JUST MERCY (2019) – My rating 9.5/10

Just Mercy is a legal drama directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. The film is based on the memoir of the same name and is written by Bryan Stevenson. Just Mercy is the true story of Walter McMillian, who, with the help of young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson, appeals his murder conviction. The film shows the prejudices in the state of Alabama, which suppresses the rights and voices of Black innocent citizens.

In 1989, an idealistic young Harvard law graduate, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) makes the decision to defend poor Blacks in Alabama hoping to give relief and help to those who cannot afford proper legal representation. He meets with Eva Ansley (Brie Larson) and together they create the Equal Justice Initiative. At the nearby prison, Bryan meets death row inmates, including Walter “Johnny D.” McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an African-American man convicted of murdering a White woman named Ronda Morrison. Bryan looks over the evidence in the case and discovers it hinges entirely on the testimony of convicted felon, Ralph Myers (Tim Blake Nelson), who provided a highly self-contradictory testimony in exchange for a lighter sentence in his own pending trial. Bryan’s first move is to consult with prosecutor Tommy Chapman (Rafe Spall) for assistance but Chapman dismisses him without even looking at his notes. AND SO THE PREJUDICES BEGINS!

Just Mercy can cause you to get pretty angry just listening to the lies and watching the smug looks of satisfaction on the faces of bigots when they are executing power and victory over their victims. Because Just Mercy is a true story, it made it harder to digest the horrific injustices throughout the movie. Overall, the film was well done and well-acted. The sad part is these kinds of injustices are continuing to plague poor communities of color. Racism is such a waste of time as well shown in Just Mercy. You will be adversely moved and saddened but also feel a sense of exoneration because of the outcome. I recommend Just Mercy to everyone, it shows the other side of evil. The film received positive reviews from critics, as well as a nomination for Jamie Foxx for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards. Additionally, Just Mercy grossed $35,191,640 domestically and $44,841,640 worldwide. The review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, reported that 84% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 211 reviews, with an average rating of 6.99/10. The site’s critics consensus reads: “Just Mercy dramatizes a real-life injustice with solid performances, a steady directorial hand, and enough urgency to overcome a certain degree of earnest advocacy.” Check It Out!

CREED II (2018) – My rating: 8.5/10

Creed II is a drama directed by Steven Caple Jr. and written by Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone, from a story by Sascha Penn and Cheo Hodari Coker. A sequel to Creed (2015) and the eighth installment in the Rocky film series. Creed II was definitely a film I wanted to skip, I am so glad I didn’t, as the movie was quite entertaining, despite the same old plot and a predictable outcome.

Creed II follows a fight over 33 years in the making, as the current heavy weight champion meets a new adversary in the ring.  Three years after his loss to “Pretty” Ricky Conlan (Anthony Bellew), Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) scores several wins, culminating in a victory over Danny “Stuntman” Wheeler (Andre Ward) to win the WBC World Heavyweight Championship. Now a worldwide star, Adonis proposes to his girlfriend, Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson) who agrees to marry him.

**** SOME SPOILERS BELOW ****

Meanwhile, a former Soviet boxer named Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), who was responsible for the death of Adonis’ father, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) thirty-three years earlier, sees an opportunity to regain the glory he lost in Moscow fighting Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) by pitting his son, Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) against Adonis.  However, Rocky refuses to support Adonis’s decision to accept Viktor’s challenge, so feeling betrayed by Rocky’s decision, Adonis moves to Los Angeles where he and Bianca settle down in a luxurious apartment close to Adonis’s adoptive mother and Apollo’s widow, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad). As Adonis and Bianca adjust to their new life on the west coast and prepare for the upcoming match with Viktor, Bianca learns that she is pregnant. Caused to choose a new trainer, Adonis recruits Tony “Little Duke” Evers (Wood Harris), son of his father’s trainer, as Rocky’s replacement.  Overwhelmed with all the recent developments in his life, Adonis rushes into the match, getting himself badly injured. Viktor gets disqualified for hitting Adonis while he is down, allowing Adonis to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

At this point you might think I’ve revealed the entire story but I haven’t even gotten started.  Creed II is packed full of excitement and twisted plots.  There is much more to explore and learn about the life of Adonis.  Knowing that Adonis and Viktor will fight again you have to wonder how it happens and who will emerge the victor.  I liked Creed II very much but I wouldn’t want to see a Creed III.  The actors were brilliant and Creed II is a nice way to end the Rocky series.  Sylvester Stallone’s enunciation was better than any other movie I’ve seen him in, I actually understood every word.  I recommend seeing Creed II — 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.”

 

CREED (2015) – My rating: 8.3/10

Emotionally packed, Creed turned out to be a pretty good movie. Sylvester Stallone still speaks as though he has a mouth full of mush but he is who he is and he delivered a solid performance as the beloved Rocky Balboa. Old and completely out of the fighting game, Rocky is persuaded to help the illegitimate son of another famous boxer and old rival friend (Apollo Creed), to train as a fighter. After much convincing, Rocky consents to train Adonis “Donnie” Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) known for Fruitvale Station, only to find that they both would be up against the fights of their lives. Creed takes you places that will have you holding your breath to fight back tears and covering your mouth to hold back anger at some scenes.  After the death of Apollo, his wife, Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad) takes in Donnie (who’s mother is also deceased) and raises him.  Educated and working at a securities firm, Donnie quits to pursue his dream of being a professional fighter.  He  tries to get training at LA’s elite Delphi Boxing Academy but was turned down before traveling to Philadelphia to find Rocky.

Stallone won his first Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Rocky Balboa in Creed.  An award I’d say was way over due.  Creed is among one of the best Rocky movies.  You won’t be disappointed.

[CREED is nominated for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR]