Black Panther

— In the Marvel film world, superheros either spring into the universe with no backstory and any hint of their history comes through tentative flashbacks or, as is the case with Black Panther, with lavish detail to ensure the right amount of awe and glory. There’s a lot to be said for this film. It refocuses things so, instead of giving us a film about a dumbfounded fellow discovering his superpowers and dealing with them, this is really just about a man trying to become a better king, protect his country, and help those less fortunate around the world. Superpowers almost take a back seat and the positive energy flows everywhere, even in Kendrick Lamar’s sometimes irritating music. The film does a good job of telling the story and certainly presents a positive role model while asking important questions about race and identity, as well as about isolationism and internationalism. It’s a little more earnest than I like my Marvel films to be, but maybe that's just goes along with the burden of trying to be “a defining moment in Black America” (Carvell Wallace, NY Times).

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[2018. 134 min. Directed by Ryan Coogler. Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, and Angela Bassett.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/black-panther-2018

I, Tonya

— This is a good film and I did like the way is was done, although I’m hard pressed to define the style. Dark comedy? Pseudo documentary? Over-the-top trashy? Whatever it is, it’s got good people doing it, managing to retell the story of Tanya Harding’s assent and descent in the figure-skating world based on wildly conflicting narratives by key people, including Harding, her husband, her mother, and her coach. The failure of anyone to take responsibility and the notion that we all have our own personal truths, permeate the film. The problem, of course, is that while what we see as truth comes through our own filters and is personally adjusted over time, there are still those pesky facts to deal with. It’s a good reminder of the bias our own pasts, beliefs, and righteousness can bring to our perspective on everything, and of the way the media can nudge the truth in a profitable direction. The image of Allison Janney—older and on one end of a floral sofa with busy wallpaper behind her, feisty and cranky, wearing a fur coat, with oxygen and a parrot on her shoulder—will stay in my head for a while. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s much better than average.

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[2017. Directed by Craig Gillespie. Starring Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Ulianne Nicholson, and Paul Walter Hauser.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/i-tonya-2017

The Shape of Water

— An adult fairy tale with some horror and espionage too, along with a greenish tint to some extraordinarily detailed, textured, lush, beautiful images. Sally Hawkins portrays her character with just the right amount of softness and sensitivity and the entire cast is good enough to overcome a storyline that would have been too far-fetched otherwise and, even so, it definitely requires a suspension of disbelief. Occasionally it’s a little obvious, but I’m sure there were even more references and nods to the past I missed. It grabbed me completely for the viewing, raising issues about love, longing, completeness, sexuality, gender, race, inclusion—pretty much most of the current day issues of political contention. I loved the feel of the film, maybe even more than what there was to take away, and I think its an amazing feat to mix such fanciful elements and storylines into something that flowed so smoothly and believably. Definitely worth seeing.

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[2017. 123 min. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Starring Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, Michael Shannon, and Michael Stuhlbarg.]
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/movies/the-shape-of-water-review-guillermo-del-toro.html