Shazam! Fury of the Gods
SimilarBring It On (2000), Hellboy (2004), Night at the Museum (2006), Superman Returns (2006), The Legend of Zorro (2005),
Watch afterAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023),
StudioDC Films, New Line Cinema,
If only there were a word I could scream that would turn me into a superhero. I wouldn’t fight crime or fly in the heavens above. Instead, I would run really fast until time went backward. Then I would sprint into the DC Film offices circa 2020 and yell, “Please do not make Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Nobody needs this!” Alas, I have no such power. So, here we are. Continue Reading →
Watch afterBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022),
What a stupid title for a movie. It’s only one letter short from the straight-to-DVD Cars spinoff, Planes. At least that made sense, though, since small children who are really into airplanes were its key demo. Continue Reading →
M3GAN
SimilarA Clockwork Orange (1971), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001),
In many ways, M3GAN is as much about its marketing as it is about the movie being marketed. That's hardly a revelatory statement, especially when it comes to horror films: Studios and producers have breathlessly promised thrills and chills with ever more outrageous gimmicks ever since the days of William Castle offering life insurance policies for audiences who "die of fright." With Blumhouse's M3GAN, the secret lies in its titular robo-tot, a cutesy android with snatched wig, Union Jack dickie bow, and murderous dance moves primed for TikTok virality, all of which have been over the film's marketing for months now. So it's a relief to learn that M3GAN has bite to go with its meme-ready bark, a horror-comedy as much about the ways we use technology to fulfill every human need as it is a sassy robot tween popping and locking with a paper cutter in its hand. Continue Reading →
Violent Night
SimilarBring It On (2000), Die Hard 2 (1990), Hellboy (2004), Live Free or Die Hard (2007), Night at the Museum (2006), The Holiday (2006),
Watch afterBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022),
It’s Christmas time, and a man at the breaking point finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time. But he isn’t retired cop John McClane this time. Instead, it’s Saint Nick with a sledgehammer he’d like to swing into your bowl full of jelly. The premise of Violent Night is simple (Die Hard but with Santa), and the filmmakers mostly pull off the kill-fest thanks to some game performers and one inspired sequence. Continue Reading →
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022), Black Adam (2022),
How do we move on from a devastating loss? A close friend, a family member, a spouse -- or, in the case of Wakanda Forever, the twin losses of both Chadwick Boseman (who died unexpectedly in 2020 of colon cancer) and the character of T'Challa, King of Wakanda and the reigning Black Panther. But rather than recast T'Challa for the sequel (a movement that has itself garnered quite a lot of attention leading up to this), writer/director Ryan Coogler chose the harder, more innately interesting path: Follow a world, a people, a family without the nucleus around which they orbited. See what the world of Black Panther does without its central figure, and watch the mighty ensemble of Black women around him scramble to pick up the pieces of their lives and figure out what to do next. Continue Reading →
The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse: Steamboat Silly
SimilarFantasia (1940),
MPAA RatingG,
As a relatively new face, Florence Pugh's sensational performance in William Oldroyd's Lady Macbeth was unexpected. To deliver a commanding performance of that deeply troubling, complex, and oft-alluded to character is difficult for screen and theatre vets, and yet Pugh did it with aplomb. She echoes that tour de force, albeit with a lighter approach, in Sebastian Lélio's The Wonder. Continue Reading →
False Positive
SimilarDawn of the Dead (2004), Maria Full of Grace (2004),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022), Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022),
StudioA24,
Pregnancy sucks. Though we do it all the time, because otherwise god forbid more women would choose to not subject themselves to it, it seems almost morally wrong to sugarcoat it. Even an “easy” pregnancy is uncomfortable at best, when foods you normally love become repulsive, and even tasks as simple as putting on shoes become a comedy of errors, if your feet can even still fit in them. Childbirth itself is the most excruciating pain the human body can endure, and the effort for such a “natural and beautiful” process can result in vaginal tears that can make future intercourse difficult. Mostly, we just get real weird about pregnant people. Pregnancy is perceived as a communal event, with everyone, even casual friends and co-workers pushing advice and suggestions, while often dismissing (if not shutting down outright), the pregnant person’s needs and concerns. Ilana Glazer and John Lee’s False Positive is a chillingly effective look at an expectant parent’s sharp decline from excitement to unease to paranoid terror. Her fears are brushed off as part of “mommy brain,” but there may be something to it. Continue Reading →
Oxygen
SimilarKlute (1971), Maria Full of Grace (2004), Monster (2003), Pi (1998),
Shaft (2000) Stranger Than Paradise (1984),
Watch afterBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Bullet Train (2022),
Director Alexandre Aja built his career finding as many ways as possible to explore tension and suspense. His tone shifts from project to project, from the gruesome violence of The Hills Have Eyes to the goofiness of Piranha 3D. His most recent success, Crawl, was lauded as a true successor to Jaws—just swap the boat for a creepy house and the shark for a pack of gators. But always at the core of his work is Aja’s interest in finding new ways to thrill his audiences, and Oxygen is no different. Continue Reading →