Superheroes

Dark Magic Duo: Clayface and Wildwood, reviewed

Jeremy BeckReviews
Tom Rhys Harries in Clayface; Prue in Wildwood

I won’t pretend that Clayface and Wildwood are similar movies. One is a dark, despairing odyssey about a man plagued by demons, external and internal; the other is a vibrant animated children’s tale that venerates both individual pluck and collective camaraderie. Still, the release calendar provides its little serendipities, and despite their tonal polarity, both films traffic in a kind of sorcery, be it couched in the language of comic books or fairy tales. Also, I wanted to write about both.

Directed by James Watkins from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, Clayface represents the third installment in James Gunn’s reconstituted DC Universe, though it’s fair to wonder what percentage of its audience knows this. Sure, much of the movie takes place in Batman’s hometown of Gotham City, but there are no references to Superman or Supergirl, nor any of the fretful fan service or mid-credits stingers that are the hallmarks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (DC’s ostensible rival). And while the film centers on a famous actor, Clayface himself isn’t exactly an A-lister in comic-book circles. (My lone knowledge of him derives from HBO’s animated Harley Quinn series, where he’s voiced with operatic foolishness by Alan Tudyk.) For a piece of synergized corporate entertainment, it feels less like a spinoff than a footnote. Read More

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Spider-Man: Brand New Day review: Parker? I Don’t Even Know Her!

Jeremy BeckReviews
Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

They say you can’t go home again, but Spider-Man sure did try. The subtitles of the superhero’s most recent big-screen trilogy—Homecoming, Far from Home, and No Way Home—all concerned his proximity to sanctuary, reflecting a longing to return to safe and familiar territory. But the franchise’s latest adventure, again starring Tom Holland as the Queens-based red-and-blue webslinger, is styled Brand New Day, a restorative title that promises novelty and opportunity. As you may remember (or not!), following a whole lot of magical hullabaloo, No Way Home culminated with the wizard Doctor Strange casting an obliviate-like spell, wiping the world’s collective memory of Spidey’s alter ego, Peter Parker, a sweet-natured boy with a big brain, a broad smile, and a slim bank account. This marked a significant sacrifice for Peter—most notably, he forfeited his cherished relationships with his girlfriend, MJ (Zendaya), and his best friend, Ned (Jacob Batalon)—but in storytelling terms, it created the tantalizing prospect of a cinematic reset button.

At its best, Brand New Day capitalizes on this artistic freedom, probing unexplored territory and tackling interesting themes. It’s a spry and appealing blockbuster with a sincere human center. But for all its liveliness and charm, it rarely feels genuinely new, instead repeatedly evoking prior, better Spider-Man movies. Read More

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Supergirl review: Flaring at the Sun

Jeremy BeckReviews
Milly Alcock and Matthias Schoenaerts in Supergirl

It takes all of 15 seconds for Supergirl, the latest comic-book jaunt in the reimagined DC Universe (not to be confused with the DC Extended Universe—that’s deader than Ezra Miller’s career), to announce its tonal intentions. As the guitars of a Sleigh Bells song churn on the soundtrack, a white dog with floppy ears careens through a ramshackle interior, settles atop a newspaper whose headline proclaims the exploits of Superman, and urinates all over the front page. The message is plain: The Man of Steel’s cousin is too hip, too fun, to be fettered by wholesomeness or optimism.

At least, that’s the idea. But while Supergirl, which was directed by Craig Gillespie from a script by Ana Nogueira, operates with a sheen of irreverence—the pop-punk needle drops, the eye-rolling insouciance, the slow-motion beatdowns—it isn’t truly rebellious. After all, it’s a cautiously designed would-be blockbuster, the second venture in producer James Gunn’s ongoing refurbishment of prized intellectual property, following the smash hit that was Superman (which Gunn wrote and directed himself). This means that, as much as Supergirl presents itself as arch and quippy, it must also fulfill the usual commercial imperatives: fitting into a carefully constructed mythology, supplying uplifting themes, and taking care not to actually offend anyone (well, aside from the misogynistic trolls who perceive the very existence of a female-centered superhero flick as an assault on their values). And this solemn, grudging duty places the movie squarely in conflict with its main character. Read More

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The Fantastic Four, First Steps: Blue Is the Stormest Color

Jeremy BeckReviews
Ebon Moss Bachrach, Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal, and Joseph Quinn in The Fantastic Four First Steps

Things are different on Earth-828. I’m not talking about the laws of physics or the division of diplomatic supremacy or the popularity of late-night talk shows; all of that stuff is basically the same. (OK, maybe the talk show thing is a bad example.) No, what’s really jarring about this multiversal variant is that on this planet, nobody has ever heard of The Avengers.

Such ignorance is, if not exactly bliss, at least a small mercy. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the fourth feature to depict Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s superpowered quartet, but it’s the first to formally integrate them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet any proper crossover that pairs this new/old foursome with our more established caped heroes—an upcoming collaboration that’s teased in the stingers to both this film and Thunderbolts—will need to wait. This movie, for all its interstellar escapades and cosmic hand-wringing, is a relatively self-contained adventure, disregarding the extant members of the MCU and instead focusing exclusively on these four playful, imperiled heroes. Read More

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Superman: Planet of the Capes

Jeremy BeckReviews
Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet in Superman

In some ways, Krypto is a bad dog. He doesn’t obey commands. He’s easily distracted, especially by flying squirrels. His affection borders on violence. “It’s more of a foster situation,” his caretaker says, quick to disclaim ownership of this mutant mutt with white fur, a red cape, and asymmetrical ears. Just because Krypto proves crucial in saving the world doesn’t make him any less embarrassing in public.

The spirit of Krypto—playful, excitable, anarchic—is one of the two lodestars guiding writer-director James Gunn in his reboot of Superman, the first feature he’s made for DC Studios since becoming co-chair of the company three years ago. The other animating principle on display is an invisible sense of duty—an obligation to reshape the Man of Steel into a wholesome and commercially pleasing figure. Gunn rose to prominence with his Guardians of the Galaxy pictures, which leavened the grandiose planet-saving of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with impishness and swagger. His challenge here is to retain those films’ sparky vivacity while still delivering a quality-controlled product with mass appeal—to merge comic with comic-book. Read More

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