Hustle & Flow

I watched Hustle & Flow tonight. This further confirms my belief that Terrence Howard should and probably will be our next major star. I love seeing an actor lose himself in his roles, and it's nearly impossible to believe that the actor who plays Djay is the same actor who played the buttoned-up executive in Crash. I don't know if he'll score an Oscar nomination, but he should. He is nominated for a Golden Globe, so we'll see how that goes for him next week.

And Anthony Anderson was really great as Clyde/Key the producer. He has a fantastic monologue about "talking the talk" and "walking the walk" - I need to look it up to get the exact script. There's another good monologue by the young piano player kid, talking about how rap is coming back home to the South, where it all started with the blues. The scenes with DJay and Skinny Black (Ludacris) are amazingly compelling - you really just can't look away. And DJay's relationships with both Nola and Shug are layered and interesting, when they didn't have to be.

And the music? Yeah, I was tapping my feet and singing along to Shug's hooks.

This is such a strong movie -- everyone should see it. You may not love it, but it's different and smarter than a lot of stuff out there right now.

Everybody's gotta have a dream.
So, Nola.... kill them fans.