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Wanted
MOVIE REVIEW
Rated - R
4 OUT 5 POPCORN BAGS
SHAWN EDWARDS SAYS:
MOVIE REVIEW
Rated - R
4 OUT 5 POPCORN BAGS
SHAWN EDWARDS SAYS:
10 Reasons to See "Wanted"
10. Because "Wall-E" sucks.
9. Movies about assassins always rock.
8. James McAvoy is a really cool dude.
7. The car chase scenes are sick.
6. Common continues to get better as
an actor.
5. It's the first really cool "R" rated
movie this summer.
4. Academy Award winner Morgan
Freeman is on his "A" game.
3. You've never seen bullets look so
cool.
2. Academy Award winner Angelina
Jolie is smokin'.
1. It's the best action in a movie since
"The Matrix."
10. Because "Wall-E" sucks.
9. Movies about assassins always rock.
8. James McAvoy is a really cool dude.
7. The car chase scenes are sick.
6. Common continues to get better as
an actor.
5. It's the first really cool "R" rated
movie this summer.
4. Academy Award winner Morgan
Freeman is on his "A" game.
3. You've never seen bullets look so
cool.
2. Academy Award winner Angelina
Jolie is smokin'.
1. It's the best action in a movie since
"The Matrix."
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MOVIE REVIEW
Rated - R
2 OUT 5 POPCORN BAGS
VALERIE FREEMAN SAYS:
It took me about an hour to figure out this movie was going nowhere. "The Wackness" is about Luke
Shapiro (Josh Peck), a white boy living in NY who loves hip-hop, sells dope to his shrink and various
middle/upperclass potheads, and has his heart broken in the summer of '94 before he heads off to
college. His boombox is full of Wu Tang Clan. He knows all of the latest slang (there are enough
"Yo, sons" in this movie to fill three pages of the script). And his life is pretty depressing and
uneventful.
Clifford "Method Man" Smith is in this movie for about 6 minutes. Method Man's performance is worth
mentioning because he attempted to put a new spin on his usual drug dealer persona, i.e. "The
Wire." And he deserves props for trying an accent. Instead of being your every day garden variety
hood drug dealer, Method Man is a Jamaican drug supplier slangin' to middleclass white kids.
Although the accent was a little off (I wasn't sure if he was selling pounds of weed or pounds of
Lucky Charms cereal), at least he landed a role in a serious, independent film.
The soundtrack was the dopest part of this movie. Remember the summer of '94? Nas-"The World
Is Yours," Biz Markie-"Just A Friend," R Kelly (Kells)-"Bump N' Grind," and don't forget Total featuring
Notorious B.I.G.-"Can't Ya See." Long live Biggie!
Josh Peck, who is also known for his role as Josh in the Nickelodeon show "Drake and Josh," is
actually very believable as Luke. He has come a long way from the over-the-top, fat kid on a sitcom.
But he couldn't save this depressing journey into nothingness.
There were some interesting effects at the beginning of the movie (the pavement lights up like the
boulevard in Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" video as Luke dances down the street after kissing his
dream girl.) But for some reason, the director abandons this approach halfway through the movie.
I also expected to see more of Mary-Kate Olsen, who has been doing much of the press to help
promote this movie. Like Method Man, she was only in two or three scenes. Ben Kingsley is also in
this movie as the wacky shrink who becomes Luke's best friend.
Luke's summer fling tells him that he only sees the wackness, when he should see the dopeness. I
just wish the writer/director had found the funniness.
Shapiro (Josh Peck), a white boy living in NY who loves hip-hop, sells dope to his shrink and various
middle/upperclass potheads, and has his heart broken in the summer of '94 before he heads off to
college. His boombox is full of Wu Tang Clan. He knows all of the latest slang (there are enough
"Yo, sons" in this movie to fill three pages of the script). And his life is pretty depressing and
uneventful.
Clifford "Method Man" Smith is in this movie for about 6 minutes. Method Man's performance is worth
mentioning because he attempted to put a new spin on his usual drug dealer persona, i.e. "The
Wire." And he deserves props for trying an accent. Instead of being your every day garden variety
hood drug dealer, Method Man is a Jamaican drug supplier slangin' to middleclass white kids.
Although the accent was a little off (I wasn't sure if he was selling pounds of weed or pounds of
Lucky Charms cereal), at least he landed a role in a serious, independent film.
The soundtrack was the dopest part of this movie. Remember the summer of '94? Nas-"The World
Is Yours," Biz Markie-"Just A Friend," R Kelly (Kells)-"Bump N' Grind," and don't forget Total featuring
Notorious B.I.G.-"Can't Ya See." Long live Biggie!
Josh Peck, who is also known for his role as Josh in the Nickelodeon show "Drake and Josh," is
actually very believable as Luke. He has come a long way from the over-the-top, fat kid on a sitcom.
But he couldn't save this depressing journey into nothingness.
There were some interesting effects at the beginning of the movie (the pavement lights up like the
boulevard in Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" video as Luke dances down the street after kissing his
dream girl.) But for some reason, the director abandons this approach halfway through the movie.
I also expected to see more of Mary-Kate Olsen, who has been doing much of the press to help
promote this movie. Like Method Man, she was only in two or three scenes. Ben Kingsley is also in
this movie as the wacky shrink who becomes Luke's best friend.
Luke's summer fling tells him that he only sees the wackness, when he should see the dopeness. I
just wish the writer/director had found the funniness.
Clifford "Method Man" Smith in "The Wackness".
WELCOME HOME ROSCOE JENKINS
DVD RELEASE
3 OUT 5 POPCORN BAGS
SHAWN EDWARDS SAYS:
Martin Lawrence has not been this funny in a long time. Sure much of "Welcome Home Roscoe
Jenkins, " new on DVD June 17, is way over the top. But that's ghetto humor baby. And "Welcome
Home Roscoe Jenkins, " directed by Malcolm Lee, has a laundry list of black stars who have made a
living off of this brand of humor. Not only does Martin Lawrence seem to be having a good time playing
the successful TV talk show host who returns home to visit his country kin folk, but Mo’Nique, Mike
Epps and Cedric the Entertainer also shuck it up in this totally hilarious comedy that also touches on
the importance of family with the help of James Earl Jones and Margaret Avery as Roscoe's parents.
The DVD is loaded with extras. You get almost 45 minutes of outtakes and deleted/extended scenes
which include:
DVD RELEASE
3 OUT 5 POPCORN BAGS
SHAWN EDWARDS SAYS:
Martin Lawrence has not been this funny in a long time. Sure much of "Welcome Home Roscoe
Jenkins, " new on DVD June 17, is way over the top. But that's ghetto humor baby. And "Welcome
Home Roscoe Jenkins, " directed by Malcolm Lee, has a laundry list of black stars who have made a
living off of this brand of humor. Not only does Martin Lawrence seem to be having a good time playing
the successful TV talk show host who returns home to visit his country kin folk, but Mo’Nique, Mike
Epps and Cedric the Entertainer also shuck it up in this totally hilarious comedy that also touches on
the importance of family with the help of James Earl Jones and Margaret Avery as Roscoe's parents.
The DVD is loaded with extras. You get almost 45 minutes of outtakes and deleted/extended scenes
which include:
- an alternate opening,
- "Bringing the Family Together," an inside look at the making of the film featuring interviews with
writer/director Malcolm D. Lee, producers Scott Stuber and Charlie Castaldi, and cast
members Martin Lawrence, Michael Clarke Duncan, Mo’Nique, Mike Epps and Cedric the
Entertainer. - "On Location – Getting Down and Dirty," a closer look at the making of the obstacle course
sequence. - "Going Home – Real Stories of the Cast," cast members reflect on what it was like for them to
return home after becoming famous. - Joe “We’re Family” music video and
- Commentary with director Malcolm D. Lee.
Wesley Gibson’s (James McAvoy) life is a mess. By day,
the 25 year-old slacker sits behind a desk at a tiny cubicle
demands of his overbearing boss. Evenings, he retreats
to the equally-unpleasant confines of the noisy dive he to
the equally-unpleasant confines of the noisy dive he
shares with an abusive girlfriend who‘s openly sleeping
with his best buddy from work.
Opportunity knocks for Wesley in a drug store while
waiting to refill a prescription for his anti-anxiety
medication when he’s approached by Fox (Angelina Jolie),
a femme fatale with a take charge attitude. The mysterious
stranger calmly informs him that the father he’s never
known had been a colleague of hers in a secret society of
cold-blooded killers called the Fraternity lead by Sloan
(Morgan Freeman). She further delivers the shocking
news that his Dad was shot to death the night before by
Cross, a renegade assassin.
the 25 year-old slacker sits behind a desk at a tiny cubicle
demands of his overbearing boss. Evenings, he retreats
to the equally-unpleasant confines of the noisy dive he to
the equally-unpleasant confines of the noisy dive he
shares with an abusive girlfriend who‘s openly sleeping
with his best buddy from work.
Opportunity knocks for Wesley in a drug store while
waiting to refill a prescription for his anti-anxiety
medication when he’s approached by Fox (Angelina Jolie),
a femme fatale with a take charge attitude. The mysterious
stranger calmly informs him that the father he’s never
known had been a colleague of hers in a secret society of
cold-blooded killers called the Fraternity lead by Sloan
(Morgan Freeman). She further delivers the shocking
news that his Dad was shot to death the night before by
Cross, a renegade assassin.
KAM WILLIAMS SAYS:
James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman
adrenaline-fueled car chase clear cross Chicago. This is the intriguing point of departure of Wanted, a
graphic splatter flick based on Mark Millar‘s comic book miniseries of the same name.
The over-plotted superhero adventure might be best described as a compelling cross of The Matrix
and Memento, since it shares the former’s reliance on cartoon physics elements and the latter’s love
of confounding convoluted twists. Soviet director Timur Bekmambetov makes an unforgettable, if quite
controversial, English-language debut with this relentlessly-amoral exercise in gratuitous violence.
A cinematic Columbine filled with wanton carnage designed to validate the bloodlust of every
ostracized loser stuck in a dead-end job and daydreaming of evening the score by going postal.
graphic splatter flick based on Mark Millar‘s comic book miniseries of the same name.
The over-plotted superhero adventure might be best described as a compelling cross of The Matrix
and Memento, since it shares the former’s reliance on cartoon physics elements and the latter’s love
of confounding convoluted twists. Soviet director Timur Bekmambetov makes an unforgettable, if quite
controversial, English-language debut with this relentlessly-amoral exercise in gratuitous violence.
A cinematic Columbine filled with wanton carnage designed to validate the bloodlust of every
ostracized loser stuck in a dead-end job and daydreaming of evening the score by going postal.