I have a personal rule about the third installment of movies and that’s the John Starks Rule. John Starks was a great 3 point shooter for the New York Knicks in the 90’s. Starks was some fans favorite Knick and some others most hated player because of how streaky he was. When he was on he was ON (wipe him down), but when he wasn’t he really wasn’t. That’s how I feel about third installments for movies. Sometimes the third a movie can work well. Movies like Die Hard with a Vengeance, Mission Impossible 3, Return of the Jedi, The Return of the King, and most recently Oceans 13 and Spiderman 3. Most of the time these movies are not so good. The only problem is that the list for movies that don’t work is much, much longer. Some of the worst ones I can remember are Back to the Future 3, Beverly Hills Cop 3, The Matrix Revolutions, Blade Trinity, Scream 3, The Godfather 3, Fast and The Furious Tokyo Drift, and most recently Pirates of the Caribbean at Worlds End (Yes I’m still mad about it)
The only way the Starks Rule works is that people have to buy in to the first two movies. Starks was a great player and has been involved in some of the NBA’s greatest moments. He would score 35 one night and the next night this same guy would shoot you out the game. That’s how those movies are. The first movie has to be good and the sequel has to be at least tolerable but you don’t have to love it. It has to pull you in enough so that when the third movie is as entertaining as watching old people shuffle board, you feel like you’ve been wronged in some way. You give the guy at the ticket booth a look like, “You knew this movie sucked and you let me buy a ticket anyway. Why didn’t you warn me?”
Rush Hour 3 had the potential to land on either side. I went in wanting the movie to be entertaining enough that I didn’t feel like I was robbed without a gun or any use of force but not enough so that Bret Ratner would be sitting at home this spring writing a script that involved Lee and Carter going to Australia and fighting Aborigine Triads steroid smugglers.
Rush Hour picks up where it left off. Carter (Chris Tucker) is a uniform cop directing traffic. (After all this guys done he’s directing traffic? How’s this possible?) Lee (Jackie Chan) is protecting Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma) as he is about to expose a secret of one of the world’s most dangerous gangs. Han is shot as he delivers his speech and his daughter Soo Yung’s (Jingchu Zhang) life is in danger as well. Carter and Lee set off to find who is responsible. This search leads them to Paris.
The two are joined by Genevieve (Noemie Lenoir) and their cab driver George (Yvan Attal) who provides some funny dialogue. The movie starts off funny and continues to be funny all the way through. A few of their bits work and some of them seem really forced, but I did laugh out loud a few times. A lot of the humor seems to be Chris Tucker just being Chris Tucker and how comfortable he seems on screen with Jackie and how well they work together.
I always felt that the first two were good action movies that were funny. I felt that this movie was a funny movie with some okay action. None of the fight scenes made me say “ohhhhhhhhh”. The movie was missing something.
The plot itself was crazy and didn’t really make sense at all. The ending was pretty terrible. I thought my 10 year old niece wrote it. The crazy thing is I was laughing so much that I didn’t realize it until the end of the movie.
My Suggestion: This movie reminds me of the good John Starks. Go see it. I know I may have made it sound like Ernest Goes to Jail meets Shanghi Surprise but it is worth seeing. The comedy alone is worth the trip. It’s no Spiderman 3 or Return of the Jedi but definitely not Blade Trinity or that Pirate nonsense.
My Grade: 3.0 – You only passed because you were funny in class all year long. Great job!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
I spy you…...spying me!
I have to admit that I wasn’t really ever a fan of Matt Damon. It wasn’t until I watched the Departed and I hated him through the whole movie. The only other Damon movies I can stand are the Bourne movies.
I really liked the first movie a lot. When I went to see Bourne Supremecy I was on a “date” I’m with all of my friends and they know how much I wanted to see this movie. She gets up and leaves about 20 minutes into the movie. She’s gone for about 5-10 minutes and so since she’s technically my date I get up to go check on her. I find her outside the theater sitting down on a bench and she’s crying talking about how sick she was and she couldn’t watch it. The camera jerked around too much. So being the nice guy I am I sat outside with her for the remainder of the movie. Since it didn’t really workout between us I feel like an idiot, but at the time I felt I did the right thing. If I’m on a date now I’ll give her a roll of quarters and she’ll play video games until I’m done.
This new Bourne is a one of those summer movies that comes up late. It reminds me of a politician who’ll throw his name out there late just to steal some votes.
The movie starts with some action as we see Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) still on the hunt for his true identity, battling bad guys as his amnesia at the same time. At the same time local newspaper reporter has been following Bourne’s story and wants to find out more about Treadstone and the people involved. The government has started a new group of young assasins codenamed Blackbriar. These guys are like Jason Bourne but younger and have cooler gadgets to use.
Bourne has help in this movie from Nicky (Julie Stiles. Who I swear is Alicia Silverstone 2007. I hope she can get it together and land some bigger roles) and Pamela Landy (Joan Allen who I loved in Face/Off)
The movie is full of action but there are some dry points. I’m not sure if it’s because I saw a 9:50 movie on a Friday night after a long week or the food coma I slipped into after Johnny Rockets or if those scenes were really that dry. When I think about it, I really liked the movie. There was nothing spectacular about it other than some cool fight scenes and you get to see Bourne tear people apart with the newest edition of US Weekly. I would love to see how the people at Treadstone teach that in fighting class.
My suggestion: Go see it if you’ve enjoyed the other two movies. It’s worth the $9.75 I spent and it was really a good movie to see with a group of guys. It’s a great way to end a run of good Summer movies.
My Grade: 3.0 – Way to go! Not fantastic but at least you can hold your head up when you tell people what your GPA is.
I really liked the first movie a lot. When I went to see Bourne Supremecy I was on a “date” I’m with all of my friends and they know how much I wanted to see this movie. She gets up and leaves about 20 minutes into the movie. She’s gone for about 5-10 minutes and so since she’s technically my date I get up to go check on her. I find her outside the theater sitting down on a bench and she’s crying talking about how sick she was and she couldn’t watch it. The camera jerked around too much. So being the nice guy I am I sat outside with her for the remainder of the movie. Since it didn’t really workout between us I feel like an idiot, but at the time I felt I did the right thing. If I’m on a date now I’ll give her a roll of quarters and she’ll play video games until I’m done.
This new Bourne is a one of those summer movies that comes up late. It reminds me of a politician who’ll throw his name out there late just to steal some votes.
The movie starts with some action as we see Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) still on the hunt for his true identity, battling bad guys as his amnesia at the same time. At the same time local newspaper reporter has been following Bourne’s story and wants to find out more about Treadstone and the people involved. The government has started a new group of young assasins codenamed Blackbriar. These guys are like Jason Bourne but younger and have cooler gadgets to use.
Bourne has help in this movie from Nicky (Julie Stiles. Who I swear is Alicia Silverstone 2007. I hope she can get it together and land some bigger roles) and Pamela Landy (Joan Allen who I loved in Face/Off)
The movie is full of action but there are some dry points. I’m not sure if it’s because I saw a 9:50 movie on a Friday night after a long week or the food coma I slipped into after Johnny Rockets or if those scenes were really that dry. When I think about it, I really liked the movie. There was nothing spectacular about it other than some cool fight scenes and you get to see Bourne tear people apart with the newest edition of US Weekly. I would love to see how the people at Treadstone teach that in fighting class.
My suggestion: Go see it if you’ve enjoyed the other two movies. It’s worth the $9.75 I spent and it was really a good movie to see with a group of guys. It’s a great way to end a run of good Summer movies.
My Grade: 3.0 – Way to go! Not fantastic but at least you can hold your head up when you tell people what your GPA is.
Convict Radio
There are few actors who seem to have roles in movies that I like. Don Cheadle happens to be one of them. I know if I see a trailer and it looks a little suspect and at the very end it says “Starring Don Cheadle” I’ll say “Hmmm doesn’t look half bad” The first time I can remember seeing him was on Hanging With Mr. Cooper. If I think about it, the first time I really saw him was when he played Rocket in the movie Colors. From then on it just seemed like a string of movies that I enjoyed Rosewood, Out Of Sight, Family Man, Traffic, Swordfish, Oceans 11., The Assassination Of Richard Nixon, Crash, Hotel Rwanda and now Talk to Me. This has to be one of the best movies I’ve seen this summer. Anything is better than Pirates of the Caribbean (yes I’m still bitter)
Talk To Me is based on the life of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene (Don Cheadle) who was an ex-con turned radio personality in the D.C area. The movie follows Petey as he leaves prison and lands a job as the morning DJ at WOL-AM. Petey is given the job by Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who is in search for new talent to compete with a rival radio station.
During the film you see how Petey spoke to the people, for the people. It reminds me of one of my friend EJ landed job on ESPN to talk about sports. I could see him being completely bias to the Yankees, Lakers, and Barry Bonds. He would completely ignore Hockey, Soccer and Tennis. Petey’s story reminded me of sort of voice that’s missing today. He was a voice on the airways who wasn’t concerned about ratings, sponsors, or the FCC. He just wanted to “tell it like it is”. He wanted to talk about race the way people talked behind closed doors. He wanted to bring up topics that were on people’s hearts and were just too afraid to discuss. People didn’t just tune in to hear the great soul music he would play, but to hear what Petey had to say. 9 times out of 10 they felt the same way.
You don’t just see Petey as this great libertarian, you also get a chance to see his faults and how that had influence on his life. The same traps that our celebrities run into today. Alcohol, women, more alcohol, and more women.
One of the great storylines of the movie was Petey’s relationship with Dewey. Two men with different ways of doing things, but the same heart for the people. The movie does a great job of depicting their relationship as Petey goes from convict to radio icon.
This movie also has a wonderful, humorous performance from Taraji P Henson as Vernell, Petey’s girlfriend. Her hilarious outburst and even more hilarious choice of clothes really give the movie that extra laugh to help you swallow some of the seriousness in the film.
Talk To Me is a great film. Although it doesn’t fit with the rest of the Summer Blockbusters we’ve seen, it’s well worth the price of admission. It’s better than most movies I’ve seen this summer. I’m hoping this movie inspires some people to speak up and speak out like Petey did.
My suggestion: Go see it. If not for Don Cheadles performance at least for Petey’s story and for some of the movies funny moments.
My Grade: 3.5 – Keep it up. Maybe your parents will buy you a new car…………..or at least say they will to keep you working hard in school.
Talk To Me is based on the life of Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene (Don Cheadle) who was an ex-con turned radio personality in the D.C area. The movie follows Petey as he leaves prison and lands a job as the morning DJ at WOL-AM. Petey is given the job by Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who is in search for new talent to compete with a rival radio station.
During the film you see how Petey spoke to the people, for the people. It reminds me of one of my friend EJ landed job on ESPN to talk about sports. I could see him being completely bias to the Yankees, Lakers, and Barry Bonds. He would completely ignore Hockey, Soccer and Tennis. Petey’s story reminded me of sort of voice that’s missing today. He was a voice on the airways who wasn’t concerned about ratings, sponsors, or the FCC. He just wanted to “tell it like it is”. He wanted to talk about race the way people talked behind closed doors. He wanted to bring up topics that were on people’s hearts and were just too afraid to discuss. People didn’t just tune in to hear the great soul music he would play, but to hear what Petey had to say. 9 times out of 10 they felt the same way.
You don’t just see Petey as this great libertarian, you also get a chance to see his faults and how that had influence on his life. The same traps that our celebrities run into today. Alcohol, women, more alcohol, and more women.
One of the great storylines of the movie was Petey’s relationship with Dewey. Two men with different ways of doing things, but the same heart for the people. The movie does a great job of depicting their relationship as Petey goes from convict to radio icon.
This movie also has a wonderful, humorous performance from Taraji P Henson as Vernell, Petey’s girlfriend. Her hilarious outburst and even more hilarious choice of clothes really give the movie that extra laugh to help you swallow some of the seriousness in the film.
Talk To Me is a great film. Although it doesn’t fit with the rest of the Summer Blockbusters we’ve seen, it’s well worth the price of admission. It’s better than most movies I’ve seen this summer. I’m hoping this movie inspires some people to speak up and speak out like Petey did.
My suggestion: Go see it. If not for Don Cheadles performance at least for Petey’s story and for some of the movies funny moments.
My Grade: 3.5 – Keep it up. Maybe your parents will buy you a new car…………..or at least say they will to keep you working hard in school.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Roll Out!!!!
Did I really wait a lifetime for this or, am I just imagining things. . It was finally here, a live action Transformers. I knew it would look good since Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg are involved. I sat through weeks of my friend leaving me mean messages like “Hey did you hear what happened? They are pulling Transformers out of the theaters because something is wrong with the movie. Sorry.” If any of that would have been true I’m not sure I wouldn’t be blogging from jail right now. My only question was about the plot and the actors in the film. If those two elements could be good I was guaranteed to be watching the movie of the summer.
I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a complete nerd, but the storyline is simple. Autobots and Decepticons lived peacefully on the same planet until the Decepticon leader Megatron wanted to take over and went after a cube called the Allspark. The Allspark was lost in space and ended up on Earth. The Autobots need to get the Allspark before Megatron gets his hands on it and destroys all human life on earth. Caught in the middle are Sam Witwicky (Shia Le Bouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox). Sam has something that both the Autobots and the Decpeticons need to find the Allspark.
The plot is believable, and not too cheesy. The characters are good, and not too corny. Some good performances by Tyrese, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson, and Josh Duhamel. We all know the real stars of the movie are. The Transformers!!! Prototype cars and CGI Robots. Is it possible for Optimus Prime to show up at the Oscars? Maybe he can roll on stage and take out Rosie O’Donnell. How much would you pay to see that? I’m up to $750 and I don’t feel ripped off yet.
The Autobots are include Bumblebee, Jazz, Ratchett and Ironhide and last but not least Optimus Prime. I always thought Jazz was the “black” Autobot. In my head it makes perfect sense. When I watched the cartoon he would always rhyme and he had sunglasses for eyes. He falls right in line with Franklin( from Peanuts), Hong Kong Phooey, and Destro from GI Joe. It didn’t help that I found out Eddie Winslow from Family Matters provides the voice.
The Decpeticons are lead by Megatron, Barricade, Destroyer, Bonecrusher, and Starscream. Megartron is especially evil in the movie, which was great. It was a lot like the 80’s cartoon in that aspect. They even threw in some lines from the animated movie.
The fight sequences were so big and elaborate, but I never felt lost like I couldn’t tell what was going on. I was 10 years old again. I was cheering and applauding Optimus Prime and I really wanted to see them get the best of the Decepticons. I loved the fact that they didn’t show all of the cool scenes on the trailer. There were still plenty of scenes where I could hear the whole crowd “ooooooh” and “ahhhhhh”. You couldn’t tell me it wasn’t real…………..well at least for those 2 ½ hours. After the movie to see all the smiles on my friends faces, I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt like they had a trip back to my childhood.
I haven’t enjoyed a movie with this much hype in a long time. It was well worth the wait. I lived up to my expectations and that’s saying something because my standards can be high at times. (yes I admitted it)
My Suggestion: Do you want to be the last person on earth who hasn’t seen this movie? I didn’t think so.
My Grade – 3.7: You didn’t get a 4.0 because you didn’t want your parents sticking you in a gifted school away from all of your friends.
I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a complete nerd, but the storyline is simple. Autobots and Decepticons lived peacefully on the same planet until the Decepticon leader Megatron wanted to take over and went after a cube called the Allspark. The Allspark was lost in space and ended up on Earth. The Autobots need to get the Allspark before Megatron gets his hands on it and destroys all human life on earth. Caught in the middle are Sam Witwicky (Shia Le Bouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox). Sam has something that both the Autobots and the Decpeticons need to find the Allspark.
The plot is believable, and not too cheesy. The characters are good, and not too corny. Some good performances by Tyrese, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson, and Josh Duhamel. We all know the real stars of the movie are. The Transformers!!! Prototype cars and CGI Robots. Is it possible for Optimus Prime to show up at the Oscars? Maybe he can roll on stage and take out Rosie O’Donnell. How much would you pay to see that? I’m up to $750 and I don’t feel ripped off yet.
The Autobots are include Bumblebee, Jazz, Ratchett and Ironhide and last but not least Optimus Prime. I always thought Jazz was the “black” Autobot. In my head it makes perfect sense. When I watched the cartoon he would always rhyme and he had sunglasses for eyes. He falls right in line with Franklin( from Peanuts), Hong Kong Phooey, and Destro from GI Joe. It didn’t help that I found out Eddie Winslow from Family Matters provides the voice.
The Decpeticons are lead by Megatron, Barricade, Destroyer, Bonecrusher, and Starscream. Megartron is especially evil in the movie, which was great. It was a lot like the 80’s cartoon in that aspect. They even threw in some lines from the animated movie.
The fight sequences were so big and elaborate, but I never felt lost like I couldn’t tell what was going on. I was 10 years old again. I was cheering and applauding Optimus Prime and I really wanted to see them get the best of the Decepticons. I loved the fact that they didn’t show all of the cool scenes on the trailer. There were still plenty of scenes where I could hear the whole crowd “ooooooh” and “ahhhhhh”. You couldn’t tell me it wasn’t real…………..well at least for those 2 ½ hours. After the movie to see all the smiles on my friends faces, I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt like they had a trip back to my childhood.
I haven’t enjoyed a movie with this much hype in a long time. It was well worth the wait. I lived up to my expectations and that’s saying something because my standards can be high at times. (yes I admitted it)
My Suggestion: Do you want to be the last person on earth who hasn’t seen this movie? I didn’t think so.
My Grade – 3.7: You didn’t get a 4.0 because you didn’t want your parents sticking you in a gifted school away from all of your friends.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Animated Classic
The first time I watched Transformers I was blown away. This was a time before all the CGI and life-like animation that we are accustomed to seeing these days with The Incredibles or the Shrek franchise. This was 1986, and more than 20 years ago. I remember my mom not wanting me to see the movie and I remember my uncle Brian who had to be 15 or 16 at the time really excited about it, almost too excited.
It’s hands down one of my favorite movies. The first time I saw it I remember when they stormed the Autobot base and it looked as if these Autobots were being killed. You saw smoke coming out of their eyes. It looked as if the Autobots were doomed and then came Optimus Prime. I love my dad so don’t get me wrong, but I’m sure if you asked me in 1986 who I would rather have as a dad……..I would have easily changed my last name to Prime. I’m sure the old man would have understood. Anyways as I remember, Prime comes flying in and you hear the guitar riffs, “You got the touch (guitar riff) You got the Power……Yeah” They come in and start whooping up on the Decepticons. It’s funny because the fight scenes were way more violent than what I saw on tv. I should have been warned. This is probably why my mother didn’t want me to watch.
As the two sides fight, Optimus Prime is hurt and he’s hurt bad. There is that scene where he’s laying on the table surrounded by other Autobots. He opens his chest and reveals the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. He hands it to Ultramagnus (dumb idea) and then it happens, Optimus Prime dies. It was so dramatic. He was this colorful truck and all the sudden he turns dark gray and his eyes are black. I'm not sure what a dead cartoon character looks like, but I assume that's it. A very defining moment of my life at 8 years old. I couldn’t believe it. I actually cried. I was horrified! Up to this point none of my heroes had died. GI Joe was still alive, He-Man was still getting the best of Skeletor, and Voltorn always seemed to pull out of any situation. Why Optimus? Was it to expose Ultramagnus as a fake leader? That’s like Jerry Seinfeld leaving the cast of Seinfeld and expecting the show to go on for two more seasons with George as the main character. It just wouldn’t work. At my old job we asked the roundtable question “Who’s your favorite Transformer” he replied “Ultramagnus” It really got a good laugh out of most of us at the table because of how horrible of a character he was.
The first movie was a big shock for me as a child. I pray this new movie doesn’t leave me in such emotional turmoil as the first one did. Maybe because I’m 20 years older I’ll handle it differently or maybe not.
I can’t wait until the Voltron movie next year.
It’s hands down one of my favorite movies. The first time I saw it I remember when they stormed the Autobot base and it looked as if these Autobots were being killed. You saw smoke coming out of their eyes. It looked as if the Autobots were doomed and then came Optimus Prime. I love my dad so don’t get me wrong, but I’m sure if you asked me in 1986 who I would rather have as a dad……..I would have easily changed my last name to Prime. I’m sure the old man would have understood. Anyways as I remember, Prime comes flying in and you hear the guitar riffs, “You got the touch (guitar riff) You got the Power……Yeah” They come in and start whooping up on the Decepticons. It’s funny because the fight scenes were way more violent than what I saw on tv. I should have been warned. This is probably why my mother didn’t want me to watch.
As the two sides fight, Optimus Prime is hurt and he’s hurt bad. There is that scene where he’s laying on the table surrounded by other Autobots. He opens his chest and reveals the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. He hands it to Ultramagnus (dumb idea) and then it happens, Optimus Prime dies. It was so dramatic. He was this colorful truck and all the sudden he turns dark gray and his eyes are black. I'm not sure what a dead cartoon character looks like, but I assume that's it. A very defining moment of my life at 8 years old. I couldn’t believe it. I actually cried. I was horrified! Up to this point none of my heroes had died. GI Joe was still alive, He-Man was still getting the best of Skeletor, and Voltorn always seemed to pull out of any situation. Why Optimus? Was it to expose Ultramagnus as a fake leader? That’s like Jerry Seinfeld leaving the cast of Seinfeld and expecting the show to go on for two more seasons with George as the main character. It just wouldn’t work. At my old job we asked the roundtable question “Who’s your favorite Transformer” he replied “Ultramagnus” It really got a good laugh out of most of us at the table because of how horrible of a character he was.
The first movie was a big shock for me as a child. I pray this new movie doesn’t leave me in such emotional turmoil as the first one did. Maybe because I’m 20 years older I’ll handle it differently or maybe not.
I can’t wait until the Voltron movie next year.
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