Obsessed

This movie has been advertised for months extensively and usually when that happens the movie turns out to be horrible. In this case Obsessed turned out to be a better than average Lifetime movie.
Idris Elba, who was in HBO’s The Wire does a very good job of displaying various emotions as he deals with Ali Larter from Heroes, the temp from hell. Ali is very convincing as the nemesis and surprisingly Beyonce is able to hold her own in the film, whenever she was on I felt like I was watching one of her videos such as Irreplaceable where she is dealing with relationship issues. This is not anywhere near as good as Fatal Attraction, it’s an ok update to the classic. I hope to see more of these types of movies made so that a new classic can raise the bar of what was achieved in the 80’s. Beyonce is the new Jennifer Lopez, watch for her to take JLO’s movie blueprint and run with it.

Verdict: Check out Jenna Elfman in 2002 TV movie Obsessed which is much better than this movie.

Fighting

I was surprised at some of the poor reviews for this movie. It’s not a great film but much better than I expected. Fighting is the story of Shawn McArthur (Channing Tatum from Step Up) and how he is introduced to the world of underground street fighting by an urban hustler (Terrence Howard). The movie takes place in New York City and captures the grittiness of the city right down to the projects, where some of the most beautiful women in NYC are born. The soundtrack is a mixture of 70’s soul classics and current hip hop tracks. Lots of testosterone throughout the film for fight fans. This story has been done many times before but both Howard and Tatum do a good job with their respective roles. My question is why is Howard in a supporting role? He earned his stripes with Hustle and Flow, did he piss off Hollywood with his Iron Man 2 salary demands?

Verdict: Better than I expected.

Tyson

Muhammad Ali was the greatest, and pound for pound Sugar Ray Robinson was the best of the best, but Mike Tyson was the most exciting fighter inside and outside the ring. I remember walking down Broadway and 6th ave near the HBO Office in NYC and I saw Mike Tyson walking down the street towards me. He had just gotten married to Robin Givens and the most amazing thing I noticed about him was his neck. It was HUGE, it was as thick as my thigh. I then realized his neck was a shock absorber and this was how he was able to take the devastating head shots later in his career.
This movie is Mike Tyson sitting in front of a camera and reviewing his life and boxing career with archival footage and photographs played between his commentary. Even if you don’t like Mike Tyson you will find this movie fascinating. Director James Toback does a great job of letting viewers who were not around or don’t remember when Mike was King realize that this forgotten champion was loved and brought excitement to the ring back in the day. Mike Tyson pretty much started ultimate fighting before it got started with his ear biting and total disregard of following the rules when his skills started to fade.
Mike Tyson fights were always an event, most of us remember where we were when he became the youngest heavyweight in history (I was at a house party in Brooklyn). When he knocked out Spinks in 90 seconds (I had a party at my home in Rochester with over 200 people and they did’t leave when it was over) we were all in awe of Iron Mike. When he bit Holyfield’s ear (I was at the Hollywood Athletic Club on the 2nd floor with a huge crowd and we could’t believe what we had just seen). Regardless of what you think of him he came from nothing, became somebody and now is still alive at 40 years old.

Verdict: Good movie but not much on Robin Givens the women who gave him his first knockout. 2003 Fox Television documentary Beyond The Glory: Mike Tyson, is way better. You can buy it on eBay or Craigslist. It has more footage of the major events in his life and even has Robin Givens crying saying she regrets what she did to Mike during The Barbara Walters interview. Best part of the Toback movie is his close up of Mike’s face during the BW interview. You can see the rage building in his face and that Robin Givens was close to being killed and she did’t realize it.

State of Play

One of the great lines from Russell Crowe’s classic movie Gladiator was: Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Well I am not entertained by State of Play and I have not been entertained by Russell Crowe for quite some time.
The story is about a team of investigative reporters working alongside a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman's mistress. State of Play tries to be a thriller but fails. Watching just 15 minutes of Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer on 24 will give you more thrills than this flick. Everyone in the theater I was in was talking during the film. Why? Because we were all bored. The only interesting person in the movie is the redhead mistress that gets killed in the first act.
Ben Affleck, who plays the politician, has zero acting chops, he is just not believable. His decision to not marry Jenny from the block (Jennifer Lopez) has not helped his career or hers. His best performance to date was playing George Reeves, television’s Superman, in Hollywoodland. Ben’s directing skills are better than his acting. He did a great job with Gone Baby Gone and I would like to see him stick to directing.
Rachael McAdams who was great in Wedding Crashers, The Notebook, and Red Eye stars as cub reporter Della Frye. After all of those great roles I thought she was going to be the next Julia Roberts, I was so wrong, she is just window dressing in this movie. Robin Wright Penn is also in this movie and she also is not great and I can’t remember the last time she was. It seems that she gets lots of work because she is Sean Penn’s wife. Maybe that’s why she called off the divorce.
You can tell I liked this movie right?…shall I continue? OK Russell Crowe is a classic case of actors that win Oscars and let’s themselves go. In this movie he is 30 pounds overweight and there is no passion in his performance. He is just going thru the motions. If I spend $10 I want to at least get a $10 performance, what I got was fifty cents.

Verdict: Skip it and rent any season of 24. It’s been 10 years since Gladiator and Russell Crowe has not entertained me since.

Crank: High Voltage

This Is a movie that lives up to its trailer. Chev Chelios, Jason Stratham’s character in Crank 2, is the new Terminator. This is a Sci-Fi, action movie, and live action video game all rolled into one.
The story is about how Chelios faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his heart and replaced it with a battery-powered heart that requires jolts of electricity to keep working. I really enjoyed the creativeness of directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. They develop many things on film that will be copied by other movie directors for years to come. I also have to give credit to the editors Marc Jakubowicz and Fernando Villena for keeping the fast pace of the action and giving the viewers a new look at the future of action movies. Bai Ling finally finds a movie that suits her, she plays a ferocious prostitute. There is lots of skin, violence, and gratuitous sex so be warned. Amy Smart returns as Chev’s girlfriend. She is a star in waiting. David Carradine makes an interesting cameo as Poon Dong. Crank 2 has everything that has been missing from action movies for the last few years due to our politically correct environment.

Verdict: The movie is outrageously wild and it’s a must see for action junkies. If you want a Fast and Furious movie then this is it and I am not joking.

Does Seth Rogen look like Fozey Bear?

DVD Picks for the Week: Bachelor Parties Gone Wrong

Very Bad Things (1998)
Very Bad Things is a very bad movie. The only reason why I recommend it is because the movie has an all star cast. As you watch it you figure that the actors must have been desperate to get paid in order to do this film. Maybe they all had the same agent. Christian Slater plays the same searing sinister character that he plays in every other movie. John Favreau is getting married to Carmen Diaz. You also get to see Jeremy Piven, from Entourage, Daniel Stern from Family Guy, & Jennie Tripplehorn from Big Love.
Very Bad Things is a black comedy and the story is about a prostitute that is killed at a bachelor party and how attendees turn on each other. Peter Berg, a former actor who did a good job acting in The Last Seduction, directs. The story had promise but it ends up going in too many directions.

Stag (1997):
This is pretty much the same movie except a stripper, not a prostitute, gets killed at a Bachelor Party. This is what happens when a script gets out in Hollywood, the public ends up seeing the same movie from different studios. Stag is the lesser of the 2 bachelor party movies. Mario Van Peebles, whose greatest hit was New Jack City, directed this and does an ok job with a lower budget and “c” rated actors. The one coincidence is that Stag has Kevin Dillon who ends up later in his career with Jeremy Piven in Entourage. Taylor Dane, an 80's singer, takes her turn at being an actress and shows why her acting career never took off. Andrew McCarthy gives a good performance as seedy friend, Pete Weber.

Verdict: View to see the early performances of established stars. If you are a woman and you want to know what goes on at Bachelor Parties realize that only 50% of what takes place in these movies are true.

Fast & Furious 4

It was good to see the Fab 4 again especially Jordana Brewster who I have not seen in any major movies in years. Vin Diesel has made some questionable choices in his selection of movies however he still has star quality. As you watch the movie you can see that he has matured and it’s a day late and dollar short for him to reprise his role as Dominic Toretto. Don’t get me wrong, everyone who has watched the original classic over and over again will like seeing these characters again especially after the last F&F fiasco Tokyo Drift. Vin however just seems like an adult that still wants to race with the kids. Even in the club scenes he just seems too old and out of place.
Michele Rodriquez seems to not have aged a bit and was born to play Letty. You look forward to each of her scenes. Justin Lin, who directed F&F 3 and was brought back to direct this, does a poor job of keeping viewers engaged in the early parts of the movie. It’s not until the 3rd act that the movie picks up. Rob Cohen, the original director got you more involved in the cars and the characters. They should have brought him back.

Verdict: The cave racing scenes were the best and that’s about it. Dust off your DVD version of the original in your closet and watch that again versus going to see this. Another case where you can’t top the original. Vin Diesel needs to move on and this franchise needs to shut down. Finally somebody give Jordana Brewster and Michele Rodriquez some work.