Us

First Hit: Started off OK, but then became a contrived, overburdened, and almost laughable story.

I was a fan of Jordan Peele’s Get Out. However, here the characters felt pressed in their roles and the premise and ending was apparent to me early on.

The ability to keep the audience focused on one thing while using sleight of hand to set us up for a surprise is what this film is about. However, when the crowning moment appears and I sat there and said to myself, “yeah, that was expected,” it didn’t work.

Us didn’t work for me because Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o also plays Red) was a little too odd from the beginning. Her looks and way of being stood out a too much.

The set-up from her going into the house of mirrors as a child and being adversely affected wasn’t strong enough to make me buy her subsequent adult behavior. Therefore I started trying to figure out why is she was the way she was — darkly edgy.

The story is, that as a child, Adelaide enters a house of mirrors and gets scared. We are to believe this had a profound effect on her. Then we meet her later in life married to Gabe (Winston Duke also plays Abraham). They have two children Zora and Jason (Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex respectively). On a family vacation, they decide to take a day trip to Santa Cruz. Adelaide doesn’t want to go because this is where the house of mirrors, where she was frightened in as a child, is located.

Events, with Jason wandering off at the Santa Cruz beach near the house of mirrors, spark’s a visit from their dark underworld counterparts.

The story gets more complex by adding in their friends Josh and Kitty Tyler (Tim Heidecker and Elizabeth Moss respectively) and their twin daughters Becca and Lindsey (Cali Sheldon and Noelle Sheldon respectively).

The underworld expansion and counterpoint to each of the characters were mildly entertaining.

Nyong’o telegraphed the part more than I would have liked. I’m not sure whether this was at Peele’s direction or her interpretation. Regardless, outside of a few strong scenes, I didn’t buy it. Duke had some funny scenes, like his first foyer in his boat, but his role didn’t work for me and I didn’t think he and Nyong’o worked as a couple. It just didn’t seem to fit. Joseph was probably the best thing in the film. When she got in the driver’s seat of the car and insisted in driving, and when she took the golf club in hand, the audience knew she meant business. She was excellent. Alex was good as the son, however, the mask fixation didn’t work for me, and I understand why it was part of the role. Heidecker and Moss were strong in their supportive roles. Peele both wrote and directed this film and for the most part it didn’t work. It made me wonder if he’ll fall into the same trap as M. Night Shyamalan; create a wonderful first film and then slowly fall into the abyss of ever increasingly bad films.

Overall: This film was failure of suspense, thrill, and horror.

Black Panther

First Hit:  The inspiration was lost in the excessive fighting.

I’ve stated before and I’ll say it again. I’m not the target audience for Marvel type films. I find them excessively violent, do not base enough of the film on believable, or an attempt to make believable, characters, and don’t have interesting stories behind them. This film was no exception. It may be the last time I see a Marvel film.

That there is an entire country in Africa having such a superior technology and basis for living and not taking advantage of it to lead the world out of its stupidity, just didn’t work. Yes, the screenwriters gave a reason for this and I didn’t think it was intellectually based.

The best part of the film was how the story elevated women as the leaders in scientific and protective warrior prowess. The second-best part of the film were the effects. In many sections the special effects were first rate.

The essence of the story, from what I could figure out, is that because of mistrust, the previous king T’Chaka (John Kani) goes to Oakland, CA to find out how Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) had infiltrated his country Wakanda and stole Vibranium, the secret component that allows Wakanda to be technology light years ahead of everyone else in the world. The thieves were planning to use the secret powers of Vibranium in the world at large.

Exposing this plot, King T’Chaka, kills his brother, and leaves his brother’s son Erik Killmonger (as an adult Michael B. Jordan) in Oakland. The king dies and his other son T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) becomes King and the Black Panther after drinking the essence of flowers grown in Vibranium.

Because of a heist of vibranium from a museum, the Black Panther and his intellectual lieutenant Shuri (Letitia Wright) and special forces chief Okoye (Danai Gurira) go out into the world with their super powers and attempt to recapture the stolen Vibranium.

Being throwarted Killmonger in his plan finds a way to Wankanda to get ahold of all the Vibranium. He challenges T’Challa for the throne of Wankanda and succeeds. With his new-found conquest, he decides, with vindictiveness, to rule the world with Wankanda’s technology.

However, as we all know, T’Challa wasn’t killed and comes back to save Wankanda from Killmonger's change in plans for Wankanda.

The fighting sequences were overdone, the use of rhinoceroses as battle weapons was sad and a bit overdone, and the line that seemed odd to me was when and Killmonger proceeded to say that he was fighting for his ancestors that were sent to the new world as slaves. What was peculiar about this was, that his ancestors came from Wankanda, a privileged society, long before slavery was began in Africa.

Boseman was good as the King and Black Panther, but there wasn’t anything outstanding about his performance. Strongest performance of this film goes to Letitia Wright. Her powerful character as intellectual leader was fantastic. Gurira was also excellent in her role as leader of the special forces. She embodied this role. Jordan was very good as the protagonist. His dynamic personality came through in this role. Lupita Nyong’o as T’Challa’s former lover Nakia, war dog, and undercover spy was very strong. Forest Whitaker as Zuri as the wise elder statesman and keeper of the secret Vibranium herb, was OK. He seemed to press his lines to make them important. Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole wrote this script that focused more on fighting and special effects than substance of a story, but that is what Marvel wanted and paid for. Coogler directed this film.

Overall:  I’ve got to stop going to Marvel films because I get bored quickly and find them to lack substance beyond the displaying ways to present action.

Queen of Katwe

First Hit:  Although this is a wonderful story, the film's representation did not do it justice.

Confusion is what I felt through much of the early part of this film because we go through 8 years of time, as noted by the overlays on the screen announcing each new year, without any discernible physical changes in the characters. The subject, Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nawanga), is followed from before her teens to her mid-teens with virtually no change in her looks. We all know that these are years in which a person changes a lot physically, but here there is nothing and therefore confusion in each scene because we really don't know how old she is until context is given. The story is wonderful. It is about Phiona, who comes from the poorest of the poor in Uganda, where her mother is raising 4 children by herself, finds herself in Robert Katende’s (David Oyelowo) church where he’s teaching chess to young children. She sits down and becomes fascinated by the movement of the chess pieces and soon she is spellbound by the game. Quickly she learns that she naturally understands the complexities and challenges of the game, which also allows her to escape her limited and difficult life. From this point of view, the film and story was inspirational. I loved her first plane ride scene when the camera pans to her fingers moving and griping the seat's armrests. Her mother Nakku Harriet’s (Lupita Nyong’o) surprised happiness at seeing her new home for the first time, embraced the amazing joy residing in this film. Besides the lack of clear time references with the main character, the film was too long. There were three times, I came out of being engaged in the story to wondering why it was taking so long to tell the story. It needed to be more crisp.

Nawanga was wonderful as Phiona. Although I wish they would have used a second person for the younger years, Nawanga was perfect for the later character. Oyelowo was amazing as the patient minister and chess teacher. I loved the stories he told his kids to help them with the pressures of being in chess tournaments. Nyong’o was sublime as Phiona’s mother. Her strength and intelligence shined through as she fought to keep her children fed, with a roof over their heads and safe. William Wheeler wrote a script that tried to tell too much. It made the running time of 124 minutes laborious. Mira Nair did an OK job of directing the characters, however as previously noted, the film did a disservice by having Nawanga try to play through so much time, and to not cut aspects of the story to make the film crisper.

Overall:  This is a wonderful story, but the execution, by the director and screenwriter, didn’t live up to the power of the story.

The Jungle Book (3-D)

First Hit:  An amazing, truly delightful and  well crafted film – Kudos.

This film is a real treat. The personalities of the animals worked from every angle and aspect.

Loosely based and inspired by Richard Kipling’s book of the same name, this movie truly comes to life on the big screen. Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is the boy, who is raised in the jungle by a wolf mother Raksha (voice by Lupita Nyong’o), the wolf pack and black panther Bagheera (voice by Ben Kingsley).

The wolf pack leader Akela (voice by Giancarlo Esposito) has accepted Mowgli and has the pack protect Mowgli from harm. Because he's being raised by wolves, the boy is trying to be a wolf and is discovering it is difficult. However, he does have magic (human) ways to creating things which Bagheera frowns upon.

The danger is that Shere Khan (voice by Idris Elba), a tiger, is out to kill Mowgli because the boy’s father burnt Shere Khan with the red flower (fire) when Mowgli was a baby and wants revenge. When Shere Khan kills Akela, the boy has to escape. Bagheera thinks the boy needs to return to mankind but on the way the boy gets lost and runs into Kaa (voice by Scarlett Johansson) a Python who wants to eat him. Just as this happens, he gets saved by Baloo (voice by Bill Murray) a honey eating brown bear.

Although the ending is predictable, the magic is in how this film gets there and in the way it is presented to the audience. This story is exquisitely shot and the attention to detail is extraordinary. The movement of the animals was so clearly researched that is seemed as though their animated bodies and Mowgli's real body were all in one world. It was perfect.

Sethi was wonderful as the young boy. My guess is that he did a lot of work to prepare for this role, especially because of the physical nature of it. His warmth and intelligence showed through in his character. Nyong’o's voice added a deep soulful feel to the mother wolf. Kingsley’s voice gave us a rich commanding panther that was filled with compassion. Elba’s voice for the tiger was perfectly intense, intimidating, and filled with fire. Johansson’s voice for the seductive Python was mesmerizing. Murray was both captivating and funny as the day saving bear. Christopher Walken’s voice (and singing) was scene stealing as King Louie (homage to Louie Armstrong whose voice was used on the 1967 version of this film) the Gigantopithecus Bornean orangutan and king of the monkey world. Walken was amazing. Justin Marks wrote a fantastic screen play from Kipling’s book. Jon Favreau did all his homework and made sure this film sets a new standard in animation. Additionally, his use of 3-D was spot on. It was an addition not a distraction. Bravo!

Overall:  Disney shows it still has the chops to deliver the highest quality animation film having an engaging story while setting a new benchmark for all those who follow.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (3-D)

First Hit:  Nailed it. This film immediately took me back to May 25, 1977 when the story first began and I knew it was going to be an amazing ride - this film was no different.

I remember standing in line about 38 years ago to see “Star Wars” and wondering if it was going to be as good as the hype.

As the yellow storyline rolled across the screen fading into a vanishing point while being accompanied by the powerful John Williams score; I sat back and smiled and said to myself, “here we go” and the ride began. Yesterday at the 9:00 AM I saw the 3D presentation of film number 7.

As soon as the story-line started scrolling up the screen, accompanied by the John Williams score, I laughed out loud, smiled, and said to myself; “it’s back and I'm ready". There was no let down in this film. The new characters were perfectly cast, the re-introduction of the original characters amazingly handled, while the story was very interesting and moved the whole set of stories forward with suspense, tragedy, and excitement. The writing was top notch, the visual effects were reminiscent to the first film, yet updated with today’s technology and the characters grew in depth while adding to the legacy. 3-D used perfectly - not a distraction only an enhancement.

Harrison Ford returned as Han Solo. He was wonderfully introduced, exquisitely honored, and ceremoniously pathed. For his part, Ford was amazing. Carrie Fisher came back as General Leia (versus Princess Leia) the leader of the resistance against the First Order. Although less dynamic than Ford, her place and fulfilment of her part of the puzzle was required and perfectly executed. I was happy she was part of the film. Mark Hamill continued as a much older and wiser Luke Skywalker. Although his role was small, it begins a new cycle as well, wonderful. As for the major new players: Daisy Ridley as Rey was superb. She filled her role as an intelligent, physically capable, and believer of her destiny amazingly well. She exemplifies and is the new heroine for this series. John Boyega as Finn was auspiciously wonderful as a new male hero for the resistance. Lupita Nyong’o was fantastic as Maz Kanata the very old wise woman. Oscar Isaac was fun as Poe Dameron a renegade fighter pilot for the resistance. Domhnall Gleeson was perfectly arrogant and heartless as the General Hux, leader of the First Order. Lastly, Adam Driver as dark side leader Kylo Ren was very strong. Lawrence Kasdan and J.J. Abrams wrote an incredibly strong script. Definitely Oscar worthy. Abrams fulfilled everybody’s hope in delivering a very exciting film that kicks off a new era of Star Wars films. The next one will be tough to do – just as Lucas found out.

Overall:  Abrams, Kasdan, and the whole team turn out an amazing story – thank you.