There’s nothing I look forward to with more glee than another version of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. That is right after getting my wisdom teeth extracted. Sorry, but this is the sort of treacle that I really abhor, no matter how hard I try to get into the spirit of things. I do take a little joy, however, in knowing that the squeaky clean image of lead actress Vanessa Anne Hudgens has been somewhat tarnished of late, by semi-scandalous internet photos.
Oh, the plot… Did I not mention that? Seniors in high school worry about going to college. Then they sing and dance their cares away. Fans will be lining up around the block to see HSM3SY on October 24. I will not be among them, preferring to stay home and eat popcorn and watch reruns of Law and Order.
I will be dragging myself to a proper movie theater on October 17 to see former teen idol Mark Wahlberg in the starring role of Max Payne, the story of a DEA agent whose entire family was killed by a group of unknown conspirators.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Max Payne began as a third-person shooter Finnish video game that sold bazillions of copies a few years back. The term third-person shooter means that the player gets to view Max from several different angles as he picks off his targets, rather than through the eyes of Max himself and the movie follows the form perfectly.
The stellar cast includes Beau Bridges, perennial bad guy Donal Logue, Chris O’Donnell and a dozen other capable players, as well as cameos by Nelly Furtado and Ludacris.
The famed Fort Lauderdale (FLIFF) is on, and some of our local radio personalities are turning up in a documentary called Airplay, a tale of the trials and tribulations of rock and roll on the radio. Old school Top Forty jock Casey Kasem and the ever-popular late night FM rebel Jim Ladd are among the featured players. Just in time for Halloween, all the radio skeletons are out of the closet and rattling, big time.
