Marcia Bautista

I felt a distinct letdown from the original Black Panther. Not that I expected the sequel to be as phenomenal as the original by any stretch of the imagination. That would have been a true Super Human feat. This continuation of the legacy just seemed to be trying a little to hard (and heavy on the special effects) and less of the natural, spiritual essence that united us and made us all proud of the first movie. I was really disappointed that the storyline pitted ‘persons/nations of color’ against each other. Thankfully, they did stop short of destroying one another and did leave some veiled hope for unity in the next film. The scenes with ‘government agents’ felt largely incongruent when that plot line could have been developed more into the true common foe to unite against. With the post credit reveal however, we can hold out hope for a return to the feeling that made us all love the first Black Panther and want to watch it over and over again. As for this hefty, bloated 2 hour 41 minute version, I’m one and done.

This show is so bad it’s good. It is 200% camp. Reminds you of an old, really old poorly acted soap opera or really slow ‘B’ movie. The script seems like it was written by a nine year old the way the lines are repeated over and over. ‘What did you say?’ ‘I said what I said’ ‘Oh you said that’ ‘Yeah & I think you heard me’ ‘Ok, you don’t need to repeat yourself’. Holy hallucinations Batman! Did I really see all that nudity on screen? Definitely adult entertainment. Now with all that being said, I am still watching; bingeing actually trying to finish all these darn episodes. This show is like a bad case of emotional eating. You know it’s not good for you but you take a nibble, then you’re snacking and before you know it you’ve eaten the whole bag & opened another one. I guess if it was trimmed down & tightened up it wouldn’t be as much fun.

Nas, A$AP Rocky & John David Washington b4 he was recognized as Denzel’s son. One bad decision can cost you the rest of your life as a free man. Not sure how believable the plot and especially the outcome were but it was an interesting drama that wasn’t beleaguered by having a run time of 1:39. Great for Netflix or prime time but I would have been a little disappointed had I paid to see it in the theater.

From Director Regina King: A timely retrospective on One Night in Miami with four icons and friends. I wondered when I started watching this movie 'What point is it trying to make?'. Then, just before the credits roll there's this quote from Malcom X: “It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That's the only thing that can save this country.” That quote and Sam Cooke's piercing ballad, 'A Change is Gonna Come', answered that question for me. Hard to believe that 50 years have come and gone but we're still grappling with the same issues today.

Okay, this was a train wreck I couldn't stop watching. Think Terminator on steroids minus a plausible back story and catchy one liner. So much ostentatious gore (including the proverbial lone Black character dying in the first 15 minutes) that this movie could cross genres from sci fi/thriller to horror. Some interesting theories about artificial intelligence that only got half baked. Maybe they can cook those up in the sequel.