Hairspray

Rating: PG

Movie Release Date: July 13, 2007

DVD Release Date: November 20. 2007

Plot 411: The fat chick gets the last laugh - and fights against racial prejudice.

Review: Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) and Penny (Amanda Bynes) are huge fans of Corny Collins (James Marsden) and his dance show. They can barely make it through school before rushing home to catch the program. When the show announces auditions, Tracy is eager to try out. However, her mom (John Travolta in drag - shudder) doesn't like the idea. The show and its manager Velma (Michelle Pfeiffer) supports segregation and only allows black kids to dance once a month on a special day. The kids practice their moves in detention, where Tracy is sent when she skips school. When Velma cancels "Negro Day," Tracy organizes a rally to protest. The movie also stars Zac Efron, Christopher Walken and Queen Latifah. Now this musical is more of what I'm used to. It's lively and upbeat with great singing and dancing all the way through. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even Walken's creepy weirdness was charming in this role. Despite focusing on something as common as one girl's dream of dancing stardom, this movie is also able to incorporate serious topics like racial equality, segregation and prejudice. Not only does it comment on the black/white divide of the '60s, it highlights negative perceptions about body image too. Not bad for a movie where everyone is busy singing and dancing.

Watch It: For the great musical elements.

Skip It: If you enjoyed Sweeney Todd as this is the polar opposite of that.

Last Holiday

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: January 13, 2006

DVD Release Date: May 2, 2006

Plot 411: A conservative woman finally learns how to enjoy life when she is told she only has weeks to live.

Review: Queen Latifah stars as Georgia, a clerk at a department store who dreams about becoming a chef. After a freak accident, she is examined and told she has brain tumors. She decides to spend her remaining days enjoying life and quits her job. She withdraws all the money from her bank and jets off to an exotic locale where she reinvents herself as a wealthy woman. Her carefree, kind nature touches everyone at the hotel, including Chef Didier (Gerard Depardieu). This film was an interesting twist on the regular rom-com as it was more about self-discovery and self-acceptance than about the love thing. Georgia's love interest, by the way, is her co-worker Sean, played by LL Cool J. The film was uplifting and inspiring despite the heavy-handed message that we should all cherish our lives and live them to the fullest. Still, Latifah has a wonderful pressence on screen that is almost infectious. She has good comedic timing and isn't afraid to look dumb. LL Cool J is pretty stiff during his scenes but that could be due to all those muscles. Also in this film are Timothy Hutton and Alicia Witt.

Watch It: For a good dose of shop-therapy.

Skip It: Because really it's just another rom-com.

Chicago

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: December 27, 2002

DVD Release Date: August 19, 2003

Plot 411: After shooting her lover, Roxie reaches for stardom to save her from the gallows.

Review: This musical stars Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, a 1920s housewife who is having an affair with Fred (Dominic West) to increase her chances of starring in a vaudeville show. When he reveals that he has no connections to showbiz, she kills him. Roxie tries to convince her husband (John C. Reilly) that she's innocent but is put in jail anyway. In the slammer, she meets a real vaudeville star named Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Velma's lawyer Billy (Richard Gere) takes on Roxie's case and both women become newspaper darlings, especially when gossip reporter Mary Sunshine (Christine Baranski) writes up their stories. They fight each other for the front page and celebrity in an effort to become so famous that they can't be executed. They will stop at nothing to make headlines, including falsifying a pregnancy. The musical is a comment on society's unhealthy attraction to fame and how it can cause corruption in the system. I don't think this only applies to the '20s when journalism was pretty unethical anyway. I mean, look at all the tabloids and blogs catering to this type of news nowadays. The individual performances (both singing and dancing) by the cast is amazing. Who knew Richard Gere could sing? My favorite number is definitely Mr. Cellophane by John C. Reilly though. Queen Latifah also has a hand in this film as Mama, Roxie and Velma's warden. They did a really good job of transferring a stage production to film, and I liked how they kept some of the set pieces to make it look like a stage show.

Watch It: For really great singing and dancing numbers. They don't make musicals like this anymore and it makes me long for a musical revival. Bring back the Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire flicks!

Skip It: If musicals aren't your bag of tea because this is fully a musical. There are dream sequences especially so the actors can break into song.

What Happens In Vegas

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: May 9, 2008

DVD Release Date: August 26, 2008

Plot 411: When tragedy strikes, two individuals seek a distraction in Las Vegas only to end up getting married to one another.

Review: When Joy (Cameron Diaz) is dumped by her boyfriend, her BFF Tipper (Lake Bell) insists they take a trip to Vegas to forget her troubles. Jack (Ashton Kutcher) is also in Vegas with his friend Hater (Rob Corddry) because he just got fired by his dad. After a hotel mix up, the foursome party the night away. Joy and Jack wake up the next morning married to one another. But before they can get a divorce, Jack hits a jackpot with a quarter he got from Joy. Now $3,000,000 is at stake and each is determined to walk away with the cash. Unfortunately, their judge (Dennis Miller) isn't going to make it easy on them. He sentences them to six months of marriage and weekly visits to a marriage counselor (Queen Latifah). Joy and Jack live together during this period to show the court that they're really trying to be married to one another. They also try desperately to make the other give up by doing increasingly horrible things to each other. This is where all the slapstick humor comes into play. The performances by Diaz and Kutcher aren't groundbreaking, but you do get a sense of their good chemistry. This makes all the torture comedy so much better and funnier. Corddry is really funny with his dry, one-liners. The plot's a bit unrealistic (What are the odds that you're so wasted you get married to a stranger AND hit a jackpot with one pull?) but still enjoyable. Also in this film are Zach Galifianakis, Treat Williams and Dennis Farina,

Watch It: For the comedic riffs and banter. Diaz and Kutcher are pretty to look at but anyone could've played those roles just as well.

Skip It: For a better Las Vegas-based movie - The Hangover.

Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs 3D

Rating: PG

Movie Release Date: July 1, 2009

DVD Release Date: TBD

Plot 411: Manny and his herd discover a whole new world below theirs when they venture into it to save Sid.

Review: First of all, I think this movie would've been just fine without the 3D effect at $3.50 a pop. Unlike other recent 3D movies, this one didn't really utilize it to full effect. Besides that though, I thought this was a fun and entertaining movie for both kids and adults. There were some scary parts that younger kids might not enjoy (after all, there are dinosaurs in this one), but overall I think it was really good. It's impressive how the animation has progressed throughout the years. There's a scene when Scrat (the squirrel) and his girlfriend are falling through the sky. You can see all the individual strands of fur blowing in the wind. The technicality is amazing and yet you're still able to enjoy the artistry of it all. In this movie, Sid (John Leguizamo) is kidnapped by a mommy t-rex because he's stolen her eggs in an attempt to start his own family. The herd rushes off to save him, even though Ellie (Queen Latifah) is pregnant, like any good herd would do. They encounter a warm, tropical world where dinosaurs exist underneath their cold and icy one. They meet up Buck (Simon Pegg) down under and he helps them track down Sid and avoid the nastiness that is Rudy. Also along for the ride are Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Ellie's brothers - Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck).

Watch It: If you're already in love with the Ice Age franchise. I think the best movie is a toss up between this one and the first one.

Skip It: If you're child is too young because some of the dinosaurs are scary-looking and come with loud roaring sounds.

Brown Sugar

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: October 11, 2002

DVD Release Date: February 11, 2003

Plot 411: Dre and Sid have been best friends since childhood. They both fell in love with hip hop instantly, but their love for each other took a little longer to blossom.

Review: This is one of my favorite romantic comedies. I love Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs in this because their chemistry is wonderful. In addition to their great on-screen relationship, the music is wicked. It's old school hip hop at its best. They see hip hop as a living, breathing entity. It's something that helped them through tough times. It's dependable. Queen Latifah and Mos Def also play supporting roles and bring some levity to the situation. One of the greatest Erykah Badu and Common songs is also on this soundtrack. It's called "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop)."

Watch It: For an urban love story between two people as well as their relationship with hip hop.

Skip It: If you prefer a more traditional love story. To get the full effect of this film, you'll have to really absorb the music.

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Life Support

Rating: Not Rated

Movie Release Date: January 26, 2007

DVD Release Date: August 7, 2007

Plot 411: Based on a true story about an African American woman's daily struggles with her family, job and living with HIV.

Review: This was a very moving and realistic account of a former drug addict living with HIV. It delved into her relationships with her husband (also HIV positive), teen daughter (who she gave up custody of to her mother), mother and society. I really liked that it focused on the African American community because there aren't many movies that address HIV/AIDS and homosexuality in this cross section of society. My favorite parts were the group meetings the main character had with other HIV-positive woman. They discussed real issues - when and how to tell someone you have the virus, how to have a sexual relationship and the importance of education in the community. Queen Latifah did a really good job of portraying the continuous struggles of someone - black and female - living with the virus. In heartbreaking but honest depictions, the movie also showed us that it is almost impossible to help people if they do not want to help themselves. This sad but true fact of life was really poignant.

Watch It: For a brutally honest view of an ex-drug addict living with HIV in an urban environment and how it affects a family.

Skip It: If you must but I don't think there's any reason not to see this one.

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