Little Monsters Is Plagued By Big Storytelling Issues

For the first ten minutes or so, Little Monsters proves to be outright excruciating, the cinematic equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. This is the part of the story introducing the viewer to the protagonist of Little Monsters, an aspiring musician named Dave (Alexander England). Dave is a man-child protagonist whose foul-mouthed and selfish ways make the average Adam Sandler comedy protagonist look like a model citizen. Obviously designed to be intentionally unlikable, writer/director Abe Forsythe does too good of a job here, Dave is downright repellent. Even in the context of a dark comedy, why should I want to spend time with this guy? Who cares? One couldn't blame you for turning off the TV just a few minutes into his ribald man-child antics.

Us Only Gets More Terrifying The More One Thinks On It

It's time for the Wilson family to get a little beach vacation in Santa Cruz. The four members of this family, Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), Gabe (Winston Duke), Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex), who serve as the protagonists of Us, are simply looking for a little bit of R&R in their beach house even as Adelaide grapples with this unyielding feeling of despair that Santa Cruz brings out in her. But everything changes when a seemingly ordinary evening is interrupted by the arrival of four strangers in their driveway. It isn't long before it's revealed that these strangers are actually far more familiar than expected, they're doppelgangers of the four family members known as The Tethered. Led by a version of Adelaide known as Red (also played by Lupita Nyong'o), these doubles are set on one thing and one thing only: killing the Wilsons.

The Phenomenal Feature Black Panther Is A One-of-A-Kind Thoughtful Superhero Feature

Back in 2013, I had two separate screenings of then-new theatrical movies that introduced me to talent I'd never seen before. One of these films was 42, the first starring role for Chadwick Boseman, while the other motion picture in question was Fruitvale Station, the feature film directorial debut of Ryan Coogler. Boseman immediately stepped onto my radar with his performance as Jackie Robinson while Coogler showed an adept hand at depicting everyday life brought to a tragically early end in his inaugural directorial effort. Leaving both individual movies, I hoped I would see further work from both Boseman and Coogler in the near future.

My Thoughts On The Black Panther Trailer

We've been waiting for this for so long.

People have been eagerly awaiting a feature film adaptation of Black Panther for so very long, to the point that any reference to the character, no matter how small, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe drew profound excitement (I remember the mere off-hand mention of Wakanda in Avengers: Age of Ultron drew excitement from the packed auditorium full of moviegoers I was seeing the film with). Now, after eons of anticipation, a film based on this legendary superhero will finally arrive in February 2018. Before that though, we do get to see some footage from the feature in the form of a teaser trailer that dropped last night. Check it out below!


I mean....

Really?

What even needs to be said?

This looks outright flat-out incredible, holy goodness. Every frame of this trailer is jaw-dropping and that's really no exaggeration here. The look of Wakanda is obviously fully embracing the art of Afrofutirism to some stunning results, the costumes look bright, colorful and like nothing else we've seen in a blockbuster before, the action looks fantastic and oh boy, so many amazing actor get to grace the screen in this trailer alone! Lupita Nyong'o! Forest Whitaker! Michael B. Jordan! Angela Basset!!! And the shots we see of Black Panther himself in action are so great, the guys got an agility and grace to his hand-to-hand combat skills that are unlike anything else we've seen in an MCU superhero before.

 I'm chomping at the bit to see the full movie Ryan Coogler and co. have created after this phenomenal trailer! Kneel before the king of Wakanda folks because his movie looks quite incredible!

Queen Of Katwe Has Absolutely No Trouble Lifting One's Spirit

I am very much upfront about not being a sports guy myself but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy plenty of good sports movies. The key of course, like a large number of other mediums of cinematic storytelling, is to make the character key and central, the sport the individuals actually play in the plot services the characters and not the other way round. That's why Rocky, for instance, is a fantastic movie for both boxing fanatics and people like me that have never watched a second of an actual boxing match. While the debate rages on whether or not chess qualifies as a sport, the film Queen Of Katwe, the newest directorial effort from Mira Nair, once again proves how important interesting lead characters can be to a film, as the world of chess becomes just one part of the tale of a girl becoming herself amidst newfound worlds and interests.

New Jungle Book Movie Adds Ben Kingsley To Awesome Cast!

Ben Kingsley?Trevor Slattery 

I absolutely love Disney (which, interestingly enough, was my first word spoken as a human being!), but I'm especially fond of their work on the animated side of things. Out of all 53 animated features Walt Disney Animation Studios has made though, my all-time favorite may be The Jungle Book, a superbly crafted masterpiece that just has no shortage of energy, fun and engrossing characters. That classic film is the next Disney animated film in line to be given the live-action/CGI treatment that was bestowed upon Alice In Wonderland and Maleficent. A remake of this movie should make my blood boil, but with the talent already lined up for it (and plenty more to come!) the project so far sounds delightful.