Among the many laudable things to be found in THUNDERBOLTS: THE NEW AVENGERS is the best exploitation of the natural consonance to be heard in the name Bob since Jim Jarmusch’s DOWN BY LAW (look it up, you won’t be sorry). In addition, what we have here is a big, splashy superhero flick that doesn’t… Read More »
DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE
It is a fine line to walk, loving a pop culture phenomenon with all your being, yet being able to make mad sport of it at the same time. Thus is DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, the ultimate fanboy and fangirl experience of the Marvel Universe that manages to be both wickedly funny and curiously reverent. Deadpool… Read More »
THE MARVELS
There is one thing you can say for sure about THE MARVELS. There is a whole lot of it, and most of it involves overwrought CGI effects. They are beautifully executed, but eventually become tiresome, not just for the repetitive nature of the fight sequences, but also for the sheer scale, which starts at 11… Read More »
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
It’s not that THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER is unwatchable. Quite the contrary. The special effects are stupendously unrestrained. The story is adorable, leaning towards a good-natured spoof of superhero movies as practiced in the 2020s. The performances can’t be faulted, even if Christian Bale as the god-hating ex-acolyte out for revenge is far darker, and… Read More »
DR. STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
With DR. STRANGE IN THE MULITVERSE OF MADNESS, we are gifted with a thimbleful of plot in a vast expanse of cinematic ocean. This being yet another piece of the equally vast Marvel Universe, the story is obliged to take its hero, Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), from Point A to Point B in order to… Read More »
MORBIUS
Let me start with a spoiler. MORBIUS is not a good film. This grim and grimy excursion into the Marvel Universe has the special effects. It has the clash of superhero and super villain. It has a bustling metropolis (New York City) where the residents, and at least one federal agent, are quick to blame… Read More »
BLACK WIDOW
Braids, French and other, loom large in the visuals of BLACK WIDOW, and it is an apt metaphor. The ultra-femininity of long, flowing hair rigorously trained into orderly rows of tightly disciplined tresses echoes the rigorous training given to ultra-feminine assassin-turned-Avenger Natasha Romanoff, the eponymous super-heroine in this her first spinoff from the Marvel Universe.… Read More »
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
The stakes have been raised so many times with event flicks that, when approaching one, hope is always tempered with experience about what to expect, to paraphrase Samuel Johnson. With AVENGERS: ENDGAME, though, hope wins out. The spectacle is everything it should be, and the story, of necessity a meandering thing, is nonetheless sustained by… Read More »
VENOM
We none of us, least of all your humble correspondent, lives in a vacuum. So perhaps it’s because I’ve recently seen THE PREDATOR that the mere, yet aggressive, mediocrity of VENOM did not make for a completely awful cinematic experience. Which is not to say that this ploddingly plotted effort is good, but for sheer… Read More »
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
For sheer value-for-money, you can’t top AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR. It’s pure entertainment with an endless parade of the kind of whiz-bang special effects, not quite sloppy sentiment, and a constant barrage of the quips and banter that define grace under pressure in the Marvel Universe. Plus, pretty much everyone from the MCU finds his or… Read More »