Took the kids tonight, we all had a fine time. At one point the (African-American) woman sitting next to me turned to her companion and said, "This is some groundbreaking shit." Really felt like it too -- as familiar as all the superhero trappings are, it makes a big difference to a.) set it mostly in mythical Africa and b.) have pretty much everybody on screen except Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis be black. Loved Wakanda, it's totally the realization of 50 years of Afrofuturism. Great cast, and Ryan Coogler sure knows what he's doing.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 17 February 2018 05:54 (six years ago) link
i loved when they'd wake up after drinking the flower juice and they were in herbie hancock album covers. that was dope.
― akm, Saturday, 17 February 2018 06:00 (six years ago) link
I want Danai Gurira to beat me up.
"This is some groundbreaking shit." Really felt like it too -- as familiar as all the superhero trappings are, it makes a big difference to a.) set it mostly in mythical Africa and b.) have pretty much everybody on screen except Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis be black. Loved Wakanda, it's totally the realization of 50 years of Afrofuturism. based on comics from 46 years ago
― Haribo Hancock (sic), Saturday, 17 February 2018 09:53 (six years ago) link
the breakthrough is when sun ra's band switched from fezzes to egyptian headgear
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5_it5HlEe6Q/Uy5yahccQNI/AAAAAAAACBY/aiofmgzVTV4/s1600/Sun-Ra-fez.jpg
― mark s, Saturday, 17 February 2018 10:41 (six years ago) link
In my twitter I have mostly seen negative takes, mostly of the this is US imperialism variety.
This is in that mode, and was one of the more convincing:
Black Panther is a deeply evil film. It dangles the idea of global black liberation in front of you, paints that as villainous, then ends in an orgy of the freest black people to ever walk the earth slaughtering each other to protect whites. That shit turned my stomach.— L. (@leslieleeiii) February 17, 2018
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 17 February 2018 12:12 (six years ago) link
Yeah there are obvious limits to the radicalism of corporate superhero movies. (And with the movie playing out a cartoon version of Martin vs Malcolm, there’s never any question about its sympathies.) But anti-spectacle lefties tend to underestimate the value of representation.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 17 February 2018 12:20 (six years ago) link
A reason I warmed to what he was saying is that he also likes Blade
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 17 February 2018 12:24 (six years ago) link
the notion that blade has better politics seems… strained
― mark s, Saturday, 17 February 2018 13:53 (six years ago) link
sorry ur twitter peeps didn’t get the Inglorious Panther they were expecting
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Saturday, 17 February 2018 13:57 (six years ago) link
the point twitter is trying to make is undercut a bit by the fact that the on-screen characters come to the same conclusion
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:08 (six years ago) link
ie, they realize they're fighting their own community due to manipulation by their new king and immediately stand down.
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:09 (six years ago) link
based on comics from 46 years ago
Which were groundbreaking too. But obv there's an enormous gulf between a comic aimed at a subset of superhero readers -- a niche of a niche -- and a big-bash Hollywood spectacular that has probably already been seen by more people than have read a Black Panther comic in the past 50 years.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:23 (six years ago) link
I mean, it’s never clearly spelled out but the implication is that Killmonger’s plan isn’t about justice at all, and is purely about revenge and power, is there. And he pretty much acknowledges he doesn’t care how Wakanda or any country ends up, he just wants to destroy the current world
― mh, Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:26 (six years ago) link
yeah, the multitude of governments he destabilized elsewhere weren't really done in the name of liberation
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:29 (six years ago) link
the more I think about this take the more garbage it is.bloody revolution isn’t painted as villainous - it’s painted as sympathetic, even justified, and deeply self-destructivenobody slaughters anyone in the 3rd act bunfight - somehow with all those edged weapons flashing around not a drop of blood is shed, all downed vehicles seem to be piloted by remote, and the fight literally stops short on a sloppy tongue kiss.If there’s a case to be made that Black Panther is a deeply evil film (and I sympathize with the tweeter’s distress while yes laughing my balls off at the hyperbole) we could look at its explicit valorization of American-style economic and cultural imperialism
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:34 (six years ago) link
lol xpost coulda just said Neanderthal otm
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:36 (six years ago) link
i do think we're obviously meant to sympathize with Killmonger. he was left fatherless in Oakland in a year that was particularly volatile regarding race relations. some of what he says inspires T'Chaka to change his nations non-interventionist politics.
Killmonger's heel turn isn't him wanting to free the oppressed, it's that he let his politics get muddy along the way. he acts more like an autocrat than a liberator, destroying all of the vibranium plant to ensure he'd never be overthrown in a challenge (since now there would be no Black Panther reward).
he also sows division among his own people and inspires the natives into civil war.
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:44 (six years ago) link
*T'Challa
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:47 (six years ago) link
while we’re on the topic of imperialism and revolution, in a weird way I think the museum scene is my favorite thing in this movie
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:54 (six years ago) link
i want to see the welsh exhibit, where all the weapons are made of LEEKS
― mark s, Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:59 (six years ago) link
just got out of thisfucking loved it holy shit
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 17 February 2018 14:59 (six years ago) link
rank it alongside the nolan batmans
― mark s, Saturday, 17 February 2018 15:00 (six years ago) link
i mean it’s no dark knight rises obv
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 17 February 2018 15:01 (six years ago) link
so many performances of nuclear-grade charisma from actors we’d only usually see rationed out to supporting performances here and there just a delight from start to finish, with a totally compelling central conflict
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 17 February 2018 15:03 (six years ago) link
Flagging whoever mentions Nolan.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 February 2018 15:08 (six years ago) link
they did kinda have incepted dreams
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, 17 February 2018 15:09 (six years ago) link
BG otm but also so many worthwhile roles. no one is stock, no one is rote. the care and the *sweat* that went into making each speaking part *worthwhile* for the actor who would play it shames most of the big popcorners of the past idk, 20 years?
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Saturday, 17 February 2018 15:10 (six years ago) link
Alfred also otm gtfo with nolan
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Saturday, 17 February 2018 15:13 (six years ago) link
so many great roles for women too, and they play a key role in wrapping up the conflict
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 17 February 2018 15:15 (six years ago) link
yeah the gender politics are as central as the racial, just not stated as explicitly
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 17 February 2018 18:44 (six years ago) link
so the guys at breitbart like this one
― F# A# (∞), Saturday, 17 February 2018 19:32 (six years ago) link
i dislike all superhero movies and am only interested in seeing this for kendrick soundtrack in a theater, haven't seen anyone mention it itt. anything?
― sleepingbag, Saturday, 17 February 2018 21:38 (six years ago) link
it's there, but seldom takes center stage
my prediction that it'd barely be in the film was luckily wrong, it's in there! the symphonic score is pretty well-placed, too
― mh, Saturday, 17 February 2018 21:42 (six years ago) link
so many performances of nuclear-grade charisma from actors we’d only usually see rationed out to supporting performances here and there
Totally otm, loved this.
Also loved hearing a bit of Mozzy's "Sleepwalkin" towards the end. And loved basically everything else
― hoooyaaargh it's me satan (voodoo chili), Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:20 (six years ago) link
the soundtrack is barely present. Disappointingly so, I thought
― Number None, Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:26 (six years ago) link
I thought this was...fine. It was fun to see all the cast getting stuck into these roles (and I thought Michael B. Jordan's last scene was genuinely moving) but as a film qua film I thought it was just above Marvel standard
the rhinos were a misstep
― Number None, Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:29 (six years ago) link
It made sense as a choice for the soundtrack to be more prominent in the outside world, but give way to the score in isolated Wakanda
― hoooyaaargh it's me satan (voodoo chili), Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:29 (six years ago) link
rhinos are an hommage to "the travels of babar" iirc
― mark s, Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:36 (six years ago) link
you know what bugged me most about this was it starts a week after the events of civil war but chadwick boseman’s beard is at least a couple of weeks’ worth of growth longer than it was in that movieunforgivably sloppy imo
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:39 (six years ago) link
it's no batman begins
― mark s, Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:41 (six years ago) link
Good review
― rum dmc (darraghmac), Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:43 (six years ago) link
after we saw this my wife said that all the way through she was genuinely worried that nakia or okoye would end up dying at some pointonce the credits were rolling and they were both still kicking (uh spoilers i guess) she realised that it might have been cuz movies have kinda conditioned audiences to expect horrible things to happen to sidekicks/women/black people
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:53 (six years ago) link
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, 17 February 2018 22:57 (six years ago) link
also: final fight involves a monorail
once the credits were rolling and they were both still kicking (uh spoilers i guess) she realised that it might have been cuz movies have kinda conditioned audiences to expect horrible things to happen to sidekicks/women/black people
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, February 17, 2018
and it's deeply disappointing that nothing horrible happens to martin freeman. every minute he's given in the third act made me crazy lol. (not his fault - he's great, just the part is completely unnecessary other than as a defensive placement to counter #notallcolonizers)
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Sunday, 18 February 2018 00:04 (six years ago) link
his presence was legit the worst thing about this movie cuz every time he showed up all i could think was ‘this is what this shithead believes irl’https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8FVWPpCAAIiWKf?format=jpg&name=medium
― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Sunday, 18 February 2018 00:11 (six years ago) link
jesus
"I really liked hip-hop until the gangsta rap took over. I come from a time when not every rap record was 'nigga' this and 'nigga' that; an earlier socially and morally conscious hip-hop sensibility, when it was, 'Don't call people nigga'.""But now it's nigga, nigga, nigga, and it's not funny or interesting politically, artistically or socially. I really don't like it.
"But now it's nigga, nigga, nigga, and it's not funny or interesting politically, artistically or socially. I really don't like it.
― Number None, Sunday, 18 February 2018 00:40 (six years ago) link
typical fkn hobbit
― Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Sunday, 18 February 2018 02:27 (six years ago) link
haven't seen this yet but was caught by the straight-facedness of this headline
https://shadowandact.com/erik-killmonger-forgotten-wakanda/?utm_content=buffer05587&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 February 2018 04:36 (six years ago) link