BR.com tapped linebacker Terrell Suggs, resident cinema buff in the Ravens' locker room, for a weekly series of movie reviews. Suggs is an aspiring screenwriter - he already has a screenplay nearly finished - and owns a production company.
Any night of the week, you could find him at a movie theater, so we talked to him about two flicks he recently screened. If you're looking for a suggestion, Sizzle on Cinema is the place to get it. Movies are rated on a 1 - 5 sack scale.
BR.com: There was a ton of holiday movies that came out this year, and the No. 1 movie for a few weeks was "National Treasure." What did you think of the sequel?
Suggs: "I thought it was a good movie - not as good as the first one, but it's definitely worth going to see. I'm a history buff, so anything about uncovering some of the secrets of our history already sparks my interest."
Is it believable that they can uncover all these secrets that may or may not be real?
"'Definitely. 'National Treasure' was about this thing called 'The President's Book,' which had all the secrets of the country in it. I know it's a conspiracy theory, but you never know if something like that exists. It had information about the Kennedy assassination and Area 51. They were even looking for a wooden panel with Mayan writings on it to search for the city of gold. Hey, it makes you think.
"They really did a good job covering all the bases, but I would make them try to find something that was impossible to find, like Noah's Ark or the Holy Grail. We know they exist, but they're impossible to find."One of the movie everybody's talking about it "Juno."
"And they should be. I actually went to go see that in Seattle, and seriously, it was an amazing movie."
What is "Juno" about?
"It's about a teenage girl that gets pregnant and is looking to give the baby up to a married couple. I thought the acting was really well-done here. Michael Cera, who you may remember from 'Superbad' and the Ellen Page from 'Hard Candy' were really able to work with this emotional story."
Do you normally like these indie flicks?
"It was a smaller-budget movie, but I think it was the acting that made it work. Jason Bateman plays the father, and even though he is normally funny in his other movies, he pulls off the serious role. Jennifer Garner is always good, and Ellen Page really sold her performance."
Would you recommend "Juno?"
"Absolutely. I would recommend this because it deals with real issues. Young kids do get pregnant out there, and you need to face the issue sometimes."Were you able to catch "The Great Debaters" yet?
"Yes, and I'll tell you what… I thought it was going to be this long, drawn-out movie that would end up dragging along, but Denzel [Washington] did it again. He's like three for three this year. There was this, 'American Gangster' and 'Déjà Vu,' and all of them were really great.
"You also had Forest Whitaker in the film, another Academy Award winner. It's really a knockout by both of them."
How did this stack up against those other two you mentioned?
"Well, this is a completely different type of movie, so I'm not going to compare them. First of all, it's based around a true story. 'Debaters' is set around the 1930s, where prejudice and civil rights were still on the horizon, and his debate team at Wiley College beat Harvard in a debate, something that was never thought possible. It's really inspirational."
"I'm going to break the bank on this one and give it a five. That's two fives for Denzel this year."
