There’s something about misfits that seems to fit the worldview of comic book fans. Whether it’s the motley Guardians of the Galaxy, the slightly less slacker Avengers or, in this latest comic book film, Suicide Squad. Like The Expendables, Suicide Squad is made up of tough, dangerous criminals who are pulled out of an ultra-maximum security prison because the world needs ’em to combat an unspeakable evil. Created by the tough-as-nails bureaucrat Amanda Waller (Viola Davis),…Read More
Review: Batman: The Killing Joke
Origin films seem to focus primarily on the protagonist, the hero of the film or franchise. That’s not unreasonable because usually the good guy is far more interesting than the bad guy. But what happens when that’s not the case, as with Batman’s most frightening villain, The Joker? We know the quick sketch of his origin, a petty thief who is horribly disfigured when he falls into a vat of caustic chemicals during a botched…Read More
Review: Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens
Let me take the mystery out of this review: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is good. It’s really good. You’re going to see it regardless of what I say, but trust me, you’re going to enjoy the heck out of it! Anyone who has been alive in the last fifty years knows the story arc of the Star Wars franchise, starting with 1977’s Star Wars IV: A New Hope, a film that introduced us to the great cinematic…Read More
Review: Jupiter Ascending
Andy and Lana Wachowski haven’t been able to match the brilliance of their cultural touchstone movie The Matrix with anything else they’ve done. Not with the increasingly banal sequels to the film, and certainly not with the visual f/x abomination Speed Racer. The recent Cloud Atlas was their closest effort, a thoughtful, engaging but ultimately overreaching film based on a twisty book by David Mitchell. Into this troubled oeuvre comes their latest movie, Jupiter Ascending, a…Read More