The Annual Black History Month Movies

MOONLIGHT 

DRAMA

                                                                                                                  

PLOT:  A black young boy grows up in a ghetto neighborhood.

                The movie is broken down into three parts first chapter, when Chiron is a young boy and is bullied because he is little and has to deal with his drug addict mother.  Second chapter, he is a teen and realizes he is not straight but still shy and still bullied.  Third chapter he is a well-built, chain-wearing gangster who is still has gay feelings.  The acting is amazing!  Most of the actors are unknown except for Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, Hidden Figures), Naomie Harris (Monypenny in the latest James Bond movies) and Janelle Monae (Hidden Figures).  The film ask the  question is how tough it is to be a man, then a black man and on top of that being a gay black man.

HIDDEN FIGURES-2017

HISTORICAL DRAMA

PLOT:  The true story of three African American women who assisted NASA with the space missions in the 60s.

                All the science ladies Katherine G Johnson (Tarji Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) are brilliant mathematicians who help NASA get astronaut John Glenn into space.  It is a feel good movie with black women in the leads overcoming racism and sexism.  It is also a chick flick, true story with lots of humor and heart.  The movie is worth watching to see African American women than the usual stereotypes and all the acting is very, very good. 

FENCES - 2016

DRAMA

PLOT: The movie adaption of the play of the same name by August Wilson.

                Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) works as a garbage collector in the fifties.  His dream was to be a baseball player but he got too old to play.  He is married to his loyal wife Rose (Viola Davis) who deals with his drinking and plays ref between him and his son who wanted to play football.    It was rumored that Eddie Murphy in the 90’s when he was popular.  It was worth the wait for ALL the performances were excellent.  Not only did Washington star in the film he directed as well.

Songs of Spies and Assassins

SING

ANIMATION

PLOT:  Talking animals enter a singing contest with hilarious results.

                                                                                                                                   

         Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) owns a theater and he has hit hard times so he decides to have a singing contest like American Idol and the lucky ones have problems of their own. The voice cast includes Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane and Scarlett Johansson. It is a great musical, the characters are cute and it is funny and heartfelt.  A MUST for all ages. 

ALLIED

ROMANTIC/ THRILLER

PLOT:  Two spies fall in love but should they.

      Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is an agent for the US and he goes to Casablanca to meet another spy, French Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) in World War II.  They pretend to be married to assassinate an important German Ambassador.  They really do fall in love and Max takes her back to the states to marry and they have a child. He finds out something that can tear their family apart.  The film is very slow and sober and when there is action it is brief but intense.  The two leads are good.  It wasn’t promoted very much because of Brad Pitt’s messy divorce so if you blink you would miss it.  If you like old-fashion romance suspense you will like it. 

ASSASSIN'S CREED

ACTION/SCI-FI

PLOT:  Another popular video game made into a film.

     

      Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) is a criminal and drifter.  Assuming he died but transferred in a facility that has a device, Amimus that regress memories and in his past life he is Agular who is in a secret society that protects The Apple of Eden which eliminates free will.  Whew!  Are you still with me?  The best part of the movie is the action which is fast and furious. If you play video games you may not like it but for those who don’t play the games might not like it either for there is a lot of material that is hard to believe.  Video games to movies must be hard to make for so many fail at the box office.  Many fans thought this movie would be a financial and fans would enjoy it but not this one.