Movie Review - American Fiction

Director: Cord Jefferson
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 117 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Sterling K. Brown, Issa Rae, Keith David, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Erika Alexander, Adam Brody, John Ortiz, Raymond Anthony Thomas
 
Description: A novelist (Jeffrey Wright) who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from Black entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of the hypocrisy and madness he claims to disdain.

Review: In “American Fiction”, a struggling writer is offered a big movie deal for his purposely steretype-filled, accidentally successful novel Fuck. The movie applies critique of the literary world from Percival Everett’s 2001 satirical novel “Erasure” to today’s film world.

When author Thelonious “Monk” Ellison hears from his agent that his books ‘aren’t black enough to sell’, he writes a novel filled with black stereotype out of frustration. He want the book to hold a mirror up to the literary world, about their worship of real and raw stories about the struggles of black people. He calls the book Fuck, pretends it was written by a fugitive criminal and thinks that makes it unpublishable. Of course, it becomes a raging success. He gets a 750 thousand advance and a movie deal.

Debuting director Cord Jefferson based the screenplay of “American Fiction” on the 2001 satirical novel “Erasure”. The criticism of the literary circuit from “Erasure” clearly dates back to the turn of the century. “American Fiction” shifts the focus to a critique of Hollywood. The actual focus is of course Ellison’s personal life.

Ellison is the sole writer in a family of doctors. They own a beach house and have a live-in help. When h is fired as a literature professor at a university in California, de decides to visit his family in Boston. He dislikes them. His brother and sister have always resented him for being his father’s darling. What follows is a personal story.  

I absolutely loved “American Fiction”. An underdog at the Oscars of 2024, that will most likely not win a single award, but really deserves a ton of praise. Not only the movie and its story, but also for actors Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown. Go watch this film, it’s streaming on Amazon Prime.

Rating: 5/ 5

10s Movie Review - The Predator

Director: Shane Black
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Thriller
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Jake Busey, Yvonne Strahovski

Description: When a young boy (Jacob Tremblay) accidentally triggers the universe's most lethal hunters' return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled scientist can prevent the end of the human race.

Review: With “The Predator”, director Shane Black tries to bring the nostalgia back to life, from the 1987 original (Fun fact: Black was actually in that film). The film is iconic, especially because of its one-liners coming from Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And they use these one-liners, but change them. Auch…. Not very clever. Then only clever choice is to copy the level of ‘macho’ from the original.
The film never gets scary or exciting. It’s a very messy film with no memorable characters, besides the Predator himself off course.
This movie wasn’t really necessary, I’ll stick with the Arnold Schwarzenegger film.

Rating: 2 / 5

Movie Reviews - Hotel Artemis

Director: Drew Pearce
Genre: Action/ Crime
Runtime: 93 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day, Dave Bautista, Jenny Slate, Brian Tyree Henry

Description: Set in riot-torn, near-future Los Angeles, 'Hotel Artemis' follows the Nurse (Jodie Foster), who runs a secret, members-only emergency room for criminals.

Review: In future Los Angeles, a civil war is happening. Water is a luxury and when the watersupplies are shut off, riots start. People fighting in the streets, helicopters crashing into buildings and police shooting everything that seems suspicious. For The Nurse, owner of Hotel Artemis, it’s the most normal thing in the world. It’s a place for wounded criminals and according to her the world is in constant war. A place you will never be safe. For her, Hotel Artemis is the only place.
Jodie Foster plays The Nurse, a grumpy and stubborn woman that works with strict rules. Clients get codenames, weapons are forbidden and the most important rule: don’t kill other patients. Off course, all kinds of characters enter her hotel: hitmen, asshole criminals, wounded robbers and frantic sons of mob bosses. Charlie Day plays a fun role and Dave Baustista adds some humor to the film. Foster really does a good job as the charismatic and bossy nurse.
All the flamboyant characters make sure that the well organized life of The Nurse fall apart, bit by bit. And she gets closer to the outside world. The film has a good storyline and manages to add some depth too.
“Hotel Artemis” has a strong cast and it’s a pretty good film.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Reviews - Black Panther

Director: Ryan Coogler
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 134 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurai, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis

Description: T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T'Challa's father's mistake.

Review: In “Captain America: Civil War” we saw how the king of Wakanda dies, due to a bombing. Wakanda is a country, secluded from the rest of the world. Son T’Challa is the rightful heir to the throne, but there are people that think otherwise. Because of this battle, Wakanda’s well-hidden secrets could be out in the open.
Wakanda looks like a normal third world country, but when you dig deeper you step inside a hidden world. Wakanda is far ahead when it comes to technology and it’s a very advanced nation. Their country is build on land filled with Vibranium (which is also the metal where Captain America’s shield is made of).
Gangster Klaue is one of the only outsiders that ever managed to enter Wakanda, which is also protected by the Black Panther. The second role the Wakanda king has.
Most Marvel film have loads of humor, which works for the most part. “Black Panther” doesn’t use it and that’s a good thing. It wouldn’t fit here. It’s basically limited to T’Challa’s siter Shuri and tribe head M’Baku, who steal the show comedy wise.
Chadwick Boseman fills in his role as Black Panther very well. “Black Panther” is the last piece of the puzzle, before “Avengers”Infinity War”.

Rating: 4 / 5