Captain Marvel

March 11, 2019April 11, 2020 Kevin Fentress Movie Reviews 2010s, 2019, action, annette bening, ben mendelsohn, brie larson, clark gregg, djimon hounsou, jude law, lee pace, marvel, samuel l jackson, sci-fi, superhero

Captain Obvious

The best thing about the release of Captain Marvel is that it brings us one step closer to the end of the nonsensical internet drama surrounding it. I won’t be going into that here, chiefly out of self-preservation, but a quick Google search should inform the more masochistic among you. I’ll offer just one thought on the matter: things as trivial as superhero movies have no business being cultural battlegrounds. Consequently, this review will only cover my thoughts on the movie itself – not its “impact,” nor “what it means,” nor “why it matters.” Continue reading →

Avengers: Infinity War

May 8, 2018April 11, 2020 Kevin Fentress Movie Reviews 2010s, 2018, action, avengers, benedict cumberbatch, bradley cooper, chadwick boseman, chris evans, chris hemsworth, chris pratt, don cheadle, elizabeth olsen, infinity war, josh brolin, mark ruffalo, marvel, paul bettany, robert downey jr, scarlett johansson, superhero, thanos, tom holland, Vin Diesel, zoe saldana

avengers-infinity-war-la-1ere-bande-annonce-est-epique-23941

It seems that every Marvel movie somehow manages to generate even more hype than the last, and Avengers: Infinity War is no exception. It’s the movie that the last dozen-or-so films of its universe have been leading up to, focusing on the titular band of superheroes doing battle with Thanos (Josh Brolin), the much-ballyhooed big-bad of the Marvel universe. Infinity War brings with it the creative challenges posed by its two predecessors: juggling a massive cast of characters, maintaining a brisk pace for a hefty running time, and keeping the stakes high in a franchise that has rather cheapened the threat of global destruction. Continue reading →

Black Panther

March 5, 2018April 11, 2020 Kevin Fentress Movie Reviews 2010s, 2018, action, africa, black panther, chadwick boseman, lupita nyongo, marvel, michael b jordan, superhero

black-panther-chadwick-boseman-tchalla

The best movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and now, Black Panther) all have a few things in common. For one, they’re essentially standalone, requiring nothing from their audience other than a willingness to have fun. Their other shared element is the introduction of a new world to their viewers. For Iron Man, that was the then-new and exciting MCU itself; Guardians of the Galaxy created a colorful, pulpy version of outer space; and now, Black Panther gives us Wakanda, a fictional African country that plays at third-world poverty but boasts a technologically advanced society hidden from all other nations. Continue reading →