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From Fresh Prince to Film King

February 24th 2010 14:03
Saw Seven Pounds. Clever movie. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a simple, no action, good story. I loved Will Smith in this movie. As I watched, I was amazed at how well he played the character. He played the role of Ben Thomas perfectly. For those who haven't seen it, I won't go into details of the movie, but the role called for a confusing, intriguing, incredibly mysterious man. Smith nailed it.

Will Smith dancing with the beautiful Rosario Dawson in Seven Pounds.


I was also surprised to see that Smith produced Seven Pounds. It got me to thinking. How many box office hits has this guy been in? What else is he doing besides acting?

Well, Smith has produced three movies already and he has made film history. From 2002 to 2008, Smith starred in a record eight straight movies that made at least $100,000,000 dollars at the U.S. box offices.

Apparently, Smith was almost bankrupt having spent all of his money from his successful rap duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff. Fortunately for Smith, in 1990 NBC gave him a sitcom entitled Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that ran for six years. The show was a mega-success and is still being syndicated today.

The good ol' Fresh Prince


Smith's movie career really took off after Bad Boys in 1995 and Independence day the following year. Since then Smith has been in countless box office hits and has received two Academy Awards nominations for best actor. One for his portrayal of Muhammad Ali in Ali and the other for his role as Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happiness.

Smith acting with his real-life son in The Pursuit of Happiness


Not only does Smith stand as one of the--if not THE--biggest box office draw in the industry, he has released four solo studio albums over his career; two having gone multi-platinum. Smith is set to produce The Karate Kid, coming out sometime later this year.
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Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas

February 14th 2010 17:27
What a movie, no? This movie is not for everyone, as seen by its all-or-nothing ratings and reviews. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the 1998 film directed by Terry Gilliam and stars Johhny Depp and Benicio del Toro. It is an adaption of the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream written by Hunter S. Thompson.

Like so many cult classics, the movie bombed at the box office. This is simply because the movie is not for the mainstream audience. Of course, it's not just another drug movie either. And for those who think it doesn't tell a story--well that's just not simply the case


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A few years ago, my brother told me about a cool movie I should see called Green Street Hooligans. I got around to seeing and I loved it. Made all my friends watch it. They loved it. We watched over and over again. We enjoyed the seeing the crazy lifestyles of people we knew nothing about, the passion over a sport we knew nothing about, and of course, seeing Elijah Wood acting--and somewhat believable I might add--like a tough guy. It immediately crept towards the top of my "if your going to throw a movie in that we've seen a bunch of times, then pick this one" list.

How can you not see this movie? Just look at that menacing stare on Elijah Wood's face.

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The Book on The Book of Eli

February 11th 2010 11:04
Denzel Washington stars in The Book of Eli as Eli, the protagonist in a post-apoctalypical world after a what seems to have been a nuclear war. Eli possesses a rare book--so rare it's said to be the only one left in the world--that the guy in charge of a semi-town, Carnegie, played by Gary Oldman has sent his lackeys out hijacking drifters in search of it.

Whether be it chance or fate, Eli ends up stopping at a shop in Carnegie's town. While waiting, Eli, like all badass heroes, can't help himself from getting noticed. Eventually Carnegie finds that the book he's be looking for is in Eli's possession


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Invictus Invigorates

December 15th 2009 21:45
Clint Eastwood has done it yet again! Eastwood directs Invictus, the true story of Nelson Mandela's (Morgan Freeman) campaign with South African rugby team captain, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) to help rid the country of its cultural divide.

Mandela was elected President of South Africa in 1994, a time when the country had recently survived apartheid and suffered much economic trouble and racially instability. Mandela hopes to furthur unite South Africa through the South African rugby team. Mandela unites with team captain, Peinaar, helping to assist and inspire the mostly white team in their quest for a championship in the 1995 Rugby World Cup


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I watched Henry and June the other day. The movie is based on the diary of Parisian author Anais Nin and chronicles Nin's (Maria de Medeiros) romantic and lustful affairs with both the famous American author Henry Miller (Fred Ward) and his wife June (Uma Thurman). Nin is unsatisfied with her sex life and unhappy she cannot find what she is looking for in her husband, Hugo (Robert E. Grant). When Henry Miller goes to stay with Anais and Hugo, Anais is instantly attracted to his sexual masculinity and bravado. Her attraction to Henry eventually leads to Anais lusting for Henry's wife, June. When June heads back to work in the States, Nin and Miller start a wildly passionate affair. Through the affair Nin continues to explore herself sexually through Hugo as well as other men along the way. Throughout those years in the 1930's, Nin successfully chronicles the relationships which is later published and Henry Miller writes the classic book, The Tropic of Cancer.

Henry and June was the first movie to receive a NC-17 rating over the former X rating. The reason for this is not the multitude of sex scenes, including the handful between de Medeiros and Thurman, but for a three second shot early on in the film depicting a sexually explicit photo of a Japanese woman and a squid


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The Perfect Role for Rourke

August 6th 2009 04:08
I wrote about Nicolas Cage's movies, roles, awards, and talent in the last post. Cage was in line for the starring role in The Wrestler, but pulled himself out of the race because he knew director Darren Aronofsky's number one choice for the role was Mickey Rourke. As you know, Rourke went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for best actor in the role. Rourke acted the part perfectly and deserved all the critical acclaim he received for his role in The Wrestler.

While Rourke did an excellent job, he was meant to play the part. It's no wonder Aronofsky wanted Rourke to play the part. The life of both Randy "The Ram" Robinson and Mickey Rourke have a number ofsimilarities that made Rourke's portrayal of Robinson so believable


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What Happened to Nicolas Cage?

July 20th 2009 03:00
Over the last week or so I watched two movies starring Nicolas Cage, 8mm and Next. I had somehow never seen 8mm before and I rather enjoyed it. On the other hand, Next was a joke of a movie with horrible acting and a ridiculous script. It got me thinking; what happened to Nicolas Cage's acting career?

Cage's career started with roles in such classics as Fast Times at Ridgemont High ('82) and Valley Girl ('83). His first major successful starring role was in the Coen Brothers dark comedy, Raising Arizona ('87). After Raising Arizona, Cage was nominated for several various best actor awards for his roles in Moonstruck ('87), Vampire's Kiss ('89), and Honeymoon in Vegas ('92). With over twenty film credits to Cage's career, he landed his most acclaimed role yet in Leaving Las Vegas ('95). Starring opposite Elizabeth Shue, Cage plays Ben Sanderson, a depressed alcoholic for which Cage was awarded the Oscar for Best Actor


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The fourth and final volume of DMB's documentary concentrates mostly on their latest album, "The Road to Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King." The opening starts with Carter Beauford claiming every song on this CD is his favorite, but he really likes the song, "Seven".


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DMB went back home to produce their fourth studio album, Everyday. It did not go well and the band put the CD on hold and got rid of their producer, Steve Lillywhite. The six songs that they had finished were leaked and were dubbed as the "Lillywhite sessions". They went to Glen Ballard, who was known for his pop albums, and he helped write twelve songs to finish the CD. Dave Matthews said he felt that the album was not really "them".


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