Jun 20, 2011
(rated PG-13, 134 mins.)
A teen hip hopping kid from Harlem (Nicolodeon’s Nick Cannon) wins a musical scholarship to a big southern university. Suddenly this fish out of water has to compete on a team that takes their Broadway style marching band as seriously as they take their peach pie. Orlando Jones does a fine job as the band’s director in this good-hearted story with positive values (in rapper sportsmanship style) in a storyline that’s original and refreshing from the usual football competitive movies.
Jun 20, 2011
(Rated PG-13)
Opens March 3
The tagline is catchy: “1 murder. 460 prime suspects.” Not so much a “whodunit” as a “who didn’t.” From the producers of “Dumb and Dumber,” now Destination Films, in connection with Jersey Films, comes a surefire comedy hit about a woman who drives her car into a lake — and the search for who’s behind her death.
Think “Ruthless People” because this one stars Danny DeVito as Chief Wyatt Rash, who’s known more for his love of show tunes than his authority. Bette Midler stars as Mona Dearly, a local housewife/tyrant (the role Bette does so well) and nobody in town particularly likes her, or cares when she drowns. Marcus Thomas stars as her son, the landscaper. Casey Affleck as the landscaper’s partner, engaged to Ellen (Neve Campbell), who also just happens to be Chief Rash’s daughter. William Fichtner as Bette’s hubby, who is driven into the arms of a career diner waitress Jamie Lee Curtis. Basically they’d like to just forget about Mona since there isn’t anyone who wouldn’t have wanted to kill Mona Dearly anyway.
Jun 20, 2011
(rated PG-13)
Sylvester Stallone wrote and Renny Harlin directs (Cliffhanger) in their first reteaming with this petal to the metal testosterone-high-octane-driven guy flick. Stallone plays a washed up race car driver who makes a comeback at the request of his old boss (Burt Reynolds) to mentor the new kid on the block. Kip Pardue plays rising driver star Jimmy Blye who Stallone will back by blocking out the other drivers allowing Pardue to win the race and all the endorsements (and believe me this movie has plenty of them splattered everywhere, especially on their helmets.) But, more difficult to deal with are the babes in their lives each one with poutier lips than the last. Gina Gershon plays Tanto’s ex, and newcomer Estella Warren as the girl he dumps. Driven feels more like a video game than a movie with its hairpin-close-corner-hugging turns to the finish line. But, that’s ok. It’s total road candy as it’s meant to be. For the boys.
Jun 18, 2011
Move over “Chicago” – and for that matter, “Rent” and “The Phantom of the Opera” – this is the most incredible transfer of stage to screen in history! Adapted from the 1981 Tony award-winning musical, comes the story of a hard-driving stage manager, Curtis (Jamie Foxx) who sees his goldmine in a trio of singers from Detroit, circa 1960s (think the Supremes) and soars them to international fame. Driven by dazzling and over-the-top musical performances, the movie is the one to beat, come Oscar time. The visuals – the body-hugging dresses, the nostalgic inter-cuts of Martin Luther King and Detroit fever – transcend us back to the time when R & B got its soul and sound. And what’s going on backstage is another story. Effie (American Idol runner-up, Jennifer Hudson) explodes on the screen in the Jennifer Holiday role of the demanding Diva pushed aside for the prettier Deena Jones (Beyonce Knowles) to steal her lead, and eventually steal her man, Curtis. Jamie Foxx takes a step backwards in his Curtis role, maintaining the sedate and icy edge his character requires, a far-cry from the deep and passionate performance he gave in “Ray” that won him the Oscar. It’s good to see Danny Glover back on screen, as the local and competitive manager, who has to roll with the punches as the stakes are raised. But it’s Eddie Murphy as singer James “Thunder” Early – a real comeback kid that will, hands down, give him his long awaited Academy Award. Four tiaras
Jun 18, 2011
(rated PG-13, 90 mins.)
The movie opens. It’s raining, it’s Venezuela and it’s a bad mudslide. Dr. Emily Darrow (Susanna Thompson, TV’s ‘Once and Again’) is screaming in desperation on the phone to her husband Dr. Joe Darrow (Kevin Costner), and then it ends. She’s dead. Not knowing the loved one’s last moments prior to a tragic death haunts the living (Costner) forever. His work as an E.R. surgeon is affected too. His neighbor (Kathy Bates) sees the changes and he’s getting worse. Especially when the emotional changes are affecting his oath as a physician in wake of his personal loss. But when the loved one is your soulmate; she’s the heart and you’re the mind, can one have contact in the hereafter? After a series of flops Costner takes on a moving, grief-stricken and real role that is this century’s “Ghost”. This will be a love or hate movie. If you’ve had experiences with incredible loss you’ll empathize with Costner’s pain and then revelation, if you haven’t, you may not get it and well, we can only feel sorry for you.
