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Let’s face it: the God of Thunder has arguably been an outlier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, struggling to mesh with its more rounded pegs. Fortunately, with Thor: Ragnarok, writer-director-actor Taika Waititi (What We Do In the Shadows) wisely mines humor from the character’s inherent silliness and wraps it around an dazzling, offbeat core of … Continue reading
Superheroes tend to keep a secret identity in order to protect themselves and those around them, but the creators of the four-color heroes we know and love are usually free from such burdens. This was not the case with Dr. William Moulton Marston, the co-inventor of the polygraph machine and co-creator of Wonder Woman, the … Continue reading
The second-best Spidey flick (behind Spider-Man 2, natch), Spider-Man: Homecoming manages to do what Ant-Man did as a superhero flick, only better: tell more personal story on a smaller-scale with a focus on fun and depth. It’s equal parts John Hughes coming-of-age teen comedy and comic book popcorn drama. In a nice change of pace, … Continue reading
Warner Bros. and DC Comics score a much-needed win with Wonder Woman, a refreshingly sleek, adventurous, endearing, and even timely superhero flick that manages to be what the first entries in DC’s movie universe have not: fun. The character debuted in 1941 as part of a wave of patriotism-inspired comic books heroes who emerged in the … Continue reading
Familiarity and a bit of sequelitis creeps in at times, but overall Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is as entertaining, goofy, and irreverent as its blockbuster predecessor. There’s a lot of pressure to deliver on this one, as the first movie was an under-the-radar production unburdened by much in the way of expectation. It was a wild experiment that … Continue reading
With Logan, Hugh Jackman’s tenure as the gruff, haunted, acerbic mutant anti-hero Wolverine comes to an end in with an impressive bang. Director James Mangold and his co-screenwriters Michael Green and Scott Frank send him off with gritty style, and deconstruct the character and the superhero genre while they’re at it. The story is set … Continue reading
Though it’s not as consistently or as unrelentingly hilarious as The Lego Movie, Chris McKay’s comic book spin-off is nevertheless a clever and enjoyable spoof of comic book movies in general, and the Dark Knight in particular. After the morose beat-down that was the ludicrously self-important Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, it’s a much needed … Continue reading
While it’s not the quantum step forward in terms of storytelling some have assumed it to be, Doctor Strange is still a much-needed variation Marvel’s movie formula, one that opens up the MCU to in terms of style and possibility. It’s also trippy as hell just plain fun — something that many of 2016’s superhero … Continue reading
It was a flawless premise in theory: an adaptation of a comic book series in which a team of low-level super-villains are pressed into going on deadly, off-the-books missions in exchange for time off for sort-of-good behavior, written and directed by the talented David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury) and starring a gaggle of A-listers, … Continue reading
Let’s get the inevitable comparison out of the way first: Captain America: Civil War and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice both feature superheroes battling one another in stories posited as the inevitable fallout of the mass destruction they sometimes leave in their wake. However, Civil War does a far better job of it, and unlike its competitor it’s … Continue reading
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