Straight Outta Compton
Fear of A Black Hatted Planet
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
R | 147 min

Dude, F. Gary Gray (the guy who directed Friday) nailed it.  He took the story of N.W.A. and gave it big screen attitude, AND IT WAS SO BANGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And why did it work?  Cause I believed O’Shea Jackson Jr was Ice Cube (and not just his real life son), and Corey Hawkins was Dr. Dre, and Jason Mitchell was Eazy-E, and I guess Aldis Hodge was MC Ren and guess Neil Brown Jr was DJ Yella.  It felt so real, but real like in a music video real real kinda way, but was like so f’reals, like 7 reals!!  And it had a lot of heart, and baseball bats, and those amazing black hats (how did they plan on who got to wear which hat on which day????).  147 minutes never felt so fun, and quick, and jheri-curled.  Get STRAIGHT at this movie, NOW!!

Bust morest importantly, it’s the 2nd movie I’ve seen this year where Paul Giamatti plays a music impresario who means well, but is mean, and greedy, and kinda horrible… and of course Giamattz plays it to perfection  

In Love & Mercy he was Dr Landy – Brian Wilson’s worst daymare

and in Compton, he was the pimp behind the wheels & deals - Jerry Heller

would you trust Gi-mattz and his toupees??? 

Verdictgo: Breast In Show

Compton is Straight awesome – at a theater near jews

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

Rosenwald
Official Website
Unrated | 100 min

Did you know that a Jewish guy basically give African-Americans a leg up in America, in a time when everyone wanted to chop off their legs? It’s true! This Jewish guy made Sears & Roebuck zillions of dollars, and himself lots of money, and then he gave some of his money to help build schools for blacks in the south! Without this man – Julius Rosenwald - there may not have been no Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Civil Rights movement, or Barack Obama for President!!! IT’S (POSSIBLY) TRUE!!!!!

And it’s all told in this fantastic new doc by Aviva Kempner – Rosenwald

And Avia Kempner is fantastic!  (she’s a friend and colleague, so there’s no verdict here, juss a demand that you go and see it!)

And be sure to see her other great docs – Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg + The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.  ALL ESSENTIAL VIEWING!!!

Rosenwald gives and you get in NY this Friday, and elsewhere elsewhen

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

Vacation
Rustyed Roots
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
R | 99 min

When you see 2015’s Vacation you automatically don’t expect it to eclipse or come even close to what 1983’s National Lampoon’s Vacation is or was.  Then again, when you see a comedy in 2015, or pretty much any time you saw a comedy this century, it has rarely been anything remotely comparable to what  made those classic 80s comedy classics.  That golden era is way over.  Comedy has changed, not so much evolved, perhaps even devolved (blame Sandler), but I personally do not expect much from a comedy in this day in age (or expect much of anything from anything!).  DAMN YOU 21st CENTURY!!!! YOU BLOW GOATS!!!!  The exceptions have been exceptional, but I can count them on my toes – The (two) Trips, Borat y Brüno, Death At A Funeral (the Caucasian version), Napoleon Dynamite, and the Jackass series.  It’s a sad state of affairs for a genre that’s suppose to be funny.  Well, the new Vacation is NOT joining that list, but…

They made a new Vacation, and of course we had to see it, and kinda have to admit – was even a little excited for it.  Love me some Ed Helms, and the thought of him playing a grown-up Rusty Griswold seemed like the right idea… and that is certainly the case here (plus you juss KNEW he was going to sing, and I love him singings).  Sure, he’s no (vintage) Chevy Chase, but who is?  No one.  So throw that dumb thought out.  And what about Christina Applegate as the modern day Beverly D’Angelo?  Works for me, and the movie too!  Throw in two kids with mostly thankless roles (Skyler Gisondo + Steele Stebbins), a silly vehicle, grand ole American destinations, and you have – a road trip movie with enuff jokes and sight gags (mostly dumb ones) to make me laugh, early and often.  YES, there’s stuff in there that doesn’t work/isn’t funny (the Four Corners cops especially), but co-writers/directors John Francis Daley (yeah, that awkward looking kid from Freaks & Geeks) and Jonathan Goldstein do a good enuff job to not blow out the tires on the Griswolds’ latest batch of screen fun

Yep, the new Vacation is totally NOT awful.  It’s totally no 1983 Vacation, but it’s its own modern comedy thing, and while none of us will probably be quoting it 30 years from now, I’d be fine with another Vacation three years from now with Helms at the helm… but only if they replace their kids with other actors.  Not cause they aint any good at acting, but juss cause, you know

–

ps – it blew my mind when I later in life found out that it was the dude from Fleetwood Mac who sang ‘Holiday Road‘ (which obviously was used in the new movie).  czech out the original video for it.  super 80s strange! (they also don’t make music vids like they used to either!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHf5yiIxhoQ

Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Vacation hits the road at a theater near jews today

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

Amy
You Know She’s No Good, Cause She Was DAMN FINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
R | 128 min

Asif Kapadia‘s hard to digest/MUSSS digest documentary Amy has everything you’d want to know and everything you don’t want to know about how Ms Winehouse got big, then got too big for her own britches, then had her britches explode.  It was literally like watching a runaway train crash, and you know the exact time and location of when and where that runaway train gonna crash [actually saw it on the anniversary of her death date.  SPOOKY!!].  You shake your head at how incredible she was [was lucky to see her perform once!], and shake your head at how sad it is that she’s no longer with us.  You think she done herself in?  We all did her in.  How can we save ourselves when we can’t even save Amy Winehouse???

and watching the doc was eggzactly like this…

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Verdictgo: Breast In Show

Amy is housed currently at a theater near jews

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

Minions
Spin-Off Limits
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
PG | 91 min

There are würst 6 year-old birthday parties than a trip to see Minions, and this is where I come in.  It is actually where I come in, since I never saw Despicable Me 1 or 2.  And since I never saw either of those, it’s hard for me to say what Minions the movie is, other than an OK enuff movie with cool looking yellow things that occasionally say funny things, like ‘banana’ and stuff.  I particularly liked the first part of the movie where there’s a montage of the Minions trying to find a new master to be ruled by, only to somehow bring down the master they so love, and then start the search over again, and again, and again (it’s in the movie’s trailer).  That shiz was good.  The rest of the movie was juss OK.  The kids loved it all.  A parent in our party said that this stand-alone Minions movie wasn’t as good as the other movies, cause the Minions can’t be the focus, and that they shine brighter in the background.  And there you go!  But if you have a kid, you’ve already seen this, and already know this.  For the rest of you without kids, stop seeing kids movies, and start having kids, or at least try to

Oh, btw, in Staten Island, Lois Lane LIVES!!!!!

Verdictgo: mild Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Minions making ZILLIONS at a theater near jews

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…