Bandslam (2009)

Image credit: Van Redin

HIGH SCHOOL ROCK OPERA Gaelan Connell, Aly Michalka, and Tim Jo play the music in Bandslam

It's a familiar song: Misfit teens in the process 
 of forming a high school band learn life lessons and raise their goblets of rock. But there's enough of a strong filmmaking backbeat in Bandslam to carry the movie's light tune. Vanessa Hudgens expands her repertory by playing a sarcastic loner rather than the brainy popular girl she's made famous in High School Musical. As a rebellious former cheerleader, 
Aly Michalka perfects the power of hair tossing. And as the movie's sweet, geeky hero, newcomer Gaelan Connell excels
 in wry conversations with the always-welcome
 Lisa Kudrow, who plays his loving mother. B

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