Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) - Movie Review

After gaining some traction with August Wilson’s words with Fences, Denzel Washington continues down that road with his latest production credit. And honestly, after seeing how this turned out, I can only see him stepping out of the director’s chair to be a good move. Don’t get me wrong, Fences was a solid production, but as a theatre adaptation, it felt a little too close to its origins to make full use of what cinema could offer such a story. Now, George C. Wolfe, on the other hand, hits the ground running on this one, and he’s not the only one doing so.

Da 5 Bloods (2020) - Movie Review

Whenever filmmakers, particularly Americans, depict the Vietnam War, it’s usually for one of two reasons. Either it’s to emphasise the trauma of the soldiers who fought it, or to offer an alternate history power fantasy, a chance to reclaim some semblance of victory through the veneer of fiction. Spike Lee’s latest joint, however, offers something different. A predominantly black version of a recurrently whitewashed chapter of American history. A figurative and literal unearthing of the past not to rewrite it, but to expose those that have already done so.

21 Bridges (2019) - Movie Review

 

The son of a murdered cop, who himself is a detective in New York, gets brought in on a seemingly open-and-shut robbery case. Of course, when the robbery in question is one of the biggest drug seizures in the city’s history, and the culprits are not only still at large but have racked up a sizeable body count of police officers, things are about to get complicated. To give themselves a chance to catch them, detective Andre Davis orders that all 21 bridges connecting Manhattan to the outside world are to be blocked off, trapping the killers on the island.

Black Panther (2018) - Movie Review

 

The plot: After the death of his father, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is set to take his place as the king of the hidden African country of Wakanda. However, frictions within his own inner circle begin to present themselves, largely connected to the continued presence of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) as well as the arrival of former U.S. black ops soldier Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), both of whom seek to disrupt Wakanda even more. T'Challa, donning the mantle of Black Panther, must save his people and come to grips with what he must do to be a true king.

Gods Of Egypt (2016) - Movie Review

This marks a first time occasion here at Mahan’s Media, which is surprising considering how often I will go on the offensive when discussing certain topics. No, for the first time yet, I have a personal reason for why I’m looking at a particular film. I would like to draw my readers’ attention to a certain Facebook post made by the director, Alex Proyas; specifically, this one. Now, even though I have echoed similar sentiments as this in the past, that doesn’t really change how much butthurt is oozing from every character of that rant. I mean, wow; I haven’t seen a director react this badly to negative press in a while now and it is no less funny whenever it happens. So, yeah, since this film didn’t really give me many great expectations going just by the trailer, chances are I could end up being one of the many that Proyas chose to throw under the bus for not understanding his vision. Then again, the current critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes for the film might be one of the most pretentious statements made in the history of the website, so I’m more than willing to buy into his argument. Nevertheless, in my continuing voyage to further separate potentially pigheaded creators from their work, time to get into today’s movie already.