Streaming Review

After directing music videos for a range of artists over the past several years, Mike Ho has turned his attention to film with the release of Imani. The film is the first feature-length project for Ho and will be streaming on BET +. Amaleka McCall and Tu-Shonda Whitaker pen the film’s screenplay, which in the simplest of terms, utilizes elements from the 1996 actioner, The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Director Zach Golden transitions to the action genre for his sophomore feature, High Heat, from Saban Films. Screenwriter James Pedersen makes his debut with the film. Former KGB operative Ana (Kurylenko) has left that life behind and turned chef.

Peacock brings Malcolm D. Lee’s iconic Best Man franchise to television in The Best Man: The Final Chapters. It’s been nine years since we last saw Harper Stewart (Taye Diggs), Robin Stewart (Sanna Lathan), Lance Sullivan (Morris Chestnut), Jordan Armstrong (Nia Long), Julian Murchison (Harold Perrineau), Candace Murchison (Regina Hall),Quentin “Q” Spivey (Terrence Howard) and Shelby Taylor (Melissa De Sousa).

Kris Kringle is another murderous rampage in the RLJE film release, Christmas Bloody Christmas, written and directed by Joe Begos. On the eve of Christmas, fiery record store owner Tori Tooms (Riley Dandy) wants to get drunk and have some fun. At Tori’s workplace, Robbie (Sam Delich) harbors an unrequited crush on Tori, and all he wants for Christmas is to break out of the friend zone so he can be with her.

Following his much-deserved Oscar win for last year’s King Richard, Will Smith returns in Emancipation from Apple TV+. Action and thriller genre specialist Antoine Fuqua directs the film from a script by William N. Collage.

After utilizing his directorial talents in the world of episodic television for the past few years, Silas Howard returns to features in Hulu’s Darby and The Dead. Becca Greene pens the screenplay from a story by Winnoah Wims. Darby Harper (Riele Downs) is your typical high school-aged teenager with one notable difference.

A beloved eighties fantasy film receives a sequel in a series format three decades later in Willow from Disney+. Based on George Lucas’ 1988 fantasy-adventure film Willow, the series picks up years after the Nelwyn sorcerer Willow (Warwick Davis) successfully rescued the infant empress Elora Danan from the clutches of the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda of Nockmaar.

Tyrese Gibson teams up with director Dallas Jackson to chase his action star movie dreams in The System from The Avenue. Terry Savage (Gibson) is a young soldier who recently returned from war and has just finished his enlistment.

Director Sean McNamara takes a break from the family fare to go a bit dark in his latest feature, Dangerous Game: The Legacy Murders, from SP Media Group.

Canadian filmmaker Robert Budreau directs fellow Canuck Stephen James in his latest film, the thriller Delia’s Gone from Vertical Entertainment.

Director Julius Avery teams up with action legend Sylvester Stallone and ventures into the world of superheroes for his third effort in Samaritan from Amazon. Thirteen-year-old Sam Cleary (Javon “Wanna” Walton) suspects that his mysterious and reclusive neighbor Mr. Smith (Sylvester Stallone), is actually a legend hiding in plain sight.

The Flora colossus pop culture icon Groot leads a series in Disney +’s I Am Groot. Kirsten Lepore oversees the show, which follows Baby Groot as he grows up in the galaxy, going on adventures with new and unusual characters that get him into trouble.