Hustlers is a crime drama written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, based on New York magazine’s 2015 article “The Hustlers at Scores” by Jessica Pressler. Jennifer Lopez is also a producer on the film through Nuyorican Productions, alongside Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, and Adam McKay through their Gloria Sanchez banner. The plot follows a crew of strippers in New York City who begin to steal money by drugging stock traders and CEOs who visit their club, then running up their credit cards. I had no idea the New Yorker article would become a movie, they did a good job.
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In 2014, former New York City-based stripper Dorothy/Destiny (Constance Wu) is invited for an interview with Elizabeth (Julia Stiles), a journalist working on a story involving Dorothy’s former friend and mentor, Ramona Vega (Jennifer Lopez). Seven years prior, Dorothy, known by her stripper name as Destiny, is working at Moves, a strip club, to support her grandmother (Wai Ching Ho) but is barely getting by. Mesmerized by Ramona’s performance plus all the tips she earns, Destiny meets her on the roof of the club. Ramona looks Destiny over and decides to take her under her wing thus forming a formidable team. Destiny enjoys her newfound wealth and friendship with Ramona. A year later (2007), the financial crisis strikes and both women find themselves short of cash. Destiny becomes pregnant and bows out of the stripper scene. Unable to find a regular job,
Destiny goes back to stripping at the club but Moves has changed: the financial crisis has impacted their business, and the club is primarily staffed by immigrant women from Russia willing to perform sex acts for money, a line Destiny is unwilling to cross. She reconnects with Ramona, who introduces her to a new scheme. Along with her two protegées, Mercedes (Keke Palmer) and Annabelle (Lili Reinhart), Ramona targets rich men at bars, get them drunk, then escorts them to Moves where the girls steal their credit card numbers and charge them to their limit. Destiny joins in and learns Ramona uses a mix of ketamine and MDMA to impair judgment and cause memory loss in their targets, a tactic deemed worthwhile since their victims will rarely admit to being robbed by strippers.
Hustlers is a pretty decent, indecent movie about some very hard working women who feel instant, illegal money is worth the risk of jail. I must first mention 50-year old J. Lo has done a magnificent job of keeping her body sexy, tight and presentable for any role she’s up for. While she looked a little amazon-ish next to 37-year-old Constance Wu, she still has it going on. However, none were a match for Keke Palmer (26 years old) who was a fantastic addition to the gang. Hustlers is obviously not for children nor is it for sanctified worshippers who don’t need to see how some desperate women choose to live their lives for money. Hustlers pretty much keeps you intrigued and entertained. The film has grossed $110 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, with Lopez’s performance singled out for praise. I enjoyed Hustlers, especially the brilliant performances by J. Lo and Constance. I recommend Hustlers for those who don’t mind a good sexy movie. Check It Out!
It all started in 2002 with “Jason Bourne Identity”. Jason is found with 2 bullets in his back, unconscious, with amnesia. He had no idea who he was. Since then there was Bourne Supremacy in 2004, Borune Ultimatum in 2007, Bourne Legacy in 2012 and just Jason Bourne in 2016. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) still has not fully regained his memory but is still trying to find out who he really is with the help of rough CIA agent, Nicky Parson (Julia Stiles). After Nicky hacks the CIA and learns significant information about Jason’s identity, she is exposed and tailed all the way to Jason Bourne, who is in Greece. The hunt is on once again to try and capture, kill or bring Bourne in. Once they meet up, Nicky tells Jason vital information about his father and Treadstone, which is a Black Ops he was part of. CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) orders his people to find Parson in hopes they can reach her before she can hand off the files she hacked to Bourne. Dewey calls on The Asset (Vincent Cassel), an ex-Blackbriar assassin who also holds a personal grudge against Bourne, having been captured and tortured as a result of Bourne’s actions in “The Bourne Ultimatum” and harbors resentment toward him because of it. The Asset is ruthless in his pursuit of Bourne following him from Greece to London then Las Vegas where they engaged in the best car chase (between a Police Swat vehicle and a Dodge Charger) I’ve seen in years. In fact, it may be the best I’ve ever seen. All told, the chase scene involved some 200 vehicles. The scene concludes as the speeding SWAT vehicle busts through the Riviera casino entrance and onto the gaming floor, demolishing slot machines and anything else in it’s path. This is how it looks at the end of the chase. 
I won’t reveal what happens next but I am saying, SEE THIS MOVIE! Dewey has a team of shady type agents working for him, including Heather Lee, (Alicia Vikander) the head of the CIA Cyber Ops Division. Dewey is also busy bullying Aaron Kalloor, (Riz Ahmed) the CEO and founder of Deep Dream, a social media enterprise that fits in nicely to his new project. I found Jason Bourne to be entertaining, thrilling, exciting, well acted, with awesome special effects and a great ending to a really good series.
CAROL's WORLDS 