skykid

Ready? OK! is a fun and inspiring film .  I really enjoyed watching it as the films has influences from two of my favorite films ” Billy Elliot ” and” But I am a cheerleader ” .  The film follows the adventures of the 10 years old ( almost 11 ) Josh Dowd who is energetic young boy who is studying in a rather strict private religious school and is in its wresting team.  But Josh is not that interested in Wrestling - he would like to join the school`s cheerleader team and as abut wrestling - well he wears a homemade button with the face his favorite varsity wrestler.
The school officials do not approve Josh attempts to join the cheerleaders team. On the he is being told to ” forget all hopes that he would ever join the team “. And then we see how cheerful  really is the young boy as he doesn`t give up - but says ” Hey I am not trying to brake the rules - but change them ! ” . Would`t it be wonderful if more people had his attitude ?
The character development in the film was quire well made - as we gradually learn a lot of new things about Josh , his mom , uncle and even his ” artistic ” neighbor. Carrie Preston play good in the challenged work of overworked mom - who doesn`t really have time for her son - worrying that she might have troubles at her job as people could decide that she is not ” what they are looking for ” . She gets worried that her expectation of her son are not being fulfilled and her confusion makes her admit that she just don`t know what to do …or say . That until she is told by their neighbor that  to him ” Josh is  one of the  most  smartest , funniest , most sensitive little boy he  ever had a please of knowing ” and that she is missing an amazing opportunity of being there for him, helping him to be himself - not what the others are expecting him to be .

Is Josh in troble ?
My own experience with cheerleaders is from the time I was studying in the US.  That`s the very first time I saw cheerleading teams

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The Apollo 3 mania is spreading around the world. When I introduced them at theSkyKid.com I was not even able to imagine that they would become that famous in such a short time.  Currently the post I wrote about them has been seen by more than 1400 people - 53 people left comments - most of them fan girls who would do everything to get more information about their favorite band.  The Apollo 3 single made most of their fans - me including - excited and impatient for the release of their first album - and now it became
and variety of other retailers . The management of Apollo 3 is doing miracles in promoting the band - and even you can show their support by voting for their song at Viva.tv or by buying the single or / and the album. One thing they lack - is enough information about them - being available in English - which is a must for every band nowadays especially if the word about it spreads so fast.  That gap is being  filed by me ( the post is available in Russian as well ) and Ikarus whose post about them attracts a lot of visitors and commenters - currently he has more than 130 comments in there - and some of them are quite interested as there are even rumors that the band posted a comment there - quite possible  - even if  not confirmed at the moment.  Of course I could not ignore the huge interest to Apollo 3 and would try to give you some insights of what you can expect from the album.
Starting with the basics - the album has 14 songs :
1. Countdown - a cool space intro of the album. It is just that - not a song - but I tend to like it.  Gil Ofarim used to have similar intros to his albums
2. Startschuss - the song was familiar with me - probably because it was included in the single as Time Machine Mix-  which also incuded the songs Adrenalin,Warum and Keine Angst vor euch. Its a great song and the lyrics can be picked up easyly - which makes singing along a great expirience ( :
3.Superhelden - I have written all ab

Kristus är uppstånden! Ja, Han är verkligen uppstånden!

Great new German band

I would like to share with you a song and a video clip I really love. Thanks to aquaria  for reminding me of this song by leaving me a comment at the “ An angel “ post. The ballad of Marillion is very touching and pulls the right strings in me. Making me remember - who I loved…
You can sing along just like I do :
Do you remember chalk hearts melting on a playground wall
Do you remember dawn escapes from moon washed college halls
Do you remember the cherry blossom in the market square
Do you remember I thought it was confetti in our hair
By the way didnt I break your heart?
Please excuse me, I never meant to break your heart
So sorry, I never meant to break your heart
But you broke mine
Kayleigh is it too late to say Im sorry?
And kayleigh could we get it together again?
I just cant go on pretending that it came to a natural end
Kayleigh, oh I never thought Id miss you
And kayleigh I thought that wed always be friends
We said our love would last forever
So how did it come to this bitter end?
Do you remember barefoot on the lawn with shooting stars
Do you remember loving on the floor in belsize park
Do you remember dancing in stilettoes in the snow
Do you remember you never understood I had to go
By the way, didnt I break your heart?
Please excuse me, I never meant to break your heart
So sorry, I never meant to break your heart
But you broke mine
Kayleigh I just wanna say Im sorry
But kayleigh Im too scared to pick up the phone
To hear youve found another lover to patch up our broken home
Kayleigh Im still trying to write that love song
Kayleigh its more important to me now youre gone
Maybe it will prove that we were right
Or ever prove that I was wrong

Have you ever wondered why some of my reviews seem so personal ?
The answer would explain my addiction to coming of age movies  - and it is as simple as saying that I have been through similar experiences to the characters in the movie I review.  It`s not always my experience - sometimes it is the experience of someone I knew well - well enough to help me associate with the actors on screen and what they go trough.
That being said I am going to tell you that my review of  The Interrogation of Michael Crowe is going to be one of those personal reviews. The film is a true masterpiece and is  based on  real people and events  -  I have seen scenes with my own eyes that closely resemble the events shown in the film.
The Interrogation of Michael Crowe is the second feature film produced by Court TV. It focuses on the plight of 14-year-old Michael Crowe .  One morning his younger sister is found murdered in her bed. The police officers decided to accuse Michael for the murder of his sister after seeing things in his room such as the game ” Final fantasy 7″ and drawings from ” Dungeons and Dragons “  . Michael was cruelly interrogated for 11 straight hours . The police used variety of  scare tactics to get a confession from the confused boy - they lied to him and got what they wanted …
If I am to categorize this film - I would say that is was an extremely heavy and hard to watch  psychological drama.  First thing you will notice when watching this movie is the brilliant acting .   I don`t recall knowing another movie in which the entire cast is so well selected and flawless on screen. Mark Rendall who played the role of the 14 years old Michel Crow deserves a special recognition as his portrayal of the intensity of emotions Crow felt in the interrogation room was next to perfect.  I would like to quote few extracts from an interview transcript in which the real Michel Crow and Mark Rendall answered questions about the story and the movie itself :

Just opened my RSS reader and stumbled on a post about the short movie 10 Minutes. My opinion is that the movie was quite well filmed - showing how much can 10 minutes be for someone and how less of a time for another. I would like to get your feedback on this film - do you think it deserves its high rating at IMDB ( 8.4/10) ?
Similar film : Savrseni Krug

Phillipp Kirkorov is a famous Russian singer. I like some of his songs - especially the one I am posting in this entry. The clip is definatelly well made - and somehow makes me feel a bit of nostalgia .

Few weeks ago I stumbled upon Shape Collage. Shape Collage is  a  freeware program  that allows you to transform a group of photos you specify to an amazing collage which can take any shape or even form a word as the photos are arranged in letters. I already created some quite fun collages - like writing my name from photos of mine on you can do a collage from your favorite artist or movie covers . The possibilities are pretty much endless . My experience with the software is very positive - its fast , very responsive and produces amazing results.
Here is a short demo video of what people have been doing with Shape Collage :





You can find more examples on the program`s web site
If you decide to give it a try and make some collages for movies or treble music performers - please free to share them with me either via comment or via the contact me page and they would most likely end up in this post. Let`s see how creative you can get ( :

I am officially labeling El Niño Que Gritó Puta one of the greatest films ever made. Just finished watching it and could hardly describe what I feel - in fact it worries me a bit as I am afraid that the review of the film is going to be a bit more emotional than usual . But that is a good thing - isn`t it ?
When the set the film in my DVD player I had no idea that it would be that powerful. Indeed the first scenes are quite misleading - and it rather reminded me of Twelve and Holding. What impressed me straight away was the film soundtrack - composed by Wendy Blackstone it was powerful and really which emphasizes the drama of a story. At first we see boys fooling around and their mother obviously is unable to control them - first they are too wild and then they seemed to luck much respect to her.  It is those scenes in which we are introduced to the young protagonist of the film the 12-year-old  Harley Cross who delivers a first class performance as a confused and psychotic adolescent. We first see him as  capricious and impulsive young lad but learn a lot more about him as the story develops.It must have been quite challenging for him to play such a complicated role. His facial expressions , his eyes - I can assure you that you are going to remember them for a long time after seeing the film.
I would like to quote of of my favorite movie reviewers Marc Savlov who in his review of The Boys Who Cried Bitch excellently described the talents of Harley Cross :
“Harley Cross, as Dan, has managed to tap into a gold mine of talent. He’s all ticks, stutters, gleaming eyes and mood swings, thoroughly convincing as a juvenile psychotic, while at the same time imbuing his character with a terrible inner sadness and confusion.
It’s rare to see a young actor come across so convincingly in such a deep and powerful role, but Cross is a master of the game here, and Dan Love is as believable as a gunshot in the night. ” (link to the original review of Marc Savlov)
Of co

Dreaming about you is one of the theme movies of the coming of age genre. It is a Mexican movie and is know better with its original name Anoche Sone Contigo. The film is released in 1992 and has the unique atmosphere typical for the films from that time period.
The main protagonist is a 15 years old boy named Toto (Martin Altomaro) who is interested in the things most boys his age are. He hangs around with Quique - a friend of his and while they are not riding their bicycles around the neighborhood they talk about women and use their parents binoculars to spy on the maid that works in the Quique`s house as she undresses in the evenings.
The movie is quite enjoyable to watch as it is guaranteed to bring many memories . Indeed we have all passed trough this period  - whatever you choose to call it puberty or coming of age .  I laughed quite a bit as I remembered myself  being 12 or 13 hiding with the boys from my triathlon team  trying to sneak a peak at the girls dressing room. We were quite successful until our trainer caught us - well some of us - a friend of mine were fast enough to climb on the nearest tree so he did not see us.





Back to the movie - Toto`s dreams are about to become true when his older cousin Azucena (Leticia Perdigon) moves to live with him and his mother. He first sees an old photo of her on which she is about 10 - so naturally at first he is quite annoyed by the fact that she would move with them - but that changes quickly when he sees her all grown up. She eventually teaches him a lot of things - love , lust and even intimacy.
Anoche Sone Contigo features some nudity , but nothing tasteless and I thing teens would enjoy it as it will be easier for them to associate with  Toto.  Women cold also enjoy the film as it on its own is a sneak peak in the male`s coming of age.
Similar movie : Private lessons , Clement

Rate Anoche Sone Contigo and discover more titles at movies.theskykid.com








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I have been thinking of doing an article about Chernila dlya pyatogo klassa ( Чернила для пятого класса) for quite a while.  The group was formed in 1992 by Sergey Kuznetsov  who is the producer  and composer behind Steklovata ( СТЕКЛОVАТА ) , New Forms ( НОВЫЕ ФОРМЫ ) , Alis and many other well known formations . Worth mentioning is the soloist of Chernila dlya pyatogo klassa -  Igor Veryaskin who started working with Sergey from the age of twelve  .  Before that he used to sing in a local choir. He appearance in the group video clips is quite memorable . I picked two of my video clips for this entry - but if you like them you will find many at youtube and the official site of Chernila.
My favorite clip :
ya tebe obyavlau voinu
…and another one which always brings smile to my face  :
The music of Chernila is lyric , with a lot of guitar vibes and even saxophone . The group was lucky that soon after its formation they were Sergey found a sponsor which allowed them to establish a studio they can work at.  In the years to come they produced quite a few albums which I enjoy listening to.
Nowadays Igor Veryaskin lives in the capital and composes his own music.
Materials used :
Information about the group at Gosdetstvo.ru , the group`s page at the Sergey Kuznetsov creative studio and the official site of Chernila dlya pyatogo klassa ( which is an excellent resource in terms of music and video clips ). They are fortunate enough to have some information available about them in English including a LastFm profile.

PS : Recently I discovered an excellent and very informative video about Sergey  Kuznetsov. Its is in Russian - but even if you don`t have knowledge of the language I think that it is worth seeing

Are you a soccer fan ? Do you like comedies ?
If you answer yes to at least one of the questions above than you should definitely see the Spanish film Carlitos y el campo de los sueños. It has been a while since the film was released and it became quite popular in the Spanish speaking countries. Carlitos is 12 year old boy who loves soccer and is good at it. Unfortunately he is an orphan and the director of the orphanage where he lives hates sports .

Everything changes when Carlitos sees an advertisement for a selection contest which will allow talented young players to join the National Football Federation sports team and play in the Junior European Championships. But there is a problem - Catlito is not allowed outside the orphanage. During a school trip he manages to sneak out and attend the contest - and that’s when the adventure begins. He is approved - but now has to find a way to escape of the orphanage without being seen, train in secret while at the same time maintaining good grades at school.

The young Guillermo Campra delivers an outstanding performance in the role of Carlitos. He is rapidly gaining popularity in Spain - and is soon to appear in TV series called Águila roja . His acting talent and adorable looks are guaranteed to win him many fans across the world. You can check his personal web site at blogger and leave him an encouraging comment. Raúl appears in the film as well - so some football fans will be delighted
Carlitos is a nice comedy which kids will adore, as will the adults. As a film it is not perfect, but definitely fulfills it’s main goal which is to entertain. It teaches us all that with hard work and devotion, dreams can become reality.
Today I have a special guest author from Spain ( nicknamed Pajaro ) who would like to share his opinion on Carlitos with you :

Carlitos y el campo de los sueños

Una pelicula para todos los publicos entretenida y con un bonito argumento y un buen reparto de actores .Una pelicula par