Let’s be honest, life can get pretty darn overwhelming at times and in order to cope with the stress of it all, we find ways to escape. Vacations, hobbies, movies, gaming and television shows all serve as that little voyage away from everyday life where we can recharge our mental and spiritual batteries before heading back out in the world once again and the important thing to remember when it comes to our little escape venues is that they are only a temporary respite from our problems or woes because like it or not, we eventually have to face them.
 
But for some people, reality and all of its hardships are sometimes too much to bear and they rely upon the wonder of their respective escapes more often than they should in order to get through the day and while others often look down upon these people as weak or lost, one has to wonder…what would the rest of us do if given the chance to escape everyday life, without any kind of consequences? Would we pursue everything we ever wanted to accomplish in life? Or would we join the ‘lost’ and disappear into our own little world, and these are questions that are explored in the fascinating science fiction film, 2047: Virtual Revolution.
 
Now in this motion picture we are transported into the year 2047 where the world is a vastly different place. After all, technology runs rampant all over this world and it would seem that mankind has accomplished wonders but in fact, it has grown stagnant. For virtual reality has reached its pinnacle, to the point where people find the virtual world far more preferable to the regular one and a vast majority of the population stays online every hour on the hour, enjoying this wonderful escape from reality. But something is happening online, and ‘The Connected’ as they are referred to, are beginning to die while using VR in mysterious fashion and the one man who is tasked with finding out who is responsible for such an act, is about to discover a conflict in the virtual world that goes beyond a mere struggle for power and control, no, this fight, is about saving the future of all mankind…

​So, fair warning, the first thing you’ll notice when you watch this film is the sheer fact that it resembles a sci-fi classic, since this movie looks and feels a lot like Blade Runner with its sprawling cityscapes and flowing technology and the familiar feel of a replicant-themed world is only enhanced further by how the main character, Nash, dresses like Rick Deckard when he’s out and about the town. But thankfully, all of this is nothing more than mere homage and by using a familiar visual style the movie is able to suck you in and allow you to enjoy some seriously dark and powerful storytelling concepts that quite frankly, my mind is still pouring over days after watching this motion picture.
 
Because really, this movie takes the time to dig incredibly deep into the questions that I posed at the beginning of this article and I’m not sure if the audience will be happy with the answers that it provides because in the end the movie truly paints a bleak picture for the future of mankind and well, to me that’s a brilliant stroke of writing through and through from writer/director Guy-Roger Duvert. Because let’s be honest, sci-fi films like this tend to always present us with hope for the future, that scenarios like this are merely speed bumps where mankind loses its way for a moment. But this film, well it doesn’t offer a sunshine and roses outlook for mankind, it instead presents us as greedy and vapid and this storytelling decision brings up an important and poignant reminder for the genre in that, sci-fi doesn’t have to always look at the bigger picture, it can in fact, encapsulate the moment.
 
Which really makes this particular film a grander commentary on our current world since there are elements of class warfare and concerns about the elite keeping the masses docile and that really is stuff that’s flat out ripped from everyday headlines and it made this film a refreshing surprise when is all said and done and one that quite frankly I recommend. Because this is a film that kept my attention from beginning to end, and like I said before it’s stayed with me, especially that ending, simply due to the fact that this particular story tried to do something new and I respect it for being bold and bucking the mold. 

It is easier said than done, going through life with no regrets.  It is a motto that I have taken to heart as of late and most of the time it keeps me going, but when an opportunity is missed, well let’s just say it gets me down. I know this happens with several people these days as schedules get more and more crazy every day.  It is just important to fight to make time for those things that you know are important, since you never know when they will present themselves to you again.

Gotham’s underworld has a new boss coming to town as the Red Hood is ready to take over the business. Promising protection from the Batman and the former boss Black Mask, Red Hood is determined to make everyone money and keep the streets safe from the evil doers. Not knowing what is afoot, Batman is doing his job when he intercepts a gang of hijackers who stole a truck meant for Black Mask. Finding out that the mysterious Red Hood was behind the heist, he is not able to gain any additional information about this character as the men are killed off by a sniper.

Giving chase across the rooftops, Batman and Nightwing are able to get close to the Red Hood, but when all of their familiar tricks do not work, they discover that the new vigilante is well trained and will be a burden to be dealt with. Watching footage of the pursuit, Batman feels like there is something familiar about the Red Hood’s escape tactics and quickly finds out that the man under the mask is someone from his past.  Believing he put his last partner to rest, Bruce Wayne digs up the grave of Jason Todd (his last Robin) and finds out that the body in the casket is made of latex.  Now knowing who he will be matching up against, Bruce has to find a way to keep his old trainee from killing everyone in his path, especially the villains he is looking to take revenge upon.

Meanwhile, the Red Hood does not only have to worry about Batman coming after him, Black Mask is also trying to hunt him down. Blowing up shipments of guns and taking over half of his income, Red Hood has become a nuisance to the crime boss and the time has come to put him down. When his best men are defeated by the Red Hood, Black Mask has to turn to someone that can make things happen. Breaking the Joker out of Arkham Asylum, Black Mask has unleashed an evil on Gotham that not even he knows how to control. With a plan in place to bring Red Hood out in the open, the Joker is not willing to stop there and will make sure that everybody knows that his crazy is not only skin deep. Preparing to take out all of the Red Hood’s distributors, Joker is happy to see that Red Hood along with Batman will be fighting over him. But Red Hood does not have the same respect for life as Batman does and with only revenge in his eyes, he will beat the Joker, the same way he was beaten years ago. Will Batman be able to stop his old apprentice from killing another evil doer and taking the final steps into becoming one himself?

I know that this is a Batman story, but dang it is really a dark look at the human psyche. With Red Hood taking over the drug trade in Gotham, he lowers the crime rate on the streets, but that is not enough for him. Wanting to take revenge on the Joker, he devises an elaborate plan to get the Joker back on the streets, putting many more lives at risk. As Batman has the flashbacks about the young Jason Todd and how good of a partner he was, he also recalls Jason's need to bring vengeance on the evil doers and blames himself for not being able to stop it. Now as he is still in mourning of his former student’s death, he sees that the next step has already been taken and there is little that he can do to stop it. Even though Batman creates his own demons, he is still human and wants to correct them by any means necessary and that is what is so humbling about his story. Even with all of the gadgets in his possession, he still relies more on his mind than anything else. Happy Viewing.

​There are two types of people in this world, there are leaders and those who need to be led.  I would love to say that I am a leader of sorts, I know at work I am the go to and people will blindly follow me, but when it comes to real life, I am still lacking that trait.  There is nothing wrong with not being a leader, you just need to figure out who the right person is to follow.  When you do, life becomes very simple and you do not have to worry about a thing. But if you choose the wrong person to follow, well, what can I tell you, you will have to come up with excuses of why you have been so foolish and not holding yourself accountable for your actions.

Leonardo has been sent away to continue his training to become a better leader at his master’s request.  Leo is not doing what he was told to however, he is not thinking about better things to bring back to the city, he is taking care of issues in Central America first hand.  Not being able to control what he is doing, Leo believes that he has failed his master and does not want to go home, but when he is discovered by April in the jungle, he starts to have a change of heart.  Hearing that his brothers are not continuing their training, but working meaningless jobs, Leo finds out that he is the glue that holds his family together.

Arriving home, Leo is greeted by his brothers and his master, but one member of the family does not seem too happy to see him.  Raph has been doing his own thing and even though the rest of the group does not know his secret identity, the Nightwatcher has been patrolling the streets at night and keeping the city safe in the turtle’s absence.  Needing to get everyone back on the same page, Leo takes his brothers out to look over the city, but when they get word that something is going down, they jump back into action like the good old days.  Finding the Foot being beat up by a large hairy monster, the group is content to sit and enjoy the show, but when it is apparent that the monster will not stop when it is finished with their enemies, the turtles jump into action.  Being defeated, the group knows that they need to get back into shape for their next battle and having monsters showing up in their city is something that they will definitely have to prepare for.

On the other side of town, Max Winters knows exactly what is about to happen to the city and has employed April O’Neil to acquire the great general statues from all over the world for him.  Max is looking to have a family reunion with his old crew that were prepared to take over the world three thousand years ago, but now he is looking to end his reign on earth and become a mere mortal once again.  Needing to capture the thirteen monsters that are loose on the planet to close the portal he mistakenly opened so long ago and ending the curse he has put on the land; his resurrected generals do not feel the same way.  After being trapped in stone for three thousand years, they are ready for battle and to finish what they started.  Max knows what must be done, but he will need to band together as much help as possible to close the portal and send his former family into the abyss. 

Legends and lore have changed the outlook for the turtle’s movie franchise, but in a very good way.  Even though this movie was animated, it does not make it any less of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie and a good one at that. It even follows how the live action series had left off, so I guess it is part of the saga that the third film should have ended with.  But the turtles in this movie, although they kick some serious butt and emotions once again and with a power struggle between Raph and Leo, you can see that there is much more to the green machine than just action and jokes.  Was I surprised with this movie?  Yes, and pleasantly since it was more focused on the family again and each member’s struggles rather than jokes and outdated references that nobody would get if they were not born into that era.  Happy Viewing.

Trying to do what is right in this day and age seems to be a losing battle.  With so many things that can and will get in your way, you may think that it is not worth the fight, but if you keep with it, you are bound to break down the barriers. So many people give up so quickly saying that it is not their fight, when in reality it is. Don’t ever let someone tell you that a noble effort is a waste of time, much less that it is not worth fighting for. These are the people that do not want to witness change and are content in staying under evil’s thumb and allow all of the nastiness to happen to others.

The turtles are living life in their new pad without a care in the world. Training day in and day out, they have a good thing going in the sewer but once again Raph has something to say about it. Killing their training music, Raph wants to be outside and roaming the streets and meeting people.  But Splinter will not allow this to happen since the world is not ready for walking and talking turtles and it may bring more enemies out of the wood work than they need to face.

April O’Neil comes to visit her boys and brings them some goodies from the flea market, but one item that she got for Splinter, she knows nothing about. When the scepter starts to light up, April is transported back to feudal Japan. Trying to figure out what happened to their friend, the turtles jump into action and Donatello is able to pinpoint how and when the scepter is activated.  With a new friend, Kenshin taking over April’s place in their time, the turtles decide to bring in Casey Jones to play babysitter in their absence. Expecting to arrive in a temple, the turtles are surprised to find themselves in the heat of a battle and without knowing who is fighting who, and who the good guys are, they escape the battle field, but Mikey is separated from the group and taken to a different camp.

With finding April being their primary responsibility, Raph, Donny and Leo check out the palace nearby and find that she is being held as a witch.  Being able to release her and a stranger named Whit that resembles their friend Casey, the group now turns their attention to finding their lost brother and the scepter. Being taken in by a rebel village, the turtles find out what is happening around them and try to adjust to their current time. Finding their brother but not the scepter, the turtle’s time is running out and they have little to no options for making it home.  But when the scepter is revealed to them and the true nature of Whit comes to the surface, the group is forced to make a decision that could leave them trapped in the past for the rest of their lives. You can never judge a book by its cover or a turtle by its spots when it comes to making the right decisions and with heavily armed forces coming to kill the off the village, the true nature of a hero comes bubbling to the top.

The third and final installment of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles saga comes to a close with this movie and I wish it would have been different. This is the only movie that cannot stand the test of time with all of the jokes being very dated and if I was to show this to someone born in the nineties, they would not get any of them. With a completely different feel than the previous two movies, this one was trying to play off of the humor aspect more than anything and it seems like the story got lost in the mix.  Don’t get me wrong, there are several serious moments in this movie, but they were rivaled by the jokes that came out seconds later.  It showed promise with the storyline but fell short in the execution. I would have rather seen the turtles go back to medieval times myself, but hey, they did not ask me. Happy Viewing.

There is something that everyone should recognize in life and it is that everyone is special in their own ways. There should never be two people exactly the same, because if there were, how boring would that be?  It is important that you recognize that your uniqueness is what makes you who you are and even if everybody does not like you, there are still several people out there that do. It is hard to imagine a world where everybody is the same, there needs to be some individuality out there.

Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael are loving life, especially after defeating the Shredder at his own game. And as April O’Neil has her new apartment, they are loving being above ground as well, especially when pizza is being delivered. But Splinter is not happy with their surroundings and knows that they must return to the sewers before something or someone else tries to attack the group. Needing to keep control of his kids, he is not one to shy away from discipline, even for the little things.

The Foot has retreated to their fall back location, a junk yard that has no authority around it. As their numbers have dwindled, they are still in need of a leader and Tatsu is ready to assume that role, but when a challenger from the depths comes to oppose him, Tatsu is happy to see a scarred but familiar face once again. The Shredder is back and has only one thing on his mind, revenge against the turtles and the old rat that left him for dead. Needing to find where they are hiding, one of The Foot clan members finds something much more interesting when working for April on assignment at TGRI. 

An ooze has been released in the city and the race is on to find it since both the turtles and the Shredder are looking to capitalize on its benefits. The Shredder is able to secure it first and has the good doctor whose job was to dispose of the ooze help him in his evil plan. Creating a massive snapping turtle and wolf to kill the turtles, the Shredder is once again on the top of the food chain. But the turtles will not go down without a fight and with the help of April O’Neil and their favorite pizza delivery boy Keno, the group is ready for battle once again.  Knowing the turtles can win the straight up fight, Shredder has a different plan of attack when releasing his new children on the streets.  The fear of what could happen next time is too much for the turtles to bear and they take their fight to the Shredder on his own terms, and the turtles have a few surprises of their own.

The second installment of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise turned out to be my favorite one.  The first movie revolved around the emotions that the turtles had to deal with, while this movie is just flat out fun and a lot lighter. With jokes being chucked every which way, it is hard not to smile, even when it looks like they are about to be defeated. I love this lighter mood and even though Raph is still kind of the defeated one, you don’t have enough time to notice how powerful the situation is. I don’t know if the series should have ended here since the Shredder is defeated once again and will not be rising from the ashes, or dock, but there is one more movie in this original series of films, so we will have to take a look at what the turtles can do when they are out of their own time. Happy Viewing.

​When times get tough for a person, they usually try to fight it alone, but they don’t have to when they have a family that cares for them. Families are more vital to our survival than most people give them credit for and even if someone is not a family member by blood, it does not mean that they are any less of a brother to you. It is hard to imagine that with so many struggles out there that families and friends do not pull together in a timelier manner, it takes a life changing event to open their eyes and see what is really important.

The streets of New York City have succumbed to a crime wave much worse than they have ever seen.  With the emergence of ‘The Foot’, a gang of countless members pulling off any job that they want to, it seems like there is nothing that the police can do. Doing her research on the group, reporter April O’Neil is calling out the police chief at every turn to try to get some resolution. But only being a reporter and having to work for a living, April is warned that she is treading on thin ice when it comes to this story and she will need to back off before something bad happens to her. Being a strong-willed woman, April continues with her series of stories on the crime wave, but when she is attacked while walking home after her day, she finds that there is someone equipped to battle the unseen forces of ‘The Foot’, but they are not who she expected.

Casey Jones has taken it upon himself to fight the good fight on the streets with so many people being taken advantage of. Wielding his hockey stick and baseball bat, he is a vigilante that brings street justice a new name. Stumbling on a strange character in the middle of the night, Casey sees that he is not the only one worried about the state of the city, but not knowing the story behind his new green compadre, he does not know what to expect. Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael are the underground saviors that everyone in the city needs but will know nothing about since they have been trained in the art of ninja. Also, people would not believe what they are seeing since they are five-foot-tall turtles. Being led by their master Splinter, the young turtles are trying to help protect the people of their city while eating pizza and having fun, but not everything is able to bounce off of their shells. When finding out that they saved April O’Neil from the news, they know that they can get plenty of exposure, but that is not what they need when it comes to their fight. Needing to find out where ‘The Foot’ is operating from to bring them down before more innocent people get hurt, the group of turtles find out that they have been targeted by someone much more dangerous than the kids they have been fighting.

The Shredder has set up his organization in the city and it is running efficiently until he hears word of these turtles that have a familiar fighting style.  Being a master in his home land, The Shredder is a god amongst men when it comes to fighting and will stop at nothing to ensure that his plans are completed. Using the knowledge from his kids on the streets, The Shredder sends a squad to take out the turtles before they get in his way, but not being able to kill them, he accomplishes the next best thing, kidnapping their leaders.  After the turtles first great defeat, they are forced to hide and train to ensure it will not happen again and with their leader’s life on the line, they know that they cannot fail again.

Freaking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, what can I say about this movie?  This was one of my favorite movies growing up because they are all hilarious! Mikey and Donny are best of friends and always trying to one up each other when it comes to jokes, while Leo is trying to be the best ninja of his ability while Raph is just trying to figure out his own life. Who would not want to be part of this family and with the late addition of Casey Jones to the mix, along with April O’Neil, it is hard to believe that anything could go wrong. They have everything going for them when rolling back into the city, but when they have to face Shredder alone, they know that they need just one more member, their leader. This was a ‘kids’ movie and had a storyline that overshadowed the turtles as young Danny and his father are on the outs and the boy joins ‘The Foot’ clan to feel like he belongs. After seeing the treatment that Splinter goes through, and how persistent the old rat really is, he understands how important family really is and gives up on his new life to go back to what he had.  It is a fantastic movie and I believe that it still stands the test of time since it has nothing to do with technology and gives all of us the strong message that if something could happen, it has to do with family and how they react when being put into the sewer, I mean corner. Happy Viewing.

It has often been said that money is in fact, the root of all evil and well…the people who often use that phrase, aren’t exactly wrong. After all, money and the drive to acquire as much of it as possible has led to some serious financial disaster in America and around the world and time and time again, we learn of the dangers of greed when we see the economy slip into a recession or downright collapse because a group of people wanted to maximize value for their all-important shareholders.
 
Yet, what’s truly fascinating about money and the problems it creates, is that a vast majority of those who scheme to get their hands on it in illegal fashion, rarely pay the piper for their actions. They simply move on to the next money-making scheme and we express our fury over the matter and eventually move on as well. But what would happen if people simply had enough of how the financial elite handle their business? Would they come together and make sure that laws are enacted to prevent such matters from ever happening again, or would some people take matters into their own hands and make the ultra-greedy pay for their crimes in blood? And oddly enough, it is that latter option that is explored in fascinating fashion in the film, Monochrome.
 
Now in this motion picture, we meet a woman named Emma Rose, whose life is instantly turned upside down when her boyfriend is arrested for embezzlement, and while this seems like an everyday case of greed, her sweetheart’s work could bring the United Kingdom to its knees financially since he’s stolen an incredible amount of cash and of course, the police want to know if she’s involved with this mess in any way, putting Emma on the run. But, she’s not simply content to sit by and wait and see if the police will track her down, instead she realizes she has nothing to lose and embarks upon a mission of revenge, one that will make the greedy pay dearly for a change. But a complication will present itself to Emma by way of a brilliant detective named Gabriel Lenard and his unique mental abilities will quickly put him one step ahead of her quest for retribution…

So, I have to outright admit, that this motion picture straight up tricked me. Because at first, it really seemed like a by-the-numbers crime caper wherein Emma was going to play the weak-willed victim and it would take a brilliant man like Gabriel to save her. So, imagine my surprise when suddenly, this turned into a serial killer flick, with Emma leading the charge as the killer in question, and Gabriel hot on her heels and well, this little twist was downright brilliant through and through for so many reasons, the first one being Emma’s motivations for murder. Because we so rarely see films in this vein feature murders that are grounded in morality, at least in the antagonist’s mind and it was downright fascinating to learn why Emma was so keen on putting down the rich.
 
If anything, Emma’s motivations and my desire to learn more about them brings us to the other reason I was a big fan of this motion picture; the fact that the characters are so incredibly rich and vibrant. There are layers upon layers when it comes to every single person we meet in the film, and while Emma is the truly most fascinating of them all, she’s foiled nicely by Gabriel Lenard since this intrepid and inexperienced Detective is unlike any other on the silver screen. Because rather than just make him another brilliant gumshoe, with powerful insight that no one can explain, they added new depth to this man by making him quite the outsider, complete with Synesthesia so that his character is always observing the everyday world in a different light, allowing for him to find things that other detectives and other people in general, flat out miss. 
 
All of these elements come together to create an outright fascinating film, one that quite frankly breathes new life into a tired genre in the most ironic way imaginable because the finer details of the plot, are surprisingly pretty routine storytelling wise, it’s the characters and their quirks that give it such a unique spin and well, this all worked so well in the end that I have to admit that I was captivated from the get go and simply had to know how it was going to end. And that makes this movie one that I definitely recommend, simply because it’s a downright entertaining ride and completely worth your time. So, if you’re a fan of crime movies or movies in general, and you’re looking for something new to tickle your brain, check this one out, you’ll be glad you did because this story really is a fascinating one that captivates you from beginning to end. 

I’ve always been extremely fascinated with how audiences eventually fall out of love with iconic film franchises. Not the act of walking away from the franchise mind you, but what exactly happened within the saga itself to turn audiences off. Sometimes it seems to happen simply because the quality of the storytelling and the filmmaking becomes so sub-par that audiences are left with no choice but to walk away because it’s obvious that the powers that be no longer care about producing a quality tale.
 
Other times, it seems to be related to franchise fatigue because the series has put forth too many sequels and it’s the same old thing over and over again. But sometimes, a franchise appears to lose its fans due to the fact that it betrays its core values and the subsequent stories that comes from said betrayal just don’t provide the audience with anything that helped for them to fall in love with the series in the first place and one such film that managed to pull of that kind of feat, is the final entry in the Friday trilogy, Friday After Next.
 
Because let’s be honest, when you talk about the Friday saga with people, the first two films are always looked fondly upon, but the third movie, well that seems to elicit a mixed bag of emotions and while I enjoy the movie, I’ve always been curious as to what exactly turned people away from this film and after watching it once again for the sake of this review, it finally hit me. This particular entry in the saga, outright plays it safe. The first two films provided us with fresh and original ideas that took risks with the comedy, but here…well this story feels like a buddy comedy flick and features familiar territory through and through, and that can definitely serve as a turn off when the other movies offer so much more. 
 
However, like I said, I’m a fan of this one because it’s actually filled with some genuinely hilarious moments and it continues the franchise’s proud tradition of giving us a magnificent quote to use time and time again because the ‘slap yo’ mama’ line is pure gold. As an added bonus, the comedy here is downright manic, and it allows for Mike Epps to shine through and through since he plays Day-Day, and a few other characters with a zest and zeal that we didn’t see in Next Friday and I was actually quite appreciative of the fact that Craig continues his subtle growth in this film, since the character is at an apex of maturity in this tale.
 
But, despite my love of the film, it simply didn’t resonate with audiences because of the fact that it tried to be a more traditional comedy and that’s a shame because this film really does have some good laughs to offer, and sadly its box office failure more or less signaled the end of the saga for the foreseeable future. But, I have heard rumors and discussions about a potential fourth and final film, and honestly, I hope it gets made. Because this saga deserves a strong and proper sendoff and really, when all is said and done, if you skipped this one because you heard it was nothing special, give it a chance. I think you’ll find it is better than advertised. 

It seems like when the chips are down, many of us just want to fold and go home. Not wanting to take that extra risk in life can be alright at times, but there are those times when you need to show your hand. With nothing in the future being written in stone, you can strive to make yourself a better person and inspire others to follow suit. You may not want to fail in whatever endeavor you are taking, but if you don’t ever take a chance, you will never reap the rewards.
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Getting called into his boss’ office, Jimmy Logan is shocked that he is being let go for having a limp that he has been fighting off for years. Not being able to convince his boss that it does not hinder his work, he is forced to look for some other way to make some money. Getting some life lessons from his younger brother, Jimmy finds himself getting into a fight with a celebrity to get his brother to listen to him once again. Yelling out ‘Cauliflower’ as he leaves the bar, Jimmy has a plan that will make his family some good money for a couple hours of work.

With a plan in place to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during a car show, Jimmy explains how the payday will benefit them both, but Clyde is having some reservations about the idea. But knowing all of the inner workings of the track, Jimmy knows that the plan is fail proof and only needs to bring in one outsider to make it work. Going to the prison to recruit the infamous Joe Bang, Jimmy is once again hit with some hesitation when it comes to getting back into the life of crime. Convincing Joe that he no longer has his secret stash, the explosives expert is forced to accept the gig, but with one condition, his brothers will have to be part of the caper as well.

With his small crew put together, Jimmy is ready to start putting things in motion. But when he returns to the track to pick up some blueprints and his belongings, he finds out that the job is going to have to be done a week ahead of schedule. Needing to change the date of the robbery, the crew is shocked that they will be present for the Coca-Cola 600, the busiest day of the year for the speedway. Not changing any aspect of the plan with the exception of the date is putting the crew off, but Jimmy is able to convince them of even a bigger payday than before and there will be no stopping him in proving that he is the true mastermind that nobody wants to give him credit for.

I really did not expect an under-financed Ocean’s type of caper, but that is exactly what you get when watching Logan Lucky. With a little more focus on family, Logan does not want to lose any time with his young daughter who only wants him around. With the family first attitude, the Logan and Bang families’ combine for some great shenanigans and a lesson in bomb building that involves gummy bears. The actors and actresses in this movie really played well off of each other, so even though I did not laugh as much as I did during the first Ocean’s 11 movie, I still enjoyed the heck out of this one. With a limping lead, a one-armed brother, a bar brawl, some West Virginian accents, gummy bears, lots of cash and the loss of a prosthetic arm, this movie is just a good one that will not leave you feeling cheated at all. While I am not a massive NASCAR fan, it really got me interested in what happens during the races that we never see on television, like an elaborate heist. 

​I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; making a sequel to an iconic comedy is always a risky venture, because so much can go wrong when it comes to part two. The new storyline may not work for the audience in the slightest, or the movie might end up becoming a grand re-hash of the original or to make matters worse; this new tale may take far too many risks storytelling wise, to the point where we are left with a movie that barely resembles the franchise we fell in love with.
 
But sometimes, the next entry in a saga can actually turn out to be quite the impressive venture, provided of course the right care goes into the screenplay and the right balance can be found so that the fans get everything they love about the original, all while they are treated to something new and exciting for their favorite characters. And recently, I took the time to revisit a sequel that not only holds a flame to its iconic predecessor, but it also managed to take the franchise in a bold new direction in Next Friday.
 
Now, this is another film that really doesn’t need to have its plot discussed here, simply because if you’re reading this, you’ve seen Next Friday and know what’s up. So instead, I really want to take the time to talk about what makes this sequel so great because it should by all accounts be a failure through and through. I mean come on, the movie is Smokey-free, it’s set in an entirely different place and all of that is normally a recipe for disaster, yet, this movie is beloved by fans everywhere, thanks in large part to Ice Cube’s stellar screenplay for the film.
 
Because it’s clear that he understands that memorable characters are king and that’s where this film excels, despite not having Smokey around. Instead, we are introduced a new world of quirky people, who provide us with some damn hilarious moments and their genuine and relatable feel instantly transports us back into this world and by having the connective tissue of Deebo and Mr. Jones present, it gives this motion picture a seamless feel and let’s be honest, it’s a damn funny flick as well. Plenty of the jokes here stick with you long after the movie comes to an end, and thanks to this movie, I can’t hear the words ‘Aztec Warrior’ in the same sentence without cracking up.
 
If anything, this motion picture really is an exception to the sequel rule and I’m glad that it is because the Friday saga truly is something special through and through and it’s great that this one feels like a logical progression to the overall story and that it’s just a joy to watch every single time I pop it in. Either way, this is another one that needs to be seen and owned and if you haven’t seen this one out of the worry that it might not be as good as the first one, then shake that worry aside and settle in for quite the hilarious ride because Next Friday is just an utter delight.