Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (2023) - Movie Review

The DCEU has finally come to an end. The never-ending Crisis of bad timing, bad management, and just generally bad decisions on the part of Warner Bros. is about to be laid to rest and reborn as (hopefully) something better. Not that it’s been all bad, though. Hell, I’d argue that it wasn’t even mostly bad; Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad (both of them), the Snyder Cut, and, where today’s subject is most pertinent, Aquaman all still hold up as worthy adaptations of the DC pantheon of heroes. I still have my issues with the franchise’s lesser moments (all the turning-around I’ve done on Zack Snyder still hasn’t made Man Of Steel look any friggin’ better), and the tail-end has led to some truly inexplicable releases like Black Adam and the Skittles movie, but as someone who still holds a torch for capeshit, I want these movies to be good. Which is why this last hurrah is especially disappointing.

Her Smell (2019) - Movie Review

After how dirty Elisabeth Moss was done with The Kitchen, I was honestly wanting to check this film out mainly because she deserves better than having just that movie as her impact for 2019. And it seems that writer/producer/director Alex Ross Perry has given her a role she can really sink her teeth into, playing a riot grrrl punk rocker who, in expected rock star cinema fashion, crashes and burns under the weight of her shot at fame. Going from a role that outright wasted her talents to something that lets the entire production spin on the axis of her performance is very gratifying to see, and the film as a whole ain’t half bad either.

Aquaman (2018) - Movie Review

 

For several decades, Aquaman has been the laughing stock of DC’s core group of superheroes. Try as creatives like Paul Dini and Bruce Timm tried to rescue him from his ‘underwater Doctor Dolittle’ perception, his depiction in the Superfriends Show has remained his rather undignified persona in the popular consciousness. In a stable of characters that include Space Jesus, World’s Smartest Emo and Bondage Princess, Aquaman remained the one that was the hardest to take seriously. Of all the characters that have been itching for a big-budget blockbuster about them, the king of the oceans is the one who could benefit most from some cinematic re-examination. And with a story credit from Geoff Johns, a comic book writer who has seen tremendous success in reinventing large swathes of the DC universe, it looks like his chance to shine has finally arrived.