Popular Reviews

WELCOME HOME ROSCOE JENKINS                                        February 8, 2008

Genre:        Comedy
Cast:        Martin Lawrence, Margaret Avery, Joy Bryant, Louis C.K., Michael Clarke Duncan, Mike Epps, Mo’Nique, Nicole Ari Parker with Cedric the Entertainer and James Earl Jones
Directed by:            Malcolm D. Lee
Screenplay by:        Malcolm D. Lee
Producers:        Scott Stuber, Mary Parent, Charles Castaldi
Executive Producers:        Malcolm D. Lee, Timothy Bourne, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum

Leading an all-star comedy cast, Martin Lawrence is talk-show sensation RJ Stevens, who left behind his modest Southern upbringing and family name to transform into a self-help guru dispensing his “Team of Me” philosophy to millions of adoring fans.  With a reality-TV-star fiancée and money to burn, there’s no piece of the Hollywood dream RJ hasn’t achieved.

After his parents request that he come home for their 50th wedding anniversary, the TV host packs up his 10-year-old son and diva bride-to-be and heads back to Georgia.  It’s a chance to prove to his family that he’s no longer the awkward kid they relentlessly picked on.  At least, that’s the plan…

But when his crazy, lovable family calls him on his big-city attitude and challenges him at every turn, RJ is forced to take a hard look at the man he’s become.  He may be a superstar in L.A., but he’s just one of the guys in Dry Springs as folks say Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins.

Main characters:
Martin Lawrence        RJ Stevens
Margaret Avery        Mama Jenkins
Joy Bryant            Bianca
Michael Clarke Duncan    Otis (RJ’s brother)
Mike Epps            Reggie (RJ’s cousin)
Mo’Nique            Betty (RJ’s sister)
Nicole Ari Parker         Lucinda (RJ’s old love)
Cedric the Entertainer    Clyde (RJ’s cousin and main nemesis)
James Earl Jones        Daddy Jenkins

CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR                                                    December 25, 2007

Genre:         Drama
Cast:        Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Amy Adams, Ned Beatty
Directed by:            Mike Nichols
Screenplay by:        Aaron Sorkin
Based on the
Book by:            George Crile
Produced by:        Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Executive Producers:        Celia Costas, Jeff Skoll

Charlie Wilson’s War is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history.  Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today.  Oscar® winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman team with Academy Award®-winning director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to bring George Crile’s best-selling book to the screen.
Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a habit of showing up in hot tubs with strippers and cocaine.  His “Good Time Charlie” exterior, however, masked an extraordinary mind, a deep sense of patriotism and a passion for the underdog, and in the early 1980s the underdog was Afghanistan—which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians.
Charlie’s longtime friend and patron and sometime lover was Joanne Herring (Roberts), one of the wealthiest women in Texas and a virulent anti-communist.  Believing the American response to the Russian invasion was anemic at best, she prods Charlie into doing more for the Mujahideen (Afghan freedom fighters).
Charlie’s partner in this uphill endeavor is CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), a blue-collar operative in a company of Ivy League blue bloods.  Together, the three of them—Charlie, Joanne and Gust—travel the world to form unlikely alliances among the Pakistanis, Israelis, Egyptians, arms dealers, law makers and a belly dancer.
Their success was remarkable.  Funding for covert operations against the Soviets went from $5 million to $1 billion annually.  The Red Army retreated out of Afghanistan.  When asked how a group of peasants was able to deliver such a decisive blow to the army of a superpower, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq responded simply, “Charlie did it.”