‘SUPERMAN’ Makes CBMs Fun Again

July 8, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Anthony Carrigan, Beck Bennett, Christopher McDonald, David Corenswet, DCU, Edi Gathegi, Isabela Merced, James Gunn, Mikaela Hoover, Milly Alcock, Nathan Fillion, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Safran, Rachel Brosnahan, Skyler Gisondo, Superman, Wendell Pierce 1 Comment

It’s been a good long while since I’ve unequivocally enjoyed a comic book movie, but good readers, I’m pleased to report that Superman makes the genre fun again. It might just be the best comic book movie in years. The latest redux of the OG Man of Steel arrives as the inaugural entry in the new DCU, following the stutter-stepped saga of the DCEU and Henry Cavill’s brooding take on the character. It’s busy, cheesy, overstuffed — and I almost certainly will never watch it again (though that’s true of nearly every comic book movie these days, if not 90% of all movies) — but for a film tasked with both rebooting an iconic character and launching a new cinematic universe, James Gunn mostly pulls off the improbable. This movie flies. Read More

‘BOOKSMART’ a Sincere (And Sincerely Funny) Ode to High School Ride or Dies

May 17, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Beanie Feldstein, Booksmart, Eduardo Franco, Emily Halpern, Jessica Williams, Kaitlyn Dever, Katie Silberman, Molly Gordon, Olivia Wilde, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sarah Haskins, Skyler Gisondo, Susanna Fogel Leave a comment

In August of 2007, Superbad hit theaters and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I had graduated from high school three months earlier and though I’d never sat in a ride along with infantile po-po, or forced to sing karaoke to a room full of coke heads, the theme of life’s defining crossroads and their inevitable effect on friendship struck a nerve. Underneath the playful sheen of a raunchy teen comedy, Superbad spoke to the challenges of an unknowable future and the tectonic shifts that crackle in the multitudinous friendships you’ve curated over the years. A few days after Superbad, I left for college. Read More

Out in Theaters: VACATION

July 28, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chevy Chase, Chris Hemsworth, Christina Applegate, Ed Helms, John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein, Leslie Mann, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Ron Livingston, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Vacation Leave a comment

Harold Ramis took the family vacation movie off cruise-control in 1983, proffering a deliciously crass road trip film lead by an insolent (and borderline sociopathic) father figure in Chevy Chase and penned by none other than the mighty John Hughes. A sickly twist on nuclear morals and unadulterated, thoroughly punitive obsession, National Lampoon’s Vacation etched a dark twist on small town American dreams, couching the woes of extended family, the thirst for adventure and the troubles of enclosed spaces in with themes of adultery, abuse, abandonment and totally warped family values; with a corporate theme park ironically standing in as a last bastion of joy. Ramis’ was no small feat – he had crafted a thing of jet black social commentary that sang out with sharp barbs of comedy. Read More