Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (2023) - Movie Review

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse changed the modern animation industry to the point where, when looking at the whole thing historically, you could reasonably split the timeline into pre- and post-Spider-Verse. It represented an approach to animation where anything and everything was permitted and encouraged, leading to many others that would take cues from its eclectic and chaotic visual style (The Mitchells Vs. The Machines, Entergalactic, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, just to name a few), and for an IP with many different media iterations already, it still managed to stand as one of if not the best yet.

Morbius (2022) - Movie Review

Once again, the Sony side of the Marvel cinematic landscape has released a film that has garnered… mixed reactions, let’s say. Much like with the first Venom, it has become yet another invented battleground for casual audiences to rail against The Critics™ (forgetting that we are all critics at the end of the day), with lashings of terrible official write-ups while the #MorbiusSweep movement… honestly, even in these post-irony days, I can’t tell if this is just a meme or if people are actually getting into this film. Unlike the first Venom, though, you won’t find me ‘picking a side’ in this particular pissing match. I don’t really get the intense backlash this has faced (well, mostly don't, but we'll get to that), nor do I think it’s an underrated gem worth white-knighting for. It’s just… okay.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) - Movie Review

I did not like the first Venom film. And as much as me even bringing that up again is just adding more fuel to the underlying “critics hate movies that audiences actually like” conversation… fucking hell, that entire line of thinking, predicated on insisting that film critics might as well be a completely different species than every other kind of filmgoer, is one of the most annoying parts of the larger conversation regarding cinema. I mean, it’s a superhero film made by one of the biggest studios working today; it doesn’t need to be defended like it’s this groundbreaking indie underdog. At any rate, we now have a sequel, and what is being presented here is not only a lot more likeable than what came before, it’s honestly a comic book idea that hasn’t really been done before on the big screen.

Captain Marvel (2019) - Movie Review

With Avengers: Endgame right around the corner, this prequel to the franchise that changed superhero cinema as we know it has a lot riding on it. It has to not only deliver as yet another Marvel flick, but it also has to sell the idea that this superhero, Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, is the progenitor to everything we’ve seen in the MCU thus far and deliver one final setup before Endgame officially closes this chapter for good. Knowing how recent movies have turned out in regards to build-up vs. pay-off, with both Marvel and DC struggling in their own ways over the last handful of years, this really could go either way. Which is why I’m pleased to report that this film does pretty much everything it needed to succeed, starting with the casting.

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018) - Movie Review

 

This doesn’t look like any other Spider-Man film. Hell, this doesn’t look like any other comic book movie. The reason why, though, is kind of strange: It actually looks like a comic book. Bent around the frame of Sony Animation at its high-energy, thought bubbles, onomatopoeic sound effects, even half-tone dots that show in a lot of older comic strips populate the landscape, giving this a tangible connection to the medium that birthed it.

Venom (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Investigative reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) suspects that something is going on at Life Foundation, run by the ostensibly altruistic Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed). However, after an attempt to sneak into the Foundation goes awry, Eddie makes his way home... only to find that something has come with him. Now bonded to an alien organism that calls itself Venom, he sets out to get to the bottom of Drake's plans before the entire city, and the entire world, are put in jeopardy.

Deadpool 2 (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), in-between killing anyone he sets his sights on, is contemplating starting a family. Whatever domestic roles may be involved will have to wait, however, as his reconnection with the X-Men leads to him to a young boy named Russell (Julian Dennison), a powerful mutant with the potential for great disaster. As he connects with the young mutant, time-travelling mercenary Cable (Josh Brolin) has arrived in the present to hunt down the one responsible for the death of his family. With multiple threats on his life and others and his anti-social tendencies making his want to start his own superhero team a bit wonky, it's just another day in the life of everyone's favorite Merc.

Black Panther (2018) - Movie Review

 

The plot: After the death of his father, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is set to take his place as the king of the hidden African country of Wakanda. However, frictions within his own inner circle begin to present themselves, largely connected to the continued presence of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) as well as the arrival of former U.S. black ops soldier Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), both of whom seek to disrupt Wakanda even more. T'Challa, donning the mantle of Black Panther, must save his people and come to grips with what he must do to be a true king.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) - Movie Review

 

Out of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe we have gotten so far, from the politically-driven thrills of Captain America to the Objectivist musings of Iron Man, 2014’s Guardians Of The Galaxy still stands as my personal favourite of the lot. Hell, my defence for Suicide Squad likely came from how much it reminded me of Guardians in both tone and intent. Apart from what people have come to expect from a modern Marvel film, like the pitch-perfect casting and the industry connections to some of the greatest effects wizards working today, it also opened the gates for a more bizarre and kitschy brand of superhero story, one that director/co-writer James Gunn was more than apt to tell.

 

Despite how late this review ultimately is, with the film in question being out for quite a while before I finally got around to it, I was definitely eager to see just how it would measure up to the original that I hold in quite high regard. Once again, this is the year that sees fit to kick audiences square in their expectations, so here’s hoping for a solid project.

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - Movie Review

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe as ubiquitous as it is, it can be easy to forget just how important the X-Men films have been for the common conception of comic book movies. At the start of the millennium, the genre was in a pretty bad state: Vanguards of the art form Superman and Batman had both fallen on legendarily bad times, the kitschy ways of the 80’s were sticking around for god knows what reason like with Captain America and the unreleased Fantastic Four film, and to make matters worse, we weren’t even getting that many of them that were worth noting. Blade was pretty much the one and only comic book superhero film that was watchable. And then noted filmmaker Bryan Singer teamed up with Solid Snake (seriously, the OG voice actor for Solid Snake wrote it) and up-and-coming actor Hugh Jackman to make history for the format. Pushing the surface badassery of Blade into mainstream-recognised maturity, it changed the landscape from then on; it set the groundwork that the MCU went on to flesh out. No question, even in the wake of negative reviews, I was looking forward to the next instalment in this legendary series, especially given how amazingly well Days Of Future Past turned out. This is X-Men: Apocalypse.

Doctor Strange (2016) - Movie Review

It’s Marvel time again and, while not quite as problematic as Civil War, we are once again dealing with a rather tricky bit of comic book adaptation history. We’re furthering our way into Phase 3 of the Cinematic Universe with an origin for yet another superhero who doesn’t exactly have the best on-screen history. Way back during the days of the Bill Bixby Incredible Hulk TV show, Stan Lee and CBS attempted to kick-start a Doctor Strange series to run alongside Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man. Needless to say, it didn’t end well and the series wasn’t picked up for glaringly obvious reasons. However, unlike Spidey and the Hulk, this was the first and, up until now, only live-action appearance; there isn’t any form of reputable precedent for this one. Say what you will about Guardians Of The Galaxy, at least that film was able to completely blindside audiences thanks to a complete lack of mainstream recognition. Strange, on the other hand? Not so much. This may be one of the bigger tests of Marvel’s uncanny ability for consistent quality standards, even more so than the talking raccoon who is best friends with a talking tree.

Deadpool (2016) - Movie Review

More so than any other comic book film that has been released during my lifetime, like The Avengers or X-Men or even The Dark Knight Rises, this is the one that I have been waiting for. Then again, given the character’s lauded reputation and fan base, I’m sure that that is true for most fanboys in the world. Deadpool is not only one of my favourite comic book characters, but might be one of my favourite fictional characters ever: His unique fourth-wall breaking personality probably gives the most freedom of any graphic novel character, almost like a living TARDIS in terms of story possibility. Just to be clear, this guy once mugged Queen Elizabeth for her clothing and teamed up with a group of robotic animals to take down an orca in a robot suit. Under regular circumstances, I’d say that this is that rare property that is impossible to screw up, but then again we all know far too well that someone managed to do just that. But, even with all the admittedly brilliant marketing behind it and the recognition it has already garnered from fans and newcomers alike, does this still hold up given how long we’ve been wanting this film to surface?

Fantastic Four (2015) - Movie Review

Say what you will about the progression of technology and whether or not the Amish have a point about certain things, but it must be said that there are three key things that the Internet provides alarmingly immense access to that print media is just unable to keep up with: Kittens, porn and diatribes lacking in any form of perspective. It has been a very long time since I heard so much vitriol being spewed out at a singular film, not to mention how loudly said spewing can be heard. Between its single digit rating on Rotten Tomatoes, this article that invokes a guilty pleasure version of Godwin’s Law, and a radio review I heard for it that said in no uncertain terms “[Fantastic Four] is not a movie. It is a piece of shit that runs for 108 minutes.”. I’m kind of at a loss for words here. How in the hell can this film not only be considered worse than the first two Fantastic Four movies, but one of the worst superhero movies of the last 20 years?

Ant-Man (2015) - Movie Review

As my review for Magic Mike XXL demonstrated, knowledge about a film’s production history can create an unfortunate preconception about said film. However, unlike that instance, there is legitimate reason for concern this time around. Edgar Wright, AKA the guy behind the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy and easily one of the best filmmakers working today, was originally slated to direct and co-write this film. Then, word hit that he was leaving the project due to ‘creative differences’ and the script he and Joe Cornish had put together was re-worked by Paul Rudd and the guy who wrote Talladega Nights. This is like being offered a gourmet pizza and ending up with a hot dog-stuffed crust. Still, between Marvel’s relatively high standards and the fact that Wright’s fingerprints are apparently still on the script, there's still a chance that this could all work out for the best.

Big Hero 6 (2014) - Movie Review

 

There’s a certain high expectation that comes attached with anything animated by Disney/Pixar, and for the most part it’s deserved: Whether it’s older classics like Fantasia and The Nightmare Before Christmas or more modern successes like Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen, Disney has a good pedigree for quality entertainment… mostly. The last few years have muddied the waters a bit for the company, what with the baffling continuation of the Cars/Planes franchise which is seriously bad enough to throw their entire filmography into question. However, they are still releasing good family films, one of the few studios that still is, so my expectations are still at a decent level for today’s feature: This is Big Hero 6.