Black Panther - Movie Review

Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright, Andy Serkis, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke and Sterling K. Brown.
Written by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole.
Directed by Ryan Coogler.

★★★½

I'm a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Even the worst one, I'd still give a thumbs-sideways to. Even so, lately we've had some really good ones. Black Panther did not disappoint.

After stealing the show in Captain America: Civil War, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is back with his own movie, in his own country. Wakanda has been a secret country in Africa for thousands of years, highly advanced thanks to a special alien metal called vibranium. While Wakanda has flourished, the rest of the world has gone through the wars and social upheavals of real history. Eric Killonger (Michael B. Jordan) is a villain ready to topple King T'Challa and use Wakanda's powers for some world disruption/domination. His plan may be similar to most supervillains ("I will rule this world!"), but he has one of the better backstories, and combined with MBJ's performance, Killmonger winds up being one of the most compelling MCU villains.

I liked watching a movie full of mythic black empowerment imagery - Wakanda's like the African answer to the Hogwarts, Middle Earth, Westeros worlds we've been getting the last couple decades - and I liked a Marvel movie with so many strong female characters. A few years ago, General Okoye (Walking Dead's Danai Gurira) probably would have been a man, and Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) would only have a handful of lines. They're great, and we also get good performances from T'Challa's gizmoduck of a sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and his love-interest Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o, in her best role since winning the Oscar for 12 Years a Slave), who has her own subplot and isn't just there to react to what T'Challa's doing.

The Tolkein white guys Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis are fun in their roles. Freeman's got that jittery Dr. Watson energy he has as Agent Ross when he was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, and Serkis is in full "Wee! I'm a comic book villain!" mode.

Fruitvale Station - DVD Review

Starring Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer and Melonie Diaz.
Directed by Ryan Coogler.

★★★★

For a couple minutes after it was over, I just sat there, basking in the silence.

In 2009, a police officer shot and killed Oscar Grant III, who was laying on his stomach in the process of getting handcuffed. The officer later explained he thought he'd pulled out his Taser gun and accidentally pulled out his handgun. The event was recorded on a few smartphones, and outrage over the incident quickly spread.

Grant's story is another example of an unjustified death of a young black man, and had this movie been made 20 years ago, it'd probably be about the white lawyer fighting for justice in Grant's death. What we get here is the last 24 hours in Grant's life. We get to watch a normal, imperfect guy just living his life leading up a senseless, stupid mistake.

Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, That Awkward Moment) is very comfortable in the role of Grant. Sometimes it feels like a hidden-footage film with us just following Grant around. We see him meet up with his friends, call his mother, play with his daughter, and just living life up to New Year's Eve. This subtle style just makes his fate more heart-breaking. Very moving.

And keep an eye out for writer/director Ryan Coogler. This is a fantastic full-length feature debut.