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Take Two: Black Panther Raises the Bar at Marvel

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6 years ago

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Marvel’s newest movie, Black Panther, is many things at once. It’s the eighteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a series of interconnected movies (and related TV series plus other media) that began with Iron Man in 2008 and has generated over thirteen billion dollars at the global box office (making it the most successful film franchise in history). But Black Panther is more than just a continuation of existing stories. It’s unlike any other superhero movie before it. In short, it is the blackest superhero movie ever made, and it depicts blackness in ways that no Hollywood movie before it has ever done.

For those who do not know the character, the Black Panther is the superhero alter-ego of King T’Challa of Wakanda, a fictional country in Africa. As much as T’Challa himself, Wakanda is the star of the movie, a fully-realized vision of an Africa that never was: never colonized by Europeans, never stripped of its resources, never subjugated. Not only is Wakanda independent and free, it is wealthy and extremely advanced thanks to deposits of a metal known as Vibranium. Technology in Wakanda isn’t just twenty-first century, it’s hundreds of years beyond that. To protect its people and its resources from outside encroachment, Wakanda cloaks itself behind elaborate holograms. The world at large sees another “Third-World” country with jungles, farmers and “cool textiles.” In reality, Wakanda is like a Star Trek planet founded by Africans.

The plot of the movie focuses on Wakanda’s status as a hidden jewel of wealth and technology, and whether Wakanda can or even should remain shrouded from the outside world. That question isn’t treated glibly, nor is it divorced from the history of the fallen world in which we actually live (as opposed to the Afro-futurist ideal of Wakanda). It plays out as a power struggle between different tribes and between different branches of the royal family. It includes plenty of action, but that action is driven by ideas and ideals to an extent that none of the other MCU films have been.

Co-written and directed by a black man, and starring a cast that is almost entirely black (and which spans the globe by including Americans, Brits, and Africans), Black Panther shows us sights we’ve never seen in a Hollywood movie, from the fierce female warriors sworn to protect Wakanda to the armored rhinos that charge into battle to the hidden city full of levitating trains, spaceships, holograms, nano-suits, magical herbs and, yes, really cool textiles. Out of all of the Marvel movies, this is the first one that will NOT give you the feeling that “we’ve been here before.” We haven’t. This is something new, fresh and exciting. It is optimistic, joyful, and beautifully, wonderfully black.

If Black Panther succeeds at the global box-office, which the early signs point to it doing, it has the potential to radically change the playing field in the movie industry. No other film of this scale has ever had this many people of color involved in its creation. No other tent pole movie has ever had a story in which white people were, at most, incidental. No, they aren’t excluded from the film, nor is it even slightly “anti-white” (though it is most assuredly anti-colonialist). They just aren’t the focus of the plot. This movie may finally stand as the irrefutable proof that they don’t always NEED to be the docs point; that fantasy, escapism, excitement and heroism can and should come in many guises, and show many hues. The previous MCU films have almost all been good, or at the very least thoroughly competent (hello, Ant Man). Black Panther is the first MCU film that truly MATTERS.

Written by: Wayne Allen Jones

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Paramount+ Reveals Official Main Title Sequence for the Upcoming Series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

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14 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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During the TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES panel earlier today at San Diego Comic Con, Paramount+ revealed the official main title sequence for the series. The sequence is composed by EMMY® nominee, Matt Mahaffey, known for his work on Sanjay and Craig, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie and much more. 

From the studios of the Mutant Mayhem film, the all-new Paramount+ original series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures.

TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.

In addition to the upcoming new series, stream all things Turtles on Paramount+.

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Comic-Con 2024: Those About to Die Activation

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17 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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DISNEY+ CASTS DANIEL DIEMER AS FAN-FAVORITE ‘TYSON’IN SEASON TWO OF “PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS”

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17 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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 in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, Rick Riordan and Disney+ revealed that Daniel Diemer (“Under the Bridge”) will star as fan-favorite cyclops “Tyson” in the epic adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Diemer joins Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) as a series regular. The Disney+ Original series from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television will start filming its second season next week in Vancouver.

Season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is based on the second installment of Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series titled “The Sea of Monsters” by award-winning author Rick Riordan. In the new season, Percy Jackson returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing, and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.

Diemer stars as Tyson – a young Cyclops who grew up all alone on the streets, and finds it difficult to survive in the human world.  Shy and awkward, with a heart almost as big as he is, Tyson soon discovers that Poseidon is his father, which means Percy Jackson is his half-brother… and that Tyson may have finally found a home. 

Diemer recently starred in the Hulu limited series “Under the Bridge” based off the critically acclaimed book of the same name and a tragic true story of a missing teen girl in Vancouver in 1997. He will next star in the indie “Thug” opposite Liam Neeson and Ron Perlman for director Hans Petter Moland. Daniel was recently seen as the lead in the indie “Supercell” opposite Alec Baldwin and Skeet Ulrich and the lead in the film “Little Brother” opposite Phil Ettinger and JK Simmons. Daniel can also be seen in the Netflix series “The Midnight Club” and recently starred as the male lead in the breakout hit Netflix feature “The Half Of It” from producer Anthony Bregman and director Alice Wu. He is a graduate of Victoria Academy of Dramatic Arts in Vancouver.

Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg, season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is executive produced by Steinberg and Dan Shotz alongside Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Craig Silverstein, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group’s Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Albert Kim, Jason Ensler and Sarah Watson.

The first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is available on Disney+

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