Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

From Deadline -- It looks like the theatrical exclusivity for Judas came at a good time for theater owners.

Warner Bros.’ Judas and the Black Messiah in its 6th weekend grossed $250K, for a 53% uptick, from 951 locations (+174) and a running total of $5M. The movie is no longer available on HBO Max having played on the streaming service for 31 days. Theaters will have the Shaka King-directed feature exclusively for the next month. The pic is up for six nominations including Best Picture, original screenplay, original song, cinematography, Daniel Kaluuya for Best Actor and Lakeith Stanfield for Best Supporting Actor.

Oscar Best Picture Noms See Some Afterglow At Pandemic B.O.: ‘Minari’, ‘Nomadland’ Make Big Gains; ‘The Father’ Leads

While it’s not really a time to take a victory lap at the box office with only 3.1k movie theaters opened out of U.S. and Canada’s 5.8K, five out of the eight Oscar-nominated best pictures this past weekend in theatrical release reaped the halo effect of Monday’s noms. Keep in mind many...

deadline.com

 

[jayembee]

Seems like the Academy does that a lot when a movie has co-leads - at least when the co-leads are the same gender.

Then there's the weird case of "The Favourite", where you could argue all three women were leads or all three were supporting, but it made no sense to call 1 a lead and the other 2 supporting since all 3 enjoyed similar screentime!

Goes back a ways. I remember the hubbub back in 1980 with Kramer vs. Kramer. Dustin Hoffman, Kramer #1, was nommed for Best Actor while Meryl Streep, Kramer #2, was nommed for Best Supporting Actress (both won). It kinda sorta made sense, as the film was more about him than about her, but the discrepancy didn't go over well.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Goes back a ways. I remember the hubbub back in 1980 with Kramer vs. Kramer. Dustin Hoffman, Kramer #1, was nommed for Best Actor while Meryl Streep, Kramer #2, was nommed for Best Supporting Actress (both won). It kinda sorta made sense, as the film was more about him than about her, but the discrepancy didn't go over well.

I'll take your word for it that there was a controversy, but there shouldn't have been in that case because Hoffman was onscreen MUCH more than Streep.

If the argument was "she's half the title"... well, that's just dumb.

Streep is clearly a supporting actor. You'd make a better case for Justin Henry as a lead than Streep - at least he's in the whole movie! Streep's character goes MIA much of the time!

 

[Jake Lipson]

Now that I’m aware of it there’s no way to see it.

This looks great but again the question is where do I see it? It seems like News of the World I might be waiting for a blu.

For anyone who missed it during its run on HBO Max, Judas is now available as a $19.99 PVOD rental at all the usual digital retailers if you want to see it at home prior to the Oscars.

I liked the movie, but whether it is worth $20 for a 48-hour rental period is a personal choice. The physical Blu-ray release and regular price rentals won't begin until May 4, which is after the ceremony on April 25. So renting it via PVOD or seeing it in theaters are the only options if seeing it before the awards is important to you.

 

[Robert Crawford]

As someone that watched this movie, if you stream then I would wait for the 4K/Dolby Vision & Atmos digital on Vudu and iTunes in May. The movie is only getting a BD release and not a 4K disc release.

 

[jayembee]

As someone that watched this movie, if you stream then I would wait for the 4K/Dolby Vision & Atmos digital on Vudu and iTunes in May. The movie is only getting a BD release and not a 4K disc release.

Yeah. I was hoping there might be a non-US 4K release, but no such luck. At least for the foreseeable future.

 

[JoeStemme]

I'll take your word for it that there was a controversy, but there shouldn't have been in that case because Hoffman was onscreen MUCH more than Streep.

If the argument was "she's half the title"... well, that's just dumb.

Yeah, that's like saying Orson Welles was the lead in THE THIRD MAN because he's the title character!

 

[JoeStemme]

The FBI was so terrified by the left in the 60s and early 70s that they recruited (and often coerced) people to infiltrate and undermine organized groups like the Black Panthers even against their own self-interest. In this telling, the Judas is two bit car thief Bill O'Neil (LaKeith Stanfield) and the Messiah is the Panthers' Chicago branch leader Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya).

Director Shaka King collaborated with three writers in fashioning a screenplay which both overreaches and underachieves in trying to tell the tale. O'Neil is the puppet of FBI officer Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) who answers to none other than the force's Director, J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen almost unrecognizable under mounds of makeup). Hampton is portrayed as not only the spiritual leader of the local Panthers, but, also its instructor and chief negotiator in trying to unify other minority groups in the city. The ultimate goal is fighting back against police brutality - by any means necessary - in the parlance of the time.

JUDAS tries to cover too much territory, with characters entering and exiting without establishing their real import to the story. The structure is also too conventional with far too much time spent on facts and figures, and not enough on character development -- nor creating a true narrative that drives the drama. No disrespect to Sheen or his performance (which is good), but, those scenes are simply superfluous. The viewer knows that the FBI is controlling O'Neil through Mitchell and that's sufficient. What's missing is showing made O'Neil tick. Hampton is given more room to develop as he interacts with the group members and forms a relationship with a writer and activist, Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback).

Stanfield is very strong here as O'Neil despite the script's insufficient grounding of his character. Kaluuya is also quite good as Hampton, but, for the first time in his American career, his natural English accent noticeably gets in the way at times. In addition, the lead actors are each a full decade older than the real life people they are portraying. Hampton should be a young firebrand, not the mature leader who often appears here as a mentor, almost a father figure. The real O'Neil was seventeen. A callow teenager, not an experienced con. Casting years older than the character they play is common in Hollywood, but, this is a particularly acute and damaging pair of examples. It robs the movie of much of its intrinsic power. A battle of wills and morality played out (and to) very young boys of color, not men.

The legacy of the Black Panthers is complicated. The free breakfasts, education and empowerment still has resonance today, but, so does the violence. That story certainly isn't helped by the muddled storytelling here. There are powerful moments depicted, and the tragedy is there for all to see. JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH is too prosaic in its approach. There should be fire and urgency. It plays it too safe, something which Fred Hampton never did.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Ha! It cycled off of HBOMax 6 hours prior to the Oscar announcements in which it got a Best Picture nomination? Good timing! Now that I’m aware of it there’s no way to see it.

If you still haven't seen it, Judas rotated back onto HBO Max at some point recently. I just noticed it is in their library again.

This is part of HBO's deal with Warner Bros. to have their theatrical features for a period of time after their Blu-ray release while they are in the pay TV window. I don't know how long it will be there -- probably not forever but more than the month it was obligated to earlier this year when the theatrical release was concurrent.