flash!

A14

See who’s had a baby and who’s expecting in 2018

‘BLACK PANTHER’
from
hollywoodlife.com

GETTY IMAGES / BOB LEVEY

y y yq
yZ(PG-13)
Intelligent debate
over revolutionary
Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner
rhetoric, leadership
Jenner reveals BY FRANK LOVECE
baby girl’s name Special to Newsday

W
Kylie Jenner’s new daughter now ith less

MARVEL STUDIOS / MATT KENNEDY

has a name. humor but
The reality TV star, who gave no less fam-
birth on Thursday, announced Tues- ily drama
day on Instagram that she and rap- than the re-
per Travis Scott have named their cent Marvel-movie predeces-
baby Stormi. Jenner, 20, posted a sors “Thor: Ragnarok” and
photo in which she is holding her “Guardians of the Galaxy
daughter’s finger. The photo was sim- Vol. 2,” this first film star-
ply captioned “Stormi” and she com- ring comics’ first black su-
pleted the post with an angel emoji. perhero is as political as it is
There had been much specula- fanciful. While ultimately an
tion about the baby’s name, ranging action-adventure, “Black
from whether it would start with a Panther” also serves as an in-
K or whether it might have some- telligent if broad debate be-
thing to do with butterflies, one of tween revolutionary
Jenner’s obsessions. rhetoric and the responsibili-
Jenner first broke the news on ties of leadership. And to
Sunday via Instagram that her baby their great credit, the film-
had arrived three days earlier. No makers strike a balance be-
word yet if Stormi’s last name is Jen- tween such heady issues and
ner or Scott. highly imaginative set pieces
involving everything from re-
Gomez focused on health motely piloted cars and jets
Selena Gomez was spotted with to underground maglev
friends dining at a Mexican restau- trains and armored rhinos.
rant in Sherman Oaks, California, Introduced in “Captain
on Tuesday, just about one week America: Civil War” (2016),
after it was announced that she had the Black Panther is the cere-
recently completed a two-week pro- monial guise of T’Challa
gram to treat issues relating to de- (Chadwick Boseman), new
pression and anxiety. According to monarch of the futuristic and
reports, Gomez spent that time fo- secretive African nation
cusing on therapy, eating well, medi- Wakanda. The king is be-
newsday.com
Chadwick Boseman as the eponymous superhero in a scene from “Black Panther.”
Wakanda’s powerful metal, vi-
branium, is sold on the black
market by arms dealer
Ulysses Klaue (a scene-steal-
ing Andy Serkis), it could
change the global balance of
power. It definitely gives di-
rector and co-writer Ryan
Coogler (2013’s “Fruitvale Sta-
tion,” 2015’s “Creed”) and co-
writer Joe Robert Cole
(2016’s “American Crime
Story: The People v. O.J. Simp-
son”) the opportunity for
James Bond homages, with a
tuxedoed T’Challa infiltrating
an underground casino, using
gadgets supplied by his own
homegrown Q , sister Shuri
(breakout star Letitia Wright).
Meanwhile, through a
tragedy of Shakespearean pro-
PLOT Superhero king of
high-tech African nation
fights usurper.
CAST Chadwick Boseman,
Michael B. Jordan, Lupita
Nyong’o
RATED PG-13 (prolonged
sequences of action vio-
point, but like many revolu-
tionaries takes it too far. Coun-
tering him, in the less showy
role of a dignified and compas-
sionate leader, Boseman suc-
cessfully embodies the inner
strength to do what he can, sac-
rifice what he must, and none-
theless treat his opponent
with respect and not bombast.
The movie fills that smart
lence, and a brief rude
gesture)
LENGTH 2:14
BOTTOM LINE Shake-
speare meets James Bond
in this highly anticipated
movie, which opens in
theaters on Feb. 16.
and top spy (Lupita Nyong’o).
Coogler and company effec-
tively envision a self-con-
tained society where compet-
ing tribes (mostly) unite
under a king caught between
protecting the nation’s secu-
rity and wanting his country
to be part of the worldwide
community.
As with its balance be-

tating and doing Pilates. queathed enhanced strength,
Gomez, 25, is reportedly making speed and agility through a
her health her No. 1 priority special heart-shaped herb,
right now. and gets a cool panther-
themed, bulletproof bodysuit
portions, a former U.S. black-
ops warrior nicknamed Kill-
monger (Michael B. Jordan)
lays claim to the throne —
and Wakanda’s super-science
thematic framework with a
naturalistic landscape of farm-
ers and shepherds in the birth-
place of humanity, living
alongside a Tomorrowland
tween political discourse and
comic-book superheroics, the
movie rings true with family
dynamics that can change his-
tory. Leaders are only human,

+
and a cadre of royal body- weapons, which he’d use to city — itself as much a charac- the movie reminds us, and hu-
NEWSDAY, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018

WouldChrisHemsworth guards led by Okoye (Danai conquer Africa’s old coloniz- ter as any of its people, which mans have a responsibility to
make agoodJames Gurira, making her fierce Mi- ers and enslavers, that is, also include the Panther’s each other. Superhumans, of
Bond?Go to chonne from “The Walking much of the world. mother (Angela Bassett), his course, have a responsibility
hollywoodlife.com Dead” look like a wimp). Jordan’s charismatic, pop- chief adviser (Forest to entertain us, and that
andletusknow. When a chunk of ulist Killmonger has a valid Whitaker), and his ex-lover works well here, too.

date APRIL 17
hot ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ singer Rick Astley plays
The Paramount in Huntington. Tickets go on sale
Friday at 10 a.m.