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GRITZ Movie Reviews: Future Extreme Sports, Old School Sports, Old Rockers and Playboy Bunnies

DEATH RACE
Jason Statham is really making a name for himself as the next big testosterone driven action hero, and his role here as Jensen Ames, a former NASCAR driver and recently laid off factory worker who is set up like a bowling pen and framed for the murder of his wife, is another feather in the cap of Statham. Based on the 1970’s film Death Race 2000, it quickly becomes apparent that eight years past 2000, things are quite a bit more insane and violent.

Joan Allen is the perfect bitch as Warden C. Hennessey, and Ian McShane (Deadwood) lends an air of reality as Coach. Of course, the guys will be drawn to Jensen “Frankenstein” Ames’ navigator Case (Natalie Martinez). With good reason.

The movie is chock full of sci-fi action, racing, weapons, blood and guts, and excitement. And then there is the aforementioned babe, Case, to add a little sex appeal.

I really enjoyed this one, even the guy getting his head knocked  off on the track. Gross, but somehow very cool. And best of all, we get a “happy” ending.

FOUR AND ONE HALF STARS

    

THE ROCKER
I know, the critics were panning this one before the first projector was turned on. Me, I enjoyed it. Maybe because I identify as an aging musician who never let go of the dream. Rainn Wilson stars as Fish, a founding member of one of the biggest heavy metal bands of the eighties, who is cut loose just as the band becomes stars.

Flash forward twenty years, Fish is working a real job until he screws that up too, and ends up moving in with his sister. Of course her son is in a band that is slated to play the high school prom, when their drummer gets grounded by his mother, and of course Fish ends up filling in. When the band rehearses via four networked computers and Fish plays in the buff, “the naked drummer” is born on YouTube, igniting the popularity of the band’s music, and A.D.D. become stars.

Christina Applegate (the original Jennifer Aniston) plays the mother of one of the kids who is herself a former punk rocker.

A fun, simple movie with a lot of heart. No, it won’t topple The Dark Knight in ticket sales, but I enjoyed it.

THREE AND ONE HALF STARS

HOUSE BUNNY
Anna Faris stars as Playboy bunny Shelley Darlington, a girl who dreams of being a centerfold, but at 27, may just be too old. When she is forced out of The Playboy Mansion, she takes up with the girls in a college sorority, a bunch of misfits including a breathtaking pregnant girl named Harmony, played by American Idol Katharine McPhee, along with Emma Stone (who also stars in The Rocker), Rumer Willis (daughter of Bruce and Demi), Kat Dennings  and Sarah Wright.

The girls battle the bitchy popular girls and of course, the underdogs prevail after receiving makeovers from Shelley.

Lots of shots of The Playboy Mansion and Hugh Hefner, along with several of the real life centerfolds, help to make the movie fun, but it’s Shelley’s dialog as the dim witted blonde bunny that makes the movie so much fun.

THREE AND ONE HALF STARS

THE LONGSHOTS
Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit turns film producer with this true story of the first high school girl to play quarterback on the football team.

Keke Palmer stars as Jasmine Plummer with Ice Cube as her inspiring uncle Curtis. The entire cast turn in top notch performances, including original Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris as the community Preacher.

It’s a heart warming story to be sure, well acted and just plain fun. A story of a community that had almost given up, brought together like never before by something as simple as the game of football - oh, and one young girl with a mighty throwing arm.

FOUR AND ONE HALF STARS

All Reviews by Michael Buffalo Smith

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