Nick Cannon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

And here's another street-ballin' flick that wants you to know how tough it is to make it in life when the only thing not lyin' to your face is that dirty old basketball. Ball Don't Lie had a lot of potential and some sweeet b-ball sequences, but annoying editing and several mis-placed flashbacks ultimately hurt the film, which boasts appearances by Nick Cannon and Rosanna Arquette -- both of whom populated just about five to six minutes of the 102-minute feature. Chris "I'm Starting to Use My Real Name Instead of Ludacris" Bridges also shows up as a mentor who doesn't do much mentoring, except for schooling and then being schooled on the cement court.

He's not the only one: When it's not dazzling us with some fancy footwork, Ball Don't Lie schools us in the pitfalls of a broken foster care system; one that finds our hero, Sticky (newcomer Grayson Boucher), moving from one dysfunctional situation to the next. At some point, Sticky meets a girl who works at Foot Locker -- tries to find enough money to buy her a necklace for her birthday -- and then he gets beat up by a guy with a gun. The end. I don't mean to be harsh toward the movie, but it just doesn't serve a purpose -- it didn't go anywhere. I never read the book this was based on (written by Matt De La Pena), but I'd like to think it contained a little more than "What a sad situation for that poor boy."

You'd be excused for feeling skeptical about Nick Cannon appearing in a serious drama about a Marine about to be shipped off to Iraq. And if knowing it's from Neil Abramson -- director of the Jerry Springer trainwreck Ringmaster -- turns you off altogether, well, no one will blame you.

But American Son is blessed with a powerful, honest screenplay by first-timer Eric Schmid, and Cannon -- who has always been charismatic, if nothing else -- displays a remarkable talent for drama. Abramson has done some documentary work since Ringmaster (a film that I assume he's embarrassed about, too), and that eye for real human drama helps make American Son a compelling picture.

In the opening scene of Adam Bhala Lough's bleak and listless Weapons, Nick Cannon gets his head blown off by a shotgun blast while scarfing down a fast food cheeseburger -- and the movie gets even less subtle from that point on. I'd like to say that the film, for all its grunge, grime and bleakness, is a well-intentioned piece, but I never really got that impression from Weapons. It's basically another "teens hate everyone, especially each other" story, not very much unlike River's Edge, Mean Creek or the collected works of Larry Clark -- only not nearly as good. (OK, it's better than most of Larry Clark's stuff.)

Presented in a contorted time frame that serves no real purpose, Weapons follows the activities of a group of hate-filled youths as they spend one day and one night doing simply terrible things to one another. This one's accused of raping that one, which means this other one is all hot for revenge, while these three different ones do some drugs and spit virtual bile at each other. Meanwhile the only halfway sympathetic character in the movie (and I do mean "only") is a rather stupid young woman who harbors a crush for one particularly vile young man ... because in a world filled with anger, abuse and hatred, you gotta take what you can get, right? Jeez.

After a role in Emilio Estevez's Bobby, it seems that Nick Cannon is gearing up for another true story set in the 1960's. Even if you don't recognize his name, you've probably seen his face lurking on the covers of DVDs like Drumline and Underclassman. He's sort of the next Will Smith, in the way that he had his own rap duo, Da Bomb Squad, and is stacking up a number of acting roles. Ace Showbiz has reported that Cannon has landed the starring role in a biopic on famous tennis player, Arthur Ashe -- the only African-American tennis star to win the men's singles at the Australian Open, the US Open and Wimbledon. Ashe was also a vocal civil rights activist, speaking out against South African apartheid and the treatment of Haitian refugees.

Unfortunately, his life was cut short when he succumbed to AIDS, which he contracted from a blood transfusion. It might sound like heavy stuff, but Cannon claims that the film will follow Ashe's earlier years, and how he became a legend. This is probably a good thing, when you consider this quote Scott Weinberg's upcoming Sundance review of Weapons and the actor's performance: "Nick Cannon, the biggest name in the cast, provides clear proof that his acting skills are about on par with those of an actual cannon." Perhaps Smith should scrap Ashe's younger life, take over the role himself, and give the film a better chance.

I wasn't all that thrilled when I first heard about this Day of the Dead remake; I wasn't exactly elated when Steve Miner (Friday the 13th 2, Halloween 7) was handed the director's chair; and now that I've seen the extended trailer for the new Day of the Dead -- I'm still not entriely convinced. But hey, I was wrong about the Dawn of the Dead remake. Happily wrong, I might add.

OK, so I'm being a little tough on Steve Miner. The second Friday was pretty solid, but then again, he also directed that 3-D one. Ugh. Other flicks in Miner's rather eclectic filmography include the amusing House, the uncomfortable Soul Man, the goofy Warlock, the painful Big Bully and the snarky Lake Placid. So at least the guy knows where to point a camera. The man adapting Romero's Day is Jeffrey Reddick, he of the original Final Destination and the not-so-original Tamara. Cast members include Ving Rhames, Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon and ... Ian McNeice? Interesting.

Bankrolled by Millennium Films, the new Day of the Dead looks to be shooting for an early 2007 release. No word yet on who'll be doing the distributin'.