Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail Movie Review

Tyler Perry is at it again. His infamous Madea character has gone and gotten herself in trouble with the law and this time there are consequences.

Madea, played by Perry, is a senior from the south, with a penchant for losing her cool and an attitude that would make even the biggest gangster seem tame. In this third edition to his Madea collection, Perry has Madea serving time and dishing out her classic advice on life to her fellow inmates, in a manner best described as The Truth by Madea.

This movie follows the blueprint for Perry’s previous installments, with parallel storylines that meet up somewhere in the middle. While I am a big fan of his take on comedy, I do find the drama of the back story cliche, with a tendency to allow my mind too much time to wander, waiting for the next big laugh. And there are a number of big laughs in this movie, I had tears and a snort to prove it.

If you’re a fan of Perry and the his Madea character then definitely head out for this flick while it’s still in theatres. His bigger than life character is best viewed on the big screen. If not, wait for the dvd, and it’ll still be worth the price of the rental.

I give this movie 5 “hallelujers” out of 10.

One of the Heroes of Slumdog Millionaire – A.R. Rahman

A.R Rahman, who won 2 Academy awards for Slumdog Millionaire has quite a story to tell himself. A.R. Rahman was born Dileep Kumar in January 6, 1966, in Madras and was the son of a film music composer and conductor, R.K.Shekar. Dileep lost his dad when he was 9 years old and his family had to rent out his father’s musical instruments to make a living.

To help support his family, he joined famous film music composer Ilayaraja‘s troupe as a keyboard player at the age of 11. He dropped out of school as a result of this and traveled all around the world playing with various orchestras. He also obtained a scholarship to the Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in Western classical music. In 1989, he converted to Islam along with the rest of his family and was known as Rahman thereafter.

Rahman is skilled in Carnatic music, Western classical, Hindustani music and the Qawwali and loves to amalgamate these styles of music to create his own distinctive style.

To hear some of his music, you can visit his website or at Rhapsody.

Enter to Win a DVD of Zack and Miri Make a Porno on Twitter with Reel Ninja

ReelNinja.com, with thanks to the Weinstein Company are pleased to offer you a chance to win a special edition 2 disc copy of Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

Simply RT (Re-Tweet) this message on Twitter before Friday, February 6th midnight (AST) to enter.

RT: @reelninja Win a  Zack and Miri Make a Porno DVD – ReelNinja.com has details. RT this msg to enter contest automatically. N.America Only

Winner will be drawn at random and notified via Twitter or Email (where address is visable)

Winner will be announced on Twitter and posted on Reel Ninja.

**Zack and Miri Make a Porno is rated R for Restricted, by entering the contest you submit that you are 18 years of age or older.

Contest open to North American residents only. (Sorry this is our first kick at the can)

ReelNinja.com will not be held responsible if the DVD is lost in transit. The winner will have to submit their full mailing address via private email. If the selected winner does not have a North American address, their entry becomes void and another random entry will be selected.

Winner:  Congratulations to ShempLabs of Plano, Texas!!

Public Enemies – Movie Preview

Public Enemies, one of the most anticipated movies of 2009, has Johnny Depp playing a legendary Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger, whose lighting fast raids have made him the number one target of the FBI and its top agent Melvin Purvis, played by Christian Bale.

Micheal Mann, of Heat, Ali and Last of the Mohicans fame, directs, co-writes and produces the movie which is based on the non-fiction book by Brian Burroughs.

Public Enemies is slated for release on July 1st, 2009. Watch this space for more news on the movie!

HBO’s Big Love Season 3

The family-aplenty are back Sunday, January 18th on HBO.

Bill Paxton and his three wives; Jeanne Triplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin, return for a third season of this fantastic story of a modern day, regular joe blow polygamist family in Utah.

If the first two seasons are any indication of what to expect for season three then I can’t wait! It will be interesting to see if Bill does take on a 4th wife with so much craziness brewing on the homefront.

The winners of the 14th Annual Critics Choice Award 2009!!

The winners of the 14th Annual Critics Choice Award were announced by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Thursday, January 8, and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ won five out of six prizes it was nominated for.

Following are the winners of some of the main categories:

- Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

- Actor: Sean Penn, Milk

- Actress: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

- Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

- Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader

- Ensemble: Milk

- Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

- Screenwriter: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

- Animated Feature: WALL-E

- Young Actor/Actress (Under 21): Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire

- Action Movie: The Dark Knight

- Comedy: Tropic Thunder

- Picture Made for Television: John Adams

- Foreign-Language Film: Waltz With Bashir

- Documentary: Man on Wire

- Song (Performer/Composer): “The Wrestler,” Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler

Familiar Faces On Screen: Kevin Dunn

Kevin Dunn has been in the movies since the 80s. Born on February 26, 1956 in Chicago, Kevin Dunn has acted in movies such as Small Soldiers, Stir of Echoes, Godzilla, Snake Eyes, Nixon, Mad Love, Ghostbusters II, Dave, Beethoven’s 2nd, Hot Shots!, and 1492: Conquest of Paradise.

He recently appeared in Live Free or Die, Gridiron Gang and Transformer and has appeared on TV shows such as Prison Break, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Closer and Lost (playing a con artist opposite Josh Holloway’s character, Sawyer.)

Here something interesting about Kevin – he was considered for the role of George Costanza in Seinfeld. Now that would have had a significant impact on his career!

People’s Choice Awards: The Reel Deal

I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I won’t bother. I’ll leave you to Whitney Pastorek’s article from Entertainment Weekly. This article does not disappoint, with whit, sarcasm and honest to goodness real opinion, it’s like a slap in the face, waking you from the mundane. Enjoy!

” This is not the blog post my editors asked for. In this space, you are supposed to be reading a Best and Worst of last night’s People’s Choice Awards, one of those snarky little fiestas where I run down all the highlights of the ceremony, crack some jokes, get worked up when Sugarland doesn’t win, whatever. But PopWatchers, I can’t do it this time.

I know what you’re thinking: “Yeah, it’s hard to make a list of ‘bests’ when there weren’t any.” But even if I faked it by saluting Christina Applegate‘s classy speech or the emotional fortitude it must take for Ellen DeGeneres to keep getting up there and smiling at the nice people who cheer for her when she dances her funny dance but refuse to give her the civil rights necessary to marry her “roommate,” I would be doing you, the intelligent and savvy readers of EW.com, a disservice. Because the People’s Choice Awards, by any reasonable standard, are the worst kind of pandering, artificial hooey. And we, the alleged people, deserve better.

I intend no disrespect to the winners of the “awards,” nor to enthusiastic hostess Queen Latifah (pictured), nor to the hardworking men and women who labored behind the scenes to produce these two hours of televised pap and circumstance. But with the exception of The Dark Knight — victorious in so many categories they had to shove them all into a montage at the end — do I think for a second that these “winners” are, indeed, the “people’s” choice? No. Let’s be honest: As the very clear post-show disclaimer explained, a complex system of “E-Polls” and market research and extravagant math went into choosing the nominees you saw upon your screen. And that system led to a telecast in which praise was lavished on a crassly commercial cross-section of demographically advantageous properties starring celebrities who were willing to show up.

Even as mindless distraction, this awards show was a failure. There was no suspense; every category could be easily predicted by remembering who you’d already spotted in the audience. Would the “Favorite Rock Song” be “All Summer Long” by Kid Rock, or those other two thingies performed by people who were not currently located inside the Shrine Auditorium? To quote “winner” Rock: What a surprise. Chris Brown accepted his “Favorite Combined Forces” award (for “No Air” with Jordin Sparks) “live via satellite” from Dublin, Ireland — where by my calculations it would have been approximately 3:30 in the morning. Rascal Flatts were handed a statue immediately after completing their unconvincing Rascal Flatts impersonation, and like 200 people rose as one from the good seats to collect the “Favorite TV Drama” award for House. Yes, tipping the winners off ahead of time has become pretty much de rigeur at this sort of thing, but when those “winners” stretch the limits of plausibility or common sense, I start sawing at my wrists with Twizzlers.

Examples: We were told early in the broadcast that voting was still open in the “Favorite New TV Comedy/Drama” categories. And yet when the time came, the casts of Gary Unmarried and The Mentalist — which, oh wow, just happen to air on the network we’re watching! — were in the house and ready to go. The cast members of the losing shows? Conspicuously absent. (Okay, there were 90210 people milling about, but I’m willing to believe they, like Paris Hilton, have nothing better to do.) But wait, there’s more: Britney Spears losing to Robin Williams for “Favorite Scene Stealing Guest Star” — in an Internet-based voting competition? Kate Hudson (movie to promote) and Latifah (host) going head-to-head for “Favorite Leading Lady”? The Secret Life of Bees winning “Favorite Movie Drama”?? People. Bees made $37 million at the box office. That is just slightly more money than Marley and Me made opening weekend.” Full article here.

YouTube’s Project:Direct Winner Announced

“In a competition designed to help discover hidden talent, YouTube, along with Sundance and Moviefone announced on Tuesday the results of this year’s online international short film competition.Blake Edwards of Charlotte, North Carolina won this year’s competition with his film ¡Perfecto!. As the grand prize winner Edwards receives $2,500 and will spend five days at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where his winning film will screen at an event at the festival.” – Veronica Boodhan, National Post – Read the full article and watch the video here.

I think that the Reel Ninja and I will have to get our swords in gear and get ready for next years competition! What a great way to explore your creative side. Think you’ll enter?

New To DVD: Pineapple Express

Out today (January 6th) …

check out JB’s review on the Pineapple Express while it was in theatre.

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