Review: "Step Up Revolution"

I am a "Step Up" virgin, somehow having managed to avoid -- excuse me, miss -- the first three flicks in the dancing-movie franchise. I actually went in thinking this was the third one, since it was in 3-D, and you know how clever they are about those numerals. But no, I learned afterward, this was actually the fourth.

Based on the enthusiasm of the audience at the promotional screening I attended, they better be gearing up for a fifth.

Alas, I am not the target audience for this movie, possessing about 20 years too many and some man parts. Not to mention, dancing is not my thing, neither doing it or watching it.

When it comes to dancing movies, I think no one has ever hit the sweet spot like the Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen films, who understood that the musical sequences have to move the story along.

In "Step Up Revolution," the dance numbers go on and on and on ... and on a little more. They're energetic and athletic and impressive, at least for a few minutes, and then they just keep hanging around. The final dance scene must sprawl along for 15 minutes and involve hundreds of performers, plus pyrotechnics, trampolines, bungee jumping and fog. There's always fog.

Oh, and some kid named Moose jumps out and starts jittering around, and the audience went wild. I take it he was in a couple of previous "Step" movies. He wears a hat, shades, long hair and so much clothing I couldn't really even tell what he was doing, other than just sort of vibrating a bit. Everyone else was impressed with his vibrating.

Even though I haven't seen any of the other "Step Up" movies or read anything about them, based on this one I'm going to make an educated guess about the plot of all of them:

They're centered around a boy/girl story, two people who come together through their love of dance. But they're from different worlds -- he's probably from that naughty side of the tracks -- and the institutions of propriety (parents, school, authority) frown on their jitterbugging. There's some static with friends pushed aside by the newly-formed duo, and some turbulent waters, but then everybody just dances and all their problems go away.

To those who've seen the other three movies -- how'd I do?

Here, Sean (Ryan Guzman) is the guy and Emily (Kathryn McCormick) is the girl. He's a waiter at a swanky Miami hotel; she's the daughter of the fat cat hotel owner (Peter Gallagher) who wants to demolish Sean's down-market but vibrant neighborhood to build an even swankier hotel. Eddie (Misha Gabriel) is the best friend who gets pushed aside, if for just a little bit.

Eddie and Sean have been designing flash mob events starring a group of dancers called, simply, "The Mob." They're trying to get noticed and win a YouTube contest for $100,000, which they don't look like they really need because Eddie is a hacker with at least $25,000 worth of computer gear, and all Mob members own super-sweet classic cars decked out with neon paint jobs and those jumping hydraulic suspension thingees.

I don't know why poor characters in movies always own nice classic cars. I own one, and I can tell you they're horrendously expensive to keep up. A couple of years ago my car began literally collapsing in on itself; I don't want to tell you what it cost to fix. Minimum wage slaves should really avoid them and get a sturdy used Honda.

Oh yes, back to the dancing.

Attitudes on dancing have changed with the times. The World War II and Korean War generations were bonkers for it, by my dad made me to understand that it was all an excuse for the genders to rub up against each other in a socially acceptable way. Elvis shook his pelvis, and that was deemed dangerous, and then things got groovier, with less clothing.

The through line seems to be that dancing is something women really love and something men do just to get the women. The lone exception, at least cinematically, was the disco craze captured in "Saturday Night Fever," where the guys strutted like peacocks so they could ... well, impress the women and thereby get them.

Gals, in case you haven't figured it out by now, we just tolerate dancing -- and dancing movies -- for ulterior motives.

I did enjoy some of the highly-choreographed dance scenes in "Step Up Revolution." Whenever the music stops and the characters try to talk to each other, it's pure death. But never fear, another dancing scene will soon come along to please those for whom this movie was made. Personally, I'd rather just read a book.

1.5 stars out of four

Review: "Conviction"

"Conviction" is a well-meaning drama that contains absolutely zero surprises. Hilary Swank gives another strong, stubborn performance as a working-class woman who essentially put her life on hold for two decades to get her brother sprung from prison on a wrongful murder conviction. We know even before the arrest that he will eventually be let go, because why else would they bother making this movie, based on a true story?

Tony Goldwyn directs in a resolute, straightforward manner that never allows any doubts about who the good and bad guys are. Melissa Leo, playing the ambitious cop who made the arrest, is denied even a sliver of humanity. There's one scene, years later, of Betty Anne Waters (Swank) confronting the cop, and she makes some weak excuse about being the only woman on the force in the early 1980s.

Tales of this officer's misdeeds continue, but she's never seen or heard from again. If she's supposed to represent the villain of the piece, then screenwriter Pamela Gray does a poor job of setting her up as a worthy antagonist.

The story begins with the arrest of Betty Anne's brother, Kenny (Sam Rockwell). Because he has a criminal record, the local police harass him over every misdeed committed in the community. But officer Nancy Taylor (Leo) seems to hold a special grudge against him. Kenny is depicted as a rebellious spirit who loves his sister fiercely, but just can't back down when he's pushed.

After it's clear no lawyer will touch the case, Betty Anne resolves to go to law school herself so she can represent her brother. Lacking even a high school diploma, this process takes years and years, during which time her marriage (Loren Dean plays the husband) dissolves and her relationship with her two sons grows strained.

What makes it a great role for Swank is that Betty Anne just won't take no for answer and won't give up -- even when Kenny does. Rockwell gives a genuine performance of measured power, as Kenny's will is slowly sapped out of him by the passing of time and the fading of hope. Rockwell makes us feel the years.

Minnie Driver plays a fellow older law student who offers her friendship and assistance, and Peter Gallagher plays Barry Scheck, the head of the Innocence Project, which provides a hand in getting Kenny freed. Juliette Lewis has a small, (unintentionally?) comic turn as one of the witnesses who helped seal Kenny's fate, and now provides a key break in the case.

As a legal drama, "Conviction" doesn't really have much plot to churn over. Betty Anne isn't portrayed as some kind of blue-collar Eliza Doolittle who suddenly transforms into a legal savant. Their case is built entirely around the slim hope of finding some blood evidence that wasn't destroyed so they can have it DNA tested.

I don't know how many scenes there are of Betty Anne and her cohorts phoning, pleading, looking through storage rooms in search of the elusive DNA. Of course, we know it will eventually turn up. Once it's found, though -- a little more than an hour into the film's run time -- the story keeps finding ways to delay the inevitable, and milk the dramaturgy.

As is to be expected in a Hollywood movie, certain liberties have been taken. The film portrays the time between which the DNA evidence turned up until Kenny's release as more than a year, when in fact it was something like two weeks.

Strangely, in the inevitable title cards right before the end credits that explain what happened to the various people, it doesn't mention that Kenny Waters died in a fall a few months after getting out of prison.

As a film that got a lot of early mentions for Oscar contention, there's no denying "Conviction" registers as a disappointment. Swank and Rockwell still give fine performances, almost enough to recommend the movie on that basis alone. The stubbornness of Betty Anne, though, is mirrored in the script's tunnel-vision approach to storytelling, which doesn't leave much room for nuance or complexity.

2 stars out of four

Review: "Adam"

The main challenge of any cinematic romance is that it has to be a two-way street. The audience has to accept not only that the couple is in love, but believe that each character is capable and willing of falling for the other.

The problem with "Adam" is that we never buy them as a plausible romantic pairing. It's very easy to see why the title character, played by Hugh Dancy, would fall for Beth (Rose Byrne), the sweet, pretty girl who moves into the floor below him. What we have trouble understanding is what she sees in him.

Adam suffers from Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism that makes social interaction very difficult, mostly due to a lack of empathy for others. Adam rarely looks people in the eye, has difficulty recognizing humor, and cannot distinguish between honesty and rudeness (for instance, when asked if he wants to see baby videos, he emphatically responds, "No, thank you").
Sounds like quite a catch, doesn't he?

At one point Beth, who is a teacher and aspiring children's book writer, asks the school psychologist about Adam's condition. After hearing the list of characteristics, she hesitantly follows up: "So, not exactly prime relationship material, right?"

In another scene, Beth's father (Peter Gallagher) gives that familiar speech that many fathers, real and reel, have given to their daughters about a certain boy not being right for them. It's meant to be a pivotal moment, where young love is challenged by the cold rationality of the old. We're supposed to cheer when Beth tells her dad off. But in this case, we're left with the nagging suspicion that dad is right.

"Adam" is a well-intentioned movie. Writer/director Max Mayer approaches his characters with sensitivity, and I didn't sense any motive to exploit Asperger's or those who have it. At one point Beth gives Adam some chocolates, and he quips, "I'm not Forrest Gump, you know!"

Still, we are asked to accept that Beth would fall in love with a guy who's not just socially awkward, but with tangible and deep-seated psychological problems. That's a big leap, and I don't think Mayer and his cast quite clear it.

Dancy gives a charming, technically sound performance, and we do end up with a fondness for Adam. I can't say the same for "Adam."

2 stars