Change Your Image
Cheffie3
Reviews
Ghost Rider (2007)
What a fun movie, Nicholas Cage and Peter Fonda are great!
Sometimes you go to a movie simply to be entertained, no thought provoking dialog, or deep message that leaves you wondering. This movie is just pure fun and I felt like a kid watching it, it was "COOL". I plan on seeing it again.
The special effects were amazing, I couldn't get enough of the "burning skull" or the super cool motorcycle. I've loved Nicholas Cage since "Face Off" and although this is completely different, his nonchalant laid back attitude shows through. Peter Fonda was chilling, in an unpredictable kind of way. I thought the entire cast was good. Again, if you go into this movie with no expectations, except to be entertained you'll love it. I just really don't understand some of the low scores, but to each his own.
To Be Fat Like Me (2007)
I expected so much more...
What I expected: a pretty jock who judges her mother harshly for being overweight, walks in a fat girls shoes, realizes the internal and external pain of being fat. What I got: a movie that goes in too many directions and ends up no where.
On the one hand she is angry with her mom because she had a heart attack (due to being overweight) and the hospital bills took all of her parents savings and left no money for her to go to college. I honestly don't think she would have cared about her mom being fat if there was still money for her to get an education. So her anger had more to do with what she couldn't get, than concern for her mother. On the other hand she has a fat younger brother whom she adores and protects, but doesn't understand why he lets himself get bullied, he tells her what choice does he have being so big, she says it's all in the attitude and how you let people treat you. To win money for school she enters a documentary contest and the subject is that she pretends to be fat, using it as a sociology experiment to see if she would be treated any differently. Well no big surprise that despite being nice to people she gets treated like crap and then befriends a fat girl and a self proclaimed "loser". In the end she still doesn't understand WHY people overeat, or the emotional pain of actually being fat and overeating and she still continues to judge fat people harshly for eating bad foods. So what did she learn about being fat? IMO nothing. A few other side lines, her loser friends, a guy she likes who jokes about a girls mom passing the fat test, i.e. if the mom is fat, dump the girl because she will look just like her mother soon. A father who was passive and it seemed like he wanted to say something important but never does, her not being smart, but being in the fat suit she starts to study and does better in summer school than ever before, the emphasis jocks place on looks and being in good physical condition, but the poor guy gets a headache when she tries to explain what she's going through, that it's better to exist on chemical shakes and veggies, than a balanced diet, etc, etc. I was waiting and hoping for her and her mom to have a real heart to heart and for her to really "get it" but they just sum up their bad relationship in a two minute chat that barely scratches the surface. This could have been SO much more!
Idlewild (2006)
I waited over a year for this movie, and it was worth it!!!
From the opening to the closing credits, this movie is exciting to watch and never disappoints. It has everything, great choreography great music (I normally dislike musicals), nice plot, and very good actors.
It opens with the saying that the world is a stage and the men and women are just actors, it goes on to show two very different friends grow up and deal with the choices they've made, or in some cases haven't made. It has the usual elements of a movie; love, loss, betrayal, murder, but what makes this movie stand out is the visual and audial stimulation, the 1920's/30's costumes which weren't afraid to show a woman's femininity and the men who didn't leave the house unless they were "suited" up. The stage performances were a little wild (and so is Outkast, which makes then so great) and unusual. I love Roosters' last performance. Outkast has a way of stating the obvious about life, but in a light you normally wouldn't see it in.
I highly recommend this movie, and don't leave until the very last words have rolled off the screen!
World Trade Center (2006)
Could have been so much more
With the title "World Trade Center" I'd hoped to see the events of 9/11 from more than two perspectives. Instead it's just about two guys who get trapped and an ex marine who's determined to help find/save lives. I'm glad the two got out alive, but what a slap in the face to all of those whose loved ones didn't make it. Shouldn't their story have been told? Also the movie was choppy, and just plain awkward in some parts, especially the scene with the two women at the coffee machine, there was no chemistry, and all of sudden they break down crying, I wanted to feel something, but couldn't. This movie glossed over the significance of what happened.
House of Payne (2006)
I enjoyed it....
This is a good dramedy and I like the way Perry balances out the good with the bad (drug addicted mother/very caring father) and the funny with the sad. In the tradition of the Jeffersons and All in the Family, the father, who may seem a bit ignorant to some, has most of the funny lines. And of course we have the loving and patient wife (Weezy and Edith) to balance him out. I've loved Allen Payne since he was Lance on the Cosby Show and especially in Jason's Lyric. He's a talented actor and I'm glad to see him in the spotlight again. I'm not too familiar with the other actors, but the Mom and Pop make the cutest couple. I'm happy to see positive black male role models in this sitcom and hope it stays on for a while.
The Elephant Man (1980)
A very moving story
I think even I fell in love with the elephant man. To be so disfigured and yet so kind. I cried when the Jerk let his friends "view" the elephant man at night when they picked him up and twirled him around and threw liquor down his throat. And yet he never defended himself. John Hurt was magnificent as John Merrick (elephant man), and Anthony Hopkins played his normal, calm, cool, and collected role as the Dr. I also like the head nurse, because although she wasn't thrilled about him at first, she grew to care for him a great deal, a must see movie.
Captains Courageous (1937)
Great Movie!!!
I think this was Spencer Tracy's best role, an unassuming man who makes in indelible impression on the young boy who would have grown up as a brat. The story has meaning and the fishing scenes are exciting. A very enjoyable movie.
The Lion in Winter (1968)
The tongue is sharper than the sword!!
This was an excellent movie with great lines that cut to the core. Some subtle, some not. My favorite line was from John "Nobody cares about John, if I was on fire, no one would bother to pee on me to put me out". Katherine Hepburn was fantastic as the mother, a woman who is quick witted, wise and knows how to choose her battles. One of the best depiction of a dysfunctional family I've ever seen.