Akeelah and the Bee

This movie, Akeelah and the Bee, is a must-see.
Not just because Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett are in the movie, though that could be reason enough.
It's because this simple tale of a young black girl competing in the National Spelling Bee is a wonderfully different slice of black life than what we are used to seeing on the screen.
Rare is the movie in which the protagonist is a smart black girl. Her struggle and what I would presume eventual triumph are the core of this picture.
I haven't seen this movie yet, but what makes it compelling for me is that it appears that the movie recognizes that black life is richly complex and full of nuance.
The problem with movies about the lives of black people is the frustrating narrowness in which Hollywood sees us. We're either good or bad, black or white (metaphorically speaking).
But the truth is that we are human, that we come against not only the subtle pressures of race but also the every day pains of living life.
We are more than what Hollywood says we are, more than what some of us say we are (i.e. Soul Plane).
Movies such as Akeelah and the Bee and Eve's Bayou reveal that black people aren't here just to make white people laugh. And the problem with movies such as Soul Plane is that there aren't enough movies like Akeelah and the Bee to balance things out, to show the full range of black life in all its different forms and features.
The truth is we are flesh, and I want to see more of that flesh on screen.

No Brokeback in Prison

This is like manna from heaven for comedians and late night talk show hosts. But seriously, if punishment is what is needed for these Massachussetts prisoners, show "Showgirls" by all means. Paul Verhoever sought to push the boundaries of how much sexual content you could throw on the screen and call it art. He ended up making a movie in which seeing Elizabeth Berkley naked became yawn-inducing. Who would have thunk?

Sharon Stone's Basic Instinct

Sharon Stone's most famous performance was as Catherine Trammell in 1992's Basic Instinct, where she played a sociopathic bisexual novelist who was handy with an icepick. And of course, there's that interrogation scene.
Now, maybe we can assume Sharon Stone's basic instinct is getting paid. Why else would she reprise her role in a trashy sequel of a movie that didn't have much going for it to begin with?
Basic Instinct 2 is better than I thought, given the low expectations I had for it.
The plot is just an excuse for Sharon Stone to romp her way through a movie. Catherine Trammell is a woman Sharon Stone was born to play: a highly intelligent woman who manipulates men through the not-so-subtle art of seduction. Her sexuality is her weapon, and she uses it with a boldness and confidence that leaves men weak and confounded.
Trammell knows her power, and she walks with a swagger that leaves men such as the psychiatrist played by David Morrissey spellbound.
Unfortunatley, long stretches of this movie drag. You wonder where the movie is going, and as much as Stone talked in interviews about how she has no problem with nudity, Stone stays clothed through much of the movie. It is as if director Michael Caton-Jones pulled back instead of diving head on into the sheer trashiness and absurdity of the material.
If there is a sequel that really didn't need to be made, it is this one. Basic Instinct was a movie for its time, and this one doesn't add anything new.
Well, there's one thing. You can say what you want about Sharon Stone but for someone who's 48, she still looks good.