Quick Movie Reviews (June 16, 2008)

Kung Fu Panda (2008)
Have to admit that my expectations for this one were low going in. The trailers looked good but I was wary. My 10-year-old daughter and I went and had a great time. It is absolutely hilarious. I’m not sure if it was the mood I was in or what but I laughed from beginning to end – so much so that my daughter made a point of letting me know how embarrassing I was. Jack Black voices the Panda. Dustin Hoffman is his mentor. Angelina Jolie voices Tigress. Seth Rogen and Jackie Chan also provide voices. The guy who voices the Crane is David Cross, who does a lot of animation voicing but I remember him as the morgue operator in Men In Black. The added bonus here is Ian McShane (of “Deadwood”) as Tai Lung – what a terrific evil voice that guy has! You know going in exactly how this movie will end but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. It is highly recommended by both my daughter and me. One word of warning for those of you with younger (ages 10 and under) kids: Tai Lung is scary and his escape from prison is scary and violent.

Talk to Me (2007)
This movie stars one of my favorite actors – Don Cheadle (non-withstanding Oceans 11 (2001), which he was not good in). Want to see a top-notch performance by Cheadle? Pick up Boogie Nights (1997) and/or Hotel Rwanda (2004). His co-star in this bio-pic is Chiwetel Ejiofor. No, I have no idea how to pronounce his name but his performances are growing on me. I first saw him as the cold-blooded assassin from Serenity (2005). He’s also in American Gangster (2007) starring as one of Frank Lucas’ brothers and Children of Men (2006). both actors are strong in this fairly uneven story. It is based on the life of Petey Green who made his mark in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s as an AM radio personality Washington, D.C. He died in the early ‘80s from lung cancer. I had never heard of Petey Green when I happened to catch Bob Edwards interviewing Cheadle and Talk to Me director Kasi Lemmons on XM. I would give the movie 2.5 stars and it’s worth a look. One of my favorite performances of the whole thing is by Taraji Henson, who plays Vernell, Petey’s girlfriend. She is absolutely awesome and steals every scene she’s in.

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)
For the next few weeks, HBO is showing a documentary every Monday night. The first one focused on the arrest and trial of director Roman Polanski. It is fascinating and if you get a chance to see it, please do. Polanski is considered one of the great directors of the last few years and has directed films such as Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Chinatown (1979), and The Pianist (2002), for which he won an Academy Award. You may or may not know the details about what happened with Polanski but this documentary will shed new light on whatever you thought you knew.