Posterized: Michael B Jordan

by Nathaniel R

Photographed by Kayla Reefer for The New York TimesAny list of the newest generation of exciting movie stars would have to include Michael Bakari Jordan (aka Michael B Jordan), and presumably way up top. The Jersey-raised actor, started young on television as a teen actor with acclaimed work on The Wire. With a name so reminiscent of a superstar in another field, it felt like a dare; How could he be that big for the movies? When he hit his mid 20s, though, the movies came calling to make good on the pop culture connotations of that name. It's been a match made in heaven thus far.

All that said he's been strangely absent from our movie screens since proving his film-carrying charisma so thoroughly with the one-two punch of Fruitvale Station and Creed. But then came 2018 to prove to us that he'd been hard at work all along but movies have their own temperamental calendars and sometimes they all get bunched up together. Four movies arrived in quick succession, one of them likely to be the biggest hit he'll ever have. He's already an Emmy nominee for producing the TV movie Fahrenheit 451 earlier this year, but the Oscar nomination has to date eluded him. Will that change with the Black Panther campaign? We don't yet know though we definitely hope so since it's his second, not his first, nomination worthy role; Oscar was sleeping on that whole Creed success back in 2015, a movie that was wildly better than it had any right to be given its provenance.

How many of his Michael B Jordan's key movies and TV shows have you seen? The posters are after the jump.

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Yes No Maybe So: Creed II

by Sean Donovan

The son of Apollo Creed returns in Creed II! Creed was one of the surprise gems of 2015, delivering blockbuster entertainment with genuine impact and grit. I was ready to write off this idea of a sequel as soon as I learned Ryan Coogler was not on board as a director, thinking that the resonance, intensity, and readiness to embrace topical political contexts of the first Creed all came from him.

But the first trailer, along with the film’s very elegant first poster, brawny and tough in the best way, has come along to soundly quell those concerns and suggest this is in no way a simple studio rush job. So let’s go over the evidence with a Yes No Maybe So™ Breakdown of the trailer and a full look at that perfect teaser poster...

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Beauty vs Beast: Eternal Lust

Jason from MNPP here - this week's edition of "Beauty vs Beast" is celebrating the 35th anniversary of Tony Scott's stylish and sexy vampire feast called The Hunger, which was yesterday. The film tells the story of the vampire couple John and Miriam Blaylock (David Bowie and Catherine Deneve) and the young doctor named Sarah (Susan Sarandon) that they seduce through billowy curtains. I don't know when I first became aware of The Hunger - I'm sure it was awhile after the movie came out given I was only five when it did - but whenever it was I became aware of The Hunger that would also mark the anniversary of my fantasy of being picked up by Catherine Deneueve and David Bowie. I don't say this very often these days but oh to be Susan Sarandon...

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PREVIOUSLY Surprising nobody the new Avengers just broke all of box office records this weekend, but let's not yet forget its immediate predecessor - we've still got the receipts from last week's Black Panther poll to count! And y'all broke bad, giving the villainous Killmonger (Michael B Jordan) the win with 55% of your vote. Said Evan:

"Killmonger, duh. He's ribbed for your pleasure."

Beauty vs Beast: Wakanda Forever

Jason from MNPP popping in from between Tribeca screenings to quick give us our Monday afternoon "Beauty vs Beast" fix -- I figure it's a Marvel Week what with that lil' Avengers movie opening in a couple of days and so what better time to step one step back and tackle their most recent smashing success, Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, which is still sitting pretty in the Top Ten, box-office-wise. 1.3 Billion dollars! I figure some of you have seen it? So let's face down its titular hero (Chadwick Boseman) and The Best Villain Marvel Has Given Us Yet Eric Killmonger (Michael B Jordan), which is totally that character's official name now.

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PREVIOUSLY Mark Zuckerberg did even better than I expected with last week's The Social Network poll - he managed a whopping 14% of your vote, getting comfortably trounced, as well he should, by Rooney Mara's Erica. Said IanO:

"This is one Sorkin’s most electrifying scenes. I’m Team Erica because sometimes you see someone become a star (of a sort...) right in front of your areas, and it’s one of the greatest pleasures cinema. Plus she delivers that kiss-off line magnificently, with just a hint of pity and sadness colouring the brutality of the line. So even though I’m Team Erica, you have to give it up for Eisenberg too, who charts the journey from clueless arrogance to awful realisation beautifully. It’s one of favourite performances of the decade."

And the Links Go To...

Team Experience has been sharing favorite moments from Oscar night  but we must slowly ween ourselves off of Oscar (*sniffle*) and back to the new year in progress. Link time! 

• Vulture The Oscars should always be long (I love this piece with all my heart)
• Liza Donnelly her collection of live drawings from Oscar week

Miscellaneous Screen
• Indie Wire how fun is this? A theater in San Francisco is hosting a screening of Isle of Dogs in which moviegoers can bring their dogs into the theater!
• Deadline apparently there are competing projects about Sharon Tate and the Manson murders. Tate's surviving families are supporting a version starring Kate Bosworth and they're upset with the other two projects (one of which is Quentin Tarantino's)
• AV Club hilarious story -- a teen broke her retainer biting down on it while thirsting for Michael B Jordan in Black Panther. He's now offered to buy her a new one
• MNPP Jason reminds us that David Robert Mitchell (of It Follows promise) has a new movie coming out starring Andrew Garfield
• The Muse how many more non-hits can Jennifer Lawrence's career withstand?
• Straight Outta Crouch End A fascinating take on A Fantastic Woman and its references to Orpheus and Eurydice.

Off Screen
• Vox on MoviePass's fuzzy business model
• Slate Russell Crowe holding a "divorce auction". Do the items paint a "strange and mesmerizing portrait"?
• Out Actress Cynthia Nixon is laying the groundwork to run for Governor in NY
• TodayTix "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" on Broadway has $40 lottery tickets -regular seats are hundreds of dollars so competition will be fierce. Friday morning entry only!
• NYT "The Shed," a newperformance space in Manhattan is looking to mash art-forms up from film directors staging concerts to collaborations between actors, poets, and opera stars? Sounds exciting.