Samuel L. Jackson Archives - Entertainment Ave!

Herman Cain v Samuel L. Jackon, iPhone 5 v iPhone 4, Bears v Panthers, and More v More.

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I have Schweddy Balls and during this podcast episode of our “Weekend Wrap-Up!”, I tell Stu how I got them, and I also compare Herman Cain and Samuel L. Jackson, an idea that I stole from the Roe & Roeper radio show here in Chicago. Balls and stealing radio bits aside, this podcast also has Stu explaining why he is a poor example of a gentleman, while I am super-excited because tomorrow is the release of the iPhone 5, or maybe the iPhone 4s, or maybe the iPhone 4 but with better stuff, or maybe Apple announcing there will be a new phone that talks – who cares, Apple is having an announcement and I’ll be there, in spirit, through my computer watching people blog about it.

The Chicago Bears, as Stu puts it, almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, “Pulp Fiction” comes out on Blu-ray tomorrow (October 4th), Stu is worried about “Terra Nova” and “Pan Am,” I’m looking forward to the return of “Chuck” at the end of October, Stu wants more TV, and we seem to be in movie-release limbo.

Looking back on it we didn’t do too much this past weekend, but we talk about a lot of stuff!

Thanks for listening!

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Black Snake Moan

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:56 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Black Snake Moan Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake
MPAA Rated:	R
Released By:	Paramount Vantage
Release Date:	2006
Kiddie Movie:	Only if you might want them to be a foul-mouthed nymphomaniac.
Date Movie:	If she can appreciate an artsier movie.
Gratuitous Sex:	Some of it by choice, some of it not, and Christina has nice boobs.
Gratuitous Violence:	A couple of fights.
Action:	There isn’t any chasing going on.
Laughs:	A chuckle or two.
Memorable Scene:	When Lazarus is playing “Black Snake Moan.”
Memorable Quote:	Lazarus to Preacher: “My wick is dry on this.”
Directed By:	Craig Brewer

Okay, before I get to this review, let me get the male pig in me out of the way. God bless Christina Ricci. God bless her for being 27 years old and maintaining a smokin’ hot body. And as importantly, God bless her for not being afraid to show-off her smokin’ hot body by getting naked in a movie. Now, back to a little more resemblance of professionalism (yea, right).

“Black Snake Moan” gives a movie that I think will split people into two camps. Camp A will really like the movie, understand its artsy nature with great performances, and come out of the theater thinking they have seen a great film accentuated with some good blues music. Camp B will be saying something like “What the hell was that piece of crap?” or “What happened to Samuel L. yelling ‘I want these mother fucking snakes off this mother fucking plane!’? That’s the Samuel L. I like,” and coming out of the theater feeling they wasted their movie-money. Me, I was in Camp A. Here’s the story…

Samuel L. Jackson is Lazarus. He spends his days selling his produce in a small, southern town. His wife has just left him, shacking up with Lazarus’ brother, and he is sort of stuck trying to figure out the rest of his life. Christina Ricci is Rae. She’s a nymphomaniac in love with Ronnie (Justin Timberlake). Sadly for her Ronnie is shipping out to the military, leaving her in uber-nympho mode which leaves her either having sex consensually or, having ingested a few too many pills and liquor, being raped. Rae’s life and Lazarus’ life intersect when Rae is left for dead near Laz’s pad. Laz finds her, and after realizing she isn’t possessed, just messed up, he decides it is his mission to save her from her nympho, self-destructive ways. What better way to accomplish this than by first chaining the girl to his radiator?

And so Lazarus begins his mission, first trying to get Rae physically healthy, and then trying to help her mind. But Lazarus isn’t a psychologist, so in desperation, namely because Preacher R.L. has found out Laz has a young, half-naked white girl chained to his radiator, he works with R.L. to see if the good preacher can talk some sense into Rae to stop her evil ways.

And of course, in the meantime, Lazarus is coming to terms with his own demons, and finding himself smitten with Angela (S. Epatha Merkerson), who helps him with some cough medicine for Rae. Through it all, and with Laz being an old blues singer, the music works to hold it all together, especially when Ronnie is back from his military stint because, well, loud noises frighten him.

“Black Snake Moan” has a lot of darkness in it, which isn’t really a surprise since Rae’s character has pretty much been abused all of her life, compounded by the fact that her mother tells her she wishes she would have had an abortion rather than her daughter. Lazarus, meanwhile, is in his own dark place, having given up his blues playing and hating his ex. But the movie does give a glimmer of hope to the most mixed up of characters, namely Rae and Ronnie, and you have a feeling that Lazarus is going to be all right, too.

The challenge for “Black Snake Moan” was really to find three people who could play the roles of Lazarus, Rae, and Ronnie, and the trio of Jackson, Ricci, and Timberlake was great. Samuel L. was probably in one of the best roles I have seen him in, Christina Ricci again shows a talent way beyond just taking her clothes off and looking hot, and Justin Timberlake has so far been picking roles (this one, and also “Alpha Dog”) that we forget he’s bringing sexy back and that he actually has talent as an actor.

Like I wrote before, I am in Camp A of people seeing “Black Snake Moan.” Even though the movie was more of the artsy, dramatic vein, I really liked most everything about the film, even the fact it didn’t take as dark a turn it seemed to foreshadow. Camp B people probably think the movie is a 1 starrer, but because I’m in Camp A I’m going to give “Black Snake Moan” 4 stars out of 5.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Basic

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:35 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Basic Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Connie Nielsen, Giovanni Ribisi, Brian Van Holt
MPAA Rated:	R
Released By:	Columbia Pictures
Kiddie Movie:	Leave them, and yourself, at home.
Date Movie:	Leave them, and yourself, at home.
Gratuitous Sex:	Nope.
Gratuitous Violence:	There is a lot of shooting and people getting beat up.
Action:	Some people chase each other.
Laughs:	Most of the movie.
Memorable Scene:	None.
Memorable Quote:	None.
Directed By:	John McTiernan

SPOILER WARNING – SPOILER WARNING – SPOILER WARNING

I begin this review simply by saying if you don’t want to know any of the plot twists, turns, and regurgitations in “Basic,” quit reading know and come back after you have seen the movie to see if you agree or disagree. Otherwise, I’m going to give a lot of the movie away simply for that fact that in doing so you won’t have to waste your money a second or third time to try to go back in the movie to see if anything makes sense in the end. So here we go…

“Basic” is one of those movies that proves sometimes you can have too many plot twists, especially when the final twist ruins what would have been a decent ending to the movie. See if you can follow along, because I’m not really sure I was able to.

John Travolta is Tom Hardy, a DEA agent under investigation for possibly taking bribes. He gets a phone call one evening from an army base commander, Bill Styles (Tim Daly), because something went horribly wrong on a training mission and the interrogator he has doesn’t seem to be cutting it (she’s Lt. Osborne played by Connie Nielsen). It seems Sgt. West (Samuel L. Jackson) and his trainees had a little problem on a training mission. All that are left is Dunbar (Brian Van Holt) and Kendall (Giovanni Ribisi), and Kendall ain’t talkin’ because he’s in the hospital and Dunbar ain’t talkin’ because he wants to see an Army Ranger. Enter Hardy, an ex-Ranger and according to Styles, one hell of an interrogator. So, yea, Osborne doesn’t like Hardy, Hardy gets Dunbar to talk a little, and now that Kendall is awake from surgery, well they get one account of the story, of course implicating Dunbar. So it’s back to Dunbar, who now that his ass is on the line tells a different story of drugs and Kendall, and now it’s back to the hospital and eventually the head doc (Harry Connick Jr.) is involved in some drug trafficking using the army soldiers. Then it’s back to Dunbar, oh wait, maybe it’s back to Kendall, but we know someone is lying and then Kendall’s ears and nose bleed and he proceeds to vomit blood signifying he’s soon dead. Alright, now it’s back to the good doctor who mentions that Dunbar should be black, but our Dunbar is white, so now it’s time for Hardy to get Dunbar to talk by threatening to push him into a spinning propeller. Alright, finally the real story comes out of Dunbar, who is now Pike, or so it would seem, and then Hardy figures it out that Styles is really the lead bad dude, and Styles goes ahead and blows his cover telling Hardy that Kendall was poisoned before it came out that he was poisoned, then trying to bribe Hardy into his drug ring. Hardy says he’ll think about it, Styles pulls a gun, Osborne who is eavesdropping shoots Styles, and you think the movie is pretty much over, especially after Hardy gives Osborne his phone number hoping she’ll call him for some sex. But no, the movie’s not over yet. Nope. Driving away Osborne realizes that Hardy says an overused phrase, then tails him only to find Dunbar, I mean Pike, coming out of the bushes and into Hardy’s car. So rather than call for back-up, she of course follows only to end up in a basement where everyone who was supposed to be dead at the training exercise is magically alive, including the good Sgt. West. And as you try to follow the cryptic explanations from these people as to what they do, what really would have helped would be a real flashback that would have explained the entire more.

So, there you have it, in the end West and Hardy are buddies and not dead, neither are Dunbar and Pike, and somehow this all ties together to get the drug ring stopped. Feel free to use any or all of this spoiler to try to follow along and put it all together as you watch the movie because all I know is that when the credits started to roll I was left with the feeling of “What kind of crap was that?”

Plot twists are great when done properly, and done properly means that you are shocked but yet instantly everything makes sense. “Basic” was full of twists, but after the conclusion twist you sit there too tired of twists to even want to try to piece everything together, you’re just glad to go home.

My recommendation for this movie is wait for its run on cable. There you can watch it again and again if you want without wasting your money on a DVD, or God forbid a second viewing. By trying to be so shocking, “Basic” just leaves you tired. 1 star out of 5.

That’s it for this review! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Changing Lanes

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:39 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Changing Lanes Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Affleck, Amanda Peet
MPAA Rated:	R
Released By:	Paramount Pictures
Release Date:	2002
Kiddie Movie:	Lots of swear words and an adult story. Leave them with the sitter.
Date Movie:	It’s a drama, but she’ll just probably say something like “See, guys are stupid.”
Gratuitous Sex:	Nah.
Gratuitous Violence:	Not really beating the crap out of each other, but Gavin has a pretty bad car crash.
Action:	Some suspense.
Laughs:	Not really.
Memorable Scene:	None.
Memorable Quote:	None.
Directed By:	Roger Michell

A lot of critics liked “Changing Lanes.” I’m not one of those critics. Let’s start with the basic story.

Ben Affleck is Gavin. He’s a partner in a law firm and on his way to deliver proof that an old man left his foundation to the law firm to take care of. On the way he has a fender-bender with Doyle (Samuel L. Jackson). Doyle is a recovering alcoholic trying to make a court date so he can keep some custody of his two sons. Gavin drops the proof and Doyle picks it up but he’s late for his court date. Gavin can’t prove his case without the proof Doyle picked up, Doyle lost all custody of his kids because he was twenty minutes late, and now it’s a day of who can get the other to flinch. Unfortunately for Gavin, Doyle has the trump card – Gavin just doesn’t realize it.

So both of our boys go through a really crappy day. Gavin is trying to get his file back; Doyle almost gives it back until Gavin pays a computer hacker to fuck with Doyle’s financial life, and now it’s a movie about ethics and just being a good person. Blah.

As I got about an hour into this movie I was bored. Yea, both lives are screwed up, both men are doing whatever is in their power to get their lives back together, and I knew that, in the end, their lives would be back on the road to rebuilding their mental states/ethics to the next level. And it happened.

Don’t get me wrong, the movie was okay, but from all of the rave reviews I had been reading, I figured “Changing Lanes” would be great. For me it wasn’t great, it was just okay. So I say see it, it’s an okay drama, but I was bored with the story about half the way through. Both men are stupid. 2 ½ stars out of 5.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

1408

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:34 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

1408 Movie Stats & Links
Starring:	John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack
MPAA Rated:	PG-13
Released By:	Dimension Films
Kiddie Movie:	It’s a hard PG-13. Keep the kiddies at home.
Date Movie:	She’ll probably get scared and snuggle.
Gratuitous Sex:	Nope.
Gratuitous Violence:	No real blood and gore.
Action:	Some chasing.
Laughs:	Nope.
Memorable Scene:	The entire hour of hell.
Memorable Quote:	Mr. Olin: "It’s an evil, fucking room."
Directed By:	Mikael Hafstrom
Produced By:	Lorenzo di Bonaventura

Is it possible to make a great horror/thriller film, with no real killings, no over-the-top gore, no psychopath trying to kill people? Could you also do so where the movie will only be rated PG-13? My answer is “Yes,” especially if it is a movie based on a Stephen King short story, and this movie is “1408.”

John Cusack is Mike Enslin. He appears to have written a decent novel at one point in his life, but now writes books geared at reviewing locations that are supposedly haunted, or at least infiltrated by something supernatural. In every case he has debunked the ghost stories, but still reviews the overall creepiness of the place giving it his “skull” rating. Psychologically-wise there is a reason for Mike’s searching out the supernatural, tied to the death of his daughter, but as of yet he has no reason to believe in the afterlife. Here comes room 1408.

In his mail is a postcard telling him to not enter room 1408 at The Dolphin Hotel in good old New York City, which he then researches finding out the room has been the location of many a death. Figuring it would be the perfect last stop for his next book, he heads east from the sun and surf of California only to find Mr. Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), the hotel manager, totally against Mike’s staying the night in the room. Mr. Olin states no one lasts longer than an hour in the room without something really bad happening to them, but Mike is undeterred.

Using his tape recorder, Mike begins his dictation as to the flavor of the room, from the bland paintings to it being like most other rooms he has stayed at. Things are a little creepy for him, which he accounts to parlor tricks, and as the air conditioning doesn’t seem to be working properly, he calls down to room service, they send up an engineer (the dude won’t enter the room, only tells Mike how to fix the thermostat), and suddenly Mike thinks he is in the middle of a big ruse by Mr. Olin, that is until the window slams his hand, the clock radio turns into a countdown timer starting at 60 minutes, and Mike is sent into an hour long bizarreness somewhere between a bad nightmare and a total mental breakdown. The walls bleed, his dead daughter comes back to life, he meets his father again, he sees ghosts jumping out windows, the room turns freezing cold, he can’t get help from room service, and his room is like Hotel California, where you can check out, but you can never leave.

“1408” is a refreshing horror movie in a time when slasher films seemed to have been ruling the roost. Not that I have anything against slasher films, and sure there are times I get creeped out when someone’s balls are in a vice, but for the most part I can laugh off most of the story of a slasher film. But “1408” is more like a nightmare you might have had, one you can’t wake up from, and when you do wake up you are freaked out and in a cold sweat. For a change a movie actually gave me goosebumps and chills, I suppose probably because for an hour of the film you knew at any moment something creepy could pop up, and I mean at any moment, and just as you let your guard down, there it is.

I’ve got to give it to John Cusack because he is fantastic as Mike, skeptical at first, but when he quickly gets spooked by the room during the first few minutes, he totally lets the room’s history spin him into total delusion. You would think he would be cool enough to go “This is just a giant parlor trick,” sit on the bed, and let the hour go by, but there is his deep-seeded hope that there is some sort of afterlife that keeps him trapped in the hell that has become room 1408.

If you are a little tired of the slasher horror genre and want a fantastic thriller, “1408” should really do the trick. The writing is smart, the acting is smart, and no one gets their balls in a vice, just a hand crushed by a window. It’s 4 ½ stars out of 5.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!