The Hangover III

The Wolfpack have returned in The Hangover III. The original Hangover was an unexpected surprise but The Hangover II was nothing more than a rehash of the first one just set in a different location.  When we last saw The Wolfpack of Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) & Alan (Zack Galifianakis), they were in Bangkok at the wedding of Doug and his bride Lauren (Jamie Chung) after a wild night in Bangkok where they assisted in the apprehension of Mr. Chow (Ken Joung).

Two years later in a bit that looks to be inspired from The Shawshank Redemption and The Fugitive, Mr. Chow has escaped from prison. The Wolfpack has reassembled after the death of Alan’s father Sid (Jeffrey Tambor) caused by Alan’s road trip accident with a giraffe. Doug (Justin Bartha) convinces Phil & Doug to go with him in taking Alan to a rehabilitation clinic in Arizona to help him deal with his problems.  While on the road, the gang is run off the road by Black Doug (Mike Epps), who gave Alan the wrong drugs in the first Hangover and his employer, gangster Marshall (John Goodman). Marshall tells everyone that he was robbed of 21 million dollars in gold by Mr. Chow and he wants the Wolfpack to find him and as insurance, Marshall takes Doug as a hostage.

The action then switches to Tijuana as The Wolfpack searches for Mr. Chow. But after meeting then getting double crossed by Crow, the gang has to return to the place where it all began, Las Vegas. With the help of Doug’s former prostitute wife  Jade (Heather Graham) and Alan’s new friend from the pawn shop Cassie (Melissa McCarthy), The Wolfpack attempts to track down Chow, recover the gold, bring Chow to Marshall and free Doug.

I will say that The Hangover III is a much better film than Hangover II. I would have been nice to see a little more of Doug who never gets in on any of the fun. Plus, since The Wolfpack goes back to Las Vegas, I was looking for Mike Tyson to make another appearance but he’s not around.  The addition of Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy is a very nice touch. The Hangover III ends the saga the only way it could, on a high comedic note. And stick around while the credits run. There is a jaw dropping scene at the end

Fast Furious 6

Fast & Furious 6 or just Fast 6 explodes on the screen with the same energy and fun of Fast & Furious 5. Who would have thought back in 2001 when the original Fast & Furious premiered that it would spawn five additional chapters but also change in depth and scope in each sequel? The Fast & Furious franchise started as a cop chasing a local smuggler but has changed to the entire cast becoming a high stakes theft crew while being pursued by the U.S Government.

The core casts of FF6 are back led by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker), Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster), Roman Pierce (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Han (Sung Kang) & Gisele (Gal Gadot). Brian and Mia are expecting their first child together while everyone else is enjoying there life abroad after the successful  heist of one hundred million dollars in Rio while eluding Special Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson). After some high precision theft of military equipment, Hobbs finds Dominic to ask for his help in locating the mastermind of these thefts, Owen Shaw (Luke Evans).  The case becomes personal to Dominic because the love of his life Letty (Michele Rodriguez), who was thought to have died, appears to be working with Owen’s team and doesn’t remember Dominic or her previous life. The crew reunites to help Hobbs in exchange that they will be pardoned for all of their crimes.

The team travels to London to track down Shaw and to hopefully rescue Letty and bring her home along with the newest member of Hobbs team, Special Agent Riley played by MMA fighter Gina Carano. Returning to FF6 is a brief cameo is John Ortiz playing Mexican drug Czar Arturo Braga who was jailed in Fast Furious 4. Brian, feeling directly responsible for what has happened to Letty, risks his freedom by returning to Los Angeles to speak to Braga about how Letty could have survived her car accident and what is his connection to Shaw. Dominic meanwhile challenges Letty to a street race and after the race tells Letty what the connection is to her and him. Shaw shows up to warn Dominic to leave with his crew because if not he could reach out at any time and touch him because of his code which is family.

The action from there comes fast and furious. I must say that I certainly like the direction that this franchise has taken. Hot women, fast cars and some ass kicking.  This is a must see.  Also, make sure that when the credits start rolling you stick around. There’s more movie that set’s up Fast Furious 7 with a very surprising guest star.

Star Trex Into Darkness

Tonight I attended the advance preview of the latest big screen adventure of the crew of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to the reboot of the classic franchise by director J.J. Abrahams (Lost, Alias)

The story begins with all of our favorite character, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), First Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto), Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban), Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Simon Pegg), Communications Officer Uhura (Zoe Saldina), Helmsman Hikaru Sulu (John Cho) and Pavel Checkov (Anton Yelchin), on a mission that causes Admiral Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) to take action against Kirk. But a terrorist attack on Starfleet Academy sends Kirk on a mission of revenge that could start an intergalactic war with The Klingons.

Joining the adventure as the terrorist that Kirk is determined to hunt down is Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s Sherlock Holmes) as John Harrison, Alice Eve (She’s Outta My League) as Science Officer Carol Marcus and Peter Weller (Robocop) as the Starfleet Admiral that sends Kirk on his mission. Also returning for the ride is Leonard Nimoy in the role that Embassador Spock.

This mission has more than a personal stake for Kirk. It also forces him to answer the question of if he should be in the center chair? For Spock, he is forced to confront his feeling for Uhura and his role as Kirk’s first officer while questioning his own Vulcan upbringing. Star Trek Into Darkness contains all of the fun and action that the 2009 reboot  had while also bringing in a lot of touches from the original TV series (pay attention for a cameo from the original series) but the 1982 film Star Trek II. This is a must see for all fans of Star Trek and let’s hope that director Abrahams, who will be going to a galaxy far, far away will return to the 23^rd Century for another adventure.

My personal thanks to the 135th Street Agency for making the screening possible.

Ms. Drama

From tonight’s screening of Star Trek Into Darkness, myself with Candice “Ms. Drama” Williams from the VH1 show The Gossip Game

Star Trex Into Darkness Preview

Tomorrow night I will be attending a special advance preview of the new Star Trek movie Star Trek Into Darkness in NYC

Movies

I am one of the biggest movie fans out there. I see about 100 film on the big screen where it is still the best place to see a movie. Home theatres and big screen HD TV’s are fine but nothing can replace the movie going experience. So, I think from this point on I will be doing movie reviews of all films that I see. So with that, the very first movie that I will review will be one that I am going to the advance preview on May 15, Star Trek Into Darkness. 

Craig Robinson

Sometimes it’s good to be me. I was on my way back to the bus to go home after doing another great show tonight on Outta Da Box Radio. I was walking past the AMC Movie Theatre on 42nd & 8th Ave when I saw this black Yukon outside of the theatre with people there taking pictures. I went to see what was going on and I saw this man, Craig Robinson from the TV show The Office there taking pictures. He was there doing a live Q&A to promote his upcoming movie Tyler Perry presents Peeples. Even though I wasn’t at the Q & A, I asked if we could take a photo together. Go see Tyler Perry presents Peeples. It opens on May 10.