much more realistic. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

www.MillCreekEnt.com





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