JINGLE JANGLE: A Christmas Journey (2020) – My rating: 7.5/10

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is a Christmas musical fantasy film written and directed by David E. Talbert. I was a little reluctant to see this movie because it appeared to be a children’s film.  I was correct — albeit a children’s film, it was an exceptional children’s film.

An eccentric toymaker named Jeronicus Jangle (Forest Whitaker) and his adventurous granddaughter Journey (Madalen Mills), construct a magical invention in this imaginary world which, if they can get it to work in time for the holidays, could change Jeronicus and his family’s lives forever.

Jeronicus employs an apprentice named Gustafson (Keegan-Michael Key) who betrays the toymaker along with a new toy called Don Juan Diego (voice: Ricky Martin), causing Jeronicus to lose his ability to believe in himself and to also mistrust anyone who comes into his presence, for years to come.  Meanwhile, a magical invention called Buddy 3000 (voice: David E. Talbert) has the power to change all their lives.

I found Jingle Jangle to be a little slow but interesting.  Forest Whitaker,  Lisa Davina Phillip (who plays Ms. Johnston), and Madalen Mills’ talents are unending and brilliant.  I had no idea Forest could sing, he held his own and delivered a top-notch performance.  The musical numbers were “music to my ears”, as I loved the words and the melodies.  The style of dancing didn’t match the time period but was the “creme de la creme” anyway, which brought some humor into the production.  I also loved the fashionable costumes. The designs and colors were fabulous.  So far, IMDB has rated Jingle Jangle 6.9 out of 10.  Parts of this production reminded me of Hamilton but is no real comparison. The film was released on Netflix, November 13, 2020, Check It Out!

BLACK PANTHER (2018) – My rating: 10/10

Black Panther is a Black superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The film is directed and written by Ryan Coogler,   and produced by Kevin Feige / Marvel Studios.  By now Black Panther has become a phenomenon surpassing all expectations for this type of action comic book hero with a predominantly Black cast. In Black Panther, the main character returns home as king of Wakanda and finds his sovereignty challenged by a new adversary, in a conflict with global consequences.  Now in it’s 6th week, the film has grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2018, as well as the seventh highest-grossing film ever in the United States and the 14th highest-grossing film of all time as well as the biggest debut by an African-American director.

Centuries ago, after being hit, in Africa, by a meteorite containing a powerful metal called vibranium, five African tribes go to war over rights to own this metal. One warrior ingests a “heart-shaped herb” affected by the metal and gains superhuman abilities, becoming the first “Black Panther”. He unites all but the Jabari Tribe to form the nation of Wakanda. Vibranium enabled the Wakandans to develop advanced technology, including the ability to cloak, thus isolating themselves from the world by posing as a Third World country.

As a result of placing spies all over the world, in 1992, a young King T’Chaka (Atandwa Kani) visits his brother N’Jobu (Sterling K. Brown), who is working undercover in Oakland, California. T’Chaka accuses N’Jobu of assisting black-market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) with stealing vibranium from Wakanda. N’Jobu’s partner reveals he is Zuri (Forest Whitaker), another undercover Wakandan, and confirms T’Chaka’s suspicions.

In the present day, following a much older King T’Chaka’s (John Kani) death, his son, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns to Wakanda to assume the throne. He and Okoye (Danai Gurira), the leader of the Dora Milaje regiment, extract Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), T’Challa’s ex-lover, from an undercover assignment so she can attend his coronation ceremony with his mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and younger sister Shuri (Letitia Wright). At the ceremony, the Jabari Tribe’s leader M’Baku (Winston Duke) challenges T’Challa but looses in ritual combat.

After Klaue and Erik Stevens (Michael B. Jordan) steal a Wakandan artifact from a museum, W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), T’Challa’s friend and Okoye’s lover, urges him to bring Klaue back dead or alive. T’Challa, Okoye, and Nakia travel to Busan, South Korea, where Klaue plans to sell the artifact to CIA agent Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman). A fight erupts and Klaue attempts to flee but is caught by T’Challa, who reluctantly releases him to Ross’ custody. Klaue tells Ross that Wakanda’s international image is a front for a technologically advanced civilization. Erik attacks and extracts Klaue. Ross is gravely injured protecting Nakia. Rather than pursue Klaue, T’Challa takes Ross to Wakanda, where their technology can save him.

While Shuri heals Ross, T’Challa confronts Zuri about N’Jobu. Zuri explains that N’Jobu planned to share Wakanda’s technology with people of African descent around the world to help them conquer their oppressors. As T’Chaka arrested N’Jobu, N’Jobu attacked Zuri, forcing T’Chaka to kill him. T’Chaka ordered Zuri to lie, saying that N’Jobu had disappeared and left behind N’Jobu’s American son, Erik, in order to maintain the lie. Erik became a U.S. black ops soldier, adopting the name “Killmonger”. Meanwhile, Killmonger kills Klaue and takes his body to Wakanda. He is brought before the tribal elders, revealing his identity and claim to the throne. Killmonger challenges T’Challa to ritual combat; after killing Zuri, he defeats T’Challa and hurls him over a waterfall. After ingesting the heart-shaped herb, Killmonger orders the remainder of the herb incinerated, but Nakia extracts one first. Killmonger, supported by W’Kabi and his army, prepares to distribute shipments of Wakandan weapons to operatives around the world.

I have taken you through most of the characters and given you a lot of the story.  As usual, I have to stop here in order to keep the story in tact.  If you haven’t already seen this awesome movie and to find out what happens next, give it a try as it is one of the best films I’ve seen in some time.  In particular, the plot is “on the money”.  The acting is brilliant and the special effects are sensational.  There is also lots of trivia so I added an entire section on most of the actors, actresses and characters for you to read about.  I enjoyed Black Panther so much, I’ve seen it twice.  I highly recommend it and I congratulate Marvel and Disney for a job well done! Check it Out!

[Black Panther is Oscar nominated for BEST: Picture, Production Design, Costume Design, Original Score, Original Song, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing]

Actors/Actresses/Characters:

• Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa / Black Panther:
  The king of the African nation of Wakanda, who gains enhanced strength by ingesting the Heart-Shaped Herb. Ashton Tyler plays a young T’Challa.
• Michael B. Jordan as N’Jadaka/Erik “Killmonger” Stevens:
  The son of N’Jobu, and a U.S. black-ops soldier who seeks to overthrow his cousin T’Challa. Executive producer Nate Moore said Killmonger “has his own opinion on how Wakanda has been run and should [be] run”. Seth Carr plays a young Killmonger.
• Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia:
  T’Challa’s former lover and a War Dog, an undercover spy for Wakanda placed in other countries to complete missions. She is from the River Tribe. Nyong’o called Nakia a “departure” from her comic counterpart. She begins the film fighting for enslaved women in Nigeria; Nyong’o learned to speak Hausa for certain scenes in the film. She also trained in judo, jujitsu, silat and Filipino martial arts.
• Danai Gurira as Okoye:
  An “extremely proud” Wakandan and traditionalist from the Border Tribe, who is the head of the Dora Milaje, the all-female special forces of Wakanda, who serve as T’Challa’s bodyguards. When looking to cast Gurira, director Ryan Coogler had not seen The Walking Dead, in which Gurira portrays the popular character Michonne, and instead wanted her for the part because of her performance in Mother of George. Gurira said that the fighting skills she learned playing Michonne complemented the skills of Okoye, but that “there’s a lot of ways that they’re extremely different …
• Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross:
  A member of the Central Intelligence Agency and former liaison of its Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force. Freeman said that Ross “has an uneasy peace with T’Challa”, and that he “goes on a strange journey, an enlightening journey to Wakanda.” Unlike his comic book counterpart, who mainly served as comic relief, Freeman and the filmmakers sought to turn this version of Ross into a more capable agent in terms of diplomacy and combat.
• Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi: A confidant to T’Challa and his best friend, who is the head of security for the Border Tribe, serving as the first line of defense for Wakanda.
• Letitia Wright as Shuri:
  T’Challa’s 16-year-old sister and the princess of Wakanda who designs new technology for the country. Wright described her as “an innovative spirit and an innovative mind” who “wants to take Wakanda to a new place… [and] has a great fashion sense”. Wright also felt Shuri was a good role model for young black girls.
• Winston Duke as M’Baku:
  A powerful, ruthless warrior who is the leader of Wakanda’s mountain tribe, the Jabari, who are in protest to T’Challa being the new king. Duke described the Jabari as people who “strongly believe that to move forward, you have to have a strong adherence and respect for the past. As a result, they have a deep moral conscience.
• Angela Bassett as Ramonda:
  T’Challa and Shuri’s mother and Queen Mother of Wakanda. Boseman noted that Ramonda “is one of the advisors that [T’Challa] would look to… for some of the answers of what his father might want or might do. She may not be exactly right all the time, but she definitely has insights.” Bassett wore a silver, waist-length wig for the role that was made from 120 pieces of hair hand-rolled into dreadlocks.
• Forest Whitaker as Zuri:
  An elder statesman in Wakanda, and the keeper of the heart-shaped herb. Coogler called Zuri a religious and spiritual figure, and a way to reference the spirituality within Wakanda from the comics. He also added that Zuri “is a major tie back” to T’Chaka for T’Challa, and is “Black Panther’s version of Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Denzel Whitaker, who is not related to Forest, plays a young Zuri.
• Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue:
  A South African black-market arms dealer, smuggler and gangster, who is allied with Killmonger. He uses a piece of advanced Wakandan mining equipment as a sonic disruptor arm-cannon, replacing his left arm, which he lost in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Boseman described Klaue as a threat to Wakanda, one of the few outsiders to enter the country, and someone with access to vibranium, comparing him to Osama bin Laden. Serkis added that in addition to his desire for vibranium, Klaue is motivated by a “personal” vendetta against T’Challa, and “to expose what he thinks is the hypocrisy of Wakanda.”

 

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016) – My rating: 8.5/10

Before the last Star Wars adventure, which was about finding Luke Skywalker, (who is also the last Jedi) for his help in saving his sister and the republic from being destroyed by a new device, there was a story waiting to be told.  A new Death Star, a space station-based superweapon capable of destroying an entire planet  was being developed by a research scientist, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) who is now hiding on the planet Lah’mu with his wife Lyra Erso (Valene Kane) and daughter Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones).  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story goes back before The Force Awakens and tells us how it all came to be. Brilliantly acted, the story is excellent and to the point. The Force lives on.

In Rogue One, Imperial weapons developer, Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) arrives on planet Lah’mu to take Galen back with him to complete the unfinished Death Star. Galen refuses and his wife, Lyra is killed  during the confrontation, but their daughter Jyn escapes and is taken to safety by Rebel extremist, Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). Saw is a veteran of the Clone Wars and a friend of the Erso family who mentors Jyn in her later childhood years.

As usual, I don’t want to ruin an excellent story, so I will stop here but tell you a little about some of the new and different characters and about some of the old characters.  While Rogue One mainly focuses on Jyn, it has produced  characters such as:  A Zatoichi-esque blind warrior and friend  who is obsessed with the Force and believed to be one of the Guardians of the Whills, Chirrut Îmwe, (Donnie Yen).  His character brings much excitement and amazement to the story.  Jiang Wen (Baze Malbus), a Rebel warrior, mercenary and best friend of Chirrut Îmwe. I totally loved Wen and all that he brought to the story.   Bodhi Rook I (Riz Ahmed), a former Imperial cargo pilot who defects to the Rebels under the influence of Galen.  A significant character who keeps us in loads of suspense.  Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a Rebel Alliance Captain and Intelligence officer. A lovable, handsome, complicated character who is a little too soft spoken for the role.  K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a Rebel-owned Imperial enforcer droid who was reprogrammed by Cassian Andor. K-2S0 is a delight and brings much to the screen.  James Earl Jones reprises his role, lending his voice as Darth Vader and Jimmy Smits, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Anthony Daniels reprise their roles from previous films as Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and C-3PO, respectively.

[NOTE]:  At the time of this post, Carrie Fisher has passed.  She will be missed — RIP Princess Leia Organa!!

 

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ARRIVAL (2016) – My rating: 9/10

What a profound message at a time when we really need it. Arrival is spot on. Too bad it’s just a figment of someone’s imagination! This nation could use a shot of reality. Arrival delves into some pretty deep philosophies. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) a Linguist who speaks several languages has a doctorate and teaches at a near by university. Having been called upon in the past to service her country, Louise continues to have top security clearance when she’s called again for this new and very different assignment.

When 12 alien vessels land across the earth settling in several countries, without explanation, Louise is called on to lead a special team of military personnel to try and communicate with the aliens who landed in Montana, as to why they are here. Senior US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) pays her a visit to explain just enough information to get her on board.  After turning him down, he leaves to pursue another linguist but soon returns.  Every country has their own agenda on how to deal with these alien invaders and after a while, block communications between themselves and all other nations. As a result, there is no sharing of each others progress or future plans.  Over time, several attempts are made to teach our language to the aliens through a glass partition.  For the purpose of  backup and a secondary approach, a second team headed by an equally distinguished Theoretical Physicist, Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) was called to work side by side with Dr. Louise Banks  Together our government hoped to make headway into establishing answers to our many questions. The Military named the alien ships “shells”.  The plan to learn and  share information between us and the aliens (called “Heptapods”, because of their structure) wasn’t working as the Heptapods used a written language, based on time, that proved to be extremely complicated.

Director, Denis Villeneuve did a fantastic job building up to an ending that was so emotional and intense that it brought tears to my eyes.  The key to Arrival is togetherness.  Without spoiling a great work of art, I cannot say any more about the movie, except go see it.  Keep your eyes and ears glued on every word and every scene.  There’s not a lot of fast paced action or destruction or even special effects.  Arrival is purely a lesson in being compassionate human beings — something we seem to have forgotten.  I was moved and entertained as well.

[ARRIVAL is Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing]

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SOUTHPAW (2015) – My rating 8.7

What I loved most about Southpaw was the absence of all the bells and whistles.  It was straight story telling at it’s best.  No extraneous, over-the-top scrap to glamorize the movie — they just worked hard to keep it real.  Performances by Jake Gyllenhaal who played Billy Hope and Rachel McAdams who played his wife Maureen Hope were brilliant.
A couple who came up through the system hit it big when as a professional boxer, Billy became the light heavyweight champion of the world, 43 wins vs 0 losses.  Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson plays Billy’s manager, Jordan Mains, who was into everything from fixing fights to getting $30M HBO deals.  All seemed well until tragedy hit and Billy lost everything, including his daughter to Child Protective Services.  Southpaw is about Billy’s journey back with the help of Forest Whitaker who plays Titus “Tick” Wills, owner of a gym where Billy decides to retrain and change his life around.  Southpaw is emotion packed, down to earth and well acted.  Eminem was originally targeted for the lead role of Billy Hope but decided to focus on his music so the role went to Jake Gyllenhaal.  Well done on all levels.  Check it out!

OUT OF THE FURNACE (2013) – My rating 7/10

The best thing I can say about Out of the Furnace is Woody Harrelson who played notorious Harlan DeGroat, a drug addicted gangster who ruled in the Appellation Mountains and Christain Bale who played Russell Baze, a steel worker that’s down on his luck.  Their performances were outstanding.  Other than that, it was pretty much down hill.  This movie was oh so slow — even the music seemed slow except at the end when Pearl Jam’s “Release” permeated the screen.  There were no happy endings and no real message that I could determine.  The story takes place in North Braddock, Pennsylvania’s  steel mill  country and in the Ramapo Mountains of New Jersey.   The plot is basically about Casey Affleck’s character, Rodney Baze (Russell’s brother) who goes missing after he agrees to take a dive in DeGroat’s bare knuckle fighting event to even a debt between Willem Defoe, who plays Bookie, John Petty, himself and DeGroat.  Russell who lost his woman (Zoe Saldana) to Chief Wesley Barnes, played by Forest Whitaker, decided to go rogue while looking into Rodney’s disappearance.  This movie presented many questions for which I didn’t get many answers.  In fact, I had to read up on Out of the Furnace to find the truth.  I recommend Out of the Furnace on DVD if you have some time to kill, it’s interesting at best!

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THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS THAT PRETTY MUCH TELLS THE WHOLE MOVIE — IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW, STOP HERE — DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!
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Scene:  One night, Russell slams into a car backing out of a concealed driveway.  The camera zooms in on what appears to be the lower, lifeless half of a child’s body.  We know Russell had at least one drink before starting his journey home.

Question: Why is Russell in Prison?

Answer:  The child and the driver died in the car crash and Russell was arrested for a DWI.

 

Scene:  The movie opens with Russell and Lena (Zoe Saldana) in a loving relationship, playfully laughing and tossing around in their bed.

Question:  Why hasn’t Lena been to see Russell in prison considering how much she loved him?

Answer:  She left him for Chief Wesley Barnes.  One can only assume she thought this would be a more stable life — she also is pregnant by Barnes.

 

Scene:  John Petty reiterates the deal between  himself and DeGroat — (Rodney takes a dive which evens any debt between DeGroat and Petty).  DeGroat reluctantly agrees.

Question:  Why did DeGroat kill Petty and Rodney after the fight?

Answer:  You have to guess at this one because it’s not clear — I think he may have felt threatened by Rodney’s fighting skills.

 

Scene:  Russell larges two bullets in DeGroat.  While limping away, Russell makes a final shot from about 60+ feet away from DeGroat.  DeGroat falls.  We see no movement.  Chief Barnes is standing behind Russell shouting “don’t do it”, “put the gun down”, “let me make this right”.

Question:  Is DeGroat dead?

Answer:  Yes!

 

Scene:  The last scene shows Russell sitting in his dining room reflecting.

Question:  Did the chief not arrest Russell for murder?

Answer:  No he did not!

 

I was able to find out these answers via research, not the movie!

 

BLACK NATIVITY (2013) – My rating: 9/10

Not only is this a feel good movie, it sends a powerful message of forgiveness and redemption.  IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD!  Having lived in Harlem the first 13 years of my life, I can attest to a village that didn’t allow children on the streets during school hours or back talk to adults or any type of disrespect to elders.  Most parents disciplined their children and didn’t try to be their friends.  Church was a way of life and teenage pregnancies were not celebrated.  Black Nativity stars Jennifer Hudson as Naima, Forrest Whitaker as Reverend Cornell Cobbs, Angela Bassett as Aretha Cobbs, Mary J. Blige as the Angel, Tyrese Gibson as Loot and Jacob Latimore as Langston.  I had no idea what to expect but boy was I pleasantly pleased.  If you’re human, emotions will arise and hallelujahs will be shouted.  A mother and son facing eviction is challenged to deal with their past in order to move forward in a positive way.  Naima, a single mom, sends her only child, during the Christmas holidays, from from Maryland to Harlem, NY to live with grandparents he doesn’t know.  Having mixed emotions about leaving his mom, Langston makes decisions based on his current circumstances. The music is outstanding, the singing superb and the acting by such a stellar cast, fantastic.  While this film is a shoe in for Christians, I think everyone will agree, Black navitivy is good for anyone’s soul.  I for one, have made plans to purchase this one for my library of exceptional movies.

THE BUTLER (2013) – My rating: 10/10

Very nicely done.  The Butler is sort of a love story that educates us on the events regarding the Black plight from the 50’s to present.  At the tender age of 6, Cecil (played by Forest Whitaker) worked beside his parents, picking cotton.  Tragedy unfolds at the onset of this brilliant movie and we get to see Cecil’s life unfold as he becomes “The Butler”.  This movie is based on a true story depicting the life of Eugene Allen, born July 14, 1919, in Scottsville, VA over the span of 8 presidents.  Eugene died March 31st, 2010 and his wife, played by Oprah Winfrey passed in 2008 a few days short of  Obama’s win as the 44th president of the United States.  Lee Daniels may have directed a potential academy award nominated feature.  I really felt like I was right there in the White House with Cuba, Lenny and Forest.  The Butler was personable and real.  I learned something new about each president Cecil served under.

For the sake of history, heartfelt entertainment, masterful direction and a cast to die for, see The Butler.  It’s worth your time and your money!