The Oscar winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o spoke about her initial thoughts of the “Wakanda Forever” script alongside her cast and director, during the film’s press conference a few days ago. Where she surprised many of us, by stating that she wasn’t initially happy with the “Wakanda Forever” script after reading about what her character Nakia, would have to do.

Which according to Nyong’o wasn’t much, compared to Shuri’s character. Lupita mentioned she was “envious of Letitia Wright because she gets to be chaotic”. Don’t worry, Shuri’s no where close to Wanda Maximoff’s chaotic in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. But I do agree that Shuri does feel “chaotic” compared to Nakia.

During the conversation, Lupita goes on to say that after Chadwick’s passing, she “felt raw and wanted to express it”. Which is why she “was frustrated with Ryan for doing that with Nakia”. And by “that” Lupita’s talking about how Nakia expressed her grief in the film.

Thanks to Ryan Coogler, and the “Wakanda Forever” script — Lupita never really gets a chance to show much emotions or grief. I’ll skip the spoilers, and save the drama for the film. But just know that Nakia definitely shows us a different side of grief and what that could look like when you’re “prepared”.

Yet, it’s this “different side” that you’ll realize was kind of genuis for Coogler to show! In an age where we get so many films about ‘angry Black women’ or the ‘scorned lover’.

I do have to admit that it was nice to see the calmer side of grief. And I think Lupita, who says “playing [Nakia] was very therapeutic” for her, as she had to “look beyond her frustrations with losing Chadwick”, would agree.

During the first film, Lupita tells us that “Ryan [Coogler] described her (Nakia) as T’Challa’s oasis”. And now that he’s gone in “Wakanda Forever”, Nakia gets to bring “what she was once to T’Challa” to Shuri. Who definitely needs as many people in her corner now more than ever, after loosing her brother, and is now possibly heading to war?

So yeah, it all makes sense!

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” opens in U.S. theaters Nov. 11, 2022. 

“Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever” hasn’t even hit theaters yet, and fans of the sequel are already wondering why it seems like the sequel favors a certain gender. As if men haven’t reigned the superhuman world for centuries before this.

Hell, someone even commented on my Wakanda Forever Tik Tok review, to ask “where are all the men“, as if they just up and disappeared out of Wakanda. *insert rolling eyes emoji here* See video below.

Another tiktoker stopped to comment on the video above that it was “foul swapping out men for women.” “Why is this happening!”, she cried. To that of course I laughed, because … folks haven’t even seen the film yet and they’re already fake outraged. Jesus.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying “Wakanda Forever” is perfect, but please miss me with the bullshit today about how the sequel doesn’t include Black men and the political agenda Ryan Coogler is creating because of this.

Relax! Again, is Marvel paying y’all? Just because a film features it’s women more heavily in its sequel, doesn’t mean there’s some agenda at play — or that they’re trying to erase the men altogether. What would be the reason!!?

But if you’re wondering where all the men went in “Wakanda Forever”, Ryan Coogler said something so damn profound at the press conference, I almost jumped outta my seat.

When explaining how his decision to put women front and center in “Wakanda Forever” had absolutely nothing to do with gender, Coogler said that grief is “like a bomb that goes off” and “you know, when you lose somebody, there’s, like, a blast radius”. So those that are the closest to the bomb when it goes off, gets hurt the most!

So when T’Challa died, he had to think about who would be impacted the most by that “bomb” going off — and of course, that makes total sense on why “Wakanda Forever” highlights the women of Wakanda.

Ryan goes on to explain that, “the main characters [and] their identities were kinda wrapped up in this man, you know”. “Every day [Shuri] was alive, she had her brother. So when she lost him, you know … what we discovered while we were working on the script, and then eventually bringing it to life with the actors … was that she really lost her sense of self. You know, she identified herself as this guy’s little sister, you know what I mean? And as his protector and as the person who looks out for him.”

“It wasn’t really about gender, directly, you know what I mean?”, Coogler continues. “It was about who was the most … you know … who would be most affected, you know?” And yes, I totally get it!

I too was frustrated with Ryan, just like Lupita (despite her frustrations being for a whole different reason) after watching “Wakanda Forever” because I had my own perceived connotations of the film after my first viewing. But after listening to Ryan Coogler speak about what he really wanted from this sequel, it’s evident that he went into this clear headed. Coogler took the time to think about how everyone would be affected by this death, including the audience.

Not to mention, “M’Baku was in this movie more than he was in the first Black Panther. I think probably, like, a two to one ratio. You know, he probably has twice as many scenes as he had in the first one”. And that’s a direct quote from the writer and director himself! Not a guess, thank you very much.

However, I will say, without spoilers, a few other men from the first film show up as well. There’s even a scene towards the end that I love with our men and women showing up on screen! Of course we all know that Daniel Kaluuya had to step out to film Jordan Peele’s third feature film “Nope“. But I’m not sure why people think they’re erasing Black men.

So contrary to what you may believe, this isn’t about erasing Black men, or saying Black women can do it all on their own! It’s about how when this Black man died, his family is who felt the most pain! Yeah the country is in an uproar at the moment, and yes they feel his lost. But his sister, his mother, and the love of his life — those are the people that the story focuses in on, because they’re the ones left to pick up the pieces.

And it’s really just that simple.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” opens in U.S. theaters Nov. 11, 2022. 

Everyone remembers the last Tyler Perry movie that came to Netflix a few years ago right? Of course you do, because it was TRASH! (And the memes are here to prove it.) I still can’t get over the fact that A Fall From Grace was made in 5 days! Why?! What for?! Ugh.

So when I got the news that Tyler Perry was releasing another movie on Netflix of course I flinched. PSTD much? But …

If you’re a BIG fan of Tyler Perry movies, you may be in for a treat.

Netflix is getting a new Madea movie, called A Madea Homecoming and it doesn’t look too bad.

However, I have to admit, when I first read the title “A Madea Homecoming” I sure did think sis was gonna die in this one. Don’t even laugh at me right now. It’s early, I’m hungry, and maybe my glasses ain’t on right. But I am excited to check this out to see how many days he wasted on this movie. Sorry that was mean.

What I mean is …

I loved Madea growing up, so I’m hoping this film is right on par with his first few films (even though — yes those were a bit problematic too), and not like A Fall From Grace.

Lord please just don’t let this be like A Fall From Grace! Anywho …

About Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming

Madea’s back — hallelujer! Tyler Perry returns with everyone’s favorite character in Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming, the newest film in the MADEA franchise set to debut on Netflix.

Writer-director-producer Perry stars in the film that centers around Madea’s great-grandson’s college graduation, though the celebratory moment hits a halt as hidden secrets and family drama threaten to destroy the happy homecoming.

The film features all-stars of the MADEA franchise, including Tamela Mann (Cora), David Mann (Mr. Brown), Cassi Davis Patton (Aunt Bam) as well as a guest appearance from iconic Irish actor Brendan O’Carroll, who matches Madea’s comedic prowess as Agnes Brown.

A Madea Homecoming will premiere on Feb 25, 2022 on Netflix. Are you ready?