Think Like a Man

The movie Think Like a Man is adapted from the New York Bestseller book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy and Commitment, written by Steve Harvey.  It is a dating advice book for women.  The movie is about a group of male BFF’s who use the book to launch a counter attack against their women when they find out the ladies are using the advice from the book on them.  Each of the men is in various stages of their relationships, from happily married, divorced, marriage resistant, mama’s boy and a ladies man.  The movie has an all-star cast including Meagan Good, Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union, Terrence Jenkins, Regina Hall, Romany Malco, Jerry Ferrara, Michael Ealy and comedian Kevin Hart.  Steve Harvey makes an appearance as himself. 

I’ve not read Steve Harvey’s book but enjoyed the movie.  Comedian Kevin Hart was the natural fit to play the comedic role.  Pretty much every line he spoke was laced with comedic humor, which worked most of the time but other times was too much.  This movie was definitely a romantic comedy, heavy emphasis on the comedy.  Each of the major actors was good and I enjoyed the supporting role of Jennifer Lewis, who’s an expert in playing the feisty, unnerving, meddling mother.  My favorite cameo appearance was Morris Chestnut.  He’s a veteran actor that delivers consistently and is delicious eye candy. 

The most disturbing and disappointing part of the movie was the frequent use of the “N” word and variations of it.  It was ABSOLUTELY not necessary and definitely not funny, particularly, since this predominantly African American cast had the platform to present a non-stereotypical picture to the world.  The frequent use of the word was every bit stereotypical.

I give the movie 3 stars…

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a futuristic science fiction film based on the best selling novel by the same name. 

The film pits the extremely poor against the extremely wealthy in which the annual Hunger Games are televised and watched by the entire nation but only the poor have to participate in the games.  As punishment for rising up against the government in the past, each poor tribe must sacrifice one boy and one girl to participate in the Hunger Games.  Randomly selected kids from each tribe must fight to the death in a hunt and be-hunted survival “game”.  The children are taken to the Capital and trained in survival tactics, archery and mental stamina to prepare for the games. The last child alive can go back to their tribe where, by the way, they are still poor.  The film follows, sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who volunteers in her younger sister's place so she doesn’t have to participate in the games.

I haven’t read the Hunger Games book series but went to see the movie because of all the hype. I wish I would have known a little more about the book before going to the movie.  The thought of children (some as young as 9 years old) fighting to the death while thousands watch and cheer on is repulsive and barbaric!  I’m totally amazed at how teens are fascinated with the book series and the movie.  I can only guess that eventually the poor rise up, rebel and win against the wealthy.  However, that victorious moment is probably the last in the series of movies to be released.  How many more horrific scenes have to be portrayed before the rebellion begins?

Although I wasn’t fond of the story line, the acting was phenomenal!  The young actors, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Amandla Stenberg are better actors than some adults!  Veteran actors, Woody Harrelson and Stanley Tucci were also superb.  The costume design was amazing too. The best part of the movie was the special effects; I was captivated at the technological preciseness and vibrant scenes, especially when superficial 3D attack dogs became real attack dogs. 

Due to my mixed feelings about The Hunger Games, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before…provide two scores for the movie. The first score is for the acting, costumes and special effects, 4 out of 4 stars.  The other score is for the story, 1 out of 4.

Let me know what you think…

A Thousand Words

I went to see A Thousand Words with three of my best girlfriends and ALL four of us fell asleep during the movie (we saw the movie before going out for adult beverages)!!  Fortunately, we didn’t go to sleep at the same time because that would have been a tragedy!  We kept taking turns nudging the person who was snoring or breathing hard.  Given my disclaimer for sleeping during a part of the movie…my review is based on what I DID see.

A Thousand Words is about successful literary agent Jack McCall, (Eddie Murphy), who uses his gift for gab to secure deals with clients.  After his recent s-t-r-e-t-c-h of the truth to secure a new client, a spiritual guru played by Cliff Curtis; a Bodhi tree magically appears in Jack’s yard.  The tree sheds a leaf for every word that Jack speaks.  He has one thousand words left to speak before he dies.  Jack begins to pick his words more carefully with the threat of death looming over him. The best part of the movie was watching eye candy, Cliff Curtis.  Have you seen him in the movie Colombiana?  I digress…

It should have been a great formula to have comedian Eddie Murphy use few words and non-verbal communication to deliver a movie; however, it just doesn’t work.  Don’t get me wrong, there are a few funny moments during the movie but overall it’s not funny.  Perhaps Eddie is the funniest when he CAN speak.  Leave the non-verbal funny tactics to Jim Carrey.  Someone made the decision to leave this movie on the shelf after it was made in 2008…well, it can now be returned to the shelf.

I give this movie 1.5 stars out of 4. 

Good Deeds

Tyler Perry doesn't play Madea in this movie, thank goodness!  Good Deeds is about a wealthy business owner, Wesley Deeds, (Perry) who befriends and falls in love with a homeless cleaning lady, Lindsey (Thandie Newton).  His brother, played by actor Brian White, loathes Wesley because he's running the family business left to them by their father.  Their mother, played by Phylicia Rashad, pits the brothers against one another with the classic good brother vs. bad brother, which causes more drama. 

Thandie Newton struggles to care for her daughter after her husband dies.  She's a cleaning lady in the office building that the Deeds family owns.  They eventually meet and Wesley does a good deed by allowing her to stay in a corporate apartment until she can get on her feet. Wesley and Lindsey become close and Wesley realizes he can be himself with the "clean-up” woman.  Eventually, Wesley and his fiancee, played by Gabrielle Union, decide to call off their engagement. Wesley decides to live out his dream, ride off into the sunset and take Lindsay and her daughter with him.   Only in a movie, right?

The message of giving to others who are in need was the overall message of the film.  Tyler Perry is smart enough to surround himself with talented actors and actresses whenever he attempts to act.  In this case, Thandie Newton does the heavy lifting with support from veteran actress Phylicia Rashad.  I like Tyler Perry and respect him for the work he does but he is not the best actor around...but at least he wasn't playing the role of Madea again!  I give this movie 2 out of 4 stars.