Cuba Gooding Jr. is kind of a crier. That’s not to say that he’s a crybaby but he cries in a lot of his movies. Those he doesn’t cry in don’t tend to get noticed at all, but they allow him to keep his dignity onscreen. In his younger years he did a lot of crying on film and it seemed to get him a lot of attention by showing that he could be sensitive and caring as well as vulnerable. Women somehow loved that as it made him the good guy in the eyes of a lot of them. But as of the current era Gooding Jr. isn’t really doing a whole lot that people have seen outside of TV show appearances, TV movies, and straight to DVD movies. He’s still a good actor but he seems a little played out, as though his best stuff was back when he was a younger man and could get away with the cocky attitude he brought to a lot of his roles.
He’s grown up but that doesn’t mean he’s gotten much better. Perhaps wiser though.
5. Jerry Maguire
For acting like such a jerk throughout much of the movie Rod Tidwell is still a guy that has a lot of heart and is motivated by getting what he can to take care of his family. If he’s loud, arrogant, brash, and full of himself it’s because he believes he’s that good and does what he can to prove it. But he does go through a lot of the movie with a huge chip on his shoulder.
4. Men of Honor
Even if the man that made your life miserable has reformed there are moments like this when he has to be the hardcase again in order to get you moving, to get you motivated to do everything you can to prove him wrong. Sometimes the old hatreds and the words that spurred you on in the past still have a little power left in them to make certain you remember what it is to push yourself harder than anyone else.
3. Boyz N the Hood
It’s never easy when life is a slipping and uncertain thing in a place that you should be able to feel safe. The neighborhoods where gunfire is a normal, everyday occurrence are those where the young men and women that have to survive tend to be harder at times. Tre was a guy that wanted out, but always seemed to find his way back in the mix no matter what he did.
2. Instinct
If life is an illusion then the control we believe that we have over it is something like smoke that can be dismissed with but a touch. Hopkins’ character is quick to show his unwitting psychiatrist that things such as control and freedom are fading illusions that are easily taken away by anyone at any time. Once this happens we tend to realize that life isn’t what we thought it was.
1. Radio
Radio was based on a true story as the man did exist and was a big part of the community he lived in after a while. His story is one of such great inspiration that it makes us all wish that we treated each other a little better even half of the time.
Cuba Gooding Jr. still has a lot of good years left in him as far as acting goes.
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