The American Cinematheque Award is not meant to be a “Life Achievement” honor like AFI does, but rather a “mid-career” tribute, at least most of the time, and Thursday night at the Beverly Hilton Ballroom Michael B. Jordan became, at 38, one of the youngest-ever recipients. In fact he is only a year younger than this awards show which celebrated its 39th time handing out this prestigious award (Eddie Murphy was the first in 1986 and he was really young at 25 when he got it). The fact is Jordan has been at it for a quarter of a century, making his debut in a bit role in The Sopranos when he was 12 in 1999.

As he sat in an upper tier center table with his parents, siblings, and friends it was clear this was turning into an overwhelming evening for him. He told me it was something he c

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