BLACK PRESIDENT = END OF THE WORLD

By Keyvon Pierre

I recently saw 2012. And by golly it was one of the best films of the year. I love disaster flicks and Roland Emmerich, the mind behind Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, serves up another look into our short future. There was everything you could want, including one of the most ridiculous action scenes ever. No seriously, this movie makes John Cusack's scenes in Con-Air seem like documentary footage.

But what makes 2012 a real disaster movie is that the President is black. I love Obama and Election Day 2008 was one of the greatest days of my life, but whenever the president is played by a black actor you know the end of the world is near. And of course in 2012 Mr. Danny Glover portrays our fearless leader. Now I have to ask the very important question... "Did they hire Danny Glover before or after Obama won?" The obvious answer is of course they hired him after. But that wasn't until November '08. Are you telling me they didn't cast this huge blockbuster until 11 months before it's release? The time table is just too close to determine. But if you haven't noticed, whenever there is a black president in film or TV it spells the end of the world.

Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact

Tiny Lister in The Fifth Element

Dennis Haysbert in "24"

And honestly Barack Obama in real life.

I also saw the amazing film The Road recently. It is very similar to 2012, a post-apocalyptic thriller where a father has to save his family from inevitable doom - minus the special effects and huge budget. The beginning of the movie, when the apocalypse starts, seems to take place in modern day, where Obama would have been our president. Just saying.

But back to 2012: The movie was unbelievably entertaining. At over 2 and a half hours it kept moving. And there were scenes that were beyond unbelievable. It felt like a James Cameron movie. The last third you're wondering what could they possibly do next. It is a great popcorn movie, and at Popcorn Junkies we love our popcorn!

Grade: A-

FANTASTIC MR. FOX

By Leslie Adams

Hopefully everyone realizes that Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox opened in theaters last week. I like to go see what I think will be the best movie of the week before anyones else does, because I hate when people tell me about the movie before I get a chance to see it for myself. That's how I treated this movie, except I did see the review on "At the Movies" with whoever the hell is on there now. Like them, I am pleased to report the movie was worth my time, and money.

Finally an animated full length feature film for adults. That was definitely an attraction for me. I don't think most children would appreciate the imaginative stop-motion animation or the colorful, offbeat story. And sure enough on Thanksgiving evening, on the cool and beautiful Santa Monica Promenade, there was not a single child in the theater. Which is a good thing because the subject matter was mostly adult situations.

You've heard the story before. Girl (Meryl Streep) meets bad boy (George Clooney), bad boy promises that if girl marries him, no more bad boy. Then, for the rest of his life he's sneaking around, until what's been done in the dark comes to light. Then there's the dysfunctional family, where the son (Jason Schwartzman) can never possibly live up to Dad's reputation of being the best athlete in his school's history, and when his over-achieving cousin comes to live with the family it only makes matters worse.

There's also a great supporting cast of critters headlined by Wes Anderson regulars Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. It's a movie that parallels all of our lives in some way and is fun to witness through this type of story telling and animation. It's a great date movie or a great movie to see if you just need to get out the house.

GRADE: A-

JEREMY & KEYVON ON 'INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS'

KEYVON:
Inglorious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino's entertaining and stylish take on an alternate World War II where Jews kill Nazis. Tarantino is my favorite filmmaker to come out of the 90's. I follow everything this dude does. I've seen every Tarantino movie since Pulp Fiction opening day. Yes even Four Rooms. So maybe I came in with abnormally high expectations, but his most recent films Kill Bill & Grindhouse exceeded my lofty expectations. And though Basterds was entertaining and a very good movie it was one of my least favorite Tarantino films.

I might be a little hard on QT by saying the movie was somewhat of a letdown, but it was still one of the best movies of the year. Sorta how I felt about Curious Case of Benjamin Button or There Will Be Blood. There was so much potential and such a great cast and crew, I just didn't feel it was all I thought it could be. I mean it was a war movie with no battle scenes. Come on. The best thing about the film had to be actor Christoph Waltz. Who played Colonel Hans Landa, by far and away the best villain of the year. He made me so uncomfortable with every scene he was in I was scared to see what happened next. Like in Pulp Fiction and Death Proof, Tarantino brings that frightening suspense that is almost unbearable to watch. And of course Tarantino brought his quarky film-making to the screen, with references about movies, cool cameos, and awesome visuals. Even an average Tarantino movie is still better than most.

Grade: B+

JEREMY:

Let me just start by saying how seriously Kev and I take QT films.We bought tickets ass early in the morning for Kill Bill Vol. 1 on opening night, and of course a bunch of Jokers snuck into the theater without tickets, so the theater was oversold with nowhere to sit. We parked our asses in the aisle and watched as the opening sequence rolled, prepared to sit uncomfortably for the whole film. Then some asshole usher told us we were a fire hazard and had to leave right as the bride got her brains blasted in black & white over Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang." We never went back to that theater.

I left Quentin Tarantino's latest movie wondering if my grandmother, who survived Auschwitz, would enjoy the film. There's something about seeing violence against Nazi's that isn't hard to stomach. Sure, there are plenty of cringe worthy moments in Inglorious Basterds; a veritable buffet of brutal Nazi murdering, scalping and other assorted variations of ultra-violence. But you don't feel bad for any of the Nazi's, and I think that's what our man was going for.

The film is well cast, and to my surprise, Brad Pitt was not the most compelling actor. Props to Eli Roth, The Bear Jew, for being the most bad ass Heeb in film since Munich, and to Christoph Waltz who portrays Colonel Hans Landa, possibly my favorite Tarantino character ever. After the first few minutes of the movie, you yearn to see Colonel Hans get his comeupance. He's the villain to end all villains. Pitt is solid and fun to watch, but you don't learn enough about Aldo Raine to care about him or what happens to him.

The story is a departure for Tarantino in that the story is chronological. We have some of the usual QT trademarks- the film is divided into chapters, his signature dialogue is at full tilt, the female characters are strong willed, and there's a close-up of some feet. No red apple cigarettes, and to my surprise, no kick ass soundtrack. The music suits the film, and there is one brilliant musical moment courtesy of David Bowie, but it's the first film that I haven't wondered "who did that song" and I won't be looking for the soundtrack. But minor flaws aside, the acting is great, the story flows and it doesn't feel as long as it is.

I've heard there's rumors of a prequel. Maybe we get to learn how Aldo, the Bear Jew, and the rest of the Basterds came to be such stone cold killers... and that's something I'll look forward to. Even if he doesn't get around to the prequel, Basterds, and its amazing rewrite of history is a film i'll be glad to watch again.

Grade: A-

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