Shaft is an action-comedy directed by Tim Story and written by Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow. Unlike its predecessor, which was distributed by Paramount Pictures, this film is produced by New Line Cinema and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the fifth film in the Shaft film series and a sequel to the 2000 film with the same title. Given the last version of Shaft, I didn’t expect too much from this version — however, it ended up being pretty decent and pretty funny.
The film starts in 1989, John Shaft II (Samuel L. Jackson), his wife Maya Babanikos (Regina Hall) and their infant son, John “JJ” Shaft Jr., survives an assassination attempt by druglord, Pierro “Gordito” Carrera (Isaach de Bankolé). Concerned Shaft’s lifestyle would expose them to even more danger, Maya thought it best to leave her husband and raise their son on her own. 25 years later, JJ (Jessie Usher) is a grown man with a degree from MIT. He has just landed a position as a cybersecurity expert with the FBI.
After JJ’s childhood friend, Karim (Avan Jogia), dies a suspicious death, JJ concludes he must have been murdered, so he travels to Harlem to investigate further. The drug dealer who runs the neighborhood and sold the heroin that allegedly killed Karim, has JJ violently ejected from his property. While recovering in the hospital, another childhood friend, who is a nurse, Sasha (Alexandra Shipp) reads Karim’s toxicology report and realizes that the amount of heroin in Karim’s system would have killed him long before he could take that much by himself, providing proof he was murdered. With no other recourse, JJ turns to his father, John Shaft II, who is a private investigator, for assistance. Shaft agrees to help after realizing that JJ’s case may lead him to Gordito, who he has been holding a vendetta against for years. The two begin investigating together, but JJ’s progressive white-collar outlook on life clashes with Shaft’s old-school street ways. After confronting Manuel Orozco (Ian Casselberry) again, Shafts investigates “Brothers Watching Brothers”, the drug rehab clinic Karim was a part of. There they learn that Karim stopped going to rehab in favor of attending services at a mosque, currently under suspicion by the FBI for terrorism.
Apparently, this version of Shaft was the better of the two versions featuring Samuel L. Jackson. Some of the jokes were really funny. The plot was somewhat predictable but made sense. The story goes into Shaft’s raunchy lifestyle of women, booze, drugs and violence. For the most part, the acting was good however, Jessie Usher could use a bit more polishing. As usual, any movie with Samuel Jackson has way too much profanity. Shaft was no exception to the amount of bad language throughout the film. Also, the use of the “N” word was excessive. I understand in that space and time, the “N” word was considered only semi quasi bad, however, I could have done without it. Shaft will probably be offensive to some and some will be okay with the verbiage. The original Shaft Sr. (Richard Roundtree) was a nice touch to end the movie, however, I would wait for the DVD or skip it altogether. Shaft received mixed reviews from critics, but positive responses from audiences and has grossed $17 million. Check It Out if you dare!
Dark Phoenix is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics X-Men characters, produced by 20th Century Fox and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the twelfth installment in the X-Men film series, a direct sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and the seventh and final installment in the main X-Men series. Dark Phoenix is written and directed by Simon Kinberg. In Dark Phoenix, the X-Men must face the full power of the Phoenix after a mission in space goes wrong. Being the last of the X-Men series, I wasn’t sure I wanted the experience to end. The “Dark Phoenix” film was decent but I think Kinberg has gotten a couple of things incorrect.
X-Men: Apocalypse may very well be the best of the X-men series I’ve seen. What made it so good was the clear, simple story that was still full of action, adventure and special effects galore. I loved that the story wasn’t over the top, full of a million sub plots and tons of flash backs that you couldn’t put together until the end. Instead, the story flowed and was kept simple and focused mostly on the current issues. Of course that makes the film a little more predictable but you won’t have a king size headache when you leave the theater. The plot is nothing I haven’t heard before. Between Heroes (the TV series) and Marvel’s, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV series) it seems the “Mutants” are in the same boat all over the universe. They’re considered dangerous and a threat to society, so they must be stopped by any means necessary. In Apocalypse, the plan is to take control of them and use them to help rule the new world, headed up by an ancient “god” named En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) who was resurrected in 1983 after being entombed by worshipers who betrayed him in 3600 BC. Claiming to be the first all powerful and immortal mutant born in ancient times, this god is able to give and take powers from other mutants at random. Some of his powers include telekinesis, telepathy, technopathy, superhuman strength, and size-control. His philosophy is to kill off backward civilizations. In other words, if you’re not modern, you’re history. He feels the world has lost its way without his leadership and wants to rebuild after destroying the present one. Apocalypse meets, recruits and upgrades the power of a pickpocket named Ororo Munroe / Storm (Alexandra Shipp – who can control the weather) as one of his 4 lieutenants. In the meanwhile, Raven Darkhölme / Mystique, (Jennifer Lawrence – a shape-shifter) who is on her own, helping rescue mutants who are oppressed or enslaved, investigates an underground fight club and discovers Warren Worthington III / Angel / Archangel (Ben Hardy – A mutant with bird-like feathered wings on his back and is a champion fighter) and Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee – a teleporting mutant). Raven rescues Kurt and employs the services of Caliban (Tómas Lemarquis – a black marketeer and transporter) to safely transport him to the United States. En Sabah Nur discovers Elizabeth Braddock / Psylocke, (Olivia Munn – Caliban’s enforcer who is a mutant with telepathic and telekinetic abilities). He recruits her as the second of Apocalypse’s horsemen, known as Pestilence. She leads him to Angel who he also recruits, upgrading his wings to metal. He now needs one more recruit to complete his 4 horsemen. He encounters a disgruntled Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (Michael Fassbender – a mutant with the ability to control magnetic fields and manipulate metal, who becomes the last of Apocalypse’s horsemen, known as War.)
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