Thursday, January 22, 2015

Rachel Getting Married (2008)



Number Rolled: 87
Movie Name/Year: Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Genre: Indie
Length: 112 minutes
Rating: R
Production Companies: Armian Pictures, Clinica Estetico, Marc Platt Productions
Executive Producer: Carol Cuddy, Ilona Herzberg
Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Jenny Lumet
Actors: Roslyn Ruff, Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith, Rosemarie DeWitt, Anisa George, Mather Zickel, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger

Kym is getting to go home from rehab in order to attend her sister’s wedding. As a recovering junkie, she needs to balance her rehabilitation needs with her family obligations in order to make amends.

I had very high hopes for this movie. Not because the critics decided it was worth an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Critics are all about Hollywood politics and who campaigns the most, not who’s the best. After all, no Lego Movie nomination for Animation? No Hunger Games nomination for, at the very least, Original Song?

No. Forget the critics. I hate generic politics and I hate Hollywood politics. Lies and money.

I had high hopes because of director Jonathan Demme (The Manchurian Candidate, Philadelphia, The Silence of the Lambs). He’s got a few amazing movies under his belt and I haven’t seen anything of his that I haven’t enjoyed.

Until now.

Jenny Lumet (Dodgeball, Tougher Than Leather, Running on Empty) has been an actress in the past, but this was her first and only writing credit. First timers need support from the cast and crew to help them work through that inexperience. I expected Demme to be able to give her that support, but he dropped the ball.

Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables, The Dark Knight Rises, Get Smart) did an amazing job with her part, but the character itself was unlikable and difficult to empathize with. The script was choppy and boring at best. Add to that the unnecessary shaky-cam and the terrible editing and it leaves me wondering what made people enjoy this movie so much.

This is just one of those times when I completely disagree with the majority.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 85%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 62%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 4/5
Trust-the-Dice Score1.5/5

P.S. Pointless scene during the start of the credits.

P.S.2. I would have been much happier going through my whole life without having seen Anne Hathaway pee.

Movie Trailer: 

Monday, January 19, 2015

Honey 2 (2011)



Number Rolled: 54
Movie Name/Year: Honey 2 (2011)
Genre: Romance
Length: 110 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Production Companies: Reel Deal Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Marc Platt Productions, MFV Productions
Executive Producer: Marc Platt
Director: Bille Woodruff
Writer: Alyson Fouse, Blayne Weaver
Actors: Kat Graham, Randy Wayne, Seychelle Gabriel, Lonette McKee, Melissa Molinaro, Gerry Bednob, Laurieann Gibson, Alexis Jordan, Mario Lopez, Christopher Martinez, Rosero McCoy, Tyler Nelson, Audrina Patridge, Brittany Perry-Russell, Casper Smart, Richard Steelo Vasquez

Maria is serving time in a juvenile detention center after getting involved with the wrong crowd. When she’s released, Honey Daniels’ mom agrees to take her in as a foster child. There are only two rules: she needs to be in by 9 and stay away from her old crew. Dance is her life though, and when her old dance crew comes sniffing around, it’s hard to say no.

I’ll admit that I enjoy the original Honey. It’s not one of my favorite movies; it’s more like a guilty pleasure. Jessica Alba (Sin City, Dark Angel, Machete) slightly overacts and Joy Bryant (Parenthood, Hit and Run, The Skeleton Key) hilariously overacts, but Mekhi Phifer (House of Lies, Divergent, Torchwood) is an acting messiah amongst the exaggerations and the dance moves are hot. In fact, the storyline isn’t so bad either and the celebrity cameos are attention grabbing.

The sequel, Honey 2, doesn’t really stand up to the original.

Kat Graham (The Vampire Diaries, Addicted, 17 Again) reminded me of Hayden Panettiere (Nashville, The Forger, Heroes), specifically from her part in Bring it On: All or Nothing, which is not necessarily a good thing. I was also confused with Laurieann Gibson’s (In Living Color, Beyond the Lights, Malcolm X) part as Katrina. In the first Honey, Katrina hated Honey Daniels, in the sequel she seems to love her. It doesn’t make any sense at all. On the other hand, Randy Wayne (YouTube: the Musical, The Lying Game, Lairs All) and Christopher Martinez (Clerks II, 500 Days of Summer, Bring it On: Fight to the Finish) played their parts very well, which almost made up for it.

The storyline was kind of weak, the dancing wasn’t nearly as impressive and the accents made me roll my eyes.

Despite the issues, the movie was only terrible in contrast to the original. In reality, it was mostly average.

One more thing; I have a quick note for movie and television directors of all shapes and sizes: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. We don’t all talk like that. There are plenty of other stereotypes to focus on, stop being lazy.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 10%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 53%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 1.6/5
Trust-the-Dice Score2/5

P.S. There are bloopers and extra scenes during the credits.

Movie Trailer: The trailer is very misleading.