Tag: action fantasy

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY – Review

As we trudge past the miserable heat of July, many movie fans might think that the Summer season of blockbusters is over with the arrival of August. And they would be wrong. Just as it appeared that TOY STORY 5 would be crowned box office king of 2026, film franchise royalty returns after a five-year hiatus. Ah, but with his comic book roots, will the media pundits crying “superhero fatigue” be proven right, especially after SUPERGIRL failed to take flight? Well, from the internet buzz and the spectacular ticket presales, it looks like this scrappy wallcrawler has many more “webs to spin”. But with a new director guiding that trilogy’s trio, his many fans are bracing for a different era in SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY.

Here’s the cover to a paperback prose story with the then CBS TV stars back in the late 70’s!

Yes, a new, more subdued tone is established in the opening moments of this installment. The spell cast by Dr. Strange in the previous film hasn’t weakened. The world has forgotten Peter Parker (Tom Holland), who is now living on his own. When he’s not working as Spider-Man with his NYPD connection (unofficially), Det. Jean DeWolff (Liza Colon-Zayas), Pete is following the constant online video updates (all through MIT) of former BFF Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), with cameos from his roommate pal, MJ (Zendaya). And yes, Pete’s still carrying a “torch” for his lost love. Which is why he’s spending so much of his time as the Big Apple’s protector. Naturally, things get very weird when a super-villain he helped put away, Mac Gargan AKA the Scorpion (Michael Mando), is sprung from the fortress run by the feds at the Dept. of Damage Control by a mysterious mind-controlling force that jumps from one person to another, after a janitor commandeers a tank. Complicating things is the unwanted “help” from NYC’s other, less-adored vigilante, Frank Castle AKA the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). After a briefing by DODC chief Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman), Pete runs into Ned as he grabs some supplies for his big housewarming party. Following him, Pete crashes the party and sees MJ there with her new beau. Later that night at his home, he seems ill and faints. The next morning, Pete wakes up in a web cocoon, outside his window. Something’s happening with his body and mind. Could his spider-enhanced DNA be mutating? A visit with celebrated ESU prof Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) just raises more questions. Can Peter survive this “metamorphosis “, while stopping this new menace that appears to emanate from a shadowy young woman (Sadie Sink)? And will he find a way to reunite with his old friends turned puzzled strangers?

Despite the large, impressive supporting cast, this story belongs to Holland’s maturing Peter Parker and his arachnid alter-ego. Here he expands on his dramatic talents, going even further into pathos from the last entry. Though a lot less awkward (somehow more confident in uniform), Holland leans into the tragic consequences of his fateful, mind- and world-altering, though selfless, decisions. And that’s coupled with his panic over the strange alterations in his mind and body. Certainly, Holland is more than up to the challenge, despite having played the role for ten years over six movies. His “heavy-lifting” emoting is done with his leading lady, now real-life wife Zendaya, whose MJ still has a snarky, dark attitude, but has learned how to let people “in”. Her big “revelation” scene with Holland is a heart-tugging highlight. Their rapport is balanced by the sweet-natured charm of Batalon, who somehow becomes more enduring, even as his Ned becomes “Spidey-obsessed” (love his “tracker”). If there’s a “scene-stealer” in this flick, the title would belong to Bernthal, who brings a lot of heart to the world-weary, cynical Castle, a role he’s honed over several streaming TV shows. This “flip-side” spin on crime-fighters is a welcome addition to the story. And it’s great to see Holland finally sharing some scenes with Ruffalo, whose Banner is an easy-going, affable academic and another mentor ala Tony Stark. Sink is somehow sinister and sympathetic as the villain that’s more than her sometimes “evil deeds”. Speaking of mentors, Colon-Zayas is another nurturing maternal influence on Pete, and a great partner, much like Inspector Henderson on the 50’s Superman TV show. And I don’t want to spoil it, but the film also has great sequences with two wonderful actresses, one that figures in the MCU future, while the other is a sweet return from a past fave.

Here’s the Spidey story that introduced the Punisher!

So who has replaced Jon Watts after his time as director of the previous trilogy? None other than Destin Daniel Cretton. After helming the Shang-Chi feature (which should’ve had a sequel years ago) and the superb streaming show “Wonder Man”, Cretton injects quite a bit of real-world grit and a streetwise style (truly “friendly neighborhood”) into the Spidey saga. Although two of the main series screenwriters, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, penned this one, it eschews much of their bouncy, whimsical sensibilities. This helps in setting it apart from high school romps and shenanigans, with the main trio mulling over their place as adults in this grounded setting. Aiding in this is the moody camera work from Brett Pawlak, which still meshes with the soaring music score by the returning Michael Giacchino. There’s no rehashing done, although there are some nice nods to MCU history and the memories of Pete and his pals. This helps in getting past a few wonky subplots (without Stark, how is all that tech acquired?). All the effects (love the “zombie pulse waves”) work well, especially with the thrilling action scenes (this Hulk truly smashes). With so much to enjoy, the final act doesn’t wrap things up in a satisfying manner, with no real “sign-off” with a major character. But fans will enjoy seeing Spidey with two other comic stalwarts (three really), and the tykes will get to see their hero in dazzling action with some of the best “city swinging”, though there are some dark, scary moments. It doesn’t quite “stick the landing”, but there’s lots of what makes the “web-head” endure for over 60 years (lots of “mushy stuff” in the Stan Lee-penned tales) in the exciting and often amazing SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY.

3.5 Out of 4

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY opens in theatres everywhere on Friday, July 31, 2026.

SUPERGIRL (2026) – Review

As we’ve come to expect for the last several decades (the past three or so), Summertime is a “super-time” at the multiplex (and the box office). Bonnie’s toy box burst open the season officially last weekend, so it’s time for a comic book crusader to literally swoop in and rescue us from the warm-weather duldrums. Mind you, we met lots of aliens a couple of weeks ago with Spielberg’s newest, so film fans should be primed for an even friendlier “strange visitor from another planet”. Nope, it’s not the newest version of “big blue”, but rather his cousin. This harkens back to the strategy of the producers of his “touchstone” big screen outing of 1978. The late, great Christopher Reeve donned the cape for three outings before a “spin-off”. Of course, the dynamic team of James Gunn and Peter Safran, the keepers of the DC film franchise, isn’t following that “playbook”, so now we’re meeting the “girl of steel”, SUPERGIRL.

In the story’s opening moments, the title character, AKA Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock), has been “over-celebrating” her 23rd birthday. She’s trying to “sleep it off”, but her faithful puppy Krypto will have none of that. Neither will her cousin Clark AKA Superman (David Corenswet), who transmits a video “B-day” greeting to her spaceship/crashpad. That vessel is parked on a “red sun” planet, so Kara’s enduring a full-on hangover. Down the way, the home of a weapons crafter named Elias Knoll gets a most-unwelcome visit from the sadistic leader of the space pirates known as the Brigands, Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts). The tension escalates into a brutal attack that leaves a single survivor of the Knoll family, teenager Ruthye (Eve Ridley). Later, she shows up at a “watering hole”, seeking an “agent of revenge”. This leads to Ruthye befriending Kara, who takes her back to her ship. Unfortunately, the Brigands are there to steal it. Krypto breaks free and charges Krem, who shoots the pooch with a poison dart. After the thieves escape, Kara takes her pet to a vet who explains that unless she gets the antidote from Krem, Krypto will be heading to that “farm up north”. Kara has no choice but to accompany Ruthye on her “trackdown” of the Brigand “king”. Even if Kara can get to a “yellow sun” planet, will her superpowers be enough to save her poor canine pal in time? And what happens when their quest leads to the savage, surly space-hoppin’ bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa)? The clock is ticking…

After a steady acting career, mainly in several TV shows (broadcast and streaming), Ms. Alcock puts a very different spin on this iconic hero. There’s little of the wide-eyed innocence of Helen Slater in the 1984 flick, nor the feisty “working gal” energy of the CW’s Melissa Benoist. Instead, she goes dark, conveying the character’s traumatized past and her need to self-medicate. Kara needs a reason to soar again. Luckily, we get a glimpse of her sunny side as she interacts with the ever-adorable “fuzz-faced” Krypto. Alcock is more than up to this daunting challenge. Oh, that “reason” is Ruthye played with steel-eyed focus and determination by the engaging Ms. Ridley. Her road to revenge leads her to a new family: a needed “big sister” in Kara. These actresses work well with each other, even as they share exchanges with the movie’s big scene-stealer, Momoa, as the ill-tempered, gamma-irradiated boss biker Lobo. His grungy charm and snarky asides propel the often dour space opera. Though he was a JLA member in the “Snyder-verse”, Momoa appears to be having a lot more fun as this DC comics fan favorite “anti-hero”. He fares much better than the talented Schoenaerts, who isn’t given a real chance to shine as the underwritten Krem. With his “bedazzled” face, he looks as though he took a wrong exit off “Fury Road”. Krem exists to inflict cruelty as he mugs and sneers at the heroes. Speaking of heroes, it’s great to see Corenswet return as the caring “blue boy scout” mentor to his cousin (though it feels like a “big brother/lil’ sis” dynamic).

Unlike last Summer’s “super spectacle” from James Gunn, this is helmed by an action flick “newbie” Craig Gillespie (I, TONYA, CRUELLA, and DUMB MONEY). In many ways, the film doesn’t harken back to SUPERMAN, but rather Gunn’s work at Marvel on the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY trilogy, with the countless slimy “beasties” and exotic alien backdrops. However, it’s a lot tougher to see these creative designs (unlike the GoG flicks) in the barely-lit scenes, giving everything a muddy look, rather than the “lived-in” STAR WARS aesthetic. This makes it doubly difficult to follow the chaotic fights and stunts. We eventually get too comfortable with the weird (did we need the “potty” gags?) and try to latch on to the familiar. A big contributor to that inertia is the cliche-ridden screenplay, based on a popular comic book miniseries. It takes its main idea from TRUE GRIT as Ruthye is a sword-wielding Mattie Ross (with nods to CAT BALLOU and even THE SEVEN SAMURAI). This leads to lots of “plot point” tropes as the hero is wounded and must heal before a final throw-down (we saw that a few weeks ago in THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU). I did find the flashbacks to the destruction of the planet Krypton compelling, along with life on the floating rock called Argo City, even as the talented David Krumholtz, as Kara’s pop Zor-El, provides SF-science babble in Kryptonese (couldn’t they have switched to English after a few lines of it). And, as I mentioned earlier, Lobo is a welcome shot of adrenaline in his “drop-bys” (I’m sure a solo flick is in the works). I recall that several DC comics films were stopped because Gunn and Safran stated that the scripts “weren’t there”. As this film lurched to its too-protracted finale, I wondered why this one was “ready to go”. And I also counted the weeks until that webbed-wonder swings in for a welcome return visit. But we’re concerned with “the guys down the street” (as Deadpool says), and this is a pretty “meh” follow-up to last Summer’s triumphant “reboot”. That one soared while SUPERGIRL, despite a superb cast, barely gets off the ground.

2 Out of 4

SUPERGIRL opens in theatres everywhere on Friday, June 26, 2026

THE RUNNING MAN (2025) – Review

Glen Powell stars in Paramount Pictures’ “THE RUNNING MAN.”

Seems only a couple of weeks ago we saw a remake of a early 1990s classic thriller, THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE. Oh yes, it was just a couple. Well, with only a few weeks left, Hollywood is unleashing another one. Ah, but this is going right to the multiplex, not “straight to streaming” like CRADLE. Oh, and this one’s original “take” (aside from the literary source material) was a few years earlier, 1987 to be precise. Plus, this new flick has a link to last week’s box-office champ. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a busy 1987, going from PREDATOR to this week’s new remake’s “inspiration”. This 2025 “edition” is getting a lot of “heat” since it’s helmed by a cult movie icon and stars an “up-and-coming” screen star. But can he somehow move faster than Arnold as a “2.0” spin on THE RUNNING MAN?


In the not too distant future, the gap between the “haves” and “have-not” seems to have lengthened considerably, especially now that a few corporations have their fingers in everything from the media to law-enforcement. One of the “have-nots” is hard-working stiff and struggling family man Ben Richards (Glen Powell). When we meet him, he’s begging that his former boss rehire him and take him off “the blacklist” for the unforgivable “crime” of meeting with a union rep over safety issues at the factory. But the answer is no, despite Ben bringing along his flu-stricken infant, Cathy. Ben returns to the Co-Op City slums where he shares a tiny broken-down apartment with his wife Shelia (Jayme Lawson) who’s working double shifts at a “gentleman’s club”. The frustrated papa clicks on the tube to catch some “Freevee”. Watching promos for the network’s slate of game shows, Ben believes that the only way to earn some quick medical funds for his daughter is to audition on a show. Promising Shelia that he won’t try out for the most dangerous of these programs, “The Running Man”, Ben heads downtown to the network studios, The staff there notices his fiery temper and sends him right up to the swank office of their big boss, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) who wants him for that most violent show. Dangling a possible billion dollar prize jackpot, Ben reluctantly agrees. He’ll be one of the new trio of contestants on “The Running Man”. But with a heavily armed squad of “hunters” on his trail, along with a citizenry eager for a bit of the “bounty”, can Ben stay alive for thirty days (no one has yet) and return to his loving family?

So, this truly makes it official. Powell is the “real deal” as a movie star, going from the frothy rom-com ANYONE BUT YOU to action lead here, with a slight detour in between into front the disaster-thriller TWISTERS. He brings us into Ben’s heart, willing to do anything to save his struggling family. But there’s no halo over his head, as Powell conveys that bubbling angry frustration that suddenly boils over. There’s also a touch of a charming rascal during the quieter comic interludes, before Powell displays his physical prowess in the many action set pieces. He’s also a great “team player” as Powell shares the screen with an impressive supporting ensemble. Brolin’s a focused business baddie who keeps his evil impulses cloaked, using his “goon army” led by a surly Lee Pace at the ready. Colman Domingo appears to be having a blast as the cynical, flamboyant game show MC “Bobby T”, doing a flashy “peacock strut”. As for the folks in “Ben’s corner”, William H. Macy is the surly, but soft-hearted tech wiz who is something of a father figure to him in a pivotal early scene. Much later, we meet the very intense Michael Cera as an “underground rebel” who balances “old school” methods (dropping pamphlets) with some creative weaponry (a “super-squirter”…really). And in the finale, a somewhat indifferent “have” played by Emilia Jones (CODA) has her mind and heart opened up by Ben. Also of mention are the excellence comic performances of Katy O’Brian and Martin Herlihy (SNL’s “Do Not Destroy”) as Jenni and Tim, Ben’s “less lucky” game show competitors.

That cult icon filmmaker at the helm is Edgar Wright (BABY DRIVER), who co-wrote this adaptation of the Stephen King (as his alias Richard Bachman) novel with Michael Bacall. Wright seems to be having fun as he plays in this big, flashy, sometimes grimy futuristic toy box. It’s a slightly satirical take on current pop culture extremes, though it may be relevant today after the 21st century rise of the reality completion shows, from “Survivor” to “Squid Game”. And without directly calling out the tech terror, Wright also shows the dangers of “AI” as footage of Ben’s battles and video screeds (he has to record himself every day and drop it in a “drone/mailbox”) is manipulated to serve the game’s “narrative”. Yes, some of the parody is almost “shooting fish in a barrel”, especially with the cutaways to a Kardashian-like program, but Wright builds on the media-skewing that ROBOCOP also did so well in 1987 (what was in the “water” that year). Many of the action sequences are inspired, as Ben rigs up found objects in an almost Rube Goldberg fashion to harm the “hunters”. But unfortunately it gets a tad tiresome as the story limps along to a finale that’s way too convoluted with (another action flick problem) far too many endings. Those fans of the original should get a kick out of this spiffy more modern take (though it’s hard to match iconic game-show host Richard Dawson back in the day), but the casual film fans may just feel worn out as hints of “test market tinkering” try to hinder the brisk marathon-pace of THE RUNNING MAN.

2.5 Out of 4

THE RUNNING MAN is now playing in theatres everywhere