Review: Notorious

 

The movie starts out w ith the shooting being shown in the beginning and then the rest of the movie happening like a flashback.

The flashback starts out with a young Christopher Wallace rapping in the school yard, so we're shown even at a young age he was influenced by music. Early, we're also shown how protective his mother Voletta Wallace(Angela Bassett) was as all she wanted was a good life for her son.

About 20 minutes in, when we first see Jamal Woolard step in as Christopher a little bit older. We see him dealing with drugs in his room, having to hide plates full underneath his bed as he's still living at home with his mother. He has to hide all the flashy clothes/shoes/gear from his mother, as he's suppose to still be going to school.

Once confronted about missing school so much, we get a great scene from both mother and son as he admits to drug trafficking and choosing the street over school.

When we first see Biggie step up to battle in the street, it was pretty intense, as it was done exactly like the real video of it.

Once dropping the freestyle, its clear to see this kid has talent. Shortly after the street life begins to conflict with chance of making it out he has. He is arrested for dealing right after becoming a father and getting a girl from his neighborhood pregnant.

Once in lockup, Biggie begins to write. Once being released, his friends begin to see he's gotten better as an artist and could actually make some noise in Hip-Hop.
Soon after Puffy comes is introduced and he turns B.I.G. in to the Notorious one we all know and love.

 
For the rest of the movie we see Biggie have to deal with family drama, such as not seeing his oldest daughter enough, go through relationship troubles, back and forth between Lil' Kim and Faith Evans.

We also see him have to deal with success and the highs and lows of the music industry. We are also shown many events re-enacted that were broadcast all over the media when they originally happened. It was great to see how everything came together and how he reacted to many of those situations. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how this one ends, but even when it does, it hits you like you never seen it coming.

The script was great, when making a movie about someone’s life, no matter who the person may be, it's hard to compress someone's life in to 2 hours, but they pulled it off. They writers knew what parts to include and what not too. It was great seeing key parts of his career be added such as The Tupac shooting at the studio with Biggie being blamed and then the confrontation at the Source Awards.

What really makes the ending hit you hard, is that we see Christopher Wallace change as a person near the end of his life as if he knew it was coming to end. Any fan could tell you that death was always on his mind.

One of the final scenes is of Mrs. Wallace riding in the backseat of a car coming from Christopher's funeral. And as the car is driving we see her look out the window and in the street is all of her son's fans, also mourning the loss. This is when she realizes that even though she didn't support what he was doing, others did, and they listened when he spoke.

Some actors didn't look exactly like their real life counterparts like Derek Luke as Sean 'Puffy' Combs or Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur. But little things like this were easy to look past as the story hooks you in immediately.

It's a shame he was only on here for 25 years, but clearly he left his mark and will never be forgotten ... not only through his music but now also through this movie.

Christopher Wallace
May 21, 1972 - March 9, 1997

5 out of 5 

Review: The Uninvited (2009)

"The Uninvited" is a remake of Kim Ji-Woon's South Korean blockbuster hit "A Tale of Two Sisters".

The story begins with teenager Anna (Emily Browning), who has been in a psychiatric facility for the past couple of months, presumably because of her suicidal tendencies after her terminally ill mother dies in a tragic fire. Upon her release, her father (David Straithairn) picks her up and takes her home, but Anna's happiness is short-lived when she discovers her father has formed a romantic attachment with Rachel (Elizabeth Banks), Anna's mother's nurse and caregiver who is now playing the role of soon-to-be stepmom and living in the family home.

                                         

Anna's only ally and confidant is her sister Alex (Arielle Kebbel), a free-spirited and rebellious teen who also dislikes Rachel. When Anna experiences visions of her deceased mom's ghost, she comes to believe that the fire that killed her mom was no accident but a deliberate act perpetrated by Rachel. Anna also seems to be "haunted" by three pale children and the siblings' investigations turn up the possibility that Rachel may have been the nanny that murdered them many years earlier.

I’ve seen enough horror movies to guess what will happen in the end, but this one threw me off which is exactly why its great!

The effects are quite ho-hum in terms of scare factor - the crawling entity has been done to death (pun intended) in so many other horror movies, especially in Asian horror, that the effects have worn off for me. The ghost children are pale but not very creepy.

I thought this movie was really good. Not scary but all around suspenseful. It has some twist and turns and a very surprising ending. It maybe predictable to you if you have seen the original Tale of Two sisters as this is a remake of it.

             
The Uninvited is a well shot and supremely paced film ... I recommend that you check it out.

I will give this one 4.5 out of 5 stars.