Ice Cube

Lots of things blow up real good in XXX: State of the Union. As to whether anything else happens, I'll let you know after my eardrums stop bleeding. Ahhh, my concussion seems to be clearing. I remember a buffed-up Ice Cube scowling a lot, women in cleavage-enhancing outfits providing eye candy, the U.S. Capitol with a gaping hole in its side, Samuel L. Jackson with a tire-grid prosthetic on the side of his face and a boat leaping onto a bridge. Like few movies in recent memory (at least few since the original XXX)

Eleven years ago, in the film Major League II, Baltimore was standing in for Cleveland. Now, we're playing Northern Virginia and Washington - at least a nominal step up. Baltimore and its northern suburbs get some serious screen time in XXX: State of the Union, the adrenalized action flick opening today at a theater somewhere near you. For roughly two weeks last September, the film's cast and crew - including director Lee Tamahori and star Ice Cube -...

With Barbershop and Barbershop 2, Ice Cube has shown that his production company, Cube Vision, can create an "urban" franchise that's grittier and fresher than pink-and-white comedy series like, say, Legally Blonde. But Are We There Yet? gives off a stale odor. You can smell it from the trailer. Ice Cube stars as a Portland bachelor who loathes kids - too many tykes shoplift from his sports-collectible store. So naturally he falls for a fetching upscale party-planner who also happens to be a divorcee and single mom (Nia Long)

Ice Cube, once known mostly for his role in the rap group N.W.A., might not seem like the most logical choice to star in a PG-rated family comedy. But in Are We There Yet?, opening tomorrow, Ice Cube spends much of the film on a road trip with two kids (he is trying to impress their mom, who is stuck out of town on a business trip). Ice Cube made his acting debut in John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood and has continued to gain ground as a movie star with roles in the Friday and Barbershop franchise.

It's a beautiful September afternoon here in Baltimore County's horse country, a perfect day to grab a bad guy by the throat and throw him to the ground. And that's exactly what rapper and film star Ice Cube, in town to film XXX: State of the Union, the big-budget sequel to the 2002 megahit, XXX, does. Again and again, he leaps out of hiding, seizes an actor dressed in full riot gear and forces him to his knees. Finally, director Lee Tamahori is satisfied, and the crew begins the long process of setting up the next shot.

How Ice Cube can star in the wonderful Barbershop, then follow that with a piece of unmitigated trash like Friday After Next is one of those movie mysteries that will never be solved, but must simply be endured. Consider this fair warning: Even those beguiled by the modest charms of the first two Friday movies - 1995's Friday and 2000's Next Friday - will be hard-pressed to find similar enjoyment in this crass sequel. While all three films benefit from Cube's increasingly engaging and charismatic screen presence, the first added a breakout performance from Chris Tucker, while the second added new characters and even a little depth to the old ones.

If you think West Coast hip-hop is all gangsta rap aggression and homicidal fury, you should have been at the Baltimore Arena Friday night, so you could have learned how wrong you are. The occasion was the Baltimore stop of the Up In Smoke Tour, featuring some of the most notorious stars in hip-hop: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and Eminem. Because three out of the four have rap sheets, and one is currently under indictment, you might have thought they came to cause trouble. In truth, though, they came to party, and it was that make-some-noise-and-have-some-fun attitude that carried the evening.

Is there anything funny about "Next Friday," the sequel to 1995's surprise hit "Friday?" Well there is this dog who gets stoned and a staredown between a record-store owner and star Ice Cube. But the funniest thing "Next Friday," which brings Cube back as a guy from the 'hood who has all sorts of adventures, is that hundreds of thousands of people will pay good money to see a film that starts with a guy falling on dog excrement and manages to maintain that level of humor throughout. Much like that unfortunate character, who somehow never finds the time to change his pants, this movie stinks.

Korn and othersFamily Values Tour '98 (Immortal/Epic 69904)As roving rock festivals go, the Family Values Tour has nowhere near the name recognition enjoyed by the likes of Lollapalooza, Lilith Fair, H.O.R.D.E. or even Ozzfest.Masterminded by hip-hop-influenced hard rockers Korn, last year's Family Values Tour was mostly built around edgy, extreme acts unlikely to turn up in the Top 40 -- or, in some cases, even on MTV. Gangsta rap star Ice Cube was perhaps the best-known participant; rounding out the bill were Rammstein, Limp Bizkit, Orgy and Incubus, names that mean nothing outside hard rock and industrial music circles.

Three decades after the original "three days of love, peace and music," a third Woodstock Festival will take place in upstate New York, it was announced yesterday. But this event, which runs July 23-25, will take place at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, N.Y. -- not Woodstock or even Saugerties, where the 25th anniversary Woodstock was held in 1994.Moreover, with headliners including Alanis Morissette, Metallica, Ice Cube and the Dave Matthews Band, the festival is intended for an audience that wasn't born when the first festival took place and may not have been old enough to attend the second.