Movie Reviews

Stick It

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  • Title: Stick It
  • IMDb: link

stick-it-poster

Once you realize the film isn’t going to be Bring It On and accept for being what it is (which is both more and less) you can really enjoy yourself.  The movie contains the same level of writing but as Jessica Bendinger takes the place behind the camera this time you get a more emotional, intelligent, and well-rounded film that if not quite as funny still provides some great one-liners and humorous moments without going for all the easy jokes.

Tough chick Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym) gets into the trouble with the law and is sent away to a gymastic camp run by Burt Vickerman (Jeff Bridges).  Haley isn’t exactly welcomed with open arms because of her past experience where she quit the gymnastic team during competition losing them all a shot at the gold.  Despite a mountain of talent her disrespect for how the sport is run and past experiences make it hard for her to get back on the horse and train with the other girls (Vanessa Lengies, Nikki SooHoo, Tarah Paige).

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Killer Diller

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  • Title: Killer Diller
  • IMDb: link

Killer Diller

Killer Diller, which opens today in a limited Midwest release (Kansas City, Columbia, St. Louis, Memphis and Nashville), is about a college half-way house, a guitar playing car thief, an autistic piano player, and some great blues music.  I would highly recommend seeing this film if it’s in your area, and if it’s not yet hopefully it will do well enough to earn a wider release over the next few weeks.

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G-O-O-D

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  • Title: Akeelah and the Bee
  • IMDb: link

How cool are spelling bees?  The film asks that question multiple times and the answer shifts from person to person over the course of the film including our title character.  Akeelah and the Bee actually makes the National Spelling Bee look pretty darn cool.  Now c’mon folks, that should pique your interest.

Akeelah (Keke Palmer) is an underachieving student in Crenshaw, California with an older sister (Erica Hubbard) who has a baby, a brother (Julito McCullum) who wants to become a gangbanger, and a mother (Angela Bassett) who works all the time and has little time or patience for her kids’ problems and screw-ups. 

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United 93

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  • Title: United 93
  • IMDb: link

United 93 is an interesting and captivating film without actually haviing much to say about the 9/11 terrorist attack.  In many ways it can be compared to your average action/thriller but because the events that it deals with are both factual and terrifying one would thing it would try a little harder to be more.

The film isn’t an analytical look examining the causes and effects of the event.  Nor is it a character study as it never stays with any character long enough for us to distinguish one from the other (we don’t even get their names).  Nor does the film try to put the events into a historical perspective.

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Hard Candy

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  • Title: Hard Candy
  • IMDb: link

Hard Candy

A two actor performance piece about a a deranged and vindictive 14 year-old girl and a pedophile. Yeah…you might say this isn’t exactly for everybody. I saw the film in a mostly empty theater during a press screening and I’m pretty sure I would not want to view it in a crowded one. It’s an intensely uncomfortable experience that never quite justifies what it puts the audience through, but there are points to, well not exactly enjoy, but at least appreciate.

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