bring it on Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Goodness knows the world wasn't asking for the equivalent of National Lampoon's Bring It On (alternate title: Take It Off), but if we had to be subjected to the forthcoming cheer romp that is Fired Up!, why has it taken nine years to cash in on the trend? I can't otherwise understand how else this comedy -- the trailer for which we've included after the jump -- has gotten off the ground.

See, it's about a pair of high school football players (played by 31-year-old Eric Christian Olsen and 28-year-old Nicholas D'Agosto) who opt out on their team training in order to tag along with the all-female cheerleading squad to their cheer camp/competition. Besides, with 300 ready-and-waiting young women at their alleged disposal, what are the odds that one of our guys will instead want to hook up with the cutie (Sarah Roemer) calling their bluff? And what chance could there possibly be that she already has a dick-ish boyfriend who can't help but make them look like more sensible guys in comparison? Might hilarity ensue?!

The other day, a blog entry from the cinetrix about "The Rule" evoked a flood of memories from my love-movies-hate-the-patriarchy college days. In 1989, my then-roommate's then-girlfriend showed me a comic strip from the series Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. The strip was called "The Rule" and it was about a character who explained that she only went to movies that met three criteria:

1. Two of the characters had to be women --
2. Who talked with each other --
3. About something other than a man.

Read the original strip for yourself. At the time, "The Rule" had a big impact on my life -- it explained a lot about what I found lacking in movies. I wanted to watch strong action heroines, but I also wanted to see movies with women who talked about ordinary stuff that didn't involve boyfriends or husbands.

Good morning, everyone - I just fell in love with a movie. Would you like me to tell you about it? Alrighty then. It's called Stick It, and was written and directed by Jessica Bendinger, the same genius who penned the one and only Bring It On. Basically, it's the same catfights, attitudes, and in-fighting that made Bring in On so awesome, except with gymnastics instead of cheerleading. There's still a big competition, still a badass chick who also happens to be a superstar (except in this case she's the main character - played by TV actress Missy Peregrym - not the second banana), and still a whole lot of bitches. In this one, however, they've added bike tricks and some arrests. Oh, and Jeff Bridges.

Good God, people - what's not to love? The movie doesn't come out until late April, but for now there's a trailer that we can watch over and over again. (When you click the link, look for the Stick It box on the right.)

[via JoBlo]

Why is it so hard for us to confront our problems? Are we lazy? Do we not have the time? Is it easier to run away from a situation and create larger problems, then it is to face the music? And what's so bad about music? When I was younger, in times of moronic behavior, my parents would always tell me to just "face the music." Instead of agreeing with them, I'd stand there with a puss on my face, expecting Mom to shovel out a boom-box and blast German techno music into my ears until, eventually, I caved.

Nothing against German techno, but that was my idea of bad music. So, in order for my problems to drift away, I figured I'd have to face this music until something clicked...or hurt - like my ears. And then it hit me: As hard as it was to listen to obnoxiously loud German techno music, it was much easier to get it out of the way fast (like ripping off a band-aid) then it was to avoid. Why let this uncomfortable anger towards German techno music ruin my entire day? They have a right to express themselves. And so do I.

While the above probably makes no sense whatsoever, so does avoiding your problems. So, while I call up the Lifetime Channel and pitch them "How I Learned to be a Better Person by Listening to German Techno Music," why don't you check out the following films. Put the suicide note down, we're running from our problems on this week's Trailer Park...