Netflix viewing on October 30th. I heard about this film while listening to an Unpopular Opinions podcast when I was in San Diego. The host seemed to be interested in it and I decided, "what the hey."
The film is directed by Sandi Tan and it's her story about growing up a little different in Singapore. In 1992, Tan along with her friends Jasmine Ng and Sophie Siddique decided to make a film with the help of Georges Cardona, created the film Shirkers. Shirkers was written by Tan and it was Singapore's first indie road movie. Tan, Ng and Siddique knew nothing about film making but they were creative and they hustled. Cardona,who worked on 1988's Slumber Party Massacre directed the film and was set to edit it as well.
The girls went on the study abroad for college. They gradually grew apart but Tan still kept in touch with Cardona, anxiously getting updates about the editing. Eventually, Cardona went dark and the girls finished college. They would all go into the arts in different ways with Tan becoming a novelist. As the years go by, Tan learns that Cardona was not all he led her to believe and eventually he died in 2002. Then in 2012, Cardona's ex-wife gets a hold of tan to tell her that she's got dozens of undeveloped 16mm film cans of her movie. The audio tracks were lost to time but Tan decided to digitize the film and created the documentary.
Tan grew up as a bit of a misfit in Singapore. Jasmine was a bit of a misfit as well and the two became fast friends. The film is a walk down memory lane for Tan who went on to have a nice career but always seemed haunted by the loss of the film and she felt betrayed by Cardona whom she looked upon as a mentor. Shirkers was her obsession and she had to let it go and she carried that sense of loss with her for 20 years before it came back into her life.
OnDemand viewing on August 24th in Chicago. Colin Minihan writes and directs this thriller/horror film about a couple that celebrate their first anniversary together in a remote family cabin (never a good thing) and one them isn't what they seem.
Jackie (Hannah Emily Anderson) and Jules (Brittany Allen) go Jackie's family cabin in the remote wood to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. They seem like a loving couple when a visitor shows up and addresses Jackie as "Megan" and gives a little exposition about Jackie/Megan's past. Suffice to say that Jules isn't happy with Jackie's explanation and rows across the lake to get more backstory about her partner. Turns out there's a lot she doesn't know. On a walk in the woods the next day as Jackie apologizes for not telling Jules about her past, she shoves her off a cliff. However, Jules manages to survive, although badly injured. This starts off a very interesting game of cat and mouse.
This is a very interesting film. The tension builds nicely and you get a bit of a surprise ending. There is also some majestic cinematography of the Canadian wilderness. The film received a 71% Rotten Tomatoes rating which seems a bit low but understandable. There are plenty of slasher film tropes to go around; Jules goes upstairs when being chased, she ham handedly warns the neighbors which leads to disaster and she even escapes, is home free but turns back. Anderson is really good a sociopath. She's capable of love and warmth but boy can she turn it around.
This is a low budget film so it's not in wide release. It is worth watching if you can find it. Apparently the film originally called for a husband and wife but when the male lead had to back out, they made the change. Normally I would be wary of a male directing a film with lesbian overtones but the substitution works.
August 18th in Chicago, IL. This documentary directed by Tim Wardle is about three identical triplets born to a single Jewish mother in 1961. The mother gave the boys up for adaption to a prestigious East Coast Jewish adaption agency who split the brothers up.
The brothers; Robert, Edward and David were raised by families of different social classes ranging from lower middle class to upper middle class. All of the families had previously adapted children as well. The brothers discovered each other after high school and became pretty famous. They hit the talk show circuit, what was left of the Studio 54 culture and eventually opened a successful restaurant.
However, things weren't so rosy, The brothers found their mother but the reunion didn't go as planned. It also turned out that the brothers suffered from some form of depression that would eventually lead to Edward's suicide. When the families were looking for answers, they come to think that there may have been some nefarious reason for the brothers being split up. Other twins had been split up by psychiatrists and the agency to see how they grew up in different environments. The results were never published. The brothers and their adapted families are convinced that the reason is a sinister experiment. I'm not sure that's where I want to go but I'm not the one that this happened to.
This was a really interesting film which spawns the nature vs. nurture argument. Although the brothers were raised in different environments, they were with loving families. If you're into documentaries then this is a film you should watch.
OnDemand viewing on August 17th in Chicago, IL. The sequel to 2015's 13 Cameras sees Gerald (Neville Archambault) up to his old tricks of peeping in on unsuspecting young women. This time around he rents a property to a family that is on vacation with their 20ish year old nubile daughter and her equally nubile friend.
Also back is Claire (Brianne Moncrief), the pregnant woman from the last picture. Gerald keeps her in a home made underground dungeon. Gerald is actually raising her son and seems to be doing a decent job considering Gerald doesn't speak much and is always running around installing cameras or streaming his footage to the creepazoids on the dark web.
Things in the vacation rental start off slow with the two young women, Molly and Danielle (Brytnee Ratledge and Amber Midthunder), with some shower and pool stuff. It then escalates from Gerald stealing panties for a customer to a customer actually paying to have Gerald help kidnap the girls. Suffice to say that the night of the kidnapping is the big climax. Gerald has a change of heart and kills the kidnapper, his "son" rescues Claire, Gerald ends up kidnapping Danielle but she escapes with Claire and they run over Gerald making their getaway.
Victor Zarcoff returns to write the film having relinquished directorial duties to Seth Fuller and Scott Hussion. The picture isn't really very good, hence the 13% Rotten Tomatoes rating. There's too much going on. What made 13 Cameras work was it's simplicity. The filmmakers try to take it up too many notches and it fails. During the epilogue, cops reveal that Gerald owns all the properties that he had cameras in. They guy had money coming in from the properties and from his customers from the dark web. He really didn't need to kidnap and kill anymore. Gerald also has mad coding skills, is good with tools, technology and web design. He could easily get a good paying job with a cable company. Not the most friendly guy sure but definitely skilled. I also don't believe that he would have raised a child either. Plus, the sequel is two years removed from the original and the boy is 10 years old. I felt that the connections to the first film, Claire and her son, weren't really necessary. I mean, it was creepy that he bathed Claire but it didn't add anything, it just padded the run time. We know that Gerald is a really creepy guy.
It's also difficult to believe that the police didn't sniff around a bit more after all the people went missing from the first film. Gerald kidnaps a girl after she discovers him in her apartment and no one ever comes looking for her. Cops would have come to him since he was a landlord if they figured out at the end of the film that he owned the properties. It was too much of a stretch. In the end, the film was too unbelievable and seemed boring, even with a 90 minute run time. The tension from 13 Cameras didn't translate to the sequel. Skip it.
Monroe plays Julia, a street smart thief who rips off club goers. After a night of pilfering she is kidnapped and wakes up in a dungeon with two other people. She's also got a weird implant in the back of her neck to boot. Julia is subjected to some torture but manages to escape but before she can breath fresh air, a robot kills her cell mates and she is captured. She's kept alive probably because she's a young, good looking blonde woman. Given.
It turns out her captor, Alex (Skrein), is an Elon Musk type rich guy with a penchant for kidnapping people who won't be missed in order to run experiments on them in hopes that he can development artificial intelligence with a conscience. Or something to that affect. Alex has created an AI life form called TAU (voiced by Oldman) that runs his household. TAU is Alex's obedient servant. Alex has TAU administer psych tests to Julia but Julia realizes there might be a bit more to TAU and she befriends him.
The night before Alex's new creation is to be unveiled for his investors, things go awry as Julia plans her final escape.
This film received a 20% Rotten Tomatoes score and that might seem a bit harsh. This wasn't a very good film but there wasn't a lot of originality. It has aspects of Ex Machina, Saw and The Demon Seed. I also found it hard to believe that Alex, a really rich guy, takes the time to kidnap his subjects. He could easily farm that stuff out. The guy has no social skills but he's a real good kidnapper. It was also obvious that Julia was going to befriend TAU. Alex was a real jerk to TAU and kept him isolated from the world. Julia promised to "teach him about the world" and of course TAU digs it. Much like Frankenstein's monster, TAU turns on his master. There wasn't much tension or drama in this film. Skip it.
So it came out that the U.S. Attorney General and living old timey southern racist trope Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice is forming a "religious police force." It's technical name is religious liberty task force and it's mission will be to do things like going after the Johnson Amendment. According to a Vox article, Sessions new religious police will keep secularists like the Southern Poverty Law Center in line and keep them from calling the evangelical Christian Family Research Council a hate group. On a historical note, evangelicals got into politics by setting up "segregation academies" in the wake of Brown v. Board of Ed but the IRS said they would have to give up their tax exempt status if they discriminated so they fought back. So racism is their core foundation, I can't imagine why the SPLC would consider CFRC a hate group with a history like that. Go figure. The history is there, check it out for yourself.
Since Sessions is a card carrying homophobe and the person heading up the task force defended supporters of a 2008 California ballot measure that banned same sex marriage. Real open minded people. So who do you think Sessions' new task force will target first? Another baker who doesn't want to bake a cake for a gay wedding? How about a vendor that isn't too keen on a racially mixed marriage like a black man and a white woman because that doesn't mix with his religious beliefs? Or how about stuff like this...
They also don't want black people around either.
Defend racism and intolerance. That's what Jesus was all about right? You know who else has a religious police? If you guessed ISIS or the Taliban the you'd be right.
Someone may say, "DJ B-Clear, how can you say that task force is like ISIS or the Taliban? Those groups kill people. This group is just protecting people's rights!" This group is not going to go after Neo Nazis for being anti-Semites, it will be just the opposite. Sessions, Trump, Fox News and the rest of the Republican Party have been for years selling the notion that only Christians are discriminated against. I am surprised that we have not run out of lumber with all the Republicans/Evangelicals nailing themselves to the cross as victims of whatever insult they perceive. We have not needed something like this in our country's history but now we need one.
The Religious Liberty Task Force probably won't gather people in the town square to be stoned to death, but they will stand for racism and intolerance. I like the separation of church and state. My hope is that this idea goes the way of the ridiculous national voter fraud commission.
An OnDemand viewing on July 21st in Chicago. I don't know how the rest of you out there come up with a streaming choice but at our house it takes awhile. We run through Netflix, HULU, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, iTunes and OnDemand. My wife played this trailer, we looked around some more and finally came back to it.
The picture is directed by Philip Gelatt, he also wrote the screenplay, and is based a short story by Laird Barron. Set sometime in the future, Rebecca Henderson and William Jackson Harper are investigating the site of a murderous cult that apparently cause a lot of havoc years ago. They set up cameras, run soil samples and even discover some human remains. There's some distrust for the corporation the work for and they both seem to have vivid dreams. Things slowly breakdown as weird things start to happen; the cameras malfunction periodically, they hear things, and there's a similarity of their weird dreams. Eventually, they both slowly descend into madness.
They Remain received a 61% Rotten Tomatoes Rating which means its somewhere between meh and mediocre. It's more on the meh side in my opinion. It's not a bad film but there's a lot lacking. The film's run time is 102 minutes but it's more slow than a slow burn. Other than dream imagery, there isn't a lot of exposition on the murderous cult. It's also hard to differentiate sometimes which is a dream and which is reality. Gelatt tries to build the tension but falls flat most of the time. There are some interesting and creepy scenes but they're few and far between. The film's ending left me with a "so what just happened" feeling.
Gelatt could be someone to keep an eye on. He wrote the screenplay for Europa Report so he knows his way around creepy sci-fi. The acting is fine and the film is sound technically. Maybe the source material is not that fantastic. With the amount of time we spent looking for a film to view, They Remain didn't payoff.
OnDemand viewing June 23rd in Chicago, IL. My wife and I thought the description seemed interesting so we took a chance. As fan of the werewolf genre, it seemed like a good idea. The film received a 71% Rotten Tomatoes rating and that sealed the deal.
First time director Fritz Böhm, who also co-wrote the film, gives us a tale of a young girl who's held in a room by her father (the always creepy Brad Dourif) who tells her stories of the "wildling." She grows up before our eyes and starts getting injections for an "illness" as she reaches the age of puberty. One night her "father" shoots himself and Anna (Bel Powley) is taken into custody by Sheriff Ellen (Liv Tyler, who also received a producing credit). Ellen takes Anna into her home.
It doesn't take long for Anna to realize she's a little different than the other teenagers. She slowly starts seeing changes and has reoccurring nightmares. Ellen's brother Ray takes her to a party and things go off the rails after Anna has an encounter with local bully Lawrence. Anna is taken into custody and proceeds to escape. Her "father" recovers from his self inflicted wounds and decides to round up the old posse of wildling hunters in order to kill Anna. Will she be able to get away?
After seeing this film, the Rotten Tomatoes rating was too high. The film has a reasonable run time of only 92 minutes but it just seems to drag on in parts. Then there's the scene where her "father" decides to go after Anna. He clearly knew what she was, why not kill her when he had the chance in his home? He couldn't bear killing her but shoots himself (FAIL) and then when she starts to transform, then he has no problem killing her. Then there's James Le Gros' character, Wolf Man (real subtle). He's a guy who walks around in, you guessed it, wolf pelts.
No really this guy hangs out in town. No job. Nothing. It's totally not weird.
He hangs around town and no one seems to look twice at him. His only purpose is to give Anna exposition about what she really is and the local history of the wildlings.
The acting was fine and there's some nice cinematography but the story seemed weak to me. It tried to be an interesting take on the genre but it came out like a cross between Teen Wolf, Wolf and American Werewolf in London. It didn't work.
July 6th in Chicago, IL. Morgan Neville directs this documentary about television legend, Fred Rogers. Neville traces Rogers humble and good natured beginnings in television that would morph into Mister Roger's Neighborhood. Neville gives the history of the show from interview footage of Rogers as well as interviews with family, friends, cast and crew.
Rogers felt that children deserved better programming and for over 30 years, he gave it to them. He dealt with topics (race, death and anger to name a few) that no other kids shows dealt with. His goal was to educate children not just turn them into future consumers. He even testified in front of Congress for funding in 1969, apparently the Republican Party has been trying to destroy public television for decades.
An OnDemand viewing on June 22nd in Chicago. Andrew Garland directed and wrote the screenplay for the follow-up of 2015's Ex Machina.
This sci-fi thriller is about an anomaly called the "shimmer" inhabiting some swamp lamps around the Maryland shoreline(?). Natalie Portman plays Lena, a biologist from Johns Hopkins who husband Kane (Oscar Isaacs), a special forces soldier, has been missing for a year and is presumed dead. Kane shows up at the house one day but he seems off. After coughing up blood, the ambulance is overtaken by black SUVs. Lena then wakes up in a government facility. Dr. Ventress gives Lena some much needed exposition about the "shimmer" and that her husband is the only person to come back alive out of the numerous expeditions sent inside.
Sure enough Lena is part of the next team going into the "shimmer" along with Dr. Ventriss, a psychologist; Tessa, a physicist; Cass, a scientist and Anya, a paramedic who's just crazy enough to go on a mission like this and also the resident tough chick. While in the "shimmer" they find some crazy sh*t. One by one the team starts to get picked off. Cass is killed by a bear, Anya goes crazy and eventually gets killed by the bear that killed Cass. Tessa figures out what is happening in the "shimmer," the DNA of everything inside the "shimmer" is mutating, including them. She then becomes a piece of flora.
Lena makes her way to the center of the "shimmer," the lighthouse where she meets up with Dr. Ventress. Lena discovers a video of her husband that kind of explains somethings. Lena sets off a chain reaction and makes it back to the base.
The film is based on a book of the same name by Jeff Vandermeer from 2014. Obviously I never read the book but the film seems to borrow a lot from Avatar, John Carpenter's The Thing, Imposter and even Stargate. This is an interesting picture but it doesn't have the build up that Ex Machina had. Ex Machina had a plot that made people think about something that could happen in the not too distant future, sexbots! That seems to be absent in Annihilation. It's not a bad film but it seems to drag on a bit. The run time is 115 minutes but it moves too slow at times, there were probably 8-12 minutes that could have cut without damaging the narrative.
I liked that an all female team goes in a succeeds where the dudes have failed. I do wonder if Lena would have been allowed to go on the mission if she didn't just happen have a useful profession that would be helpful, though it was the physicist that figured it out. Would she have been allowed to go if she was a tax attorney? Dr. Ventress reminded me of Col. O'Neil from Stargate in the "I've got nothing to live for in this world therefore it's a one way trip for me" cliche. The ending didn't seem too original to me either.
The film did receive an 87% Rotten Tomatoes rating but the film so far as under performed at the box office with a $32 million gross against a $40 million budget. Solid visual effects and really good acting. But the film moves too slow and just didn't seem original. Garland is still a director that I want to follow and this is only his second feature.
June 8th in Chicago, IL. My wife and I saw this trailer back in March and had penciled June 8th on the calendar. The trailer seemed to have a lot of what we enjoy (it's more my wife who enjoys this stuff but I can get into it): supernatural horror and a creepy kid.
Ari Aster wrote and makes his debut as a feature director. The film stars Toni Collette as Annie, a miniature artist. Gabriel Byrne is Annie's husband Steve, work from therapist. Alex Wolff is Annie and Steve's oldest son Peter and Milly Shapiro is their youngest daughter Charlie. Annie's mother has just passed away and Annie delivers the eulogy. When Annie explains her relationship with her mother, it was not only strange, it was weird. Deeply weird.
After the funeral, Charlie seems to be acting weird but no one really notices. Peter just seems to want to score girls and smoke pot like a regular teenage boy in Utah. Annie works on her miniatures, which mirrors her life which is creepy and Steve just tries to hold it all together. Oh and the grave gets desecrated. Tragedy strikes the family again, in a very gruesome way, and Annie seeks solace in a a support group where she meets Aunt Lydia (the character's name is Joan). Joan is not what she seems and things go down an even darker path that sees Annie slowly descend into madness.
This film had a budget of $10 million and has currently made $44 million worldwide. That's a good haul for being out two weeks. The film received a 90 % Rotten Tomatoes rating and even made Rolling Stone's list of best 2018 films so far. The film tackles issues like family dysfunction and mental illness. Both play a big part. Aster does a nice job of building the tension but sometimes he tries to be too clever. I don't think the film is as great as everyone seems to think. Look, it's a good creepy film. It wasn't the horror masterpiece I expected. Those high expectations are a me problem. The film seems to have a Rosemary's Baby type ending. The film draws comparisons to 2015's The Witch. Another slow burn tension builder with a bit of a head scratch ending.
I was disappointed that this film was not a horror masterpiece, but it never set out to be. The film is a metaphor for family dysfunction and mental illness, which Annie mentioned that it ran in her family. I dig films where the protagonist loses it. The film had things I like but something didn't sit right with me. It's an interesting film to watch and I encourage people to see it. It's not a film that you need to see in a theater per se but it would be wrong for me to say it's not worth viewing.
June 2nd in Chicago, IL. Disney bought the rights to the Star Wars Universe in 2012. Since then, rumors of a stand alone Han Solo back story film started almost immediately. To say there were problems with production is quite the understatement. The original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired and replaced by Ron Howard who ended up reshooting 70% for the film. Lord and Miller, who've had success with animated and comedic films, wanted to make the film more comedic and were fired. If Lucasfilm didn't want this picture to be too funny then they should not have hired a directing with a track record for comedy.
The film traces Han's humble beginnings on Corellia as the elder hustler for a group of child hustlers in the employ of a criminal organization run by Lady Proxima. Sounds a bit like Oliver Twist doesn't it? Anyway, Han's dream is to squirrel enough away for him and his girlfriend Qi'ra to escape. Han and Qi'ra manage to bribe their way through an Imperial checkpoint but Qi'ra is caught at the last minute and the only means of escape is for Han to join the Imperial Navy. Han washes out of flight school for "having a brain" as he puts it and meets up with a smuggler named Beckett and his crew. Beckett,who's impersonating an Imperial officer, gets Han arrested for desertion which leads to a meeting with a certain Wookie from Kashyyk. Han and Chewie are able to catch a ride with Beckett and join his team.
Beckett has been hired to steal a load of the universe's most precious commodity but he runs into a rival gang and the job goes south. Beckett takes the group back to see Vos, the crime lord who hired him for the score. There Han reunites with Qi'ra but things look grim as Vos is none too happy about the score failing. In order to save their skins, Han comes up with an odds defying job that will probably get them killed. It involves the universe's most precious commodity and a place called Kessel. In order to pull this job off, they need to fast ship. Enter Lando Calrissian and the Millennium Falcon.
Despite a few setbacks, the team pulls off the job. Lando gets wounded, putting Han in a position to pilot the Falcon. Can you guess what he does in 12 parsecs? This eventually leads to a big showdown with Vos, Beckett and the rival smuggling gang. The film ends with Han beating Lando in a card game to win the Falcon where he and Chewie fly off to go work for a "big time gangster."
This is a fun movie. There are some funny scenes, Han and Chewie showering together after they escape with Beckett is really good. Qi'ra makes a nice comment about Lando having a lot of capes. It got a deserving 71% Rotten Tomatoes rating. The plot is very overly complex film. It's a heist movie but it tried to be a clever heist movie. It's good. There are a lot of references to the original trilogy that are fun. The acting is good. Alden Ehrenreich as Solo. Woody Harrelson as Beckett. Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra. Donald Glover as Lando and Paul Bettany Dryden Vos. The entire cast was very solid. As good as Ehenreich was a Han, Glover was better as Lando. Glover stole the show. Glover and Ehenreich had good chemistry. Han and Chewie together were really good too. I never bought Qi'ra as a love interest. It didn't work. This is my opinion but there's a scene at the end of the film where Han has a change of heart to help the rival smugglers who are actually members of the rebellion. In Episode IV, he famously said to Leia that he "ain't in this for your revolution" but his actions contradict the later statement. This is a classic scene that gets devalued.
I did not think it was necessary for a stand alone Han Solo film but I have over 40 years invested in the Star Wars franchise so I had it was a given that I had to see this film. It's a fun film for Star Wars fans but I cannot see it having a lasting affect on fans. The film took in only $84 million opening weekend and that was considered a disappointment. To date its grossed over $320 million but it had a budget of $300 million. This was probably the best film we were going to get with all the production problems. It's arguable the affect it had on the Star Wars Universe but there was a nice little Easter Egg at the end. If you're a fan of the franchise it's not a must see but it is fun. If you don't see the film, you're not missing much.
May 22nd in Bridgeton, MO. The sequel to the 2016 debut, which grossed over $700 million worldwide, is directed by action film veteran David Leitch and stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role. This time around Deadpool seeks redemption by saving a young mutant Firesfist (Julian Dennison) from going down the wrong path. You see Deadpool is depressed after he is unable to **SPOILER ALERT** save his love interest's (Morena Baccarin) life after he botches a mission.
Firefist is housed at a Mutant Reeducation Center and he reaches his boiling point. The X-Men arrive to help, Deadpool is shacking up with them, but Firesfist kills a guard and Deadpool does the same. Both are sent to prison. While in prison, Cable (Josh Brolin) comes back into to kill Firefist in the "go back in time to set the future right" cliche. Cable fails but Deadpool and Firefist are able to escape. This is where Firefist ditches Deadpool and enlists the aid of the Juggernaut. This is where Deadpool's redemption comes in, he wants to save Firefist from getting a taste for murder which will lead to him killing Cable's family.
Deadpool feels the need to recruit his own "super team" to combat Cable. The team that's assembled is mostly for laughs except for Domino (Zazie Beetz). Who's power is luck and we see why. Firefist and Juggernaut head back to the Mutant Reeducation Center to murder the director. Cable agrees to give Deadpool one last chance to alter Firefist's future or he'll kill him. Cable, Deadpool and the rest of the X-Men go to meet Firefist and Juggernaut for the final showdown.
The budget for the sequel got a bump up to $110 million from the $58 million in the original. Deadpool 2 took in over $125 million on it's opening weekend and has grossed over $665 million worldwide as of June 14th. The film received an 82% Rotten Tomatoes rating which is right where it should be. There are some laugh out loud moments and good chuckles throughout. However, it doesn't really expand on the first film. A lot of the same jokes from the first film still work. They expand on the "loss of limb" site gag as Deadpool gets ripped in half by Juggernaut and we get to see Deadpool grow is lower half back. It's a funny scene. There are some really good site gags in the film and a lot of fun 80's pop culture references.
I had moved on from comic books by the time Deadpool showed up. I remember Cable from a 90s X-Men cartoon so I do not know much about them or whether or not the franchise strays too far from the source material. However, I can spot a lack of originality in a plot. That's what we have here. I touched upon the "hero seeks redemption" aspect but earlier. The "traveling through time to set things right" aspect is taking right from the Terminator franchise and Looper. Time travel is always an interesting plot point but it seems to muddy things up more and there's always the "I've only got one time jump" cliche. It's here too. Deadpool's team assembly is taken directly from 1999's Mystery Men, right down to an invisible character. Then there's the whole "protagonist wants to die so he can join his true love in the afterlife" nonsense. The two films in this franchise were made for under $200 million and have grossed $1.5 billion so far. The title character is not going to die. This is a problem within the MCU, death usually doesn't mean a whole lot and no one kills off a golden goose.
I really liked Beetz as Domino. I thought she had a good rapport with Deadpool and had some good lines. The filmmakers took some heat about the character being nothing more than eye candy,
which may be true but I thought Beetz did a nice job and the character came off really well. I do feel that TJ Miller's character has run it's course. I guess the filmmakers feel he skewed well in the first film and gave him a larger role. It was too much. Dopinder (Karan Soni) got a little more screen time but his worked better. Quite frankly I thought that there wasn't enough of Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). Her character got cut while Miller got a larger role. Didn't seem right to me.
The filmmakers played it safe and they got another home run. Where they go from here is a concern. At some point, the jokes are going to get stale. Where can you take a character that cannot die? Will there be a point when the audience just says "enough already?" It's a fun film that is a good time. The post credit scenes were quite funny too.
Saturday May 19th in Chicago. Julie Cohen and Betsy West direct this documentary about the life and times of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. From her humble beginnings to her 1993 Supreme Court Nomination to her close friendship with Anton Scalia her newfound fame as a pop culture icon (sorry to rehash a tired cliche).
You'll learn just about everything there is know about Ginsburg through archival footage and interviews. I can't imagine that West and Cohen left a stone unturned while putting the film together. The film received an 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating. If you see one film about a Supreme Court Justice this year, RBG is the one to watch.
Saturday May 19th in Chicago. Sebastián Lelio directs and shares a writing credit for this film that's based on a novel by Naomi Alderman.
The film stars Rachel Weisz as Ronit Krushka, a photographer who returns to London after her father, a Torah scholar and legend in the community, passes away. Early on we get the feeling that Ronit was exiled from her community at some point. Upon arrival she links up with a childhood friend Dovid Kuperman (Alessandro Nivola) who was a student of Ronit's father. As they reminisce, it's revealed that Dovid married Esti (Rachel McAdams) and as kids the three were very close. We eventually see what it was that most likely got Ronit banished, she and Esti had a fling as kids. Ronit eventually gets asked to leave after her and Esti are spotted hooking up but they do eventually give in completely to their desires that sets an interesting ending.
The film received an 84% Rotten Tomatoes rating, which is fair. This is not a film for everyone. There's tension for sure but it's a slow burn. Ronit feels weird going back. When she arrives, people are courteous but uncomfortable around her. Lelio does a nice job of playing on that discomfort, the characters know what happened and what makes them uncomfortable around Ronit but the audience is left to wonder (although the trailer gives it away). The film has a run time of 114 minutes. On the outset that seems long but there was never a time when I felt bored and I can't think of an unnecessary scene that could've been cut. It's nicely paced.
For me, the conflict between duty and desire is the underlying theme in the picture. It's Esti that calls Ronit to come back for her father's funeral. Ronit comes back out of a sense of duty. Esti and Dovid's get married not because they're in love but because getting married is what they're supposed to do. They do care for each other but the marriage seems loveless. In the end, Dovid and Esti's marriage is over. Dovid was set to replace Ronit's father but he publicly turns down the post and releases his Esti (per custom) from the marriage. His desire overcomes his duty. He loves her enough to want to see her happy and so he frees her. Esti loses her job and does not go back with Ronit, she forsakes her desire to be with Ronit knowing that she would not truly be free. Esti and Dovid's lives are more or less in shambles but they seemed okay with it. Ronit gets to pick her life back up in New York. It ends badly, in varying degrees, for everyone (Esti clearly loses the most). That's the way life works sometimes.
Netflix viewing on a flight from Dallas to Chicago on May 6th. Andrew Niccol wrote and directed this sci-fi noirish thriller starring Clive Owen as a detective trying to solve a string of murders in a society where privacy and anonymity no longer exist.
Set in the not too distant future in an unnamed city where crime is almost non-existent because everyones' personal information can be pulled up immediately, in a very Black Mirror kind of way, and everything is recorded and stored in the "Ether." Detective Sal Frieland is called into investigate a series of murders that appear to be linked but have baffled the police. Since everyone's actions are recorded and stored, this killer has no identity and leaves no clues. Frieland comes across a woman (Amanda Seyfried) who has no record on the ether. Frieland goes undercover and uses her to "erase" a moment of weakness. Soon, Frieland discovers that the woman is either the killer or the next victim. He must race to save her and himself.
The film has an interesting premise. It seems to borrow heavily from several Black Mirror episodes and has a kind of almost Minority Report like vibe to it. The film has its moments but in the end it left me unsatisfied. It has a 100 minute run time and it moves a little slow. I felt that the murderer reveal was weak. There's a good amount of predictability within the plot. Overall it seemed to me that the authorities would be more vigilant against hackers. Regular crime is all but gone. Anonymity and privacy are enemies of the state but the authorities are caught off guard. There's also no sense of urgency. I understand that people are in a general malaise but I never thought the Frieland was desperate to crack the case. Sure he wanted to solve it, especially when he becomes the primary suspect, but he doesn't seem to be in a hurry. The film had potential but in the end it was disappointing.
May 4th in Grand Prairie, TX. It's been six years since Thanos was teased in a post credits scene from 2012's The Avengers.
Has it really been six years?
Everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been leading up to this film. If you've invested as much time as I have then it's about time. It all comes together here.
Speaking of post credit scenes, Infinity War picks up right after the Thor: Ragnarok post credit scene.
That's Thanos' ship intercepting the Asgardian refugee ship and things go downhill from there. Thanos and his thugs defeat Thor and the Hulk. Heimdall manages to send Banner to Earth to warn the others, the ship is destroyed and Thor is cast into space.
Thanos is on a quest to bring the Infinity Stones together. He acquired the Power Stone offscreen by destroying Xandar and he gets the Space Stone from the Tessaract which in case you forgot was kept in Asgard. Thor meets up with the Guardians of the Galaxy and they decide to split up. Thor, Groot and Rocket go to Nedvallir to have Eitri make him a new weapon (spoiler, it's Stormbreaker, originally given to Beta Ray Bill in Thor #337 and no I did not need to look that up). Quill, Gamora, Mantis and Drax try to intercept Thanos at the location of the Reality Stone which is in the custody of The Collector on Knowhere. They're too late and Thanos kidnaps Gamora.
Meanwhile on Earth, Thanos' goons; Ebony Maw, Midnight and Glaive arrive to obtain the Time and Mind Stone. Dr. Strange is the keeper of the Time Stone, it powers the Eye of Agamotto and the Mind Stone is infused into Vision. Vision and Scarlet Witchescape an attack with help from Captain America, Falcon and Black Widow. Maw however defeats Iron Man, Strange and Spider-man and leaves Earth with Strange in tow as he us unable to remove the stone due to enchantment. Iron Man and Spider-man stow away on the ship and rescue Strange but are not able to get off the ship.
Thanos is able to get Gamora to reveal the location of the Soul Stone by torturing her little sister Nebula. The catch here is that in order to get the Soul Stone, Thanos must sacrifice what he loves the most. Now everyone knows that Thanos, the "Mad Titan," loves only himself. See the paradox? Thanos gets the stone.
Thanos heads back to his home planet Titan where Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange and the rest of the Guardians lay in wait. But before they spring the trap, Thanos gives some exposition about Titan and his plans for the stones. He knows that the universe is a crowded place with limited resources. With the Infinity Stones, he could eliminate half of the universe's population so that the other half will flourish. Less talking more fighting. To their credit, the heroes almost get the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos but to no avail. Strange, in order to save Stark's life, gives up the Time Stone (something he told Tony he would absolutely not do earlier).
Now the battle returns to Earth for the finale. The Earth group realizes that if they destroy the Mind Stone, Thanos loses. Vision offers to sacrifice himself for the greater good but Captain America gives him the "we don't trade lives" line. So the team head to Wakanda in hopes that Black Panther's sister Shuri can removed the stone. Shuri mocks Banner for not doing the job correctly the first time, her theory is very sciencey. She can take care of it given, but the process will take time. The final battle awaits.
Seriously? A shot by shot scene steal. Boy, they really went there.
During the battle, neither side can seem to get the upper hand. Thor arrives to help turn the tide and it looks like they might win out. However, just when the light at the end of the tunnel is seen, Thanos shows up and extracts the stone. Despite a furious attack from Thor, Thanos is able to snap his fingers. His dream complete. Half the universe's population is gone. In a last heroic effort, Nick Fury is able to use a beeper(?) to get a sub space message to Captain Marvel before disintegrating.
Set for theatrical release in 2019.
There's a lot going on here. The film has just about everything. Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo keep the plot moving despite multiple story lines in simultaneous multiple locations. This was not an easy task. The story is very fluid and moves along nicely. The story takes some key points from Marvel Comics' 1991 Infinity Gauntlet and 2013 Infinity crossover events. This crossover came after my time, I pretty much stuck with X-Men titles for another year before fading away from comics. Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Steven McFeely did a nice job of incorporating the source material while keeping everything that has happened in the MCU in line. Not an easy task. Great special effects, great sound and great acting from the from the ensemble cast. My only issue with the cast was there was not enough Shuri. They are a few Avengers that weren't in the film but it gets explained away in a fashion that made me not care where they were.
Since Thanos was able to snap his fingers, half the population of the universe died. This includes a few popular Avengers. The problem is that it's no secret that some cast members are signed on for more films. I mean, T'Challa died and his stand alone film grossed over $1.3 BILLION worldwide so you know that character isn't going anywhere. Plus Dr. Strange used the Eye of Agamotto to view the over 14 million outcomes of the fight with Thanos on Titan. Of the outcomes there is only one where the Avengers are victorious. Thanos' act is devalued (they already filmed the sequel too). Other than that, the film is a lot of fun. It's a solid cinematic experience that just does not come around all that often. Unless of course it's a superhero film. The next film and the next phase will be interesting.
This was probably the most expensive film ever made coming in a nearly $400 million. The box office receipts are nothing short of staggering. Over $257 million on its opening weekend. To date it has grossed over $600 million domestically and over $1.8 BILLION worldwide.
April 26th in Pasadena CA. Ernest Cline's bestselling novel gets brought to the big screen by legendary director Steven Spielberg. This has been a long awaited film and I jumped on that bandwagon after I read the book in 2016.
The film is set in the year 2045 and the human race is not in a very good place. The world is kind of a cesspool controlled by giant corporations. People have escaped into a virtual reality world of the OASIS. The OASIS is the world's greatest resource. It is used for education and for the general escape from everyone's miserable life (the general populace is dirt poor). The OASIS was created by a man named James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and upon his death, he wills his estate and the OASIS to the person who can find three keys and unlock an easter egg. Thus giving the person full control of the OASIS. Suffice to say, everyone on Earth is going after the keys. Including evil video game conglomerate Innovative Online Industries or IOI. The IOI CEO, Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn, who's really good at playing a pr*ck by the way), will stop at nothing to get control of the OASIS in order to exploit it for profits.
Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) lives in the Columbus stacks, a series of trailers in tower form, and leads a generally lousy life with no hope of upward mobility. In the OASIS he is known as Parzival and he teams up with his pal Aech, a male avatar but who's female (Lena Waithe) in the real world and Parzival's love interest Art3mis, Samantha (Olivia Cooke) in the real world. Rounding out the rest of their group, the High Five, is Daito/Toshiro (Win Morisaki) and 11 year-old kid known as Sho/Zhou (Philip Zhao).
The High Five work together to solve the clues and try to stay one step ahead of the army of IOI participants known as "sixers. Of course IOI plays dirty (they blow up the stack that Wade lives), are actively looking for the High Five in real life and are trying to stack the deck in their favor. TO help even the odds, Parzival enlists the aid of all the of "gunters" in order to defeat IOI and keep the OASIS free. Guess who wins?
There a lot of pop culture references in the book and that's what made it hard to put down. This what made the movie so much fun was spotting all of the subtle and not so subtle references. The amount money it must have taken to secure the rights to the properties must have been staggering.
The film took in over $41 million on it's opening weekend. To date it has grossed over $135 million domestically (that's a little disappointing) and over $576 million worldwide. To be fair, 2018 was set up to big a tough Spring/Summer film season. There was a lot of competition with Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War out. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 73% rating which is about where it should be. A lot of details from the book were either omitted or changed in order to fit the 140 minute run time. I attribute the score to the changes from the book to the film. That's how I felt. There's a lot of CGI and there are times when I felt I was watching a video game but that's kind of the reality where the film takes place. The only real problem I had was when Samantha and Wade meet in real life, it takes about 5 minutes for Sam to fall for Wade because he was really nice to her. Sam is an attractive woman and I just found it hard to believe that no one is her group ever tried that route in order to try and score with her. Samantha has a facial birthmark and she's self conscious about. She styles her hair to cover up half her face but after a few minutes of Wade saying how beautiful she is, she changes her hairstyle. I guess they had to speed up the romance angle as well.
Spielberg excels at bringing the viewer a cinematic experience. His films are made for the big screen. The film is technically stunning. Great visuals (some may seem derivative but they're great) and great sound. The type of film that's a must see in a theater. It's not for everyone and with a PG13 rating it's a little more kid friendly but it's a lot of fun.
April 21st in Chicago, IL. Wes Anderson's 9th directorial effort is his 2nd foray into stop motion animation. The film is set in the Japanese city of Megasaki. A dog flu has spread through the city and Mayor Kobayasi, a cat lover, decrees that all remaining dogs are to be sent to Trash Island. The mayor's youthful ward and nephew Atari steals a plane to in order to rescue his dog Spots, the first dog sent over to Trash Island.
Atari is injured during a crash landing and is helped by a reasonably friendly group of canines (Chief, Boss, King Duke and Rex). As they journey across Trash Island to try and find Spots, Mayor Kobayashi is tightening his grip on Megasaki by eliminating political rivals and setting a plan in motion to put down all the dogs on Trash Island. A plucky exchange student, Tracy Walker, is skeptical of the mayor so she and a student group begin to investigate (meddling kids). Atari and Spots are reunited and the mayor's plans are thwarted. Atari is made mayor and orders that the dogs are to be reintegrated into society.
Anderson received some criticism from some critics about cultural stereotypes and "whitewashing." Japanese characters speak in their native tongue and there are no subtitles. The humans that speak in English are white (Tracy and an interpreter delivering news updates) and of course the dogs speak English to each other. Subtitles would have helped for sure. Tracy is a "white savior" cliche but I was more bothered by the fact that she was high school aged, develops a crush on 12 year old Atari and they become an item at the end of the film.
A standard theme in Anderson's films is family. This film is not different. Atari steals a plane in order to locate his faithful dog whom he had grown to love. Spots was devoted to Atari. Then there's the fact that Spots and Chief are from the same litter, unbeknownst to Chief. When Chief's identity is revealed, he asks Spots if he was the "runt" of the litter and Spots replies, "not anymore." Great line. Spots bestows upon Chief the role of Atari's protector, a position he once held and raises his family with Peppermint. Chief gets together with Nutmeg to start their own family.
The picture received an 89% Rotten Tomatoes rating which is maybe a few points, but not many, too high but none the less a good film. I liked The Fantastic Mr. Fox a little better. The dialogue is what I expect from an Anderson film. Technically, there are few directors that pay as much attention to detail as Anderson does. It's not just the stop motion of the characters, it's the detailed sets. Lighting and color also play a big factor, another Anderson staple. The cast of voice talents is extensive and it feature several Anderson veterans like Bill Murray and Jeff Goldblum. Harvey Keitel, Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber and Bryan Cranston are also involved.
If you're an Anderson fan, as I am, then this is a must see. If you're not an Anderson fan or not a fan of stop motion animation then this is not a film for you. The criticisms are not wrong but I liked the film and will continue to view Anderson features.
April 7th in Chicago, IL. Jim from "The Office" directs, stars and even had a hand in the screenplay of this horror film that also stars his real life wife Emily Blunt.
Set in the not too distant future, the earth has been invaded by aliens and the human race is now the hunted. The aliens hunt by sound and possess an armored exoskeleton that make them difficult to kill. The Abbotts are a typical family of 5 that are out one day scavenging. On their way back home, a moment of carelessness leads to the death of their youngest son.
Fast forward a year and Evelyn is pregnant, teenage daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds, who stole the show) is acting like a teenage girl and acting out against her parents. Since Regan is deaf, the Abbotts communicate via sign language and have taken painstaking measures to keep hidden from the aliens. Things breakdown and the aliens discover them just as Evelyn gives birth. Regan and brother Marcus are trapped out in the open by the creatures and Lee sacrifices himself in order to escape. Regan and Marcus escape to the house where Regan discovers the secret of how to fight the creatures (thanks to her father's work on hearing aids, showing how much he cared about her).
A Quiet Place had a budget of $17 million and took in over $50 million on its opening weekend. To date it has grossed over $176 million domestically and nearly $300 million worldwide. In terms of horror films, this picture is the 2018 equivalent to 2017's Get Out, which had a budget of $4.5 million and grossed over $255 million worldwide. Good company to be in. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 95% rating which is a few points too high. Mostly because of its parallels to War of the Worlds and Independence Day. The only other issue I had is the fact that Lee had been working on finding a weapon to battle the creatures and couldn't figure it out or at least know how close he was. Yet Regan, who was forbidden to enter Lee's workshop, figures out in a few minutes. There are also some small items like, how is the power grid still working? But that's getting nit picky.
Krasinski does a real nice job with the pacing and ratcheting up the tension. Krasinski also uses the "hide the monster" trope well. The creatures are shown in small glimpses until the final act. Plus there isn't a need to show a high body count in order to pad the run time, which comes in at a clean 90 minutes. The acting is solid, especially since there's no dialogue, adding to the tension. I especially enjoyed the fact that Lee didn't use a witty quip to draw the creatures from Marcus and Regan. This is a very good film that is worth watching.
A Netflix original viewed April 5th on a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. I came across this title while searching for something to watch with my wife. I happen to be sucker for Yakuza films. When the opportunity presented itself, I took a swing.
The film takes place in 1950's Japan and an American (Jared Leto) serving time in a Japanese prison, saves the life of a Yakuza higher up, Tadanobu Asano, and gets rewarded with his freedom. He soon goes to work for Kiyoshi's clan, the Shiromatsu. Nick does some low level muscle work and starts to work his way up the corporate ladder. The Shiromatsu are being pushed out by the Seizu clan because they're stubborn and are not adapting to the changing world. Things escalate between the two clans with tensions coming to a head when the Shiromatsu are betrayed and ambushed at the docks resulting in the deaths of Kiyoshi and the leader of the clan. Nick is wounded and is allowed to leave with the few remaining Shiromatsu loyalists. Nick takes it upon himself to head off the the Seizu dojo to kill the traitor. Which he does.
This film received a 20% Rotten Tomatoes rating, which seems a little low. It's not an awful film but it's not that great. There are more than a few plot lines that are lifted from Black Rain, The Last Samurai and any Takeshi "Beat" Kitano film. It turns out that Kiyoshi has a sister, Miyu (Shioli Kutsuna) and Nick is jut a little more that infatuated with her. Kiyoshi sees this and forbids Nick from hooking up with her but lo and behold, that's exactly what happens.
There are some redeeming scenes but I never bought that pretty boy Jared Leto could work his way into a high ranking position in a Japanese crime family. He was a pasty American for crying out loud. Plus, the biggest problem is that the film moves too slow. It has a two hour run time I got bored for some short stretches. The Nick/Miyu affair was too drawn out for being obvious that they were going to hook up. It was also obvious that the Shirmatsu clan was going to lose and that Nick was going to kill the traitor. He wasn't just going to go home and call it a day.
March 24th in Chicago, IL. My wife and I saw this trailer and got pretty excited for it. The film is directed by Steven Soderbergh, who surprisingly has only two directing credits since 2013. Soderbergh, always the auteur, shot the film with an iPhone 7 and he also edited the film. Almost like every shot is POV. The film was technically very well done.
The film stars Claire Foy as Sawyer Valentini, a young career woman who's trying to start her life over after problems with a stalker while she was living in Boston. Still feeling the effects, Sawyer seeks solace from a support group and lets it slip to a counselor that she thought about suicide. She gets referred to a facility but ends up getting unknowingly committed for 24 hours. Let this serve as a reminder, always read the fine print. Just don't sign your name on the dotted line.
Sawyer is not too happy with this arrangement, it leads her to strike an orderly that she sees as her stalker (it's not him) and to a fight with another patient, Violet (played by the underrated Juno Temple), That in turn ups the commitment to a week. Sawyer soon discovers that her stalker is indeed working at the facility and of course no one believes her. As Sawyer tries to figure a way out, she befriends another patient, Nate (played by Jay Pharoah), who turns out to be an undercover reporter. Nate is investigating insurance fraud at the facility and he gives his cell phone to Sawyer so she can call her mom (Amy Irving) for help.
While this is going on, the stalker (Joshua Leonard) is stepping up his efforts to discredit and get close to Sawyer. He drugs her to make her more violent. As it usually does with stalkers, he escalates, leading to some grisly behavior and a final showdown.
The film received a a 79% Rotten Tomatoes rating and I think that was a bit low. There are a few derivative scenes where it feels like you're watching Girl, Interrupted and there are some plot point that are a little predictable. But it's another wise solid story. As I mentioned earlier, I liked how Soderbergh shot and edited the film. Soderbergh kept things on edge as Sawyer slowly descends into madness. It turns out Sawyer was right all along and that's a shot at how our society has a tendency to disbelieve women and that men are somehow owed something from women (Sawyer and her stalker were co-workers, He saw something between that was not there). There's also the insurance fraud aspect. I find it very believable that a psychiatric facility can bilk payments from an insurance carrier. A patient gets "committed" and gets "cured" when the insurance runs out. Brilliant really. No one believes crazy people.
This is a solid film that is worth watching. It's a bit of a slow burn with the mounting tension but Soderbergh keeps a solid pace. Unsane had a short run in the theaters but keep an eye out for it on one of the big streaming sites.
Viewed in Chicago on February 24th. Back in August of 2014, Marvel's Phase Three was "leaked" and a lot of people, myself included, lost their collective minds when it was announced that Black Panther would be involved. T'Challa first showed up in Captain America: Civil War and suffice to say, he whetted everyone's appetite for his own franchise. It didn't disappoint. Chadwick Boseman reprises the role of T'Challa/Black Panther and the film is directed by Ryan Coogler.
The film opens with a flashback to Oakland, CA in 1992. T'Chaka, current Black Panther uncovers a traitor in his organization that is selling vibranium on the black market and deals with the problem rather harshly (this obviously comes back later in the film). Fast forward to today and T'Challa is returning home for his coronation. During the ceremony, T'Challa is challenged to a fight to the death by a rival tribal leader. T'Challa defeats his rival but spares his life because he's such a great guy (he really is).
T'Challa heads to South Korea in an attempt to apprehend Klaue (played brilliantly, as one would expect, by Andy Serkis), who is selling some vibranium to the highest bidder (in case you don't remember, Klaue last appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron). In Korea, T'Challa meets up with Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), takes down Klaue and turns him over to Ross. However, Klaue is sprung by Kilmonger, Ross is wounded and T'Challa opts to take him back to Wakanda for treatment.
Remember the opening scene in Oakland? Turns out the Wakandan traitor had a son, who went on to become a US military black ops soldier who goes by the name of Kilmonger (Michael B. Jordan, who is awesome). Kilmonger returns to Wakanda with a prize that T'Challa could not obtain, the body of Klaue (because Wakanda wanted him dead or alive and when you go by the name of Kilmonger, you choose the former). So Wakanda has a rule where someone of royal lineage can challenge the king to trial by combat. Kilmonger, being a cousin of T'Challa does just that and defeats him. Inevitably setting up a second showdown between Kilmonger and T'Challa. This time in their respective suits.
There is a lot to like, nay love about this film. Coogler adds a lot of color and landscapes jump off the screen. The wardrobe of the Wakandans is beautiful and vibrant. Coogler really brings the mythos of Wakanda to life. An advanced almost fairy tale land that has it all. Beauty. A symbiotic relationship with the environment and life altering technology.
Then there are the performances. Boseman, Jordan and Serkis are great. There are solid performances from Angela Basset (who doesn't look likes she's aged a day in the last 20 years) as T'Challa's mother. Forest Whitaker as Wakanda elder statesman Zuri, other than Battlefield Earth, when has Whitaker given a bad performance? Daniel Kaluuya (the guy from Get Out) as W'Kabi, leader of a Wakandan tribe. Lupita Nyong'o plays Nakia, T'Challa's love interest (she's not that into him) and undercover Wakandan spy. Danai Gurira is downright intimidating as Okoye, head of the Dora Milaje, the king's bodyguards.
Someone that is not to be trifled with.
But the best performance belongs to that of Letitia Wright as T'Challa's sister Shuri, the Wakandan equivalent of Tony Stark, Hank Pym and Peter Parker all rolled into one. In fact she might be better than them. She is the genius that develops the vibranium based paraphernalia of the Black Panther. She's smart, funny and doesn't back down from a fight.
Just your average 21st century teenager.
As great as this film is, it does fall victim to the standard superhero tropes. Mainly that the hero and villain are evenly matched. When they first fight, Kilmonger throws T'Challa over a waterfall but you know they're going to fight again and the final outcome is never in doubt. That's the worst that comes to mind.
The film received a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating. That's a near perfect movie and I don't think this is a near perfect movie. It's close at 92-94% in my opinion and I think one can make an argument for this being the best film in the MCU to date. Black Panther took in over $200 million in it's opening weekend. Has a domestic gross of $696.6 million and a worldwide gross of over $1.3 BILLION. You will see T'Challa again when Avengers: Infinity War opens on April 27th. I think that Coogler is an up and coming director and I need to view his directorial debut, Fruitvale Station, in the not too distant future. Not to mention keep an eye out for his future work.
