[Spoiler] The Lion King Movie Review

After 25 years, Disney released the live action version of my childhood favorite movie, The Lion King. This cartoon movie shows real life lessons, such as taking the responsibilities of your father and in translation, being the man of the house; but in Lion King terms, being the king of Pride Rock. The movie also portrays family jealous and disloyalty. It shows falling in love with your childhood friend (but really Nala’s his sister, but that’s a story for another time). So many life lessons in an animal talking cartoon movie can be accounted for in real life. The original movie grossed over $700 million  worldwide, it was translated in 44 languages and made $9 billion on Broadway. Now let’s get to the movie review.

The Cast

As we all know, Beyonce plays older Nala and Donald Glover plays older Simba. I was hoping that Beyonce wouldn’t over sing her parts and speak her parts wrong, (because let’s be realistic…she can’t act that well) BUT……….. she didn’t disappoint. I feel like James Earl Jones (Mufasa), could’ve been more passionate. I love how Simba (JD McCrary) improvised his lines such as “I got this” to make the film seem more modern. Nala (Shahidi Wright Joseph) played her part well and has a beautiful voice just like JD. Zazu (John Oliver) could’ve been more comedic to me. Rafiki (John Kani) was more of a serious wise character instead of the energetic, silly, semi-crazy wise character in the original. Scar sounded less intimidating but looked just as scary in the real life depiction. 

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Donald Glover played older Simba well, so well that he almost didn’t sound like himself during the fight scene. The hyenas weren’t comedic like they were in the original film. I expected Keegan Michael Key to be more funny buuuuuuuuuuut he wasn’t. I will say that Timon (Billy Eichner) and Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) held the standard for their roles and were indeed funny.

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What I Didn’t Like

Of course the film was good but it wasn’t GREAT! I didn’t like how some of the characters weren’t as passionate in the original. One of the factors of that is…the characters don’t have facial expressions. Since this is a real-life depiction of The Lion King, it kind of reminded me of a show on Animal Planet. There is little mouth movement which is understandable for the film but it’s still weird.

 

What I did like

The music! The new versions of “Hakuna Matata”, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”, “Circle of Life” and “Remember” are EVERYTHING. The best characters throughout the movie are of course Simba, Timon and Pumbaa. I like how it is 70% the same as the original. I love how authentic everything looked. I respect the effort and time it took to create such a realistic film.

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The Power of CGI!

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The fact that the scenery, animals and even the skyline looked like I could physically be there, was amazing!! John Favreau did a damn good job on that. I watched Can You Feel The Love Tonight Special With Robin Roberts earlier in the week and John, and the cast, talked about how they used virtual reality gear to depict the actual scenery.

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I would go see the movie again, just in case there were things I didn’t catch the first time. I would rate this movie a 7.5. It is a classic film but it was as realistic as we wanted it to be.

What are your thoughts?

Comment them below and let me know!

 

Have You Seen Beyonce’s “Spirit” Video??

Okay look…I’m not part of the Beehive and I’m not a big Beyonce fan. I love her music and I’m a supporter but this “Spirit” video for The Lion King movie tho… whew chile!! It’s an uplifting, inspirational song that she sings her heart out on. It’s in reference to Simba becoming King. Lyrics such as “watch the heavens open” is a referencing to when Simba was born and Mufasa was lifting him up in the sky and the light came shining down on him.

The African rooted choreography and even the clothing in the video was beautiful. The song was played at the best time of the movie, when Simba was heading back to Pride Rock to take his place as king. Check out my Lion King Review <—- here.

I love how Beyonce goes back to her roots, OUR ROOTS,  when she is involved in a project, such as her Homecoming documentary on Netflix. She involved the HBCU culture into her Coachella performance, which is black AF! Even though she never got the chance to attend a HBCU due to her career, she made sure to recognize it. With The Lion King, even though it’s animated, it takes place in Africa and Beyonce showcases the dances and somewhat the attire. Leave it up to Beyonce to “woo” us.

Check out the video below!

 

We Don’t Appreciate the NAACP Image Awards Enough

Over the weekend, the NAACP Awards celebrated it’s 50th year and per usual, people of color were recognized, from Maxine Walters and many more. Artists an Actors were awarded such as:

Chadwick Boseman for winning Outstanding Actor in a Film for “Black Panther”

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Taraji P Henson for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for the show Empire

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Anthony Anderson Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for the ABC Show Blackish

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Tracee Ellis Ross Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for the ABC Show Blackish

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Jay-Z received the President Award and Beyonce received the Entertainer of the Year Award.

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I think it is important for black award shows like this to be in a category of their own peers. I understand that being in a category with other peers of difference genres of music and different movie categories, that it is more important to win because you beat out a wider range of nominees, but “competing” against your own peers and being positively recognized for it is definitely a plus. I think that us as an audience and others as a creative should be more thankful and appreciative of these kind of awards.

Tell me your thoughts below!

Danii Gold out!

 

Happy Birthday to The King of Pop, Michael Jackson

Today is Michael Jackson’s 60th birthday. He was such an influence on many generations, starting from the 1960’s until now, CURRENTLY in music.

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He was nominated for 38 Grammys and actually won 13 from 1979 up until 2010, after  his death in 2009.

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Michael released 10 studio and even had a role in The Wiz as the Scarecrow, one of the main character (DUH) just in case you didn’t know.

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His songs have been sampled by artists like SWV (“Human Nature Remix”), Chris Brown (“She Ain’t You”), LL Cool J (“Hey Lover”), and many more! Just recently, Drake used Michael Jackson’s vocals on his song “Don’t Matter To Me.” The vocals came from an unreleased song from MJ.

Michael’s music is still relevant today as well as his dance moves. He’s influenced artists such as Chris Brown, Beyonce, NeYo, NSYNC, Kanye, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Jay-Z and of course many.

May he continue to Rest In Peace and let his legacy live on!

What was your favorite song or songs (because you can’t just pick one ) by the King of Pop? Comment them below!

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Danii Gold out!

Episode 7 of Entertainment Talk is Up!

Hey Y’all!!

Episode 7 of Entertainment Talk is up on YouTube.

In this week’s episode, I talked about

  • The 17 year deathversary of Aaliyah

  • Living Single celebrating 25 years

  • Martin celebrating 26 years

  • A crazy fan at the On The Run 2 concert AND

  • Kanan dying on Power.

So much good talk, make sure you tune into the video below and SUBSCRIBE to my channel, thumbs up my video, comment, share it and most importantly SUPPORT.

Enjoy!

Danii Gold out!!

2018 Year to Date Album Releases

It’s only June and the number of albums released this year have been genius and anticipated and some I didn’t care for or listen to. Breaking it down Month by Month, here’s the album releases up until June:

January:

Migos- Culture 2

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Dave East- Paranoia 2

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February:

Kendrick Lamar- Black Panther Soundtrack

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Money Bagg Yo- Heartless 2

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Nipsey Hussle- Victory Lap

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March:

Tory Lanez: Memories Don’t Die

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Jeremih- The Chocolate Box

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The Weeknd: My Dear Melancholy

The Weeknd - My Dear Melancholy,
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XXXTentacion : ?

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April:

Cardi B- Invasion of Privacy

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J. Cole- KOD

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Janelle Monae- Dirty Computer

Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer
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May:

Rae Sremmurd- SR3MMlife 3 

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Wale- Self Promotion EP

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ASAP ROCKY- Testing

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Pusha T- Daytona

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June:

Kanye West: Ye

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Kids See Ghosts- Kids See Ghosts (Kanye & Kid Cudi)

Kids See Ghosts - KIDS SEE GHOSTS
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Nas- Nasir

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Teyana Taylor- K.T.S.E

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Beyonce & Jay-Z (The Carters)- EVERYTHING IS LOVE

The Carters - Everything Is Love
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Future- Superfly Soundtrack

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Jay Rock – Redemption

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Drake- Scorpion

Drake - Scorpion
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My favorite albums of this year were:

Cardi B- Invasion of Privacy

J. Cole- KOD

Kanye West- Ye

The Carters- EVERYTHING IS LOVE

and of course Drake- Scorpion

 

What were your favorite albums??

Comment them below!

Coachella Recap 2018

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Coachella was the talk of social media this past weekend ESPECIALLY Beyonce. She stole the show for the WHOLE WEEKEND, with her HBCU band, her reunion with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams from Destinys Child and bringing her sister Solange on stage to kill it with her. Beyonce has the whole Beehive wanting to pledge Beta Delta Kappa, which is the sweatshirt she wore in the second picture. Fans drew the conclusion that Beyonce was a sorority and they wanted to pledge. The letters B-A-K were on her sweatshirt and it could mean B-Beyonce, A-symbolizing Delta, but could also be related to the Roc Nation sign, and the K-for Knowles.

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 *the above images are from Beyonce’s instagram*

Our fav Cardi B performed “Best Life” with Chance the Rapper, “She Bad” with YG, “Bartier Cardi” with 21 Savage, “Ring” with Kehlani and even “No Limit” with G Eazy. Her attire with full blown Left Eye vines with the all white  and even the ponytails.

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Bae SZA took stage and performed “Drew Barrymore” then she brought out K-Dot (Kendrick Lamar) for “Doves in the Wind” “All the Stars”. 

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Migos even took the stage and performed some of their old hits like “Fight Night”

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Of course there were more performance, but these were just the highlights. Make sure you check out my next post about the Coachella Fashion looks over the weekend.

Danii Gold out!