Peace On That

Have you ever watched the trailer of a movie and thought, ‘that looks like it is going to suck’ then when you saw the movie it turned out to be not as bad as you thought?

Conversely, there are those moves that you couldn’t wait to see and after taking out a home equity loan so you could afford the movie tickets and the gouging at the concession stand, you realized that the 60 second trailer showed the only good scenes in the movie.

Well, the list of movies here didn’t meet my expectations, good or bad. I’m not saying they are the best or worst movies I’ve ever seen. But I’m saying, this is how I felt after view them.

Pleasantly Surprised

All About the Benjamins – I didn’t know much about Mike Epps but when I saw that he was co-starring in this movies, I didn’t have much interest in seeing it. Finally, when it came out on DVD, I took a look at it and enjoyed it. Sure, it is nothing great but it did have some funny parts and it moved well.

Hoodlum – The titles alone turned me off and it came out at a time when the only black movies being made were gangsta flicks. However, it was more creative than I expected and the 1920’s setting was cool. Overall, it is something I wish I could see on the big screen.                                  

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – I am not a Jim Carey fan but this is the best movie I’ve ever seen from him. I did enjoy “Me, Myself and Irene”, but it didn’t come close to this. His dramatic acting skills are on par with top actors in Hollywood. The movie is so different and so well written that you can’t help but enjoy it.

Barbershop 2 – A lot of people dogged this movie and I could tell that the writing was rushed a little to capitalize on the popularity of the first “Barbershop”. I didn’t see it in the theater for that reason but when I did get around to watching it, it didn’t seem as bad as people proclaimed it was. It was nearly as good as the first but it wasn’t garbage.                 

Blackhawk Down – I’m not a military movie fan but the action in this movie is non-stop. It does fall back to standard war movie clichés but again, the action is what really won me  over.                                                               
                                  


I just got ripped off


The Caveman’s Valentine – After seeing “Eve’s Bayou”, I figured I couldn’t go wrong with another Kasi Lemmons movie. Boy, was I wrong. Sam Jackson acted brilliantly but the script was all over the place and I just couldn’t get into it. I love me some Aunjanue Ellis but not even she could save this movie. over.                       

War of the Worlds – How bad could it be? H.G. Wells wrote the script for Pete’s sake. All they had to do with beef up the special effects a little and BAM, you got yourself a classic. They didn’t do it. I’m not sure what is wrong with this movie, but there is something wrong with it. over.                                                              


The Talented Mr. Ripley – I spent the first 40 minutes bored to tears and the last 10 minutes of the movie thinking, ‘what the hell.’ My suggestion is that you never see this movie. over.                                           



The Matrix Reloaded – Boy, was this a big letdown. The first one broke ground, this broke wind. Nuff said.                                                                                                 





The Brothers – A man’s versions of “Waiting to Exhale” is how this movie was billed. Lawd have mercy if this wasn’t a bag of spoiled bologna. Four black men with no redeeming qualities in a movie with bag dialogue, bad setting and a bad storyline. I was really pissed because the idea was so good and it could have been so much better. The fact that a black man wrote this movie is the most disappointing thing. I figured he has to be gay because although it focused on men, it seems as though it were written from a female perspective. It sucked and I’ll never see it again.