Movie #2 of 2024: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) 2018’s surprise animated hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was always going to be a tough act to follow, and sure enough, this sequel suffers a bit by comparison while still being an above-average film in its own right. It’s funny! Just not quite as hilarious as …
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Movie #1 of 2024: The Marvels (2023) A bit of a strange sequel to 2019’s excellent Captain Marvel film. In addition to teaming up the returning cosmic superheroine with the now-adult Monica Rambeau (introduced and given powers on WandaVision) and teenage fangirl Kamala Khan (introduced and given powers on Ms. Marvel), this title takes place …
Movie #10 of 2023: Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road (2023) Disney+ has decided to label this festive Doctor Who outing as Special 4, which suggests a certain close continuity with the recent David Tennant / Catherine Tate trilogy that doesn’t really pan out in the episode itself. Instead, as expected, the script is …
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Movie #9 of 2023: Doctor Who: The Giggle (2023) In hindsight, I probably should have approached these three David Tennant/Catherine Tate Doctor Who specials as a single season of television, miniature though it’d be, rather than a trilogy of discrete movie equivalents. More even than the previous round of Tennant specials that followed series 4 …
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Movie #8 of 2023: Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023) The second of three David Tennant / Catherine Tate specials we’re getting this year is even better than the first. It’s less busy, for starters, with a premise that’s mostly just the Doctor and Donna exploring a derelict spaceship at the very edge of existence. …
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Movie #7 of 2023: Doctor Who: The Star Beast (2023) Doctor Who is back! In so many ways. David Tennant has returned to the starring role he held in the early days of the modern series (as we learned he would when Jodie Whittaker regenerated at the end of her own run last year), and …
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Movie #6 of 2023: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023) After ten smash albums over the past seventeen years — roughly half her life to date — the country-turned-pop artist Taylor Swift has amassed a body of work well worthy of retrospective. That’s the motivation behind her recent Eras tour, and so too this concert …
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Movie #5 of 2023: Barbie (2023) Heartfelt, hilarious, and swathed in a vivid color palette — this movie about the titular doll isn’t really meant for the kids young enough to play with her, but it is very much a feel-good female empowerment hit for the rest of us. In this story all the Barbies …
Movie #4 of 2023: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) Another rollicking cosmic thrill ride, and one that doubles as an apparent farewell to this creative corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (Never say never where comic book characters are concerned, but with visionary director James Gunn now working for the DC competition, this …
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Movie #3 of 2023: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) It looks like I’m out of step with the critical consensus on this one, based on the early reviews, but whatever: I really liked the latest piece in Marvel’s increasingly complex cinematic universe! Maybe I’m just riding the high of being back in a movie …
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