Walden Media Fans » Bandslam

Music-driven teen entertainment abounds on the small and large screen, but few endeavors have the heart and intelligence of last summer’s Bandslam, now available on DVD.

Penned by Josh A. Cagan and director Todd Graff, Bandslam received much critical acclaim. “What makes the film work is its feeling for the characters,” praised Roger Ebert, who gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. Ebert is not alone: Bandslam has a 90% approval rating from the industry’s Top Critics on RottenTomatoes.com.

Bandslam stars Vanessa Hudgens, Aly Michalka, Gaelan Connell, Lisa Kudrow and features a cameo from David Bowie.

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CityNews.ca spoke with Connell recently about the movie, meeting David Bowie, and how film school is going.

You’re in a rock band but don’t play an instrument in the movie. Was that a disappointment to you?

We’d do a take and then I’d pick up a guitar and jam with the cast. If anything there was less pressure. I have no problem acting in front of a huge amount of people but anytime I have an instrument it becomes a lot more nerve-wracking.

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One of the best, and most highly underrated movies of 2009, Bandslam, is heading to DVD on March 16th!

From Walden Media and Summit, it is the story of Will, a normal guy that moves to a new town when his mother gets a new job.  It is there that he meets some new friends that change his life forever.

Great performances and a surprising storyline makes this underdog tale one to own.

Read my full review of Bandslam!

No word yet on if it is also coming to Blu-ray, but you can take a look on Amazon.com: Bandslam [Blu-ray].

Alyson Michalka plays Charlotte in Bandslam

Can you tell us about Bandslam?

Aly Michalka: Bandslam is a great movie about relationships that I think we all go through with our friends, and it’s about becoming an individual and a unique person. The story is based on this kid, Will, who comes to a new town and a new school. He’s kind of a loner but he is a genius at music and knows how to put a sound together and form a band. He ends up becoming friends with this girl Charlotte, which is my character.

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Here’s the music video for Honor Society’s song “Where Are You Now” from the soundtrack to the movie Bandslam.

HONOR SOCIETY – WHERE ARE YOU NOW – BANDSLAM MUSIC VIDEO

Well, as we know, Bandslam is probably the best reviewed movie of the year that will end up with a box office shy of $15 million. It’s very sad, to me, that this movie could go forgotten. But those of us that saw it, and enjoyed it, will gladly add it to our DVD / Blu-ray Disc collections, and share it with friends for years to come. I hope for a second life for the movie, when it hits home video in the coming months, which could be October or November. I hope that Summit actually does the right thing, for home video, and loads it with special features. I’m talking a 2-Disc special edition. Don’t release it featureless, blaming the poor box-office performance, Summit. That was your fault, and you know it. Take ownership of it, and make the home video release into an event. Make it into a feature that people think they missed somehow, amid the summer releases… which is true. Feel free to re-name the film to its’ original title: Will. It’s fairly uncommon to rename movies for home video, but it does happen.

What I want to know is, why didn’t you see it? If you did, feel free to chime in with why you did as well.

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Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas and Nick Jonas of the Grammy-nominated, platinum-selling band, Jonas Brothers, today announced they would team up with Hollywood Records to release Fashionably Late, the debut album from one of this summer’s hottest new band, Honor Society (www.myspace.com/honorsociety). Co-Written and Co-Produced by Honor Society and John Fields, and Executive Produced by Jonas Brothers, Fashionably Late is due for release on September 15, 2009. Honor Society is signed to a new “joint venture” record label to be owned by Jonas Brothers and Hollywood Records.

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Lisa Kudrow plays Will’s mother in the film Bandslam which is out this weekend, and she took part in an interview, which I’m going to only include some of the questions here. You can find a link to the rest of the interview at the end.

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Congratulations to the little movie that could! Walden Media and Summit’s Bandslam has become a trending topic on Twitter. It’s another great film from Walden Media, and another that isn’t really based on a book. It’s been garnering some pretty great reviews around the web, as it is beating people’s expectations.

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MENC, the National Music Education Association, has been a vocal advocate for the new film BANDSLAM.

In its own words, MENC “believes that music allows us to celebrate and preserve our cultural heritages and also to explore the realms of expression, imagination, and creation resulting in new knowledge.” In BANDSLAM, the young characters express themselves through music: the music of their idols like David Bowie, and the music they create themselves. It plays a central role in their high school experience and the way they perceive the world around them. Main character Will played by Gaelan Connell says in the film “I tend to make snap decisions about people based upon what type of music they like.”

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