Director: Cate Shortland Stars: Florence Pugh, Scarlett Johansson, Ever Anderson There are two prominently featured middle-aged white men in Cate Shortland's Black Widow and they nearly capsize the whole thing. I've been stuck on this since leaving the multiplex. For it's entire first act, this feels like a breath of fresh air for the Marvel … Continue reading Review: Black Widow
Director: Josh Boone Stars: Blu Hunt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams Given that the combined efforts of the MCU and DCEU (is that right?) have bludgeoned virtually all enthusiasm to watch superhero movies from my shambling body, my very visit to see The New Mutants is as much a surprise to me as anyone. Especially given how … Continue reading Review: The New Mutants
Director: Jon Watts Stars: Tom Holland, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zendaya Let's talk for a little bit about eyewear. In the DC universe, spectacles serve a very powerful function, and one might argue that without them Superman would be nothing. They are - incredulously - the key to his disguise. Without his specs, he would not be … Continue reading Review: Spider-Man – Far From Home
I’ve tried to make this as spoiler-free as possible. One paragraph talks – in the vaguest of terms – about non-specific character fates. I’ve placed the offending sentences within [ ] if you’d rather not take your chances. Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Stars: Karen Gillen, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans Problem #1. You've made a 21-part … Continue reading Review: Avengers: Endgame
Directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck Stars: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Clark Gregg That the Marvel machine has taken 11 years and 20-ish films to get to a female-centric superhero movie is such a glaring and conspicuous oversight that Captain Marvel arrives with a hideously unenviable burden. It has to mean something. It has to be … Continue reading Review: Captain Marvel
Directors: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman Stars: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Nicolas Cage It's too much, man! If it's not the brain-battering collision of every character imaginable in the MCU smashing their gloved fists into one another, it's the dreary drudgery of DC's Justice whathaveyous, the utter awfulness of Venom, the run-of-the-mill shenanigans of Ant-Man And … Continue reading Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Director: Ruben Fleischer Stars: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed Perhaps its just the personas that they've maintained, but when you think of Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams, you assume they wouldn't be the kind of celebrity names engulfed by the Marvel freight train. That they might somehow be 'above' it. Like Ethan Hawke. But … Continue reading Review: Venom
Director: Peyton Reed Stars: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña Ant-Man And The Wasp doesn't feature any crossover characters from any other quadrant of the MCU. After the "everybody in!" maximalism of Avengers: Infinity War there's actually something nice about a pit-stop this insular. Peyton Reed's follow-up to his 2015 underdog is pleasingly small-scale, but it lands … Continue reading Review: Ant-Man And The Wasp
Director: David Leitch Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Zazie Beetz Maybe its simply Marvel fatigue (even if Deadpool is kinda tangential; not part of the 'MCU', whatever). Maybe its the lasting shadow of the two triumphs we've already received in this overstuffed year; the heavyweight Black Panther and the still-fresh Avengers: Infinity War. Or maybe it's that aggressive … Continue reading Review: Deadpool 2
I've tried to make this as spoiler-free as possible. One paragraph talks - in the vaguest of terms - about the end of the movie. I've placed it in [ ] if you'd rather not take your chances. Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Josh Brolin So here we are. 10 … Continue reading Review: Avengers: Infinity War
Director: Ryan Coogler Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira Black Panther is against binaries. It's against simplistic divisions such as seeing the world as East and West; Northern and Southern hemispheres; first world and third. It's against selective thinking that reduces arguments to black and white; selective thinking that can slice a crisis along … Continue reading Review: Black Panther
Director: Taika Waititi Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett Depending on how you land on Thor: Ragnarok, this is either where the lumbering Marvel Cinematic Universe really starts to unshackle itself from so much box-ticking, or the installment at which the franchise tips and, if not exactly jumps the shark, at least gets ready for … Continue reading Review: Thor: Ragnarok
Director: James Gunn Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista Three years on since James Gunn brought in the first Guardians Of The Galaxy film and its stock has changed considerably. When that movie rode in on the coattails of Captain America: The Winter Soldier it was a relatively unknown commodity; something of a gamble for Marvel Studios. … Continue reading Review: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
Director: James Mangold Stars: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen Did we realise, two years ago, that we were living in an age of superhero stagnation? Yes, probably, very much so. The glut of spandex movies has been pressing for a number of years. I can even remember talking about exhaustion on the subject way … Continue reading Review: Logan
Director: Scott Derrickson Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams In recent years it has been the comparatively lesser-known corners of the Marvel universe which have provided the best that the studio has had to offer, with underdogs Guardians Of The Galaxy and Ant-Man kicking up the most entertainment while working with lower expectations thanks to their relative … Continue reading Review: Doctor Strange
