There’s a saying: Adulthood is that time in life when you get over your childhood. And that is certainly the case for Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong'o) who suffered a traumatic beachfront experience as a child. Now having married and moved away from that location, she and her family, husband Gabe (Winston Duke) and their two children Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex) return to the site to vacation with their friends, the Tylers. The families rent houses down the street from each other.

Adelaide immediately feels creeped-out upon arriving at the house. She tries to suppress the feelings as her husband launches into a fun-loving, we’re-on-vacation mode. That night Adelaide realizes that her queasiness is justified when four strangers appear in their driveway and the group, which looks exactly like her own family, is not there for fun and games.

Us, from writer and director Jordan Peele who scored a huge hit with his 2017 film, Get Out, turns out an utter disappointment this time in Us. I fully expected another different twist to the horror film format. Unique in the way Get Out cleverly intertwined race and terror, in a way not seen before. In Us, the only difference is that it has a black cast.

Us has all the features of the genre that makes these films seem so insipid. The villains are human yet are always a lot stronger than ordinary people. The characters must behave in the most implausible way. For example, the Wilsons arguing over who should drive when they need to make a lifesaving escape. Then there’s Adelaide’s getting out of the safety of the vehicle to confront weapon-carrying killers. My favorite horror film lunacy is how moments after the most terrifying and bloody encounters, the survivors engage in light banter. As if nothing just happened. In Us, after a nearly fatal ordeal, the Wilsons calmly chat, and the son even munches on Skittles.

The dialogue falls into “the who says that?” category. While driving along and listening to music, Adelaide turns to her son, in the back seat, snaps her fingers and tells him to “get in the rhythm”. Is that what a black mother would say to her child? And in describing their attackers’ strategy, the husband, Gabe opines that would take a shit load of coordination!

Peele’s own father was absent from much of his life. Interestingly, the black father character in Get Out had an absentee father. In Us, Peele creates Gabe, a bumbling and childlike parent. It’s almost as if Adelaide has three kids rather than two.

Speaking of Adelaide, Lupita Nyong’o is exceptional. She holds this film together. It’s unfortunate that she wasted her vast talents on this production.

As to cast diversity, we give Us a B+. It has a relatively small group of characters. There are the Wilsons and the Tylers, who are white. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for other performers. Asians and Hispanics are pretty much absent from this production.

Us gets a split rating; if you like horror films, See It! If not, wait and Rent It.

Us is rated “R” for violence/terror, and language, and is 116 minutes in length. At a budget of $20M, which is small by movie-making standards, there is no question that Us is bound to be a financial success.

Jordan Peele is back with another thriller, and you get at least two opportunities to see Taraji P. Henson and Michael Ealy in movies in 2019

1. What Men Want

What Men Want is a twist on Mel Gibson’s 2001 movie, What Women Want, and is the story of a female sports agent (Taraji P. Henson) who has been constantly edged out by her male colleagues. Once she learns to listen to men’s thoughts, she shifts her strategy in her race to sign the NBA’s next LeBron James. Among the costars is Richard Roundtree who back in the 70s played John Shaft who was a bad mother. . . shut your mouth! Just remembering Shaft!

What Men Want is expected to open on February 8, 2019. 

2. The Upside

Inspired by a true story and based upon a hit 2011 French film, The Upside stars Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston in a warm comedy about a recently paroled ex-convict who begins an unlikely friendship with a paralyzed billionaire. Bet you can guess who plays the ex-con and who’s the billionaire. The Upside opens on January 11, 2019. 

3. Us 

After his provocative 2017 megahit Get Out there was no doubt that Jordan Peele would be back writing and directing, but he's holding the storyline for Us close to the vest. Nevertheless, we do know, it will be a thriller and it stars Lupita Nyong’o, Elisabeth Moss, and Black Panther’s Winston Duke. Us is scheduled to be released in the United States on March 22, 2019, but if you’re going to South by Southwest, you might be able to catch the World Premiere of Us on March 8, 2019. 

4. Pet Sematary

This a remake of the 1989 film based upon Stephen King’s seminal horror novel, Pet Sematary. This version is set in rural Maine where Dr. Louis Creed, his wife, Rachel, and their two young children find a mysterious graveyard hidden deep in the woods near the family home. When tragedy hits the family, the doctor turns to his eccentric neighbor, Jud Crandall for advice, setting off a horrific series of events that the doctor could have never imagined. Pet Sematary opens on April 5, 2019, and stars, Jason Clark and Jon Lithgow. 

5. Jacob’s Ladder

After his brother dies in combat, Jacob Singer, played by the blue-eyed brother, Michael Ealy, returns home from battle-worn Afghanistan only to fall into a deep state of paranoia as he comes to believe that his brother is still alive, and life is not what it seems. Jacob’s Ladder, a remake of the 1990 film of the same name, doesn’t have a release date as of yet. However, the film’s distributor, LD Entertainment, says Jacob’s Ladder is expected to open in 2019.

6. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral

A fun-filled family reunion becomes a disaster as Madea and her kin travel to backwoods Georgia, where they plan a funeral that could unearth some deep dark family secrets. Of course, Tyler Perry heads the cast in Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral, along with Courtney Burrell, Patrice Lovely, and Ciera Payton. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral opens on March 1, 2019.

7. The Best of Enemies

Inspired by the true events during the civil rights era, The Best of Enemies stars Taraji P. Henson as Ann Atwater, a fiercely determined civil rights activist in North Carolina, and Sam Rockwell as the Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan. The two conduct a 10-year battle, which ends in an abrupt and unlikely way in 1971. The Best of Enemies is based on the book, The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson opens on April 5, 2019. 

8. The Intruder

Michael Ealy (yes, him again) and Meaghan Good star in The Intruder, a psychological thriller about a young married couple who buys a beautiful Napa Valley home only to find that the previous owner (Dennis Quaid) simply won’t let the property go and will stop at nothing to drive them out. The Intruder opens on May 3, 2019. 

9. Fighting With My Family

Fighting With My Family is based on the 2012 documentary, The Wrestlers: Fighting With My Family, depicting the WWE career of the professional wrestler, Paige. The movie stars Florence Pugh as Paige, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson makes an appearance. Fighting With My Family opens at Sundance on January 28, 2019, and nationwide on February 14, 2019.

10. Aladdin

The musical romantic fantasy Aladdin returns. Having been released in an animated version in 2017, this edition features real living and breathing humans. Aladdin stars Mena Massoud as the title character alongside Will Smith as the Genie.

VIDEO DISCUSSION: Ryan Coogler could not start directing Panther until he visited Africa; Halle Berry turns heads on the NAACP Image Awards red carpet; Ava DuVernay wins big

What's The 411 hosts Kizzy Cox and Onika McLean are talking about Halle Berry at the NAACP Image Awards; the name of Kim and Kanye West's new baby; kid CEO, Gabby Goodwin; Black Panther director Ryan Coogler; Ava DuVernay winning Entertainer of the Year at the NAACP Image Awards; Jordan Peele's Academy Award nomination for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay; Daniel Kaluuya's Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and the upcoming Lifetime movie about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

VIDEO CONVERSATION: Angela Rye is getting death threats for dating rapper Common; Tyrese child custody case settled for now; Congrats to Cardi B., and more

In Episode 119 of What’s The 411, journalist Kizzy Cox, and comedian Onika McLean are talking about the following:

QUICK TAKES:

Political commentator, Angela Rye has received death threats reportedly for dating rapper/actor Common.

Karreuche Tran and her manager, Jacob York, were on the Angie Martinez Show on Power 105FM. When the topic of Karreuche’s appearance on Iyanla Vanzant’s Fix My Life came up, York said it was good for Karreuche to be on the show, but as far as Ms. Vanzant is concerned, ‘she’s fake’!

RZA files trademark lawsuit against a Brooklyn dog walking company, ‘WOOF-TANG CLAN’.

Rapper Snoop Dogg is not one to mince any words. He clapped back at Donald Trump and cussed him out in a video in defense of Lavar Ball, the father of the UCLA basketball player who was arrested in China for shoplifting, and football player Marshawn Lynch, who recently took a knee during the National Anthem. If you check out the video, be sure to not to watch it at work.

Congratulations to Jordin Sparks she got married to Dana Isaiah in a secret ceremony in July, and she is now pregnant with her first child. The baby is due next spring.

In more baby news, congratulations to Kevin Hart and wife Eniko Parrish Hart on the birth of their son, Kenzo Hart.

Producer/director, Jordan Peele, says golfer Tiger Woods is in the ‘sunken place’ for golfing with Donald Trump.

And, Nigerian women are set to make history as the continent of Africa’s first African Olympic bobsled team is all women. The Nigerian women's bobsled team will be competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Feb 9th – 25th, 2018. 

Shout out to rapper Cardi B for her historic Grammy nomination. Cardi B is the first female rapper to be nominated in the Best Rap Song category.

WHAT’S POPPIN’ - CULTURE

The floodgates are open. Since the sexual abuse allegations from women against Harvey Weinstein, women’s sexual abuse claims against powerful men are now being taken more seriously. Even Terry Crews has opened up about being groped by another man.

Q. Kizzy, why do you think people now believe women now?

WHAT’S POPPIN – FILM AND POLITICS

Actor Denzel Washington places blame for black incarceration with parenting, according to several news reports. During a reporters’ press briefing about his new film, Roman J. Israel, Esq., Washington stated:

“It starts at the home…It starts with how you raise your children. If a young man doesn’t have a father figure, he’ll go find a father figure…So you know I can’t blame the system. It’s unfortunate that we make such easy work for them.”

Q. Is Denzel Washington right, is he overstating the issue, or do you think he is missing underlying issues?

WHAT’S POPPIN – RELATIONSHIPS

It’s a whole new world. Prince Harry (UK) proposed to American actress Meghan Markle. The royal wedding is scheduled for Spring 2018.

WHAT’S POPPIN – RELATIONSHIPS

As you probably know, singer/actor Tyrese Gibson and his former wife Norma Gibson, have been engaged in a brutal custody battle over their 10-year-old daughter. Well, according to TMZ, the judge in the case ruled Tyrese will have his daughter for Christmas and New Year’s, and both Tyrese and his former wife, Norma Gibson, will get 50/50 joint custody beginning in January.

Q. What do you think about the judge’s ruling in this case? Did the judge get this custody battle right?

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Our Photo of the Week is a wedding photo of professional tennis player, Serena Williams and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, one of the co-founders of Reddit.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Our Motivational Quote of the Week is:

“You can’t win in life, if you’re losing in your mind. Change your thoughts, and it’ll change your life.”

A quote from Tony Gaskins, and posted by Raqiyah Mays on LinkedIn.

Eminem drops freestyle diss of Donald Trump and crickets from Trump; 50 Cent Claps back at Wendy Williams; Tyrese’s legal battle with ex-wife and; more

QUICK TAKES:

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month and quite frankly, every day should be Breast Cancer Awareness Day especially for Black women. So don’t ignore any irregularities with your breast and make sure that you or any woman you know gets her baseline mammogram at age 35 and every year after your 40th birthday, no excuses. In NYC, there are health facilities that provide free and low-cost mammograms, so no excuses!

By now, we all should have seen the movie, Hidden Figures, where Taraji P. Henson played the role of mathematician Katherine G. Johnson, also known as the human computer. As you know, Ms. Johnson did the mathematical calculations that helped the U.S. beat Russia into space. Well, the $30 million, 40,000-square-foot Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility named in her honor finally opened!

Shonda Rhimes is among the 2017 Television Academy Hall of Fame inductees.

FOX orders five additional episodes of STAR for the current Season 2, and TV ONE’S BOBBI KRISTINA premiered #1 in its time slot among African-American households.

Aisha Hinds and Rockmond Dunbar join Angela Bassett in Ryan Murphy’s Fox Series 9-1-1; LHHATL’S Waka Flocka Flame and Tammy Rivera land a spinoff reality show, MEET THE FLOCKAS; Peter Gunz and his wife, Amina Buddafly are taking their relationship issues to MARRIAGE BOOTCAMP REALITY STARS and; Jordan Peele surprised a UCLA class inspired by Get Out. The class is taught by celebrated author and educator, Tananarive Due.

In not so good news, NeNe Leakes was fired from the XSCAPE REUNION TOUR over a rape joke she stated while on stage. Nene later apologized for the joke and after a few days said she ‘had a real breakdown’ after rape joke backlash.

And, the bad news keeps pouring in for Megyn Kelly. Unfortunately, celebrity publicists are bailing on NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today, so the show is having difficulty getting high-profile guests. Also, Megyn Kelly Today is not a good lead-in for Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford’s show as it is dragging down the ratings of that show.

WHAT’S POPPIN'

Harvey Weinstein and Rape Culture In America

After journalist Ronan Farrow’s 8,000 word story, in which, 13 women made detailed allegations against film executive, Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual abuse against women ran in the New Yorker, all hell broke loose. Women who were abused by Weinstein now feel emboldened to speak up and a number of men are ducking for cover.

Are you surprised that Harvey Weinstein is getting the Bill Cosby treatment?

EMINEM is BACK!

Hip-hop rapper, Eminem, slammed Donald Trump with his freestyle rap at the BET Hip Hop Awards. Although Eminem received widespread praise, everyone is not happy. Rapper YG feels like chopped liver because he and Nipsey Hussle released F--k Donald Trump in 2016, to some praise, but not nearly as much as the amount of praise that Eminem is receiving. YG posted his displeasure on social and then deleted it.

Judge Says Tyrese Gibson’s Daughter Can Testify

It’s been reported that since singer Tyrese Gibson remarried, he and his former wife and mother of his child, Norma Gibson, have been in an ongoing feud. According to TheBlast.com, a judge has given Tyrese’s ex-wife, the option of calling their 10-year-old daughter Shayla to the stand if she chooses.

Is this a good strategy for Norma Gibson to call her 10-year-old daughter to testify in court?

50 Cent Claps Back at Wendy Williams

Talk show host, Wendy Williams, is used to people clapping back at her, but none like 50 Cents' hurtful barbs.

Fifty announced a party to celebrate the end of his court-ordered child support payments.

Wendy responded to 50-Cent’s announcement saying, “You’re 42. You got a 21-year-old son. Get your life.”

Fifty was not happy and he posted on Instagram what many perceived to be very hurtful responses to Wendy Williams.

Wendy’s fans seem to think 50 Cents went too far? Agree?

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Our Motivational Quote of the Week is:

“When a black voice is raised in protest to oppression, those who are comfortable with our oppression are the first to criticize us for daring to speak out against it.” – Harry Belafonte

They’re an attractive young couple, Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose (Allison Williams). She who is white, assures him as they plan a visit to meet her parents, that they won’t care that he’s black. She adds that her father would have voted for Obama for a third term. When they arrive at the Rose’s parents’ stately home in its picturesque, bucolic setting, her father, Dean (Bradley Whitford) and her mother, Missy (Catherine Keener) greet Chris and extend their best efforts to make him feel comfortable. Chris also hears it straight from Dean: he would have voted for Obama for a third term. But after his first night there, Chris begins to realize that there are some occurrences that go way beyond the expected awkwardness of his being in Rose’s family home.

As I left the theater after seeing Get Out, I found myself thinking of the title of the New Zealand group OMC’s hit song, How Bizarre. While the film’s genre is horror, and it contains all the elements of that genre, there is so much more to this story. That’s what makes this film exceptional is it takes a common format and intertwines issues of race in the form of stereotypes about black men and white women, and the physical attributes of black people, to create a truly unique film going experience. And that makes it a See It!

Written and directed by comedian Jordan Peele, who takes viewers on an entertaining journey giving them clues to the underlying mystery and then fits all of the pieces together in some expected and unexpected ways. Additionally, the cinematography effectively enriches so many of the scenes and is a key to telling this fascinating story.

Get Out has some familiar horror film flaws. Chris, like many protagonists in this type of film, is sometimes a little slow to figure things.

There are other defects as well. Chris shares his growing-up experience which is a key to some of his reactions. He never knew his father and lost his mother to a hit and run accident when he was 11-years-old. And at one point he tells Rose, she is all he has. The problem with that scenario is 11-year-olds don’t raise themselves. Further, he’s a fairly polished young man and an accomplished photographer, indicating that at least one if not more adults invested time and money in his development. It’s unlikely that those “investors” would have disappeared from Chris’ life now that he is an adult, resulting in Rose being all he has.

As I discussed in my review of Fences, it is troubling that the ubiquitous portrayal of black families as dysfunctional is a theme often perpetuated by black writers. Peele creates Chris’s story as one with an absentee father, even though Peele’s own father was in his life.

As to cast diversity, Get Out gets an “A-“. When it comes to black and white characters, you won’t find a more diverse film. However, there is only one Asian-American and one Hispanic, each with a small speaking role.

Get Out is Rated R for violence, bloody images, language and sexual references, and is 104 minutes in length. Get Out is a unique film you’ll think about and talk about. And it’s a See It!

Storks deliver babies...or at least they used to. In this story, these birds are out of the baby business and now, deliver packages for a global internet giant, Cornerstore.com. Junior, the company's top delivery stork, is about to be promoted when he accidentally activates the previously out of commission, Baby Making Machine, producing an adorable and wholly unauthorized baby girl. Desperate to deliver this bundle of trouble before the boss gets wise, Junior and his friend Tulip, the only human on Stork Mountain, race to make their first-ever baby drop - in a challenging journey that could make more than one family whole and restore the stork's true mission in the world.

Storks never takes off and gets a Dead on Arrival rating. It deals with too many plotlines. None of which are especially interesting. And even in an animated feature, the characters need to have some level of depth, they don't here. I understand that this type of film is for kids. Halfway through the movie, my 12-year-old daughter whispered to me, "This is awful!"

Additionally, this theater with a lot of children was very quiet which is not usually the case when they are enjoying the movie. In a good animated film, children's laughter dominates the facility.

Character voices are by: Andy Samberg, Kelsey Grammer, Jennifer Anniston, Keegan Michael Key, and Jordan Peele.

Animated films generally do very well at the box office. Thus far in 2016, of the 10 Top Grossing Films, five are animated features. However, animation is not enough; the story has to have entertainment value. And, entertainment wise, Storks never gets off the ground, so it's Dead on Arrival.

Storks is rated PG for mild action and some thematic elements and is 89 minutes in length.