Coming to America, 1988

Coming to America, 1988
Director: John Landis
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones


Stage: Home TV selection on a good evening


Preps: None, I have seen this many times and this just brings good memories. I have seen this for the first time at the movies, when being a child and I simply adored Eddie Murphy.


Coming to America in short: It is the 21st birthday of Prince Akeem of Zamunda and he is to marry a woman he never saw before. Now the prince breaks with tradition and travels to America to look for the love of his life.


Reality: Wow, it sure brings the memories.. I am eager to see this again. I remember the scene where a nice girl pops out of the water, claiming "The royal penis is clean" and remember that when being a child I really thought this was the type of treatment I would get if I were a princess. Very naive, I must say. Even though it's long after seeing this for the first time, it laughs me still and has a solid humour. A good story could be brought into these days, just with some slight adjustments. It is still real, that a father doesn't want his daughter to marry a poor and undecent man (or not a famous man in this case) and that his mind completely changes and goes bizerk about the guy when he finds out he's rich. In this sense, this story could have been taken in present time.

The roles that Murphy covers, are spectacular and were a breaking point at that period. You couldn't imagine how many different characters he and Arsenio Hall covered. It was just amazing and Murphy - although having second attempts with other movies, in my opinion never covered the task quite as efficient as in this movie. He had a lot of copy cats (for instance Martin in Big momma's house is the same thing - one actor playing many roles) - which means, he was in some aspects, the trend setter.

The movie is simply entertaining and fun to watch over and over again. Who wouldn't at least dream a bit about royal treatment at some point in your life? It brings several other obstacles (like selecting a bride, which is still the case in many countries globally).. but nevertheless, I wouldn't mind switching for a period with Akeem's perspective. In any case, only royalty could be so excited about working as a cleaning guy :)


My personal rating: 8,0 (fun to watch again and again. You will love Murphy every step of the way).

Coming to America on IMDB

Tenderness, 2009

Tenderness, 2009
Director: John Polson
Cast: Russel Crowe, Jon Foster, Sophie Traub

Stage: Home theatre


Tenderness in short:Three lives. Buffalo detective Lt. Cristofuoro, whose catatonic wife is in hospital, takes a special interest in Eric Komenko, a juvenile who killed his parents and will be freed on his 18th birthday. So has Lori Cranston, 15 or 16, her body fully developed and the object of lust by her boss and her mother's new boyfriend. She keeps a scrapbook about Eric, and when he's released from custody, she hides in the backseat of his car, insisting he take her with him on a trip toward Albany where he's planning to meet a girl. Cristofuoro is certain Eric will kill again, so he follows. It's clear early on that Cristofuoro's probably right, but what's Lori's motivation?

Preps: Again, one of the leftovers on my disk. The fact that Crowe is in it, diggs my mind. I just adore the man and want to see everything he has to give. Although I don't suppose it will ever stand up to be Gladiator again.


Reality: Wow, a huge dissappointment. The story is not as bad as it is represented. I mean, it could be driven much better, as a half criminal thriller. Instead of that, the movie has too long and static scenes, no real action and lots of questions unanswered. Why the detective pursues the young rebel, is quite clear, yet it could be more of a mystery, if the director walked an extra mile. It doesn't happen, unfortunately. The young lady just dissappears without anyone looking at her. At least when she drives everyone around her crazy, you have a gut feeling why. And all in all, you want to shut down the movie.
The dialogue sucks, the scenes are terribly put together. Crowe might be the only shining point in this piece, but even he doesn't convince me to watch it until the end. All the time I am waiting for the movie to develop into something interesting. Doesn't happen, unfortunately. Did the young man actually rape his dead mother? Now there's a story to follow. Well, I wait without any luck.

Even Crowe has his bad moments. This was one of them.



My personal rating: 2,0 (and this for the sake of Crow. Apart from that, crappy movie and I definitely don't recommend it.


Tenderness on IMDB

Date Night, 2010

Date Night, 2010
Director: Shawn Levy
Cast: Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg


Stage: home theatre, being half dead of the disease, desperately seeking for movie entertainment

Date Night in short: Phil and Claire Foster are a couple who have been married for several years. Their days consists of them taking care of their children and going to work and coming home and going to bed. But they find time to have a date night wherein they go out and spend some time together. When another couple they know announce that they're separating because they're in a rut, Phil feels that he and Claire could be too. So when date night comes Phil decides to do something different. So they go into the city and try to get into a new popular restaurant. But when it's full and still wanting to do this, Phil decides to take the reservation of a couple who doesn't show up. While they're having dinner two men approach them and instructs them to stand up and go with them. They think the men are with the restaurant and want to talk to them about taking someone else's reservation. But it appears the couple whose reservation they took crossed someone and the two men work for this person...

Preps: hm, none whatsoever. I just have it on the disk and has been waiting for rainy days like this one. Me, being very feverish and in a terrible cold. Wow, I see Mark Wahlberg. Haven't seen this stud in a while. My curiosity increases.



Reality: Boy, this one is so predictable, yet entertaining up to a point. Now imagine being an old couple (not old in years, but old in the time spent together), bored to death and forcing yourself to go on a date. Yuk. Would never want to be in their shoes. Or skin, for that matter. And yes, you close the door to your bedroom and don't let your flesh and bones menaces to just walk in at five in the morning.

Apart from that, the red line seems adequate. A bit of wine makes everything sparkling, I guess. A bit of boldness in the relationship should spice it up a bit. The unusual adventure is a bit underestimating to the viewer, but for the mid of the night entertainment I must confess that there are several points in the piece that entertain me more than just the average piece. Yes, they again claim cops are pretty stupid. And yes, the movie implies that couple logic can be totally illogical. And implies old romances to just last and last. A lot of trivial information and hardly believable, are exposed in this piece. And a lot of "fortunate" events that cannot be real. However, the mission of this piece isn't really in reality of the stage and reality of the events happening.

In my opinion the movie on one hand implies that making a relationship work, means constant work from both sides and also points out where the point of no return should be (or how to recognize you are diving into this status). Point of no return would mean being fed up with the relationship and making it happen for the sake of relationship and not because you are comfortable within it. So not living the life, but being a mere observer.

In this sense, the movie makes me think about relationships. Whatever happens at the end, I am not really interested. And it doesn't bother me if I never know. I just know I don't want to be in the shoes of that couple - before their comedy starts.

Oh, yes, Wahlberg. A pure decoration in this movie. Nothing more, unfortunately.


My personal rating: 5,0 (can make you think. Apart from that, nothing special.. And Mark has even more muscles and looks as I remember).


Date Night on IMDB