Because Everybody Else Has One

Between this review being posted on Channel 24  and now, this tiny independent movie has made over a billion dollars worldwide and shattered every box-office record ever. The only reason I mention this is that, aside for this pretty definitively putting to bed the idea of there being anything approaching "superhero fatigue", I can't help but wonder if that means that a bunch of people who hadn't seen the previous MCU films, including Infinity War, went to see this anyway. That would be... interesting. But, to be fair, it's probably mostly just repeat viewings. And, as you'll see, there's definitely a reason for that... What it’s about After the events of Infinity War, the remaining Avengers put together a last-ditch plan to undo the universe-wide damage done by Thanos. What we thought These mega-event films are usually pretty tough to review as you want to give away as little about their plot as you possibly can, while also acknowledging ...

See, now this is how you do it! This review is also up at Channel 24 . (No spoilers ahead. Certainly not if you've seen the trailers) What it's about After a mission goes horribly wrong, the Avengers are confronted with a new resolution signed by most of the world's countries that would put them at the control of the United Nations. With Captain America and Iron Man already on opposite sides as to whether to go along with the will of the UN or not, tensions reach a boiling point with the return of the Winter Soldier: a dangerous killer and Cap's oldest friend. What we thought It's hard not to compare Captain America: Civil War with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, both because of the fact that the two feature similar themes and that they both revolve around a showdown between their respective universe's biggest heroes, battling it out for the soul of (super)heroism. They're also both nearly two-and-a-half hours long and are the lin...

No introduction necessary here, but I should say that my feelings about this film haven't been entirely constant. I adored it while watching it, was slightly disappointed when it finished and for a few hours after it and finally settled on my current largely enthusiastic position and very slightly conservative rating.  And, oh yeah, there be no spoilers here. This review is also up (in slightly shorter form) at Channel 24 . Follow the link for an alternative take by Gabi Zietsman as well. The Avengers: Age of Ultron is a rollicking, endlessly entertaining joy from beginning to end but it's one that may also fall prey to its own build up. Indeed, even my own reservations about the film have less to do with the film itself, than certain expectations I have created in the intervening years between the Avengers' first big screen outing in 2012 and now. But first, the good stuff. Once again, the real joy of the Avengers is watching these disparate characters int...

Cult classic or just a bit flawed... you decide. This review is also up at Channel 24 What it's about After a disastrous climate change experiment wipes out nearly all life on earth, the last few remaining humans spend their lives in Snowpiercer, a highly advanced, self-powered train, on its endless journeys around the world. Within Snowpiercer, however, tensions between the classes are about to reach boiling point and it's up to Curtis (Chris Evans) and his ragtag group of lower-class revolutionaries to bring class equality to the train – or die trying. What we thought An instant cult classic on release, Snowpiercer's curious mix of allegorical science fiction and Asian-cinema-inflected, heightened action sequences has also fallen victim to a fair amount of backlash. Interestingly, it's one of those rare genre films that has had a noticeably warmer reception by critics than by general audiences, as it scored a very respectable 8.4 on Metacritic an...

I still have a few more of last week's releases to look at but I'm going to do something completely different and review a film days before it actually comes out. I'm just that excited by it... If you've been waiting for Marvel Studios to take their first major stumble and break the chain of good to excellent films that they've been releasing for years now, I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait a while longer. Captain America: The Winter Soldier doesn't just continue Marvel's winning streak, though - it seriously ups the ante. Never mind just being infinitely better than its predecessor, the good Captain's latest adventure may well be the most creatively satisfying Marvel movie to date. It's best to know as little about the plot going in as possible but The Winter Soldier shifts from the war movie dynamics of its predecessor towards what is basically a spy film on steroids. While Cap continues to settle into life in the 21st c...

OK, so after two relatively lengthy reviews, here's a bit of a quickie about a film that I saw months ago and, as such, took me a little while to remember. This doesn't mean it isn't any good, though... Now, admittedly, though Puncture is not the most memorable of films, having read the IMDB's plot synopsis, I do actually remember liking it quite a bit. For a start, Chris Evans is really good in it and he proves once again that he is way more versatile than one would think on first glance. In fact, it's kind of his Erin Brokovich, if Erin Brokovich was more drug-addled-mess and less blonde-bimbo-or-is-she. It's based on a true story and, it has to be said, the true story is pretty damn interesting. In short, Evans plays a very troubled lawyer who ends up taking on Big Medicine, after one of the US's biggest medical corporations stops its hospitals from making use of a life-saving, but not cost-effective, syringe whose retractable and one-use-only needl...

Another month, another very good Marvel superhero movie... (My original review goes on a bit so it was slightly edited on Channel24 . Check that version out if you want the less rambly review or read on for my original.) What it's about Steve Rogers, a brave but physically weak and frail young man, is deemed unfit for military service but his determination to fight for his country at the height of the USA's involvement in World War 2 leads to his volunteering for a top secret government program that will turn him into Captain America, a super-soldier and the living and breathing embodiment of American idealism. What we thought It's not for nothing that Captain America comes with the subtitle “The First Avenger”. Unlike the Marvel superheroes that we have so far seen our screens, Captain America was created a couple of years after Superman, rather than a couple of decades. Unlike Spider-man, The X-Men, Thor or Iron Man, Captain America was also not c...