Donald Faison is a talented dude who is funny as fuck on Scrubs. Mos Def is a talented dude who is a fire rapper and has a unique onscreen presence. Mike Epps is an all around funny mofo that can add life to an otherwise dull movie. Wood Harris has been killin' it on screen for years and Darius McCrary...well...there was always Family Matters, Eddie. Still, with the talent line up in this movie, you would think you'd be able to squeeze out a decent comedy about a mis-delivered box of drugs, a couple of high ass delivery dudes, some pissed off dealers and some happy ass two-time loser crooks. You would think, right? Well, Benny Boom almost did with his directorial debut. The problem is that this movie couldn't decide what kind of comedy it was going to be, if it was going to be a comedy at all.
Let me lay it out a little bit:
Donald Faison (Leo) is a fuck up. He's a delivery driver who gets high 24/7 and is only holding onto his job because his mom (Debbie Allen) is the supervisor. Wood Harris (Guch) and Mike Epps (Brody) are homies that are "crime buddies" who constantly fuck up heists, the latest one being a bank robbery where they end up jacking the security tapes instead of the money. Cisco Reyes (Jesus - that's HAY-zeus, but not if you let him tell it) is waiting for a big shipment of coke from his boss while being constantly reprimanded by his pestering girlfriend Yasmin Deliz (Chita). [Mos Def]Damn, that bitch was bad![/Mos Def]
Leo fucks up and delivers the box to Jesus's neighbors, Brody and Guch. See where this is going? The shit should have been funny as fuck. They made a few crucial mistakes. Mos Def is highly underused. He's only in a couple of scenes - one of which is in the trailer. Secondly, the movie goes from being a comedy to being a black comedy (not a black cast comedy, fools! A black comedy like War Of The Roses or Pulp Fiction) to being a drama with a message? I'm not even sure. That's the problem. Benny, you need to go back to directing videos, nigga - if you can't get your shit together. One of the most important parts of directing is DIRECTION and this movie had too many. Instead of being "typical" they tried to flip shit up. I wish they'd have chosen to be typical. The reason there are formulas for certain types of movies is because they work. If this were an indie film, they could have played with it a bit more and it could have been tight. Instead, they were vague about what kind of movie you were seeing and the characters were not likable enough for you to feel compassion for any of them. There have been many movies to fall into this trap before. I remember not caring if any of the characters from Cloverfield survived because none of them were all that relatable. This movie, while having funny characters, also had characters that were too flawed to see as the protagonist and you end up defaulting to characters that are "less fucked up" than others.
I went in wanting to like this movie. I admit that. The ending made me have to cast a dark cloud on this film.
If you go see this joint, go see it because you want to support Benny in hopes he gets it right next time. Go see it because you know all of the white folk and Trek fans are going to be at Star Trek. Go to see fine ass Yasmin Deliz, who actually proved to have much more potential as an actress after this film. Go for the theater experience. Go for the popcorn and artificial butter. Just don't go thinking Mo suggested it. I would really wait till this movie is on video to see it.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Star Trek
So JJ Abrahms must have felt guilty after that Cloverfield fiasco and decided to come back in a big way.
I was floored by the job he did on Star Trek. This shit is off the hook. Of course, we know all of the characters, which means Abrahms was walking a tightrope because if he miscast any one character, everyone would hate his movie. He didn't. I was completely feelin' Zoe Saldana as Uhura. Kirk was pompous and headstrong without the bad acting. Casting John Cho as Sulu and Simon Peg as Scotty was a damn good idea because this movie is much funnier than I expected. Its borderline comedy. Now they did change a few details and take a couple of creative licenses but nothing that would fuck up the characters. The plot line was tight and the best casting was actually probably Carl Urban as McCoy. Dude had him dead on! Leonard Nemoy himself chose Spock - and he chose well. Dude that played Chekov had the voice down perfect and the goofy stares, too.The effects were off the chain, the story was thorough, the characters were dead on and you can see how they developed into the characters of the original cast from their experiences. I honestly have no complaints at all about this flick. Now, I'm not saying its perfect. Eric Bana came off as a little too anxious for a Romulan and I could have stood to see a bigger fight scene with him. Other than that, it was off the hook. I fully recommend this joint. In case you're wondering or haven't seen the trailer, its a prequel that takes place before the actually first Star Trek series. Dumb question time:
Q: Can I take the kids?
A: Duh.
Q: Should I matineé this mutha fucka?
A: Any time is fine. Its actually worth the money.
Q: Will this beat Wolverine at the box office?
A: Why the fuck do you care? Did you invest in one of the movies? If not, then who gives a fuck? It ain't your money. Stop worrying about other peoples' cash flow.
This, in my opinion, is a better movie than Wolverine.
Personally, there's not a choice between the two. Wolverine was decent but I could site several things that make it less desirable of a movie. Star Trek was WELL DONE on all levels. It doesn't matter if you're an old trekkie from the first series or if you've never seen a Star Trek episode in your life. This was a good movie all around. It was a good balance of sci-fi, adventure and comedy and will probably be worth re-watching years from now.
Bottom line: Fucks with this. Take the kids. Take your girl. Enjoy. I know there will always be somebody who doesn't like it. I can't help you there. This is a good joint. Its worth a trip to the theater. A fuzzy bootleg won't do it justice.
I was floored by the job he did on Star Trek. This shit is off the hook. Of course, we know all of the characters, which means Abrahms was walking a tightrope because if he miscast any one character, everyone would hate his movie. He didn't. I was completely feelin' Zoe Saldana as Uhura. Kirk was pompous and headstrong without the bad acting. Casting John Cho as Sulu and Simon Peg as Scotty was a damn good idea because this movie is much funnier than I expected. Its borderline comedy. Now they did change a few details and take a couple of creative licenses but nothing that would fuck up the characters. The plot line was tight and the best casting was actually probably Carl Urban as McCoy. Dude had him dead on! Leonard Nemoy himself chose Spock - and he chose well. Dude that played Chekov had the voice down perfect and the goofy stares, too.The effects were off the chain, the story was thorough, the characters were dead on and you can see how they developed into the characters of the original cast from their experiences. I honestly have no complaints at all about this flick. Now, I'm not saying its perfect. Eric Bana came off as a little too anxious for a Romulan and I could have stood to see a bigger fight scene with him. Other than that, it was off the hook. I fully recommend this joint. In case you're wondering or haven't seen the trailer, its a prequel that takes place before the actually first Star Trek series. Dumb question time:
Q: Can I take the kids?
A: Duh.
Q: Should I matineé this mutha fucka?
A: Any time is fine. Its actually worth the money.
Q: Will this beat Wolverine at the box office?
A: Why the fuck do you care? Did you invest in one of the movies? If not, then who gives a fuck? It ain't your money. Stop worrying about other peoples' cash flow.
This, in my opinion, is a better movie than Wolverine.
Personally, there's not a choice between the two. Wolverine was decent but I could site several things that make it less desirable of a movie. Star Trek was WELL DONE on all levels. It doesn't matter if you're an old trekkie from the first series or if you've never seen a Star Trek episode in your life. This was a good movie all around. It was a good balance of sci-fi, adventure and comedy and will probably be worth re-watching years from now.
Bottom line: Fucks with this. Take the kids. Take your girl. Enjoy. I know there will always be somebody who doesn't like it. I can't help you there. This is a good joint. Its worth a trip to the theater. A fuzzy bootleg won't do it justice.
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