Strong Shades of Panther

FIFTY SHADES FREED

EROTIC DRAMA

PLOT:    The final installment of the very popular franchise.

                Christian Grey (Jamie Dorman) and Anastasia Steel (Dakota Johnson) are now married and like married couples no matter how rich have problems.  She loves him but wants to be independent and he just wants to dominate her.  Things get even worse when she finds out she is pregnant and he doesn’t want children.  Jack Hyde wants vengeance on the couple and he does get it.  It’s a Lifetime movie with a lot more nudity and cursing.  It is a girls night out movie.  Johnson looks dazzling and so does Dorman.  The entire cast is very attractive along with the soundtrack.  Is mommy porn over?  Don’t count on it.  They didn’t split the last book into two movies (thank goodness) but greedy Hollywood could make a prequel about Christian meeting Elena Lincoln maybe that film would sizzle.

BLACK PANTHER

ACTION/SCI-FI

PLOT:    T’Challa now king of Wakanda must restore order.

                T’Challa(Chadwick Boseman, Marshall, Get On Up) must be King of Wakanda after the death of his father; deal with greedy arms dealers who want the country’s unique metal and fight a foe from his past Erik Killmonger (Michael P. Jordan Creed, Fantastic Four).  OMG is this movie good!  The fight scenes with Black Panther are great and his female fighters even better!  For many people the film is just another Marvel superhero movie but to African Americans it is spectacular for it shows the beauty and technology of an African country.  It shows black people-mostly dark skinned people who are heroic, intelligent and compassionate which you don’t see very much anywhere.  Worth watching.

12 STRONG

WAR DRAMA

PLOT:    The true story of the first Special Forces to attack the Taliban.

                Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth, Thor) and his men must go to Afghanistan after 9/11 and needs the help of Afghan warlord to defeat the Taliban.  War is hell and shows in this movie.  It is very realistic with bodies of men, women and children being gun down without warning.  As dramatic and tragic as it is it does have humor.  The acting very good especially by Hemsworth and the rest of the cast.  Hemsworth actor has done most every genre except romantic comedy which I hope you does.

Commuters and Marys and Bears, Oh My

PROUD MARY

ACTION

  

PLOT:    Mary is an assassin who gets a conscience.

                Mary (Taraji P. Henson, Empire) is a lovely black hit woman who is haunted by a “target” she killed and the result a kid is hustling on the street.  The movie isn’t original, okay but Henson is great as a hit woman trying to get out of the business and become a guardian to young boy.  It sounds more like 1980’s Gloria with Gena Rowlands or the updated 1999 version with Sharon Stone. It is actually a B-movie and blaxpotiation film as well with the soulful soundtrack.  The only reason you should go is because of Henson if not wait for video.

  

PADDINGTON 2

COMEDY/ FANTASY

PLOT:    The further adventures of the cute, clumsy well-mannered bear.

                Paddington is now with the Brown family who love him dearly as well as the community he lives in.  He wants to give a gift to his Aunt Lucy, a pop-up book of England so he does odd jobs to do so.  The pop-up book is more than just a book-it’s a map to find a treasure chest and the self-absorbed actor Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant) wants to have it.  It is a wild, wonderful adventure.  If you enjoyed Paddington then you will LOVE Paddington 2.

THE COMMUTER

ACTION/THRILLER

PLOT:    Ordinary guy doesn’t have a typical train ride.

                Michael MacCauley (Liam Neeson) a regular man who uses the train to go to work and one day he loses his job and gets a strange offer from a mysterious woman and the terror begins.  It is like the movie Non-Stop on the train.  You learn more and more about MacCauley to find out he is definitely not a normal man.  This film is for Liam Neeson fans for he is intense, clever and smart.

Strange Games, Strange Dames

JUMANJI 2:  WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

ACTION/ADVENTURE/ COMEDY

PLOT:  It is a sequel, update of the 1995 movie of the same name.

                Four high school kids (the nerd, the jock, the vain girl and the anti-social girl) get detention and they uncover an old video game console and they are drawn into the game as adult avatars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillian.  It is a sequel because it continues what happens after the 1995 movie and it is an updated as well.  It has action but thank goodness it has humor, lots of it.  It is a wild, funny ride.

  

I, TONYA

BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA

PLOT:  The infamous ice-skater Tonya Harding.

                Tonya (Margot Robbie, Suicide Squad, and the Legend of Tarzan) was abused by her mom, LaVona Fay Golden (Allison Janney TV shows West Wing and Mom) and her husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan, Captain America: The First Avenger and Winter Soilder).  The only thing she loved was ice-skating and she was a skilled ice-skater then Nancy Kerrigan got injured and the media blamed her.  It is done as a dark comedy but she Tonya could have easily become a criminal.  Robbie plays Tonya as a driven but tragic human being who curses a lot.  Janney is great as her horrible, manipulative mom and Stan who is a wife-beater who has a twisted way of loving her.

  

FERDINAND

ANIMATION

PLOT:  Based on the classic children’s book The Story of Ferdinand about a bull who loves flowers than bull-fighting.

                Ferdinand (voiced by wrestler John Cena) is not like other bulls. He doesn’t enjoy causing harm to humans. He likes to smell lovely flowers.  He ran away from the bull farm and was saved by a young girl who grew flowers with her dad.  It was wonderful until he grew.  He is big and strong but still doesn’t like to fight.  It is delightful and the Lupe, the goat (voiced by Kate McKinnon) is hilarious. It is a joy to watch.

Death by Disney?

COCO

ANIMATED

PLOT:    A young Mexican boy learns to appreciate family from the land of the dead.

                Miguel loves his hero Ernesto del la Cruz a singer but his family has banned him from playing music.  On the holiday Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) he is accidentally goes to the land of the dead and finds out the truth about his family and how he wants to go back to them.  It sounds like a horror movie but they have beautiful songs and visuals and the important lesson never forget your family.  It is well done and doesn’t seem like the movie is for children but it is for everyone.  If you can WATCH IT!

STAR WARS VIII: THE LAST JEDI

FANTASY/ACTION

  

PLOT:    Rey goes to see Luke Skywalker for she is founding out she has new powers and the rebels have a new menace:  The First Order.

                Good and evil are being blurred in this movie.  You don’t know who to trust.   The best parts are the action and special effects.  Both are very well done.  The bad guy Snoke is great but not in there very long.  Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) Snoke’s apprentice is moving even closer to the “dark side” of the force.  The late and fantastic 

Carrie Fisher as General Lei Organa is still strong still leading the rebels and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is torn between living alone on his island or to help Rey.  He has funny moments and equally sad moments as well.  If you are a fan of Star Wars, the ones director George Lucas made you may not like it, for writer director Rian Johnson is “Disney-fying” the franchise.  Diehard fans will go; others (like me) liked the movie as  epic entertainment.

Holiday Epic Funtime

JUSTICE LEAGUE

ACTION/ADVENTURE

PLOT:    The origin of the team of the Justice League.

                Superman is dead and Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) decides to collect of people with superpowers to stop the herald of Darkside, Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds) from retrieving the three Mother Boxes to destroy the world.   The superheroes are: Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), The Flash, (Ezra Miller) Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa).  For those who think this is the Dark Knight, it isn’t!!  It is a lighter tone.  The movie was much longer but the studio; Warner Brothers edited it to two hours.  It may feel rushed by it just may have been cut for time.  The team has great chemistry but the villain not so much.  Fans know who Steppenwolf is but many people do not.  The Flash and Aquaman are the highlights of the film.  They are heroic and humorous.  If you see this movie DO NOT rush out when the credits start rolling!  There are two post-credit scenes  you want to see.  Marvel films does this post-credits scenes all the time, but now DC is doing it . 

THE STAR

ANIMATED

PLOT:  The telling of first Christmas with animals.

              There have been many films of the first Christmas from the animal’s point of view but this is well-made and heartfelt.   Many celebrities used their voices to this film but what makes it good is that it is funny and the animals are cute.  It is for children as well as adults.  I believe it will be a classic years to come.  If you can, please watch it!!!

MARSHALL

BIOGRAPHY/DRAMA

PLOT:   A young and only lawyer of NAACP and one of his famous cases.

               Chadwick Boseman loves bio films.  He was baseball great Jackie Robinson and the Godfather of Soul James Brown now he plays Thurgood Marshall.  He is a young lawyer who helps black people trying to get a fair trial.  In one case a blonde upper class beauty Kate Hudson is attacked by a black man Sterling K. Brown.  Marshall and his assistant Sam Friedman (Josh Gad) who is his lawyers.  You figure out the outcome before the movie is over but the acting is excellent from all the leads.  Hudson and Gad known for comedy are fantastic.  The movie did not do very well in theaters but I hope in video for it is outstanding.  Actor Boseman will be in the highly anticipated movie Black Panther.

MURDER OF THE ORIENT EXPRESS

MYSTERY

PLOT:  Remake of 1974 film of the same name.

                Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is a retired detective boards a train and Samuel Ratchett (Johnny Depp) is murdered.  He solves it but it is a somber conclusion.  Branagh isn’t just an actor but a director and he is very good at it!  It is well made and beautiful to look at.    The cast is not just A-list in popularity but talent as well.   Judi Dench (M from the James Bond films), Willem Dafoe (Spiderman, John Wick), Derek Jacobi (I Claudius, Gladiator) and Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens). The trailer seemed it would be lightweight-it wasn’t.  It is always welcome to see a good who dunnit in the midst of action packed superheroes.