Break Dance to Break Hearts: Adam G. Sevani

Raven locks of a hair and a lithe physique, we effortlessly, or barely, depending on the level of patronage, remember Adam in bodies put to second best use dancing films like Step Up 2: The Streets, and Step Up 3D. Dancing has always been his God-given talent even before he knew the moves like [Mick] Jagger. Adam G. Sevani, or must his stage name conveniently works for you, really goes by his birth name Aram Manucharian. Strange in other parts of the world, but quite domestic and typical to an Armenian-Italian descent. Changed for name reflex in the competitive world of Hollywood, G stands for Gary and took Sevani instead because too many letters, hence too many breaths to take pronouncing in a name, almost always makes one forgettable.

Sevani is his Dad's second last name.

Noticing he can write his alphabet only until D, it was as if prepared at birth parents Edita and Gagik Manucharian started their own dance studio that had Adam spend most of his free time growing up. It was then to no one's surprise he was one of the young dancers who confidently auditioned and got accepted for a JC Penny apparel commercial on 2004 with childhood friend and co-star Alyson Stoner.

Just like a careful step to perfect a dance move, every waking moment of Adam's life is about dancing, knowing better than anyone older, at an age naturally inclined and dedicated only to short-term activities, being a continuous learning experience. So with his eager new kicks and stars in his eyes, Adam signed up for an interactive TV show called Fly Kidz (2005). At twelve, he was not only paid to dance but was doing what he loves. And there's no better joy than that.

 Click here for a video clip

His first breakout role was in Step Up: The Streets, almost inevitably appearing in Step Up 3D, after the former grossed $150M, nearly six (6) times of the film's budget ($23M). There's a kinetic appeal in dance movies, to a tolerable extent, that sets one at first, in a reluctant head nodding, then like a wildfire in a silent forest, spreads to the entire body - the arsony of the inhibited soul.

Aram and Vahe Manucharian

The Sevani brothers have always had that electricity in them, fuses as hearts, and one short circuit away to spark a flare in their bones that ignites a pop there, a lock there, and finishes with a smooth, swooning moonwalk with a disarming intention to shock and sizzle.

They go by many titles - Step Up 4: Miami Heat, Step Up 4Ever, and Step Up: Revolution but come August 1st, one thing is for sure, we're going to dance, dance, dance because they cannot tear down the neighborhood without a dance off. Shirts off because it's cooler. A new set of cast with a new twist, and Adam as just a cameo? Shit got serious - it's going down - Step Up Revolution, y'all! 

PUBLIC ADVISORY: Russovoir cannot promise he will remain in his seat for the entire duration of the film.

OSAMA-ny times, IRAQ-coil to laugh.

There is confidence in a big production come what may of the film genre. The lavishness of the production impressed Russovoir to sedate the mind of a divine comedy to follow. They say comedy is the lowest form of entertainment, true if it's slapstick and/or with a weak storyline, The Dictator however, is not just comedy, it is a controversy, a heresy, a bigotry with the distrusting relief that all what has been revealed is no way a reference, despite how strongly.

"My grandfather fought in the American Civil Jihad."

Immoral and perverted, one wonders how the film had still persistently made Russovoir laugh uninhibitedly with periodic applauses (it's relegated to the unnoticeably embarrassing "penguin flap"). Though it's been a personal belief to laugh heartily if something is genuinely funny, Russovoir is not made of funny bones of depravity. Not entirely, to benefit the doubters. The new material of The Dictator, like all successful comedies, parodies, and skits, builds up and reassures that confidence to which a big production was supplied.

Unshackled of decency and diplomacy, The Dictator must be banned in some conservative countries, if not strictly for adults. It rapes the dominant senses of vulgarity. It heats up simmering racial tension, determined on the scalding of skins to a discoloration of the minority and marginalized. Enjoyable to a misogynist and unjust to a certain ethnic group implied to a certain nation, it is a film that exercises to a choke dick-to-worship. Dictatorship. Damn spell check.

The impersonation I can swallow -

the twisted humor I episodically spit.

Movie Recommendation Time: Detention.

Probably not the wisest of all decisions to recommend Detention. But give me a minute to explain and you'll see and understand why it just might be Russovoir's - yes, forgettable to a certain extent - few of the tolerable bad movies of all time. You heard right, a bad movie.

At first, the film introduces suspense I personally found compelling. Yes, the source of suspense is overused, but was in high hopes it will be a new experience because the movie is like all the other mask murderer movies you've seen but with a comic strip medium. It likens Michael Cera's Scott Pilgrim VS the World (2010), a movie that was a spectacle, therefore, technically the film is as creative. Strings were pulled everywhere when Josh Hutcherson (below) played a role vastly different from the typical roles he does. He was unbridled, a countenance of pure cockiness. The painfully beautiful shift of character was the salvation from a movie of ridiculous storyline.

Enthusiastic in films with unique attitude, on one aspect, is advocacy held confidently and proudly by Russovoir so, I may have to take back the B word; it's not all that bad. Looking back, it did have some scenes of entertaining value. In fact, the cinematography and script were relatively commendable. But honestly, its value relied on Hutcherson more than anyone else, regardless how they did.   

"Good taste is not a democracy."

Detention will be watched or not watched, depending on the level of patronage one has for Josh Hutcherson. As it happens, it will neither benefit or damage him because he has now made a name for himself. To think his performance was an overqualification. A story that builds up tension and delight on the first half and gradually subsides towards the end, replaced with annoyance and confusion, should I really recommend Detention, let alone worthy of a spot here?

I dunno, what would Peeta Mellark do?

My Dark Knight Rises for WAYNE hero.

Someone had told Russovoir he's all grown up now since superhero plots don't entice him recently anymore. Subconsciously, all he desires in any heroic movie is that it shouldn't go far from reality, bringing down a notch in which hope and harrow draw a line in the middle so thin, snaps that beautiful thrill and compassion.

Christopher Nolan and co-writer brother Jonathan Nolan understood and captured real human fear, workable storyline that, although improbable, is possible as the entirety of the film put a lot of weight on a constructive and cohesive sequence of events that reasonably draw one's finer, undivided attention. The Dark Knight Rises is not all about special effects, but it was a bout of special effects. The Dark Knight Rises is not all about the suspenseful sound mixes, but HANS down to Hans Zimmer for he somehow matched the rhythm of the lub dub of my heart - however rapid, slow, or stable the pulsation; it only knew to obey and cooperate - on climactic scenes.

"I'm adaptable."

My words are neither supple nor skin-deep but as glowing as her pearl-like complexion when I say Anne Hathaway is a talent besides what one plainly perceives. She is grace under pressure, lace and leather, and a bird of fine feathers. A radiant rogue she was.

"I can offer you protection."

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a promising actor. He displayed a performance in The Dark Knight Rises with so much dedication that I felt it on screen. He is a serious business actor with little to no intention to roles of ridicule, inconsequential, and both all together. The idealistic policeman of the Gotham Police Department (GPD) had his own agenda of heroism that convened maybe the same people or a whole new set of supporters apart or alongside of Batman's. 

The Dark Knight Rises is full of surprises. It is not overdone nor is it flattering in favor on anyone. Not even Batman. The gravity of the unprecedented situation is equal to the number of heroes, no one's super, just unwavering civic duties, even those who took a while. Two elements in the film were reminiscent of two different films on recall but I ended up not minding because they have been put into good use and I'm being modest. The film has made me realized one thing: that a hero in a movie, and only if they keep it fresh and unpretentious, given the protagonist(s) must come out alive and victorious, but keeps us interested until the end, will never be a bane of my existence.     

Movie Recommendation Time: That's What I Am.

A teacher manipulates a rather indefinable almost ill-willed group work that had a boy of favorable social reputation set one foot, and at some point in time his pride and prejudice, in the geek corner. This was a group work that had two different personae leave their judgments behind that arguably could have created hostility between them, splitting their single grade into antagonizing halves. 

Evasive action had to be done if there was any shred of self-pity left in him, for which if seen in public with an undesirable individual, it is implied he's one of him, one of them. But motivational words of the teacher changed him. Maybe not to be a disappointment, maybe for the grade, the son of an assertive father booted himself to compatibility.

If words can be motivational in one hand, it can inversely be damaging on the other, however righteous or meritorious one's motives. Funny how it takes years to build a reputation but it only takes one malicious rumor to ruin it. Even being readily given the luxury to deny claim against him, California's one of the finest teachers found it degrading for society has yet to know that what you are or you're not doesn't always and completely justify what you do or do not.

A friendship of unlikeliest of compassion and sincerity, puppy love speculated, found, envied but only lasted for five (5) weeks, That's What I Am is an inspiring film in which dignity is a facet of a human being uniquely ours and solely to our capacity and consent.

Out-BARACK of Vampires!

I just love the deconstruction of something long forgotten, something unknown, even the something cold-shouldered nowadays; the filling in of unique plots that somehow - I don't know how they do it but thank the gods for writers - work with what is given, what is factual. 

Abraham Lincoln is an enduring memory to the Americans as he ended slavery that had the country enslaved in arrogant discord for so many years. His contributions and achievements are taught in schools, displayed in museums and effigies. But of course, no wise man privy to the secrets of darkness will expose his elusive journal that as it was personal, is an element in the film that cannot be questioned nor pried because of its existing non-existence.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a bold yet successful narration of Abraham Lincoln's untapped life story. The instillation of the involvement of vampires with what we thought were accurate accounts of the 16th President of the US was a breath of fresh air. The novel by Seth-Grahame Smith must be as vicious and fascinating, because the film was of finest visual effects and stop-motion technique that meant strikingly to a story told (and at first written) brilliantly.

"A good friend once told me to always have a contingency plan."

Vampires at its truest form - they do not sparkle; weakness patterned ingeniously in the era of American warfare, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is of the people, by the people, for the people to not miss.

Movie Recommendation Time: Speak.

The film that loosely reminded Russovoir of the classic Filipino hit TV series of the 90's Kung May Katwiran Ka, Ipaglaban Mo! (If there is a Reason, Fight for It!). Trauma caught the best out of Melinda Sordino (Stewart) after a year-end party ended parts of her brain that induce her to live in the moment, the unique human connection and interaction by one's existence. Instead, she was the emcee of her own consciousness. Blue and red balloons - depression and rage respectively - airs out one by one and simultaneously, gradually popping malevolently, inside her head, like a careless whisper from a gas tank waiting to explode. Confetti was a luxury she cannot afford.

"No, I... I wanna tell you about it."

First seen in Panic Room (2002), boy, does Kristen Stewart master the art of panic. I admire Kristen Stewart because she knows what she is capable of, accepting roles that manifest certain attributes from the character: in pain, in struggle, and in sangfroid. Her scope is this, her limitations are these, making her desirable in one minute, ignored in another. The span is as drastic as it is lingering because Stewart became one of the richest and coveted young stars in Hollywood.  

  

"After all, essentially, an actor brings a character to life because he has found himself in the character." - Russo.

Speak will leave you speechless as a once blooming girl bowed down withering to her thorns that is her unspeakable past. A courageous woman that she learned to be over time, she felt the warmth of the sun in her that brought back life to one reticent petal at a time.