The spin off for the “Barbershop” movie is a good idea on paper. On paper. I mean Queen Latifah is better at acting than Ice Cube, so it seemed like a slam dunk. The attempted launch of a new series within the “Barbershop” franchise is not only one big misfire, but it’s dead on arrival from minute one. “Beauty Shop” isn’t a prequel, or a sequel, but mainly just a movie that’s set in the universe of “Barbershop.” When we see Gina Norris from “Barbershop 2” again, she’s working at an upscale salon in Atlanta and she has a picture of the gang from Calvin’s shop hanging on her mirror. Beyond that there isn’t much at all to “Beauty Shop.”
Tag Archives: Drama
Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004): Special Edition [Blu-Ray]
The original “Barbershop” from Tim Story and Ice Cube was a very good and entertaining albeit imperfect drama comedy about family, and community. It had a lot more going for it than didn’t, thankfully proving to be anything but a fluke. Kevin Sullivan carries on the down to earth tone with “Barbershop 2.” While it is just as imperfect as the original, it’s also a very good extension of the first film, continuing the storylines of the characters we grew to know and engage with. Thankfully everyone pretty much returns for the second go around, and they’re all about the same people we remember, except older.
Female Filmmaker Friday: La Quinceañera (2017) [Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2018]
On the evening of her quinceañera, Alejandra witnesses the slaughter of her family. With the few surviving members, they set out of make things right.
Created and written by Shane McKenzie and Gigi Saul Guerrero with the latter directing, La Quinceañera started off as a series of webisodes and then became a feature with all the episodes gathered together in one feature. The film version is easy to watch with separate chapters that lead the story from a sweet start to a very bloody ending. The characters built here are strong and work together in a way that is natural and very much like a family.
Final Score (2018)
An ex US soldier visiting his niece in the UK goes to a soccer (football) game with her in the hopes of connecting with the teen. Once there, a terrorist group looms over the game and threatens his niece’s life as well as that of thousands of people. As he works to prevent the worse, reasons for the attack are made clearer and things get more complicated.
Barbershop (2002): Special Edition [Blu-Ray]
Ice Cube spent too much of his earl years as an actor looking for a vehicle that would propel him in to blockbuster status, and he’s had his share of misses. When he committed to simpler more personal movies like “Barbershop,” he really managed to shine. He’s not the best actor in “Barbershop,” but as Calvin Palmer Jr. he’s kind of the glue that keeps his entire crew of barbers together in a neighborhood that’s being consumed by crime, and political corruption. “Barbershop” may not be a masterpiece, but it’s a pleasing and pleasant comedy about the value of community and family.
The Bad Seed (2018)
When Rob Lowe was originally approached about his remake of “The Bad Seed,” he commented that his film version is a drama more than a horror movie. While the original 1956 movie starring Patty McCormack was a horror movie with a dramatic tinge, by God Rob Lowe makes sure that his version of “The Bad Seed” is a drama. Even the unraveling of a parent realizing their child is a psychopath with only the goal of self preservation is painfully bent for the sake of drama, and less horror. Lowe fails, especially because the realization that their child is a psychopath with zero emotion should be a living nightmare. Not some kind of twist in a melodrama.
Godard Mon Amour (aka Le Redoutable) (2017)
A look at director Jean-Luc Godard during the late 1960s through his then wife Anne’s eyes, this film takes an irreverent look at the idol of many and makes him human through how he lived with his wife.