The Acolyte

This in my eyes is another banger. What would you prefer? Do have an evil twin or to have split personality where one part of you has a crime filled life while the other is gentle and noble. This is the story at the heart of this installment that has made me particularly intetested in the star wars. There are hints back and forth of terms and expressions that draw me in msking me want to learn more. The series makes you want to know a lot more about some of the older characters weaving an intinate tapestry which causes you to thirst for a lot more. 

We begin with a story of two young grils who are split up after an invasion of their previously hidden existance. They havwgrown up under secretive circumstances nursed and nurtured by a mystery mother who leads a cult of other practitioners of the magic arts-witches really! 

Their origin is just as mysterious which is why the Jedi feel like they must be stopped. The confrontation between Jediandthis cult results in chaos that drives a wedge between the sisters and forces one to seek revenge. We meet them at later stage in life where one is hell bent on vengence while the other just wants to be more than she is and reclaim the glory of days long gone. 

The story thus revolves around these two trying to make sense of each other’s grievances and heal while embracing the darkness and light that is before them and a future that seems to be causing them to further come into conflict. 

Amandla Sendberg does an amazing job in the show. You can tell she was destined for great things after her performance as the young Colombina a young daughter of a Colombina drug enforcer who dies but before he does manages to pass on some intek to his daughter sendibg her to the US with this info to save her life. 

Amandla also makes an appearance in The Things Hate U give. THUG which is a play on a set of words or letters that are dominant in poor neighborhoods. My most telling scene in acolyte comes from a rescue or confrontation between the powers of darkenss and those of light when the Jedi have an encounter with the witches. One of the Jedi less protected finds himself attacked by one of the witches as the others are chanting. The curse is broken and those who are fighting against the weaker Jedi also end up dying after which tragedy strikes. So much to glean from this one situation. 

Lioness-Special Ops

Here is another Gem. Found this on Instagram. A conversation between

the lead actress and a host where she was talking about the movie. It

starts of in a foreign city with a US Intelligence Operative having a

phone  call with an asset. Let me stop there. In a forum that is

increasing in use in Uganda, we recently started to talk about the

possibility of a decline of the major western powers. We are talking

ofcourse about the US and UK. I had this and other ideas in mind when i

started to locate Eastern or Asian Podcasts. To my surprise, there were

quite a number but the hosts had either British Accents or American

Ones. With all likelihood, these guys were probably educated in the

West and had all their contacts especially investors based in the US

and UK. The decline might be taking place, but we are stuck with

culture and language. We watch the movies and have adopted the language

that these western countries use. 

Which brings me back to Assets. So this is a term that is used to

describe someone that you use to help give you information from your

adversary. 

It is refreshing to see Zoe Saldana playing the role of a soldier

juggling both an active role in the field and behind the desk. She is

aslo raising daughters and navigating a relationship with a man in the

medical profession. We used the rerm refreshing for a reference to

Saldana because most of her roles in the past have been for creatures

from other planets. i wrote about this before but i was not the first

one to notice this disparity. We tended to feel like her abilities were

underutilized by casting her as a non-human. But a role is a role and

the creative work that she has done representing the mythical creatures

in a strange planet is remarkable (Avatar). 

She got my attention as did Amndla Sandberg (later featured in THUG-The

Hate You Give) who played the younger daughter of Brazilian Kingpin

seeking to get out of a network that  wants him dead (Colombiana). The

svelt Zoe grows up to be an attractive but highly skilled assasin who

goes to great lengths to avenge her father. 

So lioness revolves around this team that seeks to deal with American

adversaries with a covert team of about 6 specialists. 

It is about relationships that are forged between the members of this

team, the higher ups, government and the white house, business

interests connected to the husband of Zoe's character team leader and

Zoe's Character's family. 

She is trying to manage the team, raise a family, work on her marriage,

develop a relationship with a female soldier she needs to send into the

abyss and deal with the fallout from those who are a pay grade above

her. 

It is difficult to understand if the relationship between Hollywood and

Government is healthy but it feels like some parts of this series are

Government's attempt to try to help citizens understand some of the

dilemmas that are faced when writing policy and making money for the

economy.   

Black Panther

Zoe Saldana is an attractive actress. She featured in an interesting movie where she has to deal with some adversaries from her past (Colombiana). 

You got the sense that you wanted to see a lot more of her on the screen. But that was not going to happen at least not in the format in which I wished to see her. I share these sentiments with many and when I searched for images and Information about her and more at her films, I found good stuff on the Internet...as in box office moving stuff but almost all these were about creatures from other planets. There were very few in which she featured in full. Not many where we got to see her as the real attractive talented blossoming actress that she is. There is Avatar (2009) Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, 2017) and Star Trek (2016). 

So my feelings about the emergence of a new presentation about Black super heroes is mixed (Black Panther). It's projected success notwithstanding. 

I want to see people celebrated for being ordinary. Like taking care of kids and growing plants and doing regular work. I want to see a sense in many of us where we do not despise those things that are just...well regular things that regular people do. I do not see why we should get so excited that we are finally part of the life of make belief. This while we sit somewhat half embarrassed at grandma's remedies and recipes because they are too primitive or backward or worse than that devilish.