Snakes on a Plane (2006)

It was January 2016 when I first heard of Snakes on a Place, when many people picked it for the airplane themed week of Thursday Movie Picks. That's for how long I've been meaning to watch this but kept putting it off instead. 

The plot goes like this. After witnessing the murder of an American prosecutor by the powerful mobster Eddie Kim (Bryon Lawson) while on vacation in Hawaii, Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) is persuaded by FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L. Jackson) to testify against Kim in Los Angeles. For the trip back, they take the entire First Class section of a red-eye flight, thinking that Jones would be safe there. Unfortunately for them and everyone else on that plane, Kim has dispatched hundreds of venomous snakes with a crate with the intent of crashing the plane and hence stop Jones from testifying. 

Glass (2019)

If it wasn't for Glass, I probably would have never seen Unbreakable, one of the best origin films ever, nor Split, its marvellous standalone sequel. If I hadn't loved those two films, on the other hand, I would have never sat through two hours of whatever the hell Glass is. 

Set immediately after Split, Glass opens with an aged David Dunn (Bruce Willis) who, helped by his son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), tries to stop Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) and the twenty-four personalities that reside within him. Things don't go exactly as planned and both David and Kevin are locked up in a mental hospital where David's archenemy, Elijah Price aka Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), is also staying. As if that wasn't bad enough, David has to deal with a psychiatrist (Sarah Paulson) who is out to prove that the three men do not have super-human abilities. 

Unicorn Store (2019)

I love Brie Larson so when I learnt that her directorial debut, Unicorn Store, was available on Netflix (by the way, fuck you Netflix for telling me about every single insignificant rom-com of yours but totally forgetting about notifying me about this, and thank you Film Twitter for making me realise it), I watched it immediately.

The story follows Kit (Brie Larson), a young woman who is ejected from art school and goes back in with her parents (Bradley Whitford and Joan Cusack). After dumping herself on the sofa watching TV, she decides to join a temp agency, takes up an office job and soon finds encouragement from Gary (Hamish Linklater), the company's vice president, to pitch a campaign for a vacuum cleaner. But then she gets an invitation to The Store where the salesman (Samuel L. Jackson) promises that not only unicorns exist but that she'll be able to have one of herself to love her forever if she lives up to a few demands. 

Captain Marvel (2019)

Although it took Marvel more than a decade to make a movie about a heroine —and they probably made it only because they needed her in End Game— and the web filled with negative reviews earlier this week, I'm a Marvel ho and I love Brie Larson and I'm also a woman so of course I went seeing Captain Marvel. And I had pretty high expectations about it, even though I was said to lower them. 

Set in 1995, the story begins on the planet Hala with Vers (Brie Larson) training with her mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). They soon go on a mission to rescue an undercover Kree operative who infiltrated a group of Skrulls, shapeshifting aliens who have been fighting with Krees for centuries, but it turns out it was an ambush, Skrulls leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) captures Vers and tries to extract information. Instead, he revives some of her memories, she manages to escape and crashlands on planet Earth, where she joins forces with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to discover who she really is and to stop the Skrulls from getting an experimental engine designed by Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Benning).

Unbreakable (2000)

Believe it or not, I was completely unaware of the existence of Unbreakable until a couple of weeks ago when it came up in a conversation about Glass and me not being interested in seeing it. I wasn't that interested in seeing Unbreakable either, to be honest, but then I saw it on Netflix and decided to give it a chance. 

The story follows David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a security guard who not only is the sole survivor of a horrific train crash that killed 131 people but also got away without a single scratch on him. As David starts to wonder what has happened to him and why he was able to walk away like that, he is approached by Elijah Prince (Samuel L. Jackson), a mysterious stranger who has a very far fetched theory about it, that David is unbreakable.

Incredibles 2 (2018)

I'm one of those people who completely snubbed The Incredibles when it came out —mainly because I was 10, I had a bigger brother and therefore I had no power over which film to see at the movies— and I kept avoiding it for the following years because it just didn't appeal me —frankly, I thought it was a kids movie. Then, about a year ago, I finally watched it, and I loved it which made me very excited for the sequel. I guess it's karma hitting me back for waiting so long to see the original that I got to see Incredibles 2 only now. That or the fact that I live in a shitty country. 

Anyways, the film follows the Parr family who once again has to hang up their suits as supers have been outlawed because of the collateral damage of their heroics. Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter) are soon approached by tycoon Winston Deavor (voiced by Bob Odenkirk) who wants to restore superheros' image, and offers Elatigirl a job. She accepts and, when a new supervillain, Screenslaver, wreaks havoc with his mind control abilities, she has to face this new threat. Meanwhile, Mr. Incredible is left to take care of the kids.

Soul Men (2008)

Genre

Comedy | Music

Director

Malcolm D. Lee

Country

USA

Cast

Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac, Sharon Leal, Sean Hayes, Affion Crockett, Adam Herschman, Fatso-Fasano, Jackie Long, John Legend, Jennifer Coolidge, Isaac Hayes, Mike Epps, Millie Jackson, Sara Erikson, Vanessa del Rio, Randy Jackson

Storyline

When R&B legend Marcus Hooks (John Legend) suddenly dies, his original back up do, Floyd Henderson (Bernie Mac) and Louis Hinds (Samuel L. Jackson), "The Real Deal", are invited to appear at a memorial tribute at the Apollo Theater. With bad blood between them, the two men agree to participate, and now must sort out the past.

Opinion

Failing in playing a fair tribute to Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes, Soul Men is a rambling comedy offering some laughs, and good music.

Considering the musical aspect only, you can easily say the film is well done. In fact the most interesting moments of the movies are those in which Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac and their beautiful voices perform, by singing and swaying.

Unfortunately the rest of the story feels forced, and despite it delivers a few chuckles here and there, the result is not satisfying. There is just too much going on - the reunion of the two friends, the discovery of a daughter -, but soul hasn't been used to tell the story.

Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone's script repeats itself using always the same expression, fills the dialogue with bad language and relies on jokes about Viagra, and infidelity.

As for the cast, the leading duo Jackson-Mac has a good comical chemistry, and it's a real shame that they won't team up again.

Another real shame is that this is Bernie Mac's last film, and I really hoped for something better than this.