Month: May 2013

Jack Reacher Movie Review

A list actor Tom Cruise dives into B pulp movie territory with Christopher McQuarrie’s Jack Reacher, a film with style to spare but plenty of flaws to go along with it.

Reacher is based on a series of novels by Lee Child, which I’ve never read. Apparently the character in the novel is 6’5″, which is a bit of a stretch for Tommy boy who is like 4’3″ in real life (give or take). When a group of five random people are gunned down by a sniper in Pittsburgh, the arrested perp instructs defense attorney Helen (Rosemund Pike) to “get Jack Reacher”. Turns out Reacher is an ex-military cop who has a history with the arrested party and doesn’t believe the shooting massacre is as open and shut as the evidence suggests.

The picture follows Cruise along on his investigation to get to the truth. Per usual, no one can be trusted, from the detective heading the case (David Oyelowo) to the district attorney (Richard Jenkins) who happens to be Helen’s dad. There’s also a shadowy character named The Zec (Werner Herzog), a Russian gangster and his band of thugs.

For a good portion of Reacher‘s running time, McQuarrie keeps us intrigued with his polished direction and often effective B movie dialogue. McQuarrie has some credibility in this field as the screenwriter of 1995’s B movie classic The Usual Suspects (he also co-wrote Cruise’s solid 2008 thriller Valkyrie).

However, the plot of Reacher ends up not being terribly engrossing. The character of The Zec is a truly fascinating one who is given virtually no screen time, but famed German director Herzog makes the most of his limited role. None of the other supporting performances are bad but they’re not memorable either. I had to rack my brain trying to remember what else I’d seen Rosemund Pike in. Turns out she was a Bond love interest in the worst 007 flick ever, Die Another Day. She didn’t leave much of an impression there and she doesn’t here either.

By the time Robert Duvall shows up as a grizzled old Ohio gun range owner who helps Jack out, I found myself reaching for my cell phone to check the time. Duvall’s role is ultimately kinda pointless and seems written in simply to reunite the stars of Days of Thunder.

This is Cruise’s show and he acquits himself nicely. While he may not resemble the character in the books, Cruise is first-rate and believable in the role. McQuarrie and Cruise hold our attention for quite a while, but Jack Reacher turns out not worthy of its bloated 130 minute running time. If you’re a Cruise fan, I’d recommend a view just to see something a little different from the star. Be prepared to be a little disappointed though, as I was.

**1/2 (out of four)

2013 Summer Movie Preview: Epic, Turbo, and Planes

There is certainly no shortage of flicks this summer geared towards the family audience, including five animated features competing for dollars.

The top two earning animated pics are likely to be sequels that were already covered in a previous post, Monsters University and Despicable Me 2. There’s also the computer animated Smurfs sequel.

Kiddos will have three other animated features to choose from as well. Epic (May 24) comes from 2oth Century Fox and features the voices of Colin Farrell, Beyonce, Josh Hutcherson, and Christoph Waltz. Animated features set in forests have a checkered history… remember 1992’s Ferngully? No?

Still, Epic has the advantage of being out of the gate first and could do respectable business while nowhere near the numbers of Monsters or Despicable.

Turbo (July 17) comes from Dreamworks in a tale about a snail who wishes to become the fastest snail in the world. Featuring the voices of Ryan Reynolds, Michael Pena, Maya Rudolph, Paul Giamatti, and Snoop Lion (not used to that yet), Turbo will not be the fastest earning feature this summer, but good word-of-mouth could propel it to respectable grosses.

Lastly, Planes (August 9) is from Disney Toons and is a spin-off of the successful Cars franchise. It was originally intended for direct-to-DVD release before the studio changed their mind. Disney will make most of its dough with the Monsters Inc. sequel this summer, but moving Planes to theaters will probably be a profitable venture. The flick features the voices of Dane Cook, Brad Garrett, and Cedric the Entertainer.

The 2012 Summer Movie Preview will continue soon with horror flicks. Stay tuned!

Gangster Squad and Broken City Movie Reviews

January is typically seen as a dumping ground for films that studios have little confidence in. When a picture opens in the first month of the year with big stars, that can usually be seen as a red flag. And so it is with Gangster Squad and Broken City, which both opened in January to disappointing box office results. Audiences got it right here – they’re both forgettable titles that don’t deserve the considerable talent involved.

Gangster Squad is from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer and takes place in Los Angeles circa 1949 when gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) has taken over the city with his particularly deadly Mob tactics. A straight-laced Sergeant (Josh Brolin) is enlisted by the police chief (Nick Nolte) to form a squad to take Mickey out and restore order at any cost. Brolin enlists lots of recognizable actors to help in the cause, from Ryan Gosling to Giovanni Ribisi to Michael Pena to Robert Patrick to Anthony Mackie.

The pic is a highly stylized exercise whose tone is closer to The Untouchables than other genre entries. The difference? The Untouchables was really good and effective. Squad feels unoriginal and derivative. Sure, it looks good, but you won’t remember much about it the morning. Most of the actors try their best, but they have skimpy material to work with.

Among the issues I had: we get a romance between Gosling’s character and Mickey’s girlfriend, played by Emma Stone. As you will recall, Gosling and Stone had major chemistry in 2011’s romantic comedy Crazy Stupid Love. Here, their relationship is underwritten and dull and it left me wishing I was watching their previous movie. Sean Penn, one of the finest actors of his generation, goes way over the top as Mickey. Also, his make-up job is pretty ridiculous. Brolin’s character is a bit of a bore and ultra cliched. He even comes with the pregnant wife whose character is straight outta Screenwriting 101.

Gangster Squad wants to bash us over the head with its excessive violence, but never bothers to give us interesting, well-written characters to get involved with. Director Fleischer showed tremendous promise with the original Zombieland. This movie doesn’t have an original idea or thought in its head.

Gangster Squad: ** (out of four)

Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe headline Broken City from director Allen Hughes (who co-directed Menace II Society and From Hell with his brother). The city is New York City, where Wahlberg is an ex-cop turned private eye who’s hired by the corrupt Mayor (Crowe) to find out who his wife is sleeping with days before the Mayoral election. This leads to your usual double crosses and instances where “not all is at it seems!”.

The first hour or so of City is decent if unremarkable. Eventually, the screenplay moves toward twists and turns that rely on BIG and unbelievable conveniences, like Wahlberg finding key pieces of evidence in a dumpster where the rest of the documents are being shredded. Thank goodness they forgot to shred the most important piece of evidence!

Like Squad, the characters are poorly developed. Wahlberg’s story arc is a familiar one – he’s a cop who may or may not have shot an unarmed suspect. He had a drinking problem… wanna take bets on if he relapses? He’s conflicted about doing the right thing, yada, yada, yada…

Crowe adds some decent acting to an otherwise unremarkable character. Catherine Zeta-Jones doesn’t have much to do as his neglected wife, who may or may not be having an affair.

Broken City fails mostly because of a lackluster screenplay. Wahlberg and Crowe deserve better and director Hughes has certainly shown an ability to do far better.

Broken City: ** (out of four)

So the January curse holds true for these pictures. Are they both watchable? Sure, but with lots of end of 2012 titles just reaching home release and the summer season beginning at the multiplex, why waste your time? I just did that for you!

Iron Man 3 Movie Review

Iron Man 3 is essentially competing against two expectations from previous pictures. First, the general feeling (one I agree with) is that Iron Man 2 was a bit of a letdown. Second, the general feeling (which I also adhere to) is that last summer’s The Avengers was pretty frickin’ awesome.

So where does Tony Stark/Iron Man go from here? In Iron Man 3, the character goes into the hands of director/co-writer Shane Black. Jon Favreau directed the first two installments and he reprises his role as Tony’s former bodyguard Happy. But it’s Black who now inherits the franchise. For those who don’t know, Black is best known as the screenwriter of action extravaganzas such as Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout. In 2005, he made his directorial debut with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a terrific action/comedy that starred… Robert Downey Jr.!

Shane Black’s contributions give Iron Man 3 a different feel than what we’ve seen previously. It’s darker in tone yet it also has a comedy spirit at times that works well. Black is a great writer and his work here shines. We also delve a bit deeper into Stark as a person. A lot of the action the character is involved in this time around is accomplished without Tony wearing the Iron Man suit. Furthermore, Gwyneth Paltow’s character Pepper is given more to do – she even gets to don the suit!

While Mickey Rourke ended up being a fairly blah villain in the second flick, this time around we have Sir Ben Kingsley as evil terrorist The Mandarin. It’s pretty much impossible to describe Kinglsey’s character without revealing major spoilers. I will say this: Kingsley is fantastic in the role and he will be the character you’ll probably talk about the most. Guy Pearce gives an effective performance as another villain… again, can’t talk too much about him due to spoilers.

I won’t get into the plot details of Iron Man 3 – I mean, you’re gonna see it anyway if you haven’t already. Bottom line: Iron Man 3 is not quite on the level of the first for me, but it’s a definite improvement over #2. Downey is brilliant as always in the title role and I particularly enjoyed his rapport with Harley (Ty Simpkins), a kid who Tony befriends.

The film doesn’t attempt to outdo the grandeur of The Avengers and that’s just fine. It feels like a smaller film – at least small compared to Avengers. It may not rank at the very top of the best superhero movies, but Iron Man 3 is well worth seeing and kicks off summer 2013 in good manner.

Iron Man 3 is solid enough that I certainly hope Downey doesn’t abandon the role. My guess is that he won’t. And I also hope Shane Black returns for a fourth installment. His presence is a welcome addition to the Marvel world.

*** (out of four)

Box Office Predictions: May 10-12

The second weekend of the 2013 Summer Box Office season continues with two new entries, The Great Gatsby and Tyler Perry Presents Peeples. 

On Monday, I wrote an extensive post outlining my Gatsby prediction which can be read here:

https://toddmthatcher.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/the-great-gatsby-box-office-prediction/

Yesterday, Tyler Perry Presents Peeples got the similar blog prediction treatment which can be read here:

https://toddmthatcher.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/tyler-perry-presents-peeples-box-office-prediction/

The new films are highly likely to open at numbers 2 and 3 over the weekend. There is really no doubt that last weekend’s champ Iron Man 3 will remain #1 by a wide margin. The big question is: how far will it drop? The Marvel adventure had the second largest opening weekend of all time with $174.1 million. Its opening is second only to last summer’s The Avengers, which debuted with $207 million and dropped 50% in its sophomore frame. That’s a terrific hold for such a gargantuan debut and Disney/Marvel would love to see a similar hold here. With a great “A” Cinemascore grade, a drop of only half could occur, though I’ll predict it falls a little bit more.

The top five is likely to be rounded out by holdovers 42 and Pain and Gain. With that, my predictions for this weekend’s Top Five:

1. Iron Man 3

Predicted Gross: $83.9 million (representing a drop of 54%)

2. The Great Gatsby

Predicted Gross: $41.3 million

3. Tyler Perry Presents Peeples

Predicted Gross: $18.5 million

4. 42

Predicted Gross: $3.6 million (representing a drop of 41%)

5. Pain and Gain

Predicted Gross: $3.3 million (representing a drop of 57%)

As always, updates will be posted on the Facebook page on Saturday with final results Sunday on the blog.

And if you think I’m wrong about the Gatsby and Peeples openings, I invite you to check out http://www.boxofficeace.com where you can compete against me with your own predictions.

2013 Summer Movie Preview: The Great Gatsby, Only God Forgives, and More

With all my box office predictin’ and such, I’ve slacked off a bit on my 2013 Summer Movie Preview. So far, I’ve covered sequels, action flicks, comedies, sci-fi entries, franchise hopefuls like The Lone Ranger and The Mortal Instruments, and superhero movie restarts Man of Steel and The Wolverine.

Tonight, I turn to films that are a bit harder to categorize. I begin with Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, the fourth adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel that stars Leo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire. It opens this Friday and I’ve already written about it extensively in my box office prediction post from yesterday. You can find that here:

https://toddmthatcher.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/the-great-gatsby-box-office-prediction/

This brings me to what could be my most personally awaited release this season: Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, out July 19th. Refn is the director of Drive, one of my favorite pictures of the last decade. Forgives re-teams the director with star Ryan Gosling in a tale that involves Thai boxing and a twisted criminal family. I’m trying my best not to know too much about it before I see it because I want to experience it like I witnessed Drive. That basically means I didn’t know much and was pleasantly, very pleasantly, surprised. Refn has proven himself to be one of the most exciting directors working today and I’m hopeful Forgives delivers on his promise he showed two years ago. Simply put, the potential is there for this to be all kinds of awesome.

On May 31st comes Now You See Me, a caper flick from The Incredible Hulk director Louis Letterier. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Morgan Freeman, the plot involves magicians who get mixed up in heists. I gotta say, the trailers make Now seem like it could be fun, though I wonder whether this relatively small pic will break out in a season filled with would-be blockbusters.

One of the more curious titles to emerge this summer is Much Ado About Nothing (June 7). It is an ultra low-budget black&white adaptation of Shakespeare’s play that was shot in the director’s home in less than two weeks. The catch? That director is Joss Whedon, who also made something called The Avengers last summer. Whedon decided to go in a completely different direction here before he jumps on board with the breathlessly awaited Avengers sequel.

Sofia Coppola has proven herself to be a terrific director with such memorable pictures as The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation. On June 14th comes The Bling Ring, starring Emma Watson as a member of a group of thieves who prey on starlets like Lindsay Lohan. Bling is based on a true story and this one has real breakout potential, especially due to its ability to target the often-neglected female audience this season.

Inception and Dark Knight Rises star Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes his directorial debut with Don Jon, out in August. Gordon-Levitt plays a womanizer whose ways begin to change when he meets two women, played by Scarlett Johannson and Julianne Moore. He’s proved himself to be a fine actor over recent years and it will be interesting to see if Gordon-Levitt’s talents translate to behind the camera. NO TRAILER AVAILABLE AT PRESS TIME.

Finally, Amanda Seyfried stars in Lovelace, a biopic about Deep Throat porn star Linda Lovelace. This could be the type of role that garners Seyfried major critical attention, as long as its decent. NO TRAILER AVAILABLE AT PRESS TIME.

No porn star biopics in my next entry of the Summer Movie Preview as I’ll preview titles geared towards family audiences. Stay tuned!

Tyler Perry Presents Peeples Box Office Prediction

Tyler Perry Presents Peeples is virtually assured the #3 spot at the box office this weekend when it debuts. The comedy should fall behind Iron Man 3 in its second weekend and The Great Gatsby, which is highly likely to open in the runner-up spot. I predicted a $41.3M opener for Gatsby.

Most of the flicks coming out of the Tyler Perry factory have been directed and/or written by the star. This time around, he’s only producing, but the studio was smart enough to put his name in the title, as with his other features. Perry’s non-Madea pictures tend to debut somewhere in the mid-teens to mid-twenties. Some recent examples:

The Family That Preys: $17.3 million opening

I Can Do Bad All By Myself: $23.4 million opening

Good Deeds: $15.5 million opening

Confessions of a Marriage Counselor: $21.6 million

Most of those titles did not debut in the heat of the summer movie season. That’s worth mentioning because Iron Man 3 will have a massive second frame and Gatsby should do well. There is competition out there.

The film basically looks like the Perry version of Meet the Parents. It’s got a good cast – Craig Robinson from “The Office”, “In Living Color” alum David Alan Grier, and Django Unchained co-star Kerry Washington. Simply having the name Tyler Perry attached to it likely means a respectable opening, though I don’t believe it reach above $20 million, even though that’s certainly possible. I’m thinking mid-to-high teens is a better possibility.

Tyler Perry Presents Peeples opening weekend prediction: $18.5 million

Tomorrow, I’ll make my predictions for the weekend’s top five, including my projection on how Iron Man 3‘s second weekend shapes up.

The Great Gatsby Box Office Prediction

Originally scheduled for release in December 2012, this weekend finally brings us the eagerly-awaited The Great Gatsby. From Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann comes the fourth film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel. Gatsby is headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire in this romantic drama set in 1920s era New York.

The picture has had an aggressive marketing campaign. Go look at a magazine rack in your local supermarket and you’ll see Leo and Carey’s faces frequently. With a reported $127 million budget, Gatsby is certainly looking to make its mark domestically and worldwide. This is one title that has the potential to do greater business overseas than stateside.

While Warner Bros. decision to push back Gatsby to summer 2013 from the more Oscar-friendly December 2012 season was first met with confusion, the move is now looking to be perhaps a shrewd one. The main reason: there is really nothing out there right now that is primarily marketing to the female audience. We’ve still got Tony Stark and friends entering their second weekend with Iron Man 3 and the following weekend we will see Kirk and Spock in Star Trek Into Darkness. Memorial Day weekend brings Fast and Furious 6 and The Hangover Part III. All are titles more concerned with bringing in the dudes than the ladies. I would suspect some female significant others take their male counterparts to see the film this weekend because they watched Iron Man 3 last weekend.

With its star power driven by Leo and some effective trailers (not to mention a buzzed about soundtrack), Gatsby could be in a position to exceed expectations. Conventional wisdom would put the pic around a $30-35 million opening. Anything less would have to be considered a letdown due to the budget.

I’m going a little higher, just as I did with my Iron Man 3 projection (and that worked out pretty well). I went with $172.4M for the third Tony Stark adventure. It made slightly more with $174.1M. On Wednesday, I’ll have my projection for Iron Man 3‘s second weekend where it’ll certainly remain #1. Tomorrow, I’ll have my projection for the weekend’s other new release, Tyler Perry Presents Peeples.

Today, though, it’s about Gatsby. And it’s about predicting a healthy debut for it.

The Great Gatsby opening weekend projection: $41.3 million

Movie Perfection: “I Wrote That A Week Ago.”

SPOILER ALERT: If you have yet to see Silver Linings Playbook, two pieces of advice: go watch it right now. After you do, read this post. If you have seen it, read on…

David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook is the kind of movie that restores your faith in movies. It is in many ways wholly original while also using time tested film conventions in fantastic ways.

It is filled with great performances. This is not only a showcase for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in her Oscar-winning role, but also for Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, and Chris Tucker, who for far too long only played alongside Jackie Chan in Rush Hour flicks. We need to see more of him.

The film is a triumph of direction by Russell, one of the most exciting filmmakers of his generation. He knows how to bring an electric sense of movie making to a scene. The climactic dance scene between Cooper and Lawrence is one example of many. Russell’s style brings a feeling of true nail-biting suspense… to a mid-level regional dance competition in Philadelphia. Not an easy thing to do.

The picture takes us on a journey bringing together two lost souls, Pat (Cooper) and Tiffany (Lawrence). They both have a vast array of issues, to say the least. Pat is suffering from mental health problems, some of which is due to his broken marriage. Tiffany is still trying to recover from the death of her husband and is failing most of the time.

All the characters in Silver Linings Playbook are flawed. You know, like real people. De Niro plays Pat’s dad. He’s a deeply superstitious football fanatic whose character defects may have contributed to his son’s own issues. Jacki Weaver plays Pat’s mom and she struggles with finding the right balance for how to help her son (and her husband). Chris Tucker was at Pat’s mental health facility that he was committed to. He’s chock full of issues, too. And even the secondary characters like Tiffany’s sister and her husband are stuck in a marriage that seems to be going downhill.

Pat and Tiffany find one another and become connected through agreeing to enter a dance competition together. Their motives are at first self-serving. Tiffany basically blackmails Pat into doing it by promising to give a letter to his estranged wife. You see, there’s a restraining order between them. Tiffany seems to just want the company of Pat and this is her way of achieving it.

When we reach the wonderful climactic dance scene, we are left so happy by their ability to pull it off. Plus it’s pretty damn funny. In a lesser movie, that dance would’ve been some masterpiece of movement that left us floored. Not here. It’s, well, realistic. And that makes it even better.

The big question we’re left with is whether Pat and Tiffany end up together. In a lesser movie, there would be no doubt. In a movie this original and at times unexpected, we really don’t know. We get our answer in an absolutely beautiful scene between them. Without going over every aspect, this scene leaves us as an audience totally satisfied. And when Pat reveals his love for Tiffany, he presents her with a letter that she begins to read aloud and then he finishes it. He knows the letter by heart because as he reveals to her, “I wrote that a week ago.” We realize that Pat has wanted to be with Tiffany for longer than we suspected. Longer than she suspected. And that line and those six words left me with a smile on my face that lasted until after the credits rolled.

Silver Linings Playbook presents us with two flawed and imperfect people whose flaws and imperfections compliment one another’s in a perfect way. What’s more romantic than that? The film is one of the best movies in recent years. And those six words uttered by Pat to Tiffany are another example of Movie Perfection.

Top Ten Rappers Turned Actors

Hip hop has been going strong for over 30 years and the musical genre once seen as a fad is now a permanent part of the soundtrack of our lives. The world of rap has also turned out an impressive array of artists who’ve translated their talents from the music world to the silver screen. Tonight on the blog, my personal list of the Top Ten Rappers Turned Actors.

10. Ice-T

Before becoming a reality TV star and having a hit show with “Law&Order: Special Victims Unit”, Mr. T was one of the O.G. rappers to become a movie star, with credits that include New Jack City, Ricochet, Trespass, and Surviving the Game.

9. RZA

The founder of the groundbreaking group Wu-Tang Clan makes the list just as much for his behind-the-scenes work in film. Last year, he directed the Russell Crowe martial arts flick The Man with the Iron Fists. RZA also brilliantly did the score for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill films. His straight acting credits include Ghost Dog, American Gangster, and Funny People. 

8. Ludacris

The “Stand Up” rapper earns his place here due to being part of the massively successful Fast and Furious franchise and appearing in an Oscar-winning Best Picture, 2005’s Crash. That same year, he gave a solid supporting performance in Hustle&Flow. We’ll forgive him for Fred Claus. But he also gets points for his song “Get Back” being featured so memorably with Tom Cruise dancing to it in Tropic Thunder.

7. LL Cool J

LL’s actual movie career has been spotty at best, filled with box office disappointments that include Toys and Rollerball. On the bright side, there was Any Given Sunday. However, it’s his TV career that gets him this spot with a successful sitcom “In the House” and hit drama series “NCIS: Los Angeles.”

6. Tupac Shakur

As with his great rap career, who knows how big Tupac’s movie career would have become? He was well on his way before that fateful Vegas night in 1996. The late rapper’s credits include Juice, Poetic Justice, Above the Rim and Gridlock’d.

5. Eminem

Memo to Marshall Mathers: make another damn movie! His 8 Mile in 2002 was hip hop’s Purple Rain and proved the artist to be quite a good actor. Since then, he made a cameo as himself in Funny People and on “Entourage”.

4. Queen Latifah

The “U.N.I.T.Y.” rapper received an Oscar nomination for Chicago, headlined the hit comedy Bringing Down the House with Steve Martin, and was featured in other titles ranging from Set It Off to Hairspray. Latifah also starred in the hit FOX comedy “Living Single”.

3. Ice Cube

Who would’ve thought one of the most controversial rappers at one time would transition his career to starring in family-friendly titles like Are We There Yet? He made a splash with his debut in John Singleton’s 1991 classic Boyz N The Hood. Other credits include the Friday franchise, Anaconda, Three Kings, the Barbershop films, and 21 Jump Street. He directed 1998’s hit The Player’s Club.

2. Mark Wahlberg

There may be a whole young generation who don’t even remember “Marky Mark” as a hip hop artist. Talk about a successful transition! Wahlberg’s movie credits are truly impressive: Boogie Nights, Three Kings, Planet of the Apes, The Italian Job, The Other Guys, The Fighter, and Ted, to name a few. He was Oscar nominated for The Departed. Quite an accomplishment for someone who was once best known for rapping with his shirt off.

1. Will Smith

No real contest here. His films have earned a combined $2.6 billion domestically. This includes the smash hits Independence Day, Enemy of the State, I Robot, Hitch, and I Am Legend. Of course, there’s also the Bad Boys and Men in Black franchises. And there’s two Oscar nominations – for Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness. And there’s that hit TV show that got him started acting in the first place, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”. DJ Jazzy Jeff’s movie career has been considerably less impressive.

There’s your top ten, my friends! Other rappers that have made their mark in movies include DMX, Snoop Dogg, T.I., Mos Def, and Eve.

Of course, there are always example of popular rappers (at the time) making missteps:

And we have also have the occasional actor who wrongly thinks he can rap:

So, based on history, keep an eye on 2 Chainz or Drake or Nicki Minaj coming to a theater near you. And how long until Macklemore gets that Oscar nomination?