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[Transcript] Season 2, Episode 4. Acting, Direction, Editing, Screenplay Nominations - Academy Awards 2021

The Academy Awards 2021 are here! Who's up for Best Acting, Best Supporting Actor, Direction, Film Editing, and Screenplay? Who do the Stereo Geeks think should win? We have so many thoughts about this year's Oscars, we can't even pick our favourites. Who do you think should win these categories?

(L-r) DANIEL KALUUYA as Chairman Fred Hampton, ASHTON SANDERS as Jimmy Palmer, ALGEE SMITH as Jake Winters, DOMINIQUE THORNE as Judy Harmon and LAKEITH STANFIELD as Bill O’Neal in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Welcome to a new Stereo Geeks Special where we continue our coverage of the Oscars 2021. I'm Ron. Mon: And I'm Mon. Ron: Let's talk about the acting categories. Lead role (Male). We have Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal. Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Anthony Hopkins for The Father. Gary Oldman, Mank. And Steven Yeun, Minari. Your pick?

Mon: Chadwick.

Ron: My pick, as well. I think this is the year for Chadwick.

Mon: Chadwick’s performance in the Ma Rainey film was compelling, outstanding. It's a real shame that he has not been here to bask in the recognition that he's got. He has swept most of the awards in this category. I'm really hoping that the Oscars don't let down his family. He deserves it.

Ron: Chadwick’s performance is a really strong point for the film. It's full of nuance, and really powerful storytelling. And I think the performance Chadwick put in was, in hindsight, made more powerful because of what we know he was actually going through. If you just look at the performance, it does really stand out. There are so many layers to his character, and that can only come out through a powerful acting performance. I feel like Chadwick could have won this category even if it wasn't a posthumous award.

Mon: I think so too. There's a lot of layers to this character, and he really gave it his all. It would have been outstanding irrespective of the year that this film came out, irrespective of the year that this performance was recognized.

Ron: I feel like it's also high time that Chadwick was recognized for his acting.

Mon: I mean, he's been good in everything that he's performed in. The fact that it has to be Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, it has to be a posthumous recognition, that's kinda sad. But he was always good. The legacy of his acting is gonna continue for a long time.

Ron: Absolutely. Talking about the other performances in this category, there are some hits and misses.

Mon: Yeah. I feel like with Gary Oldman in Mank, it’s probably one that we all expected. It's probably also the least exciting.

Ron: I felt like when I was watching Mank, I was watching Gary Oldman play a different version of his Winston Churchill.

Mon: Right? I felt the same way!

Ron: Okay, so it wasn't just me.

Mon: No, it wasn't, man. That was surprising to me because I feel like Gary Oldman is the kind of person who, when he plays a character, he really adds in so many different layers to it, gives each one a unique take, and this one just felt like, copy-paste.

Ron: Yeah, totally.

Mon: I don't think it helps that Mank, in general, is an underwhelming experience. And with the role, as well, I feel like we’ve seen, not only Gary Oldman do it before, but we've seen this kind of role before. The only thing I'll say is that it's not very obviously Oscar-baity, but it's exactly the kind that the Academy likes.

Ron: I actually think this is very obviously Oscar-baity.

Mon: Oh okay.

Ron: Yeah, totally. This is the exact kind of role that the Oscars love. This difficult man who is larger than life, who inspires and cuts down at the same time, that's exactly what the Oscars love. And that's why I actually hated Mank.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: Because we have seen this character for aeons, there's nothing new here.

Mon: Yeah, absolutely, it's just change the setting, change the saturation point.

Ron: Absolutely. I would happily have swapped out Gary Oldman for Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami.

Mon: That one still hurts me.

Ron: I just don't understand how he’s not in this list.

Mon: He's not in this list at all! That's what annoys me.

Ron: One Night in Miami has not got the noms that it deserves. And it's just driving me crazy.

Mon: The other performance which is definitely Oscar-baity is Anthony Hopkins in The Father.

Ron: Same problem that I had with Gary Oldman. Even in the huge, long career that Anthony Hopkins has had, this is not a good performance!

Mon: Right. There was only one scene where I felt like he'd kind of gone outside his comfort zone. There's this scene where he's meeting his caretaker for the first time, and he's sort of trying to impress her, and there's this natural vivacity that he brings, which I don't think I've seen in Anthony Hopkins, ever. And I love that.

Ron: Yes. Mon: And then it's completely ruined by that last scene. The acting in the last scene is so Oscar-baity. It is so ‘I am doing this so that I can definitely take home the little gold statue’. And it was the one scene that I hated so much because it was so put-on, it was so artificial.

Ron: But I felt like that about the whole movie. I felt, when I was watching this movie, that I was watching Anthony Hopkins.

Mon: Yeah, no, I agree with you on that. I agree with you, completely. And that's a problem because it didn't feel like a performance because it felt like he wasn't doing anything different. And I'm really disappointed because we know this guy can be better.

Ron: This is Anthony Hopkins.

Mon: I know! He puts in his all in a Marvel film. That's how good this guy is, and this film just feels like it's trying too hard and not reaching.

Ron: The play that The Father is based on, the performance was done by Frank Langella. And when I watched this, I was like, oh my god, Frank Langella would have been amazing in this.

Mon: That is so funny considering which role Frank Langella actually did play in the movies that have been nominated in this Academy Awards. Honestly, you could have put in a lot of veteran, white, old actors from Hollywood, they would have played that role the exact same way. Which is why I don't think it deserves a nomination or an award.

Ron: Yeah, agreed. Steven Yeun, Minari.

Mon: I think this was a surprise because a lot of people hadn't seen this film, And he's really known for being in The Walking Dead. You don't expect him to be nominated for the Oscars, but here he is.

Ron: It's such an understated performance. Like throughout the movie I could see myself in him. Which is why I'm really glad that he's got nominated because his Jacob is us.

Mon: Yeah, he's this foolhardy, obstinate kind of guy, but he's just so wistful, and I think I really like that because he's trying so hard, and he really believes in himself and in his dream. And you get all of that in Steven Yeun, just the way he carries himself, just the small little expressions that he makes. He doesn't even have to talk much, it's just him.

Ron: What I really loved about Steven Yeun’s performance was the scene where he is being a ‘dad’. And you know dads, they will be themselves, and then suddenly they will go into dad-mode. Where they’re like, you know what, something has happened and I need to be a ‘dad’ right now. And he is so, so good in that scene. And I was like, oh my god, stop being such a ‘dad’!

Mon: Exactly! Because the dad is putting on the performance of being a ‘dad’, and Steven Yeun is doing an excellent job of being that dad who's trying to be a ‘dad’. It's too good.

Ron: And that's why I'm really happy that he's been nominated because this is what acting is supposed to be.

Mon: It's supposed to be understated but also feel real.

Ron: In any other year, he would have been the top favorite in this category.

Mon: Yeah, I think so too.

Ron: It's just a really good performance.

Mon: Right. And to round it all off is Riz Ahmed from Sound of Metal. This is another very understated performance. There's nothing huge and flashy. It’s really just somebody who is coping with the circumstance that he cannot envisage. And he's really struggling, because his whole life, literally, his whole life, is going to change. It's really hard to rate this performance because it's so natural. It's so effortless. If you haven't seen Riz Ahmed in other stuff, you would think this is just him being him, but there are, of course, like differences to who he probably is as a person.

But I think the recognition of this award really goes to the fact that he put in so much work to make this role look as effortless as it does. He learned how to play the drums, he learned ASL, and both of those, he just does it so naturally in the film. And the performance would have been completely derailed had he not put in that effort of all those months, it would not have been a good performance.

Like when he’s drumming, like the first scene is him drumming, and you can see that it's him. It's not like in the shadows, it's not from the back, it's not like a stunt double. Nope, it's him. And you wouldn't connect with this character if you didn't see him front and center, with those drumsticks, banging on the drums, really like, into that music.

And even with the ASL. It's his language, and that's how you're supposed to feel because that is how the character is going to communicate. And I feel like it's such an important aspect that not only did he learn it, but now he's very keen on people learning how to sign because it is such a valuable language to learn. It was so good. It was so understated. It's hard for me to even say that he actually acted but, I mean we know he did. But’s it’s just so good, so natural.

Ron: I would compare Riz Ahmed’s acting in Sound of Metal to Natalie Portman in Black Swan. That ballet performance and how it made Nina was only possible because she'd done the work of learning ballet. That's the same thing here. The only reason why we believe everything that this character is doing and going through and evolving into is because Riz Ahmed put in all that effort. It comes across as so natural that you don't think you're actually watching an actor; you're watching a person. That's what great acting is.

Again, along with Steven Yeun, any other year, Riz Ahmed definitely would have won this category. But this year, it belongs to Chadwick Boseman. He should 100% get it. What a performance to leave as his legacy.

So, moving on to the ladies. We have Viola Davis from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Andra Day from The United States vs Billie Holiday. Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman. Frances McDormand from Nomadland. And Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman.

This is a slightly harder category I would say. From the other award shows, it seems that Andra Day might be the front runner here. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to see this movie. Apparently The United States vs Billie Holiday is not a good movie. I read some reviews and it seems to be very exploitative, rather than anything else? And it's literally coasting on Andra Day’s performance.

Mon: Apparently, she sang some of the songs in it?

Ron: Yes.

Mon: I'm excited for any newbie to get awards. And when I say newbie, I mean somebody who's getting recognition for the first time at a big award show like this. I would love to have seen her performance just to rate it against these other very powerful performances. Let's see how that turns out.

My personal favorite, of course, is Viola Davis. She has my whole heart. How performance as Ma Rainey was stunning.

Ron: From that opening scene in the tent, you forget that you're watching Viola Davis. Ma Rainey was such a personality, and the way Viola Davis just embodies that. This is a woman who, when she walks into a room, everybody stands aside so she can walk through.

Mon: Yeah. One of the things that I really like about films being on Netflix is that we do have the after-film show or the after-film interviews. And for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, they talked about bringing this film to life. It's a play and now it's film, and the research that they did, and they learned about this personality who we hadn’t heard about. And how Viola Davis and the makeup artists and the costume artists, they really tried to embody the way she looked in real life. Because with Ma Rainey, you know she's singing for a long time, it’s sweltering heat, that why she looks very greasy. Her makeup is running, but she's got this power and she doesn't care about the glamour, you know, she's got a voice, she is using that, and that's what's entertaining, and that's what's grasping the entire crowd. Viola Davis and her entire team, they really wanted to capture that, which is what they do. They do such a great job. Ma Rainey doesn't have to look like the quintessential, glamorous, polished artist that we’re so used to seeing, because she's working hard. She's got a job to do. You don't have time for all this stuff, so I really love that. And I'm pointing this out mostly because there was a little bit of backlash because of how Ma Rainey looks in the movie. Ron: Oh really.

Mon: Yeah, there were some people saying, oh, why does she have to look so tired and sweaty. Well, that was kind of the point, so that's why I'm pointing it out. It was a deliberate, intentional effort made by the creators for this film. And Viola Davis does an excellent job of encapsulating that presence and that feeling. I really love how you have this character, based on a real person, of course, but you have this character in an era where Black people really struggled to make their voices heard, get anything that they deserved. She's like the exact opposite. And I love how this film turns the tables on that. And it’s only possible because you have somebody with that presence of Viola Davis. I would love her to win this. I don't know if she will. Maybe somebody newer, like Andra Day, deserves it more. But yeah, I've got my heart set.

Ron: You haven't seen Pieces of a Woman, but I did. I think Vanessa Kirby does the job that she has to in this film. I just think that compared to everybody else on this list, I don't get it. We were talking about how Steven Yeun’s acting in Minari was very understated. Vanessa Kirby does the same thing and Pieces of a Woman but her understatedness is so understated that there is no emotion. And I don't think it's her fault. I think it's because of the direction that she was given as an actor.

Pieces of a Woman was not as good a film as I heard that it was, which was surprising to me. I don't expect histrionics all the time, but most of the time, I was like nothing is happening on the screen, and that just did not make sense to me because the writer of the film based this story on what happened to her. And her husband was actually the director of this film. I feel like they weren't on the same page, or something got lost in translation between screenplay and direction.

I think Kirby did a really good job maybe in the first like 30-35 minutes, and then after that, she was probably told just, you know, hold it back, hold it back, hold the emotion back, and she ended up doing that really well, but the final product ended up being bland. And that might also be because they tried to stuff in other bits into a story that didn't need it. What ended up happening was that her performance was overridden by other elements.

We both feel that Yeri Han from Minari should definitely have been nominated.

Mon: Yeri Han plays the wife character in Minari; she plays Monica. She could have easily been a flat character, the long-suffering wife who just does what her husband wants, who somehow survives for her kids, but she is so much more. You can see this person trying desperately to be the supportive glue of this family. You can see this person trying to strive for her own dreams, for her own ambitions, and keep it together. And it's all because of how well Yeri Han, again in an understated fashion, just carries this character. And it is a shame, a complete and utter shame, that she did not get picked as one of the nominations.

Ron: I found myself comparing Yeri Han and Vanessa Kirby so much when I was watching these two movies, and it really made me wonder what the criteria is for the Oscars to nominate people. Both of these are very understated roles, but Yeri Han the way she emotes an entire dialogue without saying a word. That's what I wanted from Vanessa Kirby. I did not get that. And there were these moments in Minari where I was like, this is how I would react. And that's exactly how she reacted. And I was like, oh man, that's the first time that's ever happened! How does that performance not get nominated. Mon: Yeah, I'm really disappointed.

Ron: I think the problem is that we are very used to the ‘wife’ in films. Yeri Han took that and turned it into a role. And I think part of the reason why Steven Yeun has been nominated, not just on the strength of his own performance, but on the strength of Yeri Han’s. Because had she been terrible, nobody would have noticed what was happening with Steven Yeun. It's the same thing that I see with Killing Eve. The only reason why we keep focusing on how good Jodie Comer is, is because Sandra Oh is brilliant. But she never gets nominated, it's always Jodie Comer. I really, really wanted to love Vanessa Kirby's performance. I read so much about how much work she did. It just didn't come across to me.

So, moving on. Frances McDormand, Nomadland. Understated, but the right kind of understated.

Mon: The thing with Frances McDormand is that she's so effortless and natural in her roles that sometimes you think that's exactly who she is as a person. But no, she's acting, and I love that about these roles that she takes. And especially the one that she plays in Nomadland, I think, had she gone melodramatic or larger than life or the other opposite like super-emotional or something, we would not have believed this character and we would not have enjoyed the journey that we were on with her. It's the fact that she's very put-together, but she's also trying very hard to hold it together, and that comes across throughout in every scene. That's what makes it so powerful. That's what makes it so natural and immersive to watch, and it's no wonder that she's been nominated.

Ron: Yeah, I think if Frances McDormand hadn’t been nominated for Nomadland, that would have been a travesty. Again, talking about Pieces of a Woman, you can see how important direction can be for an actor. Because Frances McDormand’s understatedness could have become super-bland, had she not had the director paving her path. And that's why we get a really, really powerful performance in this film. I mean, she pretty much carries the whole thing. She could have a really good chance of winning this. Mon: Yeah, I think so too. Ron: So on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Carey Mulligan’s Promising Young Woman. This is a very different kind of performance, just in this category. She feels like this person that you don't want to hang out with for a multitude of reasons. I think we’ve seen Carey Mulligan in quite a few films, so this performance does stand out because it's very different from what she usually does. She's kind of like preppy, and peppy. That's not what you expect. She does a really good job, but there's also like so much tension in this one, which she manages to carry very, very well.

Mon: What I like about this film is that it throws you into the middle of this story. There's no preface, and it's important because the story structure is quite a novelty, and I like that. And because we're thrown into the middle of it, we learn more about her character throughout the film, which makes her performance even more captivating. Why is this person who is young and desirable, and honestly, should have the world at her feet, going around with such a sad frame of mind? Why is she carrying herself in this terribly dejected fashion? Well, we find out.

I would say that this performance isn't as understated as some of the others in both these categories. It definitely has its moment where somebody could have gone completely over the top, but it never does. Because a) the writing doesn't allow for it and, b) the role wouldn't work if we were on either spectrum of super-gleeful or super-emotional. It's really somebody who is carrying a hurt inside her that she cannot fix, and you really feel that.

The funny thing about this film is that you’re left feeling so sad by the end of it, because you really understand this kind of, almost this kind of depression, that this character is facing, and you really feel it through her performance. It's a surprisingly captivating performance despite not being the quintessential Oscar-baity kind of thing. I'm not sure she's gonna win though.

Ron: I wonder whether the Oscars will do something completely different and be like, in light of #MeToo, we're just going to give it to this film.

Mon: I didn’t think of that. It could be.

Ron: Like, it says a lot about why #MeToo even exists. So, who knows? I think this is a very tough category. Let's see what happens.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: So, moving on to the supporting roles. For the men, we have Sacha Baron Cohen for The Trial of the Chicago Seven. Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah. Leslie Odom Jr for One Night in Miami. Paul Raci from Sound of Metal. And bizarrely, LaKeith Stanfield for Judas and the Black Messiah, even though he's the lead role.

Mon: Yeah, I'm a bit surprised, as well.

Ron: Apparently, they did put his name forward for the lead role and for some reason the Oscars put him and Daniel Kaluuya in the same category.

Mon: Listen, people who have limited screen time have sometimes been in the lead role category, other people, who are pretty much carrying a film have ended up in the supporting category. I've never understood the Oscars and what the criteria for these things are. It's literally like Tic Tac Toe sometimes. I'm actually really disappointed that both Daniel and LaKeith are in the same category, because they are so, so strong. They really deserve to have been not competing against each other, and definitely should have been frontrunners in their own categories. I mean Kaluuya is brilliant, he's always brilliant.

Ron: He is particularly good as Fred Hampton. I was just like, wow this is insane.

Mon: Like, you feel the emotional core of the burden that he's carrying, but you're also like a little bit inspired, maybe even a little bit scared, by the power of his performance and the power of his stage presence. I feel like he was really passionate about this role, but he doesn't go over the top with it. I'm sure he did a lot of research on Fred Hampton and how he carried himself. But it doesn't come across as this very manufactured or artificial kind of performance. And it definitely doesn't feel like some kind of weird, reverential take on this character. Because sometimes, that's also a problem, especially when you're embodying somebody who was a real personality and a very important personality. Sometimes you feel like you should only look at the good things. No one was perfect. And so, you should always approach those people as human beings first, but also respect the legacy that they've left. And I think he does a good job with that.

Ron: Well the thing is that Daniel Kaluuya actually spent time with Fred Hampton’s wife to find out what his personality was from her perspective. Of course, there were tapes and things that he watched so that he could actually get the physicality of the character, and that's why I think that he is a frontrunner in this category. Because we've seen Daniel Kaluuya in a lot of things and the way he plays this person, you forget that it is Daniel Kaluuya. Like, he's done the kind of research that allows him to become a person without actually showing us that he's acting it.

Mon: Listen, I'm never going to forgive the Academy for ignoring his excellent performance in Widows. He was so good in that film. I don't know why this role made me think of him in Widows, but I think it's that intensity? He's brought a very similar kind of intensity and I'm glad this one has been recognized at least. I really hope it does walk off with the award because, yeah, this is too good.

Ron: Absolutely, I agree with that. LaKeith is the lead in this film. I still can’t understand what the Academy is thinking. He is so good in this performance. He is this tortured young man who is just taking it one day at a time because he has no clue what to do. He gets into one scrape after the other. He thinks he has an out, and it's not.

Mon: His character is between a rock and a hard place, and LaKeith plays that to the tee. Like you can really feel it, his desperation to be normal, his desperation to fit in, his desperation to get out, and you just really feel it.

Ron: The thing is that it's very difficult to play a role like this because a lot of people just think of him as the bad guy. But there are so many layers to even bad guys. And LaKeith does it really well. Like there are times when there are emotions on his face, and I'm just like, he's just told us so much. If he was nominated for this role any other year, he would have won this. But I really feel like it's going to be done Daniel Kaluuya’s year.

Mon: Yeah. I hope so, as compared to most of the others.

Ron: Let’s talk about Paul Raci in Sound of Metal.

Mon: This was a surprise, yeah?

Ron: It was. He has a very understated role. He kind of plays like a mentor, and it's almost easy for you to forget that this is a person acting a role in a film. But then there’s this one scene, which was so quietly done. I can imagine that same scene in movies being full of histrionics, and gestures, loud voices…

Mon: Standing up and waving!

Ron: And banging tables, right?

Mon: Right.

Ron: And Paul Raci just keeps the same tone, and it's like a dagger in your heart. I feel like the power of that scene, coupled with the fact that, up until that point we had seen the kind of person he was, that's the reason why he's in this category. Because the only reason why that scene works is because we spent all this time with him. We've heard his tone of voice, we know how he feels about the main character, about their community, and you know where he's coming from. So yeah, this is a surprise, but now when I think about it, it makes sense.

Mon: Agreed.

Ron: Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of the Chicago Seven.

Mon: I know that he did a lot of research on the person that he was playing.

Ron: Okay.

Mon: He was concerned about this character, because we’re talking about somebody who was a real-life personality and when we say personality, we mean a personality. I can see he’s trying. The problem is, I could not see anybody but Sasha Baron Cohen when I was watching the movie. It was Cohen with big hair. And that's all I could see. I could not see him being anybody else. Is it a direction problem, is it just the role? He was not the best thing that film had in it.

Compared to the other roles that we've seen, just in this category, it doesn't even reach like halfway there. And it's not for lack of trying. As I said, there's a lot of effort put into it. I've read that he did a lot of research, he watched the tapes, blah blah blah. He was concerned about it. His concerns were warranted.

Ron: I think that was my problem with this entire film. Everybody felt like they were acting. They were acting, very well, but they were acting. Just as you said, I couldn't get past the fact that I was watching Sacha Baron Cohen.

Mon: And especially when he's doing the stand up. It looks like it's Sacha Baron Cohen doing the stand-up and not Abbie Hoffman. And it's just such a problem.

Ron: It would be an unpleasant shock if he were to win.

Mon: I don't want him to win.

Ron: No.

Rounding off the category is Leslie Odom Jr. in One Night in Miami. Leslie Odom Jr plays Sam Cooke. I really liked his performance. I liked everybody’s performances in this movie. Everybody should have been nominated. This movie he should have been nominated. I’m angry that it wasn't but let's talk about Leslie Odom Jr.

Mon: That voice!

Ron: I know!

Mon: How can you argue when you have a voice like that?

Ron: Oh my gosh. He has such an amazing singing voice. And he uses it so well in this film.

Mon: That scene when he sings that song. We know this song, but still.

Ron: Oh my god.

Mon: And again, credit to the way the film is directed that it hits you so hard when he sings that song.

Ron: The Sam Cooke character that we get in this film, he's kind of bombarded with negativity. He's trying to do things a certain way, his friends don't quite agree with that, and you can understand where they're coming from, but you can also understand where he's coming from. We could have had the table-thumping, the standing up and making a statement. But what you get is the finger-pointing.

Mon: [laughs] And understated finger-pointing. Nobody raises their voices. And that's what I really liked about the performances in general. And, of course, it comes down to the direction, doesn't it? We could have had somebody who, because they're so passionate about their points of view, that they could have raised their voices, they could have been punching each other, hitting each other. There are a few moments like that, but they're also being civil because they are friends. And I think when you have that underlying foundation of the characters, then it changes how you come to that performance. And it really comes across in Odom Jr.

Ron: The other aspect of this film is that these people were not only real but they were pillars of the community. They changed the way America lived and breathed. That can get to your head. The fact that none of the performances were affected by that is testament to the actors. I think any of the actors could have easily been nominated. I'm happy that Leslie Odom Jr did get nominated because his performance relies so heavily on reacting to things around him, and it could have gone terribly wrong in another actor's hands. He manages to keep it together, and it ends up being so memorable. But I still think this category belongs to Daniel Kaluuya. Let's see what happens on the day, but that's what I think.

Mon: Agreed.

Ron: So, let's move on to Supporting Role (Female). We have Maria Bakalova from the sequel for Borat. Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy. Olivia Coleman in The Father. Amanda Seyfried in Mank. And Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari. I haven't seen two of the performances in this category so that's not going to help.

Mon: There's been a lot of love for Maria Bakalova. This is a comedic performance. The Oscars aren't huge on comedy, so that would be a surprise. Now with Glenn Close in Hillbilly Elegy, I have not seen this film, I have seen stills. She uglies it up, which means she's gonna win.

Ron: Really, you think so?

Mon: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, she's a veteran actor, she's already been nominated several times, she's a favorite among the Academy-goers. So, I'm just like this category is definitely gone.

Ron: I know the Academy really loves it when ladies ugly-up.

Mon: Yeah, because they don't give actual ugly ladies any roles. [laughs]

Ron: [laughs] Oh god, why is that so true?

Mon: Listen. This category is a tough one. You know why? Because I'm not convinced by most of these.

Ron: Yeah, this is true.

Mon: Olivia Colman? I mean come on, she just won for The Favorite, right? Okay, she's hamming it up. She's acting but it's really. Here, she's not doing much.

Ron: You see, this is my problem with everything to do with The Father. I did not feel like I was watching a person; I was watching Anthony Hopkins. I did not feel like I was watching his daughter; I felt like I was watching Olivia Coleman. How does that get nominated?

Mon: I don't have an answer to that. It's unconvincing.

Ron: And the same thing with Amanda Seyfried. Mank, anyway as a film, we had a lot of issues with it. I think Amanda Seyfried tried to do what she could with the role, but the entire time I was like, I'm watching Amanda Seyfried.

Mon: And also, it’s not something new, this kind of role, this kind of character. It's not something new. I think we just want something refreshing which, for the most part, the other categories have really captured. Seyfried in Mank is just…

Ron: Seyfried in Mank.

Mon: Yeah. I mean, I guess the only performance we’re really rooting for is Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari. Because she's so fun!

Ron: She is so great. I think it helps that the role is quite different. Like, you think of grandmothers in a particular kind of way, and she totally is not.

Mon: And that's the whole point. And that's what I really like because she sort of doubles down on being this unconventional grandmom, because ‘grandmom’ is not a category of humanity. She's a person.

Ron: I love how, when her grandchildren are like, what kind of grandmum are you, you can’t bake, you don't do this, you can’t do that and she's like, why does that make me not a grandmom? She just decides that she's going to be her version of a grandmum and if that means sitting down in front of the television and watching it, that's fine! But everybody just has to deal with it. I loved it! It was just such a natural and fun performance.

So, when things kinda go bad, you're so angry at the world, you're just like, please no, no, no, don't let this happen. She's such a wonderful person! And that's why I think she deserves to win because she got all my emotions going so much. As I said earlier, I am a sucker for a grandmum character, and she's so good. She put in an amazing performance that didn’t feel like a performance. I was like, this is my grandmum.

Mon: You’re right. Absolutely. Because how the grandmum is in the second half of the film as compared to the first half of the film, they're the same person, but you would not feel the impact of the second half, if you hadn't met her and gotten to know her in the first half. And again, that's down to the fact that we had this really powerful, but very natural, performance. It feels authentic, and that's the whole point of these awards, isn't it?

Ron: Yes.

Mon: It's to give it to the best people. Yuh-Jung Youn might just be the person.

Ron: She's our pick, for sure. I feel like Maria Bakalova just might win this.

Mon: Oh wow.

Ron: I think the Academy is trying to do things differently. They want to show that they're not, you know, staid, fuddy-duddies who only give serious films all the awards. So, they might be like, it's a comedy, let's give it to her. And also, there was all that stuff about Rudy Giuliani and stuff like that, which I think might just be a reason for them handing the award over to her.

Mon: Okay, that'd be really interesting to see.

Ron: Yeah. The two acting categories for ladies is really hard this time. I think the male categories are very obvious who the winner is. The ladies, no idea.

Mon: Don't prove us wrong.

Ron: Okay, so we just want to touch on directing and film editing. There is some overlap with the Best Picture category. I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

Mon: Honestly, I am so torn between Emerald Fennell and Chloe Zhao. This is the first year the Academy has given to women nominations for the directing category. Let's just remind you guys that this is the 93rd Academy Award. I think both those films are so accomplished, so different…

Ron: So necessary. Either one of them could win.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: My concern is that because there are two ladies, they're going to be like, they're in a separate category, and the rest of the guys are in the category of their own.

Mon: And that's the default category, so we're actually going to only choose between the three of them. Yeah, I hope not. Because I feel like Chloe Zhao should get it simply because Nomadland actually deals with a topic that is very popular with American film goers, and she's given it a completely new veneer, which I like. So, maybe she is front runner for it.

Ron: I also feel like Nomadland is definitely very well accomplished. I say this because it's not a very easy film to make. They’re on the move; they’re showing these very different kinds of landscapes. We're also going into these very tight interiors. She managed to balance that out very well, while also giving the performances so much room to breathe.

For me my pick would actually be Nomadland.

Mon: Interesting.

Ron: Because Promising Young Woman, another very accomplished film. I think it has a very familiar narrative structure. There are some shots which, when I thought about later on, I was like, ‘it's interesting that she used that angle’, but Nomadland just feels very different.

Mon: The thing about Promising Young Woman, as excited as I am that it's been nominated for so many categories, especially in the directing category, it feels very commercial

Ron: Yes

Mon: And mainstream. Most of these Academy Award nominations are very artsy very indie, or at least they feel like that. So Promising Young Woman with the peppy vibe and the colors and stuff, I think might be too different for what the Academy really likes to think of as cinematic excellence.

Ron: That's a good point, and that might be a reason why it wins.

Mon: Oh, I hope so.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: You know who I’m surprised is not on here—even though we're not the biggest fans of the film—The Father, directed by Florian Zeller. I am surprised Florian isn't here, you know why? Because, as I mentioned, cinematically, it has such brilliant technique that I'm surprised the Academy didn't recognize it. I mean one of the problems that we had with it was that it's so slick, which should have shoehorned it into this category, but it didn't.

Ron: But I think that's exactly what would have happened, it would have been shoehorned into this category. Because The Father didn't do anything that we haven't already seen a billion times before. I'm sorry, that's not a unique film at all. I'm glad it didn't get nominated.

Mon: I'm surprised that Minari has been nominated. Like Lee Isaac Chung, I would not have thought that he'd be here.

Ron: Why not? Mon: Well, it’s such a personal narrative. It's just so small.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: The Academy just love something that is larger than life, even when it's something to do with farming, you know. There's no KKK running after these people, so, like, how did this film even get noticed by the Academy. I'm surprised. I'm surprised it's in any category, but the direction I'm really surprised.

Ron: I'm trying to give the Academy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they're realizing that they've been kind of in one direction this whole time. So we're getting to see people like Emerald Fennell and Chloe Zhao and Lee Isaac Chung actually get nominated for these amazing accomplishments.

Mon: And these varied films.

Ron: Exactly. I think that Minari actually works so well because the direction is really good. He keeps it small. He doesn't aim for something too huge. We just follow this family. And that's why the final product is so good.

One thing I've never understood about the Academy, ever since their changed the Best Picture nomination number to 10, I don't know why the director category hasn't followed suit. It doesn't make any sense to me. Having said that, I am so glad that it's Minari, Nomadland and Promising Young Woman that ended up in this category. They deserve it. As far as I'm concerned, this category is between these three. These are the most innovative films in this category.

Mon: Which is exactly why David Fincher for Mank will win.

Ron: Don’t say that.

Mon: I’m sorry but we know that Hollywood loves films about Hollywood; the Academy loves to recognize films about Hollywood. This is a passion project, it's about a very controversial, personal story that many Academy Award board members are going to feel like it resonates with them...

Ron: Because they were there at the same time.

Mon: You're probably not wrong. I don't actually have any hope for anybody else in this category, I'm sorry, it's true.

Ron: But even amongst David Fincher’s work, this is not a good film.

Mon: Yeah, but tell the Academy that.

Ron: It’s so… blah. The shots are so blah. Everything we see in Mank you've seen a million times before.

Mon: I agree with you. It feels like it’s trying to be of the time that it is portraying, but at the same time, it never looks like it. Just putting a black and white filter on your film, and using the same shots that Orson Welles would have used does not make your film innovative and new.

But we just have to resign ourselves to the truth. Fincher is considered an auteur. So, he's likely to win.

Ron: As far as I'm concerned, auteurs are basically people who do the same thing over and over again. And that's what Mank feels like. You know who I would have really loved to see in this category? Regina King. I was watching One Night in Miami and the entire time I was like, “why didn't this get nominated?” It's not just the shots. It's the way she portrayed the story to us. And this is her first time directing a feature film, it doesn't feel like it. Honestly, I feel like this was the year that you should have been nominating all these people. Why is David Fincher here? I just don't think even in David Fincher’s oeuvre, Mank is not his best work.

Mon: Yeah, the only thing is with One Night in Miami, it's technically very brilliant, especially for a first-time director, but it does feel like a first-time director’s work. There is a safety in how it is created.

That being said, at least it doesn't feel like a play, which is what it's based on. But compared to the others which are nominated, I can see why Regina King was overlooked. Though the film really should have made it to the Best Pictures noms, at least.

Ron: So, Another Round by Thomas Vinterberg. See, this is the thing; how has he been nominated for directing, but his movie was not deemed good enough to be nominated for Best Picture? What is the criteria? Honestly, I just don't understand what is happening!

Because when I watch this film, it's actually very uncomfortable to watch because there's so much shakey cam.

Mon: Oh!

Ron: And I was just like, I know you're trying to set the mood that there's a lot of drinking happening here, but it's just making me feel disoriented, so I'm not enjoying this experience. I don't think he was doing anything that different. In my opinion, it is between Minari, Nomadland and Promising Young Woman because those three are the ones that really stand out in this category. And as far as I'm concerned Minari and Nomadland actually do something completely different. They are the innovators. I'm hoping for Chloe Zhao to win because Nomadland really stood out to me.

Mon: Let's quickly go over editing. This is a tough category to really understand from a lay person's point of view.

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: Because when editing is done well, you will not notice it.

Ron: Which is making me question so many entries in this editing category. Because The Father has editing that is so obvious.

Mon: I agree with you on that.

Ron: I was like, oh look, here's a cut. Oh look, here's a camera change. How is this nominated for film editing? That way, again, Nomadland, edited by Chloe Zhao—who did pretty much everything in this film, oh my gosh, how did she do it—has such good editing, because you don't notice it.

Mon: Yeah, you are on this journey with this character. You feel the land that she is traversing, you get to know the characters that she is meeting.

Ron: You feel that claustrophobia in her trailer, and how it differs from everything that’s happening around her. It's just such good editing because you don't notice anything. It's just an experience.

Mon: Yeah, there's like this moment where Frances McDormand’s character is like a few yards away from her nearest neighbor, who's also in a van, and she sees her neighbor put up a flag. And we don't really understand the significance of that flag till a few scenes later when Frances McDormand needs help and she’s knocking on this person’s door, and her neighbor goes, “didn’t you see the sign?”. You you realize the flag is basically supposed to say do not disturb. And I think that's where editing and direction comes in, because anywhere else you would be told, it would be signposted that yes, this flag is going up because she does not want to be disturbed, go away now. But here it’s backwards, and it's important for us to feel that way because the character may not have known what the flag is about. And we're in her shoes. That's the whole point. And that again addresses why this film has got as many nominations as it has. And why probably it should win.

Ron: Absolutely.

We also have Promising Young Woman here. I think the editing here is pretty commercial, it's not very different. It serves the purpose of narrating the story. So, in that sense, it's pretty technically sound.

Mon: Well, I think there's one scene which has won it the film editing nomination. We can't talk about it but in the hands of any other director, especially a male director, we would have seen that scene in a completely different way.

Ron: I actually think there are two things that have made it, editing-wise, so powerful. And the reason why it's been nominated. And in that scene, I think a lot of directors would have chosen to maybe cut. But here, the director gave her actors so much leeway to play out the scene that the editing, you don't notice it.

Mon: On the basis of just that scene that you just mentioned, I feel like this film should definitely sweep this award. Honestly, the power of that scene really comes across in the use of camera cuts, or the lack thereof.

Ron: Exactly. And that is actually one of the reasons why Promising Young Woman really works, because it knows when not to cut.

Sound of Metal.

Mon: I am truly surprised that it's in the film editing category. Are you?

Ron: I'm glad that it is, I think sound editing, it did a really great job, but I think it's really easy to focus on that aspect of the film, and forget that the actual film editing also makes the story and the sound more important. I'm going to compare it to Another Round where the editing is so jarring. And so obviously edited. I'm glad it's not in this category, but Sound of Metal doesn't do that. It moves the camera away and it cuts at certain points where the audience needs that extra information. I think the way it's edited works for this film, I don't think it's the kind of style that would work for everything else, but because it fits so well with this narrative, I think that's why it's been nominated.

Mon: Yeah, because I think with the film editing, as well as the sound editing, both of them combined, it helps you walk in the shoes of this character, which as you say, is only possible when it's a very personal, individual story like it is with Sound of Metal. I'm kind of glad it's got some technical noms. If nothing else, because we know it's a real long shot for the Best Picture award winner. It could get the technical awards.

What is the Trial of the Chicago 7 doing here?

Ron: I don't know.

Mon: I spent most of that film wondering where the sightlines were.

Ron: Yes.

Mon: Right?

Ron: Yeah.

Mon: There’s this scene where somebody is walking up a flag and the character is looking to the left, but the flag is in the center, and I'm like, “where are you standing?”

Ron: The sightlines weren’t the only problem. We have a chunk of this film taking place in a courtroom, and it felt like I was watching Law and Order. So what is the innovation here? Why has it been nominated?

You know what should have been nominated in both the directing and editing categories? Birds of Prey. Okay, look, we love this movie so we are a bit biased. But Cathy Yan did an amazing job. She should definitely have been in the directing category, and the editing the scene in Gotham PD, come on.

Mon: Well, there are two major reasons why Birds of Prey didn't get any nominations, though, I really feel like it should have. First of all, it's a very comic book-y film, and also structurally, the story is very nonlinear.

Ron: Let us put it out there that Suicide Squad won an Oscar.

Mon: I am currently speechless.

Ron: So, who do you think is going to win this? Honestly, I want Chloe Zhao to get everything.

Mon: Yeah, but I think The Father is going to win.

Ron: I think that would be a mistake.

Mon: It's going to happen.

Ron: So we're going to round off with the screenplay categories. In the adapted section we have the Borat sequel—please don’t make me say the whole name—The Father, Nomadland, One Night in Miami and The The White Tiger.

Mon: We haven't seen the Borat film so we cannot attest to its merits. This is a tough category.

Ron: Ok, so we have two films that are based on plays, The Father and One Night in Miami. I think that we’re both of the same mind that One Night in Miami is definitely superior as an adaptation of a play. The Father feels like a play on film. One Night in Miami feels like a film. So, if it's between those two, it should be One Night in Miami.

Mon: You're going to root for Nomadland, aren't you?

Ron: I am but I have to say, The The White Tiger was a really good adaptation. I thought that was a solid, solid screenplay. I'm actually really annoyed that it didn't get nominated in anything else. As far as I'm concerned, it should have been up for directing, it should have been up for Best Picture, it should have been up for Best Actor. How do these things not happen? I don't understand what the Academy does, really. Like, what is everybody sitting there doing?

Mon: Dude, the fact that a film based in India with Indian actors even got nominated for anything, is like a surprise—in a good way, I guess. It's a film that looks at the poverty and the caste system in India, without actually sensationalizing it or making it completely the norm. There are different kinds of Indians that you will meet in India, as we see in this film. And I'm just surprised that the Academy noticed that.

Ron: You know what irritates me? Slumdog Millionaire won everything, when it was a bad film. And it portrayed India in a really condescending light.

Mon: And considering it was based on a book which was hard-hitting, spoke about the issues that we face in India all the time, but had this sort of fun vibe to it, and Slumdog Millionaire was just an atrocity, as far as I'm concerned.

With The White Tiger, I was very resistant to watching it.

Ron: Me too.

Mon: But yes, while it does portray the abject poverty of sections of society—and it is a little bit scary how people on both sides can treat each other—it also has this updated 21st century mentality that we haven't seen in portrayals of India in Hollywood for a while.

Ron: This was a really good film. I am really irritated that it hasn't got the recognition that it has. I mean, Ava DuVernay was a producer on this, so… But what I loved about The White Tiger was that it didn't coast on the name Ava DuVernay. Everybody else put a lot of work into it.

Mon: And it also didn’t gratuitously show us, you know, the disgusting aspects of India. It also shows you the grandeur that is Delhi and Bangalore, while telling you that yes, there are people living in villages in absolute squalor.

Ron: But what I liked is that doesn't keep throwing that squalor in your face, because people live there. For heaven's sake, you can't just keep saying, “oh my god it's so disgusting”. No, no, this is how people live.

Mon: Respect that.

Ron: Exactly. So I'm irritated, but I really hope that it wins this category.

Mon: Yeah that would be nice, right?

Ron: Yes, I am rooting for Nomadland.

Mon: Why am I not surprised?

Ron: But I would happily let Ramin Bahrani win this for The White Tiger.

So, original screenplay. We have Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and Trial of the Chicago 7. One of these things is not like the others.

Mon: [Laughs]

Ron: I'm sorry, the fact that Aaron Sorkin continues to get recognized and nominated for his writing when he is a bad writer, just drives me up the wall.

Mon: It's sometimes hard to differentiate between entertaining writing, and good writing.

Ron: But is he even entertaining?

Mon: Some people find that banter entertaining.

Is this the subject matter that deserves this kind of banter, this kind of writing? No it doesn't. It requires a deft hand, it requires a respectful hand and we have mentioned this several times and we've talked about this, which is that it does not respect the horrible situation that the people in it were facing.

Ron: It should definitely not win this category.

Mon: It will win this category.

Ron: Oh gosh, your cynicism. I believe that the Academy is going to do things differently.

Mon: I'm a pragmatist and I don't believe that.

Ron: Parasite won last year. Parasite was the best film among all the nominees. There were a lot of other films that should have been nominated, we always are going to be angry about that, but Academy actually recognized how good Parasite was, and it gave it the awards that it deserved. Maybe, maybe, this is the change that we are seeing. And Trial of the Chicago 7, even though it's been nominated to make a certain group of people happy, it won't actually win.

Mon: Well, we will find out.

I think Judas and the Black Messiah has a really good chance here. I think partly because of Daniel Kaluuya’s performance and the fact that Best Picture should kind of belong to it. It just has a really strong story.

Mon: Yeah.

Ron: I know you had issues with the second act; I didn't have that. I feel like it managed to balance these really big, larger than life characters with a story that had you guessing. It was packed full of characters, like, it's very much the opposite of Sound of Metal and Minari which has very small pockets of characters. But Judas and the Black Messiah is much more sweeping, so many people and every single person matters, every single story within the story matters. And cohesively as a whole, the film works because the writing is so strong as well.

Mon: I 100% agree with you on that. I will say that when you Algee Smith men in a role, you give me more of him on screen.

Ron: [Laughing] Ok.

So, Minari.

Mon: I want this one to win.

Ron: Me too.

Mon: Because it's a very simple story. We discussed this when we talked about the film in the Best Picture category, there is a universality to the events of this film that reflects many of our journeys. And I think that's the power of this writing; you can kind of see yourself in different ways. You can see yourself in different characters from the kid to the grandma, right?

And I feel like sometimes the Academy does like these personal stories about the American Dream, which honestly Minari is doing in spades.

Ron: I also feel like the reason why Minari you could win this category is because, you know what I was saying about Pieces of a Woman and how it adds things to make it bigger than it really is. Minari never does that, it’s contained to this one family because even little things can seem big when it's your life and it's people who you love, and that's what a great story, that's what a great writer, does. So yeah, I think it might just win this category as well.

Mon: Well, I think it's funny that you mentioned that things are huge and important when it's somebody that you love, because that ties into Promising Young Woman.

Ron: I mean that entire film is about doing something for somebody that you love, and everything that they felt is amplified because of how you feel about them. But nobody else around you can even imagine it because it doesn't bother them. That person has nothing to do with them.

And I think that's why the writing in this film is quite strong, because it's through the lens of this one character. Of course, the performance that Carey Mulligan puts in does amplify just how terrible she is feeling, just how strong this loss is for her in comparison to how everybody else is actually reacting to it.

And it’s a really strong story because that tension, it’s not just well conveyed on the screen, it had to be there on the page.

It does help that the writing and directing is done by the same person. I think this year we've seen that quite a lot, even with Chloe Zhao, she did the producing, writing, editing, and directing for her film, Nomadland which is a really really accomplished, really powerful, cohesive and memorable product.

Nomadland is not the kind of movie that you and I would watch, and maybe not even enjoy it but this one, my god. And the same thing with Promising Young Woman, she wrote it, directed it, produced it, and you can see the final product.

Mon: It's the ability to translate exactly how you feel on the page to the screen. And I think so often you see that divide because the person who directs a movie, sometimes isn't in sync with the person who wrote it, and that really undercuts important subject matters.

Ron: This is my problem with Pieces of a Woman, and that's why Vanessa Kirby's performance, it's not that good. It just doesn't work because the people around her weren't working together, though I don't know why.

Mon: I'm partial to Promising Young Woman winning as well, because it's a topical issue, and it's well written, it's entertaining in a very scary fashion.

Ron: Exactly. I mean this is a suspense thriller about a topic that a lot of people have had to deal with, but it comes across as a film that is also entertaining, so it's actually a good one for this category.

So finally Sound of Metal.

Mon: This one surprised me.

Rob: The writing for Sound of Metal feels just like a person's story like they're going day by day. That can actually be really hard to write. Again like Minari, this doesn't try too hard, it doesn't go too far, it knows what its aim is, and it stays within that scope. I think the problem with things like The Trial of the Chicago Seven is that the scope was so huge that the final product is, well, it's just not very good, and it doesn't do justice to the characters, or the narrative.

Sound of Metal is exactly the opposite. It takes this one person, his journey, and it just runs with it. And the other thing is that, a lot of films feel like, you know, we shouldn’t be linear because that's cliched or it's been done. But Sound of Metal works so well because of its linear narrative; it doesn't keep going back and forth. You are taking this journey with this person. So yeah, I think it has a pretty good chance as well.

So, I think we want four of these films to win. [laughs] And we don’t care about Aaron Sorkin. I would say the Academy is trying. We have unexpected entries this year in the major categories, which is exciting. The diversity is there. There's room for so much more. But I think one of the biggest problems that the Academy has had this year is by trying to play it safe with certain choices. My hope is that the Academy voters will see the innovation of films like Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Nomadland. Sound of Metal and really begin to usher in a whole different way of filmmaking, because we can't be something if we can't see it. We've seen it with Parasite, are we going to see it this year?

Who do you think should win these categories at the Academy Awards 2021? We'd love to hear from you.

You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email [email protected]. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai, Ron, and Mon.

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royallyprincesslilly · 4 years

Text

Title: Animal (14)

Chadwick Boseman X Original Female Character “Sianna”

Chapter Warning: Cursing, Angst, Plot, Plenty of Words, Slow Burn

Word Count: 4.9k

Note: I hope you guys enjoy this. By the way, Tumblr is on the BS and flagged every chapter because my old mood board had a portrayal of backshots. LMFAO!!!! So new mood board.

I censored my mood board, let’s see if it gets flagged. LOL

**Loosely edited/Proofread***

Thank you guys for reading!!! If you enjoyed this please LIKE, REBLOG, COMMENT. ❤️ ❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Chadwick-

“It’s not Netflix and Chill. It’s not Netflix and Chill. She is the mother of your children. Show her you’re not just another sex-craved black man. You have depth. You have substance and standards. You’re not easy.”

He sat in his car in the traffic on the freeway looking at himself as he recited his lecture. He’d said this or something similar to himself quite a few times and each time he’d ended up doing the opposite. The club, the picnic by the lake, it was endless, especially when he’d wanted more from the picnic date. His thoughts went back to the first night he ever met you and how things were so effortless. You made him laugh, made him think and lit a flame that had long been dormant, even Simone hadn’t lit that spark. When the sun rose and he saw you beside him he knew he wanted to see you again. Then Barbados happened and now thanks to Barbados the two of you were joined forever—through lives you’d created.

He’d thought a lot over the last near three weeks and had spoken to his brother Kevin about things and he was grateful he and Kevin were so close. He’d given him some great advice and important insight, insight he needed from someone who really knew him away from the grind of Hollywood. He knew what he wanted, he just had to figure out how what he wanted fit into what you wanted.

Honks brought him back to reality and the fact that traffic was finally moving. He maneuvered the rest of the drive in a little over fifteen minutes. When he pulled onto your street, he drove to the end of the cul-de-sac where your house sat. It was a quaint modernly built two-story home that seemed to suit you. He parked in the driveway behind your car and sat there for a few moments and tried to gain some perspective and control over her nervousness.

By the time he rang your bell, he’d sat in your driveway for over five minutes and he’d barely been able to calm himself down. This was out of character for him, he was normally so self-assured, so mellow. When you opened the door the scent of brown sugar, cinnamon and gardenia hit him first. Then his eyes took in how your stomach had popped out.

“Hi.”

He looked up to your face and took in your wide smile, a smile he couldn’t help but mirror.

“Hi.

“What in the world is all of that?” You nodded to his filled arms.

“Uh, some of this and that.”

“Come in. I’m not one hundred percent sure my neighbors aren’t gossips who love to spy.” He snorted and walked through the door inside. Without being told he began kicking off his shoes, then he turned to you. Your smile was wider.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

He looked down to his feet where your eyes were.

“I’m a black man and know the importance of taking shoes off when you go inside someone’s home.”

You nodded and held up your thumbs and looked to his hands.

“Want me to take anything?” He angled his side out to you, the side where he held a bouquet of flowers.

“Those.” You smiled and took the bouquet and smelled them.

“They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

“Of course.” The look you gave him was a concealed one. He bet with time and familiarity he would be able to decipher it, but right now it left him a little confused.

“Come, follow me to the kitchen.” You walked ahead and he trailed behind. His eyes roamed your figure, down the small of your back to the flare of your hips and down your legs. He was plenty acquainted with your curves without clothes, but in clothes, he liked even more.

When you got into the kitchen you placed the flowers on the counter and that was where he placed the items he carried. “Ready to tell me what all this is?”

“Well, every craving must be filled, so hot wings from this vegan southern place that is close to my house, they’re amazing. Ice-cream, a few different flavors, you looked like you could either be a vanilla, butterscotch, almond pistachio or cherry jubilee kind of woman so I brought them all. Also, no craving fulfillment is complete without those chocolate-covered strawberries. I called in a favor from someone I know over at Godiva and this is their largest order—seventy.”

Your eyes were as big as the full moon he knew was shining in the night sky.

“Oh, my goodness, Chad, you really didn’t have to do this.”

“Oh, I know, I wanted to. It can’t be easy carrying a baby, let alone two and I wanted to show you that I care.” You flared your nose and pinched your lips, smiled and in a matter of seconds. the smile faded and turned into a frown before tears rolled down your cheeks. Confusion rushed through him and he just stood there unsure what to do.

“Uh—I’m sorry, did I do something wrong? Say something—”

“No, no. I’m sorry. I just—I don’t know what this is.”

You walked away, ripped off a piece of paper towel and dabbed at your eyes and sniffled. He was afraid to move; he didn’t know if he would do something else that set you off.

“I’m sorry. Oh my god, how embarrassing. We’re going to blame it on hormones. According to my doctor, I’m filled with enough for three women.”

You took a deep breath and released it then looked at him with a smile on your face as if nothing had happened.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m sure. Thank you for all of this. It’s very—sweet of you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Oh my god, Netflix is waiting.” You made a move to take some of what he brought but he stopped you.

“Just so you know, all of these are my favorites.” You brought the pints of ice cream to the freezer and put three in but held on to the pistachio almond.

“Seems like a good place to start.”

When the two of you got comfortable in the living room you scanned the TV for a movie while he opened the container of food.

“Sci-Fi good?”

“Oh, thank god, I thought you were going to put something on like The Notebook, or even The Best Man.”

You laughed, then narrowed your eyes at him.

“Look, just because I’m pregnant does not mean I want to watch some romantic tearjerker.”

“I see and I am relieved.”

You smiled at him and he skimmed your face. In the low lite and glow from the television, you looked good, happy.

“Speaking of pregnant, you look it.”

“Are you calling me fat?”

“God no. no, no, no. not fat. Just the last time I saw you, I could barely tell. Now, you have a full-on belly.”

“First of all, calm down. Second, yeah. I’m told I should expect to get bigger, carrying twins is no joke. My doctor says I’ll probably gain seventy pounds.”

“Wow, seventy? I take it you’re not very happy with that.”

You put a spoonful of ice cream in your mouth and shrugged. “I’ve put it into perspective, even come to terms with the fact that I’ll be in maternity wear in a week or two. It even got me thinking about incorporating a maternity line.”

He chuckled. Every day you were growing even more pregnant and you were planning ways to increase your workload. Your determination and ambition were very attractive to him. He liked to know there was someone else like him, someone else just as hungry for success.

“More work, not less I see.”

“I have three and a halfish, four months to get it all out of my system.”

The opening credits began and again silence fell between the two of you. He tried to focus on the movie and not you, but your movements always caught his eye. You ate the hot wings without a thought that he was beside you. After a few wings, you took a few spoonfuls of ice cream, then repeated the action. You looked perfectly content and he was happy for it. he was happy that things weren’t awkward between you especially given the state of things and all that had transpired between you. This was a great relief and it also assured him that his recent decision had the potential to work.

The movie was not corny or low budget it was actually a well-done piece of science fiction and he enjoyed it. when the closing credits rolled you were sitting with your legs crossed in the couch, your hands nestled underneath the swell of your belly and your back leaned back which sent your breasts hoisted into the air. Unintentionally his eyes locked onto those breasts. They were bigger than he remembered, and he could see several veins protruding from underneath your mocha skin. Slowly his tongue darted across his lips wetting them, he was suddenly thirstier than ever. When he looked to your face your eyes were on him. He’d been caught. His immediate response was to apologize and avert his eyes, but he didn’t, instead, he held your gaze.

“Sianna—”

You reached out and took his hand and placed it on your stomach. As soon as he touched you he felt the flutters of kicks underneath his hand. Slowly his eyes widened as he looked at you, then they dropped to your belly.

“Oh my god. Is that?” You nodded.

“They’ve been very active today,” you said.

He got closer; he’d never felt this before. With his friend when his wife was pregnant, he’d felt her stomach once or twice, but it wasn’t like this. This was completely different. He had no relation to her child, who was now his goddaughter. Right here, he had a relation, and he felt a connection. Slowly he slid off the couch and settled in front of you and placed his other hand to join the first and he just kept them there feeling not only the kicks but the energy of the babies—his babies. They felt strong. He felt their light and it was bright. They were meant for great things.

A smile spread across his face, then he looked to you.

“How does it feel?”

“At first it was strange, now—I’m starting to like it. sometimes I’ll forget what’s going on and then out of nowhere I get a kick and I’m right back to reality.”

He smiled even more; he could picture you getting lost with work until they kicked.

“Seems like they’re showing some personality already. They want to constantly be thought of.” You smiled at him and nodded.

“They kick more when you talk. They must like your voice.”

His smile was wide, toothy and completely genuine. Your smile faltered and a look of confusion washed over you. He wanted to know all your looks, wanted to know you so well that he was never confused again about how you felt, or what you were thinking.

“I’ve been thinking a lot,” he began.

“About what?”

“About um—about this, the babies, you—us.”

He felt like he’d never spoken to a woman in his life.

“It was a lot to think over, and a lot to process and I couldn’t really—I’m sorry it took so long.”

“Eh, it’s fine. You’re right it’s a lot. You needed the right amount of time. It’s not something to just jump into without knowing just what you’re jumping into.”

He rubbed your belly again and got lost there.

“I would like to be involved. I know neither of us planned this, and we probably would have not chosen to enter this like this. I know you wanted to be more established with your career and maybe married, and I would have liked to have dated you first, showed you who I am and why we’re perfect for each other and things like that but here we are. Backward and out of order don’t mean this is something unwelcomed. I’ve always wanted kids, and I want to be there for these babies in any capacity you’ll allow. I want to be there for you.”

You bit your bottom lip and stared at him contemplatively. This look he kind of recognized, he’d seen it before, but it didn’t mean he knew what it meant.

“You’re so quiet, I’m trying so hard to read you, but I can’t and it’s driving me crazy. What do you want?”

“You.”

His eyebrows shot up again. He hadn’t expected that.

“I mean you to be involved. They are yours Chad, I didn’t make them alone and I don’t want to take you away from them. I don’t want them to not grow up having a father in their life. It hit me today that they may very well come out looking like you and it would be so meaningful for them to know they look like their father.”

He nodded and smiled small. It was a thought he just thought of. He could have a son that looked like him, or a daughter with his nose, or eyes. It gave him a lite feeling. He looked back to you and decided he wanted his daughter to look like you.

“We have to approach this right. You’re this huge star and I don’t want them to become tabloid fodder.”

“I get that Sianna, I don’t want that either. I want to protect them from that, protect you.”

The two of you stared again and spoke nonverbally. He wasn’t sure how the two of you were going to do this, but he knew he wanted a lot more than just being in the babies’ lives.

“Sianna.”

Taking a chance, he slipped the hem of your shirt above your navel and exposed your belly. He slowly caressed your skin and gawked at your beauty. It was something else to see you uncovered and nude, but to see you like this knowing you were carrying his children made him want you more than he’d ever wanted anything. He lowered his lips to your burgeoning belly and kissed your bump once, twice and a third.

He softly placed his forehead onto your belly and closed his eyes and tried to connect with the two lives inside you. Your hand touched his jaw and tipped his face to meet yours. You bit your bottom lip, uncrossed your legs and slid off the edge of the couch and down onto his lap. Your belly was pressed to him, but his eyes were glued to yours. He brought his hand to your cheek and softly grazed your skin. You closed your eyes and nuzzled your cheek in his palm.

“Chad.” It was a whisper, but it made his entire being rumble. His other hand gripped your hip and squeezed. “Sianna, I want to be involved with them, but I want to be in your life too, not just theirs. I want you to be in my life, not just as my children’s mother, but—more.”

He heard your gulp, but you didn’t move. Your eyes looked unsure but your hand on his shoulder didn’t seem unsure. It moved higher to his neck and back to his jaw where you toyed with his beard.

“What do you want? Do you want me involved, like really involved?”

“Yes, Chad.”

“Do you only want me in their lives? Do you want me in yours?”

You bit your bottom lip and he couldn’t anymore. He had to touch them. He quickly closed the gap between you and pressed his lips to yours. Neither of you moved, you just stayed there with your lips touching, it was as if you both were feeling it out. Your lips were the first to move against his and he reciprocated and softly kissed you. It began slow and exploratory but transitioned easily until the passion he’d always felt for you took over. He moaned onto your lips and you echoed the same moan as you latched your fingers behind his neck holding his head in place as you took over the kiss.

You began rocking back and forth on his lap and he couldn’t help but grab your ass and squeeze. You bit his bottom lip and pulled back and groaned. “Fuck.”

He smiled and made a move to kiss you again, but you pressed the tips of your fingers to his lips, stopping him.

“Chad wait. Mmm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t you think this is too much?”

“Too much?”

“Yeah, the babies, and whatever is happening here between us. Don’t you think we should focus on one of those and make the babies a priority?”

“Why can’t we do both?”

“What if we rock the boat and fall out again and it jeopardizes your relationship with them or our ability to effectively co-parent.”

He was hopeful before but with every word you spoke, that hope slowly faltered.

“So—so you don’t want me?”

You didn’t look like you knew what you wanted. As soon as he recognized that disappointment filled him. Maybe it was too late. Maybe he’d blown it.

“Chad—I just—I want to do the best for the babies. I don’t want to ruin things anymore.”

“What if we don’t ruin anything Sianna? What if we finally give in to everything we’ve wanted since the day we met in Jamaica?”

“It was sex--,” you began before he cut you off.

“It was never about the sex and I’m convinced you know that by now. You have to.”

He cupped your cheeks and swiped his thumb across your bottom lip.

“I do want you Chad.” He smiled and pulled you closer.

“Then let me have you, Sianna. Haven’t we wasted enough time?”

“Sometimes we have to give up what we want to do what’s right—what’s best,” you theorized.

He studied your face trying to figure out if you really meant that.

“You don’t really mean that Sianna.”

You looked down and rested your forehead against his. Your eyes closed and a few seconds later he felt the kicks of the babies against him. Neither of you moved for several long moments. When the kicks died down and all was silent and still again you sighed out.

“I do mean it. You should go.”

It was like a kick in the balls and a punch to the gut all at once. You lifted yourself off him and walked across the room leaving him to sit there for a little longer. After letting the words sink in, he stood and looked to you. Your back was turned to him as you stared out the window before you walked out of the room toward the front door. When he joined you in the foyer you had the door open. He nodded and walked out onto your front steps and stopped.

“Sianna.” He turned to face you resolved in the conviction he felt for what he was about to say.

“It doesn’t matter what happens between us. Nothing could ever come between me being there for them one hundred percent. Nothing could jeopardize my relationship with those babies, nothing.”

Once the words were out, he walked away to his car and pulled out without looking back to you standing on the porch. He was filled with so many emotions he didn’t know which to focus on. One thing was paramount, he was going to be a father.

~~~~~~~~~~

***If you want to be tagged please SEND AN ASK SO IT WILL BE EASIER FOR ME TO KEEP TRACK OF. Thank you for reading!!! ❤️❤️

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#animal fic #Chadwick Boseman #chadwick boseman fanfiction #chadwick boseman smut #chadwick boseman x reader #chadwick boseman x you #chadwick boseman x black reader #slow burn fanfic #angst fanfic #black fanfiction

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natsubeatsrock · 3 years

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10 Things I Enjoyed in 2020 that Aren’t Fairy Tail

Well... it’s almost over? With all the crazy stuff that’s happened this year, it’s hard to remember that there were some good things to come from this year. So instead of 7, here’s 10 things I enjoyed throughout this year.

#10. Sonic the Hedgehog

Not unlike many people, this would be the last film that came out this year I would see in theaters before everything shut down earlier this year. While I have gone out to watch movies throughout this year since, this happens to be the only movie I’ve been looking forward to that came out this year. Since the release of Detective Pikachu last year, the fraught history of video game movies has started to look a lot better. For all intents and purposes, I think this film is better than that one, and I’m a much bigger fan of Pokemon than Sonic. If certain spoilers are a sign of anything, a future sequel will be interesting to see and greatly anticipated.

#9. Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

One of the blessings-in-disguise of being locked down with extra money is the ability to get and enjoy things you haven’t gotten the opportunity to before. In my case, I was able to play through some of the Pokemon games I’ve been waiting to play through. My favorite of the bunch has been the second installment of the Pokemon Ranger series. The Ranger games have been greatly underrated and overlooked by fans. I was reintroduced to the original last Christmas and believe it to be a solid game, but this easily blows it out of the water. While this year also marked the sad end of the 3DS cycle, I’m glad that this game came my way.

#8. 42

With the unfortunate passing of its lead actor, Chadwick Boseman, and the racial tensions which came to a head after the death of George Floyd, it makes sense theaters would reopen with this movie. Jackie Robinson’s story is one that’s interested me as the talks of integration and racism have gone on this year. He became the first African American MLB player because of both his talent on the field and his character off it. He wasn’t just skilled in stealing bases. He didn’t allow the anger he rightly felt towards racism control him.

#7. Bakuman

The famed writer and artist duo behind Death Note teamed up to deliver another smash hit manga for Weekly Shonen Jump. This time, about... a writer and artist duo who team up to make a name for themselves by delivering a smash hit manga to Weekly Shonen Jump. As I read Bakuman, I was struck with the genius of its construction. It’s one thing to read the information about Shueisha and WSJ this series shares in a book. It’s another for that information to be shared within the confines that the series itself describes. Special shout-outs go to Ayakashi Triangle and Phantom Seer which started in WSJ this year.

#6. Power Girl: Power Trip

Oh? Were you perhaps expecting to see some other female character owned by Detective Comics Comics who graced the silver screen take this spot? Well, maybe next year, depending on how things go. I love my comic book heroes with healthy doses of snark and existential crisis. While I might have gone in expecting the former, I wasn’t expecting the latter as much. If you know about Power Girl, you may know about her famous “boob window“, which is in lieu of a real symbol. It turns out that she was originally thought to be Superman’s cousin, but has recently been proven to be otherwise. I’m not so against DC that I’m unwilling to admit when they make books that I like.

#5. Carole and Tuesday

Carole and Tuesday holds a special spot as becoming the latest 10/10 anime I’ve seen. This is easily one of the most diverse anime that I’ve ever seen. It’s not just a matter of showing people of different walks of life, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. It’s also showing artists different music styles from folk to jazz to rap to electronic to new age to operatic rap. And none of it feels forced or unnatural, though some of it might come off as offensive. If you’re on as big a planet as Mars, you’ll expect to see all kinds of people and hear all kinds of music as long as you’re willing to listen. Shinichiro Wantanabe is one of anime’s best directors and this might be his best work yet.

#4. Lupin III: The First

If you told me a few years ago that one of the best anime movies would be a fully CGI film, I would have looked at you like you were insane. Nevertheless, this movie exists. I was skeptical about the idea of a fully CGI movie for a character like this. But when I saw a clip from the movie, I could tell they knew what they were doing. This movie is by no means anywhere as good looking as Spiderverse, but it looks amazing in its own right. Content wise, this serves as a great heist film for anyone regardless of proximity to the series. Arsene Lupin III makes It makes a fine introduction to the world of one of anime’s most longstanding series, and a good launching point for his earlier antics. Props to Weathering to You for keeping this slot warm. (Ironic considering things...)

#3. John Byrne’s run on Sensational She-Hulk

So I wasn’t going to say this talking about Power Trip, but I need to say this here. American comics are at a weird spot. In attempts to reach a wider audience, they’re not doing a great job of keeping the fans they have. Or make actually new ones. The current run of Savage She-Hulk has been no exception to this. Though it wasn’t always like this and John Byrne’s runs on Sensational She-Hulk is proof positive. Byrne took Jennifer Walters with more fun than I’ve seen any author write any comic book with. This especially shows in one of the more notable abilities of She-Hulk, breaking the fourth wall. I was very worried when I heard Marvel Studios was going to do a series with Shulkie. But with this as inspiration, maybe there’s hope for this project after all. (Please be good!)

#2. Burn the Witch

Tite Kubo is back, baby! This spot doesn’t go to any of the sets of chapters to be published in Shonen Jump. Rather, his collaboration with Studio Colorido is my choice for anime of the year. Burn the Witch tells the story of a different Soul Society than Bleach fans may be familiar with. It’s almost cheating to compare this mid-length film to the other shows to come out this year, even if it was broken up into three episodes for streaming sites. However, film or otherwise, no other anime grabbed my attention as much as this did. This also marks the best anime from WSJ I’ve seen this year. Surely I’m not forgetting anything big to come out recently in saying this, especially from this year with everything that got delayed. Honorable mentions go to TONIKAWA: Under the Moon, Bofuri, BNA, Keep Your Hands off Eizouken!, and Misfit of Demon King Academy for nearly taking my spot.

#1. Skullgirls

This year has been a tough year for a lot of people, companies, and fandoms. Though, I’d be hard pressed to think of a fandom that has had a worse year than this indie fighter. One of its founders was revealed to be terrible, one of its parent companies went under, and a prime opportunity for the spotlight in EVO Online being cancelled, it wouldn’t be a mistake to say things aren’t going well. Thankfully, the fans and dev team have done everything they can to keep this game alive before and that didn’t stop this year. It feels somewhat on-brand for this series to have survived the kinds of situations that would normally kill a game off. This game would have made the top spot by virtue of being the most fun game I played this year. I’m proud to put it at this spot knowing everything that’s surrounded it this year.

For extra honorable mentions, Pokemon’s seventh generation of games, especially the Ultra versions, were fun to finally experience and they have the best stories of the 3DS era of Pokemon. Cobra Kai was a fun series and almost definitely would be here if I were more emotionally attached to the Karate Kid series. I rewatched Neon Genesis Evangelion and it’s better than I remembered originally. Finally, I’d move heaven and earth to add Oregairu or Hilda on this list, considering new seasons came out this year, but I know better.

As usual, check my list for EZ, which also has 10 things, and be glad we’re almost done with this year. See you!

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florrickandassociates · 4 years

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TGF Thoughts: 4x02-- The Gang Tries to Serve a Subpoena

Under the cut.

This isn’t the first episode of season 4, but since it’s the first episode that doesn’t take place in an AU… it’s basically the first episode.

Reddick, Boseman, and Lockhart has been rebranded as “RBL: A division of STR Laurie”. Remember when Will tried to rebrand Lockhart/Gardner as “LG”? At least RBL isn’t a well-known appliance brand. But I think this might be the same “sleek” font as the LG rebrand.

The acquisition of the firm has led to a remodel. I enjoy how every season RBL looks a little bit less like the LG set.

This remodel makes the offices look like a spaceship/villain’s lair/cyberpunk nightclub. There is a giant spiky cocoon thing (nope, I don’t have better words to describe that) coming out of the ceiling in the conference room and a new spiral staircase near the name partners’ offices. It looks ridiculous and intimidating (and it is supposed to).

There are also dogs roaming around off lash.

And neon lights and a giant fucking GARGOYLE outside of Adrian’s office. It’s so huge it looks like it was taken from the Harold Washington Library. (This may be the most authentically Chicago thing in this episode.)

Much like the last episode, the first thing we see after the teaser is Diane arriving at work and being greeted by Marissa. And, also much like the last episode, Diane is disoriented.

As it turns out, there’s been a bit of a time jump since the end of the last episode-- Diane’s been traveling/resting (doctor’s orders), so this is her first day back to work in 9 months. “What happened here?” Diane asks. Does it make sense a name partner would be so out of the loop on major renovations? Nah. We are not meant to spend much time wondering why Diane/Adrian/Liz would agree to an acquisition or how the talks played out. This is the premise for season 4 and we’re just supposed to accept it. I’m usually wary of this kind of re-premising, but this doesn’t bug me too much. We saw last season the firm had no identity (bc when the firm had an identity in season 1 it was ALL BC OF BARBARA KOLSTAD) and we saw them lose their top clients. Diane’s been on leave so she probably wasn’t that involved in conversations, Adrian probably welcomes acquisition because it’s more money, and Liz… has always only been idealistic to a point.

My point is: our heroes aren’t actually, and have never been, heroes. Sure, they’re the underdogs dealing with a big corporation… but also, they sold to the big corporation.

Marissa says the cocoon spike thing is a sunset. K.

Jay’s never been up to STR Laurie’s floor. The dogs running around, however, have been upstairs. Monday and Wednesday are pet days, but the pets always come through the RBL floor instead of the STR Laurie floor.

The name partners can bring dogs. (How many name partners are there if there are this many dogs and STR Laurie is at most 4 people and RBL is 3 and none of the RBL partners brought in dogs?)

JUSTICE FOR JUSTICE! (Poor Justice is probably not still around 11 years later but I had to say it.)

In the partners’ meeting, even the food everyone’s eating looks more upscale. Adrian officially welcomes Diane back. One of the non-name partners is not so happy to have her back. Or, rather, he’s not so happy the name partners got a ton of money in the deal and the non-name partners got screwed. Fair point.

I guess neither Lucca nor Rosalyn got the partnership.

Adrian expositions that they were acquired because they couldn’t survive after losing ChumHum, and STR Laurie is the 7th largest firm in the world. Got it.

Diane’s check from the acquisition of the firm is so huge it stuns her. You would think she would have known these details. But we’re here now and this show works better if you look at the themes instead of wanting all of the character motivations to always make sense. I’d probably be chewing this plot out if it happened on TGW-- why would x make y decision!? Why didn’t we get to see it!?-- but with TGF I have an easier time accepting radical changes in tone.

And TGF did need a change in tone. You can’t get that much mileage out of episodes about 45 (whose name might not even be mentioned this ep? I will try to look out for that as I watch) and clearly no one on the writing staff is interested in small, character driven intraoffice power struggles as the primary plots. If the writers have something to say about massive corporations, I’d rather sacrifice a few scenes of character development for a season that has a POV than sit through a season as uninspired as s7 of TGW.

(Perhaps this is why I’ve always liked TGW season 6 more than others-- it’s messy, but it’s INTERESTING. I like the Kings’ work best when it has energy and say what you will about season 6, but it’s not lacking for energy.)

There is a dog peeing on Adrian’s office door and he is NOT happy about it (no one would be, but he is ESPECIALLY fed up). One gets the sense he’s not just appalled that it’s happening but tired of the dogs altogether.

Diane is summoned to go upstairs to meet with the overlords. According to Adrian, Mr. Laurie isn’t bad, but Mr. Firth might be.

Upstairs, there is a very long, very white hallway. It looks like it’s out of a sci-fi movie.

I see TGF has finally leaned in to their tradition of casting British actors by just… having STR Laurie be a British firm.

The set decoration of Mr. Firth’s office looks like it belongs on Evil. It’s over the top, has a piece of art that looks like horns (much like the therapist monster thingy… just watch Evil okay) and light fixtures that are clearly crosses.

Mr. Firth asks Diane what she wants to do and she says she wants to get back to work. “What work?” he asks. Diane wants to get back to her clients and Mr. Firth tells a story about a poor man who wanted to give everything, even the moon, to a thief. Neither Diane nor I understand. Mr. Firth says this story is about how he’s giving Diane her “moon” by having her head up their pro-bono cases because she shines when she has a goliath to face. True, but what does this have to do with the story!? I legit thought that story was going to be about how Diane gives too much of herself and should learn to accept high pay checks while doing no work and getting out of STR Laurie’s way. Maybe I missed something?

Anyway, Diane is getting the pro bono department with 22 lawyers and 40 cases. This is to keep her happy and to make STR Laurie look good. Feels too good to be true. Diane gets investigator time and partner billable hours, and she’s told this is fine-- make the firm a good citizen no matter how much it costs. WTF is going on here? Is this a trick?

Diane walks downstairs, happy, as Lucca heads up the stairs. Maybe she’s not a partner, but she’s important enough to be summoned upstairs.

Mr. Firth explains to Lucca that he is “the sorting hat of lawyers.” Lucca explains she’s never read Harry Potter because she doesn’t “like wizard shit.” Impressively brave to say that to your new overlord, Lucca. I have missed you and your give no fucks attitude.

“Yes, fuck wizard shit,” Mr. Firth responds, somewhat stiltedly.

Mr. Firth wants Lucca to work on a divorce case for one of their top clients as the client has a personality clash with their head of family law. Their head of family law is, of course, David Lee. Welcome back, I guess. At least David Lee happening to end up at this firm that acquired RBL makes a ton more sense than all the ways they found to keep David Lee relevant to TGW in its last two seasons.

David Lee hasn’t changed a bit.

Diane’s first client is XIOMARA VILLANUEVA!!!!!!

But in this universe, she’s a restaurant owner whose restaurant is about to be torn down because of eminent domain. Diane tries one of her usual tricks- asking Xo (I’m sure she has a name on this show and once they say it again I will stop calling her Xo) to bring her food truck outside of the courthouse so everyone can smell how great her food is and be more sympathetic to her case.

“You’re not the lawyer I expected,” Xo tells Diane. Diane responds, “I’ve changed.” Diane, I am pretty sure that’s not what she meant, but ok!

Lucca and David Lee’s first meeting with Bianca Skye, the high profile client, is a bit awkward, but Bianca instantly takes a liking to Lucca. (“I didn’t know this firm had any black lawyers,” Bianca notes. “Oh, they hide us,” Lucca jokes. But it’s not really a joke when all the black lawyers are the RBL staff and they’re on a different floor…)

David Lee has Bianca tell Lucca her whole case-- which is fairly straightforward-- with way too much detail. Before Lucca asks David if he’s just trying to run up billable hours, it’s clear he’s dragging this out on purpose.

“Oh good, the Angry Black Woman has made an appearance,” awful human being David Lee says after Lucca calls him out.

David Lee plays rank on her and tells her to watch and learn. Yes, making a racist comment and then being condescending without explaining your strategy is DEFINITELY the way to get the lawyer characterized by her complete lack of interest in being a cog in a machine on your side.

Adrian, Liz, and Barry are all helping Diane do a mock trial before her first day back in court. It’s fun.

Adrian is SO over the dogs. His face when a pack of them run past is priceless.

Diane’s mock trial strategy goes well; the evidence is on her side. And Julius, as luck would have it, is the judge on this case. (Why this is in federal court I don’t know.)

Julius is very happy to be a judge.

Canning is back. Feels weird to have him here without Alicia. But, honestly, I was prepared for worse. As we’ll see as this scene progresses, Canning is the PERFECT person to have as opposing counsel. If there’s a new rule to exploit, he’d be the first to know about it. If there’s a slimy strategy to use while playing innocent, that’s his schtick. If there’s a corporation doing bad things, he’s your guy.

Canning tries to explain his condition to Julius. I guess Julius must have been in the New York office when Canning was at LG in late season 5. Diane laughs, knowing that Julius can’t be tricked by Canning.

Canning probably also knows it won’t work, because he’s already prepared to ask Julius to recuse himself. I feel like this is entirely reasonable. Diane isn’t just an acquaintance… they were partners at the same firm for over a decade.

Diane is TOTALLY the type of white lady to overdo the pronunciation of “chorizo”.

The delicious smelling food seems like it’s going to work, but we quickly learn that what used to constitute tricky is now just child’s play. The CEO of Rare Orchard, who has been subpoenaed, has decided not to show up. He doesn’t have an excuse. He isn’t delaying. He’s just not going to show up. Like, remember when we thought it was egregious that the CEO Canning was defending in 4x11 kept putting off depositions and Alicia calling the judge was an effective strategy? HA! (Anyone know if this case is based on something or if it’s the writers taking some creative liberties for the sake of plot? My fear is that aspects of it are real because I can’t see the writers being this interested in a plot point they invented.)

Canning says he thinks the CEO doesn’t recognize the legitimacy of the subpoena. Julius reminds Canning that he is a federal judge and his subpoena is legitimate. Canning is all, “yes, I know that’s your position” as though laws are opinions. AAAAAAAAA.

This show loves this kind of thing, just totally taking the basic assumptions away and letting chaos reign.

This CEO sent Julius a memo telling him to “go fuck yourself.” Eeek.

Diane doesn’t even get to do much lawyering.

Then there is a random cut (which I hate) to a scene of a massive set falling apart during a battle scene. Why the fuck is this here? And what is this from? If I ff to the credits will it tell me? Nope. Dammit. Someone help me out here.

Credits! Things are exploding again, yay! Aside from the images on the TV, these credits look really similar to S3. I think they may have increased the saturation on the color of the liquids exploding but I could be making things up.

Julius’s outrage at the situation continues after the credits.

David Lee tries to get Lucca to agree to just be comforting to the client. Lucca is like, no, because I was brought on for a reason I am going to do my job.

DLee calls this “PC shit” and says something else racist. Bianca answers the door and asks to do the depo prep on the run. What this means is that they’re all getting on her private jet and going to St. Lucia.

David Lee is TERRIFIED of the private jet. I would be too since I hate small planes (and all planes, but particularly small ones), but I am still enjoying watching him squirm. Lucca is too.

Lucca DELIGHTS in reminding David they’re in a small metal tube with nothing holding them up. It’s fantastic.

Bianca offers David Lee a CBD cocktail, because of course she does. This episode is doing a good job of reminding me of why David Lee and Canning were both once really effective characters, so if the writers can use them this way moving forward, I’ll be happy.

Bianca googled Lucca and demands to see pictures of her very cute baby. She then takes Lucca’s phone and starts up Tinder. This is a strange dynamic because it’s friendly but also sudden and also Bianca is paying Lucca for this time. But both of them could use friends, so I’m just going to be cautiously optimistic a real friendship could grow out of this.

David Lee chugging a CBD cocktail is most definitely something I needed in my life. Thank you writers!

Our characters are wealthy but everyone they deal with in this episode is ultrawealthy. Like, disgustingly wealthy. Bianca seems nice but holy shit no one needs to fly to St. Lucia for lunch.

Court stuff happens. This episode is more interesting than just “court stuff happens” but the point is pretty simple-- Julius gets increasingly outraged at the breakdown of the system he believes in, and things keep getting more and more bizarre.

Julius turns to the corrupt judge Adrian is sleeping with (I think the writers need to tell me what I am supposed to think of her because… I just don’t understand who she’s supposed to be, unless “corrupt judge who creeps me out yet for some reason Adrian is still into” is the point OR unless I am supposed to see her corruption as somehow excusable... ) for advice. She calls their job “shadow play” and says the system is all fake. That would explain why she’s open to bribery, then. She agrees to help Julius get the CEO into court, but I think she’s just helping to illustrate how futile this will be if he tries to resist again.

David Lee also doesn’t like the food on the island. It’s so funny.

Lucca’s dress is really cute.

Bianca says Lucca must think she’s crazy for flying just to get guava for lunch. Lucca says, “No, it’s just a very different lifestyle from mine.” That’s an understatement. Bianca’s life changed in the last few years, and she’s worried it’s all going to go away (so, it’s implied, she’s living it up now). It seems she has some sort of skincare/cosmetics empire.

Bianca is worried that in the next recession (oh look at that timely comment), her products will be the first thing people cut back on. Curious to know if this is happening.

Bianca’s other concern is that she has no friends now because she’s rich. Everyone wants something. “You’re so full of shit,” Lucca says, refusing to pity Bianca. This makes Bianca like her more.

Bianca talks about a service to matchmake friends. She found it weird, but she doesn’t find “this” (befriending Lucca, even though she is probably paying Lucca WAY more than the friend matchmaker fee) weird. Lucca is always entering into friendships so formally! Okay it’s just two scenes (this one and the one where she and Alicia become friends) but still.

Lucca reminds Bianca she’s also her lawyer.

Bianca asks if DLee is drawing out the case. She’s not stupid. Lucca says David isn’t drawing it out, but I think they both know the answer.

(Question based on what happens later in the ep- if David actually has reasoning, then why in the world would he not tell Bianca OR Lucca about it? And why do they need to have overly long meetings to draw things out? Can’t they just schedule them with large gaps? Idk the whole thing is weird and if David isn’t going to share his strategy that’s on him.)

The CEO finally shows up in court and Julius thinks he’s won. He hasn’t. He says he’s asserting privilege he can’t reveal because it is privileged. The CEO acts like Julius is in the wrong, which pisses Julius off. The CEO gets held in custody and Julius says that the restaurant can’t be bulldozed until the CEO complies.

Then Julius gets the mysterious MEMO 618. Dun dun dun.

I know there must be more but I feel like we know what Memo 618 is? Like, no we don’t know who sent it or exactly what it means, but we know the effect of what it does. What is the mystery? Who sent it?

At night, Julius takes the mystery memo to Judge Hazelwood. She plays dumb because-- as we find out later-- Adrian is within earshot. Adrian’s jacket is apparently very recognizable because Julius spots it. I believe it; Adrian has a distinctive style.

Adrian talks about taking their relationship public. So Judge Hazelwood bribing people didn’t end the relationship?

Adrian also asks about Memo 618. He knows she knows what it is. She distracts him by getting on top of him.

Depositions for Bianca’s divorce get contentious but she has the upperhand. Lucca suggests that Bianca settle now and get the ex out of her life-- “balance money with psychological wellness.” Sounds reasonable to me!

At work, Judge Hazelwood is more forthcoming. And Julius did recognize the jacket. Judge Hazelwood tells Julius to let the CEO out and stop asking about the memo. Julius wants to get her on tape, but instead she tells him to get in an Uber and go to an address. She also warns that the court has a program if you break your phone. Sounds like a threat…

Julius finds the Uber easily and then goes on a long journey to the countryside. The driver, it turns out, is a former federal judge who didn’t comply with a mystery memo and he warns Julius to just do what they say or he’ll end up an Uber driver barely able to support his family. (THINK OF YOUR SIX CHILDREN, JULIUS.)

Lucca wearing heels at her standing desk is… just silly, why would she do this? She wouldn’t take off one heel to stretch her foot; she would have a pair of flats to wear in her office. (This episode is written and directed by men, just fyi.) (Do women actually do this? I hate heels so I would never even consider it, but I feel like everyone hates heels??? Even the people who wear them all the time???)

David is all mad at Lucca for encouraging Bianca to settle because it has tax implications. Two things: One, if there’s this obvious reason to delay, I feel like Lucca would have figured it out. Two, LUCCA IS ON DAVID’S SIDE. And if he’s allowed to say this out loud now, he could have said it earlier. So… no pity for David Lee. This is why you cooperate with your colleagues instead of antagonizing them.

Liz-- who has been quite underused in this episode-- is also fed up with the dogs. She and Adrian storm upstairs to say, in Adrian’s words, “they can’t use this floor as a toilet for their motherfucking dogs.”

They bust through the doors to the long hallway (which in real life would DEFINITELY have a key card reader on it) and push past the receptionist.

Mr. Firth is holding a very cute dog named Avenger. Mr. Firth also refers to Liz as “Elizabeth”.

Liz asks that the dogs stop “shitting” on their floor. After all, this was supposed to be a partnership, not an acquisition (does anyone believe that? I think Liz is just using their BS corporate talk against them). Mr. Firth says he will find a way to deal with the dogs. Adrian takes the opportunity to mention that the equity partners need their money. “How do we want to satisfy this?” Mr. Firth asks. “Give them money,” Liz says. Mr. Firth agrees to meet about this next week. He also gives Liz and Adrian access to the executive elevator. He’s just trying to appease them so they’ll be more on his side.

Liz and Adrian both recognize that was too easy, but decide to take the win. I feel like this problem is going to come back…

Julius apologizes and releases the CEO. He recuses himself but says that in the meantime the restaurant will stand.

Diane knows something’s off and confronts Julius. She’s furious but Julius asks her to leave. I wonder what Diane would’ve done in Julius’s situation. It’s very easy to become complicit…

The restaurant is torn down anyway, making Diane even angrier. She tells Julius it’s on him and he reminds her that he is a judge.

And this is how systems are perpetuated.

That’s the end of the episode, save for the message about the two week break before episode 3 from the cast and crew. I appreciate that they included this, and that they included the whole crew rather than just the Kings and the cast.

I don’t even recognize most of the crew! I recognize the cast (duh), Dan Lawson (the costume designer), the makeup artist (I think I’ve seen her in various instagram posts), Brooke Kennedy, and the Kings.

Jonathan Coulton is in the video too (he’s totally a part of the TGF family at this point-- and is one of few people to be on TGW, BrainDead, TGF, AND Evil) to lead everyone in an adorable (but somewhat out of sync) singalong. Awwww.

#the good fight #tgfthoughts

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spaceorphan18 · 5 years

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SO’s Guide to the MCU

A handy guide for @coffeegleek to decide if she (or anyone else) would like join the ranks. It’s fine if you don’t want to, but that means more shawarma for us.

1. Iron Man -

Robert Downey Jr. plays himself Tony Stark, an asshole billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist, who nearly dies, and saves himself by becoming Iron Man. This film kicks off the tone of the MCU combining humor and action and just being a fun ride. Completely recommended to get a jump start into the MCU to see how it all begins.

2. The Incredible Hulk

Rightfully considered the black sheep of the Marvel family. It’s... not good. In fact, I couldn’t even find a gif for you. Eventually, they’ll switch out Edward Norton for the much more entertaining Mark Ruffalo, and pretty much nothing in this movie matters to the big scheme of things, so it’s entirely skippable. And I mean, even if you are a huge Hulk fan - I’d probably still recommend skipping it.

3. Iron Man 2

This film is considered by a lot of people to be one of the weaker ones - and while I still enjoy it a lot, it’s understandable as to why people think that. It’s funny and has charm, but it’s kind of a mess - so... if you had fun with Iron Man 1 and really want to see more Tony Stark I recommend! Otherwise, feel free to move on. Black Widow is introduced here, but her introduction in The Avengers is just fine.

4. Thor

For me, the first Thor film is a little ‘meh’, though it does have some charm. Chris Hemsworth plays a frat boy god who gets grounded to Earth after he misbehaves by his father Odin. The real gem of this film is Tom Hiddleson’s Loki and the family dynamics between Thor, Loki, and Odin. The stuff with Natalie Portman and the Earlings is fine. But I almost recommend watching Avengers first and seeing if you like that first, and if you do, come back and watch Thor if you’re interested or if you just want to see Chris Hemsworth be pretty for two hours.

5. Captain America: The First Avenger

The epic romance that is Steve and Bucky starts here. If you’re totally intrigued by tumblr’s fascination with ‘Stucky’ this is a must!! But more seriously, C:TFA is a fun film, yes set in the 40s, but I think it handles that well and Chris Evans is an absolute delight as Cap -- or Steve Rogers, a plucky kid from Brooklyn who just wants to prove what a big heart he has. It’s much more entertaining for than the Thor film (IMO), though if you’re still on the fence, again, watch Avengers first, and come back if Cap holds your attention.

6. The Avengers

If you’re really unsure about any of the first phase of films, then start off with The Avengers. This film is amazing -- it’s funny, and emotional, and is nicely paced, and you really get a nice sense of who the characters are and what they stand for. This film is just fun, with the MCU’s trademark humor and intriguing action (and I say this as a person who really isn’t into action films if you can believe it). I can’t say enough good things about this film - it’s really good, go watch it!!

7. Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 is the continuing adventures of Tony Stark. This film is batshit insane at times (but I kinda love it - though I love Iron Man, so...) It’s got some great character work for Tony Stark if you’re interested, which I think is the best thing this film has going for it. It doesn’t, however, play much of a part in the bigger scheme of things, so if Tony isn’t your person, then you can skip past it.

8. Thor: The Dark World

This film is often considered the weakest (after Incredible Hulk), but I’m not gonna lie, I find this way more enjoyable than Thor 1. It’s... not a good film, but if you’re a fan of Thor, or Loki, or just utter nonsense in a fantasy setting then check it out!

9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The Epic Romance of Steve and Bucky pt. 2: The Return of Bucky!! I’m kinda being tongue-and-cheek, this film is honestly pretty amazing. It’s a political spy-thriller where Cap has to go underground and undercover when Shield (the good guys) is infiltrated by a Nazi organization. Everything about this film is done wonderfully well, and I highly recommend this one. (Though, I’m not doing it justice - just ask @ckerouac)

10. Guardians of the Galaxy

Do you like epic space operas with a quirky sense of humor and a good soundtrack?? Well then Guardians is right up your alley. The first film Chris Pratt is Star Lord - a scavenger Han Solo type who finds himself caught up in space hijinks. There are green aliens and talking trees and raccoons and whatever Drax is. It’s fun and entertaining. I think general audiences like it more than I do - but I do agree that it’s a wonderfully done film.

11. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Well, let’s be honest - the Avengers sequel just isn’t what the first film is. It tries, and has some charming moments, but just doesn’t hold together very well, the main issue being that the villain - Ultron - just isn’t a very good villain. If you liked Avengers - give it a shot, it introduced Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver and a lot of the next batch of films, but I recommend going into it without much expectation. However, you can always come back to this one if you want to wait to see if you like some of the later films first.

12. Ant-Man

Ant-Man, played by the delightful Paul Rudd, is a low stakes fun heist film that’s kind of a mix between Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Ocean’s 11, and every other MCU film. It’s cute and lighthearted - and if you find Paul Rudd charming, I totally recommend it. If you’re still on the MCU fence, though, there are other films I’d much rather recommend first.

13. Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: The Epic Stucky Romance pt. 3 -- Steve Rogers breaks up with his current BF Tony Stark so to be with his one true love, Bucky Barnes... Meanwhile, Tony Stark finds out he’s a dad -- to a teenager.

Okay, I’m kidding. Here’s the thing...

This film is hard to discuss. Some people love it (me! - I love the characterization stuff we get in it, plus the deep nods to the comics, and the introduction of Spider-Man), others hate it (@ckerouac - this is not a Cap film, It’s Avengers 2.5. I want my Cap film!!) and, much like the film itself, there are valid reasons for everyone’s point of view. It does play a major part in the fabric of the MCU - so I do recommend seeing it at least once so to gather your own opinion. ;)

14. Doctor Strange

Benedict Cumberbatch plays a mystical Tony Stark Doctor Strange. I think it’s an interesting film - it’s kind of got an Inception/Matrix vibe about it, but I like both the character and Cumberbatch in the role. However, I don’t think it’s anywhere near the strongest of the MCU films, so if any of that doesn’t interest you, then it’s okay to skip -- Doctor Strange’s appearances in other films are better if I’m being totally honest.

15. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2

Guardians 2 is probably my second least favorite film of the bunch. I think it kind of lacks the charm of the first one and amps up the 12yo humor. But that’s just me. If you really liked Guardians 1 check it out! Otherwise, feel free to move on. However, it does gain a few points for Baby Groot.

16. Spider-Man: Homecoming

Let’s be real - This film is basically Tom Holland being a precious little muffin for two hours, and if you aren’t sold entirely on that premise, well then, I can’t help you. ;)

17. Thor: Ragnarok

Underwhelmed by the first two Thor films? Thought the Hulk movie sucked? Well - welcome to Thor Ragnarok -- the film that just does not give a shit what came before it and does whatever the hell it wants because it’s like a 70′s acid trip. And walks away being, perhaps, the best comedy in the MCU. Everything is delightful about this film -- and if you wanted more from a Thor film, more Loki, more crazy antics with Mark Ruffalo - then you’ve come to the right place. Also - bonus batshit crazy Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson as an amazing lesbian/bi (?) female warrior, and Jeff Goldblum -- Jeff Goldblum-ing.

18. Black Panther

Chadwick Boseman is Black Panther - and I’m sure you’ve heard all the stuff swirling about how amazing this film is. There are two things I personally really enjoy about the film -- the fact that it digs deeper than your average superhero film and is not afraid to tackle relevant questions we’re talking about in society right now, and the fact that the female cast in this one is fantastic and incredibly worth watching. This one’s a definite must!

19. Avengers: Infinity War

So... I’m sure you’ve probably heard all about this one by now. Here’s what I have to say about it -- I recommend seeing if after you’ve seen all the previous ones that you’ve wanted to see -- it does build on the others in a way a TV show builds to its finale. And honestly, left me emotionally satisfied (knowing it was the first half of a two parter). It’s a great film, imo, and worth it.

20. Ant-Man and the Wasp

Ant-Man and Wasp is a lot like the first film, only ramped up a little more. After the heaviness of Infinity War, it’s light and a treat. It’s not entirely (or at all) essential, but it’s a lot of fun if that’s what you’re looking for.

21. Captain Marvel

Okay, so Captain Marvel isn’t out yet - but the trailer looks delightful, I know who Cap Marvel is from the comics, and it’s time the MCU got its shit together and put a woman in the front. I say go see it! Plus, I’m sure it’ll be relevant for the next Avengers film.

22. Avengers: End Game

So, um, also not out yet - but if you’ve liked everything up until now, I’m sure you’ll not only go see - but cry buckets full <3

23. Spider-Man Far From Home

Let’s be real - we’re all gonna need another two hours of Tom Holland being a precious little muffin after whatever Endgame throws at us. ;)

///

And that’s it! That’s the MCU in a nutshell (so far). Marvel has, like, it’s next ten years planned out, so definitely not the end. But - hey - if anything interests you - I really do recommend checking that out first and coming back to fill in things if you want to know more. :)

Guide to Non-MCU Marvel Films Part 1 Guide to Non-MCU Marvel Films Part 2

#mcu #marvel #iron man #thor #captain america #spider-man #ant-man #black panther #doctor strange #that's how s.o. sees it

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grigori77 · 5 years

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2018 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 3)

10. BLACK PANTHER – remember back in 1998, when Marvel had their first real cinematic success with Blade? It was a big deal on two fronts, not just because they’d finally made a (sort of) superhero movie to be proud of, but also because it was, technically, the first ever truly successful superhero movie starring a black protagonist (the less said about the atrocious Steel movie the better, I say). I find it telling that it took them almost twenty years to repeat the exercise – there have been plenty of great black superheroes on-screen since Wesley Snipes rocked the fangs and black leather, especially in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they’ve always been in supporting roles to the main (so far universally WHITE) stars (the now-cancelled Luke Cage was a notable exception, but that’s on-demand TV on Netflix). All of this makes the latest feature to glide smoothly out of the MCU mould so significant – the standalone star vehicle for Civil War’s OTHER major new success story (after 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming), Prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) of Wakanda, finally redresses the balance … and then some. Picking up pretty much RIGHT where the third Captain America film left off, we see T’Challa return to the secretive, highly-advanced African kingdom of Wakanda to officially take up his new role as king and fully accept the mantle of protector of his people that his role as the Black Panther entails. Needless to say, just as he’s finally brought peace and unity to his homeland, an old threat reappears in the form of thuggish arms dealer and fugitive-from-Wakandan-justice Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis, gleefully returning to his blissful scenery-chewing Avengers: Age of Ultron role), leading T’Challa to travel to Busan, South Korea to bring him back for judgement, but this is merely a precursor to the arrival of the TRUE threat, Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan), a mysterious former Special Forces assassin with a deeply personal agenda that threatens Wakanda’s future. This marks the first major blockbuster feature for writer/director Ryan Coogler (co-penning the script with The People V. O.J. Simpson writer Joe Robert Cole), who won massive acclaim for his feature debut Fruitvale Station, but also has good form after sneaky little sleeper hit Rocky-saga spinoff Creed, so this progression ultimately just proves to be another one of those characteristic smart moves Marvel keeps making these days. Coogler’s command of the big budget, heavy-expectation material is certainly impressive, displaying impressive talent for spectacular action sequences (the Busan car chase is MAGNIFICENT, while the punishing fight sequences are as impressively staged and executed as anything we saw in the Captain America movies), wrangling the demanding visual effects work and getting the very best out of a top-notch ensemble cast of some of the finest black acting talent around. Boseman brings more of that peerless class and charisma he showed in Civil War, but adds a humanising dose of self-doubt and vulnerability to the mix, making it even easier for us to invest in him, while Coogler’s regular collaborator, Jordan, is absolutely spell-binding, his ferociously focused, far-beyond-driven Killmonger proving to be one of the MCU’s most impressive villains to date, as well as its most sympathetic; Oscar darling Lupita Nyong’o is far more than a simple love interest as tough and resourceful Wakandan intelligence agent Nakia, The Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira is a veritable force of nature as Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje, Wakanda’s elite all-female Special Forces, Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya muddies the waters as T’Challa’s straight-talking best friend W’Kabi, and powerhouse veteran actors Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and John Kani provide integrity and gravitas as, respectively, T’Challa’s mother Ramonda, Wakandan religious leader Zuri and T’Challa’s late father T’Chaka. Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis have joked that they’re essentially the “Tolkien white guys” of the cast, but their presence is far from cosmetic – Freeman’s return as Civil War’s bureaucratic CIA agent Everett Ross is integral to the plot and also helps provide the audience with an accessible outsider’s POV into the unique and stunning land of Wakanda, while Serkis is clearly having the time of his life … and then there are the film’s TRUE scene-stealers – Letitia Wright is a brilliant bright ray of sunlight as T’Challa’s little sister Shuri, the curator of Wakanda’s massively advanced technology and OFFICIALLY the most intelligent person in the MCU, whose towering intellect is tempered by her cheeky sense of humour and sheer adorability, while Winston Duke is a towering presence throughout the film as M’Baku, the mighty chief of the reclusive Jabari mountain tribe, despite his relatively brief screen time, his larger-than-life performance making every appearance a joy. This has been lauded as a true landmark film for its positive depiction of African culture and presentation of a whole raft of strong black role models, and it certainly feels like a major step forward both culturally and creatively – it’s so rewarding to see a positively-charged black intellectual property enjoying the almost ridiculous amount of success this film has so far enjoyed, both critically and financially, and it’s something I hope we see far more of in the future. Like its predecessors, this is a fantastic superhero movie, but under the surface there are some very serious, challenging questions being asked and inherently powerful themes being addressed, making for a deeper, more intellectual film than we usually receive even from a big studio that’s grown so sophisticated as Marvel. That said, this IS another major hit for the MCU, and a further example of how consistently reliable they’ve become at delivering great cinema. Very nearly the best of the Phase 3 standalone films (that honour still belongs to Captain America: Civil War), and it was certainly a spectacular kickoff for the year’s blockbusters.

9. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – I’ve been waiting for this movie for YEARS. Even before I knew this was actually going to happen I’d been hoping it would someday – Queen were my introduction to rock music, way back when I was wee, so they’ve been one of my very favourite bands FOREVER, and Freddie Mercury is one of my idols, the definition of sheer awesomeness and pure talent in music and an inspiration in life. Needless to say I was RIDICULOUSLY excited once this finally lurched into view, and I’m so unbelievably happy it turned out to be a proper corker of a film, I could even tentatively consider it to be my new favourite musical biopic. Sure, it plays fast-and-loose with the historical facts, but remains true to the SPIRIT of the story, and you know what they say about biographical movies and their ilk: “if it’s a choice between the truth and the legend, print the legend.” That’s a pretty good word to describe the man at the centre of this story – Queen frontman Freddie Mercury truly was a legend in his own lifetime, and watching the tale of his rise to fame alongside fellow musical geniuses Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon is a fascinating, intoxicating and deeply affecting experience, truthful or not, making the film an emotional rollercoaster from the humble beginnings with the formation of the band, through the trials and tribulations of life on the road and in the studio, the controversies of Mercury’s personal life and the volatile personal dynamics between the group themselves, to the astonishing, show-stopping climax of their near-mythic twenty-minute performance slot at 1985’s Live Aid charity concert at Wembley Stadium. Needless to say it takes a truly astounding performance to capture the man that I consider to be the greatest singer, showman and stage-performer of all time, but Mr Robot star Rami Malek was equal to the task, not so much embodying the role as genuinely channelling Mercury’s spirit, perfectly recreating his every movement, quirk and mannerism to perfection, right down to his famously precise, deliberate diction, and he even LOOKS a hell of a lot like Mercury. Sure, he’s come under fire for merely lip-syncing when it comes to the music, but seriously, there’s no other way he could have done it – Freddie had the greatest singing voice of all time, there’s NO WAY anyone could possibly recreate it, so better he didn’t even try. (Honestly, if he doesn’t get an Oscar for this there’s no justice in the world.) Malek’s not the only master-mimic in the cast, either – the rest of the band are perfectly portrayed, too, by Gwilym Lee as May, X-Men: Apocalypse’s Ben Hardy as Taylor and Joe Mazzello (yup, that kid from Jurassic Park, now all grown up) as Deacon, while there are equally strong supporting turns from Sing Street’s Lucy Boynton as Mercury’s lover and lifelong friend Mary Austin, Aiden Gillen as the band’s first manager John Reid, Tom Hollander as their lawyer and eventual manager Jim “Miami” Beach, Allen Leech as the Freddie’s scheming, toxic personal manager Paul Prenter, and New Street Law star Ace Bhatti as his stoic but proud father, Bomi Bulsara. This is an enthralling film from start to finish, and while those new to Queen will find plenty fo enjoy and entertain, this is an absolute JOY for fans and geeks who actually know their stuff, factual niggles notwithstanding; it’s also frequently laugh-out-loud HILARIOUS, the sparky, quick-fire script from The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour writer Anthony McCarten brimming with slick one-liners, splendid put-downs and precision-crafted character observation which perfectly captures the real life banter the band were famous for. The film had a troubled production (original director Bryan Singer was replaced late in the shoot by Dexter Fletcher after clashes of personality and other difficulties) and has come in for plenty of stick, receiving mixed reviews from some quarters, but for me this is pretty close to a perfect film, chock-full of heart, emotional heft, laughter, fun and what was, for me, the best soundtrack of 2018, positively overflowing with some of the band’s very best material, making this one of the very best times I had at the cinema all year. They were, indeed, the champions …

8. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT – while Bond may remain king of the spy movie, and Jason Bourne still casts a long shadow from the darker post 9-11 age of harder, grittier espionage shenanigans, I’ve always been a BIG fan of the Mission: Impossible movies. This love became strong indeed when JJ Abrams established a kind of unifying blueprint with the third film, and the series has gone from strength to strength since, reaching new, thrilling heights when Jack Reacher writer-director Christopher McQuarrie crafted the pretty much PERFECT Rogue Nation. He’s the first filmmaker to return for a second gig in the big chair, but he’s a good fit – he and star Tom Cruise have already proven they work EXTREMELY well together, and McQuarrie really is one of the very best screenwriters working in Hollywood today (well respected across the board since his early days co-writing The Usual Suspects), an undeniable MASTER at both crafting consistently surprising, thoroughly involving and razor-sharp thriller plots and engineering truly JAW-DROPPING action sequences (adrenaline-fuelled chases, bruising fight scenes, intense shootouts and a breathless dash across the rooftops of London all culminate in this film’s standout sequence, a death-defying helicopter dogfight that took the prize as the year’s BEST action beat), as well as penning some wonderful, wry dialogue. Anything beyond the very simplest synopsis would drop some criminal spoilers – I’ll simply say that Ethan Hunt is faced with his deadliest mission to date after a botched op leaves three plutonium cores in the hands of some very bad people, leading CIA honcho Erica Sloane (a typically sophisticated turn from Angela Bassett) to attach her pet assassin, August Walker (current big-screen Superman Henry Cavill), to the team to make sure it all runs smoothly – a prospect made trickier by the resurfacing of Rogue Nation’s cracking villain Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). Tom Cruise is, of course an old hand at this sort of thing by now, but even so I don’t think he’s EVER been more impressive at the physical stuff, and he delivers equally well in the more dramatic moments, taking superspy Ethan Hunt to darker, more desperate extremes than ever before. Cavill similarly impresses in what’s easily his meatiest role to date, initially coming across as a rough, brutal thug but revealing deeper layers of complexity and sophistication as the film progresses, while Rebecca Ferguson makes a welcome return from RN as slippery, sexy and very complex former MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, and it’s great to see Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg back as series keystones Luther Stickell and Benji Dunn, who both get stuck into the action far more than in previous outings (Benji FINALLY gets to wear a mask!); Jeremy Renner’s absence this time could disappoint, but the balance is maintained because the effortlessly suave Alec Baldwin’s new IMF Secretary Alan Hunley gets a far more substantial role this time round, while Sean Harris tears things up with brutal relish as he expands on one of the series’ strongest villains – Lane is a thoroughly nasty piece of work, a monstrous zealot with a deeply twisted but strangely relatable agenda, and method man Harris mesmerises in every scene. McQuarrie has cut another gem here, definitely his best film to date and likewise the best in the franchise so far, and strong arguments could be made for him staying on for a third stint – this is the best shape Mission: Impossible has been in for some time, an essentially PERFECT textbook example of an action-packed spy thriller that constantly surprises and never disappoints, from the atmospheric opening to the unbearably tense climax, and if ever there was a film to threaten the supremacy of Bond, it’s this one.

7. THE SHAPE OF WATER – one of the most important things you have to remember about my own personal mythology (by which I mean the mishmash of 40 years of influences, genre-love and pure and simple COOL SHIT that’s informed and moulded the geek I am today) is that when it comes to my fictional heroes, I have a tendency to fall in love with the monsters. It’s a philosophy shared by one of my very favourite directors, Guillermo Del Toro, whose own love affair with the weird, the freakish and the outcast has informed so much of his spectacular work, particularly the Hellboy movies – the monster as a tragic hero, and also the women who love them despite their appearance or origins. Del Toro’s latest feature returns to this fascinating and compelling trope in magnificent style, and the end result is his best work since what remains his VERY BEST film, 2007’s exquisite grown-up fairytale Pan’s Labyrinth. Comparisons with that masterpiece are not only welcome but also fitting – TSOW is definitely cut from the same cloth, a frequently dream-like cinematic allegory that takes place in something resembling the real world, but is never quite part of it. It’s a beautiful, lyrical, sensual and deeply seductive film, but there’s brooding darkness and bitter tragedy that counters the sweet, Del Toro’s rich and exotic script – co-authored with Hope Springs writer Vanessa Taylor – mining precious ore from the fairytale ideas but also deeply invested with his own overwhelming love for the Golden Age of cinema itself. This makes for what must be his most deeply personal film to date, so it’s fitting that it finally won him his first, LONG OVERDUE Best Director Oscar. Happy Go-Lucky’s Sally Hawkins thoroughly deserves her Oscar nomination for her turn as Elisa Esposito, a mute cleaning woman working in a top secret aerospace laboratory in Baltimore at the height of the Cold War, a sweet-natured dreamer who likes movies, music and her closeted artist neighbour Giles (the incomparable Richard Jenkins, delivering a performance of real sweetness and integrity). One night she discovers a new project in the facility, a strange, almost mythic amphibious humanoid (Del Toro regular Doug Jones) who has been captured for study and eventual vivisection to help create a means for men to survive in space. In spite of his monstrous appearance and seemingly feral nature, Elisa feels a kinship to the creature, and as she begins to earn his trust she develops stronger feeling for him – feelings which are reciprocated. So she hatches a plan to break him out and return him to the sea, enlisting the help of Giles, her only other real friend, fellow cleaner Zelda (The Help and Hidden Figures’ Octavia Spencer, as lovably prickly and sassy as ever), and sympathetic scientist (and secret Soviet agent) Dr. Robert Hoffstetler (a typically excellent and deeply complex performance from Boardwalk Empire’s Michael Stuhlbarg) to effect a desperate escape. The biggest obstacle in their path, however, is Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), the man in charge of security on the project – the rest of the cast are uniformly excellent, but the true, unstoppable scene-stealer here is Shannon, giving us 2018’s BEST screen villain in a man so amorally repellent, brutally focused and downright TERRIFYING it’s absolutely impossible to take your eyes off him – who has a personal hatred for the creature and would love nothing more than to kill it himself. He’s the TRUE monster of the film, Jones’ creature proving to be a noble being who, despite his (admittedly rather bloody) animal instincts, has a kind and gentle soul that mirrors Elisa’s own, which makes the seemingly bizarre love story that unfolds so easy to accept and fulfilling to witness. This is a film of aching beauty and immense emotional power, the bittersweet and ultimately tragic romance sweeping you up in its warm embrace, resulting in the year’s most powerful and compelling fantasy, very nearly the finest work of a writer/director at the height of his considerable powers, and EASILY justifying its much-deserved Best Picture Oscar. Love the monster? Yes indeed …

6. DEADPOOL 2 – just as his first standalone finally banished the memory of his shameful treatment in the first X-Men Origins film, Marvel’s Merc With a Mouth had a new frustration to contend with – Wolverine riding his coattails into the R-rated superhero scene and outdoing his newfound success with the critically acclaimed and, frankly, f��$%ing AWESOME Logan. It’s a fresh balance for him to redress, and bless him, he’s done it within the first five minutes of his own very first sequel … then again, Deadpool’s always at his best when dealing with adversity. There’s plenty of that here – 2016’s original was a spectacular film, a true game-changer for both Marvel and the genre itself, unleashing a genuinely bankable non-PC superhero on the unsuspecting masses (and, of course, all us proper loyal fans) and earning one of their biggest hits in the process. A sequel was inevitable, but the first film was a VERY tough act to follow – thankfully everyone involved proved equal to the task, not least the star, Ryan Reynolds, who was BORN to play former special forces operative-turned invulnerable but hideously scarred mutant antihero Wade Wilson, returning with even greater enthusiasm for the material and sheer determination to do things JUST RIGHT. Working with returning co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, he’s suitably upped the ante while staying true to the source and doing right by the fans – the script’s another blinder, a side-splitting rib-tickler liberally peppered with copious swearing, rampant sexual and toilet humour, genuinely inspired bizarreness (a grown man with baby balls!) and an unapologetically irreverent tone nonetheless complimented by a f£$%load of heart. Original director Tim Miller jumped ship early in development, but the perfect replacement was found in the form of David Leitch, co-director of the first John Wick movie, who preceded this with a truly magnificent solo debut on summer 2017’s standout actioner Atomic Blonde. Leitch is a perfect fit, a former stuntman with innate flair for top-notch action who also has plenty of stylistic flair and strong talents for engaging storytelling and handling a cast of strong personalities. Reynolds is certainly one of those, again letting rip with gleeful comic abandon as Deadpool fights to overcome personal tragedy by trying to become a bona fide X-Man, at which he of course fails SPECTACULARLY, winding up in a special prison for super-powered individuals and becoming the unlikely and definitely unwilling protector of teenage mutant Russell Collins, aka Firefist (Hunt for the Wilderpeople’s Julian Dennison), who’s been targeted for assassination by time-travelling future warrior Cable (Josh Brolin) because he’s destined to become a monstrous supervillain when he grows up. Deciding to listen to his “better” angel, Wade puts together his own superhero team in order to defeat Cable and start his own future franchise … yup, this is as much a platform to set up X-Force, the Marvel X-Verse’s next big money-maker, as it is a Deadpool sequel, but the film plays along to full comic effect, and the results are funny, explosive, blood-soaked and a magnificently anarchic joy. Brolin is every inch the Cable we deserve, a world-weary, battered and utterly single-minded force of nature, entirely lacking a sense of humour but still managing to drive some of the film’s most side-splitting moments, while Atlanta star Zazie Beets, originally something of an outsider choice, proves similarly perfect for the role of fan favourite Domino, a wise-cracking mutant arse-kicker whose ability to manipulate luck in order to get the better of any situation makes her a kind of super-ninja; Dennison, meanwhile, is just as impressive as he was in HFTWP, turning in a performance of such irreverent charm he frequently steals the film, and the return of Stefan Kapicic and Briana Hildebrand as stoic metal-man Colossus and the world’s moodiest teen superhero, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, mean that the original X-Men get another loving (if also slightly middle-fingery) nod too. But once again, this really is Reynolds’ movie, and he’s clearly having just as much fun as before, helping to make this the same kind of gut-busting riot the first was with his trademark twinkle, self-deprecating charm and shit-eating grin. He’s the heart and soul of another great big fist up the backside of superhero cinema, blasting tropes with scattergun abandon but hitting every target lined up against him, and like everything else he helps make this some of the most fun I had at the pictures all year. I honestly couldn’t think of ANYTHING that could make me piss myself laughing more than this … the future of the franchise may be up in the air until the first X-Force movie gets its time in the spotlight, but Reynolds, Leitch, Reese and Wernick are all game to return, so there’s plenty of life in the un-killable old lady yet ...

5. BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE – my Number One thriller of 2018 is a cult classic in the making and the best work yet from Drew Goddard, co-writer/director (with Joss Whedon) of Cabin in the Woods (one of the best horror movies ever made, in my opinion) and screenwriter of Cloverfield and The Martian. It’s an intoxicating, engrossing and somewhat unsettling experience (but in a very good way indeed), a gripping, slippery and absolutely FIENDISH suspense thriller to rival the heady best of Hitchcock or Kubrick, and, as his first completely original, personal creation, Goddard’s best opportunity to show us JUST what he’s truly capable of. Wrapped up in multi-layered mystery and deftly paying with timelines and perspective, it artfully unveils the stories of four disparate strangers who book a night’s stay at the El Royale, a “bi-state” hotel (located on the California/Nevada border) that was once grand but, by the film’s setting of 1969, has fallen on hard times. Each has a secret, some of which are genuinely deadly, and before the night’s through they’ll all come to light as a fateful chain of events brings them all crashing together. Giving away any more is to invite criminal spoilers – suffice to say that it’s an unforgettable film, fully-laden with ingenious twists and consistently wrong-footing the viewer right up to the stirring, thought-provoking ending. The small but potent ensemble cast are, to a man, absolutely perfect – Jeff Bridges delivers one of the best performances of his already illustrious career as seemingly harmless Catholic priest Father Daniel Flynn, Widows’ Cynthia Erivo makes a truly stunning impression as down-on-her-luck soul singer Darlene Sweet, John Hamm is garrulously sleazy as shifty travelling salesman Seymour Sullivan, Dakota Johnson is surly but also VERY sexy (certainly MUCH MORE than she EVER was in the 50 Shades movies) as “dirty hippy” Emily, Lewis Pullman (set to explode as the co-star of the incoming Top Gun sequel) is fantastically twitchy as the hotel’s troubled concierge Miles, and Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising) delivers a creepy, haunting turn as Emily’s fundamentally broken runaway sister Rose. The film is thoroughly and entirely stolen, however, by the arrival in the second half of Goddard’s Cabin leading man Chris Hemsworth as earthy, charismatic and darkly, dangerously seductive Charles Manson-esque cult leader Billy Lee, Thor himself thoroughly mesmerising as he swaggers into the heart of the story (particularly in a masterful moment where he cavorts, snake-hipped, to the strains of Deep Purple’s Rush in the lead-up to a brutal execution). This is thriller-cinema at its most inspired and insidious, a flawless genre gem that’s sure to be held in high regard by connoisseurs for years to come, and an ELECTRIFYING statement of intent by one of the best creative minds working in Hollywood today. One of 2018’s biggest and best surprises, it’s a bona fide MUST-SEE …

4. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR – is it possible there might be TOO MUCH coming out all at once in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now? What with THREE movies a year now becoming the norm, not to mention the ongoing saga of Agents of SHIELD and various other affiliated TV shows (it seems that Netflix are culling their Marvel shows but there’s still the likes of Runaways and the incoming Cloak & Dagger on other services, along with fresh, in-development stuff), could we be reaching saturation? My head says … mmmmm … maybe … but my heart says HELL NO! Not when those guys at Marvel have gotten so good at this job they could PROBABLY do it with their eyes closed. That said, there were times in the run-up to this particular release that I couldn’t help wondering if, just maybe, they might have bitten off more than they could chew … thankfully, fraternal directing double act Antony and Joe Russo, putting in their THIRD MCU-helming gig after their enormous success on the second and third Captain America films, have pulled off one hell of a cinematic hat trick, presenting us with a third Avengers film that’s MORE than the equal of Joss Whedon’s offerings. It’s also a painfully tricky film to properly review – the potential for spoilers is SO heavy I can’t say much of ANYTHING about the plot without giving away some MAJOR twists and turns (even if there’s surely hardly ANYONE who hasn’t already seen the film by now) – but I’ll try my best. This is the film every die-hard fan has been waiting for, because the MCU’s Biggest Bad EVER, Thanos the Mad Titan (Josh Brolin), has finally come looking for those pesky Infinity Stones so he can Balance The Universe by killing half of its population and enslaving the rest, and the only ones standing in his way are the Avengers (both old and new) and the Guardians of the Galaxy, finally brought together after a decade and 18 movies. Needless to say this is another precision-engineered product refined to near perfection, delivering on all the expected fronts – breathtaking visuals and environments, thrilling action, the now pre-requisite snarky, sassy sense of humour and TONS OF FEELS – but given the truly galactic scale of the adventure on offer this time the stakes have been raised to truly EPIC heights, so the rewards are as great as the potential pitfalls. It’s not perfect – given the sheer size of the cast and the fact that there are THREE main storylines going on at once, it was INEVITABLE that some of our favourite characters would be handed frustratingly short shrift (or, in two notable cases, simply written out of the film altogether), while there are times when the mechanics of fate do seem to be getting stretched a little TOO far for credibility – but the niggles are largely overshadowed by the rich rewards of yet another MCU film done very well indeed. The cast (even those who drew the short straw on screen time) are all, as we’ve come to expect, excellent, the veterans – particularly Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/the Hulk), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Racoon), and, of course, Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) – all falling back into their well-established roles and universally winning our hearts all over again, while two characters in particular, who have always been reduced to supporting duties until now, finally get to REALLY shine – Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen, as the Vision and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, finally get to explore that comic-canon romance that was so prevalently teased in Civil War, with events lending their mutual character arcs particularly tragic resonance as the story progresses … and then there’s the new characters, interestingly this time ALL bad guys. The Children of Thanos (Gamora and Nebula’s adopted siblings, basically) are showcased throughout the action, although only two really make an impression here – Tom Vaughan-Lawlor is magnificently creepy as Ebony Maw, while Carrie Coon (and stuntwoman Monique Ganderton) is darkly sensual as Proxima Midnight … but of course the REAL new star here is Brolin, thoroughly inhabiting his motion capture role so Thanos GENUINELY lives up to his title as the greatest villain of the MCU, an unstoppable megalomaniac who’s nonetheless doing these monstrous things for what he perceives to be genuinely right and moral reasons, although he’s not above taking some deeply perverse pleasure from his most despicable actions. Finishing up with a painfully powerful climax that’s as shocking as it is audacious, this sets things up for an even more epic conclusion in 2019’s closer, and has already left even the most jaded viewers shell-shocked and baying for more, while the post-credits sting in particular had me drooling in anticipation for the long-awaited arrival of my own favourite Avenger, but in the meantime this is an immensely rewarding, massively entertaining and thoroughly exhausting cinematic adventure. Summer can’t come fast enough …

3. UPGRADE – in a summer packed with sequels (many of them pretty damn awesome even so), it was a great pleasure my VERY FAVOURITE movie was something wholly original, an unaffiliated standalone that had nothing to follow or measure up to. But Blumhouse’s best film of 2018 still had a lot riding on it – they’re a studio best known for creating bare-bones but effectively primal horror (even The Purge series is really more survival horror than dystopian thriller), so they’re not really known for branching out into science-fiction. Going with one of their most trusted creative talents, then, was the kind of savvy move we’d expect from Jason Blum and co – Leigh Whannell is best known as the writer of the first three Saw movies (a fully-developed trilogy which I, along with several others, consider to be the series’ TRUE canon), the film phenomenon that truly kicked off the whole “torture porn” sub-genre, but he’s become one of Blumhouse’s most well-regarded writers thanks to his creation of Insidious, still one of their biggest earners. Once again he wrote (and co-starred in) the first three films, even making his directorial debut on the third – admittedly that film wasn’t particularly spectacular, but there was nonetheless something about it, a real X-factor that definitely showed Whannell could do more than just write (and, act, of course). Second time out he’s definitely made good on that potential promise – this is a proper f£$%ing masterpiece, not just the best thing I saw all summer but one of THE TOP movies of my cinematic year. It’s also an interesting throwback to a once popular sci-fi trope that’s been overdue for a makeover – body horror, originally made popular by the cult-friendly likes of David Cronenberg and Paul Verhoeven, and the biggest influence on this film must to be the original Robocop. Prometheus’ Logan Marshall-Green is an actor I’ve long considered to be criminally overlooked and underused, so I’m thrilled he finally found a role worthy of his underappreciated talents - Grey Trace, an unapologetically analogue blue-collar Joe living in an increasingly digital near future, a mechanic making his living restoring vintage muscle cars who doesn’t trust automated technology to run ANYTHING, so his life takes a particularly ironic turn when a tragic chain of events leads to his wife’s brutal murder while he’s left paralysed from the neck down. Faced with a future dependent on computerised care-robots, he jumps at the chance offered by technological pioneer Eron Keen (Need For Speed’s Harrison Gilbertson), creator of a revolutionary biochip called STEM that, once implanted into his central nervous system, can help him regain COMPLETE control of his body, but in true body horror style things quickly take a dark and decidedly twisted turn. STEM has a mind of its own (and a voice that only Trace can hear), and an agenda, convincing him to use newfound superhuman abilities to hunt down his wife’s killers and exact terrible, brutal vengeance upon them. There are really strong performances from the supporting cast – Gilbertson is great as a twitchy, socially awkward genius only capable of finding real connection with his technology, Get Out’s Bettie Gabriel is subtly brilliant as Detective Cortez, the cop doggedly pursuing Trace’s case and, eventually, him too, and there’s a cracking villainous turn from relative unknown Benedict Hardie as sadistic but charismatic cybernetically-enhanced contract killer Fisk – but this is very much Marhall-Green’s film; he’s an absolute revelation here, his effortlessly sympathetic hangdog demeanour dominating a fantastically nuanced and impressively physical performance that displays truly exceptional dramatic AND comedic talent. Indeed, while it’s a VERY dark film, there’s a big streak of jet black humour shot right through it, Whannell amusing us in particularly uncomfortable ways whenever STEM takes control and wreaks appropriately inhuman havoc (it helps no end that voice-actor Simon Malden has basically turned STEM into a kind of sociopathic version of Big Hero 6’s Baymax, which is as hilariously twisted as it sounds), and he delivers in spades on the action front too, crafting the year’s most wince-inducing, downright SAVAGE fight sequences and a very exciting car chase. Altogether this is a simply astonishing achievement – at times weirdly beautiful in a scuzzy, decrepit kind of way, it’s visually arresting and fiendishly intelligent, but also, much as we’d expect from the creator of Saw and Hollywood’s PREMIER horror studio, dark, edgy and, at times, weirdly disturbing – in other words, it’s CLASSIC body horror. Whannell is a talent I’ve been watching for a while now, and it’s SO GOOD to finally see him deliver on all that wonderful promise. Needless to say it was another runaway hit for Blumhouse, so there are already plans for a sequel, but for now I’m just happy to revel in the wonderful originality of what was the very peak of my cinematic summer …

2. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE – oh man, if ever there was a contender that could have ousted this year’s Number One, it’s this, it was SUCH a close-run thing. Sure, with THREE major incarnations of Marvel’s most iconic superhero already hitting the big screen since the Millennium, we could AGAIN ask if we really need another Spider-Man “reboot”, but I must say his first ever blockbuster animated appearance leaves virtually all other versions in the dust – only Sam Raimi’s masterpiece second Spider-feature remains unbeaten, but I’ve certainly never seen another film that just totally GETS Stan Lee’s original web-slinger better than this one. It’s directed by the motley but perfectly synced trio of Bob Perischetti (a veteran digital artist making his directorial debut here), Peter Ramsay (Rise of the Guardians) and Rodney Rothman (writer on 22 Jump Street), but the influence of producers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (creators of The Lego Movie) is writ large across the entire film (then again, Lord did co-write the script with Rothman) – it’s a magnificent, majestic feast for the eyes, ears and soul, visually arresting and overflowing with effervescent, geeky charm and a deep, fundamental LOVE for the source material in all its varied guises. Taking its lead from the recent Marvel comics crossover event from which the film gets its name, it revolves around an unprecedented collision of various incarnations of Spider-Man from across the varying alternate versions of Earth across the Marvel Multiverse, brought together though the dastardly machinations of criminal mastermind Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin (a typically excellent vocal turn from Liev Schreiber) and his secret supercollider. There are two, equally brilliant, “old school” takes on the original web-slinger Peter Parker on offer here – Chris Pine impresses in his early scenes as the “perfect” version, youthful, dashing and thoroughly brilliant but never ruining it by being smug or full of himself, but the story is dominated by New Girl’s Jake Johnson as a more world-weary and self-deprecating blue-collar version, who can still do the job just as well but has never really been as comfortable a fit, and he’s all the more endearing because he’s SUCH a lovable slacker underdog. The main “hero” of the film, however, is Dope’s Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, a teenager who’s literally JUST acquired his powers but must learn FAST if he’s to become this universe’s new Spider-Man, and he’s a perfect lead for the film, unsure of himself and struggling to bring his newfound abilities to bear, but determined to find his footing all the same. There are other brilliant takes on the core character here – Nicolas Cage’s wonderfully overblown monochrome Spider-Man Noir is an absolute hoot, as is anthropomorphised fan-favourite Spider-Ham (voiced by popular stand-up comic John Mulaney) – and a variety of interesting, skewed twists on classic Spider-Man villains (particularly Liv, a gender-bent take on Doctor Octopus played by Bad Moms’ Kathryn Hahn), but my favourite character in this is, tellingly, also my very favourite Marvel web-slinger PERIOD – Earth-65’s Spider-Woman, aka Gwen Stacy (more commonly known as Spider Gwen), an alternative version where SHE got bit by the radioactive arachnid instead of Peter, very faithfully brought to life by a perfectly cast Hailee Steinfeld. It may sound overblown but this is about as close to perfect as a superhero movie can get – the script is an ASTONISHING piece of work, tight as a drum with everything lined up with clockwork precision, and instead of getting bogged down in exposition it turns the whole origin story trope into a brilliant running joke that keeps getting funnier each time a new character gets introduced; it’s also INSANELY inventive and a completely unique visual experience, specifically designed to look like old school comic book art brought to vivid but intriguingly stylised life, right down to the ingenious use of word-bubbles and textured printing dots that add to the pop art feel. This is a truly SPECTACULAR film, a gloriously appointed thrill-ride with all the adventure, excitement, humour and bountiful, powerful, heartbreaking emotional heft you could ever want from a superhero movie – this is (sorry MCU) the VERY BEST film Marvel made in 2018, and maybe one of their very best EVER. There’s already sequel talk in the air (no surprise there, of course), and I can’t wait to see where it goes. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me a Spider Gwen spinoff. I’ll be good, I swear …

1. A QUIET PLACE – the most unique and original film of 2018 was a true masterpiece of horror cinema and, for me, one of the best scary movies I’ve seen in A VERY LONG TIME INDEED. It’s a deceptively simply high-concept thriller built around a dynamite idea, one that writer/director/star John Krasinski (co-writing with up-and-coming creative duo Bryan Woods and Scott Beck) has mined for maximum effect … Krasinski (still probably best known for the US version of The Office but now also gaining fresh traction for killer Amazon Original series Jack Ryan) and his real life wife Emily Blunt are Lee and Evelyn Abbott, a mother and father who must protect their children and find a way to survive on an isolated farm in a world which has been decimated by an inexplicable invasion/infestation/whatever of mysterious and thoroughly lethal creatures that, while blind, use their incredibly sensitive hearing to hunt and kill ANYTHING that makes a sound. As a result, the Abbotts have had to develop an intricately ordered lifestyle in order to gather, scavenge and rebuild while remaining completely silent, a discipline soon to be threatened by Evelyn’s very advanced pregnancy … there’s a truly fiendish level of genius to the way this film has been planned out and executed, the exquisitely thought-out mechanics of the Abbotts’ daily routines, survival methods and emergency procedures proving to be works of pure, unfettered genius – from communication through sign language and slow-dancing to music on shared headphones to walking on pathways created with heaped sand and painted spots to mark floorboards that don’t squeak, playing board games with soft fruit instead of plastic pieces and signalling danger with coloured light-bulbs – while the near total absence of spoken dialogue makes the use of sound and music essential and, here, almost revolutionary, with supervising sound editors Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn becoming as important as the director himself, while composer Marco Beltrami delivers some of his finest work to date with a score of insidious subtlety and brazen power in equal measure. The small but potent cast are all excellent – Blunt has rarely been better in a performance of impressive honesty and a lack of vanity comparable to her work on The Girl On the Train, affecting and compelling as a fierce lioness of a mother, while Krasinski radiates both strength and vulnerability as he fights tooth and nail to keep his family alive, regardless of his own survival, and their real-life chemistry is a genuine boon to their performances, bringing a winning warmth to their relationship; elsewhere, deaf actress Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck) effortlessly captures our hearts as troubled, rebellious daughter Regan, delivering a performance of raw, heartbreaking honesty, while Suberbicon’s Noah Jupe impresses as awkward son Marcus, cripplingly unsure of himself and awfully scared of having to grow up in this terrifying new world. There’s great power and heart in the family dynamic, which makes us even more invested in their survival as the screws tighten in what is a SERIOUSLY scary film, an exquisitely crafted exercise in sustained tension that deserves to be remembered alongside the true greats of horror cinema. Krasinski displays a rare level of skill as a director, his grasp of atmosphere, pace and performance hinting at great things to come in the future, definitely making him one to watch – this is an astonishing film, a true gem I’m going to cherish for a long time to come.

#black panther #bohemian rhapsody #mission impossible fallout #The Shape of Water #deadpool 2 #bad times at the el royale #Avengers infinity war #upgrade movie #spiderman into the spiderverse #a quiet place #2018 in movies

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theprocrastinatingalien · 6 years

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Beyond Avengers 4 (looking ahead at Phase 4 of the MCU)

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

We currently know very little about what comes after AVENGERS 4. This makes sense, as we really don't (officially) know that much about the follow up to INFINITY WAR.

We DO know that head honcho Kevin Feige has stated that there will soon be a divide In the MCU... everything before AVENGERS 4, and everything after. The face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is changing... we don't even know if we'll get a 'Phase 4'. Personally, I hope we do. I think it's nice to have a group of films. It helps with marketing. It helps when charting character arcs. You don't end up with an endless mash of movie titles (I'm looking at you DCEU!). It helps gives direction.

For the moment, let's assume it IS called Phase 4. if only to keep me happy. What can we expect from it? Well, boss man Kevin has apparently plans for 20 more films after AVENGERS 4. That's basically as much as the first three phases put together. It will be a mixture of sequels and new titles.

Let's start with what we know.

SPIDER-MAN: THE NEXT AVENGER

Okay, so I've made up the title, but it's better that HOMECOMING 2 (and there's already been a SPIDER-MAN 2). Okay, so let's get this straight - yes Peter Parker crumbled to dust following Thanos' click, but we already know we have this movie coming. It'll be the first movie in Phase 4. Obviously Marvel co-runs Spideyflicks with Sony, so they'd want a follow up as soon as possible... and that's in mid 2019! What's more, it's been guaranteed that an Avenger will appear. Now, it won't be Iron Man again (and I doubt Happy Hogan will feature either)... and whilst it could easily be one of the newer characters, I predict (and have done before), that it'll be Mark Ruffalo's Dr Bruce Banner and the Hulk. He's sciency, and more importantly, Ruffalo is meant to have one more film on his contract following AVENGERS 4. I could be wrong about Ruffalo, but Tom Holland will definitely be back (there'll be no switch over to Miles Morales), Marisa Tomei (Aunt May), Zendaya (Michelle) and Jacob Batalon (Ned) will all surely return too.. It'll be interesting to see which villains they use. A VENOM movie is coming out, entirely Sony, starring Tom Hardy (which may or may not cameo Hollan), as well as BlackCat and Silver Sable movie coming too. Will the MCU decide to use more characters that Sony haven't used before, or now start reusing known characters such as Green Goblin or Dr Octopus? Filming will start later this year, so casting news will surely have to start hitting... giving away that Spider-Man isn't really dead...

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3

James Gunn confirmed this, and has apparently finished the script. It's definitely coming in 2020, and will likely be the first movie of three that year - probably around May time. Now, obviously, there's a small matter that all but one guardian have died. Will the film be entirely about Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper)? Of course not. Just as sure as I am that Spidey will be safe, I think all the others that disappeared from the click will be back. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) will all be back. The big question mark for me is Gamora (Zoe Saldana). She died a different way, and that could be a permanent. Whilst I'm sure Saldana's back in AVENGERS 4, that could just be a tie to the soul stone and Thanos. beyond that, I really don't know. It could be that, just how VOL 2 came right after the first movie, VOL 3 could follow that... it might all be set before INFINITY WAR, in which case Gamora will be as right as rain. If the movie truly follows on from AVENGERS 4, then we won't really know until that movie has come out... or VOL 3 starts filming before that movie comes out as we see Saldana on set. Karen Gillan's Nebula survived the most recent movie, but I personally believe she'll die in AVENGERS 4... so don't think she'll be in VOL 3. If I'm wrong though, she will be...depending on whether Gamora is. (I think Nebula's storyline is pretty tied to her 'sister'). Mid credits in VOL 2 told us that Ayesha had created Adam Warlock, so he could well be a main focus of the sequel - despite Gunn suggesting otherwise. Sly Stallone's Stakar Ogord assemble his older generation of guardians too... so they could play a part. And what happened to Sean Gunn's Kraglin? It's possibly, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) could join the team following AVENGERS 4, whilst she waits to be given her own sequel. Maybe Howard the Duck (voiced by Seth Green) could play a bigger part than a cameo. No, I didn't think so either. For me the biggest question here is the time placement... before INFINITY WAR or after AVENGERS 4. The more I think about it, the more I think it could be before...

BLACK WIDOW

Okay, so we don't know this is happening... officially. But it IS totally happening. Writers have been assigned and Chris Evans pretty much confirmed it. However, unlike the previous movies I've talked about so far, this film does NOT mean Scarlett Johansson survives AVENGERS 4. It's highly expected that the movie will be a prequel, going back into her history as a spy. There's a lot they can do with this, and it also means a lot of characters could pop up. There's already been speculation that Sebastian Stan could feature as The Winter Soldier (back when he was still under Hydra control). Obviously everyone expects (and will probably be disappointed if not) Clint Barton to appear. It sort of feels like Jeremy Renner has got a bum deal, so flashing out their friendship would work wonders. There's also the suspicion that Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) could appear... about what about fellow agents Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell). Any of them could feature to some degree. After playing a supporting character since IRON MAN 2 (back in 2010), it'll be nice for Johansson to headline a film in the MCU, finally. In a year, Marvel like to have at least one sequel and one new film. I expect BLACK WIDOW will likely act as the 'new' movie that year, probably sandwiched between the two sequels GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3 and...

DOCTOR STRANGE 2

You see, this is the problem... another character who disappeared at the end of INFINITY WAR... back for a sequel. I suppose it's possible the sequel could be set between the first movie and INFINITY WAR, but I doubt it. Now all the sequels can be set before, and I feel Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) will a major force going forward in the MCU. Both Kevin Feige and James Gunn have stated the franchise will be a lot more 'cosmic' going forward, and Strange's magic, and use of different realms, will likely play a strong part in that. I think DOCTOR STRANGE 2 will round off 2020, with Benedict Wong returning as Wong, Rachel McAdams getting more screentime as Christine Palmer and Chiwetel Ejiofor playing a much bigger role as Mordo edged towards what could well be the 'new Loki'. I don't know much about the comics for this particular character, but word is Nightmare will be the primary villain this time around. No word on who might play him though... but with Cumberbatch and Ejiofor at the front line, it'll need to be someone impressive.

BLACK PANTHER 2

Obviously the first movie was a massive hit. Obviously there's going to be a sequel. Obviously there's a problem because the title character died at the fingerclick in INFINITY WAR. However, unlike with Strange or Spider-Man, the sequel doesn't necessarily need T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) to live to go ahead. In the comics, Shuri (Letitia Wright) becomes Black Panther, and Queen of Wakanda. Now, if T'Challa's death was 'real'... that should already have happened before/during AVENGERS 4. Wright could be the new BP! Shuri was certainly popular enough, and Boseman could still appear via a spirit walk-thing. You know, that thing they do. He apparently has 5 movies on his contract. Now that could work as CIVIL WAR , BLACK PANTHER, INFINITY WAR, AVENGERS 4 and... BLACK PANTHER 2. It could. Of course, I don't think that's the case. Well, actually, in the comics, both T'Challa and Shuri are Black Panthers... and I reckon that might be where they take it - but Chadwick Boseman's character will be the lead, and alive. I also expect Danai Gurira's Okoye, Luputa Nyong'O's Nakia, Angela Bassett's Ramonda all to return. Probably Winston Duke's M'Baku. Possibly Martin Freeman's Everett K Ross. I also predict Marvel will place the movie around the opening of May in 2021. That's where they put all the films they're confident in.

ANT-MAN 3 (aka ANT-MAN AND THE WASP 2)

We haven't seen ANT-MAN AND THE WASP yet, but you have to assume Marvel are working on the assumption there will be a sequel. When they announced their third phase slate, an ANT-MAN sequel wasn't included. They waited to see how the first would do . By the time they finally get around to announcing Phase 4, I expect they'll known whether ANT-MAN 3 will be on the table. My guess is, it will be. Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, with Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne will probably head-line again. Beyond that, with both ANT-MAN AND THE WASP and AVENGERS 4 to come, I wouldn't like to predict more than that. Other than I think it'll be released in 2021 - although it's worth pointing out that both ANT-MAN movies have been released AFTER an AVENGERS movie... so it could be held back until after...

AVENGERS 5

We know there'll be one... the question is, when. Typically AVENGERS movies are released at the start of may, three years apart. THE AVENGERS came out in 2012, AGE OF ULTRON in 2015 and now INFINITY WAR in 2018. Obviously, we're breaking that tradition with AVENGERS 4 in 2019. The earliest I expect AVENGERS 5 will be May 2022, but with an expanding slate of sequels, and the intention of including new titles, they might push it back a year to 2023. It will, in theory, be the first to not feature the likes of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Nor might it include Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) or Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). I mean, it might, but it's unlikely. So who will it include? Personally, I have no idea who the villain will be but as for heroes... I guarantee it'll feature Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Black Panther (probably Chadwick Boseman, possibly Letitia Wright). It'll probably feature Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Wasp (Evangeline Lilly). There's also someone else it might feature. You'll notice I missed out Steve Rogers from the earlier list? Well, as far as Chris Evans goes, he'll not be back after AVENGERS 4, but I doubt that can be said for...

CAPTAIN AMERICA 4

In the comics, the mantle of 'Captain America' has been used by several people - most notably Bucky Barnes. Whilst Evans only had 6 films on his contract (extended to 7 to encompass AVENGERS 4), Sebastian Stan signed up for 12 movies. Right now, he's only spent four of those - the CAPTAIN AMERICA trilogy, and INFINITY WAR. AVENGERS 4 takes him to five and if the rumoured appearance in BLACK WIDOW happens, that's only half of his contract. That leaves (potentially) three more Cap movies, and three more Avenger movies. I've no idea who the villains will be in a fourth Cap movie, unless the movie itself is a 'Battle for the Shield', an idea I came up with that I'm taken with. Anthony Mackie is already Falcon in the franchise, and in the comics, Sam Wilson becomes Cap also. There's also the potential for Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) to take on the shield. There could be a three-way tussle for the mantle. Ultimately Stan will probably take the lead, as it seems to be the order of things. As a side note, Wilson's Cap is trained under an older Steve Rogers, his age caught up with him. It's possible, rather that outright killing Chris Evans' character, they swap him out for an older actor, to train the younger successor. Possibly not, but it's an option. The biggest question here is, when do they roll out this new Cap? Before or after AVENGERS 5? THE FIRST AVENGER lead into the first film to unite the characters, and a new character picking up the shield could do the same. We'll just ignore that both Bucky and Wilson turned to dust. They'll be back. Extra note - despite the title, with a new actor headlining, Marvel might treat the movie as a new franchise.

CAPTAIN MARVEL 2

The trickiest one on the list really... as the first CAPTAIN MARVEL comes out next year, certainly less than two months before AVENGERS 4. That will probably be enough time for Marvel to figure out if the movie deserves a sequel. So far, only THE INCREDIBLE HULK has stood alone, with no sequels to speak of. I'll lay money on it staying that way, and CAPTAIN MARVEL 2 will be in the Phase 4 slate. If the first is set in the 90s, then a sequel could be set in the 00s. More likely though it'll be present, so she can lead the Avengers. As I mentioned earlier though, it's possible (rather than shoehorning a sequel into the slate) Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) could find herself back in space, now with GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3... possibly filling the void left by Gamora.

NEWBIES

This is where we get really sketchy. There's been rumbles of a film for THE ETERNALS, it might be time NAMOR gets some underwater adventures, or if the day-walking vampire BLADE comes in on the actions. Let's also not forget that the deal with Fox will mean the X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR and DEADPOOL can crossover into the MCU. It won't be yet... but look how quickly Spider-Man entered the area.

If I had to predict Phase 4, I'd go with the following:

July 2019 - SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING 2 (confirmed) - May 2020 - GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3 (basically confirmed) July 2020 - BLACK WIDOW (sort of new) November 2020 - DOCTOR STRANGE 2 - May 2021 - BLACK PANTHER 2 July 2021 - CAPTAIN MARVEL 2 November 2021 - NEW FRANCHISE (example BLADE or NAMOR) - February 2022 - CAPTAIN AMERICA 4 (sort of new) May 2022 - AVENGERS 5 July 2022 - ANT-MAN 3 / ANT-MAN & THE WASP 2 So there we are, those are my predictions for Phase 4. How wrong am I? I expect we'll have an idea come Comic Con 2019!

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minaminokyoko · 6 years

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A Love Letter to Black Panther

Disclaimer: Y'all gon' get tired of hearing me scream, "WAKANDA FOREVERRRRRRR!"

Because I mean it. Bless this movie, man. This is everything I have ever dreamt of seeing from a black superhero with an all black cast. They couldn't have done a better job. This movie is a vision, fully realized. It's going to leave a very important impact on pop culture at large and I am so here for that. I've been a black nerd since birth, and to be given a big budget film with a 90% black cast that is backed by a studio giant is so gratifying I can see why some people left the theater in tears of joy. It's not that we haven't had black films before that did well. It's not that we're not giving credit to Blade for being a (mostly) successful film franchise with a black hero at the helm. It's all the elements lining up from having Ryan Coogler direct to grabbing actually African cast members to being marketed during the Superbowl--which is the most expensive ad time you can buy on television--to seeing an amazing integration of tradition, science fiction, and modern topics that are relevant to the black community. I sound like I'm overstating things, but I truly am so happy with how this film turned out. It wasn't a cheap cash grab. It was a genuine attempt to weave a story about African and black culture based around a whole lot of ass-whuppin' and I can't wait to dive in. Follow me, Wakandans.

Naturally, spoiler alert.

Let's start with the man himself, the King of Wakanda, T'Challa. First of all, I knew I'd love him since Civil War. Most people went for Tony or Steve and came out of that movie going, "OH MY GOD BLACK PANTHER IS THE FUCKING BADDEST I CANNOT WAIT FOR HIS SOLO MOVIE DUDE." We all knew he was a total badass, but what I left this movie with was a sincere love for the mercy and compassion he showed us in this film. It's very easy in a position with that kind of power to let it corrupt you and become jaded, but the gestures he made in this film were so lovely. I love that he was outraged by his father trying to erase history with what happened to his uncle and cousin. He was genuinely angry and hurt by it all and in the end, he showed so much kindness by letting Kilmonger see the sunrise before he died that it was honestly touching. I love T'Challa because he has such a big heart. It’s an incredibly important perspective to provide, as much of the world still sees black men as angry, dangerous thugs incapable of kindness. He has flaws as well, like his anger issues and naivete, and that's what makes his journey so compelling. It's very easy to write a royalty character as above it all, but that's why Thor: Ragnarok was so well received recently: they knocked Thor off his princely pedestal and brought him down to our level. We understand what T'Challa is going through even though we aren't royalty. He has a homeland to protect and a family to look after in his father's absence, much like we have our own responsibilities trying to tug us in a thousand different ways. I love that he challenged his father and brought about a new era, extending his help to the world. T'Challa is an excellent character and Chadwick Boseman did a hell of a job with him.

As a black woman, you know what's coming next. My girls Nakia, Okoye, and Shuri. Where do I even start? First of all, let me raise my fist for some lovely dark-skinned women getting the spotlight in a major superhero film franchise. Now, don't get me wrong--I absolutely freaking LOVED Tessa Thompson in Thor: Ragnarok. She slayed. But my heart is just bursting with pride at these beautiful badass women who are given weight, agency, and attention in this film. I have absolutely nothing against light-skinned women at all, but I do acknowledge that they tend to get roles easier than dark-skinned women because society still has this idiotic aversion to them because of the establishment's idea of beauty. It was such a rush to see each woman on screen having inner conflict and deciding what side of the line they would stand on. I love Nakia's stubborn nature and her hesitance to join the fray, but the second T'Challa was gone, she switched into spy mode and she did the damn thing. She saved the people who cared about her, she saved Ross, and she stood up for her country as well as the other people out there who needed her help. You are a diamond, Nakia. Okoye is probably going to come out of this film as the runaway favorite, if you ask me. I mean, Danai Gurira is already worshiped for her role as the amazing Michonne on The Walking Dead, but seeing her here, slicing and stabbing and beating the tar out of everyone while struggling with her loyalty to the Wakandan throne just gives me all the feels. I adored her sharp tongue and her grumpy frown and her impossible awesomeness. Then there's Shuri. I can't express my delight with her. She was such an adorable, witty addition to the team. I fully admit that I fell for the low-hanging fruit: the "WHAT ARE THOOOOOOOSE!" joke was hilarious even though I know no one over the age of thirty is going to have a single clue what she was referencing. I loved her calling Ross "colonizer." Shuri was throwing shade left and right and it was glorious. Furthermore, having her be the gadget gal of the film was brilliantly done. I loved her enthusiasm and her amazing tech. I loved that she bravely fought even though she was inexperienced. She was such a great character and I look forward to seeing beautiful little girls idolizing her mind and her strength in the future.

Kilmonger is definitely one of the strongest villains in the MCU so far. Most people ding Marvel for having thin villains, and that's not an unfair assessment. In my opinion, it's Cutting Room Floor issues. When you have to tell a story in two and a half hours, sometimes there's just too much content that you're excited to fit in and you just can't get it in there, so you take out chunks related to the villain to avoid the hero having an unsatisfying character arc. It's not a great idea, because then your villain isn't three dimensional and it can diminish the overall enjoyment of the film. Kilmonger is the answer to that problem. He had a reason for what he did, and while it wasn't an excuse for his cruelty, it definitely made you think about the fact that every good villain is a hero in his own mind. Kilmonger's plan even tempted someone in T'Challa's camp because it had a serious amount of relevance not only to Africans but black people all over the world. Wanting to stomp out oppression, especially in this day and age, is a trap I think a lot of people can fall into. I love the almost Shakespearean tragedy of it all, that maybe this could have been avoided if T'Chaka stayed behind and explained to the boy where he came from and that he had no choice. It probably wouldn't have worked, but just abandoning the kid with his dead father was ice-cold, and it's more tragic that it was done out of good intentions in T'Chaka's mind. I love that T'Challa sympathized with Erik and even offered to save him in the end. That has weight. That's excellent writing. I do admit, though, that Michael B. Jordan is definitely a young actor, because he was hamming it up pretty hard in certain scenes, but overall the kid did well with the role.

The costume design and scenery were just breathtaking. Man, I love the visuals we got to see. African culture is so vibrant and interesting. I'm really delighted knowing millions of people will get some exposure to all the different aspects and traditions it has to offer.

The soundtrack is killer. From the score to the tracks, it was done truly well.

Andy Serkis as Claw (although I don't appreciate the bait and switch, I can live with it; Marvel always kills their villains that are not Loki and even he is probably going to die in Infinity War). I knew he was an oddball in Age of Ultron, but damn, was he a complete nutcase. I appreciate how completely insane he was the whole time with no real explanation as to why. The simple glee on his face when he giggles, "I made it rain!" was just flawless. He might have the market corned for wackiest Marvel villain thus far. I'm sad that we only got to enjoy two performances from Serkis, but they were still entertaining as hell.

The action sequences had me floored. This is one thing I've always adored about Marvel films. The pacing is always excellent and they know how to wow you. If you follow me at all, you'll know one of the numerous reasons I hated the Justice League movie is that there was NO imagination in ANY of the fight scenes. Black Panther offers some of the best and most creative scenes to enjoy, from hand to hand combat to flipping cars with a fucking vibranium spear. I was cringing and twitching in my seat like I was playing a VR of Tekken, for God's sake. These fight scenes were so well done (though I will ding the film for lighting issues; the jungle scene suffered badly from that problem, as did at least one other one to my chagrin) and I loved everyone's various weapons and fighting styles.

MY BOY BUCKY AT THE END CREDITS YOOOOOOOO. I am infatuated with the idea that the Wakandans analyzed him and have been slowly helping him recover from being brainwashed and abused. It made my cold, petrified heart all warm inside when he smiled and looked out over the water. I just want Bucky to be happy, okay?! Leave me alone!

Well, I've gone on long enough, haven't I? I regret nothing, honestly. This is like The Dark Knight all over again: one of those rare instances when the hype for something was so crazy that we were sure it couldn't deliver, but not only did it deliver, it kicked the hell out of all expectations. I can't wait to see where the road will lead from here. My wish and hope is that this movie does so damn well that Hollywood opens its damned eyes and listens to what we have been saying since the beginning: we want diversity and we want it well done and we want it now. Stop relying on the old ideals of a market that we outgrew decades ago. Black people are just as complex and interesting as everyone else on the planet, and it's time you woke up. We've been doing it ourselves with all kinds of various projects from comic books to novels to short films and you can either lead, follow, or get out the way, as Jidenna once said. Your move, Hollywood.

WAKANDA FOREVER.

#Black Panther #marvel #Marvel Cinematic Universe #T'Challa #representation matters #movie review #sorta #film review #Black Panther So Lit #spoiler alert #spoilers

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avoutput · 6 years

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Recognize || Black Panther

It feels like there are very few times in popular culture where Black Americans get to actively participate in positive discussions about themselves. With the release of Black Panther, we get to have a moment to exhale and relieve all the built up tension surrounding civil rights and equality. Black Americans get to stand tall with next to a culture that has been erased from our identity, replaced by our own version built out of slavery and poverty, ingenuity and resistance, but reminded every day as Black Americans, we are Black first, and Americans second. And while America will always be our home, Wakanda offers a positive representation of everything we could be, can be, and will be. As its most enticing feature, Black Panther delivers a story that any person can relate to, regardless of their skin color, affluence, or place in the universe.

I was in a unique position during my viewing of Black Panther, I went to see the movie with my father. My father is White. That kind of 5th generation American White that is completely devoid of any external culture, ignoring his Irish and Scottish heritage all his life. It would have been even more unique with the addition of my mother, who is Black, but she unfortunately had the flu, so now we all have to settle. I wanted to have a conversation with the both of them about the film, the hype, their lives, my life. Frankly, this is probably the only time in my adult life I have actually WANTED to have a conversation with them together on any topic surrounding race. Though they have been married 37 years, they are very much oil and water on many subjects. But hey, that’s how you make great pasta, right? Maybe. But first, let’s get into the movie. How was Black Panther? In short, not as unique as all of its parts. And to discuss the film in its complete capacity, the following is rife with spoilers. Reader beware.

*****SPOILERS BELOW******

Taking a step back, having to looking at it from space because up close it shines too brightly, there is nothing new about the story in focus, just the lense from which it is viewed and the stage on which it sits. I am not sure what I expected, but the story falls on one of the only tales of Kings, successors, and subjects. The story has a classic Shakespearean tapestry, woven with betrayals, truces, romance, and family. Despite the death of their King T’Chakka (John Kani) (which happened in Civil War), most of Wakanda is excited to see his son take over the kingdom. Shortly after taking the throne, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), has the opportunity to avenge the deaths of his best friend’s parents by capturing Klaue (Andy Serkis), a career criminal who has escaped justice for 30 years and was able to infiltrate and escape Wakanda with their major natural resource, Vibranium, a fictional metal that aided in their technological advancement. Failing to capture him causes his best friend, W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), to feel betrayed, having been let down by T’Challa’s father as well. Meanwhile, T’Challa learns from his father’s close friend Zuri (Forest Whitaker) that his father was forced to kill his own brother in order to save his life. Afterwards, T’Chakka knowingly left his brother’s child Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) behind to survive alone in 1992 Oakland. The abandon Killmonger returns to Wakanda just after T’Challa’s ascension with Klaue in tow, turning him in to garner the goodwill of the royal guard, notably W’Kabi. After revealing his bloodline, Killmonger challenges T’Challa for the throne. These are all the major turning points of the film, and none of them are at all surprising. This is my sole issue with the film, and even still, it excelled at re-telling this age old story.

People have heralded the story for enticing you to feel compassion for its main antagonist, Killmonger, like no other marvel story before it, but that is exactly what this story is designed to do. Evil is perspective. Everything is perspective. Killmonger may be brash, but his single minded charge to the finish line is paved by good intent. What’s more, he is easily the most identifiable character in the film. Life is much more akin to Killmonger’s than to T’Challa’s. We rarely are thrust into positions of leadership without volunteering, but we are often left behind by people around us. Everyone has a personal story that can put you in Killmonger’s shoes. I feel my own Blackness is wrapped up in a similar story. Growing up, my mother’s side of the family, all Black Americans from Dallas, would tease me for the way I spoke, how different I was, and would always tell me it was because of my White half. My mother for most of my life has often commented on how un-Black I am. I pointed to the fact that I grew up in the suburbs of Austin in a predominantly white and hispanic neighborhood probably had something to do with it. She tried to surround me with Black peers, but they were avid fans of sports, music videos, and church whereas I found entertainment in video games, science-fiction novels, and movies. Blackness was limiting. This was a great divide between me and my Black peers, or it seemed like it to a little kid. Black nerds were a rarity, so rare at the time, I wouldn’t meet any until high school. Still, two Black nerds couldn’t make up for all the Blackness I was “missing”. Essentially, I grew up feeling like an outcast. My White friends would call me their token Black friend, my Black friends would call me a nerd or too white or “High-Yellow”, a term for light skinned Black folks. But that didn’t change the fact that I indeed walked around everywhere in the same skin, with the same problems, and probably a few others, as I also have been confused for Filipino, Egyptian, Mexican, and my favorite “Gay Cuban” (long story). Killmonger’s story resonates so well because at some point we have all felt alone, rejected, or forgotten. The film makes a point of showing that Black people carry sins of their own, perpetrated against their own, regardless of the best of intentions. But Black Panther also points to the fact that we can redeem ourselves, forgive ourselves, and break free of oppression inside and outside our community. When we all stand tall together, regardless of our backgrounds, our skin tone or color, we are stronger for it, a moral as old this story.

By the time the credits and post-credit scenes had run, I was excited to see how my father felt about the film. To characterize him a little bit, he is an avid reader of fantasy novels like Conan The Barbarian and Lord of the Rings. He is quiet, non-threatening, bad at reading social cues, stubborn, and a little self-absorbed. He was the kind of parent whose name you could say 10 times, and never notice. He tends to take everything personally, so while I was excited to hear his opinion, I wasn’t at all surprised with the result. His personal take was, “Eh, I liked it.”

“And…?” I replied.

To which he launched into a thought about how he is “tired of being blamed” for everything bad that White people have done to Black people. My father is not terribly deep or analytical, but he could tell that the film had broached this topic somewhere underneath the surface, if not addressed in the media in weeks leading up the release. In his eyes, he married a Black woman, raised a Black son, attends a predominantly Black church wherein he has many Black friends, how could anyone see him as racist simply for being White? Again, he takes everything personally, it’s just the type of person he is. I told him that this isn’t about any one person. This is about recognizing the disparity. You don’t get to choose your privilege, so no one is blaming you personally. It’s about working towards change without expecting a reward. No Black hands are going to be patting you on the back. I told him that maybe he personally had done enough, who can really say, but the last thing you need to do is change your perspective and recognize this isn’t about you or what you have done. There is much more that needs to be done, we have much further to go. Black Panther is a step in the right direction.

Wakanda undoubtedly leaves an impression on everyone who sees it, but more impressive than its city is the plains, mountainsides, and other tribal homes. It has a very zen like feel to it, one that is completely enshrined in nature, yet there is utility in its beauty. Every aspect of the costume design feels modern, even when making homages to long time African garb. The hairstyles, more specifically the lack thereof, shine more than any film in recent memory. Okoye (Danai Gurira) is not only the complete fashion stand out of this film, but by far the strongest actor and character in the cast. By the end of the film, you want every other Black Panther film to star her alongside Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), the resident Wakanda spy and strong wing-girl to Okoye, as they take the mantle of the Black Panther. It’s also impossible to ignore Shuri (Letitia Wright) as the brilliant resident scientest. This isn’t to say Chadwick Boseman didn’t bring it, he plays a great role model with a cool, calm charm unmatched in the MCU, but his character offers little else to be desired. He reacts to everything around him more often than creating the moment. Gurira and Nyong’o steal the scenes with their brand of wit and intensity, and natural scene maker Angela Bassett, T’Challa’s mother Ramonda, helps broaden the world of Wakanda. These are the strongest female cast of characters in the entire MCU, and it would be a safe bet for them to continue to take center stage whenever possible. Also deserving of special praise is Michael B. Jordan, who strikes a balance as the tragic villain better than anything we have ever seen in the MCU, including Bucky Barnes. His costuming is quite possibly the most visually striking aspect in this film, markings lining his skin for every kill in his past.

Black Panther also sports some of the best action sequences in the MCU, predominantly because while he is a strong superhero, he doesn’t really have a gimmick beyond increased strength and agility, similar to Captain America. We get to see his suit used in action multiple times times, but the fights are generally up close and personal. The car chase scene is probably one of the films bigger moments, running up the sides of buildings and surfing on cars, but it really shines in the smaller moments, fighting on waterfall cliff sides and hand to hand on train tracks. The actual brutality in the film was unprecedented as well. There are plenty of moments where this film could have easily jumped to an R-rating. Particularly when Killmonger is involved. This caused an uncertainty in the fight scenes. Even though we see Captain America take some hits, nothing hit as hard as watching T’Challa take a spear to the arm or watching Killmonger headshot his own allies. And every brutal moment is beautifully captured and edited. This was truly a labor of love.

Time to step down from the pulpit and give you some final words. Director Ryan Coogler took something immensely personal and made it universal. He continued a difficult conversation in a profound way, without mincing words or laying down meaningless platitudes. Just as much as Wonder Woman stood up for women last year, Black Panther stands up for equal representation, for unity, for woke-ness. Just as much as I was able to see myself in Killmonger, so to can anyone else. Coogler was able to land the exclamation point at the end of James Brown’s famous words so we can all say, “I’m Black and I’m proud!” And yet, this film is both about and beyond being Black. You don’t need to be represented by a skin color. Little White, Asian, and Hispanic kids can see themselves in the people of Wakanda. We can tear down the wall and reach an understanding. Black Panther stands for everyone. I think that’s something we can all recognize.

~* 9.5/10 *~

#Film #Reviews #Black Panther #Erik Killmonger #Okoye #Ryan Coogler #Chadwick Boseman #Danai Gurira #Lupita Nyong'o #Michael B Jordan #Daniel Kaluuya #Andy Serkis #Forrest Whitaker #Angela Bassett #John Kani #Blackness #Woke #Interracial

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esonetwork · 6 years

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Movie review: A new king — and superhero — is born in Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’

New Post has been published on https://esopodcast.com/movie-review-a-new-king-and-superhero-is-born-in-marvels-black-panther/

Movie review: A new king — and superhero — is born in Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’

There was a lot going on in “Captain America: Civil War,” so it’s a testament both to the power of the Black Panther character and actor Chadwick Boseman’s screen presence that Black Panther was such a standout in that film. He brought a fresh perspective to the Avengers lineup and stole all the scenes he was in.

Fans have been eagerly waiting for Black Panther’s solo film, and the level of hype for this movie has been insanely huge. Both fans and critics are raving; “Black Panther” earned a glittering 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and has brought in an estimated $201 million in its opening weekend. The film’s diverse cast and timely subject matter also are significant cultural moments, and I believe those amazing box office grosses are evidence of that fact.

While “Black Panther” is still very much a Marvel film, it does feel different than what’s come before. Black Panther/T’Challa is a new type of hero in a new type of setting. I heard someone on Reddit describe the film as “Marvel meets The Lion King meets James Bond” which I feel is actually a fairly accurate description of the film’s tone. You have the royal family dynamics of “The Lion King” with some cool touches of espionage à la James Bond. The film picks up soon after the events of “Civil War,” where we witnessed the death of T’Challa’s father, King T’Chaka. T’Challa is preparing to assume the throne and determine what type of leader he will become for the prosperous, technologically advanced nation of Wakanda. However, he will have to face an unexpected challenge to the throne — a threat inadvertently created by one of his father’s past choices.

One of the coolest things about “Black Panther” is its world-building. I loved everything about Wakanda, a fictional East African nation created for the Marvel comics. I loved the blend of history and technology, and how the culture honored the past and also embraced the future. The costume design on this film is also fantastic, and I loved how colorful and distinctive this world was. Wakanda felt like a real place to me.

The ensemble cast is also fantastic, with a huge cast of strong supporting characters. In addition to Boseman, who we already got to know as T’Challa in “Civil War,” we meet Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, an undercover spy (we need a spin-off film about Nakia, please, Disney!); Danai Gurira as Okoye, head of the Dora Milaje, the all-female special forces of Wakanda (another spin-off film needed!); Letitia Wright as the scene-stealing tech genius Princess Shuri; and too many others to name. I also enjoyed seeing Andy Serkis pop up again as black-market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue; although I love Serkis’ motion capture work, it’s always great to see him acting just as himself without a green screen. And I was surprised but pleased by how big of a role Martin Freeman had in this film as CIA member Everett K. Ross.

In the past, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been criticized for sometimes having weak villain characters, but that isn’t the case here. Without veering into spoiler territory, Michael B. Jordan made for a fascinating, complex villain as “Killmonger.” The choices he made were wrong, but you could see how his painful, broken past drove him to this moment. It was a great performance.

There’s a lot to praise about “Black Panther,” and it’s exciting to see how audiences have responded to this film. However, I do have to say that while I enjoyed it, I walked out of the theater feeling not quite as “awed” as I had anticipated. I’m fully willing to admit that may have more to do with me than the film. I got really hyped and excited for this movie, and sometimes when you build up the hype a little too much, it’s hard for a film to live up to those lofty expectations. I was expecting it to maybe even crack my top 5 Marvel films, and as of now, it hasn’t. Still, I feel like I need to see it again to fully process the film and its themes. I’m certain it will be in the upper half of my Marvel film rankings, but I’m not confident enough to place it yet.

One of the things holding the film back just a bit (at least to me) is the pacing. I felt like it took a while to really get going (the casino in South Korea was where it really took off, I thought). While it was cool seeing T’Challa and Nakia on her undercover assignment in the jungle and T’Challa’s coronation ceremony at the beginning of the film, I think these scenes took up time that could have been devoted to moving the plot forward in a more powerful and focused way. I wanted even more interaction between T’Challa and Killmonger. I also felt that sometimes T’Challa was almost a supporting character in his own film. There are so many awesome side characters, and I wouldn’t want to take away from that, but maybe just a *little* more time could have been devoted to how much of a strong, amazing fighter Black Panther is (and as “Civil War” showed us, he IS an amazing fighter).

But maybe those issues will stand out less to me on second viewing, and I really do feel like I need to see this again. Because as referenced earlier, the “Black Panther” movie is a significant cultural moment. While it works on a surface level as a superhero film, it is important that we’re getting a big-budget film with a predominantly black cast set in an African nation. This has clearly resonated with audiences, and is filling a niche that has been neglected by Hollywood. It also tackles some heavy themes, amidst the action. *Spoiler alert!* I thought the ending was quite powerful, where T’Challa realized that maybe Wakanda’s philosophy of hiding away from the world was wrong and they needed to help others in need — a truth that Killmonger helped him to see, even though Killmonger’s philosophy of violence was wrong. And Killmonger’s death is a gut-punch of a scene, where he asks to die as a free man and not a prisoner. *End spoiler!*

So in conclusion, it will be interesting to see how this film is evaluated as part of the MCU as time goes on. For right now, I definitely recommend that you see it, think about it, and discuss it. I feel there was room to make the film even stronger, but that doesn’t take away from the moment. And, of course, I’m eagerly awaiting Black Panther’s appearance in “Infinity War.”

#Black Panther #Marvel #Movie #review

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delayedcritique · 6 years

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MARSHALL REVIEW

“A buddy-lawyer court drama”

BY COLLIN DE LADE

Marshal is the latest drama based on the true story about young Thurgood Marshall, played by Chadwick Boseman, as he battles through one of his career-defining cases. Along with Marshall is Sam Friedman, played by Josh Gad, who assists Marshall in winning the case of a falsely accused rapist. If you walk in expecting the Thurgood Marshall biopic about his rise to fame, then you are going to be disappointed. Instead, this is equally Josh Gad’s movie as it is Chadwick Boseman’s movie.

What really makes this movie work is the acting and chemistry between Chadwick Boseman and Josh Gad throughout the entire movie. Marshall really feels like a buddy movie about two opposite lawyers who work well together to solving the case of the falsely accused rapist. Both Boseman and Gad are fantastic in the movie, but I honestly got to say that Josh Gad might be the stand out of the film. That is not an insult to Chadwick Boseman’s performance at all, because he is absolutely fantastic in this. However, Josh Gad really surprised me with his acting chops and how talented he is in the acting category. Gad and Boseman work really well together and I really hope to see both their names come up when it’s time to for the Oscar nominations to come out.

Not only does the two leads impress, but the supporting cast is also top notch. While the entire cast was well acted, the two stand-outs in the supporting cast is Dan Stevens are the rival lawyer and Kate Hudson as the rape victim. While both don’t have the biggest parts to play, I always was looking forward to their next scenes to really shine as their respect characters. I also want to give credit to director Reginald Hudlin for making a tired sub-genre feel very fresh and engaging. There has been many courtroom-drama over the years that play out the exact same way. While I can’t say Marshall is all that original, I can say that I was invested in the storyline throughout the entire movie.

I honestly don’t have any major problems with the film, but it does commit one of the most popular flaws that unfortunately have been done by multiple movies this year; false advisements. All the trailers and the title itself sells this movie as the ultimate biopic of Thurgood Marshall. Actually, this is not the case to define Thurgood Marshall’s career. Marshall barely has any input on the actual cases besides behind the scenes preparation with his partner Sam Friedman. Marshall isn’t useless or unnecessary to the film, as he has a major impact on the case. The problem here is how a lot of audience members are going to buy tickets expecting to learn everything about Thurgood Marshall where Josh Gad’s character has a lot more screen time than Chadwick Boseman. That is not a problem for me, as I really enjoyed the movie on its own, but it is a shame that the movie didn’t get the proper advertising that it deserves.

I really enjoyed Marshall and would strongly recommend everyone to go out and see it. The cast is awesome, the story is very engaging and I was very invested in every minute of the movie. I have to knock the movie down a few points for following the trend of falsely advertising the actual film, but the movie itself is a big win. Go out and see this in the theaters because I would honestly be shocked if this doesn’t receive some award recognition.

8.5/10

#marshall #josh gad #chadwick boseman #movie #review

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royallyprincesslilly · 4 years

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Title: Animal (13)

Chadwick Boseman X Original Female Character “Sianna”

Chapter Warning: Cursing, Angst, Plot, Plenty of Words, Slow Burn

Word Count: 2.8k

Note: I hope you guys enjoy this. By the way, Tumblr is on the BS and flagged every chapter because my old mood board had a portrayal of backshots. LMFAO!!!! So new mood board.

I censored my mood board, let’s see if it gets flagged. LOL

**Loosely edited/Proofread***

Thank you guys for reading!!! If you enjoyed this please LIKE, REBLOG, COMMENT. ❤️ ❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Sianna-

MSG Mom: You have missed the last several months of Sunday dinners. That is inexcusable young lady. I get that you’re busy, everyone is busy. We are all busy. We all make the time. Why can’t you?

You’d been staring at the message from her for the last few hours. After the last dinner you’d missed your brothers warned you that she was on a rampage. They told you to expect her call. You dodged the calls but this you couldn’t dodge. It had been months since you made an appearance at the biweekly family dinner. In the beginning, it was due to your insane work schedule and all the time you had to put into establishing your line and brand. Now with the pregnancy, it was terror. You knew you couldn’t show up to family dinner six months pregnant, especially when the last time they saw you, you weren’t and had no prospects as your mother would say.

If you showed up preggers your mother would have a heart attack at the scandal alone. Your brothers would go into cabin in the woods ax murderer mode, your father would probably understand but be disappointed that you’d rearranged the order of events skipping boyfriend and marriage altogether. Everyone would have something to say and you were nowhere near prepared to handle any of it.

Groaning you dropped back onto your bed and closed your eyes. Maybe if you lied here long enough this would all fade away and you’d realize it was an insane fever dream and you weren’t pregnant with a near stranger's babies, and tackling all of it alone. Five, fifteen, then thirty minutes passed with you laying there in silence without a thought in your mind besides the yoga breathing you’d been learning the last two weeks you’d began Lamaze classes.

When you opened your eyes everything was still calm, and you nearly forgot everything, but then felt a powerful jab in your abdomen. You shot right up and touched your stomach, the tiny imprint of some body part pressed against your right palm. A smile tickled your lips until you were full-on grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

“Yep, not a dream. Reality.” You slowly rubbed your belly. Where your hands roamed the movements followed. Soon you were feeling a symphony of kicks all over your stomach and you sat there smiling enjoying every second. It was surreal, yes, but it wasn’t nearly as alarming now as it had been several weeks ago.

“What are we gonna do guys? We have to get our shit together. Work is great, I can handle work but everything else. How do I even begin to go home to your grandparents and tell them about you? How do I face them? Then what do I do about your daddy?”

The thought of referring to Chadwick as their daddy made you smile and your heart flutter. It filled you with warmth and more than half of you liked calling him that. He was their father. They had half his DNA and would probably look something like him. You hadn’t thought much about anything beyond being pregnant and having a lot going on. This was the first time you began to think about the secondary things.

“He has rights, I know that. I don’t want to take them away. I just—he’s so famous and he’ll be even more famous. His career takes him everywhere, how do I know that he can be there for us? You, I mean for you. This has nothing to do with me. Right?”

The sound of your doorbell broke you out of your monologue. As you walked down the stairs you continued to rub your belly enjoying the kicks, pushes and slithers you felt. It was strange to feel movement inside of you but it wasn’t something that made your skin crawl, it did the opposite. When you looked at the video of the front doorbell you smiled seeing your friends.

“My God, could you have taken any longer?”

“Excuse me, I am pregnant and carrying more weight.”

The three of them walked in past you and made a line straight for the kitchen where you knew the wine was.

“Girl please, you’re barely pregnant, and the only more weight you’re carrying is that ass,” Ebony teased. You smiled and dipped down to do a baby twerk. The three of them cheered loudly as you fanned them off.

Once the three of you were seated around your kitchen island Zee was the one to pop the top off the wine bottle.

“It’s barely three Zee.”

“Three in LA means it’s well past five in New York,” she responded pouring the golden liquid in their three glasses.

“None for you baby mama,” Tessa said as she slid a can of apple Izze your way. You rolled your eyes, popped the top and took a sip.

“I didn’t want any wine anyway.”

“How are you doing? You’re getting bigger.” Ebony’s hand flew to your belly and rubbed your bump.

“I’m okay. I am. I think I’m going to have to go into maternity in the next week or two.”

“Six months, with twins I’d say there are many women who would be jealous at that fact,” Tessa added.

“What’s going on with the father?”

“Zee, you can say his name he’s not the damn Candyman. Jesus, Chadwick Boseman. I still can’t believe you met, and popped that pussy for Chadwick Boseman in record time and came away with two souvenirs of your time together. Girl, talk about luck,” Ebony went on.

“Luck?”

“Yes, there are plenty of women who would love to be in your position, hell any of the positions he had you in.”

The three of them snickered and you shook your head but couldn’t keep the smirk off your face.

“If they wanna be me so bad, go ahead. This is messy.”

“Have you heard from him since he showed up here to catch you with your new boo?”

“Another thing, who dates and has a boo while being six months pregnant?”

You narrowed your eyes at Ebony. She quickly raised her hands in surrender.

“First of all, I don’t have a boo. Things with Chino are—over. We had a talk after Chad showed up here and he wants to take a step back, he thinks I don’t know what I want and that I should focus on figuring it out.

“Smart man,” Tessa murmured.

“So, Chino is out of the picture. I can’t even blame him for not wanting anything to do with me. I’m having babies with Chadwick Boseman.”

“He knows he can’t compete with The Bleck Pantha,” Ebony chided in her best Wakanda accent. You rolled your eyes; you’d just about had it with her. Zee and Tessa snickered together.

“Ebony.”

Again, she raised her hands in defeat. You knew she’d pipe up again with something else to say that was slick and smart.

“Chad and I spoke, I told him everything and apologized for not telling him sooner.”

“How did he take it?”

You finished the can of Izze and went to the fridge for another and took the bowl of cut strawberries out as well.

“He took it well. There was no yelling or screaming, or tears. It was a calm conversation—surpisingly calm considering.”

“Anything decided? Does he want to be involved with his babies? Are the two of you going to I don’t know make a relationship?”

“Will you be moving in with him?”

Their questions hit you in the face one after the other like slabs of ice. They were questions you hadn’t thought about and definitely hadn’t even addressed. They were way ahead of the game.

“Guys, chill. We didn’t decide anything. He asked me if I wanted him involved and I had no answer for him.”

“What the hell you mean you had no answer? Si.” Ebony gaped at you ready to elaborate her outrage but the stern look on your face shut her up.

“What did you tell him then?”

“I said I don’t know. Guys, I really don’t know. I know he has rights and all that but not everyone who has kids should be involved with them.”

“True, but if a man is willing, able and wanting to be there for his offspring, you have an obligation to allow him, especially a black man. Remember those statistics and stereotypes are a thing. He doesn’t want to be part of the fray,” Tessa explained. She was speaking nothing but facts, you knew it.

“He didn’t say he wanted to be involved. He was clearly in shock. It was a lot to hear and absorb, still pregnant, over five months so, pregnant with twins. It was a lot. We left things with both of us needing to think and really figure out what we each want.”

“What do you want Sianna?” Zee’s voice was gentle and her hands soft as she held one of yours. You took a deep breath and slowly released it. You didn’t know any more now than you did two weeks ago.

“I got nothin.”

“Okay, this was a productive chat.” Ebony rolled her eyes, finished her glass of wine and shook her head. “It’s okay to say you want to be with him. You know that right? It’s okay to want to experience this with him. You can be strong and independent together.”

“Ebony is right. I know those are foreign words when using her name but in this particular situation, she is right. There is nothing wrong with figuring it out together,” Tessa breeched.

“I have an idea. Maybe the two of you should spend some time together. It will give both of you an opportunity to get to know each other better hence seeing where the two of you are mentally. It should give you some form of an idea what would work and hopefully, that will make it easier to figure out.”

The four of you sat there thinking about Zee’s idea. It was a good one, a really good one. The kicks began again, and you touched your belly. “You guys wanna feel?”

All hands flew to your belly and the next ten minutes were spent oohing and aahing over the kicks. After the four of you burrowed into the couches and found a Netflix movie while discussing baby stuff. They were excited for the babies and it showed with how long they were able to talk about it without even mentioning a club or even any of their latest conquests. The more you listened to them the more excited you became.

By the time seven rolled around they’d left and you were alone again. This time you were sitting in your tub trying to get a head start on your schedule for the next day while getting distracted with baby websites. You’d just finished your second bottle of the cherry limonatta you’d just gotten into drinking. It gave you the fizz and sweetness of wine without the alcohol. Who knew knocking the wine for nine months would be such a challenge? That was when your mind ran onto Chadwick. In truth, he wasn’t far from your mind at any given moment. You had his spawn growing in you and they’d been very active today.

You chewed your bottom lip and opened a new browser window on your iPad and entered his name in google. Yes, you knew about him, who didn’t, but you didn’t know everything. You were curious. As the search results populated the first one caught your eye; an image of him with a brown-skinned woman. You squinted and you could have sworn you’d seen her from somewhere. You tried to think back to where it could have been but for the life of you, you couldn’t place her face. You clicked the article and skimmed its contents. Her name was Simone and they were dating, or they had until at least a couple months ago. You wondered what happened and if you’d had anything to do with it.

You continued to go through the search results and read through the first page of articles. You’d found out his upcoming roles, recent interviews, and even learned a little more about what was going on between him and Valentina. Every time you saw a picture of them together you wanted to vomit. After thirty or so minutes you’d gotten a lot of information and you’d come to the conclusion that he seemed to be a pretty good guy. Your iPad was now stopped on a very good shot of him. He was a good-looking man.

Suddenly your iPad went off making you shriek and jump nearly dropping it into the lukewarm water. Chadwick’s name appeared. You froze unsure exactly what to do. After the third ring, you recovered and tapped the green answer button. His face appeared in a dewy white light. Without thinking you sucked your bottom lip into your mouth admiring his handsomeness.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” you repeated on a whisper.

“Is it late? Am I interrupting? Did I wake you?”

“No, no, you’re not interrupting. I was awake, just sitting in the bath.”

Chadwick’s eyebrow shot up as he looked below your face. You looked at your image checking to make sure you weren’t turning this into soft porn. The frame caught the cleavage of your breasts but nothing provocative. He’d seen this before. Chadwick shook his head and brought his eyes back to yours.

“Uh—I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. No harm, no foul.”

Silence fell between you. The two of you just sat there looking over each other’s faces. The silence didn’t feel awkward at all.

“Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. We’re okay.”

“Do you need anything? Pickles, ice cream, hot wings?”

You snorted and pinched your lips, he thought he was funny with all the pregnant woman clichés.

“Those are a lot of clichés sir.”

“I mean clichés had to start somewhere right?”

You nodded and leaned back, your body coming down from the anxiety it was in.

“I don’t crave pickles, the only accurate thing there was the ice cream and hot wings. I’ve also recently started wanted a lot of chocolate-covered strawberries. I can’t seem to get enough which spells trouble for my ass.”

Chadwick smiled and rubbed his hand along his goatee.

“This is the one time you can unapologetically adhere to the eating for two phrase, so why not?”

“Well, eating for three if you want to be accurate.”

“See, play that shit up.”

You laughed loud, it echoed through your bathroom. Chadwick joined in and you remembered his deep boisterous laugh that was all unique to him. It was a laugh you first heard in Jamaica across the beach before he approached and danced with you. It was a great laugh. Slowly your laughs died down and again the two of you just stared at each other.

“Do you uh—do you have a good supply of ice cream, hot wings, and chocolate-covered strawberries?”

You were tempted to read between the lines but decided against it.

“Finished the strawberries today, you can never have enough a supple of ice cream or hot wings.”

He nodded and licked his lips. Your eyes dropped to them and again you remembered the feel of them and how he kissed you. You couldn’t remember their taste though. It had been that long.

“Would it be all right if we met up?”

“Met up?”

“Yeah, I thought maybe we could do something, talk.”

It sounded like he was asking you out on a date, but it also didn’t sound like he was asking you out on a date.

“Something like what?”

“Well, I like to stay away from most places in LA.”

“I can imagine, the Bleck Pentha gets recognized wherever he goes.”

Chadwick smiled again but looked away as if he were embarrassed. “Go on laugh it up. Get it out.” You smiled and watched him and spoke on pure instinct without thinking.

“You can come here.”

The silence returned and Chadwick just gazed at you and looked as if he were in deep thought. You were holding your breath unsure what his answer would be.

“Are you sure?”

“Uh—I mean only if you want to. If you don’t then I completely understand. You don’t have to; I’m not trying to force you,” you rushed out in an effort to cover yourself.

“No, no, I never said I don’t want to. I know you’re not trying to force me. I do want to,” Chadwick rushed out overlapping your voice.

“You do?” The uncertainty in your voice was evident. You were surprised.

“I mean—yeah.”

You smiled small but it took no time at all for it to spread across your face.

“Okay, sounds like a plan then. We’ll—Netflix and Chill.”

Chadwick’s eyebrows shot up again and you realized what you’d just said.

“Oh my god. Wait, I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”

He laughed his hearty laugh again and you gave you a “yeah right” look.

“Oh my god, I’m serious. Jesus, I’ll see you in a bit.”

You ended the call to Chadwick’s laughter. You put your iPad to the side and shook your head, mortified at your tongue slip.

~~~~~~~~~~

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#animal fic #Chadwick Boseman #chadwick boseman fanfiction #chadwick boseman x reader #chadwick boseman x you #chadwick boseman x black reader #chadwick boseman smut #angst fanfic #slow burn fanfic

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