Cranked Up About Jason Statham

Chev Chelios (Jason Staham) faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working in Crank 2 : High Voltage.

Despite having fallen hundreds of feet to his death at the end of the previous film, Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) remains alive after Chinese mobsters literally shovel his body off of the asphalt, remove his heart and implant a mechanical one. Escaping only to discover that his heart isn't the only organ scheduled for relocation, Chev sets out to find the guys responsible, in the process crossing paths with ex-girlfriend-turned-stripper Eve (Amy Smart); Venus (Efren Ramirez), the brother of his ex-partner; Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), who promises to return his heart to its rightful place; and Ria (Bai Ling), a psychotic prostitute whose life he saves. Unfortunately, the mechanical ticker that's keeping him going requires frequent recharging by virtually any means possible, including jumper cables, shock collars, taser guns and even static electricity, so Chev soon lights up the city with sex and violence as he tries to stay alive long enough to recover his heart and get it back into his chest. A little bit like Chelios himself, Crank: High Voltage is all muscle and no connective tissue—there's nothing truly substantial or intelligent about his or the movie's forward momentum. Scenes explode out of nowhere and dissolve into nothing just as quickly, almost never with any clear or discernible purpose except for Neveldine and Taylor to exercise some oddball creative impulse. For example, the "explanation" for Chelios' heart looks like a '50s elementary-school filmstrip, and later, a brawl at an electrical plant inexplicably turns into a showdown between Godzilla-style monsters. That said, because nothing matters except for how outrageous each moment is and how it looks while it's happening, it's hard to examine High Voltage by any serious standard, unless there's an "awesomeness/suckiness" scale for the caffeine levels in Monster energy drinks. This movie practically defines the term "hot mess," but at least it has the integrity to provide the thrill before it makes you feel a little disgusted for watching it—or wanting to, anyway. (While I endorse the film's joyful embrace of the action-movie convention that the hero never, and I mean never, gets hit by bullets, you'll forgive me for covering my eyes when the tattooed gangster slices off his own nipples as an apology for failing his mission.) As a member of the vocal minority who recommends Tony Scott's Domino as the best example of, or at least the only plot-driven entry in, this subgenre of overwrought, action-filled and style-heavy odyssey, it is nevertheless hard to begrudge Crank: High Voltage any of its excesses, because its heart is in the right place, even if the movie is literally chasing after it the whole time. Neveldine and Taylor are not especially good storytellers, but they don't seem to want to be, which makes this film and its predecessor more experiments or experiences than pieces of entertainment. Ultimately, Crank: High Voltage is the superior of the two films not because it knows it's a second helping of something that is all empty calories, but because it's simply more than the other one: more stylish, more sexy, more violent. Yes, more offensive too, but for better or worse it's just plain more ridiculous, which not only makes it more excusable, but also makes it more exhilarating. Again, Chev mows down a wide variety of ethnic stereotypes. But at least Crank: High Voltage goes about its business with a better sense of humour than Taken did. More fun are the absurd digressions and set pieces that Neveldine/Taylor cram into the proceedings with a flagrant disregard for the usual rules of time, space and continuity. Tasteless, trashy and totally over the top, Crank: High Voltage might also be one of the year's most inventive movies. Sometimes, nothing exceeds like excess. I give this one a charged up 4 on my "Go See" scale.

Crank High Voltage Is The worst Film Of 09

This movie is the reason that most executives in Hollywood should be fired. When the idea to make "Crank: High Voltage" was brought to their attention they should have bounced the writer from the room. Instead they made one of the WORST films in History. This is the type of movie that the razzies was intended for.

The film opens with a sequence designed to look like a classic video game, depicting Chev Chelios' (Jason Statham) fall from a helicopter during the final moments of the original Crank. Immediately after his fall has ended, he hits a vehicle and bounces into the street. A car drives up and several Asian gang member get out. One tries to scoop him off the street with a snow shovel. They lift him up and remove him from the scene. He wakes up in a makeshift hospital and sees doctors removing his heart, while Johnny Vang (Art Hsu) watches. He laughs at the situation in front of him, and as viewers we should all have walked out at this point . The doctors place Chev's heart in a red cooler with a padlock, and place a clear plastic artificial heart in his chest. This causes Chev to pass out. Chev comes to some time later when an Asian woman is trying to take his temperature rectally. Two doctors come in and talk about their plans to remove several of Chev's organs, including his penis. This so infuriates Chev that he beats up the doctors while staying in the hospital bed the whole time, and when he sits up, he notices a yellow battery pack is attached to him, which he leaves on, Chev stands up and walks down the hall.

The other rooms contain prostitutes, and he is able to steal a set of clothes from one of the rooms without the occupants noticing. Outside, he gets in a major gunfight and is able to get the drop on one of the shooters. Chev interrogates this thug with grease and a shotgun, the more dirty minded you are the easier it will be to believe the method Chev uses. Chev needs to learn Johnny Vang's name and his location, he finds out that Vang went to the Cypress Social Club, and then Chev sets off to look for him. Once on the road, Chev finds a phone in his pocket, and calls Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), who tells him that he has been fitted with an artificial heart. Once the external battery pack runs out, the internal battery will kick in and he will have one hour before it stops working. After the call, Chev asks a nearby driver where to find the Cypress Social Club, but crashes his car in the middle of the conversation, flying through the windshield and sliding on the ground destroys his external battery pack. In order to keep going, Chev has the driver use his jumper cables on him, and then runs to the Cypress Social Club. Upon arriving, Chev inadvertently saves a prostitute named Ria (Bai Ling) from an abusive, overly fat customer. Ria beats the customer as he lays prone on the stairs, Ria is immediately infatuated with Chev, claiming he is the Kevin Costner to her Whitney Houston.

Vang escapes still carrying the red, padlocked cooler and Chev wants nothing to do with Ria, but she claims to know where Vang is. She takes Chev to "Strip Please", where Chev is shocked to find his old girlfriend Eve Lydon (Amy Smart). In a back room, Vang has been cornered by a group of Mexican gangsters, led by Chico (Joseph Julian Soria), who shows he means business by chopping off a man's elbow. Vang agrees to let them have Chev. He isn't in any condition to fight the Mexicans. Seconds later Chev is confronted by the Mexicans, and a gunfight breaks out. Everyone gets gunned down by Chev, and a female stripper, everyone that is except Chico, who escapes out a back door. Chev interrogates a wounded gangster, who informs him that it is El Huron (Clifton Collins, Jr.) who wants to kill him, but doesn't know why. Chev picks up Eve and they walk out. Outside, he is met by a group of cops, who begin beating on him. He is by now so weakened, but of course one of them inadvertently charges Chev up by using a taser on him. Chev gets up beats all the cops up and steals a cop car, putting Eve in the back with another stripper, who tells Chev that he should look at the Hollywood Park racetrack for Johnny Vang.

They encounter a group of porn stars protesting low wages, and Chev is forced to run away when another squad car pulls up next to them, leaving Eve in the back of the cop car. In a nearby park, Chev steals an electric dog collar from a gay couple and uses it to zap himself. Chev is about to be picked up by cops when he is picked up by a guy on a motorcycle. Venus (Efren Ramirez), who reveals himself to be Kaylo's brother. He also has Full Body Tourette's Syndrome. At first, Chev tells Venus that everyone responsible for his brother's death is dead, but this prompts Venus to leave. Wanting his help, Chev tells Venus that El Huron was involved but escaped. At the horse tracks, Chev is losing energy. He calls Doc Miles and learns that the heart can be charged through the skin by means of friction. He rubs up on a couple of racetrack patrons (including Chester Benington) but finally Eve shows up and she really helps stimulate Chev. They have sex on the racetrack while the crowd cheers, and Chev is restored to full energy. Chev spots Vang and once again leaves Eve behind and chases Vang through the parking garage. Vang escapes, however, and Chev is about to be subdued by security when Don Kim, the Chinese gangster who saved Chev's life in the first film, picks Chev up in his limo. Don Kim informs Chev that there is a leader in the Triads named Poon Dong (David Carradine), who was in need of a heart transplant. When he heard of Chev's ability to withstand the Chinese adrenaline poison, he put out an order for Chev's heart. Don Kim then tells Chev that he wishes to return him to Poon Dong for a reward. Upon hearing this, Chev kills all of Don Kim's henchmen, including the limo driver, and shoots Don Kim several times. The limo then crashes, and Chev steals another car.

Meanwhile, Eve is arrested, and Venus calls in Orlando (Reno Wilson) to assist in tracking down El Huron. Chico reports his failure to El Huron, who forces Chico to cut off his own nipples. While driving, Chev is cut off by an ambulance. He boards the ambulance and is surprised to see the EMTs are working on Don Kim. He demands a new battery pack for his artificial heart, and the EMT is forced to stop working while he hooks it up. Don Kim dies, and Chev exits the limo upon seeing Johnny Vang on the street outside. Chev chases Vang after Ria, who was trying to get Chev's attention is hit by a car, the three Asian gang members run firing at Chev, the car that Vang was walking to takes off leaving him behind, Chev chases Vang into an electrical power plant. The fight between the two, is one of the most stupid fight scenes in movie history. Upon winning this fight, Chev discovers that Vang's red cooler holds something other than his heart, just what it is, we never find out.

Chev calls Doc Miles again, and learns that his heart is already transplanted into Poon Dong, but say that he promises to find him for Chev. Chev goes to ask Johnny Vang, but Johnny Vang is shot and killed by Chico, and they knock Chev unconscious. Eve is interrogated by police, but refuses to rat Chev out. Doc Miles uses his assistant Chocolate to lure Poon Dong in, and knocks him out. Chev is awakened by electric shocks to his testicles, and is dragged by speedboat to an island where El Huron awaits. El Huron explains to Chev that he is the third Verona brother, and is very upset that Chev killed Ricky (Jose Pablo Cantillo) and Alex Verona (Jay Xcala). He says he is going to kill Chev, removing his new battery pack, but there is someone who will enjoy watching it, and drags Chev over to a white tent in the pool area, where he reveals Ricky Verona's head, being kept alive in a tank by a group of scientists. Chev is whipped for Verona's pleasure, and is about to die when Orlando, Venus, and Ria show up, each with their own group of gunfighters, and chaos breaks out. Venus attempts to take El Huron down with nunchakus. Chev smashes open Verona's tank and kicks his head into a pond when it demands water, but starts to slow down. He climbs an electric pylon nearby and grabs the wires to recharge, but is flung off of it upon contact. Venus is fighting El Huron and is about to lose when Chev reappears, still partially on fire from the electricity. He beats El Huron to death, and throws his body in the pond next to Ricky's head.

In a hallucinogenic state, Chev then tries to hug Ria, thinking she is Eve, but accidentally sets her on fire as well, and she runs off screaming. His flesh burning and his face melting, Chev walks towards the camera, giving the middle finger to the audience in the final moment of the film. This is the literal FINGER, we have been sitting through a movie that has been giving us the finger right from the start. Doc Miles places Chev's heart back in his chest, while Eve watches. At first everyone thinks he has failed, and they file out of the room, the camera closes in on Chev's face and his eye opens, this can only mean one thing, a third stupid movie.

I give Crank: High Voltage a 0 and on my avoidance scale a 3. This is the type of movie that once it starts you start looking at your watch. Its only a little longer than ninety minutes but it will feel like the longest ninety minutes of your life. There is nothing in this movie that you will walk away from believing.

Crank: High Voltage is rated R for Frenetic Strong Bloody Violence Throughout, Crude and Graphic Sexual Content, Nudity and Pervasive Language

Running time is 1 hr. 35 mins.

Seeing Earth With The Help Of Disneynature

The first film in the Disneynature series, earth, narrated by James Earl Jones, tells the remarkable story of three animal families and their amazing journey across the planet we all call home. "earth combines rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet's wildest and most elusive creatures. Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the acclaimed creative team behind the Emmy Award-winning "Planet Earth," combine forces again to bring this epic adventure to the big screen, beginning Earth Day 2009.

Perspective is what you get with a vengeance while watching Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield’s breathlessly photographed “Earth,” with Leslie Megahey, Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield’s script intoned dramatically and sometimes humorously by the great James Earl Jones. This is the kind of film that could make you toss away your $150 digital camera or $800 camcorder and leave photography to the pros. The real pros behind the lenses, Richard Brooks Burton, Mike Holding and Andrew Shillabeer, backed up by George Fenton’s original music, all of which punctuates particular behavior by specific animals, make this a must-see for nature lovers and for Wall Street executives alike. Thematically, though, there is nothing especially new about Earth, though if you’ve been an avid fan of the Discovery Channel, you get to see a variety of our fellow animals on the big screen. There are one criticism I have, so i'll get it out of the way: the cameras cut away just as attack animals are about to consume their hunting successes, thereby, perhaps, garnering a “G” rating where a “PG” would otherwise have been mandated. Taking us from the frozen Arctic to the scorching Kalahari Desert, from the tropical rain forests of New Guinea and back to the Arctic, Fothergill and Linfield dazzle even the veterans of Discovery Channel viewing, not only in showing us the beauty of one particular bird doing a mating dance that would have seduced me but did not succeed with his date, but focusing as well on the search of some aggressive animals for meals, some successful others tragically not. For example, when a polar bear known as “the father” gets out for some Arctic air after hibernating for six months, he’s pretty hungry. He searches for walrus meat, not choosy about getting it grilled, baked, broiled, boiled or fried so long as it’s fresh. He climbs on the back of a big one as the herd back away in cowardly fashion, trying to dislodge her to get at her little one. By not succeeding in what amounts to his final plunge, he rolls over, destined to starve to death. A wolf has better luck with a member of the antelope family, again, a youthful member that gets separated from the pack. While narrator Jones notes that these food critters can outrun lupines, this one must have been the exception. Again the camera turns away rather than showing some blood. The scenes of big animals (including sharks) chasing food make one think: where is a weak animal better off: in the jungle or in the zoo? Of course zoos afford protection to their guests, but I see things the way the PETA does. Better to live at risk in the natural state where the animals can do what their species implants them to do than to be safe behind bars for life. That’s easy for me to say, though. I rather enjoyed Earth and I give it a 4 on my "Go See" scale.

Once Again Disney Brings Earth's Majesty To Life

Feature-length version of the documentary TV series Planet Earth is brought to the big screen by Disney nature. "Earth" is the first in a line of several movies that Disney has dedicated to the environment. In 2010 they will release the second one "Oceans" Why do we need these types of movies? Does anyone really pay attention to what is going on ? Not really. That's why a movie that is entertaining as well as informative is necessary. Earth mainly follows three families, A mother Polar Bear and her two cubs, a pack of Indian Elephants, and a Humpback Whale and her cub. The Polar Bear is my favorite animal, why? I'm not sure really, I think its the fact that the bear is really black but looks white, its one thing but looks another, and that's always intrigued me.

The movie opens with the story of the mother Polar Bear and how she spends the winter in her den with her cubs, the baby bears are playful, but the mother who hasn't eaten in months is weak. The father bear is out looking for food, and forgets he has a family to feed, such is the nature of the beast. The mother bear knowing the father will forget tries to rest her playful cubs together so they can trek to the area where the father hunts so they too can eat. Next we see the Indian Elephants as they trek across Africa's driest region looking for water. They travel hundreds of miles, the predators they face are as daunting to them as they are to the predators. In one scene a den of Lions attacks the herd, the herd protects the baby's but once the whole herd attacks even the adult elephants can't defend themselves. The next family that we see is the Humpback Whale. We learn that the mother teaches her cub to swim by swimming in more shallow waters, and once the baby picks up the ability to swim alone they travel thousands of miles to an area in the Arctic where they can eat there fill of shrimp. The journey across the globe for these huge whales isn't easy they are huge but the predators of the ocean are ferocious as well.

We see Great White Sharks in their element, and they are as scary as we can imagine them to be. This movie isn't about just these three families, we learn about others as well, we learn about forests that produce over ninety percent of the Earths oxygen, we see baby ducks getting their first flying lessons, how cute is that? Its down right adorable. One thing that is good about this movie is that it isn't all doom and gloom, they don't beat us up when they tell us what is happening. In one scene we see the father Polar Bear as the ice is breaking up and he is struggling to get traction to make it back to land, we hear that the rise in temperature is melting the ice faster every year. When the father bear is trapped and can't make it back, we know whats going to happen but we watch anyway, when he falls into the ocean and is forced to swim for several days to make it to shore we feel ourselves holding our breath. when he makes it to shore we think YES, but he is to weak from swimming for so long that he can't even get to the food, even though its right there in front of him. When he collapses from lack of food we know it's over.

This is a nature movie so be warned there are a few scenes of animals chasing down and attacking other animals, some get away, some don't. The camera doesn't shy away from the daily life of these animals, but they also don't show the death's of most of these animals. I give Earth a 4 and on my avoidance scale a 0, take your family to see this movie, it is breathtaking and informative at the same time.

Earth is rated G

Running time is 1 hr 30 mins.

This Violet Bloomed Beautifully

Based on true events in the midst of the 2000 election, American Violet tells the astonishing story of Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie), a 24 year-old African American single mother of four young girls living in a small Texas town who is barely making ends meet on a waitress’ salary and government subsidies. On an early November morning while Dee works a shift at the local diner, the powerful local district attorney leads an extensive drug bust, sweeping her Arlington Springs housing project with military precision. Police drag Dee from work in handcuffs, dumping her in the squalor of the women’s county prison. Indicted based on the uncorroborated word of a single and dubious police informant facing his own drug charges, Dee soon discovers she has been charged as a drug dealer. She is offered a hellish choice: plead guilty and go home as a convicted felon or remain in prison and fight the charges thus, jeopardizing her custody and risking a long prison sentence.

Samuel Goldwyn Films is an independent studio known for releasing films considered to be arty: those which take risks, are adventurous, different from the mainstream, for select audiences. American Violet may be an exception to the rule. There is everything mainstream about its theme, its heroes, its villains, its goal to elicit from the audience heartbreaks and tears, smiles and even joy at the victories of the good guys. Goldwyn policies or not, Tim Disney’s film is one to be welcomed. Since this is based on a true story, we are not spoiling audience expectations by relating an outcome that will be welcomed by all people of good spirit and intentions. Moreover the film is anchored by a stunning performance from newcomer Nicole Beharie, actually her second role but the first that brings her remarkable talents to the fore. While we like to think that our country has come a long way in the fight for racial justice—and it most certainly has—there are pockets of resistance weighing heaviest, perhaps, in small towns, particularly in the South. Melody, Texas, the area of all the story’s actions, is a village so rural that not even Google carries a listing. This is a town run not by its mayor but by its district attorney, a racist who has the judges on his side, the police in his pocket. Under his direction, the police repeatedly make raids on projects in the poorest sections of the town, those which are inhabited almost one hundred percent by people of color. And while petty larcenies like shoplifting are prosecuted with some fervor, the principal crime that provides residents for the county jail is the peddling of drugs, particularly crack cocaine. With the help of what some southerners would call a damn Yankee (a Jewish fellow at that) and the reluctant cooperation of a resident who, despite having to live in the town with friends he’d rather not alienate, the case against one brave individual was one that the D.A. should never have pressed. This individual, Dee Roberts (Beharie), is a single mother of four who is picked up by the police on a daring raid on her housing project, an action netting some who may well be guilty of drug trafficking but which nets Dee on a drug selling charge because of the testimony of a single resident. Though she has done nothing, her mother, Alma (Alfre Woodard), urges her to cop a plea, as does her appointed lawyer, to abort a potential 16-25 year sentence: one which would require her to plead guilty, get ten years’ probation, but which would brand her a felon and result in her being evicted with her kids from the project. Harassed on one side by the abusive father (Xzibit) of two of her children and on the other by a overzealous D.A., Calvin Beckett (Michael O’Keefe), she weighs the plea offer but is dissuaded by David Cohen (Tim Blake Nelson) who is sent by the American Civil Liberties Union to persuade Dee to sue the D.A. The best defense is a good offense. With the not entirely enthusiastic help of former assistant D.A. Sam Conroy (Will Patton), they call Calvin Beckett into legal chambers during a deposition with the hope of impeaching his credibility. The intimate details of her lengthy ordeal, set against the backdrop of that landmark case, is the subject of American Violet, a gripping dramatization of the events surrounding the sad tragedy which ruined many a family. We see that before being framed for a crime she didn't commit, Dee had been getting along if not exactly flourishing, caring for her girls while trying to save enough money from waitressing to study cosmetology someday. But afterwards, she's soon without the financial resources or the emotional support needed to handle the situation. In matter-of-fact fashion, this brilliant bio-pic effectively illustrates the likely fallout visited upon a law-abiding but unsophisticated person like Dee up against an impersonal legal justice system unconcerned with the truth. For when she is falsely accused of distributing narcotics and held on $70,000 bail, the ripple effect of the ensuing nightmare means that she stands to lose her dignity, her job, her savings and custody of her children in fast order. American Violet boasts solid ensemble performances, including one by Malcolm Barrett in the role of Byron Hill, a lawyer who most of the time is a silent participant to the proceedings but whose fury is unleashed during the second half of the movie with resonant effect. In a plot twist, some testimony that appears to come out of nowhere, a dues ex machine if you will, Hill does what everyone in the audience prays he will do. During the movie’s epilogue, we learn that the D.A. in real life has been re-elected, presumably—as implied by the script—because many of the town’s African Americans have police records and are unable to vote while at the same time the whites in the burg just may not be entirely opposed to racist tactics. Director Disney does not hide his liberal inclinations, now and then showing us some file film of the tainted election of 2000—by which he just might imply that the corruption endemic to the town of Melody, TX can be found in the American justice system at the very highest level. I give this one a 4 on my "Go See" scale"

This American Violet Blooms Amid The Chaos

Movies based on true stories seldom give us a taste of the characters life, they present the story in a style that shows one version. Most of the time we buy into that, but in "American Violet" we see the story unfold and play out, and then we see the struggle the characters go through. Very seldom do we get this type of story and feel the emotions coming from the character, American Violet gives us the story with emotion and heart.

Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie) works in a small diner, she has been there seven years, the owner is a white woman who thinks the world of Dee. District Attorney Calvin Beckett (Michael O' Keefe) wants results for his drug task force. Alma Roberts (Alfre Woodard) lives in the same housing project that Dee does, and watches Dee's three children. Also in the same project is the father of two of Dee's little girls, Darrell Hughes (Xzibit). Dee doesn't want the girls around Darrell because he lives with a woman accused of child molestation. Beckett has the drug task force raid the projects one morning, they drive up in U Haul trucks and make several arrests. Then they go into the diner where Dee is at work and arrest her. She thinks it's because of unpaid parking tickets, the owner offers to pay the tickets for Dee. When Dee is taken before the court she is given a public defender, David Higgins (Paul David Story), we all know the case loads of public defenders are astronomical, but this guy seems to be in the dark. Dee is wrongfully arrested for drug trafficking near a school. When she meets with the public defender and the states attorney they offer her a bargain, plead guilty and get a ten year suspended sentence.

Dee feels this is something she can't do. Alma goes around to the town's people and asks them to sign a petition to lower Dee's bail, Reverend Sanders (Charles S Dutton) brings in an ACLU lawyer, David Cohen (Tim Blake Nelson) and his aide Byron White (Malcolm Barrett). Their first order of business is to get the former assistant DA Sam Conroy (Will Patton) to help sue not only the drug task force but the police AND the District Attorney, Calvin Beckett. They tell Dee that pleading guilty will result in her being thrown out of her home and maybe losing her children. Dee decides to not take a plea bargain in her case and instead to go ahead and sue the police involved in the raid.

The legal focus of the film does tend to bounce around from one issue to another, the problems of forced plea bargaining, the misuse of Federal drug task forces, the use of dishonest informants, the problem of fighting a war on drugs, and than finally focusing on the blatant racism of District Attorney Beckett. All of these issues are certainly present in the criminal justice system, but the relationship and role of each is often confusingly presented and blurs the legal focus of the film. Nevertheless, the story remains true, and their presentation is a potent and powerful one. Alma feels going up against such strong men will backfire for Dee, but having no options at the time she is forced into the suit. Trying to find work Dee goes from place to place, with the arrest on her record, Dee has little choice in job prospects. Finding a job in a Mexican diner Dee thinks things are looking up. One day she returns to find that Darrell has his daughters. Dee freaking out pounds on the door and is taunted by Darrell's girlfriend, Dee running down the stairs starts kicking Darrell's truck, he calls the police and Dee is again arrested, although the ACLU is able to get this charge dropped, it looks bad for Dee. Darrell feels that he deserves to have custody of his daughters and sues Dee for that right. Of course DA Beckett is the judge in family court. In a change of pace Beckett allows Dee to keep her children, while this is going on Sam, Byron and David are holding depositions in Dee's case. They question the lone informant the police used to gather names, they question the police, and even Beckett himself.

Throwing a surprise at Beckett, we knew one was coming, Dee's lawyers get her case before a judge that doesn't owe Beckett any favors. Dee wins her case, the drug task force is broken up but Beckett escapes "justice." Beckett runs for reelection and wins, he of course is keeping the town safe after all.

I give American Violet a 3 and on my avoidance scale a 0, this movie should be seen, it isn't overly racist, but some of the tones of the movie are. Still I would encourage ever one to see this movie. Go out and enjoy this movie, take your family they may walk away enlightened.

American Violet is rated PG-13 for Thematic Material, Violence, Drug References and Language

Running time is 1 hr. 43 mins.

A Different Dragonball Than I Remember

Goku and a handful of friends battle for the Earth against the deadly forces of the Saiyans, who are sweeping across the universe, leaving a path of destruction. Goku and his friends' best chance for survival rests with the Namekian DragonBalls , which provide them the power to summon a mighty dragon in Dragonball Evolution.

The inexplicably Caucasian (and eternal bad-hair-day victim) teenage martial-arts master Goku (Justin Chatwin) must collect seven mystical Dragon Balls before evil green-skinned alien Piccolo (James Marsters)—who has somehow been freed from eternal imprisonment—can get to them first and bring about the apocalypse. If this makes no sense to you, you're not alone. Only fans of the source material have any hope of figuring this film out. It always seemed like a strange idea to adapt the super-stylized Japanese comic/cartoon characters of the Dragonball series into live action. Much like, say, Dr. Seuss drawings (and we saw where Jim Carrey and Mike Myers took us with those), the caricatured martial arts fighters of the manga never looked much like real humans, and the ever-convoluted storylines always seemed to boil down to badly drawn kids with awful hairstyles throwing energy balls at each other. If the above sounds like a gross oversimplification, maybe you will get something out of this bizarre live-action movie, but the average filmgoer is likely to be baffled. Set in some nondescript country that incorporates American and Japanese characters (while actually being shot in Mexico), Once upon a time 2,000 years ago, a powerful green-skinned baddie named Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) and his gnarly brutal henchman Oozaru were finally defeated in an epic battle and imprisoned deep within the planet, which has since been at peace. Until now, of course. Our hero is just-turned-18 Goku, played by Justin Chatwin, looking all of his 28 years. He lives with his grandpa (Randall Duk Kim), who has been training him in magical martial arts that we assume will come in handy once he meets his destiny. For his birthday, grandpa gives him a family heirloom - a dragonball (roughly the size of a pool ball) that will grant a perfect wish when in the company of the six other dragonballs scattered around the world. Meanwhile, Lord Piccolo has re-emerged on the scene - exactly how or why is not explained - and is on a dragonball hunt of his own. We assume his "perfect wish" is the destruction of mankind or something like that. Back in teen land, Goku pockets his dragonball before hitting a house party, where he impresses Chi Chi (Jamie Chung) with his smooth moves i.e. "fighting" a pack of stereotypical bullies by ducking their blows so they slam into each other. Kind of cool. But his spidey senses start tingling and he rushes home to find grandpa lying under the rubble of the house (Piccolo's dirty work). Grandpa's last few words are a to-do list for Goku: Protect the dragonball, find the other six to stop Piccolo, find Master Roshi (Yun-Fat Chow) to complete his training and remember to "be yourself." If this were an Asian movie, you'd understand the oddness of the tale—surely something must be lost in translation? But no. In English, released by a major studio, this is somehow expected to appeal to the masses. Admittedly, it's never boring...but nor is it ever logical, coherent, rational, etc. It's fun in a train-wreck kind of way, and possibly makes sense to those who know the source, but recommending this to anyone else would be a bad idea. I, for one know the main source material. Akira Toriyama's Japanese manga series Dragon Ball (serialized from 1984-1995) has proved enduringly popular worldwide thanks to numerous anime films, TV series and video-game spinoffs over the years. No surprise that a major Hollywood studio, wanting to tap into that global fandom with a live-action feature, comes up with Dragonball Evolution - a silly, sometimes sloppy popcorn-light flick that may tickle a few teenyboppers. A mythology that has unfolded over many years of comics, films and TV series is obviously a challenge to condense into one feature. So Dragonball Evolution opens with the requisite voiceover, accompanied by cheap-looking computer animation, quickly laying out the basic background. The final stand-off with Piccolo delivers a nifty psychological plot twist that at least honors the more cerebral side of the original manga series. James Wong keeps the whole enterprise moving at a good pace and there are a few entertaining fight scenes. But there is also uneven CGI, bad dialogue and a host of clichéd moments that make Dragonball Evolution just another disappointing matinee movie.I was expecting it to be so much more, but like they say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" some cartoons should stay cartoons. A saddened 2 on my "Go See" scale.