Gabrielle Union

Bad Boys II

  • Title: Bad Boys II
  • IMDb: link

Bad Boys II

Like most action sequels, Bad Boys II is bigger and louder than the first film. However, it’s not necessarily any better. On one hand, the sequel spends a bit more time on the script than the original actually creating reasons for the constant bickering between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence and the crazy antics and action. On the other hand, things inevitably get out of control in the bloated script with a final act that more resembles Commando that any sort of believable police story.

Bad Boys II Read More »

The Inspection

  • Title: The Inspection
  • IMDb: link

Written and directed by Elegance Bratton, and inspired by his real life experiences, Jeremy Pope stars as a gay, black, homeless man who joins the Marine Corp where he encounters brutal, and at time life-threatening, hazing from his training instructor (Bokeem Woodbine) and other recruits. It’s a deeply personal and harsh look not only at the intolerance and hate our main character finds in the Marines while succeeding where no one believes he can but also from his mother (Gabrielle Union) unable to cope or accept his sexuality.

The Inspection Read More »

Strangely Familiar World

  • Title: Strange World
  • IMDb: link

Opening with heavy pulp-themes before shifting into a story of fathers and sons set against an unremarkable 4os or 50s sci-fi background, Strange World, much like Pixar’s Onward (which also set sights on parental issues in a fantasy-sci-fi setting) is more underwhelming than anything else. While not a bad film, Strange World is simply okay thanks more to vibrant visuals of the hidden world discovered by our characters than the characters themselves or the plot they get wrapped up in. Without its visuals, Strange World would be as forgettable as many sci-fi films of the era it pulls from.

Strangely Familiar World Read More »

2000 – Bring It On

  • Title: Bring It On
  • IMDb: link

“I am a choreographer.  That’s what I do.  You are cheerleaders.  Cheerleaders are dancers who have gone retarded.  What you do is a tiny, pathetic subset of dancing.  I will attempt to turn your robotic routines into poetry, written with the human body.  Follow me, or perish, sweater monkeys.”
 

bring-it-on-posterReleased on or around this date 15 years ago, here’s a look back at 2015’s Bring It On. Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) gets her dream when she becomes the captain of the Fighting Toros cheerleading squad, only to find her world go downhill faster than a cheerleader on the football captain.

On her first day one of her teammates is injured (Bianca Kajlich) causing a mad search for a replacement.  Torreance, against the wishes of most of her teammates, chooses new transfer, punk girl Missy (Eliza Dushku), who has the gymnastic background but not the usual cheer spirit.

Torreance’s world gets even crazier when Missy informs her that the award-winning cheers the Toros are using were stolen by the former captain of the Toros (Lindsay Sloane) from a nearby urban high school (led by Gabrielle Union).  An attempt to use a choreographer (Ian Roberts) to create the team a new routine blows up in her face, and her cheating and unsupportive college boyfriend (Richard Hillman) destroys he confidence and prevents her from acting on her feelings for Missy’s brother Cliff (Jesse Bradford).

2000 – Bring It On Read More »

Dysfunction Junction

  • Title: Running with Scissors
  • IMDb: link

Running with Scissors

It’s not Little Miss Sunshine, (read that review here), it doesn’t have its heart, but Running with Scissors does present wildly entertaining moments about a collection of some of the most screwed-up people you’re likely to view together in a film.  It’s a journey of one sane individual who finds himself trapped in an increasingly insane world. 

Augusten Burroughs (Joseph Cross) is surrounded by insanity.  His father (Alec Baldwin) lives at the bottom of a bottle distraught over his wife’s insanity, and his mother (Annete Bening) believes herself to be America’s next great poet – except she can’t seem to get published by even the smallest journals.

Dysfunction Junction Read More »