Keke Palmer in Wonderland
Keke Palmer in Wonderland Read More »
Keke Palmer
NOPE
- Title: NOPE
- IMDb: link
There’s quite a bit worth noting about writer/director Jordan Peele‘s NOPE which touches on themes of spectacle and exploitation, the legacy of film, and science fiction. While the individual parts of the film, highlighted by some terrific scenes, are better than the combined whole, the film still delivers an interesting take on the fascination of UFOs and fame.
…
Hustlers
- Title: Hustlers
- IMDb: link
“Stripper movie” isn’t a term that often imbues a viewer with confidence. That said, the true story adapted for film by writer/director Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) exceeded my expectations. While not great, Hustlers is solidly entertaining and far from the fiasco of Showgirls.
Set in the early 2000s, the film focuses on a struggling stripper’s (Constance Wu) friendship with the club’s main attraction, Ramona (Jennifer Lopez). Taking the newbie under her wing, Ramona helps Destiny (Wu) earn enough money to keep her grandmother’s house and pay for several high-end shopping trips. The script offers some insight into a stripper’s mentality towards her clients (as Destiny learns to bilk them of as much money as possible).
Stradding the 2008 Wall Street crash, the film shows us the glory days of high-price clients for Ramona and Destiny and the slim pickings just a few years later where the pair, and a couple of new girls (Keke Palmer and Lili Reinhart) step-up their game from maximimizing a drunk client’s spend to actually drugging them and maxing out their credit cards.
…
G-O-O-D
- Title: Akeelah and the Bee
- IMDb: link
How cool are spelling bees? The film asks that question multiple times and the answer shifts from person to person over the course of the film including our title character. Akeelah and the Bee actually makes the National Spelling Bee look pretty darn cool. Now c’mon folks, that should pique your interest.
Akeelah (Keke Palmer) is an underachieving student in Crenshaw, California with an older sister (Erica Hubbard) who has a baby, a brother (Julito McCullum) who wants to become a gangbanger, and a mother (Angela Bassett) who works all the time and has little time or patience for her kids’ problems and screw-ups.
…