In about four days from now, every movie that I watch and review for the blog is going to be a horror film for a month. So, I figured I would try to get in some movies that I have always wanted to see and Crash is definitely one of them. The film follows Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock) and her DA husband (Brendan Fraser), Officer John Ryan (Matt Dillon) and his partner Officer Hansen (Ryan Phillippe), a Latino lock smith (Michael Peña), a Persian store owner (Shaun Toub), a car thief (Ludacris), a black detective (Don Cheadle), and a African American couple (Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton) as they navigate and collide in Los Angeles in a stories of race, tragedy, and redemption. The film also stars Tony Danza (Who’s The Boss) as Fred, Keith David (Men At Work) as Lt. Dixon, Jennifer Esposito (Summer Of Sam) as Ria, William Fichtner (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as Flanagan, Karina Arroyave (Lean On Me) as Elizabeth, Loretta Devine (Death At A Funeral) as Shaniqua Johnson, Larenz Tate (Dead Presidents) as Peter Waters, Bahar Soomekh (Mission: Impossible III) as Dorri, Jack McGee (Moneyball) as Gun Store Owner, Bruce Kirby (Stand By Me) as Pop Ryan, and the film was directed by Paul Haggis (Casino Royale).
I wanted to start this paragraph by telling how uncomfortable this film was and is going to be to review. There is so much racism and hatred in this film that it’s absolutely insane, but I suppose that maybe this is how some people felt back in 2004 and even into today. I honestly thought before watching the film that it was going to be about the program entitled CRASH in Los Angeles, but boy was I surprised right off the bat. They explore racism in every sense of the way that you can imagine from stereotyping all Middle Easterners and Latin Americans. The film also explore racism as far as how a situation is perceived by a different individual and how some humans are just stuck in their ways. Crash is an excellent film, but it’s one of those films that just when it looks like things are about to get dim, it’s lightens right up, but then falls back down. It truly is a roller coaster ride of a film. Sandra Bullock does an amazing job playing a racist bitch in the film because she is very convincing. Just about every single person in the film does an excellent job like Ludacris being a disillusioned individual or Don Cheadle who is forced to make hard decisions that will benefit others whether it’s right or wrong. Jennifer Esposito has a scene in the film where she just looks so sexy, I was jealous of Don Cheadle at that moment. The film is available on Netflix and I think it’s one you should check out, but be prepared. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.
This wasn’t my first choice for a film for today, but I was running out of time and this was on television. For day two of my challenge, I watched the 2004 film Taxi which was directed by Tim Story (Ride Along) and it starred Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show) and Queen Latifah (Chicago). Jimmy Fallon plays a New York City cop named Andy who is a little too green for his own good. The man can’t do anything right on the job and he is considered the laughing stock. Queen Latifah plays New York taxi driver Belle who is too into her job as a taxi driver that it’s screwing up things at him with her man. Their paths cross one day when Andy decides to take her cab to chase down some bank robbers who happen to be hot Brazilian supermodels. Despite all the forces against them, they will stop at nothing until they take down the bank robbers. The film also stars Mrs. Tom Brady Gisele Bundchen as Vanessa, Henry Simmons (Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Jesse, Jenifer Esposito (Summer Of Sam) as Lt. Marta Robbins, Ana Cristina de Oliveira (Miami Vice) as Redhead, Ingrid Vandebosch (Going Greek) as Third Robber, Ann-Margaret (Tommy) as Mrs. Washburn, and Christian Kane (Life Or Something Like It) as Agent Mullins.
As I said before, this wasn’t my first choice for a film for today, but at the time it was on and I had to do what I had to do. One of the other reasons why I watched it was for the fact that I do enjoy Jimmy Fallon and what he did on SNL and The Tonight Show, but even those can’t save him from this film. The film has it’s moments where it shows potential, but then it just dwindles away. I understand why they went with four supermodels as bank robbers, but these supermodels took the time to learn how to drive like bad asses in their lifetimes? They did that for the comedy aspect of it, but seriously guys. They wouldn’t have to do much cause I’d let these hot women rob me too. There’s plenty of bad ass driving and action scenes in the film, but it just sort of lacks on the laughs. I thought Queen Latifah actually did a good job flexing her acting abilities on screen, but it just wasn’t enough for me. I was surprised to find out that Tim Story directed the movie because I loved Ride Along. You can definitely see some of the similarities in shots with the two films. The film gets a 10% on Rotten Tomatoes which seems to be just right as far as how good the film was. So, I am going to give the film a C- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 