Be Cool's Recent Activity

list Be Cool's Recent Activity - Spout http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Be Cool on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg Be Cool's Recent Activity - Spout http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 Film:Be Cool http://www.spout.com/films/Be_Cool/231724/default.aspx

Title: Be Cool
Year: 2005
Director: F. Gary Gray
Plot: Underworld hipster Chili Palmer is back in the entertainment business in this sequel to the 1995 hit Get Shorty, which like the first film is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard. Gangster-turned-movie producer Chili (once again played by John Travolta) has grown tired of the screen trade, especially after his latest project turned out to be a box-office flop. Chili is looking for new horizons and thinks he may have found his niche when his close friend Tommy Athens (James Woods), a fellow mobster who runs an independent record label, is murdered by Russian gangsters. Chili takes over Athens' record company, Nothing to Lose Records, and begins courting Tommy's girlfriend, Edie (Uma Thurman). Edie is an experienced hand in record production, and together she and Chili spot what would seem to be the ideal act for their label -- Linda Moon (Christina Milian), a beautiful young woman with a powerhouse voice. Linda is stuck, however, in a going-nowhere R&B trio managed by the monumentally sleazy Raji (Vince Vaughn). Chili isn't much concerned about Linda's contract with Raji, but Raji certainly is, and the manager soon takes out a contract on Chili with the same Russian hoods who killed Tommy. Soon Chili is facing all the action he can handle between the Russian gunmen, a music mogul named Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel) who wants Chili to stay out of the business, and Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer), a successful hip-hop producer who wants Chili to pay him the 300,000 dollars he is owed by Tommy. Be Cool also features appearances by The Rock as a gay Samoan bodyguard, Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000 from the hip-hop duo Outkast) as a rapper who isn't very good with a gun, and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 12
Number of Lists: 22
Number of blog posts: 3
SpoutRating: 2
]]>Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:00:57 GMTBe Cool2005F. Gary GrayUnderworld hipster Chili Palmer is back in the entertainment business in this sequel to the 1995 hit <a href=/films/92896/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Get Shorty</a>, which like the first film is based on a novel by <a href="/players/P____99358/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Elmore Leonard</a>. Gangster-turned-movie producer Chili (once again played by <a href="/players/P____71670/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>John Travolta</a>) has grown tired of the screen trade, especially after his latest project turned out to be a box-office flop. Chili is looking for new horizons and thinks he may have found his niche when his close friend Tommy Athens (<a href="/players/P___117297/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>James Woods</a>), a fellow mobster who runs an independent record label, is murdered by Russian gangsters. Chili takes over Athens' record company, Nothing to Lose Records, and begins courting Tommy's girlfriend, Edie (<a href="/players/P____70905/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Uma Thurman</a>). Edie is an experienced hand in record production, and together she and Chili spot what would seem to be the ideal act for their label -- Linda Moon (<a href="/players/P___356905/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Christina Milian</a>), a beautiful young woman with a powerhouse voice. Linda is stuck, however, in a going-nowhere R&B trio managed by the monumentally sleazy Raji (<a href="/players/P___225542/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Vince Vaughn</a>). Chili isn't much concerned about Linda's contract with Raji, but Raji certainly is, and the manager soon takes out a contract on Chili with the same Russian hoods who killed Tommy. Soon Chili is facing all the action he can handle between the Russian gunmen, a music mogul named Nick Carr (<a href="/players/P____37381/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Harvey Keitel</a>) who wants Chili to stay out of the business, and Sin LaSalle (<a href="/players/P___237294/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Cedric the Entertainer</a>), a successful hip-hop producer who wants Chili to pay him the 300,000 dollars he is owed by Tommy. Be Cool also features appearances by <a href="/players/P___292998/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>The Rock</a> as a gay Samoan bodyguard, Andre Benjamin (aka <a href="/players/P___348467/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Andre 3000</a> from the hip-hop duo Outkast) as a rapper who isn't very good with a gun, and <a href="/players/P______424/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Aerosmith</a> frontman Steven Tyler as himself. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide12Tag Target (>10)2232http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t63536xfqht.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Be_Cool/231724/default.aspxFilm Spout Post: Much Funnier Than I Expected http://www.spout.com/blogs/smithco/archive/2008/9/6/34839.aspx

Post By: smithco
Post To: My Ponderings on Cinema
Post Date: 9/6/2008 2:30:52 PM
Body: Be Cool is not a great movie by any stretch, but it is far more entertaining than the reviews suggested. To be clear, my expectations were low; I only watched it because it came up as a 99¢ rental on iTunes. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised. My first surprise is that John Travolta turned in a decent performance. Normally, I find his acting horrid. I usually have the impression that his screen time is about advertising that he's John Travolta and not about his character. Yet, this time around, I was able to believe that he was Chili Palmer and not the usual giant Travoltan ego. I did find the doconstructuve humour quite funny. Though it's not particularly original, it is well executed. However, it does require a good attention span. I think one has to realize that the entire film is the punchline for the premise set in the first scene to find the humour. In the end, not a great film; but I thought it was 99¢ and two-hours well spent.
]]>Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:30:52 GMTsmithcoMy Ponderings on Cinema9/6/2008 2:30:52 PMBe Cool is not a great movie by any stretch, but it is far more entertaining than the reviews suggested. To be clear, my expectations were low; I only watched it because it came up as a 99¢ rental on iTunes. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised. My first surprise is that John Travolta turned in a decent performance. Normally, I find his acting horrid. I usually have the impression that his screen time is about advertising that he's John Travolta and not about his character. Yet, this time around, I was able to believe that he was Chili Palmer and not the usual giant Travoltan ego. I did find the doconstructuve humour quite funny. Though it's not particularly original, it is well executed. However, it does require a good attention span. I think one has to realize that the entire film is the punchline for the premise set in the first scene to find the humour. In the end, not a great film; but I thought it was 99¢ and two-hours well spent. Spout Post: Be Cool (2005) http://www.spout.com/blogs/aidanbrack/archive/2008/8/31/34582.aspx

Post By: aidanbrack
Post To: The Bigger Picture
Post Date: 8/31/2008 11:00:37 AM
Body: John Travolta returns as former loanshark Chili Palmer in Be Cool, a sequel to Get Shorty - a film made a decade earlier. As with that earlier movie, this is an adaptation of a novel by Elmore Leonard but this is much less successful. Time has passed and Chili has grown tired of the movie business and is wanting to work in the music industry. He has discovered a talented young female singer, Linda Moon, who he would like to work with but her contract is owned by a record label boss with a mobster background. The film pits Chili against the label boss (played by Harvey Keitel) and against an array of other gangsters but never really engaged me. It never establishes a clear sense of threat and, more importantly, I do not buy Chili or Uma Thurman’s record producer as being huge music fans. The film certainly serves up plenty of references to musicians but the characters lack the passion of music lovers when talking about the business. The film’s plot is also very slight, presenting Chili with remarkably few hoops for him to leap through. Instead much of the film is taken up with the various groupings of gangsters talking with each other about how Chili’s an upstart and how they should whack him. Travolta gives a serviceable performance as Chili and he looks like he’s having fun but the character feels curiously uninvolved with everything else that happens. The film’s attempts to emulate the sexual tension of Pulp Fiction by bringing in Uma Thurman alongside him fall flat, with a tribute dance sequence proving neither funny nor sexy. In support, Keitel and Vince Vaughn are both tiresome - particularly Vaughn whose white man who thinks he’s a hip hop artist shtick wears thin within seconds. Cedric the Entertainer is good value though and provides some of the few laughs of the picture. The Rock also makes an appearance as a bodyguard who wants, badly, to be an actor. This character’s joke, boiled down, is that he’s gay and yet is in a brutal job - not exactly the stuff of great laughs and provokes a stream of homophobic gags. Somehow, despite this, The Rock comes off well in this role showing the enthusiasm and energy lacking everywhere else in this flick. His material is the weakest in the film but he commits absolutely to getting whatever laughs he can from it. Be Cool is a mess of a film, missing its beats and lacking a focus. For too much of the film Chili is a bemused bystander and the film’s credibility as a satire of the music industry is repeatedly shown up. Since when would a duet at an Aerosmith gig ever launch a soul singer into the stratosphere? Without reality satire falls flat and this film says nothing about the music business or its characters. Proving neither witty nor smart, Be Cool is a flop that wastes a strong cast and by trying too hard, proves to be much less cool than Get Shorty ever was.
]]>Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:00:37 GMTaidanbrackThe Bigger Picture8/31/2008 11:00:37 AMJohn Travolta returns as former loanshark Chili Palmer in Be Cool, a sequel to Get Shorty - a film made a decade earlier. As with that earlier movie, this is an adaptation of a novel by Elmore Leonard but this is much less successful. Time has passed and Chili has grown tired of the movie business and is wanting to work in the music industry. He has discovered a talented young female singer, Linda Moon, who he would like to work with but her contract is owned by a record label boss with a mobster background. The film pits Chili against the label boss (played by Harvey Keitel) and against an array of other gangsters but never really engaged me. It never establishes a clear sense of threat and, more importantly, I do not buy Chili or Uma Thurman’s record producer as being huge music fans. The film certainly serves up plenty of references to musicians but the characters lack the passion of music lovers when talking about the business. The film’s plot is also very slight, presenting Chili with remarkably few hoops for him to leap through. Instead much of the film is taken up with the various groupings of gangsters talking with each other about how Chili’s an upstart and how they should whack him. Travolta gives a serviceable performance as Chili and he looks like he’s having fun but the character feels curiously uninvolved with everything else that happens. The film’s attempts to emulate the sexual tension of Pulp Fiction by bringing in Uma Thurman alongside him fall flat, with a tribute dance sequence proving neither funny nor sexy. In support, Keitel and Vince Vaughn are both tiresome - particularly Vaughn whose white man who thinks he’s a hip hop artist shtick wears thin within seconds. Cedric the Entertainer is good value though and provides some of the few laughs of the picture. The Rock also makes an appearance as a bodyguard who wants, badly, to be an actor. This character’s joke, boiled down, is that he’s gay and yet is in a brutal job - not exactly the stuff of great laughs and provokes a stream of homophobic gags. Somehow, despite this, The Rock comes off well in this role showing the enthusiasm and energy lacking everywhere else in this flick. His material is the weakest in the film but he commits absolutely to getting whatever laughs he can from it. Be Cool is a mess of a film, missing its beats and lacking a focus. For too much of the film Chili is a bemused bystander and the film’s credibility as a satire of the music industry is repeatedly shown up. Since when would a duet at an Aerosmith gig ever launch a soul singer into the stratosphere? Without reality satire falls flat and this film says nothing about the music business or its characters. Proving neither witty nor smart, Be Cool is a flop that wastes a strong cast and by trying too hard, proves to be much less cool than Get Shorty ever was. Spout Post: What The Fuck?!? http://www.spout.com/blogs/jakestevens/archive/2007/10/9/20558.aspx

Post By: JakeStevens
Post To: JakeStevens Blog
Post Date: 10/9/2007 8:35:24 PM
Body: Hatred isn't a strong enough word for this piece of shit/waste of time & money. How can you go from making one of the best comedies of the 90's to one of the worst comedies of all time? I knew when Travolta went into his "use of the F word" diatribe that I wasn't going to like it. Cedric The Entertainer's monologue towards the end of the film made me cringe, and I'm sorry - Christina Milan? Really? She's a terrible actress! And we're supposed to believe she's the "next big thing". Nice "live" performances, by the way...I could go on and on, but what's the point? Do yourself a favor and NEVER SEE THIS! Better yet - let's BAN IT! Grade: F-!
]]>Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:35:24 GMTJakeStevensJakeStevens Blog10/9/2007 8:35:24 PMHatred isn't a strong enough word for this piece of shit/waste of time & money. How can you go from making one of the best comedies of the 90's to one of the worst comedies of all time? I knew when Travolta went into his "use of the F word" diatribe that I wasn't going to like it. Cedric The Entertainer's monologue towards the end of the film made me cringe, and I'm sorry - Christina Milan? Really? She's a terrible actress! And we're supposed to believe she's the "next big thing". Nice "live" performances, by the way...I could go on and on, but what's the point? Do yourself a favor and NEVER SEE THIS! Better yet - let's BAN IT! Grade: F-! Spout Tag:funny http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/funny/MemberTagFilms.aspxfunny
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