In the clip above, director John Singleton talks about the process he went through writing the movie that launched his career, Boyz N the Hood (1991). He followed the old rule “write what you know” and grounded the film in South Los Angeles, the place where he grew up. Boyz N the Hood earned Singleton an Oscar nomination … Continue reading John Singleton, 1968–2019
INSIDE SHERMAN KLUMP, A PARTY ANIMAL IS ABOUT TO BREAK OUT. Obese and bookish college professor Sherman Klump (Eddie Murphy) has created an experimental drug that turns him into a slim womanizer who’ll do everything that Klump was afraid to do. The original Nutty Professor (1963) was one of Jerry Lewis’s most ambitious comedies and … Continue reading The Nutty Professor
HERE THEY GO AGAIN. ONLY FASTER. AND TOUGHER. When Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) realizes that a notorious drug dealer called ”Iceman”, whom he has been chasing for years, has put a price on Reggie Hammond’s (Eddie Murphy) head, he’s reunited with his old ”frenemy”. This belated sequel was hated by most critics and even though … Continue reading Another 48HRS.
THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN. NICK NOLTE IS A COP. EDDIE MURPHY IS A CONVICT. THEY COULDN’T HAVE LIKED EACH OTHER LESS. THEY COULDN’T HAVE NEEDED EACH OTHER MORE. AND THE LAST PLACE THEY EVER EXPECTED TO BE IS ON THE SAME SIDE. EVEN FOR 48 HRS. When we think back to the 1980s … Continue reading 48 HRS: Frisco Frenemies
THEY’RE NOT JUST GETTING RICH… THEY’RE GETTING EVEN. Two wealthy brothers (Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche) make a wager where they scheme to have two men (one rich, one poor) switch places in life – what will be the outcome? An old formula for this comedy, but in the hands of John Landis it still feels … Continue reading Trading Places
THIS SUMMER, PRINCE AKEEM DISCOVERS AMERICA. Pampered African prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) has just turned 21 and wants more independence, taking his best friend (Arsenio Hall) on a trip to New York City where they pose as poor foreign students. Not a sequel to Trading Places (1983) but a comedy in the same vein, complete … Continue reading Coming to America
THIS TIME, THE PRINCESS SAVES THE PRINCE. When every Chinese family is given a conscription notice in order to build an army to fight the Hun, a young girl pretends to be a man to save her ailing father from going. Disney was hoping to reach a wider Chinese audience with this adaptation of an … Continue reading Mulan
FROM CON MAN TO CONGRESSMAN. Florida con man Thomas Jefferson Johnson (Eddie Murphy) uses the name of a dead congressman to get elected to the House; once in Washington, he realizes that his schemes pale in comparison with what’s going on in D.C. Not the first time Murphy plays a con man, and he’s obviously … Continue reading The Distinguished Gentleman
MAKE EVERY WORD COUNT. Fast-talking literary agent Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) gets a book deal from a guru (Cliff Curtis)… as well as something else that makes him realize that words count. Murphy’s third film with the director is a little reminiscent of Holy Man (1998), another one of his vehicles, and requires a lot … Continue reading A Thousand Words
IT’S NOT JUST A ROBBERY. IT’S PAYBACK. When Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller) and a group of employees at an exclusive NYC apartment building learn that one of the tenants, a Wall Street tycoon (Alan Alda), has embezzled their pension funds, they plot revenge. Certainly a heist movie for our times as the villain will remind audiences of Bernie … Continue reading Tower Heist
WHAT IF YOUR DAUGHTER’S IMAGINATION… WAS THE SECRET TO YOUR SUCCESS? Financial executive Evan Danielson (Eddie Murphy) faces fierce competition until the day he learns that his seven-year-old daughter’s (Yara Shahidi) security blanket has the magical power to predict the stock market. Another one of Murphy’s rigidly formulaic family comedies. Whenever the filmmakers focus on … Continue reading Imagine That
IT AIN’T OGRE… TIL IT’S OGRE. Shrek is going through a midlife crisis and becomes an easy victim for Rumpelstiltskin and his wicked plan. The fourth film in the series is in widescreen and 3D, but nothing else has changed. Much like Shrek the Third (2007), the filmmakers take us down our favorite ogre’s path to maturity and … Continue reading Shrek Forever After
FAME COMES AND GOES, STARS RISE AND FALL, BUT DREAMS LIVE FOREVER. “Dreamgirls” the Broadway musical was a major hit during the 1980s, but it took over 20 years to get the movie version made. After viewing the results, one can easily say that it was worth the wait. With this film, director Bill Condon … Continue reading Dreamgirls: A Supreme(s) Musical
