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.

Blood Diamond (2006)

This movie is a little strange. It defies categorization to its detriment. It is sort of an action thriller--Leonardo DiCaprio on a quest with a gun. But it deals with very serious, depressing themes that are not well-served in an action thriller: civil war, conflict diamonds, refugees, child soldiers, mercenaries and smuggling. There is a strange sequence featuring the child soldiers blasting 90s hip hop and shooting heroine and it is edited in a way that makes it looks like they're having fun, which is wildly inappropriate for the subject matter. The tone is very strange. Every nice moment is capped off with action--you're not given any opportunity to enjoy it. The movie severely undermines the important role of the press in conflict zones as Jennifer Connelly is a pawn in Leonardo DiCaprio's game, really just serving as a love interest and a distraction. The white savior narrative is also unwelcome. Everyone with real agency in the movie is white in this movie that takes place in Africa. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a man from Zimbabwe; he introduces himself as Rhodesian. He puts on a white South African accent; I can't really tell if it's good or bad. The dialogue is either brilliantly in dialect or very offensive. DiCaprio is certainly very committed. Djimon Hounsou is actually the star of the movie, in my opinion.

Strong Island (2017)

Strong Island is a deeply personal movie, crafted with an abundance of care with family photos complete with fingers adjusting them. More than anything else, it is a personal journey. This is not for us. We, in the audience, are on the outside looking in, observing and feeling the pain that the Ford family experienced. It is an introspective movie. Yance Ford tries to understand the circumstances surrounding the death of her brother. The movie walks toward something bigger, trying to contextualize the Fords' story as a story that could have happened to any African American family. While I understand that sentiment, I think Ford very rightly stops just short of that. This is too personal of a story. And it is owned by the Ford family. It haunts them but they confront it. 

The Post (2017)

If there was one thing I learned in college, it was how to study historical films as primary sources (Thanks Professor Mason!). This is a perfect example. While the movie takes place in the Nixon era, it is a product of its own time, the Trump era. What can this movie about the 1970s tell us about 2017?

It can tell us that our society is still uncomfortable with a woman in charge, even if she's Meryl Streep. She has an excellent monologue towards the end in which she tries to explain why. Katharine Graham discusses her own lack of confidence and distrust in herself. Her own development was influenced by society. It was no one's fault, it was simply the unquestioned norm. It's difficult to wrap your mind around this idea but she articulates it brilliantly. The movie is not about Katharine changing society. Though she's a trailblazer, women in business still face abundant discrimination. Her important decision to publish was surely brave, but ultimately it was the Supreme Court that stood up to the President. Alone, she could only do so much. It will take a joint effort to truly create change.

This is not a movie about journalism, it's about press. Comparisons to All the President's Men and Spotlight are inappropriate because this is not about the investigation. It's not about uncovering the contents of the Pentagon Papers. It is about the act of publishing them. The other message? Our newspapers must remain diligent and hold the President's feet to the fire. The Washington Post in particular has taken a bold stance ("Democracy dies in darkness" is poignant). Thank god Katharine Graham and Ben Bradlee have made the Post the national authority it has become today. And when the President tries to ban the press, an integral part of democracy, the newspapers must come to each others' support in solidarity.

This is an important movie for 2017. It's powerfully acted and orchestrated. Even though we know how it ends, there is plenty of drama. And the production design is very 70s. The inside of a newspaper is pretty cool.