On Wednesday I saw the movie “Fat Albert”, which starred: Kenan Thompson, Aaron Frazier, Omarion,Raven-Symone and Jeremy Suarez.
The storyline involved the following: “"Hey, Hey, Hey--it's Fat Albert!" From the very first introductory line--voiced by Albert (Kenan Thompson) himself--you cringe just a little. It's like watching a good friend attempt a tough impersonation you hope he can pull off. The story hews close to what the cartoon Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was always all about--a goofy gaggle of African-American kids making the best of growing up in a rough neighborhood in Philadelphia. No matter what the trouble--runaways, drug use, juvenile delinquency--they managed to find a way to solve everyone's problems and bookend each episode with the contagiously upbeat "Na, na, na--gonna have a good time! Hey, hey, hey!" The same goes here--only in a modern twist, the problem to solve happens to be in the "real world." Doris (Kyla Pratt), a shy and lonely teenager, has a rough day at school where she learned she wasn't invited to a big party. She comes home to watch Fat Albert on TV Land, and a stray teardrop hits the remote control, creating a magical portal through which the animated Fat Albert, and gang decide to jump. Scaring the heck out of the bewildered Doris, the guys stumble out of the television set and take to their realistic surroundings, and mission, quite quickly. In short order, they set about trying to find Doris some new friends, much to her embarrassed chagrin, and along the way they try to make sense of modern day life with its perplexing cell phones, pull-top cans and rap music. Yet, the more time they spend in the real world, the more they fade away, their clothes becomes more washed out, and eventually they even seem transparent.”
I give this movie a “C+”, and it is the worth of an admission ticket, a small popcorn and a small soft drink. Kyla Pratt’s character was not likeable, and Bill Cosby saved the movie.
On Monday I saw the movie “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou”, which starred: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston and Willem Dafoe.
The movie story involved the following: “Meet internationally renown oceanographer and documentarian Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) and some of his Team Zissou: Eleanor Zissou (Anjelica Huston), his estranged wife and the "brains behind the operation"; Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), the loyal chief engineer; and Oseary Drakoulias (Michael Gambon), the septuagenarian producer. Unfortunately, Zissou's days are numbered, having been pushed close to bankruptcy by his arch rival, Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum). But what's really bothering Zissou is that his best friend and longtime collaborator, Esteban (Seymour Cassel), has been eaten by an underwater assailant known as the Jaguar Shark. Charged by vengeance, Zissou sets out on his boat, The Belafonte, to hunt down the predator in one last filmed expedition. He is joined by two new Team Zissou members: Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), a young airline copilot who may be Zissou's son, and Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett), a beautiful and pregnant journalist assigned to write a profile of Zissou. Along the way, they face overwhelming complications, including marauding pirates, kidnappings and a maelstrom of human yearning.”
I give this movie a “C+”, and it is the worth of an admission ticket, a small popcorn and a small soft drink. There was too much Bill Murray in the movie, which nullified the acting performances of his co-stars.
On Saturday, I saw the movie “The Aviator”, which starred: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Gwen Stefani and Adam Scott.
The storyline involved the following: “ The young and idealistic Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) is driven by two forces in his life: airplanes and Hollywood. The Aviator begins in the 1920s, as Hughes obsessively works on his silent debut film Hell's Angels, which he ends up scraping completely to remake as a talkie, thus making it the most expensive film of its time. While embarking on doomed affairs with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale), Hughes also builds a plane that makes him the fastest man in the world in 1935. The millionaire even engineers a new bra to make the most out of Jane Russell's cleavage for his next film The Outlaw, while running TWA and building planes for the government during WWII. Yet, the mental illness that would consume Hughes later in life begins to rear its ugly head after he breaks up with Hepburn. As does his dogfights with Pan Am's Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin), who sics his in-pocket politician, Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), on Hughes--which, coming after the flyboy crashes his experimental spy plane, leaves him with only a couple of good fights left in him. Hughes eventually stands up to Brewster's senate investigation, and then manages to finish and ceremonially fly the Spruce Goose. But soon he makes his final descent into undiagnosed and untreated madness.”
I give the movie a “A”, and the movie is worth the price of an admission ticket, a large popcorn, a large soft drink and a small soft drink . Though it’s not my best movie of the year, I thought the film was excellent entertainment. The acting and directing were excellent.
On Thursday, I saw the movie “Spanglish”, which starred: Adam Sandler, Cloris Leachman, Téa Leoni, Shelbie Bruce and Allen Covert.
The storyline involved the following: “ Cultures collide when beautiful Mexican native Flor (Paz Vega), a recent import to Los Angeles who can't speak English, becomes the housekeeper for the affluent but dysfunctional Claskys. They include chef and devoted dad John (Adam Sandler), his high-strung wife Deborah (Téa Leoni), their two kids, and Deborah's lush of a mother, Evelyn (Cloris Leachman). Flor's relationship with the Claskys starts out as very professional, but she soon becomes emotionally involved with the family. Flor finds herself first defending her parenting skills, especially after Deborah, who is knee-deep in an identity crisis, takes Flor's precocious 12-year-old daughter Cristina (Shelbie Bruce) under her wing. Then, to add insult to injury, Flor and the kindhearted John find themselves attracted to one another after bonding over how to parent their respective children. This connection acts as a catalyst for John and Flor to reevaluate their lives, motivating them to solve their respective family problems--as we collectively sigh and grab for the tissues.”
Yesterday I saw the movie “Meet The Fockers”, which starred: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand and Blythe Danner.
The storyline involved the following: “Having given permission to male nurse Greg Focker (Stiller) to wed his daughter (Polo), ex-CIA man Jack Byrnes (De Niro) and his wife (Danner) travel to Detroit to "meet the parents", who this time around are Mr. and Mrs. Focker (Hoffman and Streisand), who are as different from them as can be.”
I would rate the movie a “B”, and it is the worth of an admission ticket, a medium popcorn and a medium soft drink. Generally the stars out shined the movie. There was a lot of body-sexual jokes, which some people found amusing.
News Articles About Native American Writers
Below is a web address for a Yahoo.com discussion group, which posted news articles
about Native writers, storytellers and movie actors. The discussion has open membership and is free.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nativewriters/
Thanks. Steve LaFountaine
