James' World 2

The Harder They Fall is a Revisionist Western film directed by Jeymes Samuel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Boaz Yakin. It is one of few Westerns whose principal cast members are all Black. Although The Harder They Fall is a fictional film, its characters are based on real cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws of the 19th-century American West. Judging from the trailers, The Harder They Fall appeared to be an exciting, fast-paced all-black western that you wouldn’t want to miss.  It stars some brilliant, well-established, and very popular actors.  I must confess, I absolutely loved it.

11-year-old Nat Love (Chase W. Dillon) is eating dinner with his parents, Elinor Love (DeWanda Wise) and Nathanial Buck Love (Michael Beach) when a knock on their door proves to be a fatal visit from dad’s past.  A cowboy and his associate grace their dinner table shooting and killing first the mother, then the father…

Eternals is a superhero film based on Marvel Comics and is directed by Chloé Zhao, who wrote the screenplay with Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo, and Kaz Firpo. Eternals is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The Eternals are an immortal alien race that emerged from hiding after thousands of years to protect Earth from their ancient counterparts called “The Deviants”.  I’m always happy to see a new superhero movie emerge, so when Eternals hit the screen, I excitedly made my first appearance to the theater since the Covid shut down to see it.  I thoroughly enjoyed Eternals and was glad to be back.

In 5000 BC, the following ten superpowered aliens called Eternals were sent to Earth on their starship, the Domo: Ajak (Selma Hayek), Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), 

The Upshaws is a sitcom created by Regina Y. Hicks and Wanda Sykes. The two are expected to executive-produce alongside Mike Epps, Niles Kirchner, and Page Hurwitz. Push It Productions is the company involved with producing the series. I discovered this sitcom about a Black working-class family in Indiana, striving for a better life and a happy home while juggling everyday struggles. Since there are not many Black sitcoms on TV, I decided to give this one a shot at making me laugh — and laugh I did, abundantly.  I absolutely loved it!

The Upshaws follows Bennie Upshaw (Mike Epps), a charismatic car mechanic and owner of Bennie’s Garage. Bennie’s family consist of hiswife, Regina Upshaw (Kim Fields), his daughter and youngest child, Maya Upshaw (Journey Christine),  his oldest daughterAaliyah Upshaw (Kihali Spraggins), and his0ldest son [who has a…

Atypical is a comedy-drama created by Robia Rashid for Netflix. The series focuses on the life of an 18-year-old boy who lands somewhere on the spectrum as high functioning. He has all the issues that deemed him autistic, which I think Atypical covers quite nicely. I have a personal interest in watching this series, which I think is somewhat funny while keeping it real.

Atypical opens with Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist) in session with his therapist, Julia Sasaki (Amy Okuda). He has just learned even though he is autistic, he can date.  Sam currently lives at home with Elsa Gardner (Jennifer Jason Leigh), his overprotective mother,  Doug Gardner (Michael Rapaport) his father who works as an EMT, and Casey Gardner (Brigette Lundy-Paine), Sam’s younger sister who is also very protective of him. Thanks to her athletic abilities, she was able to earn a scholarship into a private…

Free Guy is a science fiction action thriller directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn. The story was also written by Matt Lieberman. This film follows a bank teller who thinks he lives in paradise.  Eventually, he discovers he’s actually a non-player character in an open-world video game. Actually, the trailers drew me to the story when I heard him say he was living in the perfect world.  The film was definitely a feel-good movie.

Guy (Ryan Reynolds) is a non-player character (NPC) in Free City, an open-world video game developed by the  Soonami Games family. Unaware that the world he lives in is a video game, he works as a bank teller alongside his best friend who is the bank’s security guard Buddy (Lil “Rel” Howery). In the real world, Millie Rusk (Jodie Comer), who plays Molotov Girl in the game…

Respect is a biographical musical directed by Liesl Tommy (in her feature directorial debut). Respect is written by Tracey Scott Wilson, Callie Khouri, and is based on the life of “Queen of Soul” singer, Aretha Franklin. The film follows the first two decades of Aretha’s life, from being born as a musical prodigy in an affluent but controlling African-American family to her arduous rise to international musical stardom, while simultaneously enduring an abusive marriage. In April of 2018, National Geographic renewed their series called Genius for a third season, focusing on Aretha Franklin. It aired in March 2021. My goal is to see both of these stories. So far, this version (Respect) turns out to be very good.

Respectincludes the effect of Aretha losing her mother at the age of ten, her controlling father who managed her career, constraints of patriarchy, and ultimately concluding with the recording of her…