Well it's been far to long since I've written anything, but I've got two movie recommendations that I feel are a must see and what I might consider hidden gems.
The first movie is Bandslam it's a story that centers on a high school outcast and a popular girl who form an unlikely bond through their shared love of music. Assembling a like-minded crew of misfits, the friends form a rock group and perform in the battle of the bands competition at their school. Now when this movie was released it was quite easy to overlook because it looked like another stupid teenage movie that starred Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka, of whom you'd only know about if you watched High School Musical or the Disney channel. If your wondering, no I've never seen either the movies or the T.V show that these young actresses were on but I do read a lot about movies.
Will the central character as played by Gaelan Connell is someone I could relate to, he has an extensive knowledge on music and truly loves it, similar to my love with movies. Will is an outcast and considered odd because of something in his past but he is so much more than that and it shows when he helps and basically puts the band together. Vanessa Hudgens and Aly Michalka are very good and have good chemistry with the rest of the cast and are definitely talented singers.
School of Rock was one of my favorite movies when it came out and I'm not comparing but there are similarities, basically these are fun movies to watch that often get overlooked and that's a shame because sometimes you might be missing out on something quite enjoyable.
My second recommendation is the movie Flipped which is about A young schoolboy realizes that the same girl he struggled to avoid may actually be his one true love in this coming-of-age romantic comedy from director Rob Reiner. Adapted from the book by Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped tells the story of mischievous schoolboy Bryce (Callan McAuliffe) and his neighbor Juli (Madeline Carroll), who's had a crush on her girl-phobic classmate since second grade.
This is probably Rob Reiner's best work in along time that unfortunately didn't get seen by many people because it wasn't released to a wide audience.
This charming movie has the distinction of showing both vantage points from it's lead characters, which is rather refreshing in the way it's used in this movie and doesn't come across as a plot device but feels natural in telling the story.
Callan McAuliffe as Bryce and Madeline Carroll as Juli are outstanding and very charming as the leads and remind you of your first time being in love.
I really feel this is one of those movies that can be watched during the holidays and shared with families for movie nights, mind you of course there are a few curse words in this movie, especially for those who try to limit what their kids hear.
I hope if you choose to watch these movies that you enjoy them as much as I did and do still and let me know what you thought.
