‘The Batman’ Is Just Another Incel Fantasy of Entitlement
Matt Reeves’ meandering faux-profound take on Batman spends its over-long runtime telling women to shut up and do as they’re told or face the consequences.
superheroes
Marvel’s ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ Fails to Capitalize on a Strong Premise
Marvel’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+ follows the legacy of Captain America in the MCU, but its timely racially and politically charged plot lacks focus.
Marvel’s ‘Eternals’: Haven’t We Seen This Story Before?
The cast of Eternals may be the broodiest Marvel characters to date, but that’s about the only “new” thing about this film.
Marvel’s ‘WandaVision’ Echos Our Lasting Pandemic Grief
Addressing pandemic-induced topics such as loss, grief, and mental illness, Marvel’s ‘WandaVision’ serves as a metaphor for life in the time of COVID.
The New Mutants’ Cursed Journey to Theaters: A Horror Story
The New Mutants had a long, circuitous journey to the big screen as the final Marvel Comics film produced by 20th Century Fox before its merger with Disney.
‘Captain America: Civil War’ Mirrors Another Kind of American Civil War
In the Russo Brothers' Captain America: Civil War, friend turns on friend, and no easy resolution is reached. It's rather like the toxic online fan culture that followed the film's release.
How ‘Watchmen’ and ‘The Boys’ Deconstruct American Fascism
Superhero media has a history of critiquing the dark side of power, hero worship, and vigilantism, but none have done so as radically as Watchmen and The Boys.
Beautiful Lies and False Gods in ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice ‘interrogates two primal drives in American culture: fear and its trauma (Batman) and naked power and its ambiguities (Superman).
‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ Will Never Rise from the Ashes
Simon Kinberg’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix might be the most bumbling, mishandled Marvel Film ever produced.
The Highs Are Higher, the Lows Lower in ‘Deadpool 2’
The first half of Deadpool 2, in which Vanessa is murdered and Wade becomes purposeless and suicidal, is a slog. The second half, where Wade commits to defending an angry teenage mutant, positively soars with fantastic action and some of the funniest superhero film moments in years.