Keith David
Occupation
Actor
Free Birds Review
By Rich Cline
Good
An energetic sense of the absurd helps make this animated romp entertaining, even though the script is almost painfully stupid. But the pace is so brisk, and the stream of deranged jokes so continual, that kids will find it hilarious and grown-ups won't be able to stop smiling. So who cares if the story makes no sense at all?
Our hero is a scrawny turkey named Reggie (voiced by Wilson), who's an outcast on his farm because he's both smart and naive. When he's accidentally pardoned by the US President on Thanksgiving, he's living the high life until the meathead turkey Jake (Harrelson) kidnaps him, ranting about a mission to travel back in time to stop the pilgrims from starting the Thanksgiving turkey tradition to begin with. Sure enough, they find a time machine and off they go to 1621, where they team up with a colony of native American turkeys led by Broadbeak (David) and his feisty daughter Jenny (Poehler). But they're also being pursued by a relentless human hunter (Meaney).
The screenwriters conveniently ignore the fact that more turkeys are eaten globally at Christmas than at America's Thanksgiving, but never mind. They also pack the script with a continuous stream of riotously warped gags, random movie references and crazed action sequences. Although even a 5-year-old will be confused that 17th century pilgrims are rendered more like 19th century cowboys. This continual sense of incoherence gets even more annoying later, when the plot abandons even its own tenuous sense of logic. But by then we have realised that it's pointless to resist.
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Is 'Free Birds' The New Chicken Run? [Trailer]
By Michael West in Movies / TV / Theatre on 03 July 2013
'Free Birds' could follow 'Despicable Me 2' and 'Monster's University' as big animated movies in 2013.
The trailer for Free Birds, Jimmy Hayward's animated adventure movie, rolled out online this week. It stars Reggie the Thanksgiving turkey (Owen Wilson) who fails to convince his dumb feathered friends that they're being fattened up for the approaching festival feast, alienating himself from the group.
Watch the 'Free Birds' trailer:
However, things begin to look up when he is rescued by the President and begins a new life of eating pizza at his cool new pad. When militant turkey Jake (Woody Harrelson) shows up, Reggie's new life of peace is put on the backburner in favour of a death-defying mission to go back in time and scratch out the traditional festive dinner from history. It sounds mental. It kind of is a bit mental, but it's sure to be plenty of fun for kids and families this Christmas.
Continue reading: Is 'Free Birds' The New Chicken Run? [Trailer]
Free Birds Trailer
When Reggie the Thanksgiving turkey fails to convince his incredibly stupid feathered friends that they are being fattened up for an approaching feast, he is soon alienated from them. However, things are looking up when he is rescued by the President and even enjoys nibbling on pizza late at night in his luxurious new home. But when militant turkey Jake shows up, it's clear that he's not destined for a life of peace as he is enlisted on a death-defying mission to go back in time to the first thanksgiving and scratch out the traditional festive dinner and save the lives of thousands of their kind.
Directed by Jimmy Hayward ('Horton Hears a Who!', 'Jonah Hex'), this hilarious animated adventure has a star-studded cast that will keep everyone - both adult and child - in rib-cracking hysterics long after it hits screens. It has been written by Hayward, Scott Mosier ('Clerks: The Animated Series'), David I. Stern ('Open Season 2') and John J. Strauss ('There's Something About Mary', 'The Santa Clause 2') and will arrive just in time for thanksgiving to perhaps persuade you to go vegetarian this holiday season. Watch it as it hits theatres in the UK on November 29th 2013.
Free Birds Movie Review - Click Here To Read
'The Bible' Sequel Confirmed: NBC Will Air 'A.D. Beyond The Bible'
By Elinor Cosgrave in Movies / TV / Theatre on 02 July 2013
'The Bible' sequel, written by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, will be called 'A.D. Beyond The Bible'. NBC will air the programme.
Mark Burnett's miniseries The Bible will have a sequel. A.D. Beyond The Bible will be set in the days following Jesus' death.
The Bible aired over Easter on the History Channel and attracted around 13.1 million viewers for its premiere. The finale on Easter Sunday attracted 11.7 million. It has gone on to become, on DVD, the top selling miniseries of all time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Continue reading: 'The Bible' Sequel Confirmed: NBC Will Air 'A.D. Beyond The Bible'
Cloud Atlas Review
By Rich Cline
Excellent
Mad geniuses Tom Tykwer (Perfume) and the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix) boldly take on David Mitchell's layered epic novel, which connects six generations through the power of storytelling. The film takes so many huge risks that it's breathtaking to watch even when it stumbles. And as each tale is passed on to the next generation, the swirling themes get under the skin.
The six stories are interlinked in a variety of ways, transcending time to find common themes. On a ship in 1849, a seriously ill American lawyer (Sturgess) shows kindness to a stowaway ex-slave (Gyasi). In 1936 Edinburgh, a great composer (Broadbent) hires a musician (Whishaw) to transcribe his work, then tries to steal the young man's magnificent Cloud Atlas symphony. In 1973 San Francisco, a Latina journalist (Berry) gets a tip about dodgy goings on in a local nuclear power plant. In present-day London, a publisher (Broadbent) is trapped in a nursing home by his brother (Grant) and plots a daring escape. In 2144 Neo Soul, an official (D'Arcy) interrogates a replicant (Bae) who started a rebellion alongside a notorious rebel (Sturgess). And in a distant stone-age future, an island goatherd (Hanks) teams up with an off-worlder (Berry) when they're attacked by a warlord (Grant).
While the themes in this film are eerily involving, what makes this film unmissable is the way the entire cast turns up in each of the six story strands, changing age, race and gender along the way. Even so, they're essential variations on each other. Weaving is always a nemesis, whether he's a hitman, a demon or a nasty nurse. Hanks' characters are always strong-willed and often badly misguided. Grant goes against type to play sinister baddies. And D'Arcy is the only actor who plays the same character in two segments, as Whishaw's 1930s young lover and Berry's 1970s elderly informant. Meanwhile, each segment plays with a different genre: seafaring epic, twisted drama, political mystery, action comedy, sci-fi thriller and gritty adventure.
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Keith David Wednesday 24th October 2012 "Cloud Atlas" Los Angeles Premiere held at Grauman's Chinese Theater - Arrivals
Keith David Thursday 20th September 2012 Debbie Durkin's 6th Annual Eco Emmys Gifting Suite held at a private residence in Hancock Park
Cloud Atlas Trailer
'Cloud Atlas' is the story of how the separate lives of individuals and their actions affect each other through time. It explores a variety of different themes making it difficult to be pigeon-holed into a particular genre; action, romance and drama create the twists and turns that can change a human being from being a violent killer to being a compassionate hero. This tale explores how one act of basic humanity can influence a revolution centuries into the future.
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Keith David Wednesday 19th November 2008 out and about wearing purple eyeglasses Los Angeles, California
The Chronicles Of Riddick Review
Weak
A befuddled attempt to give Vin Diesel his own franchise series - now that he's ditched giving the XXX thing another whirl - The Chronicles of Riddick stomps onto screens with an attitude that's somehow both obtuse and far too simplistic. This sequel of sorts to writer/director David Twohy's Pitch Black takes one of that film's sole survivors, the titular shaven-headed and silver-eyed criminal (Vin Diesel), and drops him into the middle of a byzantine interstellar conflict that's about as easy to parse out as one of Frank Herbert's Dune novels.
At the start of the film, Riddick is being chased on a remote, frozen planet by some bounty hunters, whom he promptly dispatches and steals their ship to ride back to the planet of Helios Prime, where their employer was from. Once there, he finds out the bounty was put on him by one of Pitch Black's other survivors, Imam (Keith David, resplendent in flowing robes and a sharp goatee). Apparently, Imam and Aereon (Judi Dench), an ambassador from a ghost-like race called the Elementals, think that Riddick, being a member of the Furion race, will be able to help the galaxy fight off an onslaught of planet-destroying religious fanatics called Necromongers. The Necromongers are on a galactic jihad to bring about something called "the Underverse" and will convert or kill anybody in their path. But, before any of this can really be figured out, the Necromongers' gigantic armada crashes down on Helios Prime and things get really complicated. There's about ten minutes' worth of action that takes place later in a prison which, even now, after much contemplation, still makes absolutely no sense.
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Dirty Review
Bad
That's "dirty" as in cops. And that's "cops" as in LAPD. If you wanted to depict this stained organization in the worst possible light, don't bother, it's been done -- to death. And here it is again, rising up like a ghoul from the grave -- from the pen of Chris Fisher and Gil Reavill, directed by the former. The picture they give us of this organization is that there's no hope Chief Bratton's corps will ever clean up its act.We follow the frantic, out-of-control maneuvers of two cops in particular, Salim Adel (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Armando Sancho (Clifton Collins Jr.). These are two law enforcement officers out of the barrio, familiar with its culture and the scummy men who run it. But paragons of law they are not, and they have about as much resistance to corruption as a tin badge in seawater.
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The Oh In Ohio Review
Bad
First, there's that cast that looks pretty good -- Parker Posey, Paul Rudd, Keith David -- even though it's being distributed by some no-name outfit. Then there's the title, a sad little bad joke that announces the filmmaker's sex-comedy intentions right up front. You're filled with trepidation but also hope: Maybe this is that rare gem that slips through the cracks, just maybe. Finally, the film starts and all hope is lost; yes, it is going to be just that bad.Posey stars in The Oh in Ohio as Priscilla Chase, a prissy Cleveland advertising executive who's wrapped so tight that she could snap in two at any moment. Hubby Jack (Paul Rudd) is an overweight, bearded mess of a high school biology teacher. Friction in the home comes from Jack's inability to bring Priscilla to orgasm in bed -- of course, it may not be his fault, since she's never had one in her life. And since Adam Wierzbianski's script is just that advanced, the film then proceeds, via Priscilla's stumbling and vaguely comedic quest to open herself up sexually, to locate the source of all her worries in her crotch. Attain orgasm: Life's problem solved.Mirroring Priscilla's quest is that of Jack, who has decided that Priscilla's frigidity has thoroughly unmanned him, and so moves to the garage and ultimately a bachelor pad, finding his sexual fulfillment in the arms of an amorous student (played by Mischa Barton, with all the color and nuance of an unusually thin robot) who, unlike all other such girls in recent films, actually doesn't seem to have an agenda besides romance. Since the film spends most of its time showing us the selfish, sexist pig side of Jack, it's strange that it then gives him such a fulfilling, Maxim-friendly relationship. But then, Oh in Ohio doesn't have much of idea where it's going anyway, straining for sincerity and depth one moment, and slapping us about with purportedly bawdy humor the next.In a better world, this would have been a marvelous star vehicle for Posey, who too rarely gets the spotlight and more often gets shoved off into supporting character roles. Here, she's an excellent choice for Priscilla, with that brittle laugh and snappish way of movement -- watching her navigate the unfamiliar waters of sex therapists and one-night stands should have made for some easy lifting, comically-speaking. Unfortunately, this is a first-timer for both the director Billy Kent and his screenwriter, Adam Wierzbianski, neither of whom show themselves to be up to the task of crafting a film worthy of their cast. It isn't just the sloppy camerawork and lack of comedic timing that dooms the project from the get-go, however, it's that there simply isn't enough material here to carry a short, much less an hour-and-a-half-long feature. Which is, in the end, inexcusable. If you throw frigid housewives, vibrators, the strangely romantic Danny DeVito, a perky lesbian Heather Graham, and a thoroughly nuts Liza Minnelli (playing a whacked-out masturbation therapist in one of the film's few scenes that actually gets a laugh) into the mix, than something worthwhile should come out the other end, right? Sadly, no.Oh no.
The Last Outlaw Review
Bad
Whoa, Steve Buscemi in a western? With Mickey Rourke, too!? Sadly, crazy casting is just about the only thing of note in The Last Outlaw, a sad, sad excuse for a western. After a botched bank robbery, the film quickly degenerates into one long bloodbath, with the bad guys being killed by each other and/or the law. In the end, only one will survive? Which one? Who cares.