These short reels are 6-7 minutes of excellent footage and storytelling.
Please note: this review may have mild spoilers as this docuseries acts as a "catch-up", reminder and/or telling of a characters' inception in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until now in phase 4 collated in 6-7 minutes.
In case you haven't seen a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie before, any or a couple, this is 7 glorious minutes cleverly cut from multiple films that act as a highlight reel of a character's journey or backstory through the MCU into Phase 4. Extremely important if you want to learn about a character before heading into DisneyPlus's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with supporting cast.
Being the niece of the legendary S.H.I.E.L.D Agent, Agent Peggy Carter, is possibly the reason why Sharon ended up living a double life as Kate, Steve Roger's neighbour and Agent 13 of the S.H.E.I.L.D Special Service team only known to those close to Nick Fury, assigned to watch over Steve. When Nick Fury was assassinated and Alexandra Pierce put out a manhunt for Captain America, Sharon stood by Steve's side and assisted him and The Falcon in taking down Hydra. When a Civil War broke out between the Avengers, Although, now with the C.I.A Sharon sided with Captain America but had to go into hiding due to helping him.
These 7 minutes are a collection of clips, but if you were to get the backstory so far surrounding this character and all the events that lead up to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, you must watch Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier & Captain America: Civil War.
This is an excellent recap for both fans and newbies alike.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier picks up after these events.
You can comment down below to enter in discussions. Thank you for reading, Subscribe and Spread the word! - Get your ReelReeviews, right here!
(This is a LEGENDS trailer for the show. Disney Plus has individual character trailers)
These short reels are 6-7 minutes of excellent footage and storytelling.
Please note: this review may have mild spoilers as this docuseries acts as a "catch-up", reminder and/or telling of a characters' inception in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until now in phase 4 collated in 6-7 minutes.
In case you haven't seen a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie before, any or a couple, this is 7 glorious minutes cleverly cut from multiple films that act as a highlight reel of a character's journey or backstory through the MCU into Phase 4. Extremely important if you want to learn about a character before heading into DisneyPlus's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with supporting cast.
Helmut Zemo was a family man who lived in and was the colonel of an elite Sokovian Commando Unit in Sokovia. When Ultron tried to take over the world, The Avengers along with their two new twin recruits Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff, fought Ultron and his Ultron Bots and the Avengers "Successfully" destroy the floating city of Sokovia before an Extinction Level Event is carried out. However, upon destroying the city, Zemo's family died as a result of collateral damage and Zemo seeks to put an end to all heroes. Zemo enacts a plan of obtaining The Winter Soldier to cause an international incident that would pit The Avengers against each other causing a Civil War, but when the dust settles, The Black Panther finds Zemo who makes an attempt to end his own life. Zemo is placed into solitary confinement.
These 7 minutes are a collection of clips, but if you were to get the backstory so far surrounding this character and all the events that lead up to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, you must watch Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War.
This is an excellent recap for both fans and newbies alike.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier picks up after these events.
You can comment down below to enter in discussions. Thank you for reading, Subscribe and Spread the word! - Get your ReelReeviews, right here!
(This is a LEGENDS trailer for the show. Disney Plus has individual character trailers)
These short reels are 9-10 minutes of excellent footage and storytelling.
Please note: this review may have mild spoilers as this docuseries acts as a "catch-up", reminder and/or telling of a characters' inception in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until now in phase 4 collated in 9-10 minutes.
In case you haven't seen a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie before, any or a couple, this is 10 glorious minutes cleverly cut from multiple films that act as a highlight reel of a character's journey or backstory through the MCU into Phase 4. Extremely important if you want to learn about a character before heading into DisneyPlus's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with supporting cast.
The Winter Soldier, James "Bucky" Barnes grew up in the 1930's and was friends with Steve Rogers. Steve was a small-framed guy and James once defended Steve from some bullies. Whilst James was enlisted in the army, Steve was unable to due to his health/body, but when he underwent the "Super-Soldier" experiment, Steve's body was changed beyond recognition enabling him to join. Whilst the Army wasn't what it was cracked up to be and having nothing to do, Steve paraded as a mascot for America, but when he heard a group of soldiers were captured behind enemy lines, including James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve went out and saved them becoming a hero. James was part of Steve's team and they went on many missions together but on one tragic mission, James was blasted off a moving train and when Steve tried to save him, James fell into a rivene. Decades later, Nick Fury was assassinated in front of Steve Rogers and when Steve saw the assailant, Steve chased him but the assassin got away. The assassin turned out to be The Winter Soldier, a man of myth and legend and during a fight on a freeway into the street, Steve learns the assassin, The Winter Soldier himself, is James "Bucky" Barnes. Steve does what he can to reason with him until James researches himself and when confronted with Steve, Steve takes him to The Wakandan's who attempt to cure Bucky's condition. In the many decades James has been operating as The Winter Soldier who has committed countless crimes including some very personal ones close to The Avengers, but to help right the wrongs of his past, Bucky teams up with The Avengers and the fight against Thanos and his Army. Bucky arrives with The Falcon in the ultimate fight against Thanos, fighting side-by-side with Captain America to save the world.
These 10 minutes are a collection of clips, but if you were to get the backstory so far surrounding this character and all the events that lead up to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, you must watch Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War & Avengers: Endgame.
This is an excellent recap for both fans and newbies alike.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier picks up after these events.
You can comment down below to enter in discussions. Thank you for reading, Subscribe and Spread the word! - Get your ReelReeviews, right here!
(This is a LEGENDS trailer for the show. Disney Plus has individual character trailers)
These short reels are 8-9 minutes of excellent footage and storytelling.
Please note: this review may have mild spoilers as this docuseries acts as a "catch-up", reminder and/or telling of a characters' inception in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until now in phase 4 collated in 8-9 minutes.
In case you haven't seen a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie before, any or a couple, this is 7 glorious minutes cleverly cut from multiple films that act as a highlight reel of a character's journey or backstory through the MCU into Phase 4. Extremely important if you want to learn about a character before heading into DisneyPlus's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, starring The Falcon and The Winter Soldier with supporting cast.
The Falcon, Sam Wilson became friends with Captain America, Steve Rogers by having something in common, they were both soldiers . One, a soldier from the 1940's and the other a Pararescueman who now spends his time looking after/helping vets. They created an immediate bond via their banter and when things got difficult due to the rise of Hydra, Sam was the person Steve turned to when S.H.I.E.L.D was compromised. Sam helped Steve on defeating Hydra as well as fighting Steve's best friend Bucky. Sam stood by Steve's side after the attack to Sokovia and ultimately also went on the run with him when The Avengers were torn apart. When news of the mad titan Thano's was coming to Earth, Sam once again came out of hiding with Captain America and fought by his side and after the objective was completed, Sam came back calling "On your Left!", a call back to when Sam and Steve first met and they fought once again, side-by-side to save the world.
These 9 minutes are a collection of clips, but if you were to get the backstory so far surrounding this character and all the events that lead up to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, you must watch Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War & Avengers: Endgame.
This is an excellent recap for both fans and newbies alike.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier picks up after these events.
You can comment down below to enter in discussions. Thank you for reading, Subscribe and Spread the word! - Get your ReelReeviews, right here!
(This is a LEGENDS trailer for the show. Disney Plus has individual character trailers)
I'm going to be clear here and I'm only speaking for myself (as usual), but I feel a lot of people were with me and are with me when I say this, "Nobody really cared for Vision and Wanda in the MCU!" Granted these characters will have their respective fans or even like them as a couple, but for the most part, these two people were side characters. So to say that they were going to do a TV series about these side characters within the MCU, my interest was peaked only slightly, but ultimately I didn't care. So they advertise and/or mention the appearance of the character Darcy we may recognise from the first two Thor movies, I didn't care. Then advertise and/or mention the appearance of Jimmy Woo from the movie Ant-Man and the Wasp, I didn't care. Advertising and/or introducing the character Monica Rambeau (all grown up), a name we may recognise from the movie Captain Marvel, was the announcement that stuck with me and got me more interested. 1, because she is a black character from the comics and 2, I thought she was going to be introduced in Captain Marvel 2, so this was a shock to me, therefore had me intrigued, but other than that, I simply wasn't interested in the show WandaVision.
This is a 9 episode show and naturally, with a 3 act structure like any movie, however the events for this show take place after the events of Avengers: Endgame, so it was intriguing to know what would be happening going forward. When the show starts off, Wanda and her partner The Vision, having just got married (implied by the intro) drive into an area to live in their new home together. The setting is the 1950's. As this is set up as a TV show from that era, the aesthetics are as if you were watching a TV show from the 1950's. Wanda stays at home whilst Vision goes to work. A neighbour by the name of Agnes comes along to help assist Wanda whenever she might need some help from time to time to the two. However, where Vision's boss comes over for dinner later that evening, he starts pressuring Wanda for an answer to a question and then he starts choking. When Vision chokes on a Bubblegum, he acts drunk and Wanda spends her time trying to mask all the hi-jinx with clever stage props not to give away their abilities to the people in the town.
We are later introduced to a lady named Geraldine who becomes friends with Wanda and even delivers Wanda's children when Wanda becomes pregnant. Whilst nothing seems to be right in the town and people start acting weird around and with Wanda, we find out that Geraldine is an intruder and Agnes doesn't like her so Geraldine is expelled from Wanda's life. It is around this point, our viewing experience changes and we are introduced to a lady named Monica. Monica has been away from work for a while and she is sent to the town of WestView to accompany Jimmy Woo who is looking for a missing person. Discovering an invisible wall, Monica decides to force her way through the wall with the help of Darcy and her friend, but once Monica gets inside, everything changes. Considered a threat, Director Haywood of SWORD plans on forcing his way through the wall and tries to solve the problem any way that he can, even if he needs to kill, Wanda.
This is the first of many from the MCU and writing about these will be extremely difficult without giving aware some details but ultimately trying NOT to spoil the show for you as essentially, this is a long drawn out movie split into episodes brought to us on a weekly basis. In conclusion, what this ends up doing, is giving the audience seven whole days to speculate about the characters, the story, the overall story or over-arching story and the future of the MCU. It has already been told by Kevin Feige himself that, shows will tie into movies unlike before (so you can kiss your Marvel's Agents of SHIELD goodbye, in regards to canon, but the jury is still out for the Netflix shows). Kevin has also said that this show is part of a story arc that starts in this show and leads into Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, so not only is everything connected, but potentially setting up the universe going forward with the introduction of The Fantastic Four and Mutants.
A lot of time, effort and brilliant storytelling has gone into WandaVision which has set the bar very high. With things like the changing of the aspect ratio to help with story telling and the many decades of TV infused into one show as part of the narrative is phenomenal. If you didn't like these characters before, you are given around 6 hours of character development and focused storytelling to help you understand these characters on a deeper lever and the current story and/or the overarching story overall. Elizabeth Olsen is incredible as she is given a lot to work with, this is her story. Paul Bettany is also great in this show because he is the reason (among other things) why we are here in the first place. His character development and efforts here, compared to what has been done before in the MCU are more than doubled. The introduction of Kathryn Hahn and Teyonah Parris were great additions to the MCU and hopefully we get to see them going forward as what they brought to the show was beyond soo good. Excellently crafted visuals and writing, leaving fans to speculate and lose sleep with nothing but theories controlling their every move. The music was great but more importantly, the direction and execution of this show, providing you are patient to stick with it, this show takes a lot of chances with visiting areas new and old and if I'm honest, if all shows continue like this in the MCU, other studios might have to try and meet Disney's bar and surpass it, if they dare. Oh and there are post credits scenes. I mean, they did train us for 10 years! An excellent watch.
I do like myself some Anthony Mackie. A superstar to have his own roles as a powerful leading actor, I'm not sure we are there just yet, but he has come long way since The Adjustment Bureau. Pretty much a household name since he landed the role of Sam Wilson in Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe, so to then see him in the second season of Altered Carbon and now this, another sci-fi, I was definitely intrigued. I didn't mind him in Altered Carbon season 2 although it was a bit of a jar to see him instead of Joel Kinnaman took some getting used to. But how is he in this film? Well, Anthony Mackie is Anthony Mackie, but the film, not soo much.
A young Drone Pilot named Lt. Thomas Harp disobeys a direct order and is sent to Captain Leo, an Advanced Top Secret Android Prototype Military Officer. However, when Leo takes Harp Outside the Wire on a mission to make a change to the war and he needs Harp's help to do it, Harp grows increasingly suspicious of what Leo's true motives are.
For the most part, this movie was decent. It wasn't great and if we are talking about the level of storytelling and action like The Old Guard or Extraction, unfortunately those two films are better and more entertaining than this one, in my opinion. Why? Well, although the story is ok at best, the dialogue wasn't great at all. The way Harp would speak to Leo was annoying at times as it didn't seem they had a well enough built up bond for Harp to talk to Leo in the way he did. Harp had an attitude he should't really have towards a higher ranking officer, it just felt off. Towards the end of the film, maybe, but after a few hours, if that, after meeting him, not at all. Also, I felt the end goal/mission was a bit mucky in it's delivery and wasn't at all clear as to what was happening and why.
The action was great and the special effects were decent. Even the acting from Anthony was as expected, but I just couldn't really get to grips with Damson's character as I felt it was poorly written. I understood the reasonings as to why Leo was doing what he was doing eventually, but it just felt like it was delivered poorly. Ultimately the movie came across boring although the action kept it afloat as I loved the scenes in the building with the Russian Robots (Gumps). I liked the other fights at the "hideout" and in the market, but if we didn't have those action scenes, the movie would be completely substandard. I thought of The Universal Soldier whilst watching this as it goes, which is a good thing I guess, classic 80's movie. There were some lesson's learned for Harp but ultimately, an OK movie that looks at the future of modern warfare but manages to clumsily deliver. Although not a terrible movie, but I fell asleep twice before I watched it for the third time and Mackie wasn't the issue...
I'm reviewing this movie now because I only began watching this movie LAST NIGHT!!! Yes, I know the movie came out in 2020 and days before Christmas, but I'm going to be real with you...I just wasn't ready. Viola Davis is one amazing actor and having watched the entirety of 'How to get away with Murder' (a great show might I add), this woman has a lot of range. But also starring the late and great Chadwick Boseman who is also in this movie, meant that, not only am I forced to watch him play this character by watching it, I am forced to watch his craftsmanship as an actor and the last movie he would ever physically act in and character portray. Granted there are some Marvel 'What If' storylines in which he had lent his voice before passing but, to physically see him acting in all his splendour in his last film, I knew it was going to break me and I wanted to savour the moment. But was the film any good you might ask? Yes, yes it was!
In 1927 Jim Crow era, Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) is a black successful and highly regarded Blues singer. She is well known in the black community and is at the height of her fame. In a world where racism is high towards black people, she understands her talent and her worth along with what she brings to the table with her singing talents. Ma Rainey and her Jazz band turn up for rehearsals at Paramount Recording studio in Chicago where Ma's manager Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) has set up a session to record Ma Rainey's song "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom". However on the day of recording, events unfold surrounding the band and one of their members Levee Green (Chadwick Boseman) who is an overconfident Trumpeter with a very dark past. On this very hot day, characters are tested, banter turns to anger and with the looming presence of racism and trust ever present, this day of recording does not go as smoothly as it should have.
I will say, I didn't cry like I thought I would have. I legit thought that seeing Chadwick performing would make me cry, but it was the 30 minute featurette which was obviously done after his passing that got me. Hearing Denzil and Viola talk about how talented this young man was broke me and I weeped a little. The exact reason why I didn't want to watch the movie. That aside, literally...Ma Rainey was a very small production with a small budget which was a very well thought out and acted "stage play" of sorts. It reminded me of 'American Son' where most of the movie takes place in one area. Movies that do this tend to be very intimate and when done well, it works, but when executed poorly, it completely crashes and burns. What I will say is that, this movie is carried by two completely talented actors, one of which GAINED WEIGHT for the role and NOBODY has spoken about her dedication to the craft and the other, who gave his life and soul to the performance, in which would end up being his last acting role ever, due to death.
Music, hair, wardrobe, accents, set design...everything looked amazing. At a point I thought it was the same lady who was wardrobe designer for Black Panther (possibly due to Chadwick's involvement), but everyone looked the part. At times I laughed because Ma Rainey depicted in this movie was a character. She knew her worth and took no shit from anyone. She was big (some may say butch), a mouth full of gold teeth and she wasn't scared of anybody. She had a presence. She had control or demanded control and structure her way. She stood up for herself and looked out for her band members. Levee was a character that not only carried the movie, but you could argue that this movie is more about him than any other character. Like all the characters, we know very little about them, but the film unpacks Levee's past and ultimately sheds a light on the behaviour of the times and how Black people were treated without beating you over the head with it. It was great to see Glynn Turman in whom I recognised from 'How to get away with Murder' and also Colman Domingo from 'Fear the Walking Dead' (not that I ever kept up with it after the first season, but I do need to go back to it).
I have heard about Chadwick's performance in the last few weeks since this Netflix movie came out and I hope he receives an award. Not because he has died, but because his performance was outstanding. Because he deserved an award when he was alive. If you have not seen Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods', him and Delroy Lindo will have to fight it out for Best Actor, but if he doesn't win for supporting actor in 'Da 5 Bloods', he should definitely win it for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom because he is THAT good. Not to make this review about Chadwick Boseman and his accomplishments, but to overlook this man's talent in the 15 movies he filmed, 3 of which were biographical, 4 of which were as King T'Challa of Marvel's Cinematic Universe as the character Black Panther, in his solo movie and ensemble cast movies such as The Avengers, a role in which a lot of people know him for, this movie is just another showcase of this man's talent who was taken from us too soon and which of course, makes this movie a must watch.
These short reels are 8-9 minutes of excellent footage and storytelling.
Please note: this review may have mild spoilers as this docuseries acts as a "catch-up", reminder and/or telling of a characters' inception in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until now in phase 4 collated in 8-9 minutes.
In case you haven't seen a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie before, any or a couple, this is 9 glorious minutes cleverly cut from multiple films that act as a highlight reel of a character's journey or backstory through the MCU into Phase 4. Extremely important if you want to learn about a character before heading into DisneyPlus's WandaVision, starring The Vision and Wanda Maximoff with supporting cast.
The Vision is essentially an idea formed from various members of The Avengers. Derived from J.A.R.V.I.S (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) an Artificial Intelligence created by Tony Stark. As an A.I, JARVIS helps Tony in various ways including helping him to prep and build various Iron Man suits as JARVIS was the main Central Processing Unit in charge of other systems and machinery so acted as a "hands-free" option for Tony as well as having access to the Internet and other systems especially in the field. However when Tony decides to create an alternative A.I named Ultron to protect the world from threats with the help of Bruce Banner, Ultron becomes hostile "kills" JARVIS and escapes via the Internet. Ultron plans on upgrading and evolving himself by creating a new indestructible synthetic body before eliminating all life on planet Earth by causing an Extinction Level Event, but before Ultron is able to insert himself into his new body, Tony inserts JARVIS into it whilst Thor awakens it after having a Vision of it becoming the tool that will help them. The Vision is awoken. After defeating Ultron, Vision does not take any sides when the Avengers are fighting each other, but as he is directed to watch over Wanda, the pair fall in love and run away when Wanda escapes captivity. Some time later, Thanos and The Black Order come looking for Vision's Mind Stone, his power source, which leads to a fight that leaves Vision wounded. In a race to save Vision's life the Avengers must fight Thanos' forces and try to safely remove the Mind Stone without killing Vision and destroy it before the Mad Titan finds him and kills him in the process or removing it, even if it means if the love of his life has to destroy the Mind Stone to keep Thanos from killing half of life in the universe. The Vision dies twice, once at the hands of his love, second at the hands of Thanos.
These 9 minutes are a collection of clips, but if you were to get the backstory so far surrounding this character and all the events that lead up to WandaVision, you must watch Iron Man, Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War & Avengers: Endgame.
This is an excellent recap for both fans and newbies alike.
I wasn't going to do a review of this, but it is a series after all. These short reels are 9-10 minutes of excellent footage and storytelling.
Please note: this review may have mild spoilers as this docuseries acts as a "catch-up", reminder and/or telling of a characters' inception in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until now in phase 4 collated in 9-10 minutes.
In case you haven't seen a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie before, any or a couple, this is 10 glorious minutes cleverly cut from multiple films that act as a highlight reel of a character's journey or backstory through the MCU into Phase 4. Extremely important if you want to learn about a character before heading into DisneyPlus's WandaVision, starring Wanda Maximoff and The Vision and supporting cast.
Wanda Maximoff (also known in the comics as The Scarlet Witch) is a woman who started off in the MCU as someone who hated a particular Avenger and joined the villainous Ultron with her twin brother Pietro Maximoff in his plans of ridding the world of The Avengers. However, having learned of Ultron's ultimate plans, they side with the Avengers but Pietro dies in the fight. Wanda eventually meets The Vision and develops an interest in him. With their developing relationship and Wanda working with Captain America, an incident occurs whilst on an assignment which leads to an Act coming into play leaving the Avengers torn apart and Wanda deemed a criminal and imprisoned. Once Wanda is able to escape, she flees with The Vision and when they become under attack by Thanos and The Black Order, Wanda must do whatever she can to protect her love, even if it means killing him to save half of all living life in the universe. Unfortunately, killing The Vision herself, not only was it undone, but Thanos killed The Vision himself and Wanda is witness to this, twice.
These 10 minutes are a collection of clips, but if you were to get the backstory so far surrounding this character and all the events that lead up to WandaVision, you must watch Iron Man, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War & Avengers: Endgame.
This is an excellent recap for both fans and newbies alike.
While the world has been in turmoil, Disney's Pixar decided to release this movie on Disney Plus, free of charge. Unlike Mulan, where they were testing the waters and people had to pay extra on top of their Disney Plus package, Soul is completely free with the monthly subscription. As for Soul though, when I first heard about it, I thought it was a nice idea. A black animated cartoon for the kids as we don't get much of those and Pixar are pretty decent when it comes to storytelling and the inside adult jokes. Needless to say, I do have fun with their movies. Soul...Well, let me let you know how I felt about Soul...
So, Joe is an aspiring Jazz Musician. He is currently working in a school as a teacher but he is only a substitute. Having made it into his midlife, Joe has not found a career or a job with great benefits as he has spent his life chasing his dream. Joe enjoys live gigs and the feeling it brings him, however, one day Joe takes on a gig which could change his life forever, but after the rehearsals, Joe falls into a man-hole and dies. Once dead, Joe is accompanied by an un-lived spirit named 22 who hasn't lived, where the both of them are ultimately tasked with soul searching and what it really means to be alive.
I could have gone into more detail, but you'd either want to watch it or it would just seem uninteresting. With that said, I really enjoyed this movie. Free with my monthly subscription which is cool, but the film for itself was really good. I absolutely loved the life beyond concept and the other bit. Nobody knows what the life beyond is like to report back to us and let us humans know, but I loved the explanations given. When we think of concepts and what our brain can understand and find a rationale, I loved the fact that these visuals were simply lines. There was something soo great about that. I also liked the accountant Terry and the way he acted and was handled, which was soo true to real life, as I bellowed out laughing on occasion. There were some really great lines in this movie, such as "You can't crush a soul here, that's what life on Earth is for" and a few visual gags like the famous Instagram pose, you'll know it when you see it.
A few things I didn't get nor understand, as there was a scene where Joe is talking to his mother, but then he is talking to his mother and it isn't him talking. So in my head I was wondering how did that work unless they decided to just skip the back and forth - You'll know what scene I'm referring to when you see it. Another thing I didn't understand was the Cat. Why the Cat? I guess we needed the cat to help tell the story to get a better understanding of life and living, but I just felt although it made sense, maybe we could have had something else.
The animation is amazing though. I wasn't sure about the character design at first but it grew on me. The details in the animation were great at moments but I'm sure I've seen sharper details in a Toy Story for example, but it was still great. The Voice Acing was totally on point. I am not aware of Questlove having done voice acting before but everyone sounded spot on. The Barbershop scene was great and provided some comical moments and some deep conversations held. The experiences were all there and I loved how true to life it was. I also really enjoyed the story behind the movie too, in which I won't go into, but sometimes life changes us or our dreams doesn't let us experience life in it's rawest form. Sometimes we have ideas and dreams that we will never be able to obtain because of life throwing a curveball. A little like Inside Out and A Christmas Carol and definitely re-watchable. It would have been nice to know or get to know who Lisa was, though, just to add a bit more to Joe and provide more context. A must watch if you have Disney Plus.
As I've stated in previous posts, I started reviewing series and streaming shows in October 2019. Disney Plus launched in November 2019 WITH Star Wars: The Mandalorian their catalog of movies over decades. I had to sit, stew and wait until March 2020 because I was born in the UK and that was when Europe was getting access to Disney Plus. Although there are times I do sneakily watch shows that aren't shown on UK screens, I do not review them because it wouldn't be fair to the reader if they do not have access to the content. It would be different if they are in another country and it isn't available, but to be within the same country, as an example, would be upsetting. With that said, this is the first time I will be reviewing The Manadalorian both Season 1 and Season 2 trying my very best not to spoil anything.
The Mandalorian Season 1 brings us a man in a Mandalorian suit of armour similar to Boba Fett from the Original Trilogy, son of Jango Fett from the Prequel Trilogy. This Mandalorian is also a bounty hunter like Boba Fett, with his own ship, own rules he abides by and as the season goes on, you find out more about him. Essentially, like most bounty hunters, he is a loner. He is assigned a mission where he is to collect a package and deliver the package to someone (Kind of like the film The Transporter), I guess, still a bounty. Upon retrieving this package and bringing the package to, what seems like, the remnants of The Empire, to whom were thought to have been destroyed in the 'Return of the Jedi' (OT) by The Rebel Alliance and Luke Skywalker, The Manadalorian decides to keep the package, try to find out more about the package and take the package elsewhere where he feels the package will be in "safer" hands.
This doesn't prove to be an easy task for The Mandalorian as not only does he meet up with various people, friends, allies who he may need to assist to progress forward in his findings, he also comes across various villains along the way, like an Assassin Droid and the remnants of The Empire. Things also prove to become more difficult for him due to the choices he continues to make due to the package he is carrying and the stakes involved. Will The Mandalorian go against his beliefs, his creed, his way of life, because of this package and continue to risk his life time and time again?
By the end of the first season, there is a stand off between The Mandalorian and the big bad and although The Mandalorian escapes defeating the big bad, the quest continues into season 2 trying to bring the package to where it belongs. Season one introduces us to the package as well as this Bounty Hunter. We learn more about his background, why he does what he does and his support group if needed. The Mandalorian has a past and he does owe his life to a group of people. This is Star Wars at it's finest. From the music to the action, everything is great. Seeing the X-Wings were great. Seeing the Tie-Fighters were great. The fighting and hand to hand combat, is great. This show pretty much did nothing wrong for the first season. It was a return to form or better yet, bringing us Star Wars fans what we were missing.
The Mandalorian Season 2 brings us back with our two favourite things, The Mandalorian and the package. If you are reading and you know what the package is, I know at this point I should say, but to those who are completely in the dark or may not realise the connection, is why I'm still being cagey about details in case of spoilers. Anyway, Some time has past and The Mandalorian is looking for other Mandalorians that might be able to assist him on his journey. But due to the value of The Mandalorian's Armour, all types of scum and villainy are seeking either his armour or the package making him hot property in the galaxy and with a bounty on his head. But as the episodes go on, The Mandalorian must either help or receive help to get to his destination and deliver his package safely, albeit, with plenty of complications along the way.
I read somewhere online during the viewing of the second season, that Jon Favreau had been rushed into hospital with damage to his spin and back.......from carrying the entire Star Wars franchise on his back. Whilst I thought this was very funny, a special shout out goes to Dave Filoni, the man behind The Clone Wars animation, Rebels and this show and this show is just amazing. Not only does Dave Direct two episodes, one in the first season and one in the second season, the latter being the better of the two, Dave also does some brief acting as a Rebel pilot (minor spoiler) and although not much to say, handled himself well.
While some episodes might be deemed a filler episode, we are definitely not short of action or character building. Some, including myself saw The Mandalorian as episodes of 'fetch-quests' like a computer game, but i really had no problem with that at all. We are shown a lone gunman who seems untouchable, but he struggles from time to time and that is good. I cannot stress enough that each season seems to get better and better and both season finalés will have you falling off your chair, it is THAT good.
This is a TV show and not a movie. Set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, there is soo much time where nothing has been documented with the Galaxy, far far away and The Mandalorian fits like a glove in this time slot. I've tried not to spoil anything for those interested. The Music, the Acting, the special effects and stunt work, everything is just how Star Wars should be. Not too over the top and not boring. Not to say that the Sequel Trilogy aka the Disney Trilogy was bad, but it could have been soo much better and it seems Dave Filoni is here again to pick up the pieces. If you are into Star Wars, you will definitely enjoy, especially how they manage to weave, the OT, PT and ST into 8 episodes for a single season. I mean, with all the many many eater eggs and such, this show will have you thinking about the Star Wars universe and who is alive, who is dead, who may come back and in some cases, we do see some returning characters from EVERYTHING (including the cartoons), of what came before it in the timeline.
On last thing. This journey for The Mandalorian and the episode titles, all have multiple meanings and as the story unravels, so does the character. Filoni and Favreau are painting a picture, something much bigger than just one bounty hunter, something that covers decades of infighting between a set of people, something that can explain or give context to the future. Earlier I mentioned the ST (DT) and although many have their views on The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker, I think going into season 3 will help give more context to these movies and why some characters are the way they are. A little like how the Clone Wars animated series helped show us Anakin Skywalkers turn to the Darkside. If you are a fan, you WILL like this. *my attempt to Jedi mid trick*
I almost died when I watched the first Borat movie. I'm aware that this is an expression and even though I am using it in such context, I was legit trying to catch my breath. There was a scene where Borat has a fight with his friend and they are naked in a Hotel. Chaos ensues and I found it absolutely hilarious that I was crying and trying to breath and struggling. When I approached watching this sequel, I feel that, maybe I rushed it. I had a plan to set up with my Nachos and dip the second day it came out and I ended up being too tired to watch. I tried again in the week but again, too tired to watch. So eventually, I decided to watch it and although I know how funny the character Borat is, I feel I should not have rushed watching this, set aside 5 hours over a day or 2 and watched the first movie again just to prep myself for the sequel. Maybe, just maybe, I'll edit this a little later having watched the first one again then the second, but although this movie was good and maybe it is due to not being able to catch lightening in a bottle, TWICE, or maybe I forced it or was tired or not in the mood, I just felt that this sequel was good, but nowhere as good as the first one.
The movie takes place 14 years after the original and Borat has been locked up for the shame he brought to Kazakhstan. To regain his freedom and not be executed, Borat must again travel to America and gift his daughter to someone in a position of power or authority. Once in America, Borat has to teach his daughter how to be like an American woman but to also keep the core values that all Kazakhstan women have grown up on.
First off, as if you didn't know, this film is WILD! Sacha, although a comedian and also a character actor, this guy is fearless. I understand that, in certain situations, he had to wear a bulletproof vest because this guy will tow the line of pushing people to the very edge and considering this film has taken a 6 months to 9 months to complete, within the world we are living in now and the strange climate with the Corona Virus and socially distancing, this guy has pulled off such a feat when you also factor in the racial tension and presidency. Fearless!!!
The lady who play his daughter, equally fearless and she ultimately steals the show from being a young unassuming woman who will do whatever her father wants because she loves her father, to then realising that her father could be wrong in the things he says, does and practices. The film is more about their bond but also the corruption within America and the brainwashing or should I say, the views of the American people. There is a hilarious scene with them both doing a dance in front of people and it is hilarious.
I found this film charming at times, hilarious at moments and some of the gags were soo soo good. Finding out before the movie came out there was backlash, was definitely no surprise to me, of course there would be, this guy pokes the bear, but to understand where he is going with this, is to shine a light on the American people. To shine a light on the democrats and republicans or the American people and their ideologies and whom they follow. How some of the values, teachings and such that our fathers and their fathers have been taught, to break the generational teachings and adapting to the new age. For example, there were 3 white guys Borat stayed with who were alright people. They were honest and upfront, but some of their views were skewed. But to also have Borat in their home, a blatant foreigner, meant they didn't really care for him being foreign, you know but they stuck strong to their views. There is no manual on how to live your life for you and your family. Moreover, some of the things we do in life are wrong. the views we have are wrong or how we act towards people are wrong and sometimes people will not know any better because it is all they know. I feel this movie challenges you to look at yourself and the people around you. I also believe the book in the movie the daughter carries plays a huge role in society now.
It's definitely something to watch and Sacha a very clever and talented man, but I will let you know that there are a few bits in the trailer which are NOT in the movie as he has tried his best to get this movie out before the voting happened and had likely made some edits to keep with the flow of the movie. Let's just hope what he set out to do wasn't in vain and if anything, at least it was a enjoyable movie to watch.
I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I started watching this. I had no idea about the cast, I had no idea about the story, I had no idea what it was all about and I just felt initially it was some Central Park Five "rip-off" of sorts and having not known this movie was based on a real thing that had occurred in real life, I was pleasantly taken aback once I got into the movie. You see, I'm not an American and in school, they were quick to teach us about slavary, Christopher Columbus, Henry and his many women and a few plagues and the great fire of London, but not real life events such as the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Central Park 5 or The Trial of the Chicago 7. In 2020, even more truths are being unearthed in media like films and TV series such as Lovecraft Country, so I do find it despicable that there are generations and generations of people, not only black, who do not know what has happened in history, because these events have been for the most part, undocumented. I digress.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 centers around a group of 8 anti–Vietnam War protesters, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, Lee Weiner, John Froines, and Bobby Seale who were arrested in Chicago for conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots during a Democratic National Convention in 1968. Whilst the 7 defendants are being represented by William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, Bobby Seale isn't represented and Judge Julius Hoffman shows significant prejudice for the prosecution whilst there is also racial tension with Fred Hampton the Chicago chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and other Black Panther members in the courtroom. Whilst Abbie openly antagonises the court during the trial, many of the defendants are charged with contempt of court while they try to figure out who initially incited the riot on the hill.
I'm not going to lie, this film took a little while to grab me. Maybe because I wasn't initially interested or the film didn't seem engaging, but once we were in the courtroom and jokes were flying along with the lunacy, I was fully engaged. I felt like, if some of these things, reactions, comments and behaviours were verbatim, this trial was an absolute mess. Although the "lead" of this movie was Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, the film was mostly joint carried by the ensemble cast with Sacha Baron Cohen as halfway through the movie, Yahya disappears and Sacha carries on. Even to a point, even Eddie Redmayne takes a lot of the spotlight in the third act, or at least, that's when I realised it was him and he CAN talk properly, the other characters do come across as fillers. It would have been nice to get a little backstory from all 8 of the defendants as it just didn't seem sufficient enough. Some of the cast members, you couldn't really care about as the connection wasn't really there for me.
What I loved about the movie, whether historically accurate to the very last dot, was the depiction of the Black Panther Party and the fact Fred Hampton was in court sitting right behind Bobby as an assist. It was lovely to see and also made me google Fred Hampton as I had no idea who he was although I had heard of the name. Considering there is a movie starring Daniel Kaluuya as Fred coming out at some point soon, this movie helped me to gravitate towards black activists and Revolutionary Socialists because this was and is unknown territory to me. Yahya was great as usual, tell me of a time when he wasn't? And Sacha was also great. The drama really got a little thick when you saw Michael Keaton and there was a scene when they were all in a room discussing and an argument broke out. that scene was played out well, I just felt that maybe there should have been some more heavier moments.
A decent movie and worth the watch but not as gripping as I believe perhaps, I would have liked it to have been, but it does help you to understand what happened at that time, why and what the state of affairs were like in the late 60's. The Protesting, the Vietnam War, the riots etc. It's extremely difficult to sometimes take in these films and shows and not treat them as just fiction because they were not taught in school and hardily anyone would know about events like these, so for that reason alone, it is a must watch.
When I finished watching this movie, I felt I had to watch it again. I felt like I wasn't paying all the attention that I had needed to. Possibly because there was narration, I wasn't fully focused, but I genuinely felt like I wasn't understanding what was going on although it was fairly simple. Not to say it was difficult to understand but maybe it's all this streaming movies than going to the cinema. Maybe I'm tired of it. Maybe the film didn't really grip me, but...I enjoyed it!? So, I watched it again and this is what I have to say.
The film centers around Arvin (Tom Holland) whose father served in World War II. After the war, Willard (Bill Skarsgård) meets a lady in a diner (Haley Bennett ) and also meets a couple who are dining there. Willard eventually marries the lady and moves to Knockemstiff, Ohio where Arvin is born. Being haunted by the war, Willard is somewhat troubled and tries to influence God to help assist him in a situation he is going through believing he has this power to do so due to his blind faith but the situation doesn't work out. Some years later, Lenora's (Eliza Scanlen) father dies after he also thought he had power due to his blind faith and Arvin becomes her overprotective stepbrother. On his birthday, Arvin is given his father's gun from World War II which ultimately gives him power. The Reverend of the local church, Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson) uses his position of power to his own benefits and when Lenora tragically dies, Arvin goes looking for the reverend for answers. Later Arvin is confronted by the same couple who were dining in the diner his father met his mother in where the two have their own ritual they often carry out which ultimately gives them power, although there is a power dynamic between them.
This film is really about religion, power, the butterfly effect and what would happen if certain situations happened how they were possibly "meant" to happen. This film also questions faith and religion as well as the famous saying "absolute power, corrupts absolutely". Where there are various story arcs that meet to create the over-arching story, there are a lot of people who use their "power" to control and/or influence.
This film is dark and most definitely not a kids film because young looking Tom Holland plays Peter Parker. The cinematography is gloomy and dark. The setting is lonely and isolating. You are given the sense that although these people are very religious, some characters are loners and very much have their own battles they are battling regardless of having faith. Some of the characters are predators in their own way using their power to get what they want. The acting is great and couldn't be any better than it was from every actor in this piece. Robert and Jason are very convincing that you may even despise them. Tom Holland was also very good in this, especially his accent. Along with Robert, both being British, their accents were great. This film is also fairly slow paced with not much action so may come across boring as the story really revolves around these various characters and their life and/or actions.
I may actually watch it again as it is indeed a decent movie, but I just wouldn't rush to see it.
As previously stated in my trailer review, "Just when I thought we may have had enough of superhero shows and such, this trailer reared it's head like "Hello there!" (only said in an Obi Wan voice)" and for the most part, that is EXACTLY what this film has done taking many people and fans alike aback, scratching their head wondering many things. Super powers? Comic book? Jamie Foxx? Netflix? But from what I know and working my way backwards, Netflix has a host of it's own shows which are pretty good, including films which includes some kind of super powers or enhanced individuals. It is definitely a surprise seeing Jamie Foxx again since The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and for the most part, who knew he was filming anything other than Soul. Nope, doesn't appear to be connected to any graphic novel, cartoon strip or comic book. And well, why not have a movie about super powers? It's this era's hot commodity in which if done well, isn't something you can be bored with, you know? Think 2012's Chronicle. Think 2013's Prisoners. Think...I should just let you know how it all went.
So, Project Power is about a young drug dealer named Robyn (Dominique Fishback) who gets caught up in Art Reilly's (Jamie Foxx) personal vendetta trying to find his missing daughter and a city cop Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is trying to rid his city of a drug called Power, a drug which will "give" the user an unpredicted power limited to 5 minutes.
Whilst Robyn has her own personal reasons as to why she is pushing these drugs, Art has his own reasons as to why he is after these drugs and at the same time, Frank, who is also using these drugs, is trying to stop the drugs from getting around the city leading to a cat and mouse chase for Power. However, when they all eventually butt heads, each person is caught in some kind of power struggle. I can't really go into much more detail due to spoilers, but that is about it.
The film unfortunately is quite generic, but at the same time is very enjoyable to watch. It is funny, it is action-packed, it is smart, it is gory (to an extent), the fight scenes, dialogue and music are all great. The pacing is good and the characters are also great. Even the tone, although a little all over the place, lends itself to the movie as it is definitely a different type of "superhero" movie. You could say quirky in places, but the execution, cinematography and some of the scenes are stylish and inviting whilst being fast-paced, energetic and in some places, erratic. Imagine if this drug was on the streets where you come from and how things would go down, this film feels very much like that and feels very grounded from the dialogue and the things the characters say and the way they behave, but although being generic, I do feel they could have pushed the boat out a little and digged deeper into the world of the deep seedy underground and the different gangs all fighting for Power. Although Art's story is told in small little flashbacks, not enough is done for Robyn as her background is surface level as well as Franks. I loved Art as a character and Award winning Jamie Foxx kills it; very relentless and I liked what they did with Robyn and her abilities. Dominique Fishback's portray was great but she could have been given more. Joseph has been in excellent movies like The Dark Knight Rises and Inception, he is a great actor. He did well in this movie but a little underused. The villain is also generic with no real purpose really, other than the usual, but that does not take away from the movie. In some cases, it is style over substance but with great acting from the trio, the movie is forgiven for its small short-comings and when it was finished, i didn't essentially feel like it was missing anything until i gave it some thought.
There are a few quotes in this movie that stand out as funny and a few scenes which were excellent, however, I just feel, although great, they could have done just that little bit more by maybe extending the film by 20 minutes of footage with Frank and Robyn's characters maybe. One of my favourite scenes was near the end when Art is talking about a creature called the "Pistol Scrimp" which then leads into a funny moment in the following scene, but I can only imagine Google has had a number of people googling. Another one of my favourite scenes involved a woman in a container and we have a view of what's going on outside of the container from inside the container, very stylish and I liked it. Oh yeah, I hate the name Power for a drug. Give it some letters and numbers or something, blimey!
I wonder if all the viewings in the next week or so could generate enough money to double the 85 million used to make the film to possible get Netflix to move onto a sequel. It would be interesting if they do a sequel in another town with another protagonist but maybe put a different spin on it.
Charlize Theron has been around for a minute and although I already knew of her from Aeon Flux and one or two others, she really popped onto the scene as an action star, more from Atomic Blonde and Mad Max: Fury Road. I absolutely LOVED Mad Max: Fury Road and Atomic Blonde was actually good too. Not many people went to see it but there is a great stairway fight and although there may have been hidden camera cuts (Movie Magic), Charlize really sold that performance, plus I love me a continuous shot. The Old Guard was a bit of a surprise for me if I'm honest as it seemed to come out of nowhere because I never heard much rumblings about it until only a month or two before it came out and now that it has dropped, I will say, the film has moments where I felt they could have done better, but overall, I really enjoyed it.
The Old Guard is about a team of Immortals who carry out missions fighting for the greater, or a cause they deem "the right cause". Being immortal makes them knowledgeable and very efficient in what they do having doing it for years. However when a new member joins the team in the midst of a secret manhunt, Andy (Charlize Theron) and her team must track down the new recruit to keep her safe, but also fight for their own lives.
The story is decent as it had some lore and a little back story. Although they do not go into much specifics on their abilities and how they came to be, I'd assume they would pick that up in a sequel, if that is honoured to them. The action is great and seeing the team work as a team was phenomenal, especially in the third act. I really like how they handled the final fight and I was intrigued with the post credits scene, although, it was telegraphed a mile away, so you can assume what the sequel might/would be about. Although the acting was great, especially from the new recruit Niles (KiKi Layne) whom I haven't seen in film or recognise, I just felt that some of the dialogue was misplaced and clunky. There is a scene where Niles says to Andy, "Who are you?" and it came across as more relaxed/inquisitive than scared and concerned, considering the circumstances.
Stephen Merrick (Harry Melling), was ok for the most part, nothing special and nothing ground breaking or compelling about his character. Ruthless, egotistical and somewhat cartoonish, following the riches, where James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) was a much better and well-rounded character where you understood his motives and why he was doing what he was doing. It was great seeing Micheal Ward in the movie, he got a little screen time, but as a whole, I loved the variety of actors from different backgrounds and hopefully in a sequel we get to see more of these characters and possibly open the world up like how John Wick did with The Continental and lore.
Speaking of John Wick, this film is somewhat choreographed like John Wick but has some Matrix elements, Handcock elements and I guess you could say Universal Soldier elements to it. If it isn't clear, I do believer the film could have been executed a touch better in a few ways such as a few better shots for the cinematography, more stylised shots and camerawork and better dialogue, but if anything, these are things that can be rectified in a sequel. For example, there was a shot at the beginning of the movie which was of the country Sudan. Loved the location card, the shot of the family walking was lovely, but I felt the pan and scene could have looked more exotic or visually stunning. This movie was probably made for a pack of peanuts, Chips and a Capri-Sun, but it doesn't look like it for the most part and Netflix ought to make their money back to do another or at least I hope they do. It would be nice to get Gina Prince-Bythewood back as she did a great job. Interesting spot I noticed, Gina is plugged for both Silver Sable and Black Cat, so if this movie gets the eyes and status to have people like myself wanting more from the movie such as a sequel, at least Sony will keep her on for those movies because she is a credible director, I mean, she directed Love and Basketball.
I think I vaguely remember hearing about Spike Lee doing a film based on Soldiers from the Vietnam War. But I never heard much else about it until this movie dropped on Netflix. Now in the midst of a pandemic, people have initially thought that if a film with great actors and a great director, then the reason the film is released on a streaming platform is because either, the film studio behind it didn't like the way it turned out so they sold it onto the streaming service, or the director who was pitching then idea, no studio wanted to buy it so a streaming service stepped in in distribute. People would have thought that the film would be shoddy or not worth watching, even if it was from a director like Spike Lee. The general consensus is that, streaming platforms do not have the budget or quality as main studios such as a Disney, Universal and such. Besides, Spike has had some misses, you know, like most great directors, but this film...THIS film, that was produced by 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks (Spike Lee's film production company) was distributed by Netflix and to say that THIS film was shoddy, lacking, or anything negative as to why it was shown on Netflix would be a grave misstep in judgement. This film was amazing.
Da 5 Bloods centres around the friendship of five Vietnam soldiers and their time in the war when they find some gold and decide to bury it. However, on their return to Vietnam to look for said gold, war secrets become to unfold and be told as not all friends made it back from the war as some of them have still been at war and never left, so the return puts a strain on their friendship as memories off the fallen, choices and the regrets come flooding back to haunt them.
I can't say any more due to spoilers, but I will definitely say this, having just rewatched the trailer, the trailer gives NOTHING away and what you get in the film is nothing short of acting gold. The music, the cinematography, the aspect ratio, everything is fine-tuned and done in such a way, the film is enigmatic and engaging. Let me touch on the acting first. Whilst I couldn't care less about some of the characters in this movie because it wasn't really about them and they played their part in the movie well, they served their purpose, the three main actors are Delroy Lindo, Chadwick Boseman and Jonathon Majors. Whilst Jonathon was great, it was Delroy who was acting circles around everyone bar one person. Seasoned actor, Delroy, British born, I remember him from possibly one of the first films I ever first saw him in, also directed by Spike Lee, Crooklyn with Alfie Woodard, a film that made me cry, he commanded every scene. You felt what he was going through and you could physically see the weight he has carried over the many years. I guess that's a slight spoiler but I couldn't really think of a way to address his acting without talking about how he made you feel and how his character is portrayed. Chadwick Boseman...if you didn't think he was that great of an actor and his most notable performance is Black Panther, then you are dead wrong. Known for playing James Brown, Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall, all in which he played these real life people, Chadwick legit stole every scene in this movie. When I said "it was Delroy who was acting circles around everyone bar one person" this one person was Chadwick. His performance is soo good, there is a scene between the two of them and I'm pretty sure I welled up in tears. Such a powerful performance between the two of them in this movie, if one of them doesn't get a Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor nomination AND WIN (especially considering what has come out this year), this would definitely be a snub. These guys are soo soo good. Jonathan Majors, whilst I don't really know him for much, his performance was good, but there was already very high bars to meet. It was nice to see Clarke Peters as I initially remember him from the MCU Netflix 'Jessica Jones' series and before that, 'Person of Interest' and possibly 'The Wire', but although he was very good, the film did a good job with having him balance and steady the movie out. The voice of reason in a way.
The music and cinematography is phenomenal and it goes without saying, Spike knew the music he wanted as much as he knew the angles he wanted. Everything is soo well crafted, this war drama never felt more enriched and entertaining. This war drama never felt like it was beating you over the head about the war, but more the casualties of war, because War, regardless of what it is for, is a terrible thing to go through and endure. The different aspect-ratios used highlighted the different places in time we were watching, the war, the modern day, etc and whilst at first, it threw me, I got used to it fairly quickly. Spike Lee manages to director a film that encapsulates what is happening now in real life and in some places where it is somewhat political, it is very relevant to the now.
I had a great time with this movie and it took me a little longer to write this review due to the current times we are in now, but this movie has a message, I just hope that when you watch it, you are able to pick that up.
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