cupofsoulshow
Joined May 2018
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cupofsoulshow's rating
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cupofsoulshow's rating
Family, Legacy, a House, friendship and the city by the bay are some of the underlying themes of "The Last Black Man in San Francisco." Based on the true story of Jimmie Fails. It's a resonating story of how a house becomes the centerpiece of survival while highlighting a unique friendship.
The movie opens with Jimmie and Montgomery waiting on the bus. Every free moment they have evolves around "The House."
The House is a home that was allegedly built by Jimmie's Grandfather and was the last home Jimmie had before having to endure homelessness and group homes.
Director Joe Talbot is a fifth-generation San Franciscan. It shows in every frame of this movie - the tight shots of Jimmie and Montgomery Skateboarding through San Francisco are visually pleasing while intersecting comedic characters. It's San Francisco from a local's point of view.
Jimmie Fails makes a stunning debut as himself. Although he's reliving his life, there's a full-fledged character on the screen. We are rooting for Jimmie as he works through every obstacle to regain ownership of his family legacy.
My favorite character in this movie was Montgomery. Montgomery is eccentric. Jonathan Majors turns in a fantastic performance. He attacks this role with every fiber of his being, and it shows. Montgomery is comfortable with who he is unlike Jimmie.
The onscreen chemistry between the two characters is also another reason why this movie works. It's evident in the opening scene when they are waiting for the bus. The observations they share are fluid and natural.
Tichina Arnold portrays Jimmie's aunt, Wanda. Arnold brings her famous wit to this role.
Veteran Actor Danny Glover, in my opinion, has the best twenty minutes of screen time as Grandpa that we've seen him deliver in ages. He's Montgomery's cheerleader and never makes his grandson feel odd for his eccentricity.
Another notable mention goes to Mike Epps as Bobby, the homeless OG. Epps continues his streak of playing smaller but strong parts in good movies.
Everything works in the movie. The dialogue written by Jimmie Fails, Rob Richert, and Joe Talbot is robust. The writers tackle many tough topics.
Topics such as gentrification, effects of drug abuse, inner city violence but at heart, and the focus always remain with Jimmie and Montgomery. Their unwavering love and support towards one another are what drives this fantastic movie.
Another positive is that their relationship is genuine. We don't often get to see two black men loving, and fighting for each other.
Kudos to A24 for continuing to support movies that touch the soul.
I highly recommend this movie and pray that it receives the proper marketing and rollout. The performances deserve to touch a bigger audience.
The movie opens with Jimmie and Montgomery waiting on the bus. Every free moment they have evolves around "The House."
The House is a home that was allegedly built by Jimmie's Grandfather and was the last home Jimmie had before having to endure homelessness and group homes.
Director Joe Talbot is a fifth-generation San Franciscan. It shows in every frame of this movie - the tight shots of Jimmie and Montgomery Skateboarding through San Francisco are visually pleasing while intersecting comedic characters. It's San Francisco from a local's point of view.
Jimmie Fails makes a stunning debut as himself. Although he's reliving his life, there's a full-fledged character on the screen. We are rooting for Jimmie as he works through every obstacle to regain ownership of his family legacy.
My favorite character in this movie was Montgomery. Montgomery is eccentric. Jonathan Majors turns in a fantastic performance. He attacks this role with every fiber of his being, and it shows. Montgomery is comfortable with who he is unlike Jimmie.
The onscreen chemistry between the two characters is also another reason why this movie works. It's evident in the opening scene when they are waiting for the bus. The observations they share are fluid and natural.
Tichina Arnold portrays Jimmie's aunt, Wanda. Arnold brings her famous wit to this role.
Veteran Actor Danny Glover, in my opinion, has the best twenty minutes of screen time as Grandpa that we've seen him deliver in ages. He's Montgomery's cheerleader and never makes his grandson feel odd for his eccentricity.
Another notable mention goes to Mike Epps as Bobby, the homeless OG. Epps continues his streak of playing smaller but strong parts in good movies.
Everything works in the movie. The dialogue written by Jimmie Fails, Rob Richert, and Joe Talbot is robust. The writers tackle many tough topics.
Topics such as gentrification, effects of drug abuse, inner city violence but at heart, and the focus always remain with Jimmie and Montgomery. Their unwavering love and support towards one another are what drives this fantastic movie.
Another positive is that their relationship is genuine. We don't often get to see two black men loving, and fighting for each other.
Kudos to A24 for continuing to support movies that touch the soul.
I highly recommend this movie and pray that it receives the proper marketing and rollout. The performances deserve to touch a bigger audience.
It's been 27 years since we received the original The Lion King, 25 years of Lion King on Broadway and now fast forward to 2019 Disney is giving us a photo-real Lion King. This Lion King has star power casting ranging from Donald Glover to the incomparable Beyoncé.
The 24 million-dollar question is can this re-imaging of the classic tale expand on the original or will it simply be a film that's great on CGI but lacks personality?
Three things that are vital to this story the music, the characters and the CGI. John Favreau took on this insurmountable challenge having previously worked on The Jungle Book. He said he learned a lot form the latter and applied those lessons to The Lion King.
The scenery of this new version of The Lion King is breathtaking. I'm not sure if you can accurately call it live-action seeing that Lion's don't talk and sing the more appropriate terminology is virtual cinematography technology. In plain language think National Geographic, that portion of the movie is amazing. It's Disney and one would expect nothing less. The one drawback from using this resource is that it felt less personalized. There was no differentiation between the Lionesses. Nala and Sarabi looked the same. The same issue occurred with the Hyenas. The characters that were reproduced spot on were our favorite duo of Timon and Pumbaa. Although we could not see Rogen and Eichner their mannerisms were in full display on the screen.
Favreau made some brave musical changes when it comes to this version of The Lion King. He brought back the academy award winning songs of Elton John and Tim Rice. Hans Zimmer returned to score however Pharrell Williams was given the task to add new life to old favorites. Naturally, Beyoncé wrote a new song called "Spirit". Gone is the catchy Morning Report which helped set up I Just Can't Wait to Be King. Morning helped establish the importance of Zazu, voiced nicely by John Oliver. Almost all Zazu's singing parts were cut. The songs were an extension of him without those songs he comes across as rigid.
The biggest changes to the characters are in the form of Scar voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor. In this new version, he's loses his sarcasm and is portrayed darker. I missed the dark humor that made Scar such a fun villain and, in this version, his tone reminded me of Mufasa failing to draw clear differentiation between the two. I also felt the Hyenas deserved more screen time. Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre are two very funny guys, but it seemed in order to give Beyoncé more screen time they became the sacrificial lambs. Another misuse of talent was Alfre Woodard as Sarabi. One of the great aspects of The Lion King is the centralization of its female characters. This version neutralized her. Donald Glover as Simba was solid, and I enjoyed his duet of Hakuna Matata with Rogen and Eichner. Beyoncé was steady as Nala. The younger stars JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph were simply delightful.
I saved the best for Last. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen made this movie go from lukewarm too great for me. They had the best chemistry out of all the characters in the movie. Their humor was contagious and natural. Rogen as Pumbaa got it. He dove right in and it shows. He may not be the world's best singer but who cares it's his exuberance that makes us love him. Eichner can flat out sing and may portray the smaller of the two but like Rogen his commitment comes across the screen. They simply killed it.
This movie will introduce these characters to a whole new generation. Like my daughter, they will watch repeatedly but there's a part of me that wishes they would have left the classic reign supreme. This 2019 version is a visual masterpiece, but it needed more joy in the form of music. So, while I can appreciate this newer version, I still prefer the original or better yet go see the Broadway Show.
The 24 million-dollar question is can this re-imaging of the classic tale expand on the original or will it simply be a film that's great on CGI but lacks personality?
Three things that are vital to this story the music, the characters and the CGI. John Favreau took on this insurmountable challenge having previously worked on The Jungle Book. He said he learned a lot form the latter and applied those lessons to The Lion King.
The scenery of this new version of The Lion King is breathtaking. I'm not sure if you can accurately call it live-action seeing that Lion's don't talk and sing the more appropriate terminology is virtual cinematography technology. In plain language think National Geographic, that portion of the movie is amazing. It's Disney and one would expect nothing less. The one drawback from using this resource is that it felt less personalized. There was no differentiation between the Lionesses. Nala and Sarabi looked the same. The same issue occurred with the Hyenas. The characters that were reproduced spot on were our favorite duo of Timon and Pumbaa. Although we could not see Rogen and Eichner their mannerisms were in full display on the screen.
Favreau made some brave musical changes when it comes to this version of The Lion King. He brought back the academy award winning songs of Elton John and Tim Rice. Hans Zimmer returned to score however Pharrell Williams was given the task to add new life to old favorites. Naturally, Beyoncé wrote a new song called "Spirit". Gone is the catchy Morning Report which helped set up I Just Can't Wait to Be King. Morning helped establish the importance of Zazu, voiced nicely by John Oliver. Almost all Zazu's singing parts were cut. The songs were an extension of him without those songs he comes across as rigid.
The biggest changes to the characters are in the form of Scar voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor. In this new version, he's loses his sarcasm and is portrayed darker. I missed the dark humor that made Scar such a fun villain and, in this version, his tone reminded me of Mufasa failing to draw clear differentiation between the two. I also felt the Hyenas deserved more screen time. Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre are two very funny guys, but it seemed in order to give Beyoncé more screen time they became the sacrificial lambs. Another misuse of talent was Alfre Woodard as Sarabi. One of the great aspects of The Lion King is the centralization of its female characters. This version neutralized her. Donald Glover as Simba was solid, and I enjoyed his duet of Hakuna Matata with Rogen and Eichner. Beyoncé was steady as Nala. The younger stars JD McCrary and Shahadi Wright Joseph were simply delightful.
I saved the best for Last. Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen made this movie go from lukewarm too great for me. They had the best chemistry out of all the characters in the movie. Their humor was contagious and natural. Rogen as Pumbaa got it. He dove right in and it shows. He may not be the world's best singer but who cares it's his exuberance that makes us love him. Eichner can flat out sing and may portray the smaller of the two but like Rogen his commitment comes across the screen. They simply killed it.
This movie will introduce these characters to a whole new generation. Like my daughter, they will watch repeatedly but there's a part of me that wishes they would have left the classic reign supreme. This 2019 version is a visual masterpiece, but it needed more joy in the form of music. So, while I can appreciate this newer version, I still prefer the original or better yet go see the Broadway Show.
What would the world look like if one of the greatest bands ever were wiped off the face of the earth? That's the premise of the movie Yesterday. The world experiences a global black out in which the entire Beatles catalog has gone, and only one person remembers them, struggling musician Jack Malick. He decides to utilize the accident towards his advantage, and pass of the Beatles songs as his own.
Malik discovers that he's the only person that remembers the Beatles. This happenstance is the opening he needed to turn his failing career around. Once he starts passing of the songs as his and uploading them on YouTube, he becomes an internet sensation.
The foundation of this movie isn't the Beatles, contrary to popular opinion. It's having your dream come true and realizing it's not what you expected. Like so many before him, he's excited to have an audience finally, but the more his videos receive clicks, the more prominent the demand. Naturally, this requires him to leave behind everyone he loves, including Ellie, his best friend/manager/booking agent. Their relationship is one of the themes of this movies. There are many sections in this film, friendship, success, and self-worth are few Jack Malik grapples while navigating success.
There is going to be two types of audiences for this movie. Beatle fans and fans that are looking to escape monsters or superheroes.
The Beatle fans are going to feel disappointed at the commercialization of these songs. After all, they were written to commemorate love, awareness, or even conflict. The latter is happy to see a movie with a human-interest story without special effects. How to do you weave those two worlds together? First, you can't take this as a blueprint for the music industry.
Second, you must accept that this generation wasn't raised on the Beatles like previous generations. There are more Oasis and Radio Head fans. Also, this story is about Jack thinking success was going to solve all his problems; instead, it created more.
I enjoyed Himesh Patel as Jack Malik, he was funny and believable as a struggling artist. Lily James is charming as his love interest. I wish their coming together were written a little more interesting instead, we knew that these two would fall in love.
Kate McKinnon was spot on as Jack's slick new manager. She makes no qualms about looking at him as a cash cow, not an artist. The most delightful characters in Yesterday however are Rock and Mr./Mrs. Malik.
Rock portrayed by Joel Fry is the worst Road Manager; however, this is what makes him so charming. The guy with the worst time management is now in charge of the hottest artist in the world. The scenes between Fry and Patel are some of the funniest in the film. I also enjoyed that Ed Sheeran was willing to let this film make fun of his persona.
Veteran comedic actors Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal are hilarious as Jack's parents. They are so underwhelmed by Jack's desire to be a musician that even when he plays a classic Beatles song they don't care.
If you're looking for accuracy, you will be disappointed in Yesterday, but if you're willing to invest in Jack Malick this will work for you. After all success doesn't guarantee happiness. Yesterday is a feel-good movie also it was nice to imagine how this generation would react to John, Paul, Ringo and John.
Diversity- This movie gets a 7 the lead was brit of Indian descent
Scale- this movie receives a 7.
Malik discovers that he's the only person that remembers the Beatles. This happenstance is the opening he needed to turn his failing career around. Once he starts passing of the songs as his and uploading them on YouTube, he becomes an internet sensation.
The foundation of this movie isn't the Beatles, contrary to popular opinion. It's having your dream come true and realizing it's not what you expected. Like so many before him, he's excited to have an audience finally, but the more his videos receive clicks, the more prominent the demand. Naturally, this requires him to leave behind everyone he loves, including Ellie, his best friend/manager/booking agent. Their relationship is one of the themes of this movies. There are many sections in this film, friendship, success, and self-worth are few Jack Malik grapples while navigating success.
There is going to be two types of audiences for this movie. Beatle fans and fans that are looking to escape monsters or superheroes.
The Beatle fans are going to feel disappointed at the commercialization of these songs. After all, they were written to commemorate love, awareness, or even conflict. The latter is happy to see a movie with a human-interest story without special effects. How to do you weave those two worlds together? First, you can't take this as a blueprint for the music industry.
Second, you must accept that this generation wasn't raised on the Beatles like previous generations. There are more Oasis and Radio Head fans. Also, this story is about Jack thinking success was going to solve all his problems; instead, it created more.
I enjoyed Himesh Patel as Jack Malik, he was funny and believable as a struggling artist. Lily James is charming as his love interest. I wish their coming together were written a little more interesting instead, we knew that these two would fall in love.
Kate McKinnon was spot on as Jack's slick new manager. She makes no qualms about looking at him as a cash cow, not an artist. The most delightful characters in Yesterday however are Rock and Mr./Mrs. Malik.
Rock portrayed by Joel Fry is the worst Road Manager; however, this is what makes him so charming. The guy with the worst time management is now in charge of the hottest artist in the world. The scenes between Fry and Patel are some of the funniest in the film. I also enjoyed that Ed Sheeran was willing to let this film make fun of his persona.
Veteran comedic actors Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal are hilarious as Jack's parents. They are so underwhelmed by Jack's desire to be a musician that even when he plays a classic Beatles song they don't care.
If you're looking for accuracy, you will be disappointed in Yesterday, but if you're willing to invest in Jack Malick this will work for you. After all success doesn't guarantee happiness. Yesterday is a feel-good movie also it was nice to imagine how this generation would react to John, Paul, Ringo and John.
Diversity- This movie gets a 7 the lead was brit of Indian descent
Scale- this movie receives a 7.