Jun 17, 2011
(rated PG-13, 102 mins.) With its hip hop energy and throw back to ‘70s sitcom-style of cliché fun (think JJ of “Good Times), come the story of Calvin (Ice Cube), a hardworking brother in Chicago who inherits the neighborhood barbershop. But this isn’t just any barbershop. It’s from his daddy with a history of social gossip and bonded community. And, it’s about to go down the tubes (think Eddie Murphy’s barbershop characters in “Coming To America”). Without enough hair cuts in the hood to stay afloat, Calvin sells the shop to a local loan shark (Keith David, “Requiem for a Dream”), on the condition that no matter what happens to the premises, the sign must always read “Barbershop”. What makes the movie work is the heartbeat of what’s going on in the walls of the shop with its six employees and their everyday issues. Especially Isaac (Troy Garity) the only white barber who seems more black than the rest. This is a story mixed with Ethnic pride, strong bonds and humor, that cross over to all walks of life. Similar to the hype in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” Barbershop glows with sweetness and genuine real life, not to mention a convincing lead in Ice Cube.
Jun 17, 2011
(rated PG-13) If timing is everything then this bittersweet tale of a young Iranian who falls for an Afghan couldn’t be better. Baran opens focusing on illegal Afghani immigrants to Iran, supervised by Memar (Mohammad Reza Naji). He hires them because they’re hard working, cheap labor though government officials are constantly challenging the labor force. As the immigrants continue to grow so does the injury of an Afghan father whose son (Zahra Bahrami), is given an easy job of prepping the workers’ food and tea that previously belonged to Iout Latif (Hossein Abendini) now put on more rigorous detail as a result. As things progress so does a story where we learn the son is really a woman and an unlikely love affair begins. If the story excels in one place other then its emotional and redeeming victories it’s the global message during a time when our world is on war alert.
Jun 17, 2011
(Rated PG-13,123 mins) Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) and Terry Collins (Billy Bob Thornton) are bank robbers; fugitives, hoping a final string of scores will finance their South-of-the-Border retirement dream. Somewhere along the way they hook up with Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett) an ordinary housewife sick of her disappointing life — who happens to run into Terry with her car. Things go from simple to complicated. Joining the spree they become a three ring circus stealing hearts as well as vaults – think “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” meet a comical “Bonnie and Clyde” and you have a Barry(Rain Man, Bugsy, Wag The Dog)Levinson directed, well-thought-out caper of personalities. Willis returns to his suave “Moonlighting” roots though his character is sloppy, Thornton’s is tidy and Blanchett makes for a love triangle that heats up the heists. It’s been said “an engaging pair with a savoir-flair” that would be (Blanchett).
Jun 17, 2011
(rated R) Damon Wayans plays a Harvard educated TV writer in this blistering satire of network television’s pitfalls and prejudices from controversial cage-rattler Spike Lee. As a matter of fact, Lee feels compelled to include dialog of the dictionary definition of the word “satire.” Michael Rapaport plays a very white boss who must come up with a way to win over young hip audiences. Just as his show idea of jiving, tap-dancing actors succeeds, the actual movie nosedives. Wayan’s performs in his sarcastic but lesser “In Living Color” character, yet the movie’s failures aren’t exclusively Wayan’s fault. While Lee usually evokes passion, strong dialog and effective visuals to his political/cultural messages, this one fails on almost all levels, saturated in so much opinion, it’s almost an audience test in itself.
Jun 17, 2011
(rated R) Rebecca Miller, daughter of famed playwright Arthur Miller, directs and writes a story starring her husband, Daniel Day Lewis, who she met on the set of her father’s play “The Crucible”. In his first role since “Gangs of New York” Lewis takes on another of his bizarre characters, this time as Jack, a hippy dad living on a leftover commune where he raises his daughter Rose (Camilla Belle). Sheltered from the influence of the outside world, Belle is perfectly cast as a believable and innocent virgin, with an angel-like purity. But that’s not the problem. It’s hard to sympathize with a man who wants the best for his child by isolating her from the real world. Just what kind of a father moves his child to a remote island to live in one of those “in the ground energy houses”? And, then to add chaos to insanity, invites his wayward lover (a well cast Catherine Keener) to move in with her two teenaged sons. The jealousy that Rose will display over this new woman invading her father’s space all makes sense, it’s a father who fights mother-nature by stifling his daughter her entire life, that really has unacceptable issues. Afterall, the world’s progress can’t be stopped in order to shield one child.
