If it's not a good game or catholic...who do you call?...why Pokematic "Hi."

I just finished watching Bandslam. Before I get into the review, I need to tell a little story first. Years ago back in 2009, I went to the movies. I had the choice of seeing Bandslam , or I love you Beth Cooper. It was a bit of a difficult decision because I wanted to see both of them, but I only had time to see one of them. I decided to see I love you Beth Cooper. As it would turn out, that movie sucked. A little disappointed, I wanted to see Bandslam the week afterwards, but it was no longer showing. I never got around to renting it, because I just kind of forgot about it. Fast forward to 2014, and I finally see it. All I have to say is, "WHY DID I NOT SEE THIS 5 YEARS AGO!?"

Before I dive in, here's a quick synopsis, Will is the new kid, and he ends up meeting this girl, Sa5m, the 5 is silent. He hears about this big band thing called Bandslam, which is apparently Texas Highscool Football big in his school. He then ends up meeting another girl, Charlotte, who was once miss popular but now she isn't and she has this band with these dorks. Will then takes on the job of making them a real band so they can compete in Bandslam. That's enough for now. It's kind of basic, I know, but that's what makes it great.

OK, here's the short of it, this movie is hilarious. I don't know if it's intentional or not, but it is. I have not laughed this hard at a movie in a long time. All of the writing is amazing. It's like a satire of high school movies while being genuine. Yes, the story is derivative, but they do it in such a way that it's original and cookie cutter at the same time. It's the same thing with the characters. They're also quite cookie cutter, but at the same time, completely original and quite close to actual people you'd meet in high school. The situations, the delivery, the way in which they do everything is just so great. It's hard to describe, it's just so great.

It's really the cast. Lisa Kudrow played Will's mom. Lisa Kudrow, you know, Phoebe from friends. Yeah, she did a great job. She brought the fun of Phoebe Buffay without the "Smelly Cat." Aly Michalka and Vanessa Hudgens, those 2 Disney Channel singers that "made it big" right before the whole Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers explosion and then kind of dropped of the face of Hollywood, yeah they were in it too. Now I liked Aly in Phil of the Future, but that was one of the last good shows to come out of Disney Channel, and I liked it for what it was. I look back at it now, I'm not so sure. But wow, she is amazing as the older highschooler semi-love interest. I was never really familiar with Vanessa's work, because I never bought into the High School Musical thing, but she was also amazing. And I can't forget Will. It is not easy to pull off the lovable dork that comes to popularity. I have seen so many terrible portrayals of his character type. *cough Scott Pilgrim* But hey, it's a really difficult character to pull off. Most of the time you either play it too dorky and no one will ever believe that you actually became popular or you play it too cool and no one believes you were actually a dork. But this time, oh it was done right.

Another thing is the time setting and references. Unlike Juno, the references are actually natural and seamless. I actually believe that Will likes these bands and Sa5m is actually interested in books. Then there's the fact that it's set in 2009. They talk about MySpace like it's normal. Historically correct, MySpace was still pretty big back in 2009, but it's just kind of funny to hear and see it again. Then there's the flip phones, the use of still cameras, not iphones, to take pictures and video, the classic YouTube layout as seen close to the end. Just great. A real blast to the past.

So what do I have to say, go watch it now. I've included links right to Amazon so you can buy or rent it. Links like this one, Bandslam. It is so worth it. I'm buying a copy myself right now. Well, not really. By the time you've read this it will probably already be done. Thinking 4th dimensionally, kind of weird. Anyways, go get Bandslam. You will not be disappointed. Well, this has been Pokematic, signing off and bu-bye.

I'm still feeling around trying to figure out how I will use Film Annex. I would say "don't count on me doing reviews here regularly," but I'm still not sure. Maybe text reviews. Maybe short reviews like this. This is relatively short compared to my other reviews. I don't know. I need to end this. Good bye. Why am I rambling, this is not a video and I'm not what the buck. OK, really, good bye.