GUESS WHO (2005)

Directed By: Kevin Rodney Sullivan 
Written By: David Ronn, Jay Scherick & Peter Tolan 
Story By: David Ronn & Jay Scherick 
Based on The Original Screenplay “GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER” By: William Rose Cinematography By: Karl Walter Lindenlaub 
Editor: Paul Seydor 

Cast: Bernie Mac, Ashton Kutcher, Zoe Saldana, Judith Scott, Hal Williams, RonReaco Lee, Sherri Shepherd, Niecy Nash, Paula Newsome, Phil Reeves, Nicole Sullivan, Jessica Cauffiel, Kimberly Scott, Richard Lawson 

Percy and Marilyn are renewing their vows for their anniversary, and their daughter Theresa brings her boyfriend Simon for them to meet. Unbeknownst to her parents, the kids plan to announce their engagement during the weekend. The Jones family is Black; Theresa neglects to tell them Simon is White. Race complicates Percy's general mistrust of any boyfriend, so he instigates an investigation of Simon, discovering he's recently lost his job and hasn't told Theresa. Mistrust rears its ugly head, and in the process of Theresa and Simon's argument, Marilyn and Percy fall out. What can the men do to cross the divide between each other and between men and women? Will anyone be exchanging vows?

MO' MONEY (1992)

Directed By: Peter MacDonald 
Written By: Damon Wayans 
Cinematography By: Don Burgess 
Editor: Hubert C. de La Bouillerie 


Cast: Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Stacey Dash, Joe Santos, John Diehl, Harry Lennix, Jackie Hoffman, Bernie Mac, Irma P. Hall, Salli Richardson-Whitfield. Mark Beltzman, Almayvonne 


Trying to get his act together, a con artist gets a job in a credit card company. He falls in , love with a fellow employee, he steals a couple of cards, everything is going great. But soon, the chief of security drags him into the big leagues of criminals.

HOW TO BE A PLAYER (1997)

Directed By: Lionel C. Martin 
Story By: Mark Brown 
Written By: Mark Brown & Demetria Johnson 
Editor: William Young 


Cast: Bill Bellamy, Pierre, Natalie Desselle, Mari Morrow, Lark Voorhies, Bernie Mac, Jermaine Hopkins, A.J. Johnson, Beverly Johnson, Gilbert Gottfried, Max Julien, Amber Smith, Elise Neal, Jazsmin Lewis 


Dray is a young playboy whose only objective in life seems to be to have sex with as many girls as he can without getting caught by his girlfriend Lisa. Dray's sister Jenny and her friend Katrina plan to show him that the way he lives is wrong and organize a party in Malibu, inviting all of his girlfriends.

CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE (2003)

Directed By: McG 
Written By: John August Cormac Wibberley & Marianne Wibberley 
Based On The TV-Series By: Ivan Goff & Ben Roberts 
Story By: John August 
Cinematography By: Russell Carpenter 
Editor: Wayne Wahrman 


Cast: Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Bernie Mac, Demi Moore, Shia LeBouf, Justin Theroux, Crispin Glover, Robert Patrick, Luke Wilson, Matt LeBlanc, John Cleese, Eric Bogosian, Andrew Wilson, Rodrigo Santoro, Robert Forester, Carrie Fisher, Chris Pontius, Big Boy, Anthony Griffith

The Angels--Natalie, Dylan, and Alex are back again but this time they're preparing for a strike without even warning as they go undercover to retrieve two missing silver bands. These are no ordinary rings. They contain valuable encrypted information that reveal the new identities of every person in the Federal Witness Protection Program. When witnesses start turning up dead, only the Angels, using their expertise as masters of disguise, espionage and martial arts can stop the perpetrator, a mysterious "fallen" Angel. Aided by their trusty colleague, Jimmy Bosley, the Angels' adventure begins at a remote Mongolian outpost and ends only after Dylan is forced to face a dark secret from her past--a secret that puts the lives of her two best friends in danger.

PRIDE (2007)

Directed By: Sunu Gonera 
Written By: Kevin Michael Smith, Michael Gozzard, J Mills Goodloe & Norman Vance Jr. 
Story By: Kevin Michael Smith & Michael Gozzard 
Cinematography By: Matthew F. Leonetti 
Editor: Billy Fox 


Cast: Terrence Howard, Bernie Mac, Tom Arnold, Kimberly Elise, Evan Ross, Nate Parker, Scott Eastwood, Gary Sturgis, Brandon Fobbs, Alphonso McAuley 


The determined Jim Ellis starts a swim team for troubled teens at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation.

MO' MONEY (1992)

Directed By: Peter MacDonald 
Written By: Damon Wayans 
Cinematography By: Don Burgess 
Editor: Hubert de la Bouillerie 

 Cast: Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, John Diehl, Stacey Dash, Joe Santos, Harry Lennix, Salli Richardson, Jackie Hoffman, Bernie Mac

LIFE (1999)

Directed By: Ted Demme
Written By: Matthew Stone & Robert Ramsey
Cinematography By: Geoffrey Simpson
Editor: Jeffrey Wolf


Cast: Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac, Obba Babatunde, Barry Shabaka Henley, Brent Jennings, Lisa Nicole Carson, Anthony Anderson, Guy Torry, Ned Beatty, Bokeem Woodbine, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., Heavy D, Bonz Malone, Nick Cassavettes, R. Lee Ermey, Clearance Williams III, Sanaaa Lathan, Rick James, Poppy Montgomery

THE PLAYER'S CLUB (1998)

Written & Directed By: Ice Cube
Cinematography By: Malik Hassan Sayeed
Editor: Suzanne Hines

CAST: Lisa Raye, Bernie Mac, Chrystale Wilson, Adele Givens, A.J. Johnson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Monica Calhoun, Master P, Ice Cube, Jamie Foxx, Big Boy, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Terrence Howard, John Amos, Faizon Love, Luther Campbell, Charlie Murphy, Dick Anthony Williams,

HOUSE PARTY 3 (1994)

CAST: Christopher Reid, Christopher Martin, Bernie Mac, Chris Tucker, David Edwards, Angela Means, Khandi Alexander, Joe Torry, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Marques Houston, Eddie Griffin, Michael Colyar, TLC, Immature, Yvette Wilson, Reynaldo Rey, Gilbert Gotfried,

Directed By: Eric Reza
Written By: Takashi Bufford; Based On A Story By: David Toney & Takashi Bufford; Based on characters by: Reginald Hudlin
Cinematography By: Anghel Decca
Editor: Tom Walls

TRANSFORMERS (2007)

Directed By: Michael Bay
Written By: Alex Kurtzman & Ronerto Orci
Story By: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman & John Rogers
Cinematography By: Mitchell Amundsen
Editor: Tom Muldoon & Paul Rubell & Glen Scantlebury


CAST: Shia Lebouf, Megan Fox, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Turturro, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson, Josh Dummel, Tyrese Gibson, Zack ward, Amaury Nolasco, Bernie Mac, Rick Gomez, Tom Lenk

At this point I have to recognize Michael Bay as a auteur. He has 2 films in the Criterion Collection ARMAGEDDON and THE ROCK. When he makes a film you know it is his he puts his own signature on his films, That at first were produced by Jerry Bruckheimer the perfect producer for his style of filmmaking. Which seems to have rubbed off on the director as there films usually employ, Loud sound, Light plots, plenty of action, inventive shots, quick cuts and attractive actors who are more or less like mice in a maze ping ponging and running from one explosion to the next. The man has a certain filmmaking style that I’m not sure anyone else could make or would really want to but he will certainly be around for a long time because his films make money and audiences love them.

This film has all usual touches but for this type of film it actually fits. There is no way you can tell the story of the transformers in any realistic way based on the cartoon series of the 80’s which mainly consists of the battle of the Autobots (The good guys) VS. The Decepticons (The bad guys) The Subject is ripe for bay’s bombastic style of movie making. This time produced by the one and only legend Steven Spielberg.

There is no subltlety in this film everything is ham fisted with a good cast that strangley makes this popcorn movie watchable. The action sequences and effects are both excellent. The only problem is towards the end of the film when the transformers are fighting the bad guys it’s hard to tell who is who because they all look the same, like hunks of metal.

Another staple of Michael Bay is to install stale awkward jokes or bad comedic scenes into his action oriented films. Though it is usually a macabre humor like the BAD BOYS films but in those films it at least fir the criteria. In this film there are full on scenes of physical comedy. There are also important characters who are more comedic invention and act that way then being serious characters. For the comic relief they cast Anthony Anderson which also is nice to have the black guy be the smartest guy in the film which I haven’t seen in a sci-fi movie since VIRUS.

I will give Bay some credit he Is a good technical director. He is just lacking in the aspects of making a film though he does bring the goddess that is Megan Fox to the big screen in a substantial role her role as a love interest for Shia Lebouf. It’s a role that is unbelievable. She is so gorgeous like a Angelina Jolie Clone that she doesn’t seem real. I don’t know what role she could ever be cast in and be believable or look natural.

This film is so big it actually goes global bringing together the members of the cast who have survived numerous attacks from the Decepticons to face them in a building destroying fight in Los Angeles to save the world.

In the end this is a entertaining Perfect popcorn movie for a rental. If yo like his previous films you will like this one.

GRADE: C