THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY

Plot:

It has been 15 years since the a group of nine college friends have gotten together, with life's challenges taking them all in different directions from parenting, professional athleticism, politics, book writing and reality television for some of them, the timing to reunite had become complicated. But under the insistence of Mia (Calhoun) and her husband Lance (Chestnut) the group reunites for a holiday retreat at Mia and Lance's huge luxurious mansion (sorry but it was more like a hotel, housing all those people...LOL). Although they have been apart for awhile and missed each others fellowship, joy does not come without pain as old wounds are opened and new issues arise which will test the core of their friendship. Will this be a holiday to remember bringing them back together or the final straw to disengage their friendship forever?


Reel Talk:

WOW!!! It has been 15 years since The Best Man was presented on theater screens in 1999.  Now I say this all the time that sequels are normally tough to following up on a good movie, but producer, director and writer Malcolm D. Lee did his thang (yes I said thang) with this film even if it did take 15 years. This movie has it all, eye candy for the men and women, laughter and crying and everything is at the right balance and timing. And then to get the entire cast from the original film and they all still look good if not better some 15 years later is amazing.Great story, great cast and just an all around great movie but kind of confused as to why it was given an R rating. I am going to be brutally honest, this film is an Oscar nominee worthy movie that will unfortunately not get that recognition. The story alone is worth the nod and the cast, well the performances were superb from everyone but there can only be one winner. As I mentioned this film will probably not get nominated for any Oscars but we can make it a winner by going out to see and support this great movie! Be forewarned that when you are at the concession stand before the movie starts, grab a few extra napkins.

Starring: Morris Chestnut, Monica Calhoun, Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, Terrence Howard, Nia Long, Harold Perrineau, Regina Hall, Melissa De Sousa and Eddie Cibrian
Directed by: Malcolm D. Lee
Rated: R

I give it 5 corn dogs and a soda on the side!

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

THOR: THE DARK WORLD

Plot:

Even thou now that his brother, the deceitful  Loki (Hiddleston) is imprisoned, Thor (Hemsworth) still fights along side his fellow band of warriors to successfully protect his realm of Asgard as well as his allied worlds. But soon his world and Earth along with the other planets are threatened by a group of menacing Dwarfts led by Malekith (Eccleston) who are trying to retrieve some pure concentrated evil, that if he gains access he could take over all the realms casting them into complete darkness. So Thor must now reunite with  Jane Foster (Portman) and her team who unknowingly have come in contact with the evil substance. With only a short amount of time they must find the substance before the Dwarfts to prevent the annihilation of their worlds, it is so drastic that Thor must even enlist the help of Loki who may turn on him at any given moment.


Reel Talk:

Hemsworth and fellow cast mates are back for another Marvel Comics  movie mania thriller.  Is it as good as the first Thor? No not as good but not that bad either, just good enough to keep you entertained. Lots of action and visually good, billed also in 3D but of course there is no real reason for that because there are no real 3D effects. The performances are good, but Tom Hiddleson as Loki is a scene stealer as in the previous one and the Avengers. A good movie that won't let down the Marvel Comic's nation of fans. As always stay past the credits to get the teaser for the next movie.

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba and Christopher Eccleston
Directed by: Alan Taylor
Rated: PG-13

I give 3 and a half eaten corn dogs.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

LAST VEGAS

Plot:

Billy (Douglas), Paddy (De Niro), Archie (Freeman) and Sam (Kline) has been best friends since they were kids back on the streets of their old hood, now in their 70's each one living aboard and trying to cope with life as a senior citizen. Well when Billy the only one to never have gotten married decides to marry a very, very young lady (well under half his age), he along with his longtime friends decide to head to Vegas for his bachelor party/ While in Vegas the four pals, with Billy and Paddy having to work through some past differences set out to make this a weekend of a lifetime, which at their ages may be the last time for any one of them..


Reel Talk:

This movie is The Hangover on Geritol! Here you have four veteran Academy Award winning actors who unselfishly come together with the younger talent s of Romany Malco and Jerry Ferrara to make one hilariously funny film. There is no one upstaging the other but rather each contributing their performance to allow for a good movie. Good movie, good cast, good chemistry that is worth the admission.

Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, Mary Streenburgen, Romany Malco and Jerry Ferrara
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Rated: PG-13

I give it 4 corn dogs.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

12 YEARS A SLAVE

Plot:

Solomon Northup (Ejiofor) is a free, well to do and respected black man in upstate New York who after parting ways with his wife and 2 children joins up with two white men who request he joins them to perform in their musical group. After the performance the men get Solomon drunk only for him to wake up realizing that he has been sold into slavery. Having been born a free man his eyes are quickly opened to the cruel and brutal treatment of a slave at the hands of the various plantation owners he encounters.  During his time as a slave his only goal is to survive and stay alive with hopes of seeing his family again but that may not happen if it is up to plantation master Ford (Fassbender) who is the most ruthless owner he has worked for.


Reel Talk:

Based on a true story, this is a hard picture and not recommended for those who are easily traumatized by the cruel treatment of black people at the hands of white people during that period. This is a great movie but it is depressingly great. Well acted by an all star cast, but the brutality inflicted upon the slaves is graphic and hard to cope with by some. Django was good for laughs but there is no laughing for this film, it depicts the true harsh realism of how bad things were for blacks acquired as slaves, families divided with no possibility of ever reconnecting and the brutal beatings at the end of a whip. While this is a excellent movie, I hope that this is the last one involving slavery of blacks because we do not need to be constantly reminded how bad our ancestors were treated. You don't see movies that continue reminding the Jews about their mistreatment during the Holocaust. Worth the admission for some great acting but be warned that this is a graphic movie.

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson and Brad Pitt
Directed by: Steve McQueen
Rated: R

I give it 5 corn dogs.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

STAGE PLAY: HE'S MY HUSBAND. NO HE'S MY MAN...

While sitting in doing my movie reviews with Billy T. for his radio show "The Billy T Experiment" on 88.1FM WHPR a week ago, we had as a guest the lovely Christina Chatine, a stage/screen play writer who stopped by to promote her upcoming play "He's My Husband. No He's My Man". Where as I am not a big stage play attendee, she carried on how her play was one not to miss so I accepted her offer to review her play. He's My Husband. No He's My Man...centers around primary characters Nila (Chiquetta Bunts) a regular church going woman and her abusive and womanizing husband Carl (Rodney D. Story). While she struggles to maintain her faith in God, be a good mother to her daughters and be a loving wife to her husband it is not enough to keep him out of the arms of his new boo Karma (Chanae Jordan). He even goes as far as savagely beating her at one point just so he can get out the house to be with his mistress. Yes very intense!

Christina Chatine who also has a cameo role on the stage presents an emotionally filled play that rides like a roller coaster, you go from happy, sad, mad and then you will laugh. Two of the male characters Rodney D. Story who plays Carl and Stephone Terrell who plays Marty will have you rolling with laughter, they provide the majority of the humor to the play. The rest of the cast was very versed on their roles as they did well during their performances. There were some scenes that could have been omitted trimming the time down some (remember my speciality is reviewing movies which average time length is 1 hr 45 mins). But overall I was thoroughly impress with the play and the messages that it delivered regarding relationships with God, marriage, your children and friends. Also that every reckless action comes with consequences that can even be fatal. Job well done to Christina Chatine who says she's on Tyler Perry's heels so he needs to make room.

Cast: Chiquetta Bunts, Rodney D. Story, Chanae Jordan, Stephone Terrell, Christiana Chatine, Pepper Holton, Nedra Spencer, Chayil Chanda, Edward Dunbar, Ayriel LaTauja, Nakaya Thompson and Andreana Beard

ESCAPE PLAN

Plot:

Ray Breslin (Stallone) has an interesting career, his job is to be placed into maximum security prisons and then break out of them exposing security loop holes in the systems. After his last escapade he is approached by a CIA agent who wants him to go into a new state of the art maximum security prison that he nor his team even know where it's located. Once inside he realizes that instead of this being a job it is more a setup for him to never get out. Unlike his previous stints in previous prisons his skills will be tested to the limit and he must also join alliance with Emil Rottmayer (Schwaznegger) an inmate that Warden Hobbes (Caviezel) is trying to extract the secrets to the where about of his crime czar boss. Together the two will encounter harsh and brutal treatment in order that they can exercise their escape plan so that Ray can find out who set him up.


Reel Talk:

First off....who takes a job getting locked into prisons trying to find a way out? Secondly I went into this screening thinking that with these two old time action stars (Stallone & Schwarzenegger) who star together for the first time in a full featured film, this would be a cheese fest movie. Well of course there was the occasional  corny dialog but surprisingly this was a good movie. Sure these guys are old and it shows in their facial features but physical appearance these guys are fit, even to the point of embarrassing my physic...LOL. Then you got Jim Caviezel as the evil warden who was out cold in his performance. A good story along with a good cast makes for a good movie. Worth opening the wallet and plunking down the cash for this action movie showcasing these two fossils.

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Amy Ryan, Vincent D'Onofrio, 50 Cent and Vinnie Jones
Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom
Rated: R

I give it 3 and a half eaten corn dogs.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler

THE FIFTH ESTATE

Plot:

Daniel Berg (Bruhl) a young computer nerd while at a computer convention befriends an ambitious and rebellious Julian Assange (Cumberbatch) and together the two launch Wikileaks, a website that exposes the dirty little secrets of the world's conglomerate corporations leaked to them by anonymous tipsters. It doesn't take long before the site becomes the biggest whistle blowing website in the world that will threaten to expose the United States and their misdeeds that could jeopardize the lives of several key players and will pit the two computer hacks against each other for what each feels is the morally right thing to do...to expose or not expose the secrets?


Reel Talk:

Although this suspense story was based on a true story, it was still long, drawn out and boring! The story is interesting if you really care to know about Wikileaks but other than that you may be struggling to stay awake on this film. Honestly this would have been a good movie for the Lifetime channel with the commercials allowing you a much needed break. So this is one you can wait and catch on cable, save your cash.

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl, Stanley Tucci, Laura Linney and Anthony Mackie
Directed by: Bill Condon
Rated: R

I give it 2 corn dogs.

By: Corn Dog - The Reel Hustler