The MCU has been a bit hit and miss lately, the company’s self-proclaimed Phase 4 vacillating between back-tracking in history with established characters (‘Black Widow’), introducing new characters and mythos (‘Shang-Chi’), ambitious misfiring swings (‘Eternals’) and multi-dimensional sequel high jinks (‘Spider-Man’ & ‘Doctor Strange’). Now Taika Waititi presents a sequel of his own to ‘Thor’,… Continue reading ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ – Too Metal or Not Metal Enough?

Thirty-six years in the making. Granted it was supposed to be thirty-four, but a pandemic almost shut down the movies for good. The sequel to ‘Top Gun’, 1986’s Tom Cruise star-making performance as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, is finally here and it’s magnificent. The movie title’s clarifier is ‘Maverick’ for a good reason – this is… Continue reading ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ – Tom Cruise Saves The Movies?

With ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, Marvel/Disney drops its 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which now includes six series on Disney+, it appears that the almost always reliable super-franchise may have finally bitten off more than it can handle. Under the assured hand of uber-producer Kevin Feige, even lesser entries like… Continue reading ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ – As Unnecessarily Overcomplicated as Its Title?

It’s amazing how much the movie franchise arcs of Marvel and DC have mirrored their storied histories on the comic book front. DC’s got the characters and the classic storylines, but misses the cohesive build-up of a connected universe. For years, Marvel struggled to find its footing with no substantial cinematic presence, while DC had… Continue reading ‘The Batman’ – Against All Odds, Has DC/WB Done It?

In two words, Tom Holland, that’s how. In the 3rd film of the Sony/MCU hybrid trilogy in which he stars as the latest, and greatest, interpretation of the character, the actor proves why he is the perfect embodiment of what Peter Parker/Spider-Man means to generations of fans. The trilogy, wholly helmed by director Jon Watts… Continue reading ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ – How the $&@! Did They Pull This Off?!

On paper it’s an intriguing idea – take a generally unfamiliar Marvel Comics Jack Kirby creation, married to a soon to be Oscar winning director, mix in some key ‘Game of Thrones’ actors and the show’s composer, and see what happens. This interesting mix of talent and source material had the potential to be either… Continue reading ‘Eternals’ – A Rare Marvel Misstep?

‘No Time To Die’, the long delayed 25th film in the decades old James Bond franchise comes to theaters with an enormous budget and a blast of explosive excitement courtesy of the first American director for the series, Cary Joji Fukunaga, and departing Bond himself, Daniel Craig. The Craig era has been marked by an… Continue reading ‘No Time To Die’ – Exhilarating Finale for Craig, Now What’s Next?

It’s been a long time coming, for a few different reasons both in and outside of Marvel Studios’ control, but a stand-alone ‘Black Widow’ film finally arrived in theaters. While the movie doesn’t absolutely break the MCU formula, it definitely challenges it in interesting, and quite frankly, darker ways. Scarlett Johansson gets her solo due… Continue reading ‘Black Widow’ – Marvel’s Closest Bond Analog Yet?

Reviews for each installment in this series of films almost always start out with some iteration of, “check your brain at the door”, “suspend your disbelief”, etc. This certainly applies to the most recent entry originally dubbed simply ‘F9’, that has now inexplicably acquired a ‘The Fast Saga’ qualifier, despite the fact that none previous… Continue reading ‘F9: The Fast Saga’ – Where Can’t This Franchise Go?