ATL

Let me first off by saying I am a African-American male in his late twenties who is not impressed by the current state of hip hop today. With the exception of Common, Mos Def, Kanye West, and some Jay z. I don't care too much for hip hop today. I like everyone who thinks like me was skeptical about the Movie but after last night of advanced screening this movie I have to say I was truly truly impressed and will most definitely see it again. This movie is a wonderful movie to take family members too. Yes thats right its a good family flick in my opinion. The acting was crisp and Well done. Ti really surprised me he did a wonderful job acting. His character is not to far from his personality but I can see the man has a stage presence much like Tyrese. What I love about the movie the most is the mixture of 80's and 90's and present time. What I mean by that i, it has a mixture of all of those eras but its realistic cause that is how it is now. This movie has it all hot girls, humor, realism, and again very very safe to take the kids to see. So trust me when I say this movie will and should do well at the box office. Worth the price of admission. Well Matinée price anyway.

Who's here after watching The Righteous Gemstones?

After a fun weekend, my friends and I got up to some.... sinning. My wife read my emails, and luckily this movie existed to cover for my actions. I only ask that the film makers make more movies like this to cover for my weekend trips away. Suggestions for movie titles are "ATM", "the redness is getting spreading", "How do you know if you're gay?" and "The Sound of Music 2".

Thank you in advance.

p.s. took away one star because I wasn't emotionally connected to Rashad's character.

A story about young people struggling to overcome the darker side of the neighborhood. Rashad Swann (Tip Harris) comes of age and takes responsibility for himself and his brother Antwone (Ross) to move toward getting out of the hood. Rashad meets a great girl named New New (London) with a secret that almost costs them their relationship. Antwone gets involved in dealing and suffers from a boss that isn't very understanding. Rashad and his skating buddies spend their time at the Cascade roller rink competing in skating events in preparation for the annual skating tournament that they've won several times. The main characters are all pretty likable and the dialog was a good compromise between reality and prime time TV. They even had an old timer speaking some Jive. You won't find an abundance of emotion from the righteous characters, but it is well worth seeing. Even with all the daily troubles, it doesn't leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

I just got back from an advance screening of ATL--the movie that cannot be marketed as a roller skating flick because Roll Bounce "didn't make money."

OK, so I guess that's a major spoiler in Warner Brother's eyes. But I think it's kinda cool to see a PG-13 movie set in current times that shows young men and women battling with the process of growing up. If you've seen lots of movies like me, you'll know where ATL borrows it's cues from--the friendships of Juice, the house party from House Party, the fat girl from Cooley High a dash of Purple Rain the broad tapestry of Last Picture Show or American Graffiti and the swagger of Saturday Night Fever. It also owes a lot to John Hughes' early work. That being said, director Chris Robinson, in his feature debut, delivers strong visuals and an excellent soundtrack/score that constantly reminds you that these are real places, people and problems. He gets excellent performances from his cast--a mix of veteran actors and musicians in their film debuts.

The big plot twist in the story (which I won't give away) raises a very interesting question that the movie with as broad a scope as ATL has no way to answer--do these young girls project a "grown-up" attitude because it's fashionable or is it the only way to find love and attention from these young boys who are, in their own way, desperately in search of their own manhood without the guidance of true role models? ATL tels a very familiar story but with interesting hues and nuances that defy the typical "hood" flick. I encourage you to check it out in theaters.