what is going on thomas movie fans out there and welcome back to my channel movie files elliott
back again with a brand new early movie review and today we'll be breaking down the new biographical
drama by the name of king richard a film i got to check out the other day and i'm really excited to
let you all know what i thought about this movie and let you know if it's worth checking out all in
this spoiler-free review before we break it all down do me a favor and check me out on all my
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in those comments let me know if this is a film you are excited to check out but more importantly
let me know once you've seen it whether it was in theaters or on hbo max on november 19th what did
you think about this movie let's talk about the direction the performances the story did you get
emotional did you feel like it was a feel-good type of movie or were you the complete opposite
would you not invest in the story did you find it to be boring were you not a fan of this film
overall let's talk about ladies and gentlemen let me know some of your favorite biographical dramas
in the comments below so for me personally ladies and gentlemen i was extremely excited for this
film a couple things going for this movie number one will smith hero of mine grew up fresh prince
of bel air been following his career since day one and i'm just such a fan of his work
and when i saw that trailer oh yeah oscar nomination coming your way and now we'll talk
about maybe winning that oscar when we get into this review but also me growing up man when i was
in my heyday middle school in high school espn was 24 7 in my room when i woke up when i went
to bed when i was doing homework i was always watching sportscenter espn i always wanted to
know what my man kobe was doing with the lakers tiger woods what is he doing lately but more
importantly venus and serena williams they were at their entering their prime when i was in my
younger days just seeing them dominating the sport but more importantly how influential they
were to the black community it meant a lot to me growing up seeing them just dominate the sport
two sisters of color doing their thing so i was really excited to learn more about their story
learn about their parents who raised them how they were raised so listen i was beyond excited didn't
live up to my expectations let's start off with my positives first and foremost ronaldo marcus greene
a director who i'm a big fan of 2018's monsters a man a fantastic underrated film that i still
believe is on hulu check that movie out but we're talking about this movie this man did a hell of
a job i am a fan of sports dramas biographical dramas but sometimes it's a little bit too easy
they don't really show you the stuff when things don't go right they show you all the positive
when it comes to the sports elements sometimes the sports feelings i grew up and not to brag i
grew up in sports so i love a good sports movie i grew up in football and basketball i play some
tennis every now and then but not to the degree of these legends but i love a good sports movie but
sometimes i feel like sports movies just don't hit the mark but ronaldo man he just knew how to bring
the drama how the show the real stuff he captured the sports elements really well and that's what
just going back to my love for sports what made me a fan of sports is just being a part of something
that can some that could be bigger than you team you know whether it's a team sport like
basketball and football whether it's an individual sport which individually speaking yes when you're
on the tennis court it's just you but what about the people that trained you like richard williams
like the coaches we meet in this film like her sisters and the sisters teaming up it's it's a
lot going on with sports and i felt like ronaldo did such a great job of capturing what sports
can mean but in particular when you get to the highest level how it can affect generations it
can affect in this case black young girls seeing themselves on screen i thought he did such a great
job of capturing the heart the essence the family elements the drama going on growing up in compton
what that meant for these girls and their family i thought ronaldo did a fantastic job of directing
this film and we're going to talk about that heart in that story a little bit but i want to focus on
the performances i thought everyone literally top the bottom that was on screen did a fantastic job
but i do have some highlighted people some actors i want to touch on but i don't want to neglect
some young stars that absolutely blew me away starting off with demi singleton who plays a young
version of serena williams she did a fantastic job this is my first time being exposed to this young
girl and i thought that she was great in the role and i thought it was just so interesting the way
that the film again you as far as what we know now serena williams as the film kind of lose to
will go down as the greatest tennis player male female the greatest tennis player even put intense
aside one of the greatest athletes to ever walk the earth but she was kind of a background player
in this movie i don't want to get too much into the depths of all this stuff again it's based
on a true story but i want you guys to who don't know the true story to be as surprised
as some people may be but i thought that young girl did a really great job of showing a sister
who was a lot of people don't know venus was the sister that people were thinking was going
to be the really the greatest athlete of all time which in her own right a lot of people
do consider her that but i love what demi did in this role and i thought she was fantastic and just
showing her and showing serena and how she came up and just again being in the shadow of venus i
thought was a great job by that young lady and i'm really excited to see what the career opens up the
door for her in the future want to shine a light on her the the main sister of this movie which is
venus williams played by sanaya sydney and listen ladies and gentlemen kid performers performances
by younger actors sometimes can be very hit or miss especially when they have to play
such an iconic character like venus williams this young girl did her damn thing man she was able to
give you so much charm so much charisma i don't know too much of the behind the scenes in regards
to how much time and work she put in to to play tennis to at least pretend she was a tennis star
if it was real which i think it was she did a fantastic job of playing that off and just
you see the commitment and the role that she gave but i thought she did such a great job
there's a scene there's so many scenes i can go over but there's a scene that she has
with her dad played by will smith we'll talk about here in a second that just broke me to pieces
knowing that she was going to be representing so many little black girls around the world and what
that meant to her at that young age of you know we meet her at the age 11 seeing her to the age
of 14 15 just seeing the progression the arc of that character that young girl did a fantastic job
so definitely kudos to the young actors and all the sisters that play a role in this film again
everyone was fantastic but i definitely want to highlight those two young girls great job to
you you made your parents proud uh i got to talk about some of the adults starting off with angie
new ellis who i have been a fan of for such a long time and i just love seeing her on screen and she
as the mother as they call the brandy in this film randy williams wow she is a
a mother that doesn't take any nonsense from anyone uh in regards to how people treat her
daughters she was committed to making sure that her daughters had more than her than growing up
her her relationship with richard in this film was authentic it wasn't you know fluffy it wasn't you
know they they had some issues some marital issues that the film did shine a light on which are
so much appreciated that it wasn't just you know rainbows and cupcakes and happies and wins and
money coming in there was some some drama going on in their marriage and there's a scene that
they have later on this film man you talk about the woman putting her foot down and letting the
husband know listen we're a team but you ain't gonna silence me uh she was so fantastic in this
movie i just love the presents i love what's what they show with a mother how important a
mother can be in a marriage in a family and and being yet you know traditionally speaking and
in the old ways the man is the money forget all that you know brandy was someone that that was
there for her family from beginning to to to to this very point in their lives i i thought andrew
did such a great job and her as the mom was just the true representation of what a mother how
important they can be to a foundation of a family to her daughters i thought i can go on and on and
on about a performance but she was great but i want to talk about the man and also before we go
to the man himself mr will smith willie smith fresh prince of bel air i got to talk about
john berthold i don't know how many times i got to say this anything involving john berthold
is always elevated in my opinion i mean i can go on from his time as shane is walking dead you
know wolf of wall street win river uh daredevil i mean you name it whenever i see john berthold i
always get excited and listen this isn't a spoiler but he doesn't die in this film because he always
seems to die in movies uh but neither you know there john berthold as the trainer in this film he
was really great i just love seeing john berthold anything and i thought what he brought to the role
was just so fresh refreshing to see he brought a little bit of levity in the role because his film
does have some you know more somber quieter more emotional moments but him as the coach
him stepping in him having his back and forth with richard because richard was someone that
had a plan he stuck to that plan if you try to deviate from that he's going to put you in check
but i thought john berthold as the coaches film is a fantastic addition to this incredible cast but
i've been talking about this man since the beginning i got to talk about him right now
i'm talking about will smith one of my favorite actors performers people of all time i never
met the man but man would that that would be a a life bucket list thing to check off
to meet will smith uh one day but neither here nor there will smith made a cameo in
this role and and i say that because will smith wasn't in this movie ladies and gentlemen we saw
richard in this movie we saw richard williams full out in this movie i thought that will smith
transformed into this man he was this man from the way the cadence of his voice the way he
carried himself it's all about i'm uh someone that appreciates silence from great actors and
what i mean by that is they don't have to have the monologues the big speeches but will smith
has so many of those and they're fantastic in this movie we'll talk about that in a second but it's
the quieter moments it's when richard has some issues with people in the streets in the streets
of compton him having a moment where things could have went bad it's the moments where he's beaten
he's he's he's being he's getting pushback is your plan gonna work out will you make these two
uh women the greatest athletes of their time is so much pressure on him there's just so much that you
just see from the disquieter moments but then there are other moments when he does speak and
some of those moments you know you all know if you watch the oscars when they have the little
clip when they play a big scene from the movie there's two of them in this film there's multiple
in this film i'm thinking of two right now there's a scene where a neighbor of theirs calls the cops
over because they think that they're i'm gonna say child abuse but they think that they're they're
they're working the kids too hard so they call the cops on the williams family and him talking about
what they think is going on and what's really going on how he's raising these women to be
doctors lawyers athletes and he his family has control of what's going on i love that scene
and there's a moment in this movie where him and venus williams have a moment about her being an
importance to all the little black girls and him being the dad that his dad couldn't be for him
bring some some tissues when you see this movie that's all i say but will smith was just so
fantastic as richard williams him and and i'm not gonna lie the film i thought that the film was
just gonna show one element of richard you know being the good dad and pushing them to the limits
and you know just being all the good stuff they showed the the other side of richard that there
was some ego in the way there were some decisions that were maybe influenced by some other money
coming in from other businesses coming off of the success of his daughter so i loved the film
didn't shy away from that i know that the williams sisters and richard himself had some
you know some behind the scenes creative things that they probably want to have in the film
but i like that the film did not show you that he wasn't perfect he never thought he was perfect and
i liked the film kind of showed he was a dad that was there for his daughters and did push him to
the limits but he also had his own selfish reasons to do the things that he did and he had some
other stuff that he was doing that the film brings up so i really do applaud the performance
the narrative the show on a family union what what a what a family can look like i just really really
appreciate the performances by across the board but those were some standout characters for me
but i definitely want to touch on some things that really stood out to me too regarding this story
we always hear about things about you know these once-in-a-lifetime generational
young athletes actors doctors whatever the case may be and you hear the side of the story about i
don't know why this is coming to mind but i think of the jackson family right and joe jackson how
he like physically pushed his kids to the edge and physically abused him how he thought that beating
the the the talent out of them was the best method but also showing you the other side right and
showing you how important education can be to a young star right and how important it is to know
how to count money how important is to know how to run your business this is seeing this movie
without getting too much into it about uh a big amount of money coming to one of the sisters and
how maybe that money doesn't really mean much to me if i'm not proven that i'm worth the money so
fundamentally speaking i love how this film shows you especially being of color being someone of
you know these young black women being taken advantage of by the media by coaches by even
their parents at time but it's education it's knowing what to do when you have those numbers
in your face and not just signing the first contract that comes to mind and then making
the right decisions that's going to pay off a little bit later so i love that narrative
of fundamentally speaking it's so important how education is it is critical to a young child's
life to make those type of decisions i love that aspect i love the family element i love the what a
what a wife can bring to the table what a husband could beat the table when they're on the same page
when they're not on the same page and how that can affect the family i love the idea of showing
how family can be important to to an individual and having someone to back your side surrounding
yourself around like-minded people is important i mean i can go on and on and on about
just the messages that this film has to offer but also i want to shine a light on the heart
this film has to be for me personally and i'm not a big sobby guy but i love when a film can touch
me emotionally speaking this film there were so many moments where i just kind of looked back at
my childhood looked back at people i knew growing up and how things went different from them and
growing up with a single mom and not having my dad in my life and how just how many like just
moments in this film that i related to and not being an you know a tennis theon phenon like the
william system but just like little things in life how you can apply to a film like this and just
looking at you know putting yourself in their shoes and it was just so many moments how i
felt while watching the movie how i felt leaving the movie how i'm still thinking about the movie
meant a lot to me and i really do want to applaud the writing the direction
the story and again venus and serena williams uh they are once of a generation type of people
type of athletes and again what they meant to the game of tennis what they still mean to the game
attendance what they meant to the black community what they still mean to the black community
means a lot and i and i'm really glad that we got a film like this to highlight that and again this
isn't and i can transition as i'm praising this film so much i can transition over to some of my
criticisms and it's really not a criticism that i have with the film but i want to preference this
for you all this film is called king richard it's not called the serena and venus you know story
i would say this is more of a 70 king richard movie we learn more about where he comes from
why he does the things that he does what motivated him to be the father that he is why he pushed his
daughters to the limit to get them to become who we know them to be today but there is 30 percent
of the sisters so i don't want people to go in thinking you're gonna learn every single aspect
of this you know of those sisters you get a good amount of them at their young age but this isn't
their story per se right so i do want to preface that for you all and again it's not really a
criticism i do wish that there were moments that we don't see as much pushback from them as young
girls like i would imagine it was probably pretty hard to be always practicing in tennis and tennis
and again the film does show that that wasn't always the main priority it was education and
family first and being a kid but i do wish there was a little bit more pushback towards the young
girls and their father at points of the film and that's just a little minut uh you know little con
that i have with the film but outside of that and i will say this is a biographical drama
just like action movies just like comedies just like romance just like superheroes just like
[ __ ] there are certain formulaic tropes that these biographical films kind of follow on an
outline i don't think it it follows it you know point by point but there are moments where you
you know predictability it is a true story so they do have to stick to what really happened
but there are just trophy moments that you come to expect with these biographical dramas but it
really didn't affect my overall thoughts on this film so wrapping all this up before we get into
my final thoughts on my score this film if you haven't already make sure to like the video share
the video leave your thoughts in the comments and of course subscribe to the channel if you haven't
already overall ladies and gentlemen king richard is a film that touched me on an emotional level
it put a smile on my face it made me cry it made me happy it made me look look at my own life it
made me feel proud to be in the presence to be at a time where i was able to see these young
black women become the absolute phenoms they became to be and what that can mean for the
generations ahead meant so much to me direction was fantastic the sports elements like i mentioned
was fantastic the heart was there the soul was there the emotions were there the performances
were again will smith will be nominated and god damn and i won't be surprised if he wins really
well i'm shouting for you young man you're always been a a fantastic person to me and then again
let's see if we can get that oscar the young girls in this film did a great job andrew ellis
did a great job my man john bertha was fantastic with all that being said ladies and gentlemen
is this film perfect no but it touched me on a moment that i just have to get this film when
i'm feeling like right now which is a 5 out of 5. king richard is a must-see film i know
some people don't have the opportunity to see movies and theaters right now but if you have
the opportunity to see it on november 19th on hbo max this is a must-see i think this is a
film that schools should be playing to show kids how to be motivated how to push yourself to limits
how important it is to have foundation to have education this is a film i will be buying this is
a film i will be watching on a yearly basis this is the type of film that i love that made me so
happy that i saw it so that's my thoughts on king richard a five out of five it's probably gonna end
up in my top three films this year but hey that's just my thoughts let me know yours in the comments
are you excited for this film once you've seen it let's talk about the performance let's talk about
the story let's talk about everything this film had to offer and hey i gave it a 5 out of 5. you
might hate the film and if you did let's talk about in the comments what was it that didn't
work for you all i'm here to talk to you all so let's talk about in the comment section listen
if you stuck around to this point in this video i appreciate every single one of you all before you
leave make sure to like share comment leave your thoughts in the comments and of course subscribe
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you all are staying safe hope you enjoyed this review as you can see on the screen now ladies
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