Review: “Thunderbolts*”

There’s a string of scenes in the final stretch of Thunderbolts*— the final installment of Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for those still keeping track— that’s as stirring and soulful as anything across the franchise’s 36 (and counting) film history. But like it’s title, the movie comes with an asterisk: any story element […]

Review: “Deadpool & Wolverine”

As I stretch my fingers in preparation for typing up a response to Deadpool & Wolverine, I almost feel guilty about how badly I plan to savage it. The 34th entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first appearance for the raunchy Deadpool character there following Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox in 2019, […]

Review: “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”

There’s a scene during the climax of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in which Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and his 18-year-old daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), who now has a similar suit to his that allows her to change size, have both grown to a gigantic size to fight off the bad guys in […]

Review: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

The most striking images in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” can be found in its opening scene. Wakandans, ethereal in their white costumes (courtesy of designer Ruth E. Carter, who won an Academy Award for her stunning work on 2018’s “Black Panther”), gather to lay T’Challa, the Black Panther who passed away off-screen due to an […]

Review: “Thor: Love and Thunder”

With 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” director Taika Waititi injected new life into what had otherwise become the dullest standalone character series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He made it more colorful, brought a wacky sense of humor to the proceedings, surrounded the lead characters with delightfully weird supporting players, and allowed star Chris Hemsworth to cultivate […]

Review: “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”

The Marvel Cinematic Universe might not exist at all if it wasn’t for Sam Raimi. That’s a lot of credit to give to one individual who up to now has never been explicitly involved in the MCU at all, but it’s Raimi’s “Spider-man” trilogy—which debuted in 2002 and spawned two sequels, the last of which […]

Review: “Spider-Man: No Way Home”

I wasn’t sure, especially in light of a pandemic that it seems we’ll never pull out of, if I’d ever have another theatrical experience quite on the level of “Avengers: Endgame.” I’m not a particular fan of that movie, or even the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, but there’s no denying that the conversion […]

Review: “Eternals”

“Eternals” opens in a manner that isn’t typical of any previous film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead of jumping straight into the action, an opening scroll details the mythos behind the story we are about to watch unfold. In 5000 B.C., ten super-powered beings known as the Eternals were sent to Earth by the […]

Review: “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” begins with what may be my favorite opening sequence of any Marvel movie to date: a thousand years ago, the warrior Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) finds and takes control of the ten rings, a weapon that grants their user great power and immortality. As the centuries pass, […]

Review: “Black Widow”

Regardless of your feelings on the dominance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the film industry, it does feel like a signal of some normalcy returning seeing an MCU film in the movie theaters for the first time since 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” which immediately followed the franchise’s massive “Avengers: Endgame.” But what makes […]