Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Recently, the MCU expanded to reach it’s 30th film–Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Though this is the second Black Panther movie in the MCU, a lot has happened in the MCU since the character’s first feature-film starring role back in 2018–both fictionally and in real life. The lead character died for five years of fictional time (along with the half of the rest of the MCU), and then returned to life in time to help defeat the big bad of the day, Thanos. But then, tragically, starring actor Chadwick Boseman died of cancer at the young age of 43, something which took almost everyone outside of the man’s inner circle by surprise.

In response to this, Marvel and Ryan Coogler opted to continue with the Black Panther sequel without recasting the role of King T’Challa or relying on recent CGI technology to re-create the actor’s presence in the film. The result is a movie which deals head on with the emotions related to grief and death, and explores the impact of what it means to have lost a beloved brother, son and king. It’s in this emotional space that the film is the most successful, and we really get a story that is quite unique amongst all the others that the MCU has brought to the big screen, and that is genuinely worth telling.

Spoilers Ahead

What’s Love Got to Do with It [50 New-Old Movies for the 51st Year #35]

Mid-last year, I turned 50 years old!  And to add to all the real life goals and challenges that that brings, I’ve created at least one as it relates to movies and this blog–watch a film I’ve never seen before which came out in each year of my life (thus the “Old-New” terminology), and then write a bit about it.  This is Post #35.  Spoilers ahead.  

Olympus Has Fallen (My Brain Hurts!)

Everyone once in a while, you need to see a really stupid movie.

Well, maybe not, actually. It’s just that, if you’re going to give them a go, every once in a while you will see a really stupid movie. Sometimes you just can’t tell in advance.

But other times you can. I was pretty sure Olympus Has Fallen was going to be pretty stupid. And gruesome (based on its rating). I was right. But still, I watched it anyway. I can only blame myself.