Step (2017)

That was an excellent one.

It is a performances centric movie

Best movie of this year hands down!

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Like some other reviewers, I was expecting more athletics/sport content, but I found the film gripping, and I didn't feel anything was missing - on the contrary.With all the awfulness in the news these days, seeing these young women strive and succeed over the course of a year was such a positive experience. This film surpassed my expectations even though it was not the film I expected. That film -- given the obvious skills of the director and everyone else involved -- would have been a good sports movie, but this one provided much more food for thought, and inspiration.

Step in an inspiring documentary by first time director, Amanda Lipitz. Lipitz is normally a Broadway producer but she had a special connection to this project. The film takes place at a charter school in Baltimore, The Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, and the school was started by the directors mother. When Lipitz visited the school she learned about the girl's STEP team and met the founder of the team Blessin Giraldo, one of the three young women featured in the movie. She spent several years preparing to film the senior year of the girls who began at the school in the 6th grade. What she created is an excellent "slice of life film" that is very entertaining yet politically conscious.Beside Blessin the films other lead characters are Cori, the school's valedictorian, and Tayla, a member of the team who got started late (9th grade) and who's single mother is a prison corrections officer. The movie show's the struggles of the girls growing up in inner city Baltimore; a key city in the Black Lives Matter movement, to the simple challenge of having nothing to eat in the fridge. Still the movie is uplifting.STEP shows us the power that comes from supporting each other, as the girls do in the STEP group, and the importance of having people that care for you and have your back, as the girls do with their parents, teachers and principal. The girls all have the goal of being the first in their family to attend college and to have 100% of the school's girls graduate. SPOILER ALERT: They succeed!Then there's the stepping. In the entire history of the STEP group they had never won or even placed in a STEP competition. In their senior year the girls get a new coach and take things to a new level. The dancing is soul stirring! As a group the girls come together and compete in the biggest STEP event in the city. I won't spoil the ending by telling you if they won or not but, trust me, the ending will move you to tears.Much like the movie Hidden Figures, STEP is a triumph of sisterhood and should definitely be viewed by all teenage girls. STEP will move you. It will inspire you and it will having you leaving the theater more hopeful about the future of our children than when you went in. My favorite thing about the movie, besides the dancing, is that is shows there are small pockets of hope in even the worst neighborhoods in America and that with education we can produce more.STEP was a winner at both The AFI Film Festival and The Sundance Film Festival. Former first Lady Michelle Obama has endorsed the movie too. It's rated PG. It has a run time of 1 hour and 23 minutes and on my "Hollywood Popcorn Scale" I rate STEP a JUMBO, with extra butter (my highest possible popcorn rating). Hollywood Hernandez

Step, directed by Amanda Lipitz and distributed by Fox Searchlight, is one of my favorite documentaries of all time. When I first heard about the film, I was so excited about it because the art of stepping is such an integral part of African-American culture and history. Then when I saw it, it exceeded every expectation! You will instantly fall in love with all of these lovely young black women. The film follows Blessin Giraldo, Cori Grainger and Tayla Solomon through their senior year at Baltimore's Leadership School for Young Women. As they navigate the college admissions race while participating in the school's step team, we are given a glimpse of African-American life devoid of stereotype or negativity.Step is actually a mashup of two wonderfully uplifting films into one. On the one hand, it is a film about the personal struggles and triumphs that three talented black teen girls and their middle class families face. On the other, it is a movie about a step team trying to win its first championship. I cried, laughed then cheered and cried with joy again! You will, too.

STEP exceeded my expectations! Variety has called it ""Hoop Dreams" for the social media generation". I was skeptical - another doc on the marginalize. But this is different thanks to the filmmaker – who entertained while documenting a slice of life for this group of students, parents and their teachers. See it!