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FlickFilosopher.com

film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022

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Batman

The Batman movie review: to bat, or not to bat

Sun, Mar 06, 2022
7 comments

No snark, no spandex pantomime spectacle. Just noir mystery, Pattinson’s sad recluse a detective in a cesspit of corruption. Relentlessly grim, all darkness and despair, not escapist but of our time.

| 7 Comments

Joker movie review: sad clown, bad clown, not at all a rad clown

Wed, Oct 02, 2019
2 comments

Not fit to lick the boots of Martin Scorsese or Christopher Nolan, though the height of its ambition appears to be its desperation to do so. A movie as pathetically ineffectual as its protagonist.

| 2 Comments

Shazam! movie review: unmarvelous

Tue, Apr 02, 2019
no comments yet

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.

| Leave a comment

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies movie review: the last action heroes (to get a movie)

Thu, Aug 02, 2018
11 comments

The superhero movie we need, and also the one we karmically deserve. A riot of hilariously zippy animation that gleefully shreds the clichés of the genre while also lovingly embracing its self-referential geek experience.

| 11 Comments

Ready Player One movie review: trivial pursuit*

Thu, Mar 29, 2018
116 comments

A nightmare of nothingness, of empty, soulless wankery, that serves only to reassure male dorks that their pop-culture obsessions make them special, and will make cute girls like them.

| 116 Comments

Justice League movie review: grab ’em by the fanboy

Fri, Nov 17, 2017
76 comments

The cinematic equivalent of Trump and Brexit as awfulness brought upon ourselves. Incoherent and cheap-looking. There are no heroes, and everything is broken.

| 76 Comments

American Assassin movie review: we’ve CIAn it all before

Sun, Sep 17, 2017
6 comments

It’s tormented hotheads all around with a hero and villain who are almost indistinguishable and same-old spy stuff racing to a seen-it, been-there ticking-clock finale.

| 6 Comments

curated: be vewy vewy quiet: Elmer Fudd is hunting Batman

Mon, Jun 26, 2017
4 comments

Um…

| 4 Comments

curated: a bat signal for Adam West

Sat, Jun 17, 2017
5 comments

*bang* *pow* *sob*

| 5 Comments

Wonder Woman movie review: women’s work

Thu, Jun 08, 2017
80 comments

Everything about this joyful, sincere origin story feels like a retort — a very welcome and much needed one — to traditional male-centered superhero stories.

| 80 Comments
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