The Best Man Holiday Review

Reunited and it feels so good----Harold Perrineau, Taye Diggs and Terrence Howard see each other again after 14  years for a Christmas get together in The Best Man Holiday
                               It hasn't been fair on adults when it comes to films about the holidays. It seems as if children get the greats like Elf, Frosty The Snowman, The Santa Clause and the list goes on. I am not a kid so it seems for us adults we don't really get much of anything for holiday films. Sure....all the kids films I mentioned can also be thoroughly enjoyed by the parents. However, the only film that gives the parents any alone time for watching a holiday film seems to be Christmas slashers. While those are some of my biggest guilty pleasures, they are not quality films. Now comes The Best Man Holiday....a film that should be a Christmas classic strictly for adults for years to come. It's been 14 years since The Best Man came out and if this sequel proves anything, it's that a sequel is better when it's not rushed out into theaters as a desperate cash grab a la The Hangover Part III or Grown Ups 2. This latest addition features all of the same cast members doing quality work. As well the script is in turns funny, sad and touching without the comedy being too broad or the drama being too syrupy.

                                   The film opens with the showing of everyone becoming successful after when the first film took place. Julian (Harold Perrineau) has opened a school with wife Candace (Regina Hall.) Harper (Taye Diggs) has become a bestselling author and his wife, Robyn (Sanaa Lathan) is a thriving chef. Lance (Morris Chestnut) is a star pro football player while his wife Mia (Monica Calhoun) is a happy stay at home mom. Jordan (Nia Long) is a career obsessed executive who's dating Brian (Eddie Cibrian.) Quentin (Terrence Howard) has found success in the music business and Shelby (Melissa De Sousa) is now a reality TV show hit. On one fateful weekend, they all get back together at Lance and Mia's house while secrets are revealed, trust is broken and a lot of laughs even ensue.

                                      While this film does have moments that genuinely made me cry, I want to talk about the comedic elements first. First and foremost---Howard is at his comedic best here. After being in the despicable sketch comedy Movie 43....he redeems himself by showing just how hilarious he can be when given the right material. The rest of the cast, notably Diggs and Hall who are two of the most likable working actors today also get quite a few very funny lines.

                                      The drama is also present, however. Chestnut, after having played a dreadful role in the incompetently made and dull as the doldrums Kick Ass 2  also proves once again what a great actor he can be. Most of the drama comes from a secret Lance and Mia are holding which I choose not to give away. I will say nothing more about it except that this secret tugs at the heartstrings throughout the film. Writer-director Malcolm D. Lee knows how to make this film work wonders and if you've seen the original it will come as no surprise that the cast still has amazing chemistry after 14 years. However, you don't need to have seen the original to love this film as much as I did.

                                     The Best Man Holiday is an absolutely delightful film. It doesn't try any cheap jokes or sappy, unjustified moments. While I can't honestly say this is going to make my top 10 best films come January...I can say with the utmost confidence that it will be in my top 10 surprises of 2013. Although I loved The Best Man.....I didn't have any confidence that this sequel would deliver. Oh how wrong I was.
(4 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language, sexual content and brief nudity)

About Time Review

Not so frequently asked questions about time travel---Domnhall Gleeson and Bill Nighy as a father and son with the ability to travel in time in About Time

                                Let me preface this review by saying that Notting Hill is my favorite romance film ever and Love Actually is my second. I say this to display that, naturally, I expect quite a bit from the man who made these films. That man is Richard Curtis and his newest film, About Time is the most enjoyable romantic comedy of the past couple of years until a point but I'll get to that later. This is a wonderful film in general, however.

                                 The film stars Brendan Gleeson's son, Domnhall Gleeson as Tim....a rather unremarkable young man who messes up just about every chance he gets. On the day of his 21st birthday, his father (Bill Nighy) tells Tim about a gift the men in their family have---they can travel in time. There are a couple of rules, however. They can't travel into the future and they can only travel back to a place they've been. This makes it so that you can make a bad day good by doing everything right or just fix a simple mistake. The film then follows Tim as he meets Mary (Rachel McAdams) and forms an incredible relationship with her. Oh yeah and Tim learns the true meaning of life.

                                  This is in general an excellent film. Gleeson, Nighy and McAdams are all absolutely terrific and all have incredibly palpable chemistry with one another. Nighy is the most underrated actor working in Hollywood in my eyes while Gleeson proves to have a long career ahead of him and McAdams proves to be the ideal romantic lead. The film has a great message about learning to see the beauty in life. However, the last half an hour or so of the film almost ruins it for me. Even though that's when the nice message comes in----it feels as if writer-director Curtis had no idea how to end it. The film features about seven shots in which it could easily had ended and when the final shot does come---it's pretty bland. The last act of the film, however can not ruing how delightful the rest is---it can just come close. 

                                 About Time can't quite live up to the sheer excellence of Notting Hill or Love Actually but it's the freshest, funniest and best romance to come out in the past five years or so. That may not seem like much of a complaint considering the smut that been disguised as romance over those years but I can say this is a very, very, very good film. 

(4 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and some sexual content)

Captain Phillips Review

We're going to need a bigger ship---Tom Hanks as the captain of a ship being taken hostage in Captain Phillips
                         Captain Phillips is a defining, confirming moment in an already spectacular career. This is a film that never would have worked if not for the presence of the lead actor. That lead actor is Tom Hanks who, despite having already won two Oscars and having been nominated five times altogether, will be robbed if he doesn't AT LEAST get a nomination for the upcoming February awards show. This is a performance in which Hanks does more with one glance than most actors can do with a whole screenplay. That's not to say there's not other great performances in the film. Barkhad Abdi, in his very first role plays Muse...the leader of the Hijackers who Captain Richard Phillips (Hanks) must fight off and defeat.

                              The film is based on the autobiography of Phillips which focuses on the events in this film. Namely---Phillips's ship was taken over by four modern day Somali pirates. That's as far as I'm going to get into the plot because a lot of what happens is not exactly what one would expect to happen with this basic outlined plot at hand. I will say, however, that Captian Phillips is a modern day masterpiece as well as the most intenser 134 minutes any audience member will spend gripped to their seat.

                                Directed by Paul Greengrass---this is somewhat similar to his film, United 93 which was shot in real time. While this is not shot in real time...there is very little time manipulation at hand. Also, as with United 93....Greengrass directs Captain Phillips with such a gritty and realistic style that one feels as if they are with Phillips himself. The screenplay by Billy Ray (The Hunger Games, Breach, State Of Play) is also quite fantastic. It attempts to very much humanize the pirates and does. By the end...you feel bad for them and that makes the film a total success alone.

                                Fantastic acting, incredibly skilled direction and a tight, intense script make Captain Phillips one of the best films of the year so far. If you haven't seen this film...by all means, do so especially considering that this film is going to get nominated and most likely win all kinds of oscars.
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for sustained intense sequences of menace, some violence with bloody images and substance use)

Last Vegas Review

The old and the resting---Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline get together for a weekend in Last Vegas
                               Last Vegas is definite proof of the death of comedy. Of course, this expression is not as literal as it sounds. Audiences of all demographics will, of course, always be treated to comedies that make them laugh and may even touch them. However, if this is what needs to happen for the older demographic to laugh then the world is all kinds of wrong. As far as old people jokes go---this film contains a count of over a hundred. The cast proves to be talented no matter how bad the script is but the sheer puerile nature of the film also proves the low point of everyone in this film's career.

                                 The film follows Billy (Michael Douglas)....a man who's planning to get married to a woman half  his age. He calls up his buddies, Archie and Sam (Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline) but, of course, leaves out Paddy (Robert De Niro) of whom he has a longstanding grudge with. However, all four manage to pack up and head to Las Vegas where they become the life of every party. They meet a lounge singer named Diana (Mary Steenburgen, the only genuinely good thing in the entire film but I'll get to that in a second) and prove that old guys still have it in them to have a great time.

                                  The main problem I had with the film is that everyone barring Diana is totally and completely dehumanized. All four of the guys are portrayed as geriatric party boys living in a world of completely fantasy. The hotel worker (Romany Malco) assigned to wait on them hand and foot is just there to serve them. There's even a subplot involving a youngster (Jerry Ferrara) who attempts to fight the old men and has to make it up to them by ALSO waiting on them hand and foot. Diana is the only character who's not just there for the purpose of hokey laughs. She is a person who has feelings and shows emotions and has some kind of personality. Everyone else is just there to make sure that the old people fell young again and laugh in the process.

                                   Now---you may be thinking "I'm old...I would like it." Let me stop you right there. By old---I mean anyone 100 and over. I am a young guy but  I could tell that even if you are 85 or so....you will not laugh at this film. In fact...anyone 60-99 might just be incredibly offended at the ideas it offers. All this would be forgivable, however, if it were funny. There is not one genuine laugh in the entire picture. An attempt at a huge laugh involving rapper Curtis Jackson AKA 50 Cent stood out as falling particularly flat as does a wet bikini contest scene. However, there are many more scenes that are 100X more painful than those scenes.

                                    Like I said-----the cast tries to overcome the egregious material but Last Vegas just falls flat at every turn. It is not funny, it is not charming and after all the wackiness and dehumanizing ensues---it tries to turn schmaltzy at the end. Needless to say---this screwball comedy commits more than just a few sins.
(1 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for sexual content and language)