Category Archives: Reviews

The Running Man is Strongest When it Focuses on its Race Against the Clock but Fumbles in the Third Act

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The Running Man

A film starring America’s newest goofy, yet sexy leading man, directed by one of the UK’s most energetic and stylish directors of the 21st century, and featuring anti-fascist and surveillance state themes should be an no-brainer good time at the movies. Well, in the words (and voice) of many a game show host, “Wrong!” Before it all falls apart in a third act that badly needs a rewrite ,The Running Man, which is an adaptation of the 1982 Stephen King novel and not a remake of the 1987 Paul Michael Glaser/Arnold Schwarzenegger, kicks off with plenty of rage, heart, and over-the-top satire. Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is press ganged into joining The Running Man, a deathly game show so he can get flu medicine for his daughter because he is blacklisted from employment for talking about unionization. Producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) and host Bobby T (A very fun Colman Domingo) initially set up Ben as a heel, but he ends up becoming a kind of folk hero while he runs, evades, shoots, and initially catches a cab up the Eastern seaboard.

The Running Man starts out as a stylish and zippy film in Edgar Wright’s signature style (There’s a futuristic Primal Scream cover/remix during the tryout scene.) with a melancholic undercurrent. Ben’s wife (A compelling, yet underutilized Jayme Lawson) are truly the center of his world, and any threats against them lead to homicidal rage, which is why he’s still unemployed and cleans Killian’s clock before The Running Man even starts. The tight rope between sad and silly is a hard one to walk, especially as the film progresses, and we get into the world of Running Man truthers and Derry, Maine zine-makers. But until a fair pivotal plot moment towards the back third of the film, Wright and co-writer Michael Bacall nail the heightened violence, comedy, and emotional elements of the film using the road movie formula for interesting set pieces and perspectives on this world, which is sadly similar to ours. (I am never getting a self-driving car.)

However, as The Running Man progresses, some of its wit and charm start to run out, and it turns into a generic action thriller. This extends to the directing, editing, and cinematography, and at times, it doesn’t feel like an Edgar Wright film, but like something Hot Fuzz would poke fun at with its rapid cuts during action sequences and brutality with pizzazz. But The Running Man isn’t all fast and no furious, and there are some moments like a couple car chases and a set piece featuring the long awaited reunion of Wright and Michael Cera that remind you that it is about something and looks good while unpacking its themes. It’s a shame that the final one is so forgettable even with the help of classic Edgar Wright gag that lands verbally, but not visually.

Also, as it devolves into action and soap opera cliches, The Running Man loses its satirical bite even as Powell starts to resemble the merciless killer of the doctored television clips instead of the pissed off family man that he actually is. There are tough conversations about class, privilege, and the manipulative nature of the media between flights of bullets, but they don’t reach a strong conclusion as Edgar Wright, Bacall, and probably super-producer Edgar Wright battle with whether to have a happy, powerful, or something in-between ending. The Running Man is at its strongest when it’s a race against the clock road trip where you can’t trust anyone, and some of the conversations that Ben has with the folks that he meets on the run remind of less heightened ones with folks I don’t know as I try to figure out if they’re not into genocides and stripping away folks’ basic human rights. It definitely succeeds at having some explosive scenes at the micro-level, but The Running Man gets muddled when it tries to be about anything other than one man fighting a losing battle against a soulless enemy to save his family.

Although Glen Powell oozes with charisma, relatable anger at the state of the world, and delivers Michael Bacall and Wright’s dark one-liners with aplomb, The Running Man feels like a psy-op made by Paramount to show their investors that films with leftist and ACAB themes bomb at the box office so they can make more conservative rancher, Temu Sopranos in Oklahoma, and whatever the heck Landman is. It has a strong populist streak, and the road story is a nice spine until the third act when it goes off the rail, and sadly Edgar Wright can’t literally land the plane. I will say that this is the closest we’ll get to a big budget Judge Dredd film, and at times, it’s like that title’s “America” arc, but confined to the Northeast.

Overall Verdict: 5.0/10

Paramount Pictures provided Graphic Policy with a FREE screening for review

Fantastic Flops: The Fantastic Four: First Steps has a Decent Story and Charming Production Design

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Fantastic Four: First Steps

Even though the Fantastic Four comics kickstarted the creation of the Marvel Universe, their film adaptations have been critically maligned. In the “Fantastic Flops” series, I’m going back and re-evaluating the four previous Fantastic Four films and seeing if they’re a “Flop”, “Bop”, or “In-Between”.

To get the obvious out of the way, after 31 years of struggles and not-so-close calls, we finally have a good live action Fantastic Four film in the clunkily named The Fantastic Four: First Steps. (Franklin Richards is incredibly crucial to this film so I get why they did it though.) Veteran television director Matt Shakman (Wandavision, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and writers Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, and Kat Wood turn in an engaging, retro-futurist standalone yarn that honors the spirit of those early Jack Kirby and Stan Lee comics while adding psychological and ethical dilemmas that come from some of the more contemporary runs like Jonathan Hickman’s work in the early 2010s.

The best thing that Fantastic Four: First Steps has going for it is the production design. Kasra Farahani crafts a world where in the 1960s Marvel Comics only published Fantastic Four comics for the first four years of its existence instead of immediately expanding its universe and bringing back old superheroes like Captain America. Shakman uses breezy news reel montages to establish a utopian world that would make New Deal Democrats, flower children, and sci-fi fanzine readers all smile in perfect harmony. There is a sheen, but also a lived-in feel to the technology used by the Fantastic Four on their various missions as well as the Baxter Building and downtown Manhattan. It’s a shiny, happy world, but there are some rough edges like when Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) goes to his old neighborhood in Yancy Street to get black and white cookies and perform feats of strength for kids at the local Hebrew school. (The Thing’s Jewish heritage is very much intact in this film.) The attention paid to the brave old/new world helps keeps the stakes real when a regal, yet slightly melancholy Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) heralds the coming of Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and the end of this universe. As a cherry on top, Michael Giacchino’s score perfectly blends soaring heroism and sci-fi exploration.

Let’s continue on to the casting. I didn’t love Joseph Quinn as Human Torch, and he doesn’t have the charisma that Chris Evans and Michael B. Jordan had in previous iterations of the character. Although charming in other roles, Pedro Pascal doesn’t quite pull off the universe’s smartest man, Reed Richards in the science speak sequences. This is really a difficult role to cast. I did find him endearing as a clueless, new dad and trying to override the part of his brain that treats everything like a problem to solve. Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman carries the film. She bring heart, humanity, diplomacy, and a mother’s love that turns a moment that could have been a deus ex machina, close the portal, and end the movie type sequence into something emotionally resonant. There’s a big “having it all”, second wave of feminism energy into the way that she’s written as Invisible Woman that fits the period as she is a mother, de facto team leader, and quite the diplomat as well. There’s a sequence where she smooths over a moral dilemma that should be required viewing in public relations courses.

So, if it only got the casting about half-right, then why does Fantastic Four: First Steps succeed where its predecessors failed? It is because Shakman and the writing team understands the Fantastic Four are at the best when they’re solving problems and not just punching bad guys. I love the impossible dilemma that is set for the team: choosing between giving Reed and Sue’s firstborn child to Galactus or giving the Earth to the Devourer. The preparation of Galactus’ invasion is actually one of the most underrated and engaging parts of the film. It’s entertaining watching Reed test all kinds of science and equations while Sue markets them to folks around the world. This is while Johnny Storm becomes a linguistics expert because he has a little crush on the Silver Surfer, and Ben Grimm has a crush of his own on Rachel (An always spectacular Natasha Lyonne) and connects with his neighborhood before the end of days. And when the initial plan fails, it’s fun to watch the team move and adjust on the fly. They’re like a well-oiled machine that’s been doing this for four years, helped usher in a utopian society, and of course, their next challenge is fighting God.

Another element that makes Fantastic Four: First Steps a successful film is the aura that Matt Shakman, the visual effects team, Garner, and Ineson give to the Silver Surfer and Galactus. As revealed in the trailers, the movie uses a comics-accurate design for Galactus, and I love how Ralph Ineson in both voice and motion capture plays the antagonist like a universal constant and force of nature, not a malevolent being. He really wishes he could stop doing this, but someone has to keep the scales balanced in the universe. It’s a similar situation with the tragic Shalla-Bal who acts as Galactus’ herald because she wants to keep her planet and children safe. I love the parallels that Shakman, the writers, Vanessa Kirby, and Julia Garner draw between the Silver Surfer and Invisible Woman, and the flashback scene is pure tragic poetry. It’s nice to see these iconic characters finally get their due in live action, and the writers wisely leave a door open for them to return. Also, hell yeah, the power cosmic!

Despite some less than stellar casting, jokes that unfortunately don’t land, and a return sequence from Galactus’ ship to Earth that drags on and on, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is an entertaining retro sci-fi blockbuster with clever world-building and memorable production design plus a multi-faceted lead performance from Vanessa Kirby as Susan Storm-Richards that makes up for the way the character was poorly written and portrayed in previous films. The battle against Galactus is fittingly epic, and it makes you want to pore over Jack Kirby splash pages or re-read those Jonathan Hickman trade paperbacks. Also, in a similar vein to its movie-mates Superman and Thunderbolts, it’s nice to have superhero films that tell a complete story and have decent character arcs instead of just trying to set up the next installment.

(P.S. I need a Disney Plus animated series in the style of the second post credits scene!)

Overall: 7.0
Verdict: Bop

Mini Review: Superman takes the sports film formula and throws in a dash of Silver, Bronze, and Copper Age of Comics kookiness

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Superman

Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics, sees more movies, and watch more tv than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.

Logan

Superman (2025) – Boring, annoying people say Superman isn’t a good superhero because he’s “overpowered”. In Superman, writer/director James Gunn swats that notion away like the Man of Steel does to Lex Luthor’s Silicon Valley rent-a-goons. He begins the story with Superman’s first defeat, and he and a game David Corenswet break down the iconic superhero putting him through the wringer before building up stronger and braver than ever.

Superman takes the sports film formula and throws in a dash of Silver, Bronze, and Copper Age of Comics kookiness while finishing off with a timely helping of contemporary politics. Superman uses otherworldly and crazy sci-fi tech as metaphors to create cathartic hope in a world run by billionaire criminals that sadly aren’t chilling in Belle Reve prison. The film has its preachy moments, but I’m in the choir so I didn’t mind although let’s definitely say that James Gunn has read his Larry Niven.

However, for the most part, Superman is pop rock fun that showcases Gunn’s skill with making it easy to connect with quirky characters in ensemble casts. I came out of the theater clamoring for Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo has the freak factor.), Metamorpho, and a Bwahahaha-type Justice League film while still savoring the triumph of nurture over nature, truth over deception, justice over venality, and populism over plutocracy that I had just witnessed. Also, wow, Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan have incredible chemistry as Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

Overall Verdict: 8.0

James Gunn’s Superman is a crowd pleasing blockbuster that revives the classic superhero

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Superman

James Gunn has done the impossible with Superman. Yes, it’s a crowd pleasing blockbuster based on a comic property but that’s been done so often it’s starting to become boring. Yes, it revives the fortunes of a superhero franchise that’s seen better days but that’s been done to great effect with Batman, Spider-Man and (hopefully) Fantastic Four.

What James Gunn has done with his masterpiece film is to create a comic book movie that simulates the experience of reading a comic book. 

Most people reading this review are fans of characters who were created long before we were born. At some point all of us walked into the local comic shop (or pharmacy, stationary store or 7-11) and picked up an issue of a publication featuring a hero in colorful, skin-tight clothing doing battle with the forces of evil. The adventure had already begun when we arrived but we didn’t care. The story at hand pulled us in and made us want to know more.

Gunn’s movie opens with a block of text filling us in on the background of what is to come. It’s a  move that can’t help but evoke Star Wars’ legendary opening in media res. From there the movie is a frantic dash to the finish line with threat following threat as the plot begins to develop. 

Gunn uses exposition sparingly, letting the characters speak for themselves. He doesn’t waste time telling you the history of the Green Lantern Corps or that Mister Terrific is an Olympic gold medalist and the third smartest man in the world. He lets Nathan Fillion and Edi Gathegi tell you what you need to know with their performances and pithy, to-the-point dialog. I don’t know if Isabella Merced’s Hawkgirl is a reincarnated Egyptian princess or a Thanagarian space-cop and I don’t care. She has a chip on her shoulder, a big mace and a pitch perfect battle cry. 

For his main cast Gunn relies heavily on archetypes. David Corenswet’s Superman lacks the wry wit of Christopher Reeve and the majestic gravitas of Henry Caville but he makes up for it with an appealing earnestness and a desire to do good in a world that is more complicated than he’d like to imagine. Nicholas Hoult’s Luthor is a more peevish take on the character then we’ve seen but turns up the menace in one of the movie’s few genuinely disturbing scenes that also brought tears to my eyes. The real standout performance is given by Rachel Brosnahan. Past attempts to render Lois Lane on the big screen have all been missing the essential combination of toughness and compassion that attracts Superman’s attention but makes her more than just his girlfriend. Brosnahan displays these traits in spades making her the definitive movie version. 

Superman isn’t perfect. The humor, which I enjoyed, may come across as heavy handed to viewers who prefer more serious superhero fare. There’s also a third act reveal that makes the plot seem more complicated than it needs to be in retrospect. Most damning of all is a revelation about Superman’s homeworld Krypton that undermines the movie’s pro-immigrant message at a time when it is sorely needed in the real world. For all its flaws Superman is well worth your time. It’s a beautifully shot, superbly acted film full of color, action and memorable moments with characters that you will come to love if you didn’t go in loving them already. I enjoyed it more than any movie I’ve seen this year and more than any superhero movie I’ve seen in a long time.

And yes, Krypto does steal the show.

Overall: 9/10

Mini Reviews: Thunderbolts* welds superpowers and interpersonal struggle to craft an action packed and heart rending story

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Thunderbolts*

Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy are unable to get long reviews written. When that happens you’ll see these “mini reviews.”

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.

Logan

Thunderbolts*– When Thunderbolts* began with the comic panel intro instead of the MCU, I knew it would be a solid flick. It’s an ode to the hard cases and the girlies with mental health struggles who just happen to have the powers of Superman or Russian spy martial arts. Director Jake Schreier wisely centers the film on Yelena Belova’s (Florence Pugh) journey, and her gifts for wry comedy and deep emotion are on display. I especially love her interactions with Bob (Lewis Pullman) and Red Guardian (David Harbour), who brings the loudest laughs. Instead of focusing on the next film, Thunderbolts* welds superpowers and interpersonal struggles to craft an action packed and occasionally heart rending story. Seriously, Yelena’s story is relatable to anyone who feels lonely and left out. Overall Verdict: 7.0

Film Review: Mickey 17 is a sci-fi comedy for our era with antagonists ripped from current headlines

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Mickey 17

How do you follow up an anti-capitalist Best Picture winning satirical thriller? Why if you’re writer/director Bong Joon-Ho, you spend over $100 million of Warner Bros/Discovery’s money to craft an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and slightly askew sci-fi allegory/comedy starring one of our generation’s greatest actors in a dual role as the products of a literal human printer. Adapted from the 2022 novel Mickey7, Mickey 17 follows the titular character (Played by a game and giving Robert Pattinson.) and his friend Timo (Steven Yeun), who are on the run from a loan shark and take jobs as part of a ship crew colonizing an ice planet fittingly called Niflheim. Mickey takes on the role of an “Expendable” going on dangerous missions, dying, and being reprinted to go on even more missions. Mickey has died 17 times and has taken on the moniker of Mickey 17. He ends up being caught up in a web of intrigue featuring a corrupt, ultrareligious politician named Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), his wannabe gourmand wife Ylfa (Toni Collette), and the menacing Creepers, which are making it difficult for Marshall to turn Niflheim into a new home for “pure” humans.

There are definitely shades of previous science fiction films in Mickey 17, including Edge of Tomorrow, Moon, and Starship Troopers plus some philosophical bits from Blade Runner. However, Bong puts his own imprint on the sci-fi satire genre, and it all starts with a frenetic, duelling banjos of performances from Pattinson. There are some comedic pratfalls, bleak cinematography from Darius Khondji, and more importantly, memorable, tardigrade-esque creature designs for the Creepers, but Mickey 17 truly picks up steam when Mickey 18 appears on the scene. Having multiple Expendables is a big legal no-no in the film’s universe, and Bong Joon-Ho creates believable tension out of both Mickeys sneaking their way across the ship or channeling Cain and Abel when they see Timo selling space opioids to a fellow passenger.

With the twin Mickeys as a sounding board, Mickey 17 does explore and have a viewpoint about the ethics behind cloning with plenty of charged dialogue about “one body, one soul” from Kenneth Marshall. However, there’s definitely some time for silliness and sexiness like a hilarious/kind of hot scene where security agent Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who has a romantic history with one of the previous Mickeys does some serious thinking and acting on the classic ice breaker question of “Would you kill or sleep with your clone?” These moments of levity make Mickey 17 and 18 endearing characters and solidify Nasha as a true ally when the second half of the movie goes into full political resistance mode after Mickey 17 almost dies when Marshall feeds him experimental meat and later experimental painkillers at a dinner in his honor that has big “We couldn’t give you a raise, but have a microwaveable Red Baron pizza on us.”

Mickey 17

There are flashes of Luigi Mangione and the 2024 attempted assassination of Donald Trump in several sequences in Mickey 17, and Ruffalo’s performance as Marshall is a ketamine and Pentecostal praise and worship laced chimera of Trump and Elon Musk. He talks about the Expendables and Creepers in the most demeaning terms, and when an agent named Kai (Anamaria Vartolomei) tries to have an emotionally honest moment with him and Ylfa, he turns into a weird performative, evangelical prayer-off. Mark Ruffalo and Collette perfect the othering gaze with their treatment of Mickey, the Creeper, and just everyone around them. Their screen presence is like being with a rich person in a social setting, who only wants to speak to someone either equal to or superior to them in status. Everyone else is just “the help” or subhuman. For example, Marshall puts a revolver to Mickey 17’s head, and Bong frames it in a way where it’s like he’s putting down livestock not killing a human being.

Mickey 17 has compelling commentary on settler colonialism, the poor treatment of the working class, and as mentioned in the previous paragraph, the relationship between religious fundamentalism, late stage capitalism. However, it’s no lecture, and especially the back end of the film is quite entertaining with lots of profanity-filled one-liners and monologues from Mickey 18, a fairly suspenseful icy chase sequence, and one messed up dream sequence. This is all powered by Robert Pattinson’s performance as Mickey 17 and 18. There’s a lot of Connie in Good Time in Mickey 18’s DNA, and he’s got the sexy, yet occasionally righteous sociopath thing going for him while Mickey 17 flops around, is pathetic, and lets Pattinson indulge in some slapstick, and fear of mortality. Because, beneath the jokes and reprints, Mickey Barnes is afraid of death.

Mickey 17 is a sci-fi comedy for our era with antagonists ripped from current headlines and a setting that would make RFK Jr. drool and save Jeff Bezos a lot of money. It’s epic in scope and worth seeing on the big screen, but grounded in the compelling humanity of Mickey 17 and Mickey 18, who are given vibrant life and love by Robert Pattinson. Also, its setting might be dystopian, but Mickey 17 is quite a hopeful film too and features characters that are pure catharsis. (Seriously, Nasha for president!)

Overall Verdict: 8.0

Film Review: Captain America: Brave New World is a low point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is neither entertaining, thought-provoking, funny, or interesting to look at

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When something catches on fire, you’re supposed to immediately smother/cover it and/pr finish it off with a fire extinguisher. What you’re not supposed to do is keep throwing stuff into the fire while wearing a nighty and continuing to live stream. All this to say is that I wasn’t surprised when the credits rolled for Captain America: Brave New World, and there were five credited writers, including director Julius Onah. New chefs kept respawning in the burning kitchen that was the screenplay for this film. Captain America: Brave New World is simultaneously Sam Wilson’s (Anthony Mackie) first cinematic outing as Captain America, a follow-up to Incredible Hulk and Eternals, and a bit of a prequel to Thunderbolts and anything the Marvel Cinematic Universe wants to do with Wolverine/the Weapon X program. It succeeds at being none of these things (Although, Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross/Red Hulk is a somewhat delightful grump), has muddled visual effects, corny dialogue, and above all else, bad politics.

Captain America: Brave New World begins at the inauguration of Ross as president of the United States, which is a controversial choice thanks to his actions towards the Hulk in his solo film and to superheroes as a whole in Captain America: Civil War. But, like a good centrist, he’s ready to cross the aisle and work with the new Captain America to start a new Avengers team. Unfortunately, this plan immediately backfires when something triggers forgotten/screwed over by the United States government super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), and he attacks President Ross at a reception for world leaders centered around the adamantium discovered in “Celestial Island” in the Indian Ocean. The film follows Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres’ attempt to clear Bradley’s name and figure out who is really behind the assassination attempt.

This plot synopsis makes it seem like Brave New World is a political thriller like the excellent Captain America: Winter Soldier, but it’s unfortunately a pale echo of the previous film. The writing (and let’s face it, marketing) team shows their hands too early, and we go from Wilson and Torres rooting around in sketchy labs in West Virginia to squabbling with fighter planes, aircraft carriers, and Celestial heads. Secondary villain Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) mentions something about the CIA paying him to steal adamantium from the Japanese, but it’s brushed over for explosions, rage-outs, stale quips, and empty speeches that not even Mackie’s (And a sleep walking Sebastian Stan in one scene.) charisma can salvage.

The opening scene where Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres fight Sidewinder and the Super Society has well-choreographed hand-to-hand action augmented by whiz bang special effects for Wilson’s Wakanda-enhanced Captain America costume, but it’s all downhill from there in the action department. The fights seem just a perfunctory part of the superhero genre than revealing anything about the characters in them although Wilson often complains about not taking the super-soldier serum while he fights foes from the Hulk’s rogues gallery. It’s fun to see Ford freak out as Red Hulk and be consumed by rage until he gets talked down by Sam Wilson’s plot-relevant background as a social worker. (Winter Soldier handled this part of his character much better.)

In keeping with the through-line of Brave New World being a Xerox of a Xerox of Winter Soldier, the film has its own (Former) Black Widow. It’s not Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanov even though the performer playing her is also a Zionist: Israeli actress Shira Haas appearing as Ruth Bat-Seraph. (The character’s comic book codename Sabra and backstory as a Mossad agent don’t appear in this adaptation.) Politics aside, Bat-Seraph is a nothingburger of a character, who represents President Ross’ distrust of superheroes and love of the covert. Let’s just say she’s no Romanov, Maria Hill, or even Sharon Carter. It’s puzzling how such a controversial character survived multiple reshoots and plays no meaningful role in the film even though an American president having an Israeli secret agent as a key figure in his security detail could have led to compelling commentary on the relationship between the United States and Israel. Instead we get to see a stilted performance by an actress from a country that is currently committing genocide, who hasn’t spoken out against it.

Sometimes, Captain America: Brave New World feels like it’s actually about something, and that’s usually in scenes featuring Isaiah Bradley, who was also the best part of the Falcon and Winter Soldier TV show/six hour movie. Although, most of his interactions are responding to ageist quips from Joaquin Torres, Bradley also talks to Sam Wilson about his misgivings of going to the White House and standing with President Ross after how he was treated by the US government. He finds common ground with Wilson’s imprisonment in Captain America: Civil War, but this is immediately brushed aside by the new Captain American saying something about having a seat at the table. Ideological tension is swept aside for “there are fine people on both sides” type of rhetoric, and of course, Isaiah Bradley needing to be at the White House to kick off the plot, being benched for the rest of the movie, and not receiving any kind of recognition or reparations at the end of the film. If Brave New World has any kind of overarching theme, it’s to throw scary, traumatic, soul and society shattering things in a literal prison and get back to the status quo. In this way, it connects to one of the chief criticisms of the MCU, which is the films care more about getting to the next movie/event than telling a compelling story in the current film.

Captain America: Brave New World is truly a low point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is neither entertaining, thought-provoking, funny, or interesting to look at. (They did nail Sam Wilson’s Captain America costume.) Most of the film is empty spectacle a la Michael Bay’s Transformers sequels, and the whole endeavor is a waste of Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tim Blake Nelson’s talents. Maybe, Galactus should eat this universe and its cowardly politics.

Overall Verdict: 3.0

Film Review: Companion is a genre-bending film that is chock full of truths

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Companion

*Warning: this review contains spoilers. Seriously, this film changes its status quo every 5-10 minutes so don’t read on unless you’ve seen the film or want it spoiled for you*

Alt right chuds like Andrew Tate would see the world of Companion as some kind of utopian paradise where men can treat women (and men) like literal on-demand sex and intimacy bots mediated by Smartphone apps and five minutes into the future Bluetooth pairing. (Of course, this film’s protagonist drives a copyright friendly Tesla.) However, to folks who actually have a moral compass, this world is terrifying, if fascinating in a window shattering, gore spraying, car crash kind of way, which makes it a compelling backdrop for a film that is a mélange of horror and science fiction in anti-romantic (pitch black) comedy wrapping from writer/director Drew Hancock.

The basic premise of Companion is that an average white cishet “nice guy” male named Josh (Jack Quaid) goes on a trip to a remote cabin with his girlfriend Iris (An incredible Sophie Thatcher), his best friend Kat (Megan Suri), his other best friend Eli (A silly and wholesome Harvey Guillen), and his boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage). Their host is Kat’s kind of, sort of Russian sugar daddy Sergey (Rupert Friend), who is incredibly wealthy and also tries to sexually assault Iris leading to his murder and the increasingly unhinged events of the film as it’s revealed that Iris is actually a robot. What follows is a saga of greed, hubris, entitlement, and Thatcher showcasing her acting range as she nails all the different “settings” of the Companion robot from humorous comic relief (She talks to a cop in German because she’s programmed not to lie.) to bone dry, emasculating sarcasm.

On the surface and maybe from some of the marketing, one could view Companion as a dark parable about how men treat women like property, and of course, they’ll have sex with a robot immediately after meeting them. And it definitely is like this as Hancock draws parallels between Josh and Sergey’s behavior even hoisting characters in-universe and audiences watching on their own petard when it’s revealed that he got wealthy selling sod and wasn’t a part of the Russian mob. However, he also introduces some nuance in the human/Companion relationship when it’s revealed that Patrick is a robot too, but they genuinely love each other.

Companion

This is established through an adorably specific meet cute of them meeting at a Halloween party where an over-the-top Dracula costume sporting Patrick accidentally steps on Eli’s dinosaur costume tail, they lock eyes, and fall in love. Even Guillen and Gage’s body language while telling this story sell the adorableness of the moment before we get to see it in flashback. On the other hand, Iris and Josh’s “meet cute” makes Nicholas Sparks look like a literary genius. Of course, he literally just picked it from a drop down menu, and there’s no actual connection or similarities between Josh and Iris beyond them joking about the AI on Josh’s self-driving car, or that Iris can tell the weather in a very precise manner. Iris is just a means to an end for Josh whether that’s killing a wealthy Russian man for money, or an outlet for his sexual desires. There’s one mercifully brief sex scene between Josh and Iris in Companion, and he has a very loud orgasm and immediately uses a sleep command on Iris without even caring about her needs or pleasure. He’s definitely not Joaquin Phoenix’s character in Her and has no inner life. Jack Quaid weaponizes the affable everyman vibe that made him a great POV character in The Boys to be the worst (and most pathetic villain) of all.

On the flipside of this, Sophie Thatcher has the opportunity to sink her teeth into a multidimensional role as Iris and truly delivers. The intrepid robot who wants to become a real woman (And always was one!) joins the recent pantheon of powerful female lead horror acting performances in the past year, including Demi Moore in The Substance, Lily Rose Depp in Nosferatu, and a highly underrated Kathryn Newton in Lisa Frankenstein and Abigail. Early in the film, even before the initial robot reveal, Thatcher’s jerky movements and the stilted way she delivers the smallest of small talk is more android than or human. (Or maybe a biting satire of how poorly written “love interest” female characters are in blockbuster films.) Once she turns her intelligence settings to 100%, Hancock and cinematographer Eli Born dig into flights of fancy and overthinking as Iris goes from video game NPC to a Final Girl written by Aaron Sorkin. And when Josh gets the upper hand one last time and changes her intelligence settings to 0%, Sophie Thatcher’s face and eyes work overtime to show how utterly helpless and in agony she is as he tries to “kill” her and run off with the money. And, well, let’s say when Iris gets actual free will, Thatcher exudes badass in an effortless, let’s say Thelma and Louise way.

My one real qualm with Companion is that stylistically it definitely comes across as Drew Hancock’s first feature film. He’s a competent craftsman, but all the memorable moments come through dialogue and character interactions and not visuals. However, co-editor Brett Bachman channels his work on recent Nicolas Cage films like Mandy, Pig, and Colour of Space with his ability to cut to a moment that feels you with utter disgust and/or total empathy. (Let’s just say I feel really bad with how Josh treats Patrick in the second half of the film.) But Hancock definitely has the writer side of writer/director down with an eye for satire, dark humor, and surprisingly beautiful queer moments while working on TV shows like Suburgatory and Faking It. I love that he gives Iris a powerful character arc and doesn’t reduce her to a victim while still indulging in grindhouse movie antics with an iOS sheen.

Companion is a genre-bending film that is chock full of truths about everything from smartphone addiction and clinginess to the orgasm gap, mansplaining, and maybe even true love. It’s also a star-making turn for Sophie Thatcher and a clever first feature from Drew Hancock.

Overall Verdict: 8.4

Movie Mini Review: Deadpool & Wolverine

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Deadpool and Wolverine

Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy see more movies than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the movies, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.

Logan

Deadpool & Wolverine – Whether intentionally or not, Deadpool & Wolverine shows that staking your entire cinematic universe on a multiverse is quite the silly proposition. Directed by Shawn Levy and a blue screen in London and featuring five credited writers (Included Hellions and Amazing Spider-Man‘s Zeb Wells!), Deadpool & Wolverine is a potpourri of tones from deadly serious to goofy as hell and is a love letter and piss take to the inconsistently good Marvel comic book films of the 2000s.

Ryan Reynolds bats around .300 or so with his quips and fourth wall breaking while Hugh Jackman is good even when the film around him is bad. The real standout are some cameos that I won’t spoil, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova. Deadpool & Wolverine respect the character’s origins in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s New X-Men while Corrin plays the role with a gleeful menace. The lowlights of the film are anything having to do with the TVA (Doctor Who, but bureaucrats=yuck) and a predictable, poorly choreographed third act. Also, Rob Delaney is in the movie way too much ; is this early 2010s Twitter?

But, if you grew up on the Fox Marvel films and liked the previous Deadpool films, this is worth watching, especially with friends who have vastly different opinions than you so you can debate after.

Overall Verdict: 6.9

Quiet on the Set puts Nickelodeon in very dark waters

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nickelodeon

There’s a scene in the movie Steve Jobs (2015) between the titular Apple giant and his friend Steve Wozniak in which they fight over giving certain development teams their due for helping build some of the most successful products in the company’s history. Jobs hunkers down on his position to not recognize those people. Wozniak offers stern rebuttals. When Wozniak realizes Jobs won’t budge, he offers this as a parting shot before walking out on his friend: “It’s not binary. You can be gifted and decent at the same time.”

The sentiment behind this scene echoes throughout ID’s new 4-part docuseries Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, on Nickelodeon’s toxic work environment during the Nineties and the early 2000s in shows led by Dan Schneider. It’s essentially an exploration of what happens when a company’s biggest moneymaker is an abusive, sexist, and unethical presence that can make or break careers and leave deep scars on those caught in his path.

In addition, the show dives into the discovery of at least three sexual predators that worked on different sets and prayed on talent from programs such All That and iCarly. From this comes the bombshell revelation that one of Nickelodeon’s biggest stars, Drake Bell, was a victim of one such predator. He tells his story publicly for the first time in this series and it is both heartbreaking and deeply harrowing.

There are a lot of things Quiet on the Set does right, but a few specific ones are truly striking. First up is the quality of the interviews and the time afforded to them so that the voices of the affected lead the narrative. Featuring some of the now-adult stars of Schneider’s shows and other staff—All That cast members Bryan Hearne and Katrina Johnson, director Virgil Fabian, and The Amanda Show writers Jenny Kilgen and Christy Stratton among them—series directors Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz give each interviewee a chance to get as much of their story out to the public as possible.

One thing that elevates these interviews is the set design for their scenes. Each person is seated either behind a table with office supplies on it or on an actor’s chair that highlights what their roles were and how important they’re work was to the success of each show. It gives them a sense of respectability that recognizes their experience without forcing upon them the victim label as if that’s all they came to be after they left or were removed from their positions.

The setup makes it seem like we’re stepping into a professional’s office, a place that belongs to someone who has achieved much despite the dark times they had to endure.

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Another thing the docuseries does really well is highlight the investigative nature of the story, letting facts and carefully shot testimony make the case rather than impassioned bits of narration that guides the audience towards indignation. Directors Robertson and Schwartz trust in the audience to make their own judgments with the information provided.

The docuseries is very careful not to lay the blame entirely on Dan Schneider. It’s made clear that the hiring of those who would go on to engage in illegal sexual behavior were not hired by Schneider, nor were they protected by him. The revelations blindsided him just as much as they did a lot of the cast members. Many different things can go wrong in one place, but they can’t all be attributed to just one person. It takes a village to sustain a toxic work environment.

Nickelodeon executives and company men are also to blame for trying to sweep everything under the proverbial rug, and the show does an excellent job of showing just enough to get the point across without naming names that couldn’t be verified.

That said, Schneider is meticulously portrayed as a problematic genius that was allowed to get away with a lot just because he was producing hit after hit. The cost of building an empire on the back of an abusive person, though, is that whenever the bad stuff comes out the work becomes tainted. Glory is not without reckoning when it entertains so much ugliness in the process. Quiet on the Set is firm on this point. It’s a lesson places such as Nickelodeon should take to heart to secure a healthier and safer working environment.

nickelodeon

Depending on your attachment to the shows explored in this docuseries, it’s safe to say a lot of your childhood memories will be affected. It’s not easy to enjoy something that you now know was built on abuse, gender discrimination, and trauma. There’s a lot of tragedy here, some of which couldn’t be explored more deeply for lack of testimony (Amanda Bynes, for instance, did not participate). But there’s more than enough here to further conversations on power, child safety, workplace toxicity, and the scary things that hide behind success.

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