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Check out my video montage of "How I Spent My Summer"...so far.
Please wait...
It's 2:30am in New Orleans on a Monday morning. I have a 4am wake up call to catch a plane back to Dallas...so why am I still up? I'm just too geeked up from three exciting nights of music inside the Superdome. So, I look down on Canal Street and see the steady stream of red brake lights as everyone heads toward I-10. I'm not ready for the weekend to end.
I'm back home and I'm still reeling from some amazing performances and spending some time with the good people of N'awlins (such a friendly town). Anita Baker, Charlie Wilson, Salt n Pepa, EnVogue, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Maxwell, Ne-Yo, and Beyonce all on one stage over three nights. I have to give big props to the old school acts. They still know how to rock the crowd! Beyonce was nice, but Charlie Wilson and Anita Baker were AMAZING!
I'll be back again for 2010!
I've finally figured something out about advanced movie screenings. Now this is just my opinion and it's very unscientific; however, I've figured out the percentages on movies being a hit based on the day the movie company previews the movie. For example, if the movie company advance screens a movie on a Monday or Tuesday night, I'd give it a 75% chance or better of being a hit. A Wednesday night screening is about a 50/50 shot and Thursday screenings are almost always a longshot to be a big hit (20%). Angels and Demons was screened on a Wednesday night (50%).
Angels and Demons could be called "The Davinci Code Light". It's not as controversial as the first movie. (The Catholic Church hasn't condemned this one.) Everything about it is just a little less intense than the original movie. However, it still features Tom Hanks as symbologist Robert Langdon chasing down 400 year old symbols in an effort to save the Vatican from destruction by an ancient organization called "The Illuminati". He also has another sexy co-star, Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer, who plays a super hot Italian scientist.
Angels and Demons is a very enjoyable mystery. A papal whodunit that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It's rated PG-13 for some disturbing images and violence and it runs a bit long at two hours and seventeen minutes. I enjoyed it and I give it about a 50% chance of being a hit.
Hollywood Hernandez
The summer of 2009's first real blockbuster arrives early with the opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Wolverine is a prequel to the X-Men series. It tells the story of how Logan became the indestructible Wolfman that he is today. Much like the transition of Batman from a squeaky clean super hero to "The Dark Knight", X-Men Origins: Wolverine takes us back and shows us Wolverine's dark side.
In X-Men Origins: Wolverine we find out about the past life of Wolverine. Apparently Logan is over 250 years old (damn, he looks good for an old man!) and he has a half brother who is a Sabertooth. It also chronicles Colonel Stryker's Weapon X plan and how Wolverine's indestructible adamantium (an indestructible metal) steel skeleton was created.
X-Men Origins is loaded with special effects but still it remains a character study of a darker, more violent Wolverine. This is one mean wolf! He fights for revenge and this version of Wolverine shows no mercy. The movie also features some new "mutants" including Liev Schrieber as Sabertooth, Wolverine's half brother and will.i.am as a teleporting mutant.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a very entertaining one hour and forty seven minutes long and is rated PG-13 for some intense action and violence. Talks are already underway for a sequel to be set in Japan. Claw your way to the front of the line and check out Wolverine at a theater near you.
The Soloist is a true tour de force for both of the movies' stars, Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. Foxx portrays Nathaniel Ayers, a schizophrenic homeless man who was once a cello prodigy and Downey is L.A. Times columnist, Steve Lopez, who befriends him and transforms the homeless man's life as well as his own. Both actors bring a real humanity to the characters they play.Besides the acting performances the real bonus for the film is the attention that was paid to the small details. Foxx, who has classical music training, was taught stringed instruments by a cellist in The Los Angeles Philharmonic. He also filed down his teeth to appear more realistic as a homeless man. Downey, who plays a Latino in this movie (has he given up on being a white actor?), has the role of a burned out journalist down to a tee.The Soloist is an amazing movie. For at least the two hours of the movie I felt less jaded about life. It's an inspiring story which reminds us about the passion we all once had and gives us the hope that we can get it back again. Finally, it's a movie about friendship. It's a movie that shows us sometimes just being a friend to someone is enough to change his or her life for the better.I loved it!The Soloist is rated PG-13 for some harsh images and drug use and it has a run time of 109 minutes.
So far I've had the opportunity to check out three films at The AFI Dallas Int. Film Festival; Prom Night in Mississippi, Rip- A Remix Manifesto and Yori: The Samurai Zombie.
Prom Night is a documentary about a small town in Mississippi which had it's first integrated prom in 2008. Morgan Freeman, who lives in the small town, offers to pay for the senior prom if they integrate and it sets off a firestorm of controversy in the community. It's a very inspiring story.
Rip-A Remix Manifesto is another documentary about the artists who "smash" music (take old beats and hooks to make a brand new song). It follows the story of one artist, Girl Talk, and his struggle to stay a step ahead of copyright lawsuits while he remixes some of the hottest music you've ever heard. (I've been addicted to the music since seeing the movie. Do a YouTube search of "GirlTalk" to find some of his slammin' beats online.)
And finally, who doesn't love a midnight Zombie movie? It's even better when it's an over the top, Japenese Samurai, Zombie movie. This movie is a bloody mess, but it's also a heck of a lot of fun.
Big ups to the folks at Dallas AFI. In its third year it's getting bigger and better every year.
PS: They also threw a slammin' press party on Wednesday night to open the festival. Owee, the Dallas media sure can party!
Monsters Vs Aliens is a fun film for the entire family. In Monsters Vs Aliens aliens attack the earth and a super secret group of monsters, which have been hidden away by the U.S. for 50 years, get their chance at freedom if they can save humanity from the attack from outer space. The monsters also include a newcomer, Susan aka Ginormica, who joins the group (against her will) after she is hit by a chunk of space debris (on her wedding day) and grows to 50 ft tall. Reese Witherspoon provides the voice of Ginormica.
The other monsters also have familiar voices like B.O.B, voiced by Seth Rogan, (Superbad and Pineapple Express) and Susan's fiance' Paul, voiced by Paul Rudd (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I Love You Man!). The voices of actors who usually star in bawdy, R-Rated, comedies give the movie a grown up edge, but the kids will never get the inside joke (unless they've seen some R-Rated movies).. The group of monsters also includes the mad scientist, Dr. Cockroach, the half ape and half fish The Missing Link, and a giant grub worm named Insectosaurus. It's a fun bunch and guaranteed to sell a bunch of Happy Meals when the debut at Mickey D's.
Monsters Vs Aliens will keep even the wiggiliest of kids entertained. It will also keep you from being bored too.
In the latest Bond epic, Quantum of Solace, 007 is on a personal mission to undercover the truth about the woman who betrayed him. (Yep, it's an overused cliche', but this time it's personal.) He goes about finding the truth with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. As he begins his investigation he learns of a super secret terrorist group which has far more insider access than he, or anyone, could have imagined.
The movie begins with a loud, shoot 'em up, fast paced car chase scene and the amplitude only increases from that point forward. Action, action, action is the theme of Quantum of Solace.You barely catch your breath from one action scene before another one jumps off. (I felt like I was working out.) It all adds up to a lot of fun.
However, while Quantum of Solace is big on action, it is not big on a coherent story line. The movie speeds from one exotic location to the next before your mind can catch up. Bond jets off to all kind of exotic locations...Haiti, Bolivia, Italy while you try to figure out, "now why is he going to Haiti?" So for this movie, forget about trying to keep up with the story. It'll all sort itself out in the end. Just enjoy the intense action.
Daniel Craig continues to be gritty and hardcore in his second shot at portraying Bond and of course the signature of all James Bond movies are the exotic women who are enamored with 007. Quantum of Solace is no exception. Olga Kurylenko sizzles on screen as Bond's love interest (she's got some issues of her own in the movie).
The movie is rated PG-13 for some intense action, violence and some sexual content (C'mon its a James Bond movie). Quantum of Solace is like a good amusement park ride. I want to get on again!
When we last left Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett-Smith) they were stranded in the exotic land of Madagascar. Madagascar Escape 2 Africa picks up right where the 2005 movie left off. The penguins rebuild a crashed out plane on the island and Marty and his zoo crew throws care to the wind and try to fly back to the New York City Zoo on board the death trap(aka "the plane"). They don't get very far. The plane crash lands in Africa and the crew ends up in a strangely familiar land but they soon discover that their home in the zoo hasn't prepared them for the wilds of Africa.
Madagascar 2 is just as good, if not better, than the original. The main cast is supported by the crazy penguins (they need to spin them off in their own movie), the Lemar King- King Julien, and Cedric the Entertainer's as the King's right hand Lemar. There are also some new characters. Bernie Mac is the Lion King, Alex's long lost father, Zuba. Will I Am is Moto Moto, a huge hippo who is competing for the affection of Gloria the Hippo and Alec Baldwin as a rival lion in the pride.
The only thing you really need to know is this is a hilarious movie. Even though the movie is rated PG, for some mild crude humor, it's a perfect movie for kids of all ages.Treat yourself to more laughs than an adult has the right to expect in one hour and twenty nine minutes. Take the trip to Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa.
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