Selling Wrigley

Gene Wojciechowski has an interesting column up at ESPN.com regarding Sam Zell's sale of naming rights for Wrigley Field. While I could take the classy route and say how this is an affront to baseball lovers everywhere, but in this case it's much more fun to be honest; and I have to say as long as it hurts the Cubs and Cubs' fans it sounds like a great business move to me.

Review: Be Kind Rewind

Now, there are movies that you walk away from thinking, "wow, that was good," and then, on rare occassions there are those movies that you leave feeling better about the world around you and life in general. Be Kind Rewind is such a movie. This movie had been receiving a lot of buzz before its release and it has lived up to that buzz, at least in my humble opinion. The movie revolves around a video store owned and operated by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). When Mr. Flecther has to go away for a few days he leaves his clerk Mike (Mos Def) in charge of the store. After an attempted sabotage of the local power plant goes wrong, Mike's friend Jerry (Jack Black) becomes magnatized. When Jerry comes to visit Mike at the store, his magnatized body erases all the tapes. All this is happening while Mr. Fletcher is out of town and the store is in danger of closing. In order to save the business Mike and Jerry must remake all the movies, or at least the ones that customers wish to rent. Needless to say, hilarity ensues. Mike and Jerry, with the help of Alma (Melonie Diaz) attempt to do justice to such classics as Ghostbusters, Driving Miss Daisy, and Robocop among numerous others.

After seeing him in three different movies (The Italian Job, 16 Blocks, and now Be Kind Rewind) I am convinced that Mos Def is a very capable actor. He is clearly the brains of the Mike and Jerry Duo. Jack Black has never been funnier. The banter and bickering between in Mos Def and Jack Black is extremely funny. Melonie Diaz is an actress to watch. I was very impressed with her take on Alma, as she was, in my opinion, the most likeable character in the film. It was great to see Danny Glover (I miss the Angels in the Outfield days) and Mia Farrow back in action again.

Overall, Be Kind Rewind was a great film. I highly recommend you check it out!

Rating: ***1/2

*=Uwe Boll/Michael Bay bad **=Keeanu Reevesish ***=Great ****=Fantastic