Wakanda the beach episode

 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Directed by Ryan Coogler this sequel stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira and Tnoch Heurta Mejia. Wakanda faces the death of T'Challa and the emergence of another vibranium power.

There are bits and pieces of this film I liked, other parts I thought were missed opportunities. Towards the end neither of the focus nations takes any time to reflect on how they are starting to act like the paternalistic colonial powers they hate which is a big miss, I also did not like how Riri Williams gets sidelined towards the end without any agency. Really tough to follow up the first film after the death of Chadwick Boseman.

3/5

Silly Spaceman

 

Time Trap (2014)

Written & directed by Michael Shanks this short film stars Mark Taylor. A bumbling spaceman finds himself on a desolate Earth with the ability to wind back time in small pockets of space.

I suppose this is pretty fun if not that deep. The effects hold up well for the budget and era of the film. Not a huge amount to this one.

3/5

Familiar

 

Payasam And Other Careful Processes (2023)

Directed by Akshay Ravi this is a short film. A young man digs himself a hole by not telling his family the young lady he has invited over is his girlfriend.

Covers some common ground from the cross cultural dating arena. Fine for what it is even if it provides nothing particularly new. Fairly well done.

3/5

What is justice?

 

All Your Faces (2023)

Written & directed by Jeanne Herry this film has an ensemble cast. Three people working in restorative justice work to bring peace to victims and perpetrators.

As an advert for how restorative justice works and the possible benefits this film is really good, I would say where it falls down is it does not show where the process fails or does not work. To keep things a bit more realistic I think we would have need to have seen that the process is not perfect and it does not work on every one. Great performances from the cast, especially Adele Exarchopoulos in a very tough roll.

4/5

Peasants

 

The Alto Knights (2025)

Directed by Barry Levinson this film stars Robert De Niro (twice), Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis and Katherine Narducci. Two Mafia bosses who were childhood friends fall apart.

Covering familiar ground there is not much new to this mob film. Never my favourite genre this film does nothing to rise above what you expect. About the only remarkable thing is De Niro pulling off two leads in the same film.

3/5

Not that holy

 

His Holiness Pope Leo XIII (1898)

Directed by William K. L. Dickson this is an early short film. Several clips involving Pope Leo XIII.

Possibly one of the earliest films to string together a number of shots. Unfortunately the image quality is a bit milky in places, not always easy to pick out details. No doubt an interesting historical record if not that entertaining.

2/5

Living life

 

Where Have You Been (2021)

Directed by Colman Haynes this short film stars George Hanover and Paul Sparks. A woman visits the man she left nearly twenty years ago.

A nice little look at how time does not heal all wounds. I enjoy how the characters are subtly standoffish with each other, very real. Nicely done short.

3/5