Celebrate Black History Month with these movies that depict the lives of African-American heroes and the ongoing quest for greater human decency. 15 great movies for kids and families 1. A Dream of Color in Black and White 1h 30min Crime, Drama, Fantasy 31 October 2005 (USA) A writer investigates the suspicious death of his sister at an old Victorian mansion inhabited by her widowed scientist husband on the verge of a breakthrough in dream traveling, an ex-lover from his past, and the doctor she is now in a relationship with.

Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie, known in Japan as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon SuperS: The Nine Sailor Soldiers Unite! Miracle of the Black Dream Hole (美少女戦士セーラームーンSuperS (スーパーズ) セーラー9戦士集結！ブラック・ドリーム・ホールの奇跡, Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpāzu: Sērā Kyū Senshi Shūketsu! Burakku Dorīmu Hōru no Kiseki) and Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie: Black Dream Hole in the English adaptation, is a 1995 Japanese animesuperherofantasy film directed by Hiroki Shibata, written by Yōji Enokido, and based on the Sailor Moon manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. It takes its name from the fourth arc of the Sailor Moon anime, Sailor Moon SuperS, as Toei Company distributed it around the same time.

The film debuted in Japanese theaters on December 23, 1995, accompanied by a 16-minute short film titled Sailor Moon SuperS Plus: Ami's First Love (美少女戦士セーラームーンSuperS外伝 亜美ちゃんの初恋, Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpāzu Gaiden: Ami-chan no Hatsu-koi), stylized on-screen as Special Present - Ami's First Love - Sailor Moon SuperS Side Story (スペシャルプレゼント 亜美ちゃんの初恋 美少女戦士セーラームーンSuperS外伝, Supesharu Purezento Ami-chan no Hatsu-koi Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpāzu Gaiden).

Plot[edit]

Ami's First Love[edit]

Japanese theaters showed a 16-minute short before the Sailor Moon SuperS film, titled Ami's First Love (Ami-chan no Hatsukoi),^[1] in which Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) struggles to focus on her studying amidst various distractions including a pruritus-inducing love letter found in her school locker and a rival known as 'Mercurius' who ties Ami's perfect score in mock high school entrance exams, and who Ami believes is either a female monster that makes her forget math and English or a handsome boy who looks like a young Albert Einstein. The short featured a new transformation sequence ('Mercury Crystal Power Make Up!') and a greater enhanced water-based attack ('Mercury Aqua Mirage') for Super Sailor Mercury.

Black Dream Hole[edit]

Somewhere in Europe, a young man named Poupelin (ププラン, Pupuran) plays a song on his flute to hypnotize children, following him into a mysterious ship before sailing off into the sky. In Tokyo, Usagi Tsukino, Chibiusa, and the other girls bake cookies together at Makoto Kino's apartment. Usagi ends up with cookies that look perfect but taste terrible; Chibiusa produces the reverse. Chibiusa sets out to give her cookies to Mamoru Chiba, but is stopped by a butterfly wing-shaped boy in strange white clothing standing outside the sweets shop. They befriend each other, and he causes some of the treats inside the shop window to dance by playing a tune on his flute before revealing himself as Perle (ペルル, Peruru). Meanwhile, Usagi visits Mamoru with her cookies, and they argue over his strong and close friendship with Chibiusa. They hear a report on the radio about the mass disappearance of children all over the world. Around the same time, Chibiusa gives her bag of cookies to Perle before going their separate ways.

That night, Chibiusa wakes up, and begins walking through the city. Diana wakes Usagi, who along with the other girls, follow Chibiusa, and the other children. They save Chibiusa, but get into a fight with Poupelin, and his 'Bonbon Babies.' Poupelin then hypnotizes the girls into seeing a Gingerbread House. In turn, Mamoru appears, and snaps the girls out of the spell. Queen Badiane (女王バディヤーヌ, Jo'ō Badiyānu) orders Poupelin and her other henchmen Banane (バナーヌ, Banānu) and Orangeat (オランジャ, Oranja) to hurry up. Perle says that he no longer believes in her, but she orders that Chibiusa be captured. The ship lands, along with two others, in Marzipan Castle. When the doors are opened, the children run out into the darkness, except for Chibiusa. Looking into the shadows, she witnesses 'Dream Coffins,' each containing a sleeping child. Badiane lifts her into the air, commenting on the power she senses from Chibiusa, and explains her purpose. In the castle's center, a massive Black Dream Hole is forming, gathering the magical 'sugar energy' of the sleeping children. Eventually it will overtake Earth, and all humans will enter into Dream Coffins.

Meanwhile, Perle leads the other Sailor Guardians to a flying ship of his own. He tells them that Badiane promised that the children would be happy and safe in her world of dreams and where they can remain children indefinitely, but he thinks also of Chibiusa, his friend. As they reach the castle, they are attacked, and after crash-landing fight Poupelin, Banane, and Orangeat, as well as three sets of Bonbon Babies. Just when the situation seems hopeless, the girls are saved by Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Pluto. With this advantage, they are able to break the flutes of the three fairies, changing them into small birds. Afterwards, the Guardians infiltrate the castle and confront Queen Badiane, who has drained enough dream energy from the children, including Chibiusa, to create the Black Dream Hole. The power drain is enough to force all the Sailor Soldiers except Usagi into a half-detransformation, weakening them, without any clothing. Taking Chibiusa with her, Badiane enters the hole itself, and Usagi follows. Usagi then finds herself in Mamoru's apartment, carrying Chibiusa. Mamoru lays her on the bed, then wraps his arms around Usagi and tells her not to worry about anything, just to stay there with him. She asks him again who is more important, herself or Chibiusa; he eventually tells her that she is. Usagi lifts Chibiusa in her arms once again, and eventually realizes that this experience is all just a dream.

As Usagi tries to flee, Badiane demands that she give back Chibiusa. When Usagi refuses, Badiane assimilates herself into the black dream hole and attacks her with fire. Hearing her mental cry, the other seven Guardians send their power and strength to Usagi, awakening Chibiusa and allowing them to finally obliterate Badiane with their Moon Gorgeous Meditation technique. After the battle, Marzipan Castle is destroyed, and with Perle's help, the six Super Sailor Guardians and three Outer Sailor Guardians escape. The airships, each carrying children, return to Earth.

Later, at a beach, Perle gives Chibiusa his glass flute, telling her that he is the fairy who protects children's dreams, and will always be with her, and Chibiusa kisses him goodbye on the cheek. As Perle flies away, the six Super Sailor Guardians and three Outer Sailor Guardians watch the sun rise.^[2]

Cast[edit]

Ami's First Love[edit]

Production[edit]

Originally, Kunihiko Ikuhara envisaged that Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune were going to be the main characters in the SuperS film, and it was going to be independent of the main series. Sailor Neptune was going to be in a deep sleep at the end of the world, and Sailor Uranus would have had to steal the talismans from the Sailor Soldiers to revive her. However, both Ikuhara and producer Iriya Azuma left the series. Ikuhara's concepts were later used in Revolutionary Girl Utena.^[3]

English release[edit]

The film was first released in North America on VHS by Pioneer Entertainment on August 31, 1999, in Japanese with English subtitles.^[4] Pioneer later released the film to uncut bilingual DVD on August 15, 2000, alongside another VHS release containing an edited version of the English dub.^[5] Pioneer re-released their DVD on January 6, 2004, under their 'Geneon Signature Series' line.^[6] The DVDs later fell out of print when Pioneer/Geneon lost the license to the film. The edited version was also shown on TV in Canada on YTV and in the US on Cartoon Network's Toonami block.

The English dub was produced in association with Optimum Productions in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and featured most of the original DiC English cast reprising their roles. The edited version of the dub was censored for content and replaced the music with cues from the DiC version of the first two seasons of the anime, while retaining the insert song, Sanji no Yosei (The Three O'Clock Fairy). The uncut version of the dub was only seen on the bilingual DVD, featured no censorship, and all of the original Japanese music was left intact, with the exception of the DiC theme song being used. However, no DVD or VHS release contained the 'Ami's First Love' short.

In 2014, the film (including the 'Ami's First Love' short) was re-licensed for an updated English-language release in North America by Viz Media, who produced a new English dub of the film in association with Studiopolis in Los Angeles, California and plans to re-release it on DVD and Blu-ray.^[7] The film, along with the Ami's First Love short, was released to North American theaters in association with Fathom Events for one-day showings nationwide, with dubbed screenings on August 4, 2018 and subtitled screenings on August 6, 2018.^[8] It has also been licensed in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.^[9] The movie was then released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 12, 2019.^[10]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Animerica Feature: The Sailor Moon Movies'. Animerica. Viz Media. Archived from the original on April 7, 2004. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
2. ^Doi, Hitoshi. 'Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS'. Archived from the original on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2006-10-06.
3. ^Interview with Kunihiko IkuharaArchived 2012-07-15 at Archive.today
4. ^'Sailor Moon SuperS [VHS]'. Amazon.com. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
5. ^'Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie - Black Dream Hole [VHS] (2000)'. Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
6. ^https://www.amazon.com/Sailor-Moon-SuperS-Geneon-Signature/dp/B00012QLVY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1426806476&sr=8-5&keywords=Sailor+Moon+Super+S+geneon+signature+series
7. ^http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-05-16/viz-licenses-original-sailor-moon-anime-franchise
8. ^'Viz Media to Screen Sailor Moon S The Movie, Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie Films in N. American Theaters'. Anime News Network. May 19, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
9. ^http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-11-28/madman-entertainment-acquires-sailor-moon-series-and-sailor-moon-crystal/.81519
10. ^'Sailor Moon Super S Blu-Ray/DVD'. Right Stuf. Retrieved January 25, 2019.

External links[edit]

• Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie on IMDb
• Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie at AllMovie
• Animerica review at the Wayback Machine (archived April 7, 2004)

Black Panther, a movie unique for its black star power, depends on a shocking devaluation of black American men.Black Panther, the most recent entry into the Marvel cinematic universe, has been greeted with the breathless anticipation that its arrival will Change Things. The movie features the leader of a fictional African country who has enough wealth to make Warren Buffet feel like a financial piker and enough technological capacity to rival advanced alien races. Such black empowerment was supposed to change things by effectively challenging racist narratives.

This is a tall order, especially in the age of Donald Trump, who insists that blacks live in hell and wishes that (black) sons of bitches would get fired for protesting police violence. And it makes it a real shame that Black Panther, a movie unique for its black star power and its many thoughtful portrayals of strong black women, depends on a shocking devaluation of black American men.To explain my complaint, I need to reveal some key plot turns: spoiler alert.Wakanda is a fictional nation in Africa, a marvel beyond all marvels. Its stupendous wealth and technological advancement reach beyond anything the folks in MIT’s labs could dream of. The source of all this wonder is vibranium, a substance miraculous in ways that the movie does not bother to explain.

But so far as we understand, it is a potent energy source as well as an unmatched raw material. A meteor rich in vibranium crashed long ago into the land that would become Wakanda, making the country so powerful that the terrors of colonialism and imperialism passed it.

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Using technology to hide its good fortune, the country plays the part of a poor, third-world African nation. In reality, it thrives, and its isolationist policies protect it from anti-black racism. The Wakandans understand events in the outside world and know that they are spared. This triumphant lore—the vibranium and the Wakandans’ secret history and superiority—are more than imaginative window-dressing. They go to the heart of the mistaken perception that Black Panther is a movie about black liberation.A movie unique for its black star power depends on a shocking devaluation of black American men.In Black Panther, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) has risen to the throne of Wakanda.

We know that his father, T’Chaka, the previous king, died in a bomb attack. T’Challa worships his father for being wise and good and wants to walk in his footsteps. But a heartbreaking revelation will sorely challenge T’Challa’s idealized image of his father.The movie’s initial action sequences focus on a criminal partnership between arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and Eric Killmonger (Michael B. They both seek vibranium but for different reasons: Klaue is trying to profit from Wakanda’s wonder-material; Killmonger is trying to make his way to Wakanda to make a bid for the throne.

He believes he is the rightful king.Killmonger, it turns out, is T’Challa’s cousin, orphaned by T’Chaka’s murder of Killmonger’s father and T’Chaka’s younger brother, N’Jobu (Sterling Brown). Why did T’Chaka kill his brother? N’Jobu was found with stolen vibranium. The motive for the theft is where the tale begins—and where the story of black wonderment starts to degrade.We learn that N’Jobu was sent to the United States as one of Wakanda’s War Dogs, a division of spies that the reclusive nation dispatches to keep tabs on a world it refuses to engage.

This is precisely N’Jobu’s problem. In the United States, he learns of the racism black Americans face, including mass incarceration and police brutality. He soon understands that his people have the power to help all black people, and he plots to develop weapons using vibranium to even the odds for black Americans. This is radical stuff; the Black Panthers (the political party, that is) taken to a level of potentially revolutionary efficacy. T’Chaka, however, insists N’Jobu has betrayed the people of Wakanda. He has no intention of helping any black people anywhere; for him and most Wakandans, it is Wakanda First.

N’Jobu threatens an aide to T’Chaka, who then kills N’Jobu. The murder leaves Killmonger orphaned.

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