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January 10, 2018 The Skanner Portland Page 9 Arts & Entertainment FILM REVIEW: Oldman Channels Churchill in ‘Darkest Hour’ cont’d from pg 6 Boseman as the epony- mous superhero, opens on Feb. 16, picking up the adventures of the newly crowned African king and superhero who de- buted in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.” Existing in the same shared universe as Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America and Spiderman, the Panther, however, the Black Panther’s adven- tures center around his futuristic hidden home- land of Wakanda, consid- ered to be the most tech- nologically advanced nation on Marvel’s earth. In the new movie, T’Chal- la, the Black Panther’s real name, must battle long-time adversaries with the aid of his all-fe- male bodyguards and a CIA agent to maintain “ MATT KENNEDY/MARVEL STUDIOS/DISNEY VIA AP Black Panther This image released by Disney and Marvel Studios’ shows Lupita Nyong’o, from left, Chadwick Boseman and Danai Gurira in a scene from “Black Panther,” in theaters on Feb. 16, 2018. collegiate fraternity founded on the concept of African fraternalism, in Charlotte, North Car- olina and the Intention- al Community Building Collective and Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle in Baltimore, are assem- bling discussion panels on the movie’s themes. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the minds superheroes in “Meteor Man” — but their movies did not bring out the en- thusiasm that the Black Panther is seeing. “What is significant now, however, is that this age of convergence of film franchises with social media, a black superhero movie with an almost all-black cast conveys power, that we The internet explodes each time a new trailer, poster or piece of artwork debuts from the movie, sparking hashtags like #BlackPanther- SoLit and #WelcometoWakanda control of his country and prevent a world war. Directed by Ryan Coogler, it also has an all-star cast including Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jor- dan, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, Sterling K. Brown and more. For many people, the Black Panther movie isn’t just a movie; it’s a symbol of change. “’Black Panther’ is just going to be really special. ... I don’t plug into film anticipation. But I can feel it. A lot of my friends have asked me to go to the premiere! Everyone in my network is excited about it, and you can feel it when they’re not,” Dan- iel Kaluuya, the “Get Out” star who also is featured in “Black Panther,” told The Associated Press re- cently. The internet explodes each time a new trail- er, poster or piece of artwork debuts from the movie, sparking hashtags like #BlackPan- therSoLit and #Welcom- etoWakanda. Twitter declared that Black Pan- ther was one of the most tweeted-about movies of 2017, and the only movie on the list that hadn’t pre- miered yet. “Do we really have to wait until February!” lamented Elwood L. Rob- inson, chancellor of Win- ston-Salem State Univer- sity in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Twitter while sporting a Black Panther T-shirt. Groups like MALIK Fraternity Inc., the first behind Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and other Marvel comics, the Black Panther holds a unique position in comic book history. While not the first black comic book hero — the first Black character to headline his own comic book was Dell Comics’ Western hero and gunfighter Lobo in 1965 — the Black Panther is considered the first Black superhero, intro- duced as a supporting character in Fantastic Four in 1966 and later featured in his own book. There has been a re- naissance with black su- perheroes on television as well. “Black Light- ning” debuts on the CW on January 16 featuring an educator who gains electrical powers and becomes a superhero. “Luke Cage,” a television show about a former con- vict with superhuman strength and unbreak- able skin, premiered on Netflix in 2016 and will begin a second season later this year. Cage debuted in a self-titled comic book “Luke Cage, Hero for Hire” in 1972 with an exaggerated Afro and a catchphrase “Sweet Christmas!” He was fol- lowed by Black Lightning in a DC comic book in 1977. There have been other black superhero movies — Wesley Snipes starred as the vampire slayer Blade in one of the first Marvel movies, and Rob- ert Townsend starred in a comedic parody of have arrived. It’s evolu- tion,” said Christopher Chambers, a Georgetown University media studies professor. AP Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report. Jesse J. Holland covers race and ethnicity for The Associated Press. Contact him on Twitter at www. twitter.com/jessejholland or on Facebook at www. facebook.com/jessejhol- land. ‘The Darkest Hour’ by Kam Williams For The Skanner News C uriously, “Darkest Hour” and “Dunkirk” basically cover the same ground, namely, Winston Churchill’s (Gary Oldman) first month as Prime Minister of Great Britain. When he was sworn in on May 10, 1940, the country was at war with Germany which had already con- quered most of Europe and was just starting to invade Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Churchill’s predecessor, Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) had unsuccessfully employed a diplomat- ic policy of appeasement which had only served to embolden Hitler. And soon after entering office, Winston found himself facing a daunting task once the Nazis’ blitzkrieg had broken through the Maginot Line. Suddenly, the Allied forces were in full retreat, including hundreds of thousands of British soldiers. They were being driven to the sea, where they would be sitting ducks for the Luftwaffe. Now, where Dunkirk focused on the evacuation of the troops by an im- promptu flotilla of private citizens, Darkest Hour narrowly focuses on Churchill’s leadership and oratory skills. After all, it was no mean feat to convince a woefully-equipped nation that it could successfully ramp up its defenses to take on the ravenous war machine practically on its doorstep. Directed by Joe Wright (“Atone- ment”), “Darkest Hour” does a mag- nificent job of plumbing the depths of Churchill’s psyche as well as rec- reating a number of his inspirational speeches, concluding with his historic “We shall never surrender!” address delivered to Parliament on June 4. Unfortunately, “Darkest Hour” pales in comparison to the visual- ly-captivating “Dunkirk.” Too bad the introspective and action-oriented productions weren’t spliced togeth- er. Nevertheless, Gary Oldman might finally win the Oscar that has long eluded him for his sterling portrayal of the British Bulldog. Excellent HHHH Rated PG-13 for mature themes Running time: 125 minutes Production Studio: Working Title Films / Perfect World Pictures To see a trailer for Darkest Hour, go to TheSkanner.com. A career you can be proud of. Being a carpenter isn’t just a job. It’s a way of life. We’re devoted to strengthening the lives of our members with steady work, wealth and personal growth. 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