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https://blackgirlnerds.com/5-roles-that-made-us-fall-in-love-with-meagan-good-again-and-again/

From 1997’s Eve’s Bayou to Nickelodeon’s Cousin Skeeter, and both 2003’s Deliver Us from Eva and the Shazam! movies, actor Meagan Good has been blessing us with both her talent and her beauty for the better part of the last three decades. Since the beginning of her career, Good has appeared in nearly 50 different films, made appearances in more than 40 different television series in different capacities, and even voiced a female role in 2006’s Scarface: The World is Yours, an action-adventure video game released on the legendary PlayStation 2, the original Xbox, and Microsoft Windows.

Good remains one of the most popular African-American actors on both the large and small screen, and she continues to win audiences over with her recent role as Camille in Harlem, which will hopefully receive a third season. And while we wait for Season 3 of Harlem to finally drop — if it ever does — let’s discuss five roles that made us fall in love with Meagan Good over and over again.

Max Brewer — D.E.B.S.

D.E.B.S. was a 2004 action-comedy movie directed by Angela Robinson, starring Devon Aoki, Sara Foster, Jill Ritchie, and Meagan Good as members of an elite squad of spies-in-training who end up opposing a ruthless villain. Sadly, the movie flopped both commercially and critically upon release. However, it went on to become a cult film in the years following its release.

Meagan Good portrays Max Brewer, a D.E.B.S. (Discipline, Energy, Beauty, Strength) agent, code-named Panther. As a character, she was a gun-wielding Agent-In-Charge for her squad; however, she was temporarily demoted to Second after Sara Foster’s Amy Bradshaw survived her first encounter with the film’s villain.

April Palmer — Stomp the Yard

Dance dramas such as 2007’s Stomp the Yard were massively popular among the youth in the late 2000s and early 2010s. This one is about D.J., a talented dancer portrayed by Columbus Short, who is enrolled in Atlanta’s Truth University. He soon finds himself caught in a rivalry between fraternities seeking to leverage his dancing skill in an upcoming dance-off while also trying to focus on his studies and woo a pretty classmate, April Palmer — portrayed by Meagan Good.

Though she’s not the movie’s protagonist, Good’s performance contributed massively to its dynamic and its exploration of college life and personal growth. It’s definitely worth a watch if you’re a Meagan Good fan and/or nostalgic about your college days.

Nina Jones — Cousin Skeeter

Meagan Good’s rise to fame was propelled by, among other media, Cousin Skeeter, a popular Nickelodeon sitcom that aired from 1998 to 2001. It followed Bobby, portrayed by Robert Ri’chard, whose life changes when his strange cousin, Skeeter, comes to stay with his family. Meagan Good acts as Bobby’s friend — the two actually have a crush on each other, and they eventually start dating in the show.

The show was mostly aimed toward adolescent audiences, and it’s often credited for boosting young African American representation on television, even though it received mixed reviews from critics and many news outlets of the time.

Cisely Batiste — Eve’s Bayou

At barely 16 years of age, young Meagan Good delivered a critically-acclaimed performance as Cisely Batiste in 1997’s Southern Gothic drama film Eve’s Bayou, directed by Kasi Lemmons and produced by Samuel L. Jackson. It’s a fantastic movie that ended up being selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.

Interestingly, Meagan Good was originally cast as the film’s protagonist; however, by the time the film’s financing came together and the filming began, Good had grown out of the role. She was instead cast as Cisely, a role that allowed her to establish herself as one of the young talents to keep an eye out for. Eva’s Bayou is still one of the best films about issues surrounding race in America, and it definitely deserves its screen time.

Camille — Harlem

Harlem, a comedy television series, took the world by storm when it debuted on Prime Video in 2021 and quickly became one of Meagan Good’s most appreciated performances. The series follows the lives of four girlfriends in NYC as they navigate their lives, love, friendship, and careers.

Good plays the ambitious Camille, who seeks to rise through the ranks as a university professor, but the speed bumps of life continue to impede her journey. Interestingly, the character she portrays in the series is a young and popular anthropology professor who has extensive knowledge of dating norms and marital practices in many different world cultures. However, romance still seems to be the one social mystery that continues to elude her.

Closing Thoughts

Meagan Good’s roles have evolved over the years, from making her feature debut as Kid #2 in 1995’s Friday to delivering iconic performances in Eve’s Bayou and Harlem, making her a stalwart fixture of the entertainment industry due to her range and depth as an actor. Those interested in her work can check out her roles in the aforementioned releases or other releases, such as Buying Back My Daughter, Code Black, Minority Report, and Deception. These should be good pastimes while we wait for any news regarding Harlem Season 3.

https://nerdist.com/article/fallout-tv-series-trailer-vault-33-post-apocalypse/

The time has come for Lucy to leave Vault 33 and see what has transpired since an apocalypse left Los Angeles in tatters. While Vault Dwellers don’t live in the lap of luxury, they have enjoyed a sheltered existence compared to those who’ve tried to survive in the wasteland. We’ll see how the Vault Dweller Lucy does when she leaves her home in Prime Video’s Fallout TV series adaptation. We recently saw first-look images for Fallout, and now it’s time for the first trailer. It has plenty of nods to the video game and hints at the mutated dangers lurking around every corner. The footage even shows Walter Goggins’ face instead of his Ghoul form.

Prime Video shared the trailer at the fan and comic book convention CCXP. Series stars Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, and Walton Goggins appeared alongside executive producer and director Jonathan Nolan, executive producer and co-showrunner Graham Wagner and discussed the series. As the trailer demonstrates, the Fallout TV series is going to have the same tone as the game. That means things are a little tongue-in-cheek—like Dog snacking on flash. The music in the trailer is reminiscent of the game, too.

Fallout’s synopsis states:

Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. Two-hundred years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind—and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.

The Fallout TV series will premiere on Prime Video on April 12, 2024.

The post First FALLOUT TV Series Trailer Shows the Dangers of the Wasteland appeared first on Nerdist.

https://www.thenerdelement.com/2023/12/01/godzilla-minus-one-review/

*Contains mild spoilers common to reviews

“Godzilla Minus One” (Japanese title: ゴジラマイナスワン or  “Gojira -1.0”) is the best Godzilla film to come out since the original 1954 “Gojira.” It’s an emotional ride through post-World War II Japan as that country recovers from devastation, only to be confronted with something even more dangerous and destructive–and uncontrollable. “Godzilla Minus One” is a film about post-war survivor’s guilt and found family that also happens to have a giant kaiju wreaking havoc in the background.

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki from his own script, “Godzilla Minus One” begins on Odo Island, where Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki, who gives an Academy Awards-caliber performance), a kamikaze pilot, has faked a problem with his plane so he can avoid his death mission. His cowardice makes him anathema to the mechanics on the island even though the war is almost over, with Japan assuredly losing. As they argue with Shikishima, a giant creature the islanders call Godzilla rises from the ocean and attacks. One last act of cowardice allows Shikishima to survive, along with one other person who blames him for all the deaths. It’s a heavy burden that leaves Shikishima a shell of a man.

Shikishima returns to a bombed-out Tokyo after the war. Being a kamikaze pilot who lived renders him a pariah. His neighbor, Sumiko (Sakura Ando), is disgusted to see him. The guilt he carries over the mechanics’ deaths, exemplified in a pile of their family photographs given to him on his journey home, exacerbates his fragile mental state. His parents having perished in the bombings in Tokyo doesn’t help, either.

One day, hubbub at the local marketplace brings Noriko (Minami Hamabe), who was given a baby to care for by a dying woman, into Shikishima’s life. Noriko winds up staying at Shikishima’s; even Sumiko’s hard feelings towards Shikishima soften when she meets the baby. 

As the years pass, we see Tokyo slowly rebuilding. Shikishima takes a well-paying but dangerous job clearing out ocean mines, where he meets the captain Yoji Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), Kenji “Doc” Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), and the “Kid” Shirō Mizushima (Yuki Yamada). The four form a brotherly bond. Meanwhile, Shikishima continues to be haunted by nightmares of Godzilla’s attack and the deaths of all the men he met on Odo Island. He closes himself off to love and basically living. 

Elsewhere, the United States conducts nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll, angering a now-much larger Godzilla, who begins attacking boats. Japan and other world powers keep Godzilla’s existence a secret from the world, but when the U.S. fears Soviet reprisals if they send warships to the area to assist in destroying Godzilla, Japan is on its own dealing with the kaiju menace. Godzilla is an existential threat to humanity that no one wants to take responsibility for.

A lot of political undercurrents pulse through “Godzilla Minus One.” Apart from U.S. imperialism causing a huge problem then peacing out on dealing with it, there’s also the way the Japanese government has been treating its people. There’s a growing discontent among Tokyo’s denizens who are already dealing with the after-effects of a war they apparently didn’t want to fight in the first place, and now a giant monster is on the way? Will the military come in and save the day, or will the people rise up to fight against the growing threat Godzilla poses? The country is already at “zero” because of the war, and Godzilla’s attacks set it back to negative one (hence the film’s title).

“Godzilla Minus One” has callbacks to the 1954 film, including excellent use of Akira Ifukube’s original “Godzilla” score and breathless narration from a reporter watching an attack unfold, as well as other Easter eggs for Godzilla nerds. But the core of the film is Shikishima’s journey through his guilt and his death wish. Kamiki’s acting as Shikishima anchors the film with its sheer emotional force. Shikishima looks haunted because he is haunted–by his cowardice, by his belief that he doesn’t deserve love or even to live, and by Godzilla, the symbol of his trauma. It’s effective and affecting.

Also, “Godzilla Minus One” just looks spectacular. It was made on a $15 million budget, but it seems like they spent much more. Cinematography, especially the sea scenes, is magnificent, and Godzilla himself is a wonder. He looks a little like 1954 Godzilla, a little like Shin, and even has more chonky thighs like Monsterverse Godzilla, with other Godzilla iterations mixed in. He also appears to be in terrible pain just existing, which is part of the original Godzilla’s backstory (his skin resembled keloid scars suffered by the survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima). He’s fearsome and awe-inspiring, and his attacks throughout the film are both exhilarating and utterly terrifying, even more so than the main attack in “Shin Godzilla,” which is my personal high mark of modern Godzilla destruction. That the main attack in the film also echoes the horrifying one in the 1954 version only adds to its power.

“Godzilla Minus One” is an epic film boasting stunning visual effects and deep emotional heft, with its central performances from Kamiki, Hamabe, Sasaki, Yoshioka, and Ando keeping you invested in the human saga while waiting for the monster mayhem. Yamazaki has said that he would like to make another Godzilla film. Here’s hoping Toho Studio agrees because “Godzilla Minus One” is amazing.

The post Godzilla Minus One Review appeared first on The Nerd Element.

https://www.essence.com/news/atatiana-jefferson-nephew-settlement/

Amanda McCoy / Pool via AP file

By Melissa Noel ·Updated December 1, 2023

Zion Carr, who witnessed his aunt Atatiana Jefferson’s fatal shooting by police in 2019, will receive a $3.5 million settlement from Fort Worth, according to city officials.

Zion, who was eight years old at the time, was playing video games at Jefferson’s house when an officer shot and killed the 28-year-old while responding to a call for a welfare check. 

According to a federal lawsuit filed by Zion’s mother, Amber Carr, in 2021, he suffered from “anxiety, terror, and agony” from witnessing his aunt’s death, NBC News reports. 

The lawsuit claimed that Zion suffered from “severe and extreme mental and emotional distress” and attributed his trauma to the city. Just two years after the lawsuit was filed, Carr, Jefferson’s sister, passed away from congestive heart failure.

The city announced earlier this month that it had proposed a $3.5 million settlement. The Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the payment.

“I for one, am excited about this opportunity to make sure that he can go to college and do things that his mother and his aunt wanted him to do as they were raising him,” Councilman Chris Nettles said, thanking Mayor Mattie Parker and the council for their efforts to get the settlement approved.

According to NBC News, Parker said the payment was “the right thing to do” in a November 2nd statement. “I hope this can bring a degree of reconciliation and healing for Atatiana Jefferson’s loved ones,” she said.

The $3.5 million settlement will be distributed in various ways to support Zion. The funds will cover living expenses, contribute to a college savings plan, and include scheduled payments to Zion until he reaches the age of 40.

“The city as well as his family were totally on board with each other in providing an amount that would take care of him through 18, making sure that he was able to go to college, make sure that he was incentivized to go to college, and making sure that he was taken care of for a longer period of time,” she said, said Deputy City Attorney Laetitia Coleman Brown.

TOPICS:  Atatiana Jefferson

The post Police Killed A Black Woman In Front Of Her Nephew. The City Has Now Awarded Him A $3.5M Settlement appeared first on Essence.