Black Panther: Wakanda Forever review

Before Infinity War in 2018, Marvel Studios debuted their film adaptation of Black Panther, directed by a fresh off of Creed Ryan Coogler. Starring Chadwick Boseman as the title character's altar ego T'Challa, it was a thoughtful, exciting, and progressive step forward for the MCU driven by its mostly black cast. A cultural milestone, that even severed from the larger universe was still a great movie. It's no surprise then why it was a massive hit with audiences, who gravitated to its characters, as well as the sweeping world of Wakanda. It's also not a surprise that Marvel courted Coogler back for an inevitable sequel with the cast returning.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck before the movie was able to roll cameras. In August of 2020, Chadwick Boseman passed away after his battle with colon cancer, at the far too young age of 43. It was a devastating loss, and amidst the grief, many began to wonder "what becomes of Black Panther then?" Choosing not to recast the role and reconfiguring the sequel from scratch, Marvel and Coogler unveil the sequel, Wakanda Forever, to not only move the world forward, but act as tribute to their late friend. And while understandably a step down from its predecessor, that makes it no less a worthy and strong follow-up with genuine heft.

Lightyear movie review.

In 1995, Pixar burst onto the scene with Toy Story, their first foray into feature length filmmaking, and the first computer animated film in history. It was a groundbreaking film at the time, that even now has aged remarkably well, and is one of those rare films that is actually improved by the existence of its sequels. When even your fourth entry with a talking spork is a great movie, that's the sign of a truly remarkable franchise.

Part of that is owed to the creation of Buzz Lightyear, the cool space ranger voiced by Tim Allen, whose character instantly won over audiences. Almost 30 years later, Pixar has decided to go back to his origins, or at least his inspiration's origins. In-universe, Buzz Lightyear the action figure was modeled after Buzz Lightyear the action hero, the main character of Andy's favorite movie, Lightyear. Pixar's latest film allows us to finally experience that phenomenal blockbuster. I'm happy that Andy loved it so much, but personally, while I quite enjoyed Lightyear, it's hard for me to say it ever touches infinity, let alone goes beyond it.

Jurassic World: Dominion movie review

 My favorite film of all time is Jurassic Park; a stone-cold classic that blended sci-fi fantasy, awestruck wonder, suspense, and horror in a way only Steven Spielberg could. Even he had trouble replicating its success with The Lost World, which went bigger and louder, at the expense of feeling sloppy and bitter. By the time Jurassic Park 3 rolled along, effectively becoming just another monster B-movie, the novelty had worn off considerably. No one's impressed by a dinosaur anymore...

Or so we thought. In 2015, the franchise was revitalized by Jurassic World, director Colin Trevorrow's continuation that recaptured some of the spirit lost between movies, and was an enormous box office hit. It came followed by Fallen Kingdom, which went for darker new avenues, even if it was let down by some stupid lapses in logic. But that movie was clearly a set up to bigger things, which we now see with Dominion, where Trevorrow returns to wrap up both his trilogy, and the original Jurassic mythos. Unfortunately, for what should be a satisfying send-off, what we instead get is a limp finale that doesn't so much roar, as it does whimper off licking its wounds.