The Batman – review

Nothing in this world is certain other than death, taxes and a new dark’n’gritty reboot of Batman emerging every few years. This time out it’s Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) at the helm and Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/ the Caped Crusader himself, and their version of Batman is darker’n’grittier than ever. But for all its impressively squalid atmosphere The Batman is a failure – punishingly overlong, glacially slow, and jarringly self-serious.

Spider-man: No Way Home – review

Marvel’s quest for complete and utter world domination has felt unstoppable in recent years, each new superhero film bringing in not just hundreds of millions of dollars but also in most cases critical praise as well. So the recent commercial and critical misfire that was Eternals may have caused some concern in the boardroom, as studio executives pondered whether the brand was still enough to draw in audiences, particularly in the context of the COVID pandemic. Luckily for those executives’ bonuses, Spider-man is here to save the day. No Way Home, the latest film to feature the web slinger, seems set to get the juggernaut back on course. It’s a slick and often entertaining popcorn flick, if not always a particularly coherent or original one.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage – review

2018’s anti-superhero flick Venom was not well received in all quarters, but to me it represented what I call a great plane movie – the kind of entertaining action flick you can watch while several hours into a long-haul flight and enjoy without having to think too much about, or pay much attention to. If that sounds like damning with faint praise, there is in my view a place for movies such as this, and sequel Let There Be Carnage is pitched at exactly the same level – enjoyable nonsense that you don’t need to think too hard about to enjoy.

Black Panther – review @ Ink

My review of Black Panther can be found at Ink.

Wonder Woman – review

Even in an era where no summer is complete without a tidal wave of comic book adaptations filling every screen in the land, female-led superhero films remain as rare as a mint condition Action Comics #1. The last one of any note was 2004’s Catwoman, a film so catastrophically terrible that even now it’s spoken of in the hushed, maudlin tones used to describe a horrific road accident.

Logan – review

Ever since Tim Burton updated Batman from a camp caricature to a brooding introvert it’s been common to refer to any new comic book movie that isn’t all sweetness and joy as being “dark”. But rarely has the term been so apt as with this remarkably grim new entry in the X-Men series.

Captain America: Civil War – review

As superheroes go, Captain America has always been a bit of a tough sell outside of the States – it’s easy to greet with cynicism a character representing the American values of liberty and justice for all if you’re not exactly convinced those are particularly American values. But Marvel’s Captain America movies have been global successes in part because they’ve examined the contradiction between that American ideal and the reality. 2011’s The First Avenger was a hugely fun WW2-set blockbuster which grappled with the origins of Captain America as an explicitly propagandistic character, while 2014’s superb The Winter Soldier was a Bourne-esque update for the modern age, taking on subjects like terrorism and surveillance. And like those films, the latest Captain America film, ominously titled Civil War, also tackles some hard-hitting themes.

Daredevil: season 2 – review @ Ink

My review of the second season of Daredevil can be found at Ink.

Deadpool – review @ Ink

My review of Deadpool can be found at Ink.