It may very well be the case that Avengers: Infinity War is both the most review-proof movie ever made, and the most review-proof movie that is capable of existing. I don’t mean “review-proof” in the sense that it typically means, that it would still make pots and pots of money even if the reviews were […]
Barring some major and wholly unexpected change, I suspect that Black Panther is the best film Marvel Studios is capable of making right now, and will never be topped in the future. That’s not really much of a compliment, though it’s enough to make me (with some vague resentment and suspicion that I’ll regret it […]
So, with Thor: Ragnarok, we finally have a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe directed by a no-two-ways-about-it Great Director. And that’s a subjective enough claim, of course; we do after all live in a world where people will earnestly defend Kenneth Branagh, who helmed the first Thor an unfathomably long six and a half […]
It’s all right there in the title: Spider-Man: Homecoming. Not “homecoming”, the early-fall tradition in U.S. and Canadian high schools, which puts in only a very mild and plot-inessential cameo in the film. But “homecoming” as in “coming home” as in “welcome to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man, this is where you belong”. I don’t […]
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is actually, maybe not good. That is, anyway, the definite opinion of my colleagues and collaborators at this here website, and far be it from me to call them fools. Actually, it’s kind of my opinion as well, sort of. Looking at the thing with an eye towards actually […]
Historically, Marvel Studios films have suffered from subpar visual effects. Not bad visual effects; it’s just that their CGI has a tendency to stumble at inopportune moments. So here is the first nice thing to say about Doctor Strange: the effects are absolutely stunning. Certainly the best in Marvel’s history, maybe the best in any […]
In retrospect, “the worst of the Captain Americas” and “the best of the Avengerses” is exactly what somebody with my tastes in Marvel movies should have expected from Captain America: Civil War, and lo and behold, that’s exactly what it is. The first film in the much-ballyhooed Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is […]
A version of this review was published at the Film Experience Ant-Man is maybe the most typical film yet made in the now 12-picture Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is up to the individual viewer to decide if that’s a compliment or a vicious & lacerating criticism. But it’s really hard to think of it as […]
During the press tour for Avengers: Age of Ultron – a press tour marked by an uncommon number of wrong turns by the participants – writer-director Joss Whedon admitted almost in so many words that making the film was exhausting and no fun and he wasn’t happy with the final product. It helps to know […]
To begin with, Guardians of the Galaxy is the best film in the 10-film Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2008’s Iron Man started things off, or at least the most self-contained, and the one that feels the least like an airbrushed factory-made product. More unexpectedly, it’s also the best Star Wars film since 1980. And neither […]
For a solid 20, even 30 minutes, I was quite convinced that Captain America: The Winter Soldier wasn’t just the best movie in the now nine-film mega-franchise called, for want of something more attractive, the Marvel Cinematic Universe; I was quite convinced it was the best comics-related work of cinema since The Dark Knight in […]
Speaking as one to whom Thor represents the current nadir of the ambitious but increasingly samey Marvel Cinematic Universe, I am pleased to think that Thor: The Dark World represents a distinct step in the right direction. Though not, perhaps, a terribly large one. It fixes one gaping problem I had with the first movie, […]
