Friday, July 16, 2010

NOW PLAYING: 'INCEPTION'


Christopher Nolan's latest masterpiece is finally here! The much-anticipated film starring Leonardo DiCaprio opens nationwide today. Yours truly is hoping to catch the excitement sometime this weekend. Go see it!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

DVD OF THE WEEK: 'BROOKLYN'S FINEST' (2010)


This week, Antoine Fuqua's 'Brooklyn's Finest' leads the pack in new releases at your local video store. The movie stars Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes (!), who's been off the proverbial Hollywood map since the release of 'Blade: Trinity' (2004). This all-star cast is powerfully orchestrated from none other than the director of 'Training Day' (2001), making this Von Ningue's DVD OF THE WEEK!

The story revolves around three New York police officers: Sal, played by Ethan Hawke, who's desperate for money to help out his family; Tango, played by Don Cheadle, who's trying to keep it together while working undercover; and Eddie, played by Richard Gere, a burnout cop who's just trying to get by. Director Antoine Fuqua, who's best known for his other cop drama, truly hits the mark with this film. The film has a knock-out cast and balls-out performances, including a suprise guest appearance by "Mr. New Jack City" himself...Wesley Snipes! I've gotta admit...it's great to see Wesley doing his "thang" in a film like this one.

Ethan Hawke's performance is simply fantastic as the cop who's trying to "do the right thing" by doing the wrong thing to help out his struggling family with their money troubles...a different type of role from the rookie cop in 'Training Day'! Two days after you watch his performance in the film, you'll be quoting some of his best lines, including my favorite: "I don't want God's forgiveness...I WANT HIS FUCKING HELP!"

Don Cheadle's work is quite impressive here too, and truly makes up for his 'Iron Man 2' stint! You can tell that he was working his real-life Hollywood mood swings here, probably from all of the 'Iron Man' fanboys who were giving him shit about replacing Terrance Howard. Either way, Cheadle keeps his cool by losing his cool in this flick.

Last, but definitely not least, is the surprising role of Eddie Dugan, played by my man Richard Gere! When I heard that Richard Gere was playing a cop in this film, I had no clue how far things would go. Waking up to a bottle of whiskey and a game of Russian Roulette is how Eddie strives to survive in the urban jungle of Brooklyn, New York. Seven days away from his retirement, Eddie could care less about what's happening in the world around him by losing himself to his bottle of booze and hooker/friend "Chantel"! Watching Gere downward spiral into the depths of depravity really blew my mind. Honestly, I never thought in a million years that I would see Gere do a straight-up sex scene on film again. The only other person that could have outdone Gere in this film would have been legendary actor/singer/songwriter David Alexander Hess, who's considered to be the "Richard Gere" of the horror genre.

Watching all of these characters stories unfold was truly amazing. There wasn't much "downtime" during the two-plus hours of film that is here, and what is there is good filmmaking. Without giving anything away, lemme just say that after watching the last reel, I was pumped to follow up this film with a class-sick Italian horror film...Lucio Fulci's 'The New York Ripper'! Trust me...you have to see it to believe it!

My rating: 5 stars out of 5 stars

Thursday, July 1, 2010

SPOTLIGHT ON...CHRISTOPHER NOLAN


The widely popular filmmaker behind such films as 'Memento' (2000) and 'The Dark Knight' (2008) has taken classic film noir and made it cool again. July marks the release of his latest film 'Inception', starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and to celebrate, we'll be taking a look back at the young filmmaker's career all month long. Stay tuned!