Movies

Top 5 Picks on #Netflix #Movies #TVShows

Are you home on a Saturday night? There’s nothing wrong with that. I hope you’ve got Netflix to break away from the day-to-day of your cable box. Sometimes I don’t want to see NeNe Leakes scheming nor do I enjoy seeing black women fight. So I hit the Net to find what else could be of interest. And Netflix knows me well, I apparently watch a lot of shows surrounded around supernatural beings and psychological thrillers. There are even classics that interest me like “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” It’s all on Netflix and more.

So aside from all the drama cable’s bringing you, I wanted to share a few undiscovered gems on the Net. Although, Netflix has taken a huge hit with their new underdeveloped venture—Qwikstar, there’s much to be enjoyed on Netflix.

Here are my Netflix picks for the week:

Damages: Glenn Close’s is a morally-challenged, mind-controlling attorney who is just down-right devious in this favorite of mine. Every move may or may not be to her benefit! Big city setting. I’ve fallen in love with Close all over again. Warning: this series is highly-addictive; sure-fire thriller.

The Gates: Supernatural. Vampires, lycans, and witches reside in a ritzy upscale gated community. Struggling to mind their own business, these supernatural housewives, bad ass kids, and nosey neighbors are stirring up trouble for the new cheif in town. All the characters are easy on the eyes. You’re sure to enjoy. Series.

The Perfect Host: Psychological Thriller. Actors David Hyde Pierce and Clayne Crawford star in this suspenseful film. Your opinion on assailants and victims will change with the twists and turns of this movie. You can’t trust nobody. Watch what happens when a stranger seeks help in the middle of nowhere. Movie.

Dirt: Courtney Cox is really turnt up in this series. A real cutthroat cougar, Cox exploits celebs’ personal lives in order to keep her career afloat. She’s the Tabloid Queen of Dirt Magazine. A few deaths, a schizophrenic photojournalist, and coke heads are sure to hold your attention. Series.

Love Jones: Black Romance. Expressions of black love and life’s imperfections pour all over the scenes. Set in Chicago, late 90s, Nia “Nina” Long and Larenz “Darius” Tate ride the waves of lust, love, and romance. Long, full, and close-up shots. Black and white cinematography. I can never get over Darius attempting to run down Amtrak. wtdta?

Saturday nights don’t have to be another re-run, and I’ve just showed you how. Watch one of my favorites and tell me all about it. Enjoy.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the Review

In a week where the NBA Player Ron Artest has announced his last name will be changed to World Peace, one of the biggest war movies of the year was released. Transformers: Dark of the Moon has arrived and the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons continues. One post is not enough to explain everything good in the movie. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is not just a summer blockbuster, but also the first epic movie of the year. The story centers on what really happened during the first moon landing. Moviegoers will learn more about what happened during the war of the Transformers home world, Cybertron. Moreover, moviegoers will learn why the Transformers came to Earth and what is the true mission of the Decepticons.

All of the fan favorites return for this movie and some new Transformers emerge. One of the best new character additions was Shockwave, a Decepticon commander. Shockwave controls a huge worm-tentacle Transformer for most of the movie, which is cool in its own right. In addition, when Shockwave does have to break down and fight, the fight is worth the wait. Most of the Human cast returns too, even though Megan Fox is missing. The new love interest of Shia Labeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, is a great replacement. Each scene in the movie is wonderfully done. In particular, the action scenes featured impressive hand to hand Transformer battles as well as some longer range conflicts, including battles between Transformers and Humans. The story has humorous scenes in true Transformer fashion, and includes many edge-of-your seat moments. There are many moments within the movie that will have any person’s heart beating with anticipation.

I recommend seeing the movie in 3-D. The movie is one of the few that a moviegoer will miss out on half of the experience if they choose to see it in 2-D. One especially cool 3-D part is when some of the military are using wing suits in the movie. This part in 3-D makes a person watching feel like they are actually flying along with the military personnel in the wing suits. The scenes are truly amazing to watch and experience. I will admit my expectations for Transformers: Dark of the Moon was high when I saw the preview earlier in the year. However, I did not expect to go to the movies and those expectations to be blown away. I highly recommend taking an afternoon and going to see this movie. I may even go see Transformers: Dark of the Moon a second time. I will warn parents though; Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a true PG-13 movie. I would not take a child under the age limit to watch the movie. The level of violence is fairly high, even without blood flying across the screen. That being said,Michael Bay has bought to the public a movie that will be hard to beat.

“I’ve Got My Quirks”

No doubt about it. “I’ve got my quirks.” There are just certain things that I’ve got to do in the morning. There’s only one way to shave my legs before any ‘meeting,’ and I’ve got quite the obsession with the number 3. I think it’s something with my being a writer … expecting a beginning, middle, and end.

Then there’s my love for the black archetype of love displayed in the movie “Love Jones.” I can’t help but try to place the love of my life in this film starring myself. Oh he’d be the Jack of all Trades. And in reality, when it doesn’t match up to my expectations, it’s On to the Next … Oh the follies of love and it’s ever wavering hand. (lol) Yea … you should laugh there.

In light of my quirky, obsessive, behavior, I’d like to share one of my favorite poems from “Love Jones” written by Sonia Sanchez. Remember this? Marinate on it and think it to existence. L8r.

Poem #3

I gather up

each sound

you left behind

and stretch them

on our bed.

each nite

I breathe you

and become high.

Written by Sonia Sanchez

compliments of http://www.afropoets.net/soniasanchez4.html

The 5th Quarter

This weekend I saw the anticipated movie (By Wake Forest University fans at least) The 5th Quarter. For all who didn’t follow the events of the 2006 Wake Forest University Football Team, the movie features the Abbate family. The Abbate family lives in Florida while my classmate was Jon Abbate, number 40 on the team. It covers the tragedy of Jon losing his little brother and ultimately changing his number to 5 in honor of his brother. This lead to us as fans in the stands to put up number 5 in the fourth quarter of the games which would be our comeback quarter to victory. It turned out to be the best season of Wake Forest Football history ending with a lost in the Orange Bowl.

I know I may be biased since I actually lived out the events of the movie my freshman year but I absolutely loved it! The acting was real sentimental (almost corny at times) but I was crying through the whole movie. It was so touching. The whole production was great quality and the split scenes were done well with footage of the actual games. Such a great tribute!

Movie Review -The Mechanic

A movie came out not too long ago called The Mechanic. In this movie, Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham) is a contract killer for hire. Arthur is exceptionally good at his job and makes each killing look like a death of natural causes. Arthur is usually hired to take down other unsavory criminals who think no one can touch them.

Arthur usually obtains his contracts via Craigslist looking advertisement with some encryption. After the ad is, decrypted Arthur can see the contract for the person he is intended to kill. Arthur’s superior in the movie is Harry McKenna (Donald Sutherland). Harry McKenna is the middle man and is usually the one that brings Arthur payment. Harry McKenna is also the one that knows the details of Arthur’s contracts and is a friend of Arthur. Harry McKenna has a son named Steve McKenna (Ben Foster). Steve is nothing but trouble and never amounts to anything. Harry keeps trying to help him to find his son failing again.

Arthur and Harry have one boss and that is Dean (Tony Goldwyn). Dean is the mysterious head of the organization that provides the contracts and the payment for successful contracts. Dean is so mysterious he does not have a last name and no one knows where he is. The only way anyone is able to get in contact with Dean is through his cell phone. Everything turns quite sour in a contract gone bad. A whole team of these specialized contract killers were killed while completing a job.

 In the movie it explained only two people ever know the details of any job. Dean knew the details of the job and so did Harry McKenna. Come to find out Harry McKenna sold out his organization and the whole team was killed. Dean in retaliation puts a contract out on Harry McKenna and asks Arthur to take the job. Arthur has no choice and completes the contract on Harry, killing him.

After completing the job, Arthur feels some remorse and takes in Harry McKenna’s son, Steve McKenna. Arthur fails to tell Steve he is the one that killed his father. After a fair amount of bonding between the two Arthur agrees to teach Steve the ropes of contract killing.

From that point on the movie is fairly predictable with a last stand scenario where Arthur and Steve go up against Dean for each of their own reasons. I know after reading all this my readers want to know is the movie worth seeing. I will say that the Mechanic is truly a “guy movie.”

The movie has a few twists, turns from start to finish but the plot is not complicated, and a movie watcher will know the end before the movie really gets started. The good part is the way that the movie gets there. The Mechanic contains enough action to satisfy any action junkie. The action scenes are done well with them all being fairly realistic. There are guns, car chases, hand to hand combat, chases on foot, explosions, and some sexy women (which have scenes that earn the R rating).

What more could any guy ask for in a movie? Just do not go to the movie thinking the plot will be life changing or that the plot will be thought provoking. That is not the point of this kind of movie. The movie is meant to be fast paced wild ride through the life of a contract killer. It is not similar to movies such as The Professional or The Hitman. It is all together something quite different and that is what makes it a good way to spend an afternoon with a bowl of popcorn.

Movie Rating **** (four stars out of five)

Contains: Violence, Blood, Cursing, Strong Sexual Content