Movie Review Black Panther Wakanda Forever

Black Panther Wakanda Forever 

Directed by Ryan Coogler 

Written by Ryan Coogler

Starring Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Winston Duke, Lupita N'yongo 

Release Date November 11th, 2022 

Published November 11th2, 2022 

Black Panther Wakanda Forever begins jarringly without warning. We begin in the moment of the death of King T'Challa. His heart is still beating as his sister, the brilliant scientist, Shuri (Letitia Wright), forgoes being by her brother's side in favor of desperately trying to save him by perfecting a potion. T'Challa dies before Shuri can find the right combination of elements for her life saving potion, the same potion he'd taken when he'd become Black Panther, the masked protector of Wakanda.

Shuri is plagued by both guilt and grief as her mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett, as regal as ever), tries to comfort her. Jumping ahead by one year, Shuri remains consumed by guilt and since she doesn't believe in the elders or life after death, she refuses the comfort that such ideas can bring. Her guilt and sadness are slowly curdling inside her just as we find out that the leader of an underwater kingdom, Namor (Tenoch Huerta), is convinced that Wakanda has designs on attacking the kingdom of Atlantis. 

This is not the case. Rather, the Americans have created a machine that can locate Vibranium, the super powerful element that was once believed to only exist in Wakanda. The truth is that Vibranium also exists in Atlantis and the Americans want it. Namor's misguided belief that Wakanda is after the vibranium, sets off a chain of events that includes kidnapping Shuri, and the young American scientist Ri-Ri (Dominique Thorne), who created the incredible Vibranium locating machine. Namor believes that killing the scientiss will keep enemies from locating Atlantis. 

Naturally, Queen Ramonda sees this as an act of war against Wakanda and the two sides begin a slow roll toward war. Shuri is caught in the middle, wanting nothing more than to protect Wakanda while also understanding Namor as someone who has lost people and as someone simply trying to protect his people from the incursion of the outside world. King T'Challa's decision to share Wakanda with the world has had consequences and those consequences are directly confronted in Wakanda Forever. 

Director Ryan Coogler has an extraordinary command over the story he is telling in Black Panther Wakanda Forever. Keep in mind the tight rope walk Coogler is making in trying to honor his friend Chadwick Boseman and not exploiting his death for cheap emotion. He has to show love and respect for Boseman while also moving the Wakanda story into the future and provide comic book thrills along the way to satisfy mainstream audiences. 

Most directors in Coogler's place would have fallen back on easy, maudlin ploys for sympathy. Not Coogler, he smartly dispatches with performative grieving to the long term effect that the loss of a loved one can have on those loved ones. No one seems ready to move on from T'Challa but they are also always prepared to defend themselves as circumstances require. The vulnerability of Wakanda without the Black Panther, is a major subplot of Black Panther Wakanda Forever and it is remarkably well handled under the circumstances. 

That said, the key to making this plot work is Letitia Wright. Wright's Shuri has the impossible task of taking up the mantel as Wakanda's protector and she is not ready for it. She's not ready to let herself grieve fully for her brother and only the circumstance of Namor's arrival in Wakanda, exposing the Wakandan defenses in the process, thrusts Shuri out her longing and grief and into a place where she is driven by rage and revenge and her journey morphs from grieving to vengeance and on to maturity. 

Wright does a wonderful job throughout of giving Shuri an inner life, an intellectual and emotional life that feels real under these outsized circumstances. The script does take shortcuts to get Shuri to Black Panther but these shortcuts are typical of all Marvel adventures where the dictates of blockbuster cinema often requires a shortcut to keep the pace and action up while the emotional aspects of the story linger in the background. 

Read my complete Review at Geeks.Media. 

Movie Review: Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns

Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (2008)

Directed by Tyler Perry 

Written by Tyler Perry 

Starring Angela Bassett, Rick Fox, Lance Gross

Release Date March 21st, 2008

Published March 22nd, 2008 

In Diary of A Mad Black Woman a brave dramatic performance by actress Kimberly Elise. as an abused wife of privelege forced to start over from scratch was undermined by writer-director Tyler Perry and his indulgent alter-ego Madea character who literally takes a chainsaw to the movie and destroys everything in his/her path. In Madea’s Family Reunion Perry’s call for social change and understanding amongst African Americans is once again undermined by broad comic moments between Madea and Perry’s other alter-ego old Joe.

It seemed that Perry simply couldn’t get out of his own way. Then came Why Did I Get Married? A complete departure from Perry’s first two movies and I had hoped it was a sign that Perry had matured enough to bring his honest messages of love, community, social change and humor with style and filmmaking substance. Meet The Browns squashes that maturity in the first act.

Oscar nominee Angela Bassett stars in Meet The Brown’s as Brenda, a single mom of three kids, by three different fathers, living in inner city Chicago. Things are tough and getting tougher when she loses her job. With the lights turned out and her baby daddies nowhere to be found, Brenda finds that her own father has passed away. His name was Pop Brown and he lived in a small town in Georgia where he may have left Brenda something in his will that might help her out. Traveling to the small southern town Brenda is immediately greeted by her new family.

LeRoy Brown (David Mann) is a polyester wearing, bald headed clown with a heart of gold. Though he says inappropriate things and is prone to wild, inhuman swings of mood, from wild laughter to tears, no real anger, LeRoy is a big loving teddy bear as he takes these strangers right to the Brown family home. There Brenda and the kids meet LB (Frankie Faison), his loving wife Mildred (Irma P. Hall) and Vera (Jennifer Lewis) a drunk witch whose claws come out when it comes to protecting what might be in her daddy’s will. Ultimately, Vera is harmless but she is a terrible bother throughout, functioning as the agitating force of the last third of the film.

Brenda’s son Michael (Lance Gross) is a basketball prodigy and down south he catches the eye of a scout/coach and former NBA star named Harry (Rick Fox). Actually, it’s the lovely Brenda that caught Harry’s eye but helping Michael develop his talent and deal with agents and NBA scouts that begin snooping around is a good excuse to be around Brenda. Her experience with men causes her to keep him at a distance but the romance is inevitable.

It is as if there are two movies happening in Meet The Brown’s. In one Angela Bassett is giving a pro level dramatic performance as a loving, struggling mother who discovers she can still find a good man in Rick Fox’s Harry. In the other movie are the broad, over the top and often terribly unfunny Brown family who act as ludicrous filler material distracting from the earnest, socially relevant drama happening in the other movie. Where Bassett does yeoman's work to dramatize Brenda’s struggles, the Brown’s blow into the movie, screaming and yelling, splitting their pants and ranting about pimps, ho’s and money.

Perry has a filmmakers version of multiple personality disorder. On the one hand you have an eloquent social activist with a genuine talent for telling relevant truths with great heart and humor. Then you have the A.D.D comedian Tyler Perry who nervously inserts broadly written comic moments into the drama because he doesn’t trust to stay with him when things get serious. Somehow, he overcame that nervousness in Why Did I Get Married but the jittery comic is back, to his great detriment in Meet The Brown’s.

Movie Review: Akeelah and the Bee

Akeelah and the Bee (2006) 

Directed by Doug Atchison

Written by Doug Atchison

Starring Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Curtis Armstrong

Release Date April 28th, 2006

Published April 27th, 2006

On the surface Akeelah and The Bee is the inspirational tale of a young girl overcoming the odds to make it to the national spelling bee. However, the real driving inspiration for the film is the continuing educational strife in the inner city that see's gifted students, like the one portrayed in the film, being left behind in schools ill suited to nurture their gifts.

Akeelah and The Bee may indeed play a little like an After School Special on steroids but its deeper message gives the film depth and the lead performances of stars Keke Palmer as Akeelah and Laurence Fishburne as her coach help Akeelah and the Bee become more than the sum of its plot. Akeelah Anderson (Palmer) is an 11 year old overachiever in the Crenshaw school district in Los Angeles. Having been skipped ahead a grade, she is expected to be the schools star in terms of academics.  Unfortunately, Akeelah is floundering. She has been missing classes and is failing.

Things begin to turn around for Akeelah when her principle, Mr. Welch (Curtis Armstrong), forces her to enter the school spelling bee. Mr. Welch has invited his friend Dr. Joshua Larabee (Fishburne), a professor at USC and former spelling champion, to observe the bee and especially Akeelah. When Akeelah wins the bee she is offered the chance to train with Dr. Larabee in hopes of making it to the national spelling bee.

At home Akeelah is living with the loss of her father, he was killed when Akeelah was only 6 years old, whose love of words drives her own love of words. Her mother (Angela Bassett) is hard working but absent. Her oldest brother Devon (Lee Thompson Young) has joined the military while her other brother Terrence (Julito McCullom) has joined a gang. The specter of violence is inherent in the neighborhood though not prominent in the film.

The inadequacy of her school curriculum has limited Akeelah's ability to learn. Worse yet, the prevailing attitude of the people in her life, that education is a fixed, white man's game, has infected her own attitude. She must discover her love of learning or she will not succeed.

Akeelah and The Bee addresses a real hot button issue in inner city schools by directly addressing the prevailing attitude among African American youths that education is a white mans game. Many young African Americans have come to believe that the game is fixed against them in terms of education, so why bother with schools. This is not an unreasonable attitude. In fact, it's supported by how little financial support appears to be given to inner city schools as opposed to schools with predominantly white attendance. 

That this attitude can prevail upon even someone as gifted as Akeelah is an issue that political and community leaders across the country, but particularly in the inner cities, must address and soon before another generation is lost. Every year it seems that the education budgets go up and yet inner city schools remain looking rundown and short on cash. Where is this money going and why isn't more money the answer as so many conservative critics have preached.

Akeelah and the Bee doesn't dig quite that deep into this issue. The requirements of mainstream filmmaking requires that the plot stay closer to its characters and their personal stories rather than becoming a documentary. The films accomplishment is raising the issue for you and I and everyone else to address and deal with..

Laurence Fishburne's performance as Dr. Larabee is a return to form for him after drifting through the Matrix sequels and Biker Boyz, simply picking up paychecks. His arrogant, authoritative performance, softened by Keke Palmer's Akeelah, captures the complex emotions of a man who has succeeded in the face of similar, if not more difficult circumstances than Akeelah. I call the character arrogant because he is, but it is the kind arrogance that one earns through achievement. Some people simply have the right to be a little arrogant and that is part of Fishburne's complicated and heavily shaded performance.

Fishburne's performance early in the film is so good that the backstory he is saddled with proves unnecessary in making this character, and the dramatic choices he makes later in the film, work. The backstory, I'm sure, was meant to further humanize Dr. Larabee but because it is so contrived and is used as such an obvious dramatic device it plays far too melodramatic.

The real key to Fishburne's performance may just be the performance of his co-star, 13 year old Keke Palmer. Giving a performance that is easily comparable to Keisha Castle Hughes Oscar nominated performance in Whale Rider, Palmer nails Akeelah's initial hopelessness and sadness as well as her feistiness and innate gifts. Akeelah is a sweetheart character but she is not above childish behavior and petulance and Palmer combines these traits into a fully formed young character.

Palmer and Fishburne develop terrific chemistry that carries us over many if not all of the films minor structural problems, including Fishburne's unfortunate backstory and a stretch of the picture that gets a little too into the uplifting vibe of a TV movie. The montage sequence of Akeelah inspiring her entire neighborhood is more than a little played out.

I think I may have made Akeelah and The Bee out to be heavier than it really is. Writer-director Doug Atchison is not merely using this film to preach, he leaves plenty on the screen for entertainment purposes. For instance, Akeelah gets a boyfriend, Roman (George Hornedo), who she meets along the way to the national spelling bee. The pre-teen romance is very charming and not overdone.

Also the films final minutes at the national spelling are so well put together that there is real drama. The scenes are perfectly paced and develop in surprisingly suspenseful manner. Akeelah and the Bee is far from perfect but as a conversation starter on very important issues and as an entertaining character piece, the film is more than worth the price of admission.

On a side note, Akeelah and the Bee is the first film from the Starbucks Film company. Yes that Starbucks, the coffee people. It is a little disconcerting when you first see that Starbucks logo pop up in the opening credits but no one in the film is seen drinking Starbucks coffee so the synergy is thankfully not blatant. It is nice to see a major corporation putting its cash to good use and not merely crafting a film as an ad for their product.

Movie Review Green Lantern

Green Lantern (2011) 

Directed by Martin Campbell

Written by Craig Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett, Tim Robbins

Release Date June 17th, 2011 

Published June 16th, 2011 

"Green Lantern" is the latest superhero story to hit the big screen following the spring adventures of "Thor" and the summer spectacular that was "X-Men: The First Class." "Green Lantern" however, is the first of these superhero flicks to feature a big star as the big hero. Ryan Reynolds, long on the road to superstar status, plays the heroic Green Lantern and while the casting is alright there was little any star could have done to improve the rather limp story.

Hal Jordan, Our Hero

Hal Jordan is a bed-hopping, test-pilot with serious daddy issues. So serious, in fact, are Hal's unresolved issues with his late father, that he nearly crashes his plane as he distractedly recalls his dad's death. Naturally, Hal comes through the crisis alright but not without angering his best friend, and would be love of his life, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively.)

Putting aside Hal's daddy and romantic issues, he is a special guy and we know this because a purple alien guardian from another world carrying a very powerful green ring and a green lantern tells us so. Of the billions of people on earth Hal Jordan has been chosen as humanity's protector, the newest member of the universal force known as the Green Lantern Corp.

The Green Lantern Corp

Soon, Hal has a special suit and mask that are made from -- well we aren't quite sure what. The suit seems to generate directly from Hal's own skin and the fewer questions asked about the suit's (ahem) functionality (?) the better. Through his alien ring and lantern Hal can now create anything he wants using only his mind.

If we go with Hal to his training on a distant planet we are just asking for this plot description to grow far too unwieldy and since the plot isn't great to begin with let's just leave it at special voice appearances by Geoffrey Rush, Michael Clark Duncan and go to bad guy Mark Strong as sort of a good guy.

Peter Sarsgard is creepy

Back on earth Hal will have to defend humanity against a former colleague and friend, Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgard) who has contracted an alien infection that somehow managed to make him even creepier than the massively foreheaded, dweeby, community college professor he already was.

There is also a good deal of nonsense related to a giant monster cloud of what I believe is fear energy combined with some all powerful alien creature. Honestly, I stopped caring so early on in "Green Lantern" that I tuned out whatever wasn't Ryan Reynolds being cute and Blake Lively flashing her beautiful, "Gossip Girl" half smile; truly is there a woman in the world who is so attractively bemused?

Fanboys Only

"Green Lantern" was directed by Martin Campbell who is an immensely talented director. Here, however, Campbell hits the wall with far too much fanboy nonsense and not nearly enough stuff that's interesting to people who aren't in fealty to the D.C Comics legend. I assume, because I am not familiar with the comic, that much of the stuff I found goofy and nonsensical was some kind of homage or nod to the faithful? How else do you explain it?

The thing about a great superhero movie like "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" or "Spiderman 1 & 2" or the "Iron Man" movies is they were good movies first and comic book movies second. The best of the genre add the fan touches on the sides in the periphery. "Green Lantern," like "Thor," places the comic book stuff first and in doing so leaves the non-comic fan distracted and waiting for the actual story to kick in.

Not Recommended for General Audiences

When the story never really kicks in it only serves to magnify why the filmmakers included all of the comic book stuff, they didn't have enough of a compelling original story to push the fanboy stuff to the sides. I liked Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively and the voice of Geoffrey Rush, as some kind of muscled up alien fish, but in the end that is not enough for me to recommend "Green Lantern" to a general audience.

Now, if you are a fan of the comic book Green Lantern, I do recommend the movie. You are going to get it on another level. You will enjoy the stuff I found goofy and or needless. You will get the stuff that I found distracting. You, Green Lantern fan, may just really enjoy this movie and bully for you. Enjoy.

Movie Review Sunshine State

Sunshine State (2002) 

Directed by John Sayles 

Written by John Sayles 

Starring Jane Alexander, Angela Bassett, Bill Cobbs, Edie Falco, Timothy Hutton, Mary Steenburgen

Release Date June 21st, 2002 

Published June 21st, 2002 

Writer-director John Sayles is the prototype independent filmmaker. He's even been referred to as the Godfather of the independent film. For more than 20 years, Sayles has been making his films his way, with tremendous artistic success and modest box office. Along the way, Sayles has picked up awards, critical plaudits and sorts-of praise. None of that has altered his way of making movies. Sayles has never succumbed to mainstream moviemaking and he's never been co-opted by the studio system. Sayles exists on his own filmmaking plane. His latest work is yet another work of independence called Sunshine State.

State tells the multiple interlocking stories of the people living on the fictional plantation island off the coast of Florida. Formerly a bustling community of semi-affluent African-American and small business owners, Plantation Island is now feeling the encroachment of modern America in the form of big business real estate developers. As we join the story, developers have already begun to dominate the island save for two small communities. In the predominantly African American community of Lincoln Beach, times are tough and the residents are ripe to be picked off by the real estate developers. Not everyone is so quick to move however, especially Dr. Lloyd (Bill Cobbs) who leads the only resistance to the developers.

Dr. Lloyd is living with Eunice Stokes (Mary Alice), another longtime resident of Lincoln Beach not keen on moving. Mrs. Stokes however has more pressing concerns as her daughter Desiree and husband Reggie have arrived from out of town. Eunice has a secret and needs to reconcile with her estranged daughter, not only for herself but also for her young nephew Terrell.

Paralleling that story is that of Marly Temple, a Hotel and Restaurant owner being pursued by developers who want to turn her small businesses into a thriving mini-mall. Marly is quite tempted to sell but can't because her ailing father (Ralph Waite) who though retired from the business, urges her to hold onto the business he started.

Each story plays out as the city that surrounds them is celebrating a citywide festival organized by Fracine Pickney, a silly housewife played by Mary Steenburgen. She is so wrapped up in making a great parade she fails to notice her husband’s (NYPD Blue’s Gordon Clapp) multiple attempts at suicide.

A group of golfers act as the bookends of the film, led by comedian Alan King as the head of the development company trying to buy the island. King has two sensational speeches, one at the beginning of the film and one at the end that tie the story together in its most simple form.

There are so many characters in Sunshine State and so many little connections between each character it would be impossible to explain each of them. The connections are well explained and meaningful, and come together to paint a beautiful picture. A picture of a group of people living their lives and the life that has grown up around them.

At first it seems that Sayles is going to make a statement movie about the environment and evil big business corporate villains. However, by the end of the film Sayles’ broader themes become clear. Corporate greed and social issues are parts of the lives being lived in Sunshine State, but Sayles is far more interested in how those lives are lived. 

Sayles draws intelligent realistic characters that are well spoken and interesting. The scripting is intricate and ingenious, and Sunshine State is simply a joy to watch. A film that respects the intelligence of the audience enough to make a movie that doesn't work in broad strokes, but rather in subtlety. Words that are far more important than action. Humor that comes from reality instead of forced punch lines. While the film’s pace may be a little leisurely at times the performances and dialogue are strong enough that even the most belabored scenes hold the audience's attention.

John Sayles movies do not compromise, they never come off as market-tested. As such, they are nearly impossible to classify by genre. They are simply well made intelligent films. Sunshine State may in fact be John Sayles best film to date.

Movie Review Meet the Robinsons

Meet the Robinsons (2007) 

Directed by Stephen Anderson 

Written by Jon Bernstein, Don Hall, Nathan Greno, Aurian Redson, Joe Mateo 

Starring Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry, Wesley Singerman, Angela Bassett, Tom Selleck

Release Date March 30th, 2007

Published March March 29th, 2007 

Walt Disney was a visionary of great imagination and boundless enthusiasm. While many biographers have pointed out his flaws, some very dark flaws that some quite fairly point out. But the wonder of his creations is still undeniable and is recreated with loving care with the release of the new CG cartoon Meet The Robinsons.

This high tech time travel cartoon is so good hearted and sweet, in the great tradition of Pinocchio et al that it's darn near sickening. Thankfully some smart scripting by John Bernstein adapting William Joyce, and strong direction by Stephen J. Anderson, who hasn't worked in animation in nearly a decade, keep Meet The Robinsons pointedly away from treacle.

The story of an orphan taken into the future to chase down a bowler hat wearing villain who intends to change the past to change the future, Meet The Robinsons tells the story of Lewis whose wild imagination and crazy inventions have kept many couples from adopting him. Lewis's inventions tend to blow up as he demonstrates them for potential parents.

Lewis's latest invention is one that he hopes will help him find the mother that gave him up when he was just a baby. It’s a memory retrieval device and eventually; we learn, it’s this invention that will change the world in the future. But first, Lewis has to stop the bowler hat guy and meet the Robinsons, a wacky inventor clan and the owners and inventors of time travel.

The story is actually quite complicated, in the tradition of the space time continuum and the mind bending space and time anomalies at home in classic sci fi prose from Ray Bradbury to Star Trek The Next Generation. The story twists and turns back on itself, teasing what happens in the past and how it plays in the future. However, the story is not so hard to follow that the small children will be confused by it.

Meet The Robinsons is colorful and imaginative with a big heart and a few big laughs, more than enough to keep kids in rapt attention, enjoying every candy coated minute. Meanwhile, mom and dad can marvel at a story that is at once awash in childlike wonder and smart enough to grasp the concept and inherent tragedies of classic sci fi.

Based on the imaginative writing of children's author William Joyce, Meet The Robinsons crafts a wondrous fantasy of the future that is grounded in this loving eccentric family where grandpa wears his clothes backwards, Aunt Billie has a life sized train set, and mom trains frogs to sing like Frank Sinatra. A future where time travel has been conquered but is not prevalent.

It's a utopian future where family is the true utopia. Being loved and accepted for your failures and what they teach is the most valuable currency. A future filled with lessons that hopefully will resonate with young audiences. It's okay to be wrong sometimes, failure teaches.

The movie is dedicated to Walt Disney whose imagination and life force is why movies like Meet The Robinsons exist today. Put aside the various stories of Disney's personal life that may have some dark edge to them and look at his legacy in animation and this dedication rings wonderfully true. The Walt Disney of his prime would have loved Meet The Robinsons; the rare non-Pixar Disney project to deliver on his legacy of wondrous imagination and a big heart.