Movies

First Sunday

With everything from Jamaican gangsters to pimped-out wheelchairs, this movie screams funny! It all starts when LeeJohn Jackson ( Tracy Morgan, Little Man) tries stealing a television from his best friend Durell's (Ice Cube, Barbershop) job. Durell is unable to find another job and finds out his ex-wife will be leaving the state and taking his son with her unless he can raise $17,000.

Out of desperation he and LeeJohn plot to rob the local church. Unfortunately by the time they get to the safe, the money is already missing. While trying to figure out who stole the money first, Durell and LeeJohn are forced to deal with an assortment of outrageous characters played by comedy greats such as Katt Williams (Norbit), Loretta Devine (Grey's Anatomy), and Rickey Smiley (Comedy Central Presents).

The special features on the DVD are must-watch as well. There are a few good deleted scenes, but there is a lot of richly funny material in the gag reels and outtakes. The overall experience is excellent. Beware this movie is like Lay's potato chips (without the cholesterol): "Betcha can't watch just once!"

The Great Debaters

Denzel Washington directs himself, Forest Whitaker and an ensemble cast of young actors in this inspiring drama about a professor (Washington) who trains an award-winning student debating team at a small African American college in Texas during the segregated 1930s. The single-disc DVD includes a commentary by Washington and deleted scenes; the two-disc Collector's Edition adds a documentary on the real-life debaters, features on the making of the movie, its music and its costumes, a visit to Wiley College and more.

Mad Money

In this caper comedy, Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes co-star as cleaning workers at a Federal Reserve bank who decide to rob their employer. Special features include a commentary by director Callie Khouri and a documentary, Makin' Money: Behind the Scenes of Mad Money.

Youth Without Youth

Francis Ford Coppola's first film in a decade is about a 70-year-old Romanian linguistics professor (Tim Roth) in the 1930s who begins to get younger and develop extraordinary powers after being struck by lightning. Bonus features include a commentary by Coppola and short documentaries on how the movie was made, its music and its makeup.