Review: Black Panther

Black Panther (2018) - Ryan Coogler

       The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a behemoth of pop culture, film-making, marketing, and cross-over capitalism the likes of which Hollywood has never seen before. Eighteen movies in, it's honestly incredible that the products they're putting out are of the quality that they are, and Black Panther is no exception. It's a smartly made, well-acted, and successful film that sure, feels similar in story beats and protagonist woes to many of the other MCU pictures, but still accomplishes the particular emotional beats in a way that made me feel happy when I was watching it. In fact, regardless of the fact that it IS the 18th movie in this series, and it does have a lot of the exact same themes and plot points as other (possibly better, don't get mad at me *coughs* Thor 3 *coughs*) Marvel movies, it is one of the most disconnected movies from the entire movies catalog, and that's what makes it so good.
       For the most part I really enjoyed Black Panther. It was quick, fun, had some pretty great characters, and of course added diversity in both race and gender to the film's line-up, something everyone has known was lacking from the MCU since day one. Yes, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is the King and the main protagonist, but the rest of the movie is littered with badass women who show just as much (if not more) agency and ingenuity than the titular hero. It creates a fascinating world that I am only left wanting more of. Wakanda, the fictional African nation already introduced in Captain America 11, was blessed by (cursed? Eh? Eeeeh? Provocative?) an asteroid of Unobtanium--sorry--Vibranium (which let's face it, is the same thing) that blessed the nation with amazing technology, medicine, and most importantly, a way to shield its power from the outside world via some pretty cool Harry Potter magic. But since then, thousands of years ago, they have kept their technology a secret, other than Cap's shield, which is also made of Vibranium (It's the strongest metal in the world, you see). And here begins the plot of Black Panther.

       As we've already seen in Captain America 112, Wakanda's King, T'Chaka, has died, and his son, Chadwick, is about to take over. The movie is a mostly self-contained Wakandan adventure, spare a daliance or two in South Korea, and this works to the movie's benefit. The entire first act of the movie deals with Wakanda, its rules and ceremony, and how the people live together yet somewhat separately. I really can't stress enough how much I enjoyed the culture and world development of the nation, because it is truly the most important idea of the movie, more than T'Challa, more than his purple flower that makes him a hero. Director/screenwriter Ryan Coogler does a clever job to make sure the real hero isn't just T'Challa, but rather his whole nation and the people who make it a beautiful place to live.

       I want to take a moment to say that this movie is beautiful in a way most Marvel movies aren't. I think the most otherworldly Marvel movie are usually their best, a la GOTG or T3or, but Wakanda offers just enough otherness tethered to reality to really make an intriguing visual style that made me appreciate what I was seeing, even when the third act devolved to punchy-punch.
       I don't have a TON of criticism for this very enjoyable and well-made movie, but it absolutely suffers from a third act fart-fest, albeit in different ways than most Marvel movies do. The villain, who is played by Michael B. Jordan (Who I love so much) starts out as a blank slate of Stringer Bell coolness, (MILD SPOILERS, but it's a Marvel movie, so there's really not that much to spoil. We've already seen the trailers for Infinity War and have seen the entire cast from this movie in it) and is given a pretty solid backstory with an all-star father (Sterling K. Brown) to round out his emotional hardships, and yet, the movie still takes all his ideas and all his motives and all his history and condenses them into a paragraph, something for Bilbo to spout off quickly about how evil he is.

       Welp. Nah, bro. He somehow has a legitimate claim to the throne (which, for how advanced a race they are, they sure do resort to fighting to the death too often for how to decide a king. Seems kind of dumb. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's still 100% better than the Electoral College, but holy shit, this whole conflict could have easily avoided with at least one or two laws written down), and earns it legitimately. He is the forgotten member of a royal family with something to prove, and it's relatable. Not just because MBJ kicks so much ass, but because we've all felt passed over. But then once he gets what he wants he becomes almost exactly the same as the people he hates. He's all stabby-stabby shooty-shooty. It immediately loses its charm and becomes another punchy-punchy festival. It just could have been more nuanced. There is also a lot of simultaneous and very quick side switching and backstabbing, which seems slightly rushed and unbelievable, especially considering how great this nation is supposed to be.

       But hey, I ain't here to say the movie doesn't work, cause it does. It's a really well-made Marvel movie that should have happened a while ago. And one of the best things about this Marvel movie in particular is that there are absolutely no other Marvel heroes in it! No Captain America at the beginning, no Vision popping up in a video chat halfway through to remind us all that it's a Marvel movie, and that made me so happy. Did anybody else here love Spiderman: Homecoming but get immedaitely kind of tired when RDJ or John Favreau had to pop up and be funny? This movie actually felt like a contained story with a gorgeous world that only made me want to see more of it. Part of me is almost irritated that the MCU can keep sending out good movie after good movie, but I guess that's only because I am a terrible, petty man. Oh well! Enjoy the movie!

Movie Grade: 7 out of 10 Awesome Technology Genius Sisters (Letita Wright! She was in Black Mirror! Isn't that fun! She was possibly the best part of the whole movie!

Also I didn't write this joke, BUT: The only two main white Actors in the movie are Andy Serkis (who played Gollum) and Martin Freeman (who played young Bilbo). Soooo, I guess you could say they're the Tolkien white characters?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review: Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – Taiki Waititi

     The newest Thor movie, the third of its trilogy in the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, coming after what seems like no less than three hundred and eleven previous Marvel installments, is probably as good as we can hope to get at this point, and that is really not a terrible thing. It didn't reinvent the wheel. It didn't really try to do anything that Marvel hadn't done before. It still had dumb plot maguffins, shoed-in cameos to make us say OH HAI DR. STRANGE, I MEMBER YOU, and a pretty lame bad guy, but goddamn if it wasn't a pretty fun time with plenty of 80's style and charm to boot.

     The fact that the entire movie and its big jokes were intimately detailed in every trailer and still wasn't ruined while viewing is a testament to loose, improvisational style that director Taiki Waititi and the movie takes. It's probably the funniest Marvel movie, possibly only being outdone by the first Guardians (which owed a lot to the same looser, comedic tone that James Gunn very intelligently used). In fact, Thor: Ragnorak takes a lot of cues from its inter-dimensional space brother, and not just in humor. The junker, thunder-dome planet of Sicara, where all the best parts of the movie take place, has a bright, grimy, retro 1960s as future feel to it that goes side by side with Starlord listening to a mix tape on a Walkman while discovering extraterrestrial power sources.

     Jeff Goldblum at some of his Goldblumiest, the bright splashes of yellows, greens, and neon, and most importantly, the dystopian, 80s synth soundtrack (Turbo Boy with a 100 million dollar soundtrack, anyone?) definitely set this movie apart from Thor's previous installments (which, while basically everyone's least favorite, I kind of enjoy. The Dark World was just so stupid that I thought it worked). And almost the whole cast is fucking charming. Chris Hemsworth uses his veiny, biceppy, innate dumb-goodness for maximum likability, making the character welcomingly relatable for basically the first time. His scenes with Hulk (even though I swear to god we saw most of them in the trailers) are exactly what he needed to show some humorous range.

     But the MVP award goes to Tessa Thompson. She's a hard-drinking, tough-as-shit, former warrior princess who turned her back on her people (after I'm pretty sure her fellow female warrior/lover was killed, but phew, thank god they didn't say it for sure cuz IT'S ADAM AND EVE NOT THOR AND STEVE. Steve like...Steve Rogers...Get it? That's Captain America's name? Aaaah you get it!) and doesn't give a shit about nobody, until of course she changes her mind and decides to give a shit. But the script (or lackthereof) and Thompson's unbelievably charming performance make all these things about her character not suck at all. She actually appears to have strength and autonomy and she's a breath of fresh air. She reminded me of Osha from Game of Thrones if only she was an immortal badass warrior and wasn't lost for four seasons only to be immediately stabbed in the neck by Ramsay upon returning (SORRY SPOILERS).

     Cate Blanchett is there to chew up some scenery. It's...fine. There's a long punchy-fighty third act that doesn't quite nail it (Marvel movie Third acts...more like TURD ACTS, AMIRITE?!) There's a few “emotional” scenes with Anthony Hopkins as Odin that also kinda fart along, but thankfully those don't take up too much time. The things wrong with Thor are the same things that plague every halfway decent superhero movie. At this point there's no way to escape the cross promotion and vertical integration synergy jargon machine that is the MCU, but most of those evils are kept quirkily at bay by first time big-budget director Taiki Waititi, whose complete lack of experience in this type of blockbuster making was probably the movie's greatest asset.

     I'm pretty sure that, creatively at least, the MCU is teetering on its last legs, and even though I still see every one of these things in theatres, even I can't be sure how much longer this shit is going to be entertaining. But Thor: Ragnarok is plenty fucking entertaining. So whatever. Let's all pick up some snakes because we all know how much Thor loves snakes.

GRADE: 7 of 10 Smashed Magical Hammers

17 Dollars? More like FREE BECAUSE MOVIEPASS IS THE DUMBEST/BEST THING EVER. There's no way this is going to last long.

This is truly neither here nor there, but before I saw the movie I went to the taco truck across the street (Danny's, I think?) and ordered a Cubano torta. It had a hot dog on it. It had ham and some roast pork too, but it also. Had. A fucking. Hot. Dog. On it. It didn't even taste horrible, it was just an abomination against God. That's all. Just had to get that off my chest.