MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL (2019) – My rating: 7.5/10

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is a dark fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Joachim Rønning, and written by Linda Woolverton, Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster. It is a sequel to the 2014 film Maleficent. I enjoyed this sequel and have mostly good things to say about it.

When we last left Maleficent (Angelina Jolie), she had shed her evil disposition, restored the Moors to its former light and was well on her way to being a gracious, reformed God-mother, raising Aurora (Elle Fanning) as her own. Aurora is also now the reigning Queen of the Moors and Maleficent is guardian and protector. However, in the five years since King Stefan’s death, we learn that mistrust and circumstances defined a new Maleficent as evil as the Maleficent of old. What happened to define Maleficent this unearned character judgment? What we didn’t know, was lurking in a nearby kingdom called Ulstead, lived the queen and mother Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer) of Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson) who is instrumental in shaping most of our thinking about Maleficent. In this sequel, Aurora is proposed to by Prince Phillip. Little did we know, Aurora’s answer to that proposal would be the foundation for which the entire story would be based. While Phillip’s father King John (Robert Lindsay) wishes for peace, his mother Queen Ingrith has been secretly preparing for war. Many lives will change and many truths will be revealed, including a major reveal for the mysterious Maleficent. Hidden in areas of the castle, workers make weapons and ammunition out of iron, deadly to all fairies. Diaval (Sam Reily), Maleficent’s raven and confidante, overhears Phillip proposing to Aurora. When he has relayed this to Maleficent, she advises against the union, but Aurora insists she will be proven wrong.

I enjoyed Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and give kudos to Disney for their diverse employment. I especially like the message this movie sends regarding revenge, evil, gossip and faith. I think this is a good strong story and deserved more acknowledgment than it received.  The film received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism aimed at the “muddled plot and overly artificial visuals”, but praise for the performances of Jolie, Fanning and Pfeiffer. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported the film holds an approval rating of 40% based on 246 reviews, with an average rating of 5.09/10. As of January 31, 2020, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil has grossed $113.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $377.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $491.7 million. Check It Out!

[MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL is Oscar-nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling — Totalling 1 Oscar Nomination]

 

THE LION KING (2019) – My rating: 9/10

The Lion King is a computer-animated musical directed and produced by Jon Favreau, written by Jeff Nathanson, and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a photorealistic computer-animated remake of Disney’s traditionally animated 1994 film of the same name. The plot follows Simba, a young lion who must embrace his role as the rightful king of his native land following the murder of his father, Mufasa, at the hands of his uncle, Scar. As with Jungle Book, the CGI characters were spectacular.  There was very little difference in the story, if any, from the original 1994 animated film. I was glad I went to see Lion King in this format.

In the Pride Lands of Africa, in a place called Pride Rock, lived King Mufasa, Queen Sarabi and their pride of lions who ruled over the animal kingdom. Mufasa’s and Sarabi’s newborn son, Simba, is presented to the gathering animals by Rafiki, the mandrill who is the kingdom’s shaman and advisor. As Simba grows older, Mufasa shows him the Pride Lands and explains the responsibilities of kingship as well as the “circle of life”, which connects all living things.

Mufasa’s younger brother, Scar, covets the throne and plots to eliminate Mufasa and Simba so he can rule the kingdom,  as the new king. He tricks Simba and his best friend Nala (to whom it is expected Simba will marry) into exploring a forbidden elephants’ graveyard, where they are attacked by spotted hyenas led by Shenzi, Kamari, and Azizi. Mufasa is alerted about the incident by his majordomo, the hornbill Zazu, and rescues the cubs. Though upset with Simba, Mufasa forgives him and explains that the great kings of the past watch over them from the night sky, from which he will one day watch over Simba. Meanwhile, Scar visits the hyenas and manages to convince them to help him overthrow Mufasa in exchange for hunting rights in the Pride Lands.

Meanwhile, Scar sets a trap for his brother and nephew, luring Simba into a gorge and having the hyenas drive a large herd of wildebeest into a stampede that will trample him. In order for Scar’s plan to work, he informs Mufasa of Simba’s peril, knowing that the king will rush to save his son.

The Lion King is a classic that most people have seen.  The reason to see this version is the CGI technology that makes the environment and animals of The Lion King seem almost real.  In this version, the plot focuses more on the life of Simba rather than his father, Mufasa.  Simba runs into new and different characters and learns new and different ways to eat and survive.  When Simba was finally pulled back into his reality, he resisted but succumbed to his basic foundation, which included the teachings of his father.  I thought The Lion King was beautifully told with special effects that were out of this world.  I am excited about future endeavors pertaining to picture shows.  The Lion King has grossed $1.4 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing animated film, overtaking Frozen, as well as the second highest-grossing film of 2019 and 9th highest of all-time. It received mixed reviews, with praise for its visual effects, music, and vocal performances (particularly Rogen and Eichner) but criticism for its lack of facial emotion on the characters, with many describing it as “soulless” compared to the original film. I think, without a doubt, The Lion King is definitely worth seeing on the big screen.  Check It Out!

Listed below, is a list of celebrity voices that brought “The Lion King” to life:

Simba (Donald Glover):
A lion who is the crown prince of the Pride Lands.
Young Simba (JD McCrary)

Pumbaa (Seth Rogen:
A slow-witted common warthog who befriends and adopts a young Simba after he runs away from home.

Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor):
The treacherous brother of Mufasa, the brother-in-law of Sarabi and the uncle of Simba who seeks to take the mantle of king of the Pride Lands.

Sarabi (Alfre Woodard):
The Queen of the Pride Lands, Mufasa’s wife, and Simba’s mother.

Timon (Billy Eichner):
A wise-cracking meerkat who befriends and adopts a young Simba after he runs away from home.

Rafiki (John Kani):
A wise mandrill who serves as the shaman of the Pride Lands, and a close friend of Mufasa’s. Likening his role to that of a grandfather.

Zazu (John Oliver):
A red-billed hornbill who is the majordomo (someone who makes arrangements for another) to the King of the Pride Lands.

Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter):
Simba’s childhood best friend and future love interest.
Young Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph)

Mufasa (James Earl Jones):
The King of the Pride Lands, Sarabi’s husband and the father of Simba. Jones reprises his role from the original 1994 animated film.

Shenzi (Florence Kasumba), Kamari (Keegan-Michael Key), and Azizi (Eric Andre):
Three spotted hyenas who are Scar’s henchmen.

Sarafina (Penny Johnson Jerald):
Nala’s mother.

(Amy Sedaris), (Chance the Rapper) and (Josh McCrary):
voice a guinea fowl, a bush baby, and an elephant shrew, respectively.

 

DR. STRANGE (2016) – My rating: 8/10

Please keep in mine, I am not rating any of super hero movies against their comic books series because I don’t read comic books. In fact, I’ve never read any comic books or watched any cartoons. It was never my thing. I am reviewing these movies strictly on whether I was entertained and the quality of the movie. Dr. Strange was not what I expected. That’s not to say it was bad, it’s just to say the subject matter was not what I thought it would be. Having said that,  I liked the movie but I think it fell a little flat. Logically, I couldn’t wrap my mind around the reason Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) the sorcerer and his zealots, who were ruled by the dark Dormammu, wanted to kill off most of the world.  After that, what’s there to rule? It just didn’t make sense to me. So much effort for nothing. I also classify Dr. Strange’s character as a pompous ass. He’s so full of himself that it was hard to like him. I get that is a character flaw he’s been battling with forever and probably isn’t news to anyone but me, however, it was still difficult to deal with. This Reminded me of that other silly superhero everyone loved but I hated because of his “I love me and everything I do attitude” (Ryan Reynolds) in Deadpool. Dr. Strange’s attitude is not as bad as Deadpool but it’s close. The saving grace in this movie is the phenomenal actress, Tilda Swinton. She is one of the best actresses of our time and in my opinion certainly made Dr. Strange worth seeing.

Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) an acclaimed neurosurgeon, loses the use of his hands in a car accident.  His ego wouldn’t allow him to accept his new position in life that wouldn’t include performing surgery, which keeps him in fresh pats on the back.  During Dr. Strange’s research for a cure, he learns of a person, Jonathan Pangborn, (Benjamin Bratt) a paraplegic with similar neurological problems who learned how to heal himself by going off to Kathmandu, Nepal, to study with the Ancient One, (Tilda Swinton) who has been alive for an undisclosed amount of time.

He also met with Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Master of the Mystic Arts, close with the Ancient One and now a mentor to Dr. Strange. While there, they tried to put Dr. Strange’s ego in tact and teach him powers he never imagined existed.  Moving in and out of spiritual realms took a lot for him to learn and even shaped his character a little but not quite enough to call him modest. An injury caused Strange to drift back to the hospital where he worked for life saving treatment and interaction with his colleague and love interest, Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams).  There was much humor and the special effects were outstanding.  The acting was brilliant and the costume design was fantastic.  Despite Dr. Strange’s cocky attitude, I found the movie very entertaining and highly recommend it.

 

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SECRET IN THEIR EYES (2015) – My rating: 7.8/10

Secret in their Eyes is a suspenseful “how can we convict this totally guilty guy” thriller.  It’s a little slow at times but keeps your interest level high most of the movie. Taking place in Los Angeles, the film focuses on four main characters, Jess Cobb’s, (Julia Roberts) a District Attorney’s Investigator working on a case along side FBI Counter Terrorism Investigator, Ray Karsten (Chiwetel Ejiofor),  newly hired Assistant DA, Claire Slone (Nicole Kidman) and the criminal, Marzin, (Joe Cole) who is hard to arrest or convict given his status to the affiliated case.  We learn early on that Caroline, Jess’ daughter is found raped, brutally murdered and bleached inside and out.  The problem with this plot is I find it hard to believe.  I think anyone would find it hard to believe cops, corrupt or not, would cover up a fellow officer’s tragedy with nothing in return. Secret in their Eyes was well acted but just not a believable plot.  It was exciting and had a couple of bazaar twist, still when you finally realized the bottom line, I think it spoiled the whole movie.  You’ll have to make up your own mind.  Also the past, present sequences got a little confusing at times.  There was one instance when I thought we were dealing with the present when we were actually dealing with the past.  I’m usually pretty good keeping up with that sort of thing.  My blunder surprised me.  The entire movie was shot that way (flash backs of the pass, then suddenly we are brought back to the present.  Despite how I feel about not believing the plot, the end almost justifies the means and overall, I did enjoy the movie.  However, I recommend that you wait for the DVD on this one.

 

THE MARTIAN (2015) – My rating: 10/10

Look for The Martian to be nominated for best picture and more.  It is worth every second of it’s 141 minutes.  When I heard The Martian being compared to Gravity, I didn’t want to see it because I didn’t particularly like Gravity.  The only similarity is deep space aliened with crisis.  Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, an Astronaut on a manned space mission to Mars along with five other crew members, Rick Martinez (Michael Peña), Beth Johanssen (Kate Mara),  Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan), Alex Vogel (Aksel Hennie) and Mission Commander, Mellissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain).  During a daily routine task, the crew was hit with an intense storm that caused Mark to disappear from their sight while also putting the lives of the crew at stake. Considering the situation, Mark was presumed dead forcing the Mission Commander to reluctantly leave Mark behind as the crew fled from planet Mars.

Mars provides nothing we as humans would need to survive.  Water, oxygen, fertilized soil, gravity, animals and for the most part, no light exists on Mars.  Unable to contact NASA, Mark uses his knowledge as a botanist to grow potatoes within the mission’s artificial habitat, anticipating that he will need to survive for at least four years before the next crew was scheduled to land.  He would have to  journey to the landing site of Ares IV which already has some infrastructure on Mars. To maintain morale, Mark begins to modify the habitat’s rover to make it capable of long journeys while keeping a series of video logs.  Without giving away the whole movie, I will conclude the revealing the plot at this point saying that NASA does find out that Mark is alive and though some ingenious manipulations and thought process, he finds a way to communicate.

Between the efforts of  Jeff Daniels who plays Teddy Sanders, Head of NASA, Chiwetel Ejiofor who plays Vincent Kapoor, NASA mission director, Mackenzie Davis as Mindy Park, satellite planner in Mission Control, Donald Glover as Rich Purnell, NASA astronomer, Sean Bean as Mitch Henderson, NASA mission director and Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose, NASA spokesperson, the journey becomes both enlightening, intense, complicated and exciting.  Involvement from the China National Space Agency (CNSA) offers NASA classified information and help which was both exciting to hear and learn what they had to offer.

From the cast to the plot, to the intensity of the story to the brilliance of the acting and the efforts and planning of all who worked on this movie, I applaud The Martian and thank Hollywood for a movie that truly makes a difference when we really needed one.  There is so much more that I couldn’t tell as not to spoil any more than I did.  Whether you like science or not, The Martian is worth seeing.  Great job, great directing, great writing, great movie!

[THE MARTIAN is nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Costume Design, Best Director, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects]
 

 

DANCING ON THE EDGE – (2013) – My rating: 8/10

This mini series takes place in the 1930s in London, England.  Blacks were still not accepted in the mainstream and many laws were still in place to keep them separated from Whites.  This story is about a jazz band and it’s leader Louis Lester (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) who became entangled with England’s upper class resulting in deceit, murder and love.  Most of this is brought on my one character who wasn’t going for a racial incident but who was a mentally disturbed person who performed out of sickness.  Dancing on the Edge has great entertainment through it’s music and divine singing.  John Goodman has a significant role as an extremely rich businessman who has an unusual obsession.  I thought this series ended leaving the viewer with a taste for more.  I really liked the series but I felt it should have given us more information at the end.  There’s a bevy of actors and actresses who make Dancing on the Edge a success.  It’s currently playing on HBO and is considered a mini series.  It’s aired in 6 parts.

12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013) – My rating 10/10

You couldn’t ask for a better film depicting Black history.  12 Year’s a slave covered most of what went on during that time.  From prominent Black families to hopelessness as slaves to the hatefulness and defiling of a race.   Chiwetel Ejiofor has been a busy man — I just watched him starring in the mini series (Dancing on the Edge), an HBO production.  All I can say is Chiwetel is brilliant in every film he’s plays.

No one really thinks about how African Americans were kidnapped into slavery or the jealousy displayed by slave owner’s wives when their husbands committed the ultimate insult by raping the enslaved women and even producing children as a result.  There is so much to the ordeal of bringing a race of people to a foreign land and forcing them to become slaves while defining them as nigger animals who were treated worst than dogs.  These actions helped to mode the Black race into what it is today.  People really don’t understand the plight of the African American.  Movies like this, help to clarify some of the problems that are still prevalent today.  I believe 12 Years a Slave deserves best picture and best actor as maybe best actress.  Well Done Steve McQueen, Well Done!