James' World 2

Shaft is an action-comedy directed by Tim Story and written by Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow. Unlike its predecessor, which was distributed by Paramount Pictures, this film is produced by New Line Cinema and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the fifth film in the Shaft film series and a sequel to the 2000 film with the same title. Given the last version of Shaft, I didn’t expect too much from this version — however, it ended up being pretty decent and pretty funny.

The film starts in 1989, John Shaft II (Samuel L. Jackson), his wife Maya Babanikos (Regina Hall) and their infant son, John “JJ” Shaft Jr., survives an assassination attempt by druglord, Pierro “Gordito” Carrera (Isaach de Bankolé). Concerned Shaft’s lifestyle would expose them to even more danger, Maya thought it best to leave her husband and raise their son on her own. 25…

Late Night is a comedy-drama directed by Nisha Ganatra from a screenplay by Mindy Kaling. Amazon Studios bought the domestic distribution rights for a record $13 million. The plot follows the host of a late-night talk show who teams up with her new female staff writer in an attempt to save her position and her career.  Late Night is definitely a feel-good movie that’s funny and heart felt, all while it’s also addressing diversity.

Legendary talk-show host Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is a pioneer in her field. The only woman ever to have a long-running program on late night, she keeps her “all male” writers’ on a short leash, not even knowing their names. She is stern, unsympathetic, selfish and self centered, so after her ratings plummeted, rumors started swirling that Katherine is a “woman who hates women”.  To make matters worse, Katherine also hears she is being replaced by…

Dark Phoenix is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics X-Men characters, produced by 20th Century Fox and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the twelfth installment in the X-Men film series, a direct sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and the seventh and final installment in the main X-Men series. Dark Phoenix is written and directed by Simon Kinberg. In Dark Phoenix, the X-Men must face the full power of the Phoenix after a mission in space goes wrong. Being the last of the X-Men series, I wasn’t sure I wanted the experience to end.  The “Dark Phoenix” film was decent but I think Kinberg has gotten a couple of things incorrect.

**** SOME SPOILERS BELOW ****

In 1975, eight-year-old Jean Grey (Summer Fontana) inadvertently uses her telekinesis to cause a car accident that kills her parents. Shortly afterwards, Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy)

Rocketman is a biographical musical based on the life of Elton John.  The film is  directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Lee Hall. The movie follows Elton from his early days as a child prodigy to his slightly older years at the Royal Academy of Music to his musical partnership and success with Bernie Taupin. The film is titled after John’s 1972 song called “Rocketman”.  I wasn’t quite sure the film was going to be any good because the trailer appeared to show the movie a little on the silly side.  To my surprise, not only is it a serious movie, I also found it to be really good.

As a very young child, Reginald “Reggie” Dwight (Matthew Illesley) is raised by his cold hearted mother, Sheila (Bryce Dallas Howard) and more caring grandmother Ivy (Gemma Jones), while his father Stanley (Steven Mackintoch), is away serving in…

Designed and created by Josephine R. Unglaub.

Aladdin is a musical fantasy directed by Guy Ritchie, who co-wrote the screenplay with John August. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, it is a live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1992 animated film of the same name, which is based on the eponymous Middle-Eastern folktale from One Thousand and One Nights. I decided to see Aladdin at the last minute and I’m glad I did because it is the best version of Aladdin I’ve seen.

Aladdin opens with a husband (Will Smith), his wife Dalia (Nasim Pedrad) and their two children, Omar (Jordan A. Nash) and Lian (Taliyah Blair), sailing the world. As Omar and Lian watch a much bigger and more lavish ship pass by, they become excited. The husband hears the children comment on how much better the passing ship is, so he decides to tell them the story of Aladdin, the Princess and the lamp, emphasizing bigger isn’t…

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is a neo-noir action thriller. It is the third installment in the John Wick film series, following John Wick (2014) and John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017). The film is directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams, based on a story by Kolstad. In the film, ex-hitman John Wick finds himself on the run from legions of assassins after a $14 million contract is put on his head. John Wick: Chapter 3 is strictly about the fighting and a lot of killing.

Less than an hour after the conclusion of John Wick: Chapter 2, former hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is now a marked man, on the run in Manhattan. After John’s unsanctioned killing of crime lord and new member of the High Table Santino D’Antonio in the New York City Continental, he is declared “excommunicado”…

Tolkien is a biographical drama directed by Dome Karukoski and written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford. The film is about the early life of English professor J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as other notable academic works. Tolkien is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures under the Fox Searchlight Pictures banner, making it the first film released by Searchlight after an acquisition by Disney.  I wasn’t sure about Tolkien — I thought it might be a documentary, but it isn’t. The film was well done and I’m glad I got to see it.

Tolkien opens with young J. R. R. Tolkien (Harry Gilby) lying in a field of leaves fantasizing about two fully armored men on their horses, fighting amidst fire, with spears drawn. Reality sets in and he awakens as an officer in WWI who is badly…

Avengers: Endgame is a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team,The Avengers. The film is produced by Marvell Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Avengers: Endgame is the sequel to 2012’s “The Avengers”, 2015’s” Avengers: Age of Ultron” and 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” , it is also the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Avengers: Endgame is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Endgame picks up with the surviving members of the Avengers team, along with their allies working to reverse the damage caused by Thanos during the Infinity War. I for one, anticipated Endgame with bated breath. While I thought this was a descend sequel, I was somewhat disappointed.

Thanos (Josh Brolin) used the Infinity Stones to disintegrate half of all life across the universe, leaving us devastated by the deaths of our…