I’ve made plans several times to go see Black Panther and they all fell through, but I am going to the 12:15 showing today and I am super stoked. My friend and neighbor Gerald (the guy who helped build my house and if a general fixit guy) had shoulder surgery on Thursday, so I am taking his kids Dom and Taylor out to lunch and then to the movies (Taylor is the one who had the bad infection earlier this spring and was in the hospital for a month and almost died). I think I am more excited than they are.
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Daoud bin Daoud
John: you will not be disappointed.
ThresherK
That’s in our long-term plans, probably when it gets to the local college cinema.
We are hopefully getting around to seeing Kiki’s Delivery Service, although I’m not sure the DVD we’re picking up is the sub or the dub.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
Great idea, it’s an awesome movie.
Pro tip, from a long-term Marvel fan (aka someone who has the original mind-blowing Infinity Gauntlet comics): watch closely to see happens whenever Wakanda royalty kills anyone & compare. You should see something that most of the critics of the movie have missed (hope it’s not too much of a spoiler to note that characters do get killed off in this movie.)
Jeffro
Brace yourself for some serious awesomeness, Cole!
#WakandaForever
germy
Make sure you stay for the after-credits scenes.
Cermet
Have fun – so sorry for the severe illness that Taylor had to endure- was it an antibiotic resistant inflection? Hope the MD’s are not typical stupid and ignore his Vitamin D levels (critical for the body immune system’s ability to fight infection (massive British study.)
RobNYNY
(_______ is the one who had the bad infection earlier this spring and was in the hospital for a month and almost died)
Isn’t that his/her information to share or not to share? It seems like a strange thing to announce to the world at large in talking about a popular movie.
oatler.
I loved Kenan Thompson in SNL’s BP skit:
“This is lion meat! The good stuff!”
“Yeah that’s still frozen.”
Brachiator
@ThresherK:
Wonderful movie in either version.
And related to this, Isao Takahata, who started Studio Ghibli with Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki in 1985, died on Thursday. From one of his obituary postings.
A great loss.
Black Panther is a wonderful and entertaining movie. Very cool that Cole is finally getting around to seeing it. And of course, the big news currently is that Black Panther will be the first movie shown at a cinema in Saudi Arabia in 35 years.
Hope the popcorn is good.
dp
You’ll enjoy it.
germy
@Brachiator:
I wonder if it will be edited for that market.
Is there anything in the film the saud censors would find objectionable?
germy
BP star is hosting SNL tonight.
Pete Mack
Am I alone in not liking Black Panther? (I don’t like most Superhero movies.) Sure, the costumes were great, and the armored rhinos were top-notch CGI. But the dialogue…
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!
I suspect a curmudgeonly sort will like Death of Stalin better, which I also saw recently. That movie is horrifying and hilarious, by turns. Sometimes simulataneously. Humor black as night.
The Midnight Lurker
You rock, Sgt. Cole!
Shantanu Saha
I saw it on Tuesday with my 7-year-old (spring break outing for both of us). He was on the edge of his seat through the whole movie.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
Well, they have women driving cars, which may put a few backs up.
@Pete Mack:
Yeah, you’re pretty much alone, but not everyone likes everything. Just remember that a lot of people are very emotionally attached to it and don’t be a jerk to the fans when you say you didn’t like it.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: OT, I was just thinking about your knee and your PT and wondering how that is going. You’re not still on crutches, are you? (She said hopefully.)
Groucho48
It’s a very good superhero movie which is the equivalent of a solid regular movie.
Tracy Ratcliff
@ThresherK: the Disney DVD has both and the dub is very good.
germy
Following Schrodinger’s Cat’s advice, I order hairball remedy from amazon (for the cat).
Package arrived today.
For some reason, the box said “electronic game box” which made me glad I retrieved it from the porch quickly.
I can imagine a porch thief being bitterly disappointed upon stealing a game box package and finding hairball remedy inside.
Sonoran
@germy: Not the first movie shown in SA, preceded by the Emoji Movie. Really.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
I took myself off the crutches because they made my carpal tunnel issues flare up very painfully. ? I’ve been walking around pretty well with my fancy specialized knee brace they gave me the last time I tore my ACL. I even went to the March For Our Lives with Ruckus.
The reason I was on crutches for so long was the verdammt insurance company — it took 2 months to get the approval to see an orthopedist and another month after that to get physical therapy. By the time I was able to start PT, there was a lot of muscle atrophy and the leg had to be built back up again.
Moral of the story — start PT as soon as humanly possible to avoid similar problems.
Miss Bianca
Loved it, can’t wait to see it again. It was playing at the local movie theater last week when i went up to close on my house, but my friend and i were a bit too occupied with moving crap to go. Guess i’ll have to wait till it’s out on DVD. Just got “Thor:Ragnarok” on DVD, which everyone tells me is pretty funny. BP definitely has me going back and watching more Marvel movies than i’d been planning on!
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: that’s fucked up. Best health care in the world! :-)
Glad you at least have your brace!
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: what finally happened with your house? Did you sell to the tenants, did they quit being whiny about stuff? or did you sell to the other person ?
glory b
OT I guess but, I was just listening to Myrlie Evers, widow of Medgar Evers, on Joy Reid’s show.
She said that when Trump was at the opening of the Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi, he called her by her first name. She said she had never met him before, and did not give him permission to refer to her by her first name.
She was angry about the disrespect. I’m surprised about how angry I am too.
JDM
I haven’t seen Black Panther cause were running big around in our RV. But a vote for Kiki, although it’s one of the more lightweight Ghibli movies. And a word about Grave of the Fireflies. I’d recommend to people but it is not a light movie. It was the most emotionally wrenching movie I’ve ever seen. In 10 or more years now I’ve never rewatched it because of that. The day before yesterday I thought about asking my granddaughter if she’d ever seen it and just from thinking about it I started tearing up. And it’s inspired by actual happenings in the author’s life.
Schlemazel
@Pete Mack:
I have not seen it but the few superhero movies I have seen have the same problem for me. I have a hard time suspending disbelief, my fault I am sure but I just don’t find them engaging. That said I have heard that people who don’t like superhero movies like this one. Someone around here compared it to Hamlet.
Schlemazel
@Mnemosyne:
That last bit is good advice no matter the topic.
Schlemazel
We saw “The Death of Stalin” last night. It was very odd. I was expecting an oddball comedy and it was that although there were not any really big laughs & there was a lot of bleak parts, the ending is fairly brutal. There were some really great performances & a lot of scenery chewing. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless they were prepared, I think the trailer misrepresents it a bit.
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: i sold it not to my tenants, but to a third party, as it turned out, that was buyibg it to rent long-term to them. He finally caved after i contacted the tenants and said “look – if you really want to keep living here, i suggest you tell your friend to figure something out”. Which they apparently did. ; )
SiubhanDuinne
@glory b:
That infuriates me. Part of this country’s ugly racist history is white people not giving black people the courtesy of a title/honorific or surname.
It’s especially offensive in this case. Long before he even thought about getting into politics, Trump insisted on being addressed and referred to as “Mr. Trump” by pretty much everyone except family members.
Ben Cisco
You will have a great time, Cole. The movie is rock solid. Going back for a second viewing when I get the chance.
eclare
@ThresherK: Wonderful movie!
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: Oh that’s right, someone was buying to rent to them. Good move on the conversation with the tenants, yay! Sounds like a wake-up call for the tenants and the buyer. Congratulations on the sale, and mostly on putting that whole messy situation behind you.
Arclite
I’m glad people enjoyed it, but I found it to be just okay. T’Challa is kind of boring, the action is sub par, and the tone was dour which made the comic relief seem out of place, despite a great performance by Letitia Wright (who is also great in Humans) as younger sister Shuri. Michael B. Jordan was also a standout, but overall the experience was a mixed bag.
guachi
My take on the movie is that Wakanda is the villain.
It’s a terrible country. It’s wealth is due to natural resources that literally fell from the sky. Its political structure is awful. I found Wakanda to be a repulsive country in need of change (like the villain).
I suppose that’s why I liked the movie. The human villain is basically correct.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: It can’t just be that Trump is tone deaf – he’s too on the money in the exact wrong direction for all these slights to be random. Like the portrait in the oval office while he met with the Native American tribal leaders. On the other hand, I don’t think Trump has the ability to think all this through, and if he has people on staff who can think thread about details, then why/how is that ability not on display for other things.
It’s perplexing. Not to mention maddening, disturbing, and alarming.
trollhattan
@Schlemazel:
Interesting feedback, especially since “The Thick of It” and “Veep” are the most screamingly funny-sardonic TV shows ever.
glory b
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, my family members (as my father called them, “The old folks,”0 used to say that the only “honorific” they could expect was to be called “Uncle” or “Auntie” by whites, and only then if you were very old.
Gelfling 545
@Mnemosyne: When I got the brace for my ankle the orthopedic doctor said they would fit me and see what my insurance wanted in copay. Some, they said, specified a couple of hundred in copays but it is available on Amazon for $48. If it was too much over Amazon price I could order it from there & bring it in to be fitted. Luckily the cost was about the same so I didn’t have to order it. The universe of medical treatment & insurance is a strange and amazing place.
Brachiator
@Schlemazel:
One of the promotional posters for the Christopher Reeve Superman movie was “You’ll believe a man can fly.”
I know people who can accept any historical movie, even when everything in it is demonstrably false, but cannot suspend their disbelief for any movie set in the future.
And then there is the beloved Los Angeles area radio sports personality Rich Marotta who has never seen a modern animated film, not even a Pixar movie because he adamantly insists that cartoons are only for children.
patrick II
What I liked most about Black Panther was the African artistic sensibility with which the movie is imbued. I think that is generally an underrated part of some special affects movies, forget the plot and characters, there are visual masterpieces all around the guys and gals in their colorful tights.
Arclite
@germy:
Maybe that none of the women wear headscarves? Maybe they’ll CG them in.
Arclite
@Pete Mack:
I’m with you man.
Brachiator
@patrick II:
There was a deliberate attempt to imbue the movie with an aesthetic called afro-futurism in the art direction and production design.
The director of the recent Thor movie added touches that were references to New Zealand Maori and Australian Aboriginal culture.
WaterGirl
@Gelfling 545: I have a broken ankle and I will get a brace after i get the cast off. So I’m especially interested in what you just wrote.
Was the one you found on Amazon the exact same model as the one you would get through the doctor?
Arclite
A black man’s take on Black Panther. Obviously a minority opinion, but some interesting takes. It led to this conversation on the slashfilmcast.
Arclite
@glory b:
Really? Do we still address people by their last names? In 2018?
James E. Powell
@Groucho48:
I’m never sure whether solid is a compliment or faint praise. In a time before mine, I think solid meant cool or awesome. More recently it means a favor. I think if someone described a quarterback as solid, it means unspectacular.
trollhattan
@Arclite:
I have hazy recollections of seeing the first cinema “Superman” in the theater. That’s the total list of superhero movies I’ve seen in a theater (even if it can be argued the Star Wars franchise qualifies). They just don’t do it for me. I also preferred Mad Magazine to comic books so there’s that.
glory b
@Arclite: Trump demands it. It seems he should reciprocate.
trollhattan
@James E. Powell:
“Solid” hit it’s zenith with “Mod Squad.” Generational thing. Remember “Miami Vice” and “pal”?
Schlemazel
@Brachiator:
Oh, I buy that Superman can fly. Thats easy, I love SiFi stories. My problem is that the characters are one-dimensional and the dialog often is wooden and forced. The movies are often explosion-fests and that does not appeal to me either
I enjoyed the first Batman because Keaton’s part was at least conflicted and of course Nicholson being Nicholson. I have seen a few others and some were OK but they are just not my cup of tea. I am glad so many people enjoy them, they are not wrong but then neither am I. Its just what each person enjoys
SiubhanDuinne
@glory b:
That pseudo-affection for the “old family retainers.” Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben. Ugh.
Schlemazel
@patrick II:
One of my issues with “The Lion King” was the crappy soundtrack. When there were so many great African pop artists who could have made the movie sound like Africa DIsney chose a trite writer of maudlin pop songs. The trailers for the Broadway show make it look like they fixed that but I doubt it.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
That is a thought-provoking insight. Thank you.
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: thank you. It is definitely a load off my mind. Now i’m recovering from rolling the jeep off our inxredibly steep driveway. And looking for a new vehicle. So, on the whole, yay-ish!
Schlemazel
@trollhattan:
That is interesting because I never got the fascination with comic books. Several of my friends would spend their whole allowance (or pop bottle money) on superhero comics. I enjoyed Mad & bought it.
James E. Powell
@Arclite:
It varies with circumstances & relationships, but in that circumstance and relationship, she is Ms. Evers or Mrs. Evers unless and until she says otherwise.
Brachiator
@Schlemazel:
The promo for Superman was sly because it subtly emphasized “believe.” Peter Pan is not just a fairy tale about a kid who can fly. Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Panther and the better Marvel movies have to make you believe in the characters, not just the heroics.
And they have to bring more than just explosion-fests. However, action and big scale explosions and stuff is part of the superhero genre. To diss it is a bit like dissing a musical because it has singing and dancing.
Miss Bianca
@Arclite: So, are you trying to tell us that you’d walk up to Congressman John Lewis and say, “hey, Johnny, how’s it going?”
glory b
@Arclite: Believe it or not, many older black people can be fairly formal. Addressing them with proper honorifics is important to them. It was a formal setting, the opening of an African American history museum in Mississippi. Her husband was gunned down in front of their home by white men seeking to stop the Civil Rights movement. These are people who were denied honorable treatment for so long that they should demand it.
Note to white people, Ma’am, Sir, Mr. and Mrs. When in doubt, use them
Schlemazel
@Brachiator:
But if you don’t enjoy singing and dancing you wouldn’t pay to see a musical very often would you?
Brachiator
@Schlemazel:
You fell into my trap! ;)
I generally do not like musicals. Not my preferred genre at all. But I love movies. And I can be easily persuaded to see a good movie musical put together by a talented team. I will also happily go out on a movie night with friends who pick a musical.
I didn’t think that La La Land was as good as many others thought, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought that Emma Stone was great in the movie.
And although I love a good action movie, I can also be bored to tears by an empty headed action movie. On the other hand, I love, love, love the choreography of a well staged fight scene, and appreciate it when action or battle scenes are cleverly set up and developed.
One fight scene in Black Panther is done in a single take, and the action moves from floor level up to the second floor. And each hero has a distinctive fighting style. I think there may be a YouTube clip about it.
Hmm. I also enjoyed the recent Jesus Christ, Superstar tv production. Maybe I like musicals more than I am willing to admit.
ETA. Funny, I know people who love The Wizard of Oz, and grew up with it, but don’t think of it as a musical.
James E. Powell
@Schlemazel:
Pop bottle money! Good times, good times.
J R in WV
I tell myself, and friends, that I don’t like musicals. When young Parents dragged us all over the eastern half of the country to see outdoor theatrical events at local amphitheaters. Mostly historical things about the revolutionary war, the civil war, Settlers and Indians, the Cherokee Trail of Tears in Cherokee NC, or just plain old Broadway hits being revived by the local theater buffs.
Some were great fun, and some were tragic in unintended ways.
The last musical which wife and I saw was a very well done revival of South Pacific, which had an opera star as the local planter/star of the show. And for a work from the distant past, the treatment of race was advanced. We were at Lincoln Center’s Little Theater, a wonderful place for any theatrical performance, let alone a famous musical like that.
Currently it’s 33 degrees here, and has been snowing (or “wintery mix”) since about 2 am, but almost none of it has stuck, except on a few branches. Since getting up late morning, while snow has continued off and on, the accumulation has declined. No plans to go out much.
Friends are appearing at a multi-purpose book store downtown, a band called High Country Revival, which is a bunch of guys doing a combination of old-time string band music and alt-country. We enjoy their performances very much, but not enough to go out on a shitty evening.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: oh gosh, I completely missed that! Yikes. Sounds like no one was hurt anyway so that’s good . Maybe someone should let the universe know you have enough going on right now so it can hold off on throwing anything else new at you for awhile!
Bookeater (formerly JosieJ)
@Arclite:
Really? You’d address a stranger by their given name on first meeting them? On a formal occasion such as the one where Mrs. Evers-Williams met the President?
I’m not a very formal person overall, but on formal occasions I absolutely expect to be addressed as Ms, Mrs. or Miss Lastname until I give express permission to address me by my first name (even though I usually give that permission in the very next sentence).
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: i hadn’t actually mentioned the accident part before. Happened on Easter. For a while there i was lurking but just feeling too exhausted to make the effort to comment.
Tenar Arha
@glory b: ETA – Oh my yes. Definitely.
ETA2: @Arclite:
There’s case law on proper and respectful address for court. When ‘Miss’ Meant So Much More: How One Woman Fought Alabama — And Won. It’s a BFD.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
That’s the guy who needs to be strapped down Ludovico-style and shown Grave of the Fireflies. ?
Arclite
@glory b: Fair enough. Goose-gander and all that. I had no idea he insisted on last names only, though it fits.
Mnemosyne
@glory b:
Fortunately for me, I was raised in the post-Civil Rights days, so I address everyone older than me as “ma’am” or “sir,” because I was never taught that it was conditional on the other person’s race. That’s one small advancement that we made, at least.
Arclite
@Miss Bianca: Well, “John” but yeah. The last time I recall using a last name was in the 80s.
Miss Bianca
@Arclite: then you’d be acting like a disrespectful whippersnapper. However old you in fact are.
RobertDSC-iPhone 6
@SiubhanDuinne:
Witness Bernie Sanders & his comments about President Obama just the other day. Didn’t bother to call him President.
Aleta
@SiubhanDuinne: Absolutely. At the Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi, speaking to Mrs. Evers, his act isn’t about manners in general or some friendly habit. It’s specific to white supremacy; and if (hard to believe) he doesn’t understand this, then he shouldn’t be at the Civil Rights Museum.
In fact, it’s likely that he watched with his parents the evening news about murders and protests in the 60s South. And all the footage and interviews of segregationists. His father was and remained committed to segregation.
When he was a teenager, white Southerners still used the conventions of slavery and servitude when speaking to African Americans in their communities. The age, profession, standing of the person they addressed made no difference. He knows this, and in this context, and in speaking to Mrs. Evers, his behavior isn’t about modern convention of using first names in general. He’s shown what he represents over and over.
Betsy
@Arclite: Yes, we do. I would be offended if a stranger called me by my first name without permission. It’s called”good manners.”
Groucho48
@James E. Powell:
Yeah, maybe I could have come up with a better term. Basically, I’d rate it 8 or 9 out of 10 as a superhero move but around 6 or 7 on an overall movie scale. Watchable and I’d probably watch it again if I came across it channel surfing.There aren’t many superhero movies I’d do that for.
Tams
You’re such a good egg, Cole!