Kevin Hart

ABOUT LAST NIGHT (2014)

About-Last-Night-2014

I recently saw a very funny interview with the increasingly popular, very talented comedian, Kevin Hart in which he talks about not wanting to make Black movies, just good movies. He brings up a great point.

Will there ever be a time when a film is taken on it’s artistic merit alone and not pigeon-holed, kicking and screaming into a nice, neat, genre-compartment for the studio execs and marketing department?

This film has all of the four leads played by actors who may be in the non-white/black casting bracket. Ok, so the four leads are not white but they speak English in the film, so it should be categorized as an American movie, as that is what it is.
It’s a gripe of mine, the whole genr-ification of EVERYTHING.

Art is art is art, ladies and gentlemen.

Here is his interview in full for those of you interested:

 

The film is entertaining, everyone in it is great and it is filled with charm and comedy. Based on David Mamet’s brilliant play from 1974 and taking its title from the adaptation of this play made in 1986 starring Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, James Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins this version has been adapted by Leslye Headland and directed by Steve Pink (High Fidelity, Hot Tub Time Machine), this is updated and relocated to New York.

Kevin Hart (Bernie), Michael Ealy (Danny), Regina Hall (Joan) and Joy Bryant (Debbie) play the foursome, each bringing their skills and talent to telling this story of 2 couples trying to walk the precarious relationship tightrope that many have to deal with in this day and age. The comedy comes from Hart and Hall who have great chemistry and clearly make each other laugh.

Christopher McDonald plays an old friend of Danny’s father and owns a bar that is in trouble, the always funny Joe Lo Truglio plays Danny and Bernie’s boss. David Greenman and Bryan Callen play Danny and Bernie’s mates.

This film is as relevant now as the source ever was and although it isn’t amazing, there is a valid place for it.

3/5

BUY THE BLU RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

TOP FIVE (2014)

top-five-poster1

What are your top five?

Chris Rock directs, writes and stars in this very smart film about relationships, celebrity, love in the spotlight, friendships and the issues surrounding fame.
It’s about time.
It’s about time that a very funny stand up comedian and talented writer makes a great film. This evokes the feel of Annie Hall, yet is totally contemporary; conversation, questions, challenges, comedy all are here beautifully composed

Usually when a comedian headlines a film we’ll get some diluted, studio nonsense that seems to muzzle the talent and force them into pre-designed moulds that they just don’t fit in. The closest thing to this, and even that is very different is, Louie, the brilliant tv series, written, starring and directed by the incredibly funny talented, good friend of Rock’s, Louis C.K.
Rock is not afraid to show a long two-handed scene where two characters challenge each other, the dialogue is fresh, clever and a welcome change to the usual films helmed by comedians.

Rock (Andre Allen) stars with Rosario Dawson (Chelsea Brown) who plays a journalist from the New York Times assigned to interview him and she, as usual, imbues the part with charm and realism. He plays a comedian who has made the transition to films and like Michael Keaton’s character in Birdman, has come off the back of a massive franchise in which he plays Hammy The Bear in a ridiculous cop/buddy 3 film run. He is about to get married to a Kim Kardashian reality star type and Brown confronts him with real questions forcing him to look closely at the trajectory of his life/career.

Peppered with guest spots from a whole heap of very talented comedians, they are used here with intelligence and wit. Cedric The Entertainer has more than a blast playing Jazzy D (“Who the man in Houston?”), Kevin Hart plays Andre Allen’s (Rock) agent, J.B. Smoove plays Allen’s best friend/minder and is real and funny, Anders Holm (Workaholics) has a nice part playing Chelsea’s boyfriend. The very funny Romany Malco has a few fun scenes with Gabrielle Union (Erica Long, Allen’s fiance). More Malco, please. Tracy Morgan, Jay Pharoah, Leslie Jones and Hassan Johnson plays Allen’s relatives and each bring the pain, comedically. There are a bunch of other surprises that I shall let you discover yourselves.

?uestlove is the music producer so you know there will be tunes and Jay Z and Kanye were co-producers of the film. The pedigree is insane.

This is how you do it, make a film that is both personal and well composed and you should have a hit on your hands. Ultimately, my thinking is that the people will gravitate towards quality, as opposed to ingesting the rubbish that is normally on offer.

Do yourself a favour and check out this clever, funny, romantic comedy. Funny is funny is funny.

4/5

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON BLU RAY DVD HERE

BUY THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE