CHASING MAVERICK

Plot:


Even as a young boy Jay Moriarity (Weston) had a fascination with ocean waves, so when he is saved from drowning as a young kid by professional surfer Frosty Hesson (Butler), he later on as a teen becomes a  surfer himself. One day he sneaks and follows his mentor Frosty and learns that Frosty along with 3 of his friends surf these secret monster waves known as mavericks and Jay as a teenager wants his idol to train him so that he can ride the huge, massive and legendary waves. Reluctantly Frosty trains the young and talented Jay, unknowing preparing him for some of the biggest waves to hit the coast that may crush and swallow the teen alive if he makes any mistake.

Reel Talk:


This movie, based on the true surfing adventures of Jay Moriarity was actually a good movie. No I have never and still have no desire to go surfing, but I have mad respect for those that do take part in the highly dangerous sport. Watching them catch a wave and glide through the water with the greatest of ease is truly breath taking. Gerard Butler and Jonny Weston put in good performances as the surfing mentor and understudy Frosty and Jay. Like I mentioned this is a good movie worth catching and you will enjoy the cinematic scenes of the surfing experience.

Starring: Gerard Butler, Jonny Weston, Elisabeth Shue, Abigail Spencer and Leven Rambin
Directed by: Michael Apted and Curtis Hanson
Rated: PG

I give it 3 corn dogs

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

JMJ SPECIAL EDITION HEADPHONES

It's coming up on 10 years that the world has lost one of the most prolific DJ's of our time. On October 30, 2002 Jason William Mizell aka Jam Master Jay was murdered while recording in his studio in Jamaica, Queens. Jam Master Jay who was the 1/3 member and DJ for the legendary hip hop group Run DMC knew how to rock a concert and party with beats that guaranteed to keep you dancing. Well thanks to BiGR Audio (pronounced bigger) an audio headphone company that specializes in marketing their headphones for the Major League Baseball teams and other various legends,  you can continue to jam to his beats as they now have the limited edition Jam Master Jay headphones. These lightweight headphones offer great noise reduction and crystal clear sound quality for your listening pleasure. Once again these are limited edition headphones honoring the legendary DJ for the 10 year anniversary of his death, keeping the legacy of his music alive. Retailed at $149.00 you can order these headphones on line at www.bigraudio.com and if you use this special ordering promo code 'JMJLIVES' you will get them for the discounted price of $99.00. So act now to take advantage of the special discounted price and continue to groove to Jam Master Jammin.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

ALEX CROSS

Plot:


When the most heinous crimes are committed by the most demented criminals, no ordinary detective will do with regards to solving the case and that is why they call upon psycho analyst  specialist Detective Dr. Alex Cross (Perry) along with his team that consist of his childhood friend Detective Tommy Kane (Burns). While following a lead on a recent murder he foils up an assassination attempt by a highly skilled and methodical but sadistic killer named Picasso (Fox) who takes it personally and eventually targets Cross and his team. When tragedy hits home, it becomes a battle of wits between good and evil with Cross willing to do whatever it takes to bring down his twisted minded suspect, even if it means breaking the law himself.


Reel Talk:


Tyler Perry steps waaaaay out of his element of his all hands on approach for his normal films as he acts only in his first action film. That's right he does not direct or produce this film, he solely just focuses on acting, which should have been quite a relief for him. Perry reprising the role of Alex Cross, a role originally played by Morgan Freeman in films Kiss The Girls (1997) and Along Came A Spider (2001), both based on novels written by James Patterson, does a pretty good job. Seeing him whooping some butt on screen is a big switch from the work he normally does. Could he be the next big screen action figure? But I got to admit that there were a few times that I thought pistol packing Madea was gonna pop up...LOL. This is a good solid action movie with a very good supporting cast. I say get out and check this one out, it's worth the admission.

Starring: Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Edward Burns, John McGinley, Carmen Ejogo, Rachel Nichols, Giancarlo Esposito, Jean Reno and Cicely Tyson
Directed by: Rob Cohen
Rated: PG-13

I give it 4 corn dogs.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

The Reel Hustler at the EB Cosmetics National Launch Party ft Lonette Mckee

WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS!

It was the winter of 2006 when a couple of young men (Jay Anthony White and Darren Brown)  stopped by my store because they wanted me to screen a movie that they were about to release. As we packed into my small office so that we could screen their movie Project 313 (they didn't trust me enough to leave it with me...lol), I could not help but notice despite the limited budget the team had for this movie, they had huge potential in the story telling and visual creativity areas. A few weeks after the screening I stopped by Jay's family owned record store to conduct a one on one interview with him that was set up by their marketing manager David Mims to talk about the movie Project 313 and his future goals, and I must say he was very adamant about his dream of pursuing a career in film making. It was about a year or so that Jay took off to Hollywood to see if he could make things happen. After several years and many disappointments, Jay was still relentless to make it as a film maker. Although he could have quit at any time he stuck with it and now this young man will have a movie that he wrote "PAWN" to be showcased as a world premier among several other movies at the 2012 American Film Market & Conferences in Santa Monica this October 31st to November 7th. and scheduled for national theater releases the beginning of 2013. And now that he has been bitten by the Hollywood bug, he has several more big projects in the works, so please be on the look out for this young man who refused to give up on his dream and is now living it to the fullest. Come the first of the year be sure to go see PAWN and show support for this aspiring young film maker. Congratulations Jay Anthony White!

HERE COMES THE BOOM

Plot:


Scott Voss (James) is a passionate but reckless biology teacher with a tardiness problem who is always trying to win a date with his beautiful colleague Bella (Hayek). When his buddy and fellow co-worker Marty Streb (Winkler) who teaches music is about to become unemployed because the schools lack of funds, Scott, who use to wrestle back in his school days, comes up with the idea of becoming a MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter to raise the money to save Marty's job. He enlist the help of Niko (Rutten), an immigrant trying to gain US citizenship who's also a retired MMA fighter. Not knowing just what he was stepping into, Scott realizes that he is not only just in a fight to save Marty's job but also for his life.


Reel Talk:


James who you can certainly see that he physically conditioned himself for this film, brings some comedic boom to this action/comedy. He does not slack off with his hilarious brand of humor along with the additional help from co-stars Winkler, Hayek, Rutten and Gary Valentine. But besides the comedy the MMA fight scenes are pretty good. What MMA fight movie would be complete without adding commentator Joe Rogan who plays himself in this film. If you are in need of a good laugh see this movie, if you're in need of some action see this movie. You won't miss on either level.

Starring: Kevin James, Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler, Greg Germann, Bas Rutten, Gary Valentine and Joe Rogan
Directed by: Frank Coraci
Rated: PG

I give it 3 corn dogs.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

Plot:


Colin Farrell plays Marty, an alcoholic Irish screenwriter who is experiencing writer's block while trying to write his movie about seven psychopaths. This will soon all change as he becomes entangled with his buddy Billy (Rockwell) and Hans (Walken) who are dog nappers who just so happen to dog nap the dog of ruthless gangster Charlie (Harrelson) who will kill anyone that has any connection to stealing his dog. The violence and mayhem that Marty experiences and the various blood drenched stories that he is told by various people soon gives him the material needed for his movie if only he gets to live to film it.


Reel Talk:


OK...right off the rip, this is one weird movie. It has a good all star cast but no real plot to it. It's like an all out meaningless movie that over glorifies violence. It kinda reminded me of Woody Harrelson's 1994 ultra violent movie "Natural Born Killers"(ironic that Harrelson is in this one). With so many people walking around with demented minds I don't think that this film should contribute to giving people more ways to be twisted. It may have even been acceptable if the story made sense but there is no justification that way either. Not even the comedic overtone can mask the stupidity of this crap. This is just a plain pointless, extra violent film. I am the eighth psychopath for sitting thru and watching this movie....LOL. This is definitely one that you can wait to catch on cable.

Starring: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson
Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Rated: R

I give it 1 corn dog.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

ARGO

Plot:


During the 80's, the United states held and refuse to release a former Iranian leader causing a revolt in Iran in which the people storm a compound taking the US citizens that worked there as hostages. But realizing that 6 unidentified Americans managed to escape 5taking refuge within the home of the Canadian Ambassador (Garber), they do whatever to race to identify them so that they can capture and put them to death as an example for the United States to witness. Knowing time is of the essence, the CIA allows their hostage specialist Tony Mendez (Affleck) to go to Iran posing as a filmmaker scouting to shoot a film there and using the 6 fugitives as his Canadian film crew in order that he can get them out.


Reel Talk:

Base on the real occurrences that took place in the 80's, this movie packs intensity. It is not an action film with a lot a car chases or fight scenes but rather a drama film depicting what took place in the life of 6 people's will to survive and one man's determination to save their lives to the point of risking his. Although you pretty much know the outcome, you are still not prepared for the intense moments that leads to the climatic ending. Excellent directing job by Affleck and Alan Arkin pretty much makes the movie with his scene stealing performances. Awesome movie worth checking out and you may want to stay for the credit and review some of the remarkable still pictures from the actual events of that era.

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Crankston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman and Victor Garber
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Rated: R

I give it 5 corn dogs.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler