Babeled

The last time I went to Atlantic City I lost 100 bucks and promised myself I’d never go back. After watching this movie it was almost impossible to resist the urge to try my hand once again at the tables of luck.

Tables of luck? Not if you are a boy genius at MIT who just happens to have the uncanny ability to count cards like a robot.

Thats the premise of 21, an all around fun movie that is based on the true life of Kevin Lewis. The movie is a loose adaptation of the book Bringing Down The House. By loose I mean the addition of typical Hollywood twists, turns, and amped up drama between the characters.

Here’s the gist of the plot: Boy with no money excels at academics, goes to MIT, gets accepted to Harvard Med but doesn’t have the $300 grand to afford tuition. Coincidentally, at this exact time of crisis he stumbles upon a secret card counting group of genius math students led by a rouge professor. After a few days of resisting the inevitable, his need for money convinces him that this is what he has to do. With just a little training he becomes the star of the group, and before too long he’s taking Vegas for thousands a night. As one could expect, the risks of gambling catch up and all hell begins to break loose by the second half of the film.

The highlights of this movie are the performances by Kevin Spacey (the professor) and Laurence Fishburne (the king of Vegas security). Both actors bring extra gravity to a film that might otherwise have floated into the air with its lack of depth.

If you are looking for a no-brainer fun time at the movies, look no further than 21. It is thoroughly enjoyable.

Grade: B+

Official Trailer for 21

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21 image courtesy of Moviecritic.

There are a lot of great movies out there.

There are movies that make you laugh, movies that make you cry, and then there are movies that somehow evoke all the possible emotions in the human spectrum of feeling - these we consider the best of the best.

Now, I have no top three greatest movies - I after all love possibility, change, and anything open-ended. However, its become apparent to me that the fourth greatest movie ever made is definitely, by far, and without a doubt Undercover Brother. I’m willing to close the case on this one. For those of you unfamiliar with this classic, may god have mercy on your soul - you really are missing out on a film that will change the way you see life.

The epic tale of the interactions between the all-black “B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D” and the all white “The Man” moves beyond symbolism into the blatant facts of white supremacy, institutional racism, and the constant motivation of all Whites to suppress the African-American community. Its theme of a black presidential candidate running for a presidency against all odds is more relevant today than ever before.

Above all, what really makes this movie #4 greatest movie material is the scene where Eddie Griffin is injected with the White drug - this basically converts him into a Typical White Man. For the entire scene all the white people I know seemed to be explained by Eddie’s behavior - there was the awkwardness in movement, the awkwardness in speech, the general stiff, stressed out, awkwardness in almost every aspect of life.

It was then that I realized this movie was teaching us all a great lesson - to be White is to be awkward.

Image courtesy of WebWombat

If you aren’t blinded by the persistent glean of light that reflects off Bruce Willis’ waxed scalp, you may just witness movie history when you watch Die Hard 4.0 - it is not only one of the best movies of 2007, but it defies the Law of Sequels and triumphs as one of the best installments in this already awesome series.

If you’ve never watched Die Hard, or any action movie, ever, then please STOP READING - THE FOLLOWING WILL SPOIL THE MOVIE:

Evil organization plots to destabilize the world. One man takes entire organization down with a gun and a fast car that defies the laws of physics.

In the case of our movie that one man is John McClane. McClane is like Batman without the gadgets, body armor, mansion, butler, and pretty girlfriends. He has no superpower except for his sheer will to survive and destroy his target. One could say that McClane is the master of dying hard, or rather, living easy.

But his easy living is hard work, and in order to share the fun, McClane always makes sure to drag somebody else into his chaos. When McClane finds himself in the middle of a plot to take down the world’s technological infrastructure, he coincidentally finds himself coupled with one of the top computer hackers in the nation. Great timing, seriously. Before too long, the two are thrown into a cat-and-mouse chase with the enemy that leads to the climactic final scene which is beyond all words and most likely will change your life in more ways than you can ever realize.

For anyone looking to experience a mind-numbing two hours of awesomeness, Live Free or Die Hard is the movie for you. This film is everything an action film should be: it has sick car chases, over-the-top gun battles, apocalyptic conspiracy plots, and Bruce Willis being a comedian even when he wants to be taken seriously.

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Bruce Willis image courtesy of Flickr user Buou published under the CC license.