Movie

Black Panther (2018)

Black Panther (2018)

Director:

Ryan Coogler

Starring:

Chadwick Boseman

Michael B. Jordan

Lupita Nyong’o

Danai Gurira

Martin Freeman

Plot:

T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T’Challa’s father’s mistake.

Review:

There is no way I can do this film justice in my review. I’m just not skilled enough and I’m still surfing on a buzz of awesome, but I’ll try.

T’Challa, Chadwick Boseman, is now not only the Black Panther but he’s king. Well, he will as soon as he completes a traditional ritual that involves fighting anyone that challenges him.

This is an incredibly technologically advanced culture and yet they are still able to honor their traditions, it was really quiet lovely. Embracing one did not, necessarily, take away from the other. However, it did end up causing some problems and they might want to think about a change in the future.

Anyway, as king he makes a vow to finally capture the colonizer that killed so many of their own decades ago. He’s given a chance, but is blindsided by a new player and loses his opportunity. This angers one of his friends and ends up providing an opening to the true villain, Killmonger, Michael B. Jordan.

Marvel is really winning on the villain side of things lately. They had a horrible, lets please forget the movie ever exists, misstep with Age of Ultron but got things right with Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Doctor Strange. They’re on a real winning streak which has me really looking forward to all the future movies.

Anyway, back to Black Panther. Killmonger could have very easily been not evil enough. He was incredibly empathetic, you could easily see how he’d become what he had become. He’d suffered and seen his people suffering all the while knowing that there was an entire country where they weren’t. Where they advanced beyond anything in the rest of the world. If he had stopped there, pleaded his case to T’Challa and tried the more humanitarian route that Nakia, Lupita Nyong’o, wanted to go then the movie wouldn’t have been as good. He went further and in so doing nearly destroyed what Wakanda stood for, but he also forced T’Challa to really see what life was like for those outside of his country and also see that his father wasn’t perfect.

Villains that make the hero change, to see other perspectives, are the best. Black Panther was a great hero, he was everything I like in a super hero. He was a good man, that strove to do the right things and make the right decisions, even when it wasn’t always the easiest route. Without Killmonger, though, I don’t think the movie would have succeeded so well in my eyes.

The supporting cast in Black Panther was also incredible. I freaking loved General Okoye, Danai Gurira, she was so freaking awesome. That red dress billowing in the breeze while she destroyed shit around her. So cool! Then you’ve got T’Challa’s sister Shuri, Letitia Wright, who was hilarious. It was so much fun to see her interactions with T’Challa. I also enjoyed how Martin Freeman’s character, Everett Ross, was the token white guy. He wasn’t killed in the first few minutes, he was actually given something useful to do so that was nice for him.

Black Panther is my second favorite Marvel movie, it was so good, and I hope that everyone is able to go see it.

5/5

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)

Director:

Jake Kasdan

Starring:

John C. Reilly

Jenna Fischer

David Krumholtz

Kristen Wiig

Plot:

Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend.

Review:

Recently I had the pleasure of a re-watch of Walk Hard. Even after several viewings this movie still makes me laugh.

The film starts with Dewey and his brother playing outside, through constant verbal and physical cues you know the brother is going to end up dying and the movie does not disappoint. He halves himself, a common occurrence on a farm that uses machetes I’m sure, and before he dies he tells Dewey he’ll have to be doubly good for the both of them. No pressure at all.

The movie follows Dewey as he starts in music and evolves as an artist. There are jabs at known musician stereotypes and tons of guest stars that make the whole thing hilarious. It’s also got a surprisingly entertaining sound track.

Seriously, if you haven’t watched Walk Hard by this point I highly recommend it.

5/5

Acts of Vengeance (2017)

Acts of Vengeance (2017)

Director:

Isaac Florentine

Starring:

Antonio Banderas

Christina Serafini

Karl Urban

Atanas Srebrev

Plot:

A fast-talking lawyer transforms his body and takes a vow of silence, not to be broken until he finds out who killed his wife and daughter and has his revenge.

Review:

I watched this movie, then literally completely forgot I had. It’s been an effort to remember enough to write this review.

Antonio Banderas character is a hot shot lawyer that talks his clients problems away. He’s a criminal defense attorney, something that pays well if you’re good and is required, but also comes with the price of knowing that you’re potentially getting bad guys back on the street. As long as the money is coming in he doesn’t care, but when his wife and child are murdered things change.

Karl Urban was jacked in this movie and I kept hoping for more, sadly I did not like his character and felt like he was wasted.

The action was alright, but this was not an action movie despite what the trailer seems to say. Yet another misleading trailer.

The idea is unoriginal, the acting is fine, the payoff is eh. Would not recommend.

2/5

Cliffhanger (1993)

Cliffhanger (1993)

Director:

Renny Harlin

Starring:

Sylvester Stallone

John Lithgow

Michael Rooker

Janine Turner

Caroline Goodall

Michelle Joyner

Plot:

A botched mid-air heist results in suitcases full of cash being searched for by various groups throughout the Rocky Mountains.

Review:

This movie was filmed at the height of Stallone’s career. His accent is almost nonexistent and acting wise it’s pretty good. It’s an older movie and not filled with the normal action I’ve come to expect from his films, but it makes sense considering his filmography, and there’s still certainly a number of butts kicked.

I liked the fact that he got his ass handed to him a time or two, even though he did come back and win, just because it made sense for his character. He was a mountain climber, not someone who fights for a living.

The opening scene is pretty intense and my fear of falling from great heights really had this scene freaking me out. I literally knew exactly what was going to happen but was still almost driven to tears while watching it.

After what happened Stallone’s character was understandably shaken and second guessed himself for a little bit, but he didn’t let it drag him down too long once shit started happening.

There were three female characters in the movie. One died immediately. Two were pilots, one was killed by the bad guy, her lover, to prove that he’d do anything. The third was Stallone’s love interest and other than flying the helicopter was fairly useless. She was sort of just there as his romantic partner. In fact all of the women were romantic partners. Interesting.

The movie was entertaining and Stallone was great.

3.5/5

Bright (2017)

Bright (2017)

Netflix Original

Director:

David Ayer

Starring:

Will Smith

Joel Edgerton

Noomi Rapace

Plot:

Set in a world where mystical creatures live side by side with humans. A human cop is forced to work with an Orc to find a weapon everyone is prepared to kill for.

Review:

I have been waiting to watch this for half the year. As anyone who’s read my book reviews know I am a fan of Urban Fantasy so I was very excited to see a movie coming out in that genre, especially one with a fair amount of money behind it. I was a bit concerned by the choice of writer and director, but since I’ve already got a subscription to Netflix it wasn’t a hassle to sit down and watch.

Daryl Ward, Will Smith, is a veteran cop that no one wants to work with, I assume it’s because of his personality though it’s never really expounded on and honestly he didn’t seem worse than the other cops. He’s paired up with rookie and first time orc cop Nick Jakoby, Joel Edgerton, who puts up with a ton of shit but since he’s still got the new cop shine he’s optimistic. It was actually super cute to see this cop that everyone hates either because he’s a cop, or because he’s an orc, or because he’s a unblooded orc somehow keep up his high spirits. He was young and hopeful and it was so sweet.

The world, at least LA, is not a nice place. The elves are rich, everyone else is poor, various gangs seem to rule. It reminded me of 80s LA or NY. Magic is there in the background, and there are magical beings like fairies and dragons, but it doesn’t really seem to be in the day to day.

I liked that a magic wand was equated as being like a nuclear bomb. I liked that there was a whole federal agency dedicated to magical stuff. I wanted more, though. There wasn’t enough world building or explanations. It was more of a cop drama with sprinklings of magic thrown in.

I liked the concept, liked most of the story, I just wish there was more magic. I’m glad they’re making another movie and I hope that it’s able to build on the world.

4/5