Talk To Me (2007)

Ahhh, the stormy sixties. Talk To Me Focuses on the end of the 60's in Washington, DC, and the role that Petey Greene, ably portrayed by Don Cheadle, plays during this turbulent time. Martin Sheen plays the radio station owner, and Cedric the Entertainer is fellow DJ, Bob "Nighthawk" Terry.

Greene is down on his luck- big time. He was in prison for armed robbery, and had to overcome drug addiction. His one attribute is his big mouth, and he puts it to use in prison as their DJ. After he gets out early from the slammer, after talking a prisoner down (which he sent up in the first place), he fast talks himself into a position at the local DC radio soul station, WOL (these days he would probably do a podcast...). While his fellow DJ's are content to just spin the discs, his knack for "telling it like it is" resonates well with the local urban community, and he becomes a success story. Along the way, programming director, Dewey Hughes (actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (say that one ten times fast!)), has to shield Greene and his developing "P-Town" from the radio station owner. Greene also plays a pivotal role during the riots that ensued after Martin Luther King, Jr's assassination in calming the masses down, and avoiding further loss of life and destruction to DC.

I enjoyed Talk To Me. It is well acted, and told a story with a beginning, middle, and even an end, which I guess we can't take for granted anymore. Along the way, there is even some character development, and the period soul songs don't hurt one bit to keeping the entirety authentic and moving. If you want a film that's not the same old thing, than Talk To Me will likely fit the bill.

Overall Grade: B+

Reviewed by Jonas

Johnson Family Vacation (2004)

Load up the car, and gather the kids, we're going on a road trip! Perhaps the quintissential summer family activity is a driving vacation, but after watching Johnson Family Vacation, it's enough to make us want to stay home. It features Cedric the Entertainer (in no less than two roles), and Vanessa Williams.

Cedric plays Nate Johnson, the middle aged father who is in a falling apart marriage. Of his three kids, at least the youngest adores him, as the two teenagers have no use for him. He decides to take a road trip, in a new tricked out Lincoln Navigator from Los Angeles to Missouri for a family reunion which includes his mother, and an ultracompetitive older brother. Along the way, we have the predictable wrong turns, motel issues, sickening road food, yelling at the GPS, hitchhiker that they should have left at the side of the road, and run in with the police, and some American Indians. You know, just like every other summer vacation/roadtrip movie seems to have these days.

It's not that it's not humorous, but it's that this has all been done plenty of times before. If you've seen RV, Are We There Yet?, or National Lampoon's Vacation than you've pretty much seen most of the Johnson Family Vacation. It's too bad that much of the humor is so formulaic, as there are plenty of new directions that we could of gone in here. Unfortunately for this film, the three films that I mentioned above were all better than it. Still, for a mindless armchair vacation, or a reminder why you're staying home with your next block of time off, Johnson family Vacation does provide some diversion.

Overall Grade: B-