I'm a former band guy, and watched this movie knowing how cheesy and foumulaic it would be, but I assumed I would enjoy it the way my wife, a former cheerleader, enjoyed "Bring It On." Nope. There's nothing enjoyable about this movie. The story was cliche, the characters were stock, the direction was amateur, the situation was ludicrous, and the music and marching were a joke. I kind of thought they'd use, or at least model themselves after, real SWAC or MEAC bands and players, but the music sequences, which should have been equivalent to the game sequences in sports movies or the performance sequences in arts movies (e.g. Fame, Center Stage, Bring It On - kinda), were so low quality they were laughable. 20 High Schools in my state could have easily won that competition, and every drum corp except maybe the Troopers. There was some special attention given to, can you believe it, the drum line, but ultimately, the sequences were boring and monotonous, and the cadences rudimentary and annoying. Since the story was utterly predictable, let me rate the performances in this movie, using BOA scoring:
Music Performance Individual: 12/20 - The closeups were the best part, and Devon was good enough to be in my college percussion section - on cymbals. Music Performance Ensemble: 5/20 - One band, one awful sound. They couldn't even play a Bb scale in tune. Seriously. Visual Performance Individual: 5/20 - Hey, Devon? Tick, Tick, Tick... Visual Performance Ensemble: 3/20 - Straight lines are not that hard to maintain when you stand still for 5 minutes.. Maybe you guys should be introduced to a thing called "Marching". In a few years we'll move on to another thing called "Drill Design." Music GE: 15/40 - Dr. Lee, let me introduce you to a thing called a "Theme". There's nothing wrong with quick cheers and fanfares in the stands being based on hip-hop, but you may have noticed that the melodic lines of most contemporary hip-hop tunes are not exactly ever-changing. In The Stone was cutting edge about 20 years ago, but now every high school band plays it. Visual GE: 4/20. Atrocious dancing, flat footed marching, no concept to the shows at all. While we're doing Band 101, there's a new concept called "Color Guard" you may want to look into.
Total score: 44/100. OK, so maybe I was too stingy: there are at least 50 bands in NM that could beat that score.
Oh, one comment made by another user I agree with wholeheartedly: UCLA sucks. Fight on, brother.
Music Performance Individual: 12/20 - The closeups were the best part, and Devon was good enough to be in my college percussion section - on cymbals. Music Performance Ensemble: 5/20 - One band, one awful sound. They couldn't even play a Bb scale in tune. Seriously. Visual Performance Individual: 5/20 - Hey, Devon? Tick, Tick, Tick... Visual Performance Ensemble: 3/20 - Straight lines are not that hard to maintain when you stand still for 5 minutes.. Maybe you guys should be introduced to a thing called "Marching". In a few years we'll move on to another thing called "Drill Design." Music GE: 15/40 - Dr. Lee, let me introduce you to a thing called a "Theme". There's nothing wrong with quick cheers and fanfares in the stands being based on hip-hop, but you may have noticed that the melodic lines of most contemporary hip-hop tunes are not exactly ever-changing. In The Stone was cutting edge about 20 years ago, but now every high school band plays it. Visual GE: 4/20. Atrocious dancing, flat footed marching, no concept to the shows at all. While we're doing Band 101, there's a new concept called "Color Guard" you may want to look into.
Total score: 44/100. OK, so maybe I was too stingy: there are at least 50 bands in NM that could beat that score.
Oh, one comment made by another user I agree with wholeheartedly: UCLA sucks. Fight on, brother.