DATE: 2/16/18
TITLE: BLACK PANTHER
DIRECTOR: RYAN COOGLER
STARRING: CHADWICK BOSEMAN, MICHAEL B. JORDAN, LUPITA NYONG'O, DANIEL GURIRA, DANIEL KALUUYA, LETITIA WRIGHT, MARTIN FREEMAN, ANDY SERKIS

Black Panther is a shot of fresh air, for a franchise that started to feel awfully familiar a long time ago. Despite some glaring faults, Black Panther entertains. The film has a bad pacing problem. It's just over 2 hour runtime, is felt- hard. The narrative struggles to keep pace throughout its bloated middle section. Keeping the film afloat, is Chadwick Boseman as the titular character. Michael B. Jordan does a solid job, although, he tends to delve into hammy territory at times. Given Marvel's track record with its villains, he fits right in. Lupitia Nyong'o and the rest of the surrounding cast, help out Boseman along the way. However, it is Letitia Wright, who steals the show here. Martin Freeman, has a surprisingly juicy role along with Andy Serkis. And with Serkis, twice in one film, Marvel cements their villain problem as more of a plague. Disney also needs to consider hiring better CGI people. Some of the work here, is just awful. The soundtrack to the film, is probably the best in the library of Marvel films to date. Black Panther succeeds on more levels than it should. It's one of the stronger entries in the MCU, as its content and message add more to the film at its core. 

DATE: 2/4/18
TITLE: THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX
DIRECTOR: JULIUS ONAH
STARRING: GUGU MBATHA-RAW, DAVID OYELOWO, DANIEL BRUHL, CHRIS O'DOWD, JOHN ORTIZ, ZIYI ZHANG, ELIZABETH DEBICKI, ROGER DAVIES

As we all know, the Cloverfield franchise is no stranger to marketing gimmicks. The original flick, made use of a surprising viral campaign. One that was spoofed by the very TV station I work for no-less. 10 Cloverfield Lane, aired its first trailer a mere 2 months before the film's release. And nobody knew it was even coming. The Cloverfield Paradox followed suit. Although its path, was a bit trickier. Late last week, Netflix acquired the film from Paramount. In a gutsy move, Netflix aired the first trailer during the Super Bowl, then dropped the entire film after the game. While Netflix did something quite unprecedented, the film itself isn't up to that hype. The Cloverfield Paradox, suffers heavily from The J.J. Abrams Syndrome. The film has lots of big, grand ideas, with the promise of some big reveals. However, it never delivers on much of what it sets out to do. Like the original Cloverfield, it teases the audience quite heavily, but never truly fulfills the promises it sets up. What we are left with, is a generic, lost in space, Science Fiction film, filled with scientific gobbledygook to muddle the plot. The Cloverfield Paradox isn't bad, it's just bland. The flick has really solid performances from the cast, and they hold the film together. It's also really predictable, which is a shame. We know where this is going from the moment the film starts. It doesn't even do The J.J. Abrams Syndrome correctly. That being said, there are still elements which keep you engaged throughout. In the end, The Cloverfield Paradox is just another generic Sci-Fi film on Netflix. Which is a shame. Just watch 10 Cloverfield Lane instead.