Nerd in the 'Noke

Straight Outta Compton (2015), R, 147 minutes - I was born in 1979, and having grown up in a small, very rural, very middle-class New Hampshire town, I was about as far removed from the gangsta rap movement led by NWA as you could have been.  The earliest memories that I actually have of any of these artists are of their various projects from after their falling out.  So for me, this biopic was very intriguing, providing some historical perspective on their rise not only in the music world, but in society in general. Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr. - the real Ice Cube's son), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Easy-E (Jason Mitchell), DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.), and MC Ren (Aldis Hodge) were friends from in and around Compton, CA who had similar musical tastes.  Unable to play or perform 'their kind' of music - based on the lifestyle they new and experienced, they decided to record and produce themselves.  They financed and released their first single, 'Boyz-n-the-Hood' ...

22 Jump Street (2014), R, 112 minutes - I think that everyone can agree that 2012's 21 Jump Street was a surprisingly successful reboot of the Johnny Depp starring television show that aired between 1987 and 1991.  In my mind 22 Jump Street is almost as surprising, primarily because of the way it goes about continuing the buddy cop story of Officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum). Oftentimes a sequel - especially in the comedic genre - will try so hard to duplicate the successes of the film before it that it becomes formulaic and repetitive.  22 Jump Street actually wholeheartedly embraces this but manages not to overdo it.  Following a bust that goes wrong at the beginning of the film, both Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman) and Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) remind Schmidt and Jenko that they got where they are because they didn't do the same old thing, that they need to stick to what they know and go about things they way they did on their previous as...