Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Wakanda Forever, this 2022 sequel to Black Panther, certainly goes forever, told with the sweep of a grand war saga after Homer, which is a feat given almost the whole of its nearly three-hour runtime revolves around a single battle, and even though this conflict — between a deep-sea kingdom and Wakanda — seems easily-avoidable and founded on a misunderstanding, and even though two-and-a-half hours of not terribly interesting political exposition is spent trying to explain how and why it is avoidable to a Homeric catalogue of overwrought characters, the epic CGI fight goes ahead in the end.

★★☆☆☆

Cinecal: One Sentence Reviews

Just Mercy (2019)

Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the book upon which this movie is based, is depicted here (by Michael B Jordan) setting up the EJI and working to free from death row a first client, Alabama prison inmate 'Johnny D' (Jamie Foxx) and if there are moments you wish this long and only very plainly told 5-star story were over, you'll sit through it in any case given the case Stevenson makes against capital punishment is unequivocal and uncomfortable, and incontrovertible is his presentation of the justice system, its courts, police, and jails as a flawed (but held up as sacrosanct) temple of white privilege - a theatre not furnished with iluminated exit signs for the benefit of the beset inside.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Black Panther (2018)

In the real world, this Marvel superhero origin story, at least you hope, marks an important cultural turning point for Hollywood away from white-male-heroes-only or whitewashed or only-white cinema releases and in this respect is a joy to behold, but in the fictional world of Wakanda, this superhero's Themyscira, the fractious politics of various tribes who scene-by-scene vacillate between steadfastly, angrily standing against Wakanda's king and a moment later fervently aligning themselves with him, or vice versa or etcetra etcetra, is boring; the movie's tonal shifts - looking and feeling at times like Wonder Woman, James Bond, Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, and Shakespeare - work against your engagement; and you are ultimately left feeling less impressed with Black Panther, the vibranium-enhanced catsuit-wearing king of Wakanda, and more interested in the kick-ass General Okoye whose movie this really is.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS