Shazam! movie review: unmarvelous
Nothing matters in this literal adolescent-male power fantasy, a cheesy mishmash of nonsense and low stakes. Anyone who needs at least a bit of meat in their superhero tales will be disappointed.
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Captain Marvel movie review: superpowered female SJW invites manbaby nerds to suck it
An indie ethos comes to the comic-book movie, upending the origin story and offering a female superhero who throws out the boys’ rule book, goes her own way, and stalks among us with easy confidence.
Doctor Who: “Logopolis” Fathom Event review: it’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for
An iconic story from the classic era of the British cult TV favorite comes to US big screens for one night only… and the cleaned-up FX as well as its deceptively simple tale hold up rather well.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World movie review: dragon its feet to a blah finale
The gorgeous and once glorious fantasy series comes to a flat conclusion, one in which the stakes feel way lower than they should and the spark that once animated and elevated the story is missing.
Alita: Battle Angel movie review: ‘Rollerblade Runner’ with a Strong Female Character(TM)
Devoid of personality and soul, this hellish Frankenstein monster of processed entertainment product wallows in a stew of borrowed ideas and imagery and does absolutely nothing fresh with them.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part movie review: everything is still (mostly) awesome
Our expectations are a lot higher now after the unexpectedly wildly inventive first movie… and this sequel delivers, digging with witty subversion into Hollywood’s glorification of its male heroes.
Cold Pursuit movie review: hot mess
The latest Liam Neeson revenge fantasy simply makes no sense even before you get to the tedious action, undeveloped characters, and stubborn racism and sexism. A rancid excuse for a thriller.
Bumblebee movie review: floats like a butterfly…
Nostalgic yet not mindlessly retro, a heartfelt girl-and-her-alien-robot-car action-adventure dramedy that hits all the right notes. Hailee Steinfeld is terrific, and there’s nary a whiff of Michael Bay.
Aquaman movie review: deep blah sea
When it’s not tediously predictable in its clichés, its complete lack of narrative or thematic daring, and its colorless meathead hero, it’s a mess of incoherent action and noisy psychedelic chaos.
Mortal Engines movie review: it’s got no rev
Like the book it’s based on, the worldbuilding is intriguing, but the characters and story are strictly cliché. A lazy, confused, and derivative disaster, with plot points and visual and thematic motifs shamelessly stolen from far better movies.
