Chris Rock: Tamborine (2018)

It's nice to have Chris Rock back. He's one of the greats. And he's still got it. The first half is better than the second half. And that's about all I have to say.

Black Panther (2018)

This is a monumental movie. There are so many things this movie did right thanks to a phenomenal who's who cast, Kendrick Lamar on the soundtrack, amazing production and costume and makeup design, and a brilliant Ryan Coogler at the helm (his signature long take, one shot is the ultra kinetic fight scene in Busan).

Hollywood finally did something right. A black superhero is not insignificant. Representation on screen is so important. It's not just a black superhero, it's strong and fierce black women warriors, it's a black scientist, a black sovereign, proud and successful black people. You need to be able to see yourself on screen in positions of respect to learn to respect yourself. And Black Panther has proved again that people of all colors are willing to pay big bucks for diversity. Hollywood has never known what the people wanted. Let this be a lesson.

This is the best Marvel movie, by far--it plays more cool 007 than Marvel. It is certainly helped by the lack of Avengers. Black Panther can hold his own. The content of the movie is much heavier, more morally complex, and more relevant (maybe only matched by X-Men, but certainly not the other Avengers). The central tension in the film is Wakanda's longstanding policy of isolationism. Wakanda is a fictional black Utopia. The way I see it, it's not just a black version of Utopia, rather Utopia is black. Utopia is a land untouched by the white colonizer. Could you blame Wakanda for not wanting any part of the ills the rest of the world has wrought? Well, if Wakanda was to open up, what form would that take? How would Wakanda react to the plight of black people around the world? There is the more militant Malcolm-ish path and the more peaceful Martin-ish path. Though Ta-Nehisi Coates had no part in the movie, I can't help but think his comic had influence on this central theme of the movie. The morally complex Killmonger (played by an excellent Michael B. Jordan), is a somewhat sympathetic villain. He is a fully developed character. His rough childhood influences his motivations to support the oppressed. But his experience in the US military influences his motivations to conquer.

My lone criticism is I think there was an opportunity for the female characters to take center stage. Yes, they are in prominent roles, but there is an opportunity towards the end that the lead females deny themselves. It is ostensibly for other reasons, but there is an underlying gender implication. There was a particularly viable path given Shuri's legitimate blood claim to the throne.

I know there is more I wanted to say. I wish I had went straight to writing after I saw the movie but...life gets in the way. #wakandaforever

On Body and Soul (Testről és lélekről) (2017)

On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year. It's a marvelously strange movie, an awkward love story. It takes place in a slaughterhouse and there are some predictably gruesome cow scenes. The romance is between two characters who meet each other in their separate dreams. The catch is that they are deer meeting in a snowy wood. I almost want to call it magical realism. It's really beautifully done. The title is perfect. I could not have thought of a more apt title. This movie is like a quiet essay on the connection between body and soul. You really empathize with Maria, who is clearly trying very hard to overcome her autism to express in body what she feels in her soul.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)

There are a lot of interesting things in this movie, but I felt like the movie didn't really flesh out any of those ideas quite enough. The most effective theme was the inner conflict between cynicism and idealism. I think it's probably a dilemma that is not uncommon for civil rights lawyers. This is only theme that really plays out and spoiler alert...neither really wins out. Roman J. Israel has been nobly working for years on a brief challenging the plea bargaining system. Denzel Washington is excellent as the savant lawyer. For maybe just a minute, he gets to explain his brief. But other than that, this idea is not thoroughly explored. And there is a lot to be said. The plea bargaining system used around the country, and now even adopted around the world, is a miscarriage of justice. And I would have liked to hear more about the legal challenge. He does take care to explain his seemingly nonsensical legal challenge against himself. And it seems like Colin Farrell understands his legal reasoning. But I did not. And I can't find a proper explanation anywhere on the internet. So I'm just going to go on not understanding. That definitely could have been better explained.