(film review) - Black Panther

Captain America: The Winter Soldier, was a great film.  Arguably for me, the best stand-alone movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Captain America: Civil War, was a great film.  My opinion on the Russo Brothers second movie with Captain America comes in as a tie for me with it's predecessor.  I just don't think it passes TWS, BUT it does do a great job in introducing the Black Panther character flawlessly to steamroll right through this movie.  You got to see this character, his values, how he presents himself, part of his story AND a glimpse of his country.  As soon as he arrives, it's absolutely no nonsense and you immediately loved the character and like me, wanted to know more.  Now having his own movie, it is a wonder how this movie will go.  Directed by the young Ryan Coogler, who also directed Fruitville Station & Creed, Ryan does the most masterful job on showing us who Black Panther is and where he comes from, Wakanda.

Picking up shortly after the events of Civil War, The Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to be greeted by his mother, Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and his Royal Guard the Dora Milaje.  Now that his father, T'Chaka (John Kani) is dead, T'Challa must now take up his Kingship and rule his nation of Wakanda as their new King.  With the emergence of a long time enemy of Wakanda Ulyesses Klaue (Andy Serkis), T'Challa must go on a mission to take down this enemy, but when the mission goes wrong on 'Day-One', this sets some uneasiness with some of the locals and also coincidentally brings forth a new foe Erik 'Killmonger' Setvens (Michael B. Jordan), who is a direct threat to T'Challa and the Throne.  T'Challa must overcome these challenges and threats to himself, his people and the throne.

This is a great and very layered film.  From the beginning of the movie until the very end after the Credits.  The Social commentary and political standpoints in this movie are very apparent, but do not beat you over the head with it.  They address current issues in real life flawlessly as well as negating stereotypes and turning them on it's head.  Very culturally aware and without coming across preachy, is able to drip feed a tiny bit of history of the real world, what has been done, what we do as people and what is likely to happen.  Baring in mind that the MCU is set in the "real world", this movie does a lot to change the narrative a little and opens you up to ideas of what could have been, could be and how things should be.

At first, when I heard and read reviews of this film, I was slightly disappointed once I had finished watching it, but then I asked myself, "what could have been done better?" I thought about this long and hard until I decided that although the film isn't perfect and should have been a little longer, ultimately I needed more from the villain.  This made me realise that, not only was the villain great, his story was also great.

The visuals are amazing.  The colours usedThe acting in this movie from everyone was excellent.  Sure some accents were not THAT great, but you understood where they were going with it and what was being said.  The costumes and outfits were amazing and very well realised and detailed.  Pulling a lot of real life culture into this movies and you could see it.  I've not read a Black Panther comic book, BUT the imagery looked as though it was taken directly from the comics.  The fights scenes although, not a lot, were all pretty good.  The mission fight was just excellent in every way and the use of the camera and the angles were great.  The last fight scene was not THAT great, a little CGI heavy, but they were awful and did not take away from the story.  I do believe that Marvel did a better job in giving us what they have done for a few films now, with their bad guy.  Mentioning the bad guy; excellent.  You understood his motives and although sometimes you just want to hate the bad guy and he must be defeated, he makes you feel sympathetic to his cause.  The film is VERY funny in places, may actually make you cry and I walked away from the film ranting and raving about the character M'Baku (Winston Duke).  People will have their favourites but he was mine.

A lot of people may want different things from this movie due to it being a comic book/superhero movie, but this movie is much bigger than that.  The fact that it didn't really feel like a superhero and it feeling different, but still feeling the same was an achievement which walks the same line as The Winter Soldier for me.  A stand-alone movie that raises the bar and connects to the larger MCU story-arc and will definitely get you excited for Infinity War.  Go watch it...you may even watch it more than once because it is THAT entertaining.

(film review) - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

Unless I'm attending a secret screening and on the off chance, I have not seen the movie trailer for the film I'm about to see, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY for me to sit down in a cinema and watch a movie I have no clue about.  That being said, a friend of mine told me to watch the trailer as it is funny, but I only went to see this movie because it was something different from the superhero and sci-fi movies I usually review.  I mean, c'mon guys, I do watch other movies, heck, I watch a ton of movies and a lot of them have not been reviewed on here yet, but as it is 2018, I'm going to do my best.  And with THAT said, this movie; I thought was some small town story about some small town issues of family dramas and something that doesn't interest me a great deal.  And boy was I right and soo damn wrong at the same time.  I'll explain.

3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri is about a white woman who lives in a small town who has some outrageously terrifying, horrific and brutal actions taken out on her daughter in which leaves her daughter dead.  Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), having mourned for her child, puts up 3 controversial Billboards for the attention of William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), the towns revered Chief of Police which leaves the town divided.   Not only has nothing been done to capture the culprit, half the town side with Mildred whilst the other half are against her and her methods.  When mother's boy Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell) with a penchant for violence gets involved, things only get from bad to worse for Mildred while she does everything she can to get justice for her daughter.

I honestly thought this film was brilliant.  I was pleasantly surprised.  Very dark humour, in a crime film written and directed by Martin McDonagh which not only pulls on your heart strings but also makes you laugh out loud if you are not already crying.  I almost cried a few times because I kept thinking and putting myself in Mildred's situation.  The acting in this is great, Frances is excellent, Woody is excellent and Sam is also excellent.  I mean the acting is great all around and the dialogue is more than witty, not to mention very tongue in cheek, but the movie comes together very well.  Was shocked when it ended, but wasn't surprised.

A great film I would recommend to anyone who likes crime films and/or comedy.  I think the best way to think of this might be to think of 7 Psychopaths, same director.

(film review) - Star Wars: The Last Jedi

It had been a while before we got Star Wars in film.  The OG Trilogy is very beloved and the Prequel Trilogy, well, it is hated my many.  The next Trilogy is now set with the first one being 'The Force Awakens' and while reboot specialist JJ Abrams did a good job with it (like Star Trek), they have decided to go with 'Brick' and 'Looper' director, Rian Johnson.

I've not seen Brick but I've heard good things.  I've seen Looper and I loved it.  A great film where Bruce Willis isn't "Out to Lunch Phoning It In".  With that said, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, although marginally looked like Bruce with all the make-up, it didn't take away from the performance and what Rian ha accomplished.

The Last Jedi, although going into production and filming, Rian clearly dictated he was doing his own thing, this film clearly shows it and I'll explain, without spoilers of course.

The Last Jedi, begins only moments after the last movie, The Force Awakens and the Resistance have managed a small victory.  They are now on the run with the aim to relocate at another secret base but when a delayed tactic by Poe (Oscar Isaac) helps with the evacuation only to be tracked down by The First Order, moments later, The Resistance need to devise a new plan, with Rey (Daisy Ridley) tracking down Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) for help and with the aid of Finn (John Boyega) and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) with an assist, in order to lose them once and for all.

I will start with, this movie is very different to many movies that came before it.  It is a long movie and for the most part, that was refreshing and cool.  The choices Rian also made, were also refreshing and, well, cool, but I can see why people night have their grievances with the choices made.  Ever since 'Return of the Jedi', people have wanted to know what Luke has been up to all this time and what he was doing.  Was he being a bad MF with his Lightsabre? Was he training new Jedi? What was Luke doing?  We see at the end of The Force Awakens and Luke is on an Island somewhere and although it was cool to see him there and even more in this movie, one of my minor discrepancies is that Mark Hamill was underused or Luke's story in this movie seemed lackluster.  A pivotal role, but lackluster.  Another moment in the movie I didn't like and the movie dragged for me a little was halfway through the movie with Finn and Rose.  I didn't really enjoy it and for the most part, didn't seem to sit well with the film at all.  It was a slap in the face that this movie is for kids and grown adults alike.

Other than that though, Rian did an amazing job.

There was a scene I won't get into which involved General Leia (or Princess Leia) and as you know, Carrie Fisher passed shortly after filming finished, so every moment seeing her on screen wasn't awkward, but it was just, weird.  The woman we all loved as Princess Leia Organa on screen acted well by Carrie who has passed several months ago was still fresh to us watching.  Watching this in the cinema gave the performance an eirie feel to it.  For the most part, I know people were crying and I couldn't blame them, especially if you are in your 30's, 40's and 50's, you know? Other than these things though, the movie was courageous and I liked what Rian did with the lore of Star Wars.  He introduced new ideas and a new way of looking at the way The Force is used.  For example, instead of using The Force to pull something towards you or towards something/someone, you can use the same objected to pull, but pull yourself towards it.  You see how that works? It's just the reverse.  Rian also left some subtle clues in the 3rd act which telegraphed what was happening, but for the most part, visually it was stunning.  Better yet, the entire movie was.  There is an inherent difference between both directors JJ and Rian, and love them for what artistic flare they bring when directing but I do feel Rian has a bit of an edge when it comes to cool visuals and concepts over JJ.  It's kind of like an 'outside the box' way of thinking and seeing things.

As per usual, although there were a few jokey jokes here and there, the actors did a great job and having Mark back properly acting and not doing Voiceover work was truely refreshing.  The little kid in me wanted more and I'm sure that is with a lot of the viewers who watched this, but if you want more of the same, look for JJ.  If you want something different, look for Rian.  For example, there is a Lightsabre fight on this movie which was visually stunning and cool. Everything in that moment was superb, just not something JJ would have dreamt of I feel.

I can see why people may feel funny about this but for the most part, it's great and I hope they carry these new ideas etc over to part 9.