The Top 10 Black Movies of all time

Hi everyone, I am coming out of retirement to write this article (I have been too lazy to write for years) but I found my groove due to the stay at home orders across the world. what a year 2020 has been! We are facing the world's biggest pandemic in over a century and the biggest disruption since world war 2 and I intend to use the opportunity to work smart, read, write and learn as much as I can.

On the fun side, I have used this opportunity to spend a lot of time with family rewatching classic movies. I have watched Prince Akeem fall in love with Lisa and Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson crash weddings. Hancock becoming a superhero and 2pac coming back to life in juice. As an African, I have particularly enjoyed re-watching some great black movies and I thought I'd use all of my 30+ years experience to do the top 10 black movies of all time.

For clarity, a black movie is a movie that has a black lead actor and 3 or more black supporting actors, so many Denzel Washington and Will Smith movies are automatically disqualified 😊.

Here's the list:

10. Best Man Holiday: This beautiful sequel was the continuation of the iconic The Best Man movie from 1999. The whole crew hooked up 15 years after and it was beautiful to watch. The star-studded line-up of black royalty includes Morris Chestnut, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Taye Diggs, Terrence Howard, and Regina Hall. This was well put together and is number 10 in my top 10 black movies of all time.



9. Mo' Better Blues: This movie was about a young Denzel Washington caught in a love triangle and constantly having to make decisions. The typical life of a young man having to grow up. This very good movie is number 9 on my list.



8. Straight outta Compton: This is the true-life story of the legendary rap group NWA. This movie really connects with you, if you grew up listening to rap music. Its always a good feeling getting to know happens behind the scenes.



7. Why do fools fall in love: This was another true-life story. A young black singer named Frankie Lymon lived a life of reckless decisions and failed to maximize his potential due to the usual detractors. The movie features the beautiful Halle Berry, Vivica Fox, and Lela Rochon.



6. Think Like a Man: This was another star-studded movie for the culture. Based on Steve Harvey's best selling book. Women finally learn to understand how men think and respond accordingly.
The movie features the beautiful quartet of Regina Hall, Taraji P Henson, Gabrielle Union, and Megan Good.



5. The Best Man: This is one of my favourite movies of all time. The guy-talks were epic and the candy dance at the end rocked weddings for ages. This one is for the culture. What would you do if your best friend slept with your wife to be? Watch The Best Man 👍.



4. Juice: The story of 4 friends and the hood-life. Juice was an important movie for all 80's babies.
 A young Omar Epps and 2pac Shakur delivered a masterclass that is still so good to watch in 2020.



3. Set it Off: I can't believe I almost missed out this one. This was also one of my favourite movies back then and still cannot get over how beautiful Jada Pinkett was...sorry Fish Mooney! Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett, and Vivica Fox helped deliver one of the most iconic black movies of all time. Making my Top 3!



2. Black Panther: Imagine our own very Marvel movie! This was not Hancock kinda superhero, this was a marvel type of superhero. The entire black race went nuts when we finally got our own superhero movie and we all literally became citizens of Wakanda. It was a typical African Story but with great effects and perfect execution. Grossed over a billion dollars at the box office. We made sure of that! Black Panther 2 is coming in 2022.



1. Coming to America: Before Wakanda, there was Zamunda! Eddie Murphy delivering one of the most beautifully executed scripts of all time. An African prince breaking the family tradition to search for his own bride. This is the rom-com of all rom-coms. We still have the epic 'Good Morning my Neighbours' line rocking Tik-Tok over 3 decades later. This movie has my vote as the greatest black movie of all time.




I hope you enjoyed my list. You should find time to watch some of these movies while we are under quarantine (Try Netflix or Google Movies) and  I hope you enjoy every bit of it. Ciao.

This article was written by Olajide Ola for Topten NG.