Smokin' Aces

Bulldog Reviews
“Smokin’ Aces”
By: Mike Pickowicz

Here’s a movie that had an insanely cool premise on paper. The most deadly killers are all after the same guy to collect a bounty put up by a mob boss. It’s tough to live up to expectations with a plot like that, but there are the few rare movies that are able to pull it off. The question is: Does “Smokin’ Aces” deliver?
“Smokin’ Aces” is an action/thriller that promises the audience lots of blood and violence. Like a stated before, the movie revolves around a man, Buddy 'Aces' Israel, being hunted by every bounty hunter in town. Buddy, a mobster, is going to testify against his whole mob, but the Don, Primo Sparazza, won’t allow that. He offers a one million dollar bounty for the heart of Buddy, which is instantly picked up by some of the craziest professional killers around. With Buddy being held in protection at a huge hotel, he has no where to go as the large group of killers get ready to take him, and each other, out.
As cool as this movie sounds, it really saddens me to say that “Smokin’ Aces” has a bark worse then its bite. I personally loved the beginning of the movie. The set up was really cool, but it just couldn’t live up to it. One of my biggest complaints with this movie is pointless relationships. Some times, it’s good for a movie to have no real character set up. While those movies are far from award winners, they can sometimes be fun. What “Smokin’ Aces” does is create dumb, one-dimension character back stories and relationships. For most of the movie, I felt like saying “Who cares? Just get on with the killing!” Just when you want the action to continue, you get stuck with subplots that are not only unnecessary, but also kind of boring.
I didn’t, however, completely hate the movie. At times when the movie focused on the actual plot of killing Buddy, it was actually quite entertaining and suspenseful. It was also cool seeing the group of killers face off with one another using their own unique way of killing. It truly keeps you guessing what will happen to Buddy.
Ultimately, “Smokin’ Aces” just wasn’t that great of a movie. Pointless character plots riddled this movie to the point were it just made the movie worse. The action was great, but the payoff at the end just wasn’t worth it. The movie should have been a mindless killing movie, but the director wanted it to be more. In the end, that’s what hurt the movie. In my opinion, “Smokin’ Aces” is simply an average movie. I give it 2 ½ Bulldogs out of 5.

Dreamgirls Review!!

Wow....its been a while! I've been seeing movie, I just haven't had the time or energy into putting a rating on them. Well now that the semister has started again, i'm going to start going full speed again. I start with my review of one of the biggest Oscar buzz movies, Dreamgirls!

Bulldog Reviews
“Dreamgirls”
By: Mike Pickowicz

To start off the year, I have decided to review a movie that has been getting lots of buzz among awards shows. That movie is “Dreamgirls”. I was a little wary going into the theater, imagining the movie was going to be a “chick flick”, but after seeing the movie, I can tell you that isn’t the case. With that out of the way, the next question is does this Broadway musical hold up well in theaters?
“Dreamgirls” is a musical/drama that takes place during the rise of Motown. The movie follows a fictitious trio of singing females known as the Dreams (Knowles, Hudson, Noni Rose). It starts with their humble beginnings singing behind James "Thunder" Early (Murphy) and goes through their entire carriers. The Dreams encounter good times and hard times on their road to stardom, where, thanks to their agent, Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Foxx), they discover the music industry for what it is.
After I saw “Dreamgirls”, I had very mixed reactions to it. On one level, I thought it was great, and, on others, I thought the movie was somewhat dull. For the good, this movie has two huge aspects going for it: Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson. I really can’t praise Eddie Murphy enough for the show he put on. He really shows that he has a great singing voice in the multiple numbers he is giving during the movie. His acting is also top notch as the times take a toll on his character, James Early. I would also like to say that his final number in the movie is fantastic and pretty funny. The other star of this movie is American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson. She clearly steals the show with the song “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”. She also proves that she can act well, too.
While the acting was top notch the entire movie, I really can’t say that the movie itself was that great. Being a huge musical fan, I was disappointed with “Dreamgirls” on many levels. First, there are too many songs. While that isn’t a problem for most musicals, it is here. That brings me to the next point: While a few of the songs were great, most were forgettable and uninspired. I felt that the lyrics for some of the songs were also kind of boring and basic. This, in the long run, makes the movie drag out.
While I did like this movie, I just didn’t think “Dreamgirls” was nearly as other entertaining as other similar musicals (notably “Walk the Line”). For me, Eddie Murphy made this movie. Unfortunately, his songs only take up 1/5th of all the songs. While there are a few notable songs that are excellent, most are somewhat boring. This, in turn, caused me to look at my watch a few times. “Dreamgirls” has excellent acting and a plot that is good enough to stand on its own. I just wish some of the pointless songs were cut so the plot could move along at a reasonable pace. I give “Dreamgirls” 3 out of 5 Bulldogs.