Black History Month

Wakanda For Real (Black Panther review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I find it supremely satisfying to learn that a well-made movie, about a comic book character, and an origin story no-less, is at the top of this list both critically and commercially.

That the character is a black superhero appeals to me as both an artist (and an outlier) and because I think we’ve seen more then our share of white superheroes for some time now.

 

Black Panther (2018)

Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright,  Winston Duke, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis
Director: Ryan Coogler
released on blu-ray May 15, 2018
********** 10/10

IMDB: 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%, Audience Score 79%
The Guardian: ****/*****

Ryan Kyle Coogler is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for crafting stories that put minority characters and their cultures into the spotlight. He has directed three films, Fruitvale Station, Creed, and now Black Panther, all of which feature Michael B. Jordan in a prominent role. He will also be directing the Creed sequel which releases later this year.

Black Panther is currently the highest grossing film in history directed by an African American, a critical success and an overwhelming commercial success with an insane opening weekend box office of $202 million, beaten out only by two of the three Avengers films, Jurassic World, The Force Awakens, and The Last Jedi.

Special thanks to an anonymous Editor for the IMDB summary of the film –

After the events of Captain America: Civil War, King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country’s new leader. However, T’Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from factions within his own country. When two foes (Andy Serkis) (Michael B. Jordan) conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must team up with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) and members of the Dora Milaje (Danai Gurira), Wakandan special forces, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.

This is a film which upends a lot of stereotypes we’ve come to expect in movies. With an almost entirely black cast, each character is developed with great detail, and so there is someone for everyone to identify with, effectively eliminating any oversimplification of motives, interests and abilities. Wakanda is so much more technologically advanced then anywhere else in the world, in fact, they make James Bond movies look silly, which is demonstrated when T’Challa visits Seoul.

And let’s not forget that Shuri is the most brilliant scientist, and that the Dora Milaje are the most bad ass of the bad ass warrior guards I’ve seen in any movie really.

Pros: It’s beautiful to look at, with meticulously created sets, character backstories, lots of supporting cast that work well together, and well directed, despite it’s long runtime. Michael B. Jordan sings as Killmonger, making him one of the best villains, it not a serious contender for number one.

Cons: The fighting and action is such a formula now that it’s difficult to really appreciate it in light of all of the political discourse taking place over the length of the film. Chadwick Boseman takes a backseat to Michael B. Jordan.

Runtime: 2 hours 14 minutes

Points of Interest: The name “Wakanda” comes from the Wakamba tribe of Kenya, also known as the Kamba. Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis both starred in The Hobbit movies, and were affectionately known on set as the “Tolkien White Guys”. In one of the areas where Wakandan glyphs move on translucent walls, one wall is blue and has “4” written on it, an homage to the Fantastic Four, where the Black Panther and Ulysses Klaw made their debut appearances.

Not only is it the best looking Marvel movie yet, the soundtrack is excellent on it’s own, and it can knowingly function as it’s own film, with very little involvement from other Marvel Studio movies. Plus the politics. Thank God for the political subtleties of this story.

theories Summarized

So there you have it, all of my thoughts and feelings about the Black Panther movie, which I believe is a very important movie in the MCU and am very thankful has gotten so much praise from minority groups, considering how well made it is. I hope that means we will see even more minority character representation in the MCU movies going forward – perhaps even a Sam Wilson Captain America?

I also thought it would be a good idea to release a Watch Culture video about Captain America Civil War to coincide with this Black Panther review! After all, we wouldn’t have gotten a Black Panther movie if this one hadn’t preceded it, plus it’s an amazing representation of comics in general.

Lastly, please let me know what you thought of both of these reviews on love, like and share the video, and subscribe to the channel (and email) if you haven’t already. Lots more theories to come!

Tim!

Tell Tale Art (National Poetry Month)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I’m sure many of you have stories about how much you hated reading poetry and learning about the hidden meaning of poems when you were growing up. Especially in junior high, also know as those years between 12-15 years old, if you aren’t Canadian.

I’ve always loved to read and to write myself, but I’ve never had much of an attention span for reading at hours on end, unless I was really committed to a book, but not much can do that.

Which is why I often enjoyed poems.

Poems can be short and sweet or incredibly long, because their forms vary between generations, authors and cultures. I think of it like this, if you can enjoy music, you certainly can enjoy a poem. Because poems can serve a similar purpose, invoking emotion.

But a fair number of people ignore poetry because it doesn’t have that same sexy appeal as music. Music can be enjoyed socially (more easily), you can dance to it, and you can walk away and then come back to it.

Which is probably why academics of the form became discouraged in the 1990s and decided to do something about it, to get your attention and share the beauty of the form.

National Poetry Month is an event in the United States which takes place every April and is celebrating it’s 20th year of existence.

Did you know that the Academy of American Poets came up with the celebration after the success of Black History Month (February) and Women’s History Month (March)? Now I am not going to assume any authority on black rights and women’s rights, because I am neither black nor a woman and I don’t know what it’s like to be either, but doesn’t mean that poetry and political rights are on the same level.

I can write that statement fairly safely. But you know what that tells me about poetry, a written art form that often gets the short end of the stick? We don’t give it nearly enough respect.

Luckily for me, you, and everyone else who loves to read beautiful words, national poetry month has grown rather organically over the past 20 years and publishers have taken note. Taken from Wikipedia:

Each year, publishers, booksellers, educators and literary organizations use April to promote poetry: publishers often release and publicize their poetry titles in April, teachers and librarians focus on poetry units during the month; and bookstores and reading series frequently hold special readings. National Poetry Writing Month encourages writing a poem a day in celebration.

Canada joined the efforts in 1999 and has been supporting this event ever since, so Canadians like timotheories benefit from this as well.

What is most fascinating to me about this month is the ability to draw up debate amongst its supporters and antagonists, because by drawing attention to poetry every April it draws attention to the art form, but potentially detracts from other months when writers release new works.

The National Poetry Website of course has some great content to help celebrate the history of poetry while encouraging increased publication and distribution of books to support poets and poetry. How the organization highlights the history of the form is through sharing both living poets and classic poets with readers, introducing poetry into the school curriculum, and facilitating positive attention through traditional media and the internet.

The website even has a list of 30 ways to celebrate National Poetry Month. As you folks know already, I love list. But I’m not going to share the whole thing with you, just a taster.

Some of my favourite suggestions are as follows

  1. memorize a poem
  2. buy a book of poetry from a bookstore
  3. attend a poetry reading
  4. read a poem at an open mic
  5. learn about the different poetic forms

Now I’m not expecting you to leap onto the poetry train while it’s running full bore, but just consider for a minute that this type of creative writing could provide you with an experience you just cannot get from music or long form literature. Start with the more well known favourites like T. S. Eliot or Robert Frost and do yourself a favour and investigate another area of the arts. It may only be a theory right now, but growth only happens through change.

That’s all I have this week my friends, I hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves! Come back on Sunday for a new episode of Cross Talk, and of course, comment, subscribe and share!

Tim!