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‘AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM’ a Juvenile Underwater Hootenanny 

All good things come to an end, and fortunately, so do all bad things. With Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, it’s more the latter for the DCEU. Although there were occasional flashes of good to be found in the decade-spanning franchise, many of the 16 films inspired by DC comics were middling to flat out terrible. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the end of the line for the entirety of the failed experiment that was the DCEU and it’s about as awkward and unthought-through an ending as any other chapter of the franchise, which in a way makes it a suitable conclusion. Is it any good? Certainly not. But, like the larger franchise it was contained in, the last DCEU joint does have some things that people would ostensibly like, even if they’re shipwrecked in clumsy narrative flotsam and weak character work.   Read More

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Entertaining ‘THE SUICIDE SQUAD’ Surprisingly Conventional for Comic Book Movie That Weaponizes Polka Dots

Look no further than James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad for proof that superhero media has truly become too big to fail. As legions of old and new, traditional and bizarre, familiar and not-so-familiar heroes position themselves to win out at the box office, as well as, increasingly, on our premium streaming services, comic lore has become the last remaining monocultural tentpole of our current age.  Read More

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Diana Prince Swings Across Lightning Bolts in Flashy ‘WONDER WOMAN 1984’ Trailer

Two years ago, Wonder Woman proved that a female-led superhero movie was not destined for poor box office returns and critical lashings, the Patty Jenkins-directed big-screen debut becoming the DCEU’s biggest success at the time. Though the film wasn’t perfect, there was plenty to enjoy and fans were eager to see more of Gal Gadot’s version of Diana Prince. With DC’s current film slate in an admittedly confusing jumble of maybe/maybe-not-interconnectedness, their latest approach has seemed to deteether their heroes and if Wonder Woman 1984′s trailer indicates anything, it’s that the title star won’t be worrying about making room for Batman, Aquaman or anything other supermen. Read More

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DC Ditches Doom, Gloom, Goes Overboard With Silliness with ‘SHAZAM!’ 

Leaving behind the days of darkened cowls, killer Batmen, and gritty monochromatic realism, Shazam! continues DC’s newfound grove as the weirdo cousin of the superhero movie multiverse. Leaning full brunt into the bonkers aspect of a world where certain citizens are bulletproof, immortal, and/or can chat with sharks, this latest origin story from the DCEU steps out of the shadows of the Zack Snyder-era of Batman v. Superman, fully embracing the goofy prospect of heroes living among us and building it up one ridiculous costume at a time. This time out, it’s a kid donning said costume and this latest chapter in the ever-evolving DC world absolutely revels in the goof.  Read More

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Joaquin Phoenix Puts a Smile on That Face in ‘JOKER’ Trailer

In the wake of whatever the hell Jared Leto was doing as the Joker in the frankly awful Suicide Squad, there came rumblings of a handful of new iterations of the iconic Batman villain. When rumors swirled that Martin Scorsese was interested in producing a clown prince origin story, curiosities peaked. When the always reliable Joaquin Phoenix was tapped to fill the shoes, anticipation only rose. The long-awaited first look at Todd Phillips’ Joker has finally surfaced online and it promises a dark and thoughtful look at the origins of madness in maybe the world’s most iconic villain. Read More

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Untitled Superman Vs. Batman Film Gets List of Tentative Titles, MAN OF STEEL: BATTLE THE KNIGHT Amongst the Running

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Odds are you could probably care less what DC decides to title their Man of Steel sequel, which is set to pit the near invisible Superman again a PTSD-suffering billionaire who dresses like a bat and wears a lot of black makeup, but the latest list of possible titles is sure to induce the slightest of gags from the masses still with the truffley taste of Christopher Nolan‘s Battrilogy still lingering in our mouths. I’m of course not accounting for of bottom-tier puns (here all focused on swapping knight in for night, GET IT?!) who this batch of title treatments seems custom tailored for. The rest of us though can collectively sigh at the rampant stupidity taking place over at Warner Bros and the world of superhero sequel namers at large.

The runt of the new name litter is probably Man of Steel: Battle the Knight which sounds like the name of an animated title intended for 5-year olds yet to learn the idiosyncrasies of the language. Yank that colon out for Man of Steel Battles the Knight, or just go the next step for Man of Steel Battles the Dark Knight, and there’s at least something of interest that also reads like a normal sentence. As is, it sounds like the juvenile attempt of someone who secured an unflattering C in high school English.

Since the dawn of the Silver Surfer, the colon has become so overused in the blockbuster films that it’s essentially become a required part of a name for anything with a hundred million dollar plus budget. Even more important than the colon is the need to tack the word ‘dark’ somewhere in there (it’s just a no-brainer amiright?). This year’s Star Trek: Into Darkness is the best example of a misused colon couple with the useless inclusion of the word ‘dark’ (why not just Star Trek into Darkness or, more appropriately, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan: Part Deux). Thor: The Dark World is another great example of just throwing a colon and the word ‘dark’ at a title and expecting oohs and ahhs from wide-eyed fanboys.

As for this super DC conglomerate, there’s not much to this list of titles that catches my interest but, who knows, maybe people will just eat ’em up. What do you think of the following?

  • Man of Steel: Battle the Knight
  • Man of Steel: Beyond Darkness
  • Man of Steel: Black of Knight
  • Man of Steel: Darkness Falls
  • Man of Steel: Knight Falls
  • Man of Steel: Shadow of the Night
  • Man of Steel: The Blackest Hour
  • Man of Steel: The Darkness Within

At this point why don’t they just go with Man of Steel: Night of the Knight…oh wait. That actually has a nice ring to it. I think I’ve officially just spitballed a better title than WB’s collection of caffeine-slobbering goons jammed in a conference room somewhere, feeding from their 100k salaries.

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