First Sunday Review

The challenge is still on. 63 films into the year and I've seen all that my multiplex has to throw at me. I do, however, get the sneaking suspicion someone in film buying (the person who chooses what films we get) has cottoned on to my bullheaded nature and is subsequently taking the piss. From a simple 2-4 movies a week I'm now averaging 6, including dirge like this that plays two shows and then fucks off back to the celluloid hell that spawned it.

Ice Cube plays a criminal who just wants to do right by his son. So he robs a church. There you go, thats all you get for the plot.

Fulfilling his quota of gangster movie and family movie all in one Mr. Cube can relax for the rest of the year safe in the knowledge that his certain brand of poostickery is done. That last line was more of a request. I really don't want to have to watch Are We Still There? I also don't want to sit through another film where black people are portrayed as dumb, irritating criminals who love to eat chicken (even if they do include pictures of Dr. King on the wall to remind us that you know some people with dark skin are okay really). Fuck, who directed this Jade Goody?

As Ice and his criminal friend start to turn their lives around via kidnapping and violence there seems to be some nice ideas about a man finding faith while robbing a church but its the kind of moral message that would be more at home on an episode of Quantum Leap. One thing to note as the lights come up is that the Jamaicans that are hoping to kill Ice's sidekick, in a subplot I'm not going into here, are still on their tail. And most importantly I didn't recognise anyone from The Wire in it and its set in Baltimore. How dare they.