King Richard (2021)

So good but too long at 2:24, this tells the uplifting story of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams' father Richard and his determination to see his (willing) girls excel. Will Smith also excels in the title role as do Aunjanue Ellis as his wife and Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton as young Venus and Serena, respectively. Tony Goldwyn and Jon Bernthal as tennis pros are among the rest of huge cast.

Reinaldo Marcus Green directs from a script by Zach Baylin, which was featured on the 2018 Black List (each year the Black List promotes highly regarded unproduced screenplays).

The music by Kris Bowers can be streamed on Apple Music and elsewhere and here's a list of the songs.

Apparently Smith shared his $40m earnings (as both actor and producer) with the other actors!

Don't leave your seat before seeing bonus footage of the real Williams family.

Smith was last blogged for Bad Boys for Life, Ellis for The Birth of a Nation, Goldwyn for All I Wish, and Bernthal for Ford v Ferrari. Sidney has a number of credits including Fences and Hidden Figures and Singleton has one other feature and one series under her belt. Green is new to me and this is Baylin's writing debut.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences find little fault with this, averaging 91 and 98%, respectively. Award givers are considering this for quite a few accolades as well. This year's list of selected awards and nominations, sorted by title, is a work in progress that you can view at this link and on every page of the blog. I will add to it as info is released.

We watched it on Hulu December 7, blocking out three hours so we could take a break or two.