R-Rated Summertime Movies #NaBloPoMo #MovieMeme

The chorus of a popular and very seasonal song by The Fresh Prince, also known as Will Smith goes “Summer, summer summertime. Time to sit back and unwind.” Join me in doing just that on this warm and rainy summer afternoon and evening, as The Bumbles asks Monday Movie Meme participants to share on their blogs movies set in the summertime. Here are my picks for this week’s topic.

Bad Boys II

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence team up again to play police detectives who investigate a drug kingpin from Cuba who is slanging Ecstasy in Miami, Florida. An undercover operation by the DEA further complicates their pursuit of bringing down a criminal who has been able to avoid jail time while reaping hefty paydays at the City of Miami’s expense. There is a beach scene in “Bad Boys II” where Gabrielle Union and Jordi Mollà get better acquainted during their business meeting, that influenced me to want to try Mojito cocktails. Yuck. That’s the last time I drink one of those!

White Men Can’t Jump

Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson star in this comedy as two inner city basketball players who join forces to hustle others on the court. Harrelson's character “Billy” needs money to pay off his debt to the mob while Snipes’ character “Sidney” wants to find a way to provide a better life for his family but his arrogant attitude does not help their situation. This is a funny movie that sports fans may enjoy. The two main characters came together through manipulation.

Billy found a way to take advantage of the fact that people stereotype him and he used it for financial gain, which worked for him. Sidney learned the “game” that Billy played and started to take advantage of Billy, so it appears that everyone is using each other in this movie. However, only the strong and smart survive no matter who you are, just like in real life most of the time. So in the end, this movie may be about a lot more than a simple game of basketball. Also, it looks like Rosie Perez was really workin’ it one the acting scene during the 90s!

The Inkwell

Larenze Tate, Morris Chestnut and Jada Pinkett-Smith stars in this romantic comedy/drama that has been on VHS or DVD (or maybe both) in the house that I grew up in for many years, yet I never watched it. While many of the actors in it are people worth watching in probably any film, I always thought that “The Inkwell” was a stupid movie. I honestly don’t know why, either. Still, the movie is a favorite among many of my relatives and friends, so I had the pleasure (um, not!) of hearing about this movie often. It seems to be about a troubled teenager who sets his house on fire and later befriends an older, married woman while away on a family vacation during 4th of July weekend.

It looks like the characters in these three movies combined need to all sit back, turn on a DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince "Homebase" CD, skip to track no.2 and have a glass of lemonade in the shade....or a coke and a smile....whatever tickles their fancy, because they do just the opposite of unwinding in the r-rated summertime flicks on this list!

If you like this post, check out the Heat Wave one too (or recommend it to a friend if you already read that post). It is a nice companion to this summertime theme!

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No More Shoving Leonardo DiCaprio Down Your Throat.... #NaBloPoMo

We may have selected the wrong King Dong this month because as it turns out, actor Leonardo DiCaprio hates being called hunk or babe of the month according to IMDB. Then again, he was nominated by people who may not only like his looks but also enjoy his movies as well so it should be just fine to let the fans celebrate their favorite actor and everything that they like about him.

DiCaprio’s position on this and strong feelings about not wanting to “be part of this meat factory” is understandable, so does this mean that movie goers should not find him attractive and concern themselves with the on-screen performances and these performances only?

Leonardo DiCaprio is hot but is there something to this particular pet peeve of his that more of us should take into consideration before highlighting one’s, um, physical package? Do movie fans sexualize, fantasize about and romanticize actors too much?

Wait a minute. I started feeling guilty when reading DiCaprio’s quote about not wanting to be labeled as a “hunk” and then realized that the Madlab Post doesn’t contribute to the meat factory, relatively speaking. Previous posts centered on him included a variety of non sexual topics such as him being wooed for Clint Eastwood’s new film, his work off of the film set to save endangered species and even how he taught me lessons on love.

Sure, he is the "Babe of the Month" but it's more of a babe of the month with a purpose. The Madlab Post’s King Dong series has become more than a meat factory, no pun intended. However, if crowning Leonardo DiCaprio as such means that I am shoving him down the throat of my blog readers, then this will stop now. No more shoving Leo down your throat......at least until next weekend when he may (or may not, since people still need to vote) retire on the thrown so another male celebrity can take his place.

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Pros and Cons of Midnight Movie Showings #GBE2 #NaBloPoMo #NowPlaying #atthemovies

Movie showtimes that are scheduled to take place at midnight are among the most populated screenings during opening weekend and beyond. This can be one of the greatest experiences ever for movie going audiences or one of the worst because there are advantages and drawbacks to attending these screenings. Here are pros and cons of midnight movie showings to consider when purchasing your next ticket at the box office.

The Pros of Midnight Movie Showings
1. Large groups of people who are mentally, physically and emotionally invested in a particular picture may share similar reactions to what is happening on the big screen. They laugh, cry, cheer, scare and get angry together, which creates a more communal experience. Therefore, people who camped out and went to see “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2” at midnight when it was released on July 15th likely had more fun watching the movie than a group of people who went to an afternoon show surrounded by people who are only there to get their kids, spouses and/or friends to stop nagging them about watching the movie.

2. Lots of new movies are often released at midnight, giving early audiences an opportunity to see them before everybody else in the town. This can be an advantage for everyone from office employees who want to brag at the water cooler about being among the first to see a film to students or parents who have a busy schedule an want to get a showing in as quickly as possible so they can get on with their upcoming day.

3. Going to see a movie that is released at midnight helps to eliminate the possibility of someone spoiling the plot during and after opening weekend. Learning about a crucial plot point in a movie that one plans to go see is no fun and ruins the anticipation for many, if not all movie going audiences. Someone will either decide to not go see the movie at all, which lowers the film’s box office gross or the person will go see it anyway but the experience will never be the same since another person who attended an earlier screening spilled the beans about the plot.

The Cons of Midnight Movie Showings
4. A college student that I consulted with about this blog post told me about a frustrating experience of going to see “Twilight: New Moon” at midnight. She had a difficult time enjoying the movie because fellow fans at this midnight movie screening were so excited that they were talking as it played on the big screen. The point of going to a theater is to watch the movie being shown, not to discuss what is happening or what you think is going to happen in later scenes.

5. Poor theater choices for midnight movie showings can sometimes result in audience members wishing that they waited until the daytime or after opening weekend has passed to see a film. This is because some movie theaters attract rowdy, ignorant and violent audiences that are inconsiderate of others. Movie goers who attend midnight screenings at low quality theaters are more likely to endure cell phone conversations, crying babies, kiddie pranks, fights and other nuisances that do not take place at theater locations where the audience is more mature, reserved and respectful of one another and the venue’s policies.

6. Having to stay up and awake late at night is one of the disadvantages of attending midnight movie showings. Many audience members do not enjoy staying up until 3:00 in the morning and then driving all the way home, even if the movie that they watched was enjoyable. So while going to see a movie at midnight may seem exciting at first, the experience becomes less enjoyable after the night has wound down and people realize that they have to get up in a few hours to go to work, church, school, run errands or complete other tasks. Their responsibilities need to be completed, despite the fact that they are running on only a few hours of sleep.....if they slept at all when returning home from a midnight movie showing.

What Pros or Cons of midnight movie showings would YOU add to this list?

Photo courtesy of Bonita Sarita

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