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Casting Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Doom and the Ouroboros of MEGA-tainment

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The recent announcement that Robert Downey Jr. will don the mantle of Dr. Doom after years of embodying Tony Stark/Iron Man sent shockwaves through the entertainment sphere. Unveiled at Nerd Mecca (Comic Con’s Hall H), the news was met with wild enthusiasm from attending fans. Soon, a torrent of think-pieces flooded the media, from entertainment outlets to daily news channels, all asking, “What does this mean?” And for good reason. This move is more than just a casting choice; it’s a microcosm of a broader insidious trend where creativity is sacrificed at the altar of commerce. Where the comforting allure of nostalgia trumps all. While looking backwards to carve a path forward may seem like a reliable strategy, nostalgia-plays inherently bank upon a limited resource. We will eventually run out of cameos and callbacks, especially if modern entertainment is already so focused on looking back. This ouroboros-like cycle, where the industry repeatedly consumes its past until past and present become intertwined, has significant implications for our broader cultural dynamics and the future of entertainment as well as society. Read More

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Waititi’s ‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’ As Aimless, Superfluous As The MCU’s Phase 4 Writ Large 

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Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Kill the Gods

It’s probably safe to define Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth film in the main Thor series and eighth total appearance by Chris Hemsworth as the titular character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, by what it is not. It is not as good as its predecessor Ragnarok. Going a step further, I’d wager to say that it’s likely the worst of the Thor-central flicks – the often maligned Thor: The Dark World included. It’s not well constructed; the story is jumbled and meandering, the tone is all over the place, the character arcs are fairly uninvolving and flat. It’s not as funny as it thinks it is; the jokes mustering some low-grade chuckles here and there but nothing at the level of writer-director Taika Waititi’s best work – nor is it even on par with Marvel’s better comedic showcases. In short, it’s just not very good. Read More

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Clunky ‘ETERNALS’ Reveals Chloé Zhao Ill-Suited for Marvel Universe

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Nomandland writer-director and Academy Award-winner Chloé Zhao is celebrated as a humanist, naturalistic storyteller. A filmmaker who sinks into the very pores of the characters and communities she crafts her movies around. Telling stories from a deep understanding of what make these people tick and the idiosyncratic customs of their way of life, Zhao champions the use of non-actors and the backdrop of mother nature to achieve a lived-in, grounded aesthetic. With Zhao’s films, you often feel as if you’ve stepped into another universe, one that’s been squirreled away on some part of our planet we just didn’t know existed. Read More

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Better Late than Never, ‘BLACK WIDOW’ Gives MCU’s Preeminent Shero a Fitting Sendoff 

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The second to last of the original Avengers to get her own standalone bow (with Hawkeye’s very own miniseries hitting Disney+ late 2021), Black Widow has been long overdue her turn in the spotlight for some time now. If we weren’t living in an aggressively patriarchal society, it might seem strange that it took so long to get Scarlett Johansson, who has led the charts for most bankable actress alive for many years, her own feature film. But then again it seems that Hollywood suits only recently learned the lesson that the masses would turn out for superhero movies that starred people other than white men and so thus Black Widow was bankrolled into existence, 11 years after her debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Read More

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‘CAPTAIN MARVEL’ Punches Through the Glass Ceiling With Style

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True to its name, Captain Marvel is pure Marvel. That’s not to say that it’s necessarily a top-tier entry to the now twenty-one film franchise (it is however a worthy middle entry) but the film perfectly sums up what the Marvel brand is: a family-friendly blend of sci-fi and action adventure, led by postured heroes in colorful spandex, lit up by busy, expensive CGI and regularly relieved with whip-snap jokes. It’s an origin story of somewhat common degree, one familiar with the storytelling roots of Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America before it, that encapsulates the highs and lows of the superhero series in equal measure.  Read More

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Out in Theaters: ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR’

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Ever since Samuel L. Jackson cropped up in an eye patch in Iron Man’s post-credits, Marvel films have had their eye firmly planted on the future. Setting up incoming installments has been a precarious process, resulting in such face-palmingly clunky sequences as the infamous “Thor in a Bath Tub” scene and the entirety of Iron Man 2. When not preoccupied with teasing the oncoming comic strata or hogtying in easter eggs for uber-nerds to dissect and debate, Marvel has admittedly done fine work developing their roster of heroes, taking careful stock in ensuring that its non-comic reading audience has at the bare minimum a working sense of what drives these supers to strap into spandex and save the world. With Captain America: Civil War, a direct sequel to the events of Captain America: Winter Solider that employs nearly the entirety of The Avengers, those characters turn to the rear view to take stock of what has been lost along the way. Read More