comment #1

Craig Kennedy says ...

Forgive me for sleeping in class, but what happened to Will Smith? The last time I paid attention to his film (early-mid December?), he was being talked up as probably beating Peter O'Toole for the Oscar and now his 'Best Actor hopes never got off the ground'. Was he squashed by the Forest Whitaker juggernaut or something?

comment #2

vansmith says ...

Smith didnt win any of the local critics awards throughout the country, but he's making money big time for Sony. I think its Stomp the Yard by the way...

comment #3

EDouglas says ...

Forest Whitaker is so far ahead in the Oscar game (deservedly) for his performance as Idi Amin, that I'm not sure why everyone's once again shifting towards Peter O'Toole simply because of a few television appearances. I'm sure that the Academy will do the right thing and vote for quality rather than sentiment. (It will make it the second year in a row where both lead acting categories went to those playing real people, something that makes it much easier to get a nomination these days)

comment #4

Goulet says ...

I saw Stomp the Yard at the all-media Wednesday night, where folks were hollering and cheering throughout. Me? HATED IT.

Well, maybe not "hated"... The actors are charming enough, there are a few good (if always packed with clichés) moments and the dancing is pretty great from what I could tell - which is not much, because the movie is more frenetically shot and cut than a Tony Scott flick. Seriously, it takes 15 minutes before there's a shot that isn't slowed down, sped up or both with pointless post-Matrix tricks.

What I did HATE, though, is the way the movie tries to tie these silly dance-offs and the hip hop macho bullshit to the Civil Rights movement. I kid you not, it ends with a picture of the dancers next to a picture of Marthin Luther King, then it cuts to title card with a MLK quote. FOR SHAME!

comment #5

MattM says ...

Anyone surprised by Stomp the Yard's success hasn't been paying attention:

January 2001--"Save The Last Dance" opens to 23M
End of January 2004--"You Got Served" opens to 16M.
April 2006--"Take The Lead" opens to 12M
Mid August-2006--"Step Up" opens to 20M

There's an audience out there for these sorts of films that isn't being catered to by the holiday movies still around--urban teenagers.

comment #6

Mike Schaefer says ...

The first time I saw the Stomp the Yard trailer, about a month ago, I giggled all thru it -- I thought it was a Scary/Date/Epic Movie-style parody of "urban" dance flicks. It wasn't until it ended that I realized they were serious. The lead character goes to "Truth University" -- even Spike Lee would cringe at the obviousness of that -- and becomes a step dancer because it's what his dead brother would've wanted. And pledges a step-dancing fraternity ('cause, y'know, there's like SO MANY of those) and falls in love with the girlfriend of a snotty rich guy, and... yeesh.

comment #7

James Leer says ...

I agree with all that except there actually ARE a lot of step-dancing fraternities. Maybe not in, like, Minnesota, but they're out there.

comment #8

christian says ...

and as usual, jeff was one of the people pimping smith as a sure-fire oscar contender. whose hope?

comment #9

Josh Massey says ...

I went to the U. of Georgia, and trust me, there are step-dancing fraternities.

comment #10

Rob says ...

Will Smith is still very much in the game.

comment #11

rocco says ...

When did an impersonation become a prerequisite for an academy award? Enough already...give me real human emotions, give me REAL acting, not Rich fucking Little...

comment #12

Stephen D. says ...

I saw "Stomp the Yard" this weekend. It had high-energy, impressive stepping numbers, as I expected. It was, as others have reported, highly cliched and formulaic. However, I credit the director, Sylvain White (who I understand has worked alongside the likes of Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze, according to IMDB), and the competent and likeable cast for making even the cliched scenes believable and not wasting any time getting through the plot points to the showstoppers. I found it disappointing that I was one of maybe 3 white people in a sold-out screening and that in my area (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) many theatres were not carrying the movie, obviously because of the all-black cast and its subject matter. The leads, Columbus Short and Meagan Good, are both very attractive and talented.