Movie Review A Minecraft Movie

A Minecraft Movie 

Directed by Jared Hess 

Written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, Chris Galletta

Starring Jack Black, Jason Mamoa, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen

Release Date April 4th, 2025

Published April 4th, 2025

A Minecraft Movie stars Jack Black as Steve, a dreamer whose creativity is somehow linked to mines. Steve lives to be a miner but when he was young, they would not let him. As he grew up, he forgot about mining until daily life became too boring and he realized he was now old enough to become a miner. With his pick axe in hand, Steve enters a wacky looking mine and stumbles his way to find a portal to a new world. In this new world, Steve’s creativity allows him to create anything he can imagine and for the next 30 or so years, that’s all he does. 

Along the way, Steve tames a wolf and names him Dennis. Together, they have the best time until a group of pigs from another universe attempt to invade Steve’s mining paradise. In order to protect his utopia, Steve gives a square glowing orb, their word, not mine, to Dennis who secrets it away, back to Steve’s home in the real world where it will remain hidden for three decades before being found by Garrett ‘The Garbage Man’ Garrison, the 1989 World Video Game Champion.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review The Color Purple

The Color Purple (2023) 

Directed by Blitz Bazawule 

Written by Marcus Gardley 

Starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks 

Release Date December 25th, 2023

Published December 20th, 2023 

The Good Lord Works in Mysterious Ways. That's what the opening song in the new musical adaptation of The Color Purple tells us. Oftentimes, people use this phrase to excuse or explain the seeming whims of the almighty God. When something unpredictable happens, god works in mysterious ways. The opening of the movie is setting us up for the notion of the unpredictable nature of fate. The fate that separates two loving sisters. And, perhaps, the same fate that will eventually reunite them. God works in mysterious ways and we can't no until we reach a conclusion, what God's intent was, what lesson God was imparting, and how the journey through God's various mysterious ways will help us learn, grow, change or merely adapt. 

Oh I know, she be mine is the next song. After having given birth, featuring a distracting cameo by Whoopi Goldberg, star of the Spielberg adaptation of The Color Purple, Celie sees a baby in her father's store. The baby has the same name as one of the babies that her father has forced her to immediately give up after their birth. This leads Celie to visualize a sequence in which she walks through a series of convicts breaking rocks before she walks into a gorgeous scene set in a small creek bed, clear, clean water, a small shimmering waterfall, and a series of women who are cleaning clothes in washtubs. 

The sequence is gorgeous, especially the dance sequence in front of the waterfall, spectacular visuals that are beautifully captured. Young Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, playing the young Celie that will eventually give way to Fantasia Barrino's take on the adult Celie, sings beautifully. Her voice is superb. It's a standout sequence, a lovely fantasy and a moment of joyous escape for a character who will spend so many of the next years of her life imprisoned, first by her abusive father and then by the husband she never asked for or wanted. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media