• 15Feb 09

  Movie Review: Notorious

  

  Considered by many as "larger than life" not only in stature, but his music, Notorious pays tribute to the talented Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G.) who passed long before his time.

  The movie takes us back to his childhood where as an intelligent kid, Wallace gave up school to sell dope on the streets, unbeknownst to his mother Voletta (Angela Bassett) until he was almost an adult. He was addicted to making money no matter the cost, as shown when he doesn't hesitate to sell crack to a pregnant women.

  There we follow him into adulthood. From landing in jail, to landing a record deal with the help of Sean "Puffy" Combs, Notorious depicts Wallace as a boy with a calm and charming demeanor, yet has a lot of growing up to do. Yes, his ability to create and deliver lyrics is phenomenal and came to him with ease. However, his rise to the top in this film finds a way to spin the childish, wreckless behavior of his personal life. It feels like the film tries to overly soften Wallace's image, as he's selling drugs, neglecting his daughter or cheating on his wife, Faith Evans (Antonique Smith).

  The casting of Jamal Woolard as Wallace was an absolutely brilliant move. Woolard nails his portrayal of The Notorious B.I.G. with every mannerism, and it's fascinating to watch him bring this film to life. Naturi Naughton also does a great job as the feisty Lil Kim. It's funny watching Derek Luke as Sean Combs. With the real Sean Combs as Executive Producer of the movie, it's only natural that his charcters comes off as the one that keeps Wallace's eyes on the prize, and continually provides him with wise insight on life with quotes like, "You can't change the world until you change yourself." Unfortunately, Tupac's (Anthony Mackie) character is hard to watch; he comes off as nothing more than a caricature.

  The movie does show the East Coast/West Coast feud and how it became out of hand during Biggie's perspective, but doesn't get into detail about his (or Tupac's) murder because it's a film about his life, not an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries." Near the end Wallace seems to go into reflective mode about his life, citing that he's finally realized what really matters most in life (aka his family). However, that comes off as being too cheesy and screams "something bad is going to happen, so we have to give his character pseudo peace and realization of his maturation."

  Notorious is a fairly solid biopic that covers the highlights of Biggie's life just enough for fans and newcomers alike to enjoy.

  Rating: 5.5 out of 10

  • Posted Feb 15, 2009 8:00 pm PT
  • Category: Movies
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• 15Feb 09

  Movie Review: Revolutionary Road

  

  Revolutionary Road is one of those films that could easily reinforce fear into anyone who already feels as if they're "trapped" in their life.

  Frank (Leo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) are just like any other married couple living in suburbia in the fifties: they have a nice house and two kids. Frank is a businessman and April is a homemaker. They've settled into a nice life on Revolutionary Road, but THAT is the problem. Frank hates his job and April hates the fact that she never fulfilled her dream of becoming an actress. Each one allows the fact they're going through the motions of what they believe is a dull, mundane life gnaw at them until the breaking point, which they take out on each other in explosive arguments. Their marriage has led them into a hopeless, empty life.

  April believes they can escape if they pack up and move to Paris, because it makes perfect sense to uproot your kids (who we only see literally 3 or 4 times in the movie) and move the family across the Atlantic. Frank eventually agrees, but it's funny to watch as all of their friends or coworkers seem to think it's a silly idea. Of course the promise of Paris comes to an end once Frank is offered a promotion at work, and April discovers she's pregnant. All of their decisions are, in their minds, meant to grant them each the life they want. However, in reality their motives are purely selfish. They somehow believe they are special. But once their dreams are spoiled yet again...let the mega meltdown begin.

  The best parts of this movie are during Frank and April's fights. It's one of those situations where it feels "eerily familiar"...you know what I mean. Their fights get more intense as the movie goes along, as the pure emotion flows from DiCaprio and Winslet's brilliant performances. With their chemistry you'd think they'd been acting together for years, though this is the first time they've been together since "Titanic."

  Michael Shannon also gives a GREAT performance as John. Recently released from a mental institution, he's the son of a real estate agent (Kathy Bates). Not only does John's vocal and incredibly blunt nature provide humor, it also serves a knife that cuts right through Frank and April's delusional bullcrap. John shows no mercy as he calls them both out and force feeds them the reality neither wants to face. I'd say Michael Shannon more than earned his Oscar nomination this year for "Best Supporting Actor."

  I felt like the story in Revolutionary Road unraveled a bit at the end, and I didn't like the fact that Frank and April's children were nowhere to be seen almost the entire movie. However, that's minor considering the fact that DiCaprio and Winslet both give Oscar-worthy performances. It's quite a shame neither were nominated.

  RATING: 9 out of 10

  • Posted Feb 15, 2009 7:29 pm PT
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• 15Feb 09

  Movie Review: Inkheart

  

  Inkheart is virtually a two-hour promotion about the "power of books" and how your imagination can bring them to life.

  Mo (Brendan Fraser) is a guy called a "silvertongue"; someone who can bring characters, etc. from books to life simply by reading the book aloud. After accidentally freeing a villain name Capricorn years ago from the book "Inkheart," and Mo's wife Resa goes missing, he and his daughter Meggie go on an adventure to defeat Capricorn and find Resa.

  Sounds innocent, yeah? Innocent, and boring. What starts off as a pretty straightforward and interesting movie turns into a heaping bowl of chaos and confusion. Mo and Meggie get help from Dustfinger, a character from "Inkheart" who can create fire on command. It's not until the end that we see him use it in a productive manner. I screamed at him the entire movie; YOU CAN MAKE FIRE...FREAKIN USE IT TO BURN CAPRICORN AND HIS GOONS TO A CRISP YOU JERK!

  Mo's aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren) also tags along. Why Helen, why would you agree to take on such a bad character? Elinor's dialogue is bad, and her character is a waste. Midway through the movie Elinor decided she was going to just go home and I thought "Damn, it's bad when your characters decide to bail on you before the end of the movie." She eventually returns and she's even worse than before.

  Elinor isn't the only "waste of space" character. They all are to an extent, except for maybe Meggie. Several times Mo or other silvertongues bring characters to life. Capricorn has a collection of them at his castle ranging from minotaurs, to flying monkeys. Even Toto from "The Wizard of Oz" is there through a good portion of the movie. The ending gave me a slap-you-in-the-face feeling. They sputtered along for two hours to do something that could've been done in a few minutes. I spent way too much time calling characters idiots because their screw ups were there to obviously prolong the plot longer than it should've been.

  It's great that a movie promotes reading as hard as this one does. However, I'd expect a movie about the power and eloquence of books to be less sporadic and more clear. Take the passion the creators obviously have for books and place that passion inside the characters, not along side them through characters from some of the most popular books of all time. Oh, and Jennifer Connelly appears very briefly in the movie a couple of times. Her eyebrows now officially scare me.

  RATING: 2.5 out of 10
  LoLz Factor: 1 out of 10. "You're as sour as goat's urine."

  • Posted Feb 15, 2009 7:27 pm PT
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