Review: “Shazam!”

3 out of 5 stars. If “Aquaman” was lauded as the current DC cinematic universe’s first real foray into more light-hearted fare, then “Shazam!” takes it to a whole new level. The film based on the comic book superhero originally known as Captain Marvel is more a comedy than anything else, with eye-popping visuals and […]

Review: “Glass”

2 out of 5 stars. You truly never know what you’re going to get with M. Night Shyamalan. His 2000 film “Unbreakable” and 2016 film “Split” are two decent movies that bookend a particularly awful period in the director’s career. Both those films combine in the new movie “Glass,” the conclusion to Shyamalan’s long-simmering trilogy, […]

Review: “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies”

4 out of 5 stars. It’s can be refreshing—and hilarious—to watch someone make fun of themselves, especially when that someone is a large entity like DC Comics and Warner Brothers. It’s no secret that Warner’s attempts at creating a DC cinematic universe akin to Marvel’s in recent years have been the subject of much ridicule. […]

Review: “Black Panther”

5 out of 5 stars. Although several superhero films over the past couple years have done different things to make audiences rethink the genre, it’s easy to be inundated with the sameness of the Hollywood blockbuster. This is especially true of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which found a formula that seems to please audiences and […]

Review: “Justice League”

2.5 out of 5 stars. Let’s start with the good news: “Justice League” is not the worst movie in the DC cinematic universe. It definitely surpasses “Batman v. Superman” (which it is in many ways a direct sequel to) and the horrid “Suicide Squad.” The bad news: saying a movie is better than “Suicide Squad” […]

Review: “Thor: Ragnarok”

4.5 out of 5 stars. I have made no secret of my feelings for Marvel’s “Thor” franchise. The first “Thor” movie was an elongated trailer for “The Avengers” disguised as a so-so origin story. Its follow-up, “Thor: The Dark World,” is Marvel’s worst effort, a dark and dingy outing that did no service to the […]

Review: “Spider-Man: Homecoming”

4 out of 5 stars. The number of film incarnations of “Spider-Man” to come out in the last 15 years, regardless of what you think of them, is ridiculous. In “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” Tom Holland becomes the third actor to take on the role of the web-slinging hero in a live-action movie, following on the heels of […]

Review: “Wonder Woman” (2017)

4.5 out of 5 stars. “Wonder Woman” is the most important blockbuster movie of the year; actually, it’s one of the most important movies not just of 2017 in general, but in recent years. Film and television mediums have been dominated in recent years by superhero movies, but from Marvel’s now-massive cinematic universe to the […]

Review: “Logan”

4.5 out of 5 stars. Eight years ago, leaving the theater after watching the terrible, clichéd, first stand-alone Wolverine movie, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” I never would have thought the franchise would be here now. And yet, here we are. “Logan” is the third Wolverine standalone (following a middling 2013 effort simply titled “The Wolverine”) and […]

Review: “The Lego Batman Movie”

5 out of 5 stars. In 2014, “The Lego Movie” delighted critics and audiences, though not exactly in the way most people expected. It wasn’t just an irreverent, fast-paced adventure that’s enjoyable for both kids and kids-at-heart; at the end it revealed a beautiful, moving message that elevated the material beyond typical family fare. In […]