Why Did I Get Married Too?

This movie holds the distinction of being the first sequel in the Tyler Perry canon and its a distinction that's made more apparent when the film turns out to be nothing more than rehash of the first. I'm not kidding here. Instead of going on a retreat in the mountains, the cast goes on a retreat to the beach and unlike the first movie, nothing of any real interest happens here because the problems the couples are facing aren't that different from the first film. The biggest offenders here are Marcus and Angela, the comedic couple. If I recall, a big problem with their relationship in the first movie was Angela's drinking problem, which was resolved by the films end. Here, she's apparently relapsed and no one really seems to call her out on it. It seems to just be an excuse to have her over react to everything like she did before...it worked then and it does still work, but it just feels like Tyler Perry didn't know what do with her and her husband this time.

As a matter of fact, Tyler Perry really didn't seem to know what he was doing with any of the characters. Sheila, the most likable female character from the first film, kinda becomes of a twat, mainly because she keeps trying to use her abusive past as an excuse to act like she's entitled to something. There's a bit more melodrama here, mostly involving Janet Jackson's character leading to a pretty over the top moment where she goes around breaking all her glass furniture with a golf club, it pretty good stuff. The downside to the extra drama is that it all leads the biggest bullshit of an ending I've seen in while. A tragedy happens in like the last four minutes of the movie that conveniently allows all of the couples to reconcile their differences and then the movie kinda just ends on a force happy ending that takes place one year later. I seriously think this movie would have been better if Perry had just used the same concept as the original movie, but with a different cast. As it stands this is one forgettable movie.

Why Did I Get Married?

I keep saying that I'm not going to watch another Tyler Perry movie. I made an exception for this one mainly because I'm going with some friends to see the sequel this week and also because this doesn't have Madea in it at all, so the comedy/drama portions of the story should complement each other less abruptly. Why Did Get Married's story is pretty straightforward. A group of four married couples go to the mountains for some marriage retreat. While they're there, drama unfolds as the couple's learn dark secerts about their relationships and have to learn to cope with those issues and love spouses despite their faults - you know, typical Tyler Perry material.

Actually, the movie is bit more restrained on forcing messages down our throats. With Madea completely out of the picture, the scenes were able to mix the comedic and dramatic elements of the story without the sudden jumps in tone that made Madea Goes to Jail so horrible. As a result, I have to say this maybe my favorite of the Tyler Perry Movies I've seen. There isn't too much for me to really talk about though as if you've talked about one Tyler Perry film, you've basically talked about them all. I was impressed that I was able to sympathise with the characters and their motivations and some of the characters (mainly the volcanic Angela) were actually really funny. The performances are uniformly good, and the positivity promoted is a welcome relief from all the negativism inherent in some of the post-modern drama I've been sampling parts of recently.

Something else that really shocked me about this film was how both parties in the marriages were equally at fault. Normally in movies like this, the man is the one to blame because he's always either pig-headed, sexist, abusive, a cheater or all of the above. Here, only one of the men present in the movie displays those traits, and instead it's the women who have to do a bulk of the learning and changing (though the main lesson is still all about compromise), and the whole plot manages to wrap itself up in a way that doesn't feel forced or cheesy...or at least as cheesy as most Tyler Perry movies are. All in all, its a surprising solid film and I'm curious as to where the second is going to take things.

Best Movies of 2009

I actually think I went to the movies this year more than I have in the last six or seven years. Much like my television picks, I missed out on most of the big budget releases. Almost the entire summer blockbuster season when unnoticed by me, I haven't gotten off my butt to see Avatar (came close though), and as usual I missed out on Pixar's latest inevitable award winner. Overall, people seem to note that 2009 was a pretty lousy year for movies and I can agree with that. The summer blockbuster period was littered with just awful and lazy 80s cartoon adaptions and sequels and the roughly seven or eight movies I actually went out to see ranged from pretty good to just plain boring. I had some difficultly picking five movies that I really like and like the television picks, there is one movie on this list I haven't talked about yet.

Best Movies of 2009

5. Zombieland

Horror is not my genre of choice, but Zombieland succeeded in entertaining me mostly because it focused more on the comedy and relationships between our heroes than on the onslaught of the undead. The surprise celebrity cameo may be one of my favorite sequences of the year and the finale at an amusement park is probably the most purely inventive scene I've seen in a action-related context. Despite my aversion to almost anything horror related, I wouldn't mind seeing the creators continue the story of four strangers looking out for one another.

4. I Can Do Bad All By Myself

Tyler Perry seems to have figured out that if he is going to do a drama/comedy film, the two genre elements must bounce off one another naturally instead of randomly switching off at any given moment. That was the problem with "Madea Goes To Jail", but "I Can Do Bad" fixes this and is all the stronger for it. The movie doesn't do anything groundbreaking, it's just well paced and has solid cast work.

3. Star Trek

I haven't talked about this film mainly because I saw it before I started posting my opinions of things on this site. This movie was my first proper exposure to the Star Trek franchise and though it didn't make me want to rush and watch any of the various series, it was still an enjoyable science fiction outing. The movie managed to do a lot to make both series fans and newbies happy, and I think it succeeded in most areas. Zachary Quinto makes a memorable Spock, even if I still see him as the villain from Heroes and Simon Pegg as Scotty pretty much made the movie for me. The movie is well set up for further cinematic outings and I'll be waiting in line if it comes.

2. Precious

This is the type of drama that Tyler Perry should aspire to create. Precious is a truly emotional and dark movie and it never really gets much lighter, just deciding to end things when there is some small hope present. I said it before but the real strength of the movie is it's cast. Mo'Nique made an unbelievable transformation from a decent no-nonsense comedic actress to a extreme villainous force to be reckoned with and Gabourey Sidibe perfectly captured crushed innocence and lost potential for the title character. This is just a great movie.

1. The Hangover

I love comedy films and The Hangover can stand up with the classics of the genre. It is without a doubt one of the funniest film I've seen in a while. The combination of Helms, Cooper and Gilifanakis is a combo that shouldn't work, but works flawlessly. I said it before and I'll say it again, if you’re looking for a good, fun movie, look no further.

Precious (Review)

I was actually shocked to learn after seeing this film that Tyler Perry was "involved" in its production since this movie is rough five times greater and more ambitious than his own outings, although I guess that has to do more with Oprah's "involvement" than anything else. Based on the novel "Push", Precious tells the ridiculously depressing story of Precious Jones. She's 16, morbidly obese and illiterate. She lives in Harlem with her abusive mother and to top it all off, she's pregnant for the second time by her AIDS infected father. She gets kicked out of public school and is transferred to an alternative school. There, a teacher named Blu Rain brings her up to speed on getting a GED and Precious decides to make a better life for herself in spite of almost everyone trying to keep her down.

Though the plot sounds like it could be a parody of after school specials, its execution is anything but. Unlike most stories with plots this depressing, the movie doesn't try to be uplifting, though it at least ends with some ray of hope. Instead, the film gives us an uncensored glimpse into the awful life of a decent little girl who's experienced more trauma and heartache then most people do in their whole lives. The real strength of this movie lays in its cast, particularly Mo'Nique as Precious's mother Mary. Mo'Nique usually plays comedic roles in rather bland comedies but here she is true a powerhouse turning Mary into a monster. She is the epitome of human cruelty, though she has her bizarre reasons for her actions and she is a delight to watch. Singer Mariah Carey is stripped of the excessive make-up that she's infamous for and appears nearly unrecognizable as the social worker assigned to Precious' case. Gabourey Sidibe makes her debut as Precious and turns in an outstanding performance, seemingly tapping into preconscious feelings to make Precious come alive. Nothing could've prepared me for the dark nature and pure entertainment of this movie. It's easily one of the best films of the year.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself (Review)

Madea Goes to Jail failed to get me interested in seeing anymore Tyler Perry movies, so I didn’t have any intentions on seeing this one until I was dragged to it anyway by friends. Well, I figured it couldn’t be too much of a waste of time. The film has some kids breaking into Madea’s house, who proceeds to call their aunt, April to look after the brats. Naturally, April has her own problems like her abuse of alcohol and her dirt bag married boyfriend. A handyman named Sandino moves in with her to repair her home and bonds with the kids. April faces the usual conflicts associated with every Tyler Perry film before coming to a proper decision before the credits roll.

I must admit I was surprised by this movie. Maybe it was because I wasn‘t expecting much, but I enjoyed it. Sure, the melodrama is uninspired and sees April having to make choices that any sane person would solve instantly like having to choose to be with a disgusting, degrading, and just plain evil married man or a friendly sexy Mexican guy who likes to help others, but it’s mostly pulled off effectively thanks to decent casting. Taraji Henson in particular is a wonderful lead actress as she knows what to do to convey her character’s emotions and as a result they feel natural, while Adam Rodriguez is likable as the required knight in shining armor. The kids are played well, though their main job is to act cute and sympathetic. Their backstory and current dilemma is ridiculously cliche, only missing physical abuse to complete their sob story. There are also some outstanding R&B performances in a nightclub by some big name artists like Mary J. Blige and Gladys Knight that resonate with the themes of the story

Madea Goes to Jail was a schizophrenic film, flipping randomly between comedy and cheap hard-hitting melodrama; this outing is way more consistent. Madea is still the highlight as far as spitting rapid fire jokes and one liners are concerns and the film does a good job of letting the humor bounce off of the emotionally charged moments without feeling abrupt. The downside is that the comedic moments are more prominent in first half of the movie and almost nonexistent at the latter end, but luckily it doesn’t affect the overall tone as badly as in Madea Goes to Jail. Although the movie doesn’t change my opinion of Tyler Perry films, at least there’s a chance that his talents are starting to improve.

Madea Goes To Jail (Review)

Before seeing this film I'd never seen a movie or play in the Tyler Perry canon. For the last few years, I've just ignored the series, passing it off as a group of over hyped mediocre dramas and comedies. The only knowledge of the series I'd acquired through the years is that one of the recurring elements of the films is Tyler Perry in drag as a fat old cantankerous woman (The titular Madea).

If I had to pick one word to describe "Madea Goes To Jail" it would be schizophrenic. The movie swings wildly from a fairly well done comedy to a slow plodding drama. This is the result of 2 storylines that barely connect to one another. The comedic story naturally deals with Madea's run in with the law while the dramatic storyline deals with Joshua, a district attorney, trying to help his college friend turned prostitute, Candace, make a better life for herself.

The title of the film is unbelievably inaccurate. First the movie is far more concerned about Joshua's drama than Madea's latest misadventure. Second, Madea doesn't actually go to jail until the third act with roughly 25 minutes left in the film.

The Madea story is pretty damn funny, Madea steals every scene she appears in with abrasive one-liners and a mild sarcastic wit. The highlights being her anger management sessions with Dr. Phil and her encounter with a prissy white girl in a K-mart parking lot. The schizophrenic nature of the film shines when the more prominent district attorney/prostitute story takes over. The best example of this is when Joshua tearfully explains why he is trying so hard to help Candace. This is the big emotional moment of the film and right when it abouts to hit home...we cut to Madea doing something funny.

The dramatic saga of Joshua and Candace is just dull and predictable. When Joshua's fiancée Linda mildly over reacts to him helping Candace, we instantly realize that she will be the film's villain and that before the movie's over she and Joshua will break up when he finds out how evil and manipulative she is. This leads to the one thing that pisses me off so much about this part of the movie: Joshua and Candace get together in the end despite neither showing any real interest in one another. Joshua leaves Linda at the alter after finding out what she's been doing and immediately rushes to the prison Candace has been sent to (same one as Madea, providing the only real overlap of the 2 plots) and tells her he loves her. I don't understand American cinema's obsession with shoehorning a romance into every movie regardless of its genre, and this movie doesn't help. I would have respected the movie more if Joshua and Candace had just remained friends.

I've already talked about the movie more than I actually intended to. Bottom line, the movie would have been better if it had focused more on what they advertised the thing as: a comedy staring an old feisty black woman going to jail. This movie was ok and harmless enough to ensure that will be more Tyler Perry movies, but it doesn't make me want to see anything else with the Tyler Perry name.