DC Cinematic Universe
Zack Snyder’s Justice League Is An Audacious Mess: Review
The Pitch: Well, it’s finally here: the infamous “Snyder Cut.” The rallying cry of DC fanboys for nearly half a decade, Zack Snyder’s original version of the DC cinematic universe’s Avengers equivalent before studio meddling and a tragic death in the family led the oft-maligned director to step away and let Joss Whedon get his grubby, quippy little hands all over his self-serious, baroque baby. The 2017 version was visibly, obnoxiously, the product of two directors with warring approaches wrestling with a single project: Snyderesque aesthetics clashed mightily with repetitive, snarky repartee that didn’t seem to befit the DC verse’s grumpiest heroes. It was a bit more fun, but incredibly uneven, and featured one of cinema’s most horrifying upper lips. But now, amid enormous, organized...
Wonder Woman 1984 Is Gold Plated Positivity: Review
The Pitch: Wonder Woman is back — this time, in Washington DC, circa 1984 — to once again save the world from destruction. Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) is joined by her magically resurrected boyfriend Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) and new frenemy Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) to stop a destructive cycle of wish fulfillment and delusion run amok. In her second outing with the character, director Patty Jenkins once again leans into sentimentality, this time to extoll the power of honesty and sacrifice for the greater good. It’s a timely message, and though it takes some major suspension of disbelief to navigate the often clumsily connected dots, Wonder Woman 1984 is ultimately an uplifting story of hope in the face of pain and fear. I Wanna Know What Love Is: If you recall, 2017’s Wonder Woman focu...
