Wonder Woman

Review by George M. Thomas

Gal Gadot stars as Wonder Woman.

WONDER WOMAN is at times an epic comic book film that acquits itself well in the genre and it’s almost everything DC fans have wanted in a film based on one of their favorite characters since Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

Does it rise to the level of the best in that series?  No, but it stands on its own as an action-packed, enjoyable piece of escapism.

Many will reference the fact this is the first comic book film to feature a woman in the lead role.  In that regard, for director Patty Jenkins this particular assignment had to come with pressure – from herself, fans and the studio. And she delivers.

Yes, the film plays to a female audience in that it possesses an attitude to that lifts women, but it doesn’t do so at the expense of men.   If anything Jenkins, using screenwriter Allen Heinberg’s script, does little more than lift women to an equal level.

Suicide Squad

Will Smith is Deadshot and Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn in SUICIDE
 SQUAD

By George M. Thomas

SUICIDE SQUAD can claim one virtue.  It’s not the FANTASTIC FOUR.  The latter may still hold the title of worst comic book adaptation made in the last five years.

That, however, proves to be the equivalent of being damned by faint praise.  Actually there’s very little praise to go around in this introduction to a group of anti-heroes that inhabit the DC Comics universe.  SUICIDE SQUAD is about as fun as a visit to a proctologist.

BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE (Tuesday, July 26)

By George M. Thomas

By now anyone who claims to be a fan of superhero films have at least heard of the Alan Moore and Brian Bolland classic graphic novel, BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE.  

Being more into movies, I’ve rarely peaked at the source material of any film – primarily because I don’t want to taint my review with comparisons.

However, being a fan of Warner Bros. Animation’s direct-to-disc films (owning them all), I am very familiar with them.  Despite a few misses, they generally include high quality storytelling in a 90-minute package.  With the film version of BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE high expectations come.   From judging the final production, they were too high.

Man of Steel

Review by Pete Roche

Lots of teens and twenty-somethings quit the proverbial nest to attend college or travel a bit.  It’s a rite of passage in these parts. 

Earth, that is.  You see, leaving home to “find oneself” takes on entirely new meaning when you’re actually the sole survivor of a dead, distant world.

Such is the premise of MAN OF STEEL, the sixth major motion picture adaptation of DC Comic’s premiere protagonist—and the best Superman movie in thirty years.

Working from a story by David S. Goyer (with an assist from THE DARK KNIGHT's Christopher Nolan) director Zack Snyder (WATCHMEN, 300) re-imagines Superman for a new generation—a demographic reared on hyperkinetic action fare starring transforming robots, sugary CGI animals, and ironclad, web-headed crusaders from DC's rival publisher.