Archive
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD – Laura Karpman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE FILM, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER WAITING UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE DONE SO TO READ IT.
Somehow, over the course of some 17 years, we have now racked up an astonishing 35 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the enormously ambitious interlocking series of super-hero films that first began with Iron Man back in 2008. If you also include the 15 or so multi-season live action TV shows, plus the various animated shows and one-off specials, we are now at a point where viewers have to keep track of more than 100 hours of story in order to understand what is happening – and, to be frank, it’s starting to become a chore. Read more…
AMERICAN FICTION – Laura Karpman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
American Fiction is a brilliant satire on literature, race, and family dynamics in contemporary society. Written and directed by Cord Jefferson, who is making his directorial debut here, and based on the 2001 novel ‘Erasure’ by Percival Everett, the film stars Jeffrey Wright as African-American author and English professor Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. Monk is having quite a few problems; his novels receive academic praise, but sell poorly, and publishers reject his most recent manuscript for not being “black enough”. His mother is developing Alzheimer’s disease, his extended family is highly dysfunctional, and he is increasingly annoyed by a fellow writer whose recent bestselling novel apparently panders to ‘ghetto’ black stereotypes but is feted by white literary critics. Frustrated, and needing to raise money for his mother’s medical bills, Monk swallows his pride, adopts the pseudonym ‘Stagg R. Leigh,’ and intentionally writes what he considers a ‘bad novel’ called My Pafology, which also panders to the same black/urban stereotypes of gang violence, drugs, and estranged families. To his increasing shock and exasperation, My Pafology becomes enormously popular and critically acclaimed, and Monk is forced to adopt the ‘gangbanger’ persona of Leigh to maintain the ruse, while also trying to juggle his personal and family issues. Read more…
THE MARVELS – Laura Karpman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Marvels is the 33rd superhero film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the second to feature Brie Larson as Carol Danvers in the primary role, following on from 2019’s Captain Marvel. It draws together plot strands not only from the first film but also the Marvel TV shows Wandavision, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion, and sees Carol teaming up with Captain Monica Rambeau, the daughter of her old friend Maria, as well as Pakistani-American teenager Kamala Khan, who grew up idolizing Captain Marvel; Monica obtained superhero powers during the events of Wandavision, just as Kamala did during the events of Ms. Marvel. The plot involves the emergence of a new super-villain named Dar-Benn, whose home world was massively damaged during the events of Captain Marvel, and who is now seeking to repair her own planet, while simultaneously exacting revenge on Carol, who she blames for her planet’s devastation. Dar-Benn has a ‘magical bangle’ identical to the one that Kamala also owns, the existence of which keeps making Carol, Monica, and Kamala switch places with each other every time they try to use their powers. The film stars Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani as the other members of the Marvels alongside Larson, with Zawe Ashton and Samuel L. Jackson in major supporting roles, and it was directed by Nia Da Costa. Read more…
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