SHAFT: Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Regina Hall, Jessie T. Usher and Richard Roundtree… I will say that this is one film that, after watching the trailer, I had no interest in seeing. But I did anyway, and was I pleasantly surprised. Although it’s nothing like the original 1970’s Shaft, this one was very funny. The story itself was nothing exciting but the humor was good all the way through and got even better once Regina Hall became more involved. If anything, I could have used some bigger action, but not complaining at what we got. Shaft will be the movie to see this weekend.
LATE NIGHT: Starring Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson… Personally I think Mindy is one of Hollywood’s secret weapons. She’s had success as a producer, writer and co-star on The Office and on The Mindy Project as well as other shows. But on the big screen, not so much. She’s had smaller co-starring roles here and there, however, I believe this is her first lead role. I liked her performance, but was hoping for more with the story. As far as Emma Thompson goes, although she can play many roles, I didn’t believer her as a late night talk show host and I think that’s what hindered this film the most for me. Unfortunately, the few Laugh Out Loud moments weren’t enough to make me want to watch it again.
MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL: Here’s a film that I was kinda excited about. I liked the new cast, that would hopefully add new life to this series. That’s not what happened here. Granted the chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson carried over from the MCU, it was like watching the last MIB movie, that wasn’t very good, and hoping it would end soon. The CGI (computer generated images), some looked really bad at times. Hemsworth’s charm and charisma, unlike in the MCU, could only do so much to make this enjoyable. And Tessa Thompson, she just seemed to be missing something and I think that will fall on director F. Gary Gray for not being able to really bring out what’s great about her. Personally, I think the best part of the movie was when we got to see Kumail Nanjiani’s character Pawny… now he was funny. All in all nothing new to see here, I think. It’ll better if they just let this one sit quietly in the corner for awhile, until they come up with something much better that just taking the story International.
THE DEAD DON’T DIE: In the sleepy small town of Centerville, something is not quite right. The moon hangs large and low in the sky, the hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable, and animals are beginning to exhibit unusual behaviors. News reports are scary, and scientists are concerned, but no one foresees the strangest and most dangerous repercussion that will soon start plaguing Centerville: the dead rise from their graves and feast on the living, and the citizens must battle to survive.
5B: Opening in select theaters across the valley this weekend is this amazing documentary about what was a very scary time in history. This is the telling of the men and women who in the 1980’s became the nurses and caregivers, and put all fear aside to care for those people who were infected and dying from HIV & Aids at San Francisco General Hospital… Home of the first AIDS ward in the world… 5B. It’s hard to say this is a heartwarming story but in many ways it is. These men and women doing the best they can to help the sick patients when no one else would. Whether it was helping medically or merely just by holding their hand, without gloves, these people constantly continued to battle, year after year, to find hope in a hopeless situation. This is one of the best documentaries I’ve seen this year.