I’m well and truly over superheroes battling mega tyrannical villains, causing loud, elongated mass destruction. Now I enter the cinema to see one of these box office fancies fearing the worst … and so it was with Justice League. In this one, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) has a restored faith in humanity, inspired by Superman’s selfless…
I can’t help thinking the latest Thor outing, Thor: Ragnarok (which introduces several Marvel Universe characters) is yet another elongated, derivative outing. In the story, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer. He finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to…
Visual effects aside, there’s nothing much to get excited about in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. This fantasy sci-fi is based on a comic book series, and is written and directed by Luc Besson (Lucy). It’s the 28th century. Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are a team of special operatives charged with…
The most problematic of the Marvel superheroes is given a reboot in Spider-Man: Homecoming. When I say problematic, I mean because of his movie history more than anything else. In just the past 15 years, there have been no less than six movies featuring the teenage web-slinger. Sam Raimi’s 2002 – 07 trilogy starring Tobey…
Israeli actress Gal Gadot imposes herself on screen in a rare outing for Hollywood – a big budget superhero movie featuring a female in the lead role. It is hard to believe it has taken this long for Wonder Woman to make it to the big screen in her own right. In comic book form she…
Pop culture meets high art as the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) presents Marvel: Creating the Cinematic Universe. The exhibition follows Marvel’s superheroes and adversaries from comic book page to cinema screen. It’s also the first major Marvel-related exhibition to be staged in Australia; and the largest ever presented in an art…
This is Hugh Jackman’s swansong as Wolverine, after eight films in 17 years of playing the Marvel superhero. And what a great way to go out! He has saved the best till last. Not only is Logan the best film in the Wolverine franchise to date but it is also one of the best comic…
A charming storyline, strong vocals and an evocative set are hallmarks of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the four-time Tony Award nominated Broadway musical comedy, based upon characters created by cartoonist Charles M. Schultz in his comic strip Peanuts. With music and lyrics by Clark Gesner, the show premiered off Broadway in March 1967…
The ultimate superhero revenge movie, Captain America: Civil War leaves Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in the shade when it comes to darkness and irritability. The third film in the Captain America franchise is seriously violent – or as serious violent as a comic book sensibility turned into live action can be. Steve Rogers/Captain…
This is a reboot of a series starring Chris Evans, Jessica Evans and Julian McMahon, among others that kicked off in cinematic form only 10 years ago. Filmmakers did the same thing with Spider-Man in 2012, a decade after it first hit cinemas. So, here we have another contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original and longest-running…
