The Three Stooges (Moe & Shemp Howard and Larry Fine) join forces with veteran action star George O'Brien in 1951's Western farce, "Gold Raiders". The Stooges are traveling salesmen out west, and O'Brien, a former lawman, has transitioned to being an insurance agent.
Co-author Ellwood Ullman & director Edward Bernds were no strangers to the Stooges, having worked on several shorts. The film clocks in at a speedy 56 minutes, which would be good enough to fit into a syndicated package of Westerns in the 70's & 80's if it was needed.
The Stooges, with Joe DeRita succeeding Shemp, would cowboy up again 14 years later in "The Outlaws is Coming", with Adam West. We'll try to locate that one for another day.
If you've seen the first two "Joshua Cabe" movies on Wild West Wednesdays, you have an idea about what to expect in the conclusion of Aaron Spelling's trilogy.
John McIntire (ex-Wagon Train) becomes the 3rd actor to essay the role of Cabe, after Buddy Ebsen & Dan Dailey. Jack Elam returns as Bitterroot, but we again have three new ladies as the "daughters", including Renne Jarrett, who appeared in quite a few primetime shows in guest roles in the 70's, and Louise "Liberty" Williams, who'd previously appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Chico & The Man, & Adam-12 in the previous three years.
The plot: As the film begins, Cabe is an acting sheriff, but trouble arises when a failed business deal leads to trouble. Joel Fabiani (ex-Department S) and Larry Hovis (ex-Hogan's Heroes) turn up, as does Randall Carver, later of Taxi, who'd previously appeared in the last "Cabe" film.
What Spelling was hoping for was to turn this into a regular series, but Westerns as a genre were moving toward Boot Hill.
Next week on Wild West Wednesdays: Law of The Plainsman, with Michael Ansara, and on Family Fridays, it's father & son crime drama on The Defenders, with EG Marshall & Robert Reed.
Three years had passed since "The Daughters of Joshua Cabe" had brought high ratings for ABC. In the interim, Buddy Ebsen had moved on to Barnaby Jones, so the leads, not just Joshua himself, had to be recast in "The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Return".
Ronne Troup (ex-My Three Sons), Brooke Adams, & Christina Hart step in for Sandra Dee, Lesley Ann Warren, & Karen Valentine, with Dan Dailey (ex-The Governor & JJ, Faraday & Company) as Joshua. Jack Elam didn't return, either, with Western vet Dub Taylor as Cabe's new sidekick.
Fresh off paying off the mortgage on his home for the next year, Cabe runs into a new crisis when the father of one of the girls shows up, and abducts her for ransom. Carl Betz (ex-Judd For The Defense, The Donna Reed Show), Kathleen Freeman, and Randall Carver, three years before Taxi, co-star.
Mind the video quality.
Wild West Wednesdays returns in 2 weeks with Tim Conway as Rango.
A rancher (Ernest Borgnine, ex-McHale's Navy) needs help locating his daughter, supposedly abducted by Apaches. A deputy marshal (Sammy Davis, Jr.) joins him as "The Trackers" in an ABC Movie of The Week, which Davis co-produced with Aaron Spelling. Julie Adams, Jim Davis (ex-Stories of The Century) and Norman Alden (ex-Rango) co-star.
Up until The Love Boat came along, Aaron Spelling had a poor track record with comedies, dating back to his days at Four Star. For example, the unsold Bette Davis pilot, The Decorator, and Gertrude Berg's attempt at a sitcom comeback were both on his watch. So was the Smothers Brothers' 1st series.
Defiant, Spelling tried to unite Westerns and comedy with 1967's Rango, with Tim Conway, Spelling's 1st collaboration with Danny Thomas. That was a bomb.
Five years later, having established himself as one of ABC's primary producers of their Movie of The Week, Spelling went mining for 10 gallon laughs again, this time with "The Daughters of Joshua Cabe", which would be the first in a trilogy of TV-movies produced over a 4 year period (1972-6), with three different actors as Cabe, and three sets of "Daughters".
"Cabe" was to reunite Spelling with Walter Brennan (ex-The Guns of Will Sonnett, The Real McCoys), who'd been in the two "Over The Hill Gang" TV-movies. Brennan wasn't available, but Buddy Ebsen, a year removed from The Beverly Hillbillies, was.
The plot: Cabe has to fend off a neighboring rival (Leif Erickson, himself fresh from The High Chaparral), but his adult daughters can't reach him in time. Needing help, in addition to his best friend, Bitterroot (Jack Elam), Cabe recruits a trio of ne'er do wells in a hooker, a pickpocket, and a petty thief, to pose as his daughters. Spelling went for the downs with the casting, calling on two past "Gidgets", Sandra Dee and Room 222's Karen Valentine, and a past "Cinderella" (Lesley Ann Warren, billed as simply Lesley Warren).
The supporting cast also includes Don Stroud and Michael Anderson, Jr. (ex-The Monroes).
By the time Spelling was ready for the sequel, Ebsen was no longer available (Barnaby Jones), so Dan Dailey (ex-The Governor & JJ) took over as Cade. We'll look at "The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Return" another time.
In two weeks: Wild West Wednesdays returns with another ride aboard the Iron Horse.
It was meant to be a TV-movie, presumably for NBC. However, Universal thought they could score a box office hit with "The Cockeyed Cowboys of Calico County", a raucous Western comedy about a blacksmith looking to hook up with a mail order bride.
Dan Blocker (Bonanza) has the lead, joined by Jim Backus (ex-Gilligan's Island, Blondie), Mickey Rooney, Jack Cassidy (ex-He & She), Wally Cox (The Hollywood Squares), Nanette Fabray, Henry Jones (ex-Channing), Jack Elam, Noah Beery, Jr., Iron Eyes Cody, Don "Red" Berry, and Stubby Kaye (ex-Shenanigans).
Listen carefully to when Wally Cox speaks. Not exactly the meek milquetoast of Mister Peepers, but more along the heroic timbre of Underdog. Go figure.
The Fantastic Four made their Marvel Comics debut in 1961. Next year marks the franchise's 65th anniversary, and Marvel finally released a movie based on it that actually worked.
In "First Steps", we get a capsulized recap of the team's earliest adventures, plus the reformation of their first foe, the Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser), whose civilian name is given here as Harvey Elder, a homage to EC legends Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder. Flash forward to the period of the movie, somewhere around 1965 or so (Wikipedia says 1964, but take that with a can of salt). Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal, The Mandalorian) and his wife, Sue (Vanessa Kirby), are expecting their first child. Problem is, this attracts the attention of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), who eats planets for a living. Galactus desires the child, and sends the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) to convey his request.
Yes, the Surfer is female this time. The writers flipped the traditional Surfer story, as it is Shalla-Bal who becomes Galactus' herald, instead of Norrin Radd. Predictably, Johnny (Joseph Quinn) finds her attractive, and decides he needs to convince her to call off Galactus' feast.
There are Easter eggs, including some you haven't heard about, including casting the 4 leads in Roger Corman's unreleased FF film in 1994, and a left-handed tribute to the FF's early animation history. The writers decided to skip past the oft-told origin of the FF.
Check the trailer:
Fittingly, Disney makes use of its acquisition of ABC to make it the network of choice for all things FF, a nod to the fact that the first cartoon aired on the network (1967-70). All that was missing from the space coverage was AI renditions of Jules Bergman and Frank Reynolds, and, ahhhhhhhhh, skip it!
Yes, it's cheesy at first, but it picks up the pace of drama, building to a powerful final act.
When Marvel introduced the Thunderbolts some 30 or so years ago, they were a group of villains posing as heroes.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe had other ideas. In short, they wanted their own Suicide Squad, but without the suicide part. We think.
"Thunderbolts*" was just a cover as the team would ultimately be introduced as "The New Avengers". The film is now available for streaming on Disney+.
Where to begin? Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh, "Black Widow") now works for Valentia deFontaine (Julia-Louis Dreyfus), but when she discovers that Val herself is dealing with possible impeachment for some questionable "business", Yelena joins forces with the Ghost, first introduced in "Ant-Man & The Wasp", US Agent (Wyatt Russell, Falcon & The Winter Soldier), and Red Guardian, Yelena's adoptive father (David Harbour, Stranger Things), who serves as the comedy relief.
The wild card? An amnesiac named Bob (Lewis Pullman), who turns out to be the Sentry and his evil alter-ego, the Void. That causes plenty of problems.
The script suggests that the movie aspires to be Marvel's answer to Suicide Squad, with Val as their Amanda Waller, for example. I wish they wouldn't do that. No, seriously.
Check the trailer:
The added psychological drama drags this movie down. There is a teaser after the credits for a certain film that just left theatres.
"Superman", the first DC Comics feature film under James Gunn's direction, doesn't bother with the oft-told origin of the Last Son of Krypton (David Corenswet). Instead, what Gunn does is offer a quick synopsis of events that took place before this movie begins. Thus, while the plot will have people wondering if Gunn was using the film for political commentary, he actually uses a comics narrative that has been used for nearly 40 years, that there is a growing distrust of Superman and other metahumans like him.
At the forefront of this hate movement, of course, is Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), presented here as a tech genius (per usual) who has an obsessive resentment of Superman, to the point of jealousy. When Luthor breaks into the Fortress of Solitude and steals some important information on Superman, and kidnaps Krypto, Superman must work to regain the public's trust with help from Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion, The Rookie), Hawkgirl, & Mr. Terrific. There's also Metamorpho, who'd been conscripted by Luthor after the latter kidnapped his infant son.
Mixed into the plot is Superman's "complicated" relationship with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), but when Lois recruits the Justice Gang to rescue Supes, wellllllllll!
The film is also chock full of cameos, including John Cena as the Peacemaker, Michael Rosenbaum (ex-Smallville) as one of Luthor's "Raptors", and Sean Gunn as Max Lord.
Check the trailer:
Other trailers include:
"Freakier Friday" (Friday): Jamie Lee Curtis & Lindsay Lohan reunite in a sequel to a remake of the Disney comedy from the 70's.
"The Running Man" (November): Glen Powell takes the lead role originally essayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987. Proof that Hollywood is creatively bankrupt.
"Now You See Me, Now You Don't" (November): Jesse Eisenberg, Morgan Freeman, & Woody Harrelson head an all-star cast in the 3rd film in a series that began in 2013.
"Captain America: Brave New World" is a follow-up to Disney+'s Falcon & The Winter Soldier from a couple of years back, and, yes, Sebastian Stan appears briefly as Bucky Barnes, aka Winter Soldier, but is not central to the plot.
And, the plot itself resolves threads from 2008's "The Incredible Hulk", with Tim Blake Nelson & Liv Tyler returning from that film. The reason 16 years is referenced in the script is because perhaps it was meant to be released last year, but was held to February of this year before released to Disney+ for streaming.
Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Harrison Ford) has ascended to the presidency, but unlike a certain media whore currently in the real world's White House, Ross is all about redeeming himself for past career mistakes, which left estranged from daughter Betty (Tyler, who also appears in a cameo). And while Ross had been Lt. Girard to Hulk's Dr. Kimble, an even more imposing adversary of the Hulk, Sam Sterns, aka The Leader (though not named as such in the film), emerges. The prosthetics used on Nelson recall a redesign of Sterns by Todd McFarlane during his run on the Hulk comic back in the day.
However, Sterns is more of a Mad Thinker than a Leader, using mind control and babbling about numerical probabilities, more in line as well with DC's Thinker for comparison's sake.
Check the trailer to see how Ford morphed into being the oldest actor to ever play a monster character....
Israeli agent Ruth Ben-Serrat, meant to be a former Black Widow in the film, may in fact have been the 80's heroine, Sabra, rebooted for the picture. Carl Lumbly returns as Isaiah Bradley, an earlier super soldier, and one of Sterns' mind control victims.
There's been a good amount of talk about "superhero fatigue", magnified by the relative failure of Marvel's "The Marvels" at the box office last fall.
Now on Disney+, fans see for themselves where Marvel Studios seemingly went wrong with a film featuring Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani). Monica Rambeau, who was Captain Marvel for about 15 minutes in the books back in the 80's before Marvel Comics gave her the code name Photon, completes the triad of heroines under the guidance of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).
At issue is a Kree seeking to revive her homeworld after the Supreme Intelligence was destroyed by Captain Marvel. She wields a quantum band similar to one worn by Ms. Marvel, who thought hers was a family heirloom. Yoiks!!
Keep an eye open during the credits for some, ah, old friends.
Check the trailer:
The more our ladies shift and switch places, it seems appropriate that Marvel finally put something relatively contemporary on the soundtrack, namely this gem from the Beastie Boys:
Well, since we have no other trailers to talk about.....!
Mary Chase's whimsical tale of a man and his invisible best friend was adapted for television for the first time on CBS' DuPont Show of The Month in 1958.
"Harvey" made its way to the small screen 8 years after the original feature film based on Chase's 1944 play, starring James Stewart, had been released. Art Carney (ex-The Honeymooners) steps into Stewart's role as Elwood P. Dowd, an eccentric man about town whose best friend is an invisible, 6', 3 1/2 " rabbit named Harvey. Our ensemble also includes Marion Lorne (ex-Mister Peepers), Jack Weston, Larry Blyden, Charlotte Rae, Fred Gwynne, & Elizabeth Montgomery.
Producer David Susskind and his Talent Associates group retained the television rights, and 14 years later, mounted a shorter version for the Hallmark Hall of Fame, then on NBC. Stewart and Jesse White returned to reprise their roles from the movie, and Gwynne, six years removed from The Munsters, would reprise his role from this production as the cab driver. The 1972 version also included the husband & wife team of Martin Gabel and Arlene Francis.
Marion Lorne & Elizabeth Montgomery, as you know, would reunite on Bewitched during the first half of the series' run, with Lorne as Aunt Clara. Gwynne, as you also know, would co-star on Car 54, Where Are You?, with Charlotte Rae in a supporting role, just 3 years after the above production. Larry Blyden fronted his own sitcom, Harry's Girls, before transitioning into a game show host up until his tragic passing in 1975.
Over the last 35 years, Billy Batson and the "original" Captain Marvel have had their shared origin revamped and rebooted multiple times. Now might be a good time to do another tweak, so that the next time Billy appears in a movie, he's not such a naive twit any longer when in costume.
"Shazam!: Fury of The Gods" is another campy family comedy, much more so than the first film. Shazam (Zachary Levi) confuses a pediatrician with a therapist when trying to discuss his feelings about his foster family. The daughters of the Titan Atlas have entered our realm, bent on revenge. The youngest of the three falls for Freddy Freeman, and, well, you could've seen it coming a mile away.
Helen Mirren & Lucy Liu are the big ticket villains here. Diedrich Bader (currently heard on Harley Quinn) cameos as a high school teacher. As everyone knows by now, Gal Gadot appears briefly as Wonder Woman, whom, it seems, Billy/Shazam has a crush on.
Check the trailer:
If you look quick, TV's original Billy Batson, Michael Gray, also makes an appearance, attired in a certain red shirt with a yellow collar, one that appears to be nearly 50 years old.
There are some awkward moments, unsurprisingly, including some product placement in a key moment. A certain candy company should be well compensated.
This was actually goofier than the first film, but if/when there is a 3rd film, Shazam needs to be more serious and assertive. Yes, the original concept by CC Beck more than 80 years ago allowed for some light comedy, and, ultimately, today's audience is going to want Shazam to be taken more seriously on the order of his greatest contemporary, Superman.
In equal doses a love letter to fans of "Star Wars" & "Fantastic Voyage", among science-fiction classics, "Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania", the 3rd film to top-line the size changing couple (Paul Rudd & Evangeline Lily), who venture into the quantum realm, quite by accident this time.
Scott Lang (Rudd) is now an author, his memoir a big hit, since coming home. Daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) has become a teenaged social activist, and winds up in jail, which doesn't sit well with Scott.
However, there are details of Janet Van Dyne's voyage to the quantum realm that finally come to light, forcing Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) to have to explain to husband Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and the rest of the family. Cassie is experimenting with a device that ends up sending them to the quantum realm for a battle with Kang (Jonathan Majors) and MODOK (Corey Stoll), who was previously Hank's rogue protege from the first film. MODOK ends up being treated as a tool. Because he was.
Anyway, "Quantumania" is currently streaming on Disney+, and a post-credits scene sets up the immediate follow-up in this adventure, as a certain time travel series is set to return later this year.
Here's the trailer:
It was a shock seeing Bill Murray in this one, and, I have to say, would it be a big ask to have him find a stylist?
The final act is a hoot and a half, and the rest of the movie isn't that bad, either.
Apparently, there is no Atlantis in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In order to introduce Prince Namor, aka the Sub-Mariner (though not referred by that monicker), in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever", Ryan Coogler and company decided to reboot Marvel's first mutant as having some Mayan background linked to the Serpent God, which contrasts some of Namor's adventures in the 60's & 70's where he fought villains who used and/or coveted a Serpent Crown.
But Namor is not the only new face in the movie. A more recently introduced hero, Ironheart, aka teenage genius Riri Williams, makes her debut here, too, and is central to the plot, which links together Wakanda and Talokan, the MCU substitute for Atlantis, the better not to confuse casual fans who might not understand that Atlantis exists in Marvel Comics as well as DC Comics.
Anyway, Coogler notes the passing of Chadwick Boseman, the star of "Black Panther", who passed away in 2020, two years after the first film, by officially killing off King T'Challa, whose sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright). herself a genius, tried to save his life. With Wakanda under attack from Talokan, and framed for an attack on some government troops, Shuri makes a career choice that big brother would've approved....!
Michael B. Jordan appears briefly, reprising as Killmonger. You'd be hard pressed to find Lake Bell (Harley Quinn) in a brief part.
Following is a teaser video from last summer:
For Phase 5, Marvel/Disney would be well served to put more focus on the next generation of heroes, including Shuri and Riri.
In 1945, Fawcett Comics introduced Black Adam as a villain with the same kind of powers as their Captain Marvel. 32 years later, after the Shazam! franchise had been acquired by DC, Adam was introduced to a new audience, and made his TV debut four years after that in the short-lived Kid Super Power Hour With Shazam!. In each case, it was established that Adam, or, Teth-Adam, had been in ancient Egypt when he'd been chosen by Shazam.
Modern writers have rebooted Adam into the fictional country of Khandaq, and he would eventually transition from villain to anti-hero, joining the JSA and, more recently, the Justice League.
It is the JSA, or, more specifically, an iteration written by Geoff Johns, that factors into Adam's feature film debut. Dwayne Johnson's 2nd DC Comics entry this year has him as Adam, 20 years after Johnson's leading man debut in "The Scorpion King". Both films will make a ton of money despite some negative reviews.
Adam's emergence in present-day Khandaq gets the attention of Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who calls on the JSA, led by Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan) and Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), who has a standing grudge with Adam that really doesn't have much roots in the comics. In time, Adam will cross paths with Captain Marvel, now known as Shazam in DC continuity to avoid confusion with the other Captain at Marvel (which holds the trademark & copyright to the Captain Marvel name).
Check the trailer:
Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) is a 21st century reboot of Andrea Thomas, the mortal alter ego of Isis, who was integrated into the DCU some years earlier following the end of Secrets of Isis. However, Tomaz has no powers here, as there might not be plans for Isis in the DCEU.
The trailers include "Shazam!: Fury of The Gods", due in March, which might lead to Adam's return. Like the 1st "Shazam!" film, "Black Adam" is a little overboard with the comedy elements, and the use of pop classics by Player and the Rolling Stones is a riff on Marvel's "Guardians of The Galaxy" series.
If the last couple of "Avengers" movies have shown us anything, it's that Marvel Studios decided that Thor (Chris Hemsworth) needed to have a personality change. As a result, once he was stranded on Earth, Thor turned into an Asgardian version of Jeff Bridges' "Big Lebowski".
However, as the 4th Thor solo film, "Love & Thunder", opens, Thor is back to fighting trim. Good news.
Much of the plot is lifted from Jason Aaron's storyline a few years back that had Thor's ex, Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), take up the mantle of Thor, including the hammer Mjolnir, while Thor himself has Stormbringer, an axe that in the books was given to a mortal, Eric Masterson, aka Thunderstrike, back in the 90's. Stormbringer gets its name from the works of Michael Moorcock.
Anyway, Gorr, the God Butcher (Christian Bale under a ton of makeup), the last of his race, is out to end the Asgardians who've settled on Earth. The Thors have a problem with that.
As with Hawkeye, there's some cheesy dinner theatre silliness carried over from an earlier movie, as a New Asgardian company (Matt Damon, Sam Neill, Luke Hemsworth, Melissa McCarthy) attempts to entertain the masses. Apparently, their budget is in a box of shoestrings.
Check the trailer:
Given the presence of the Guardians of The Galaxy early on, there's also a soundtrack rife with 80's music from Dio and Guns 'n' Roses, plus GNR's 1991 epic, "November Rain". Also, Heimdall's son has named himself after GNR singer W. Axl Rose. Ok. We also get Russell Crowe chewing up scenery as Zeus, complete with Greek accent.
20 years after bringing "Spider-Man" to the big screen, Sam Raimi returns to Marvel Comics, this time helming "Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness".
The opening act introduces moviegoers to one of Marvel's latest heroes, America Chavez, who debuted in print just a few short years ago. Seems that the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) thinks absorbing America's powers, particularly the ability to travel across universes, would help her with her self-created children (80's comics readers and fans of WandaVision will understand what I mean). It might feel like something from Image Comics, which used to start some stories in the middle instead of the beginning.
Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has to deal with the backlash caused by some of his counterparts on other earths while at the same time thwarting the rogue Avenger. There are guests galore, including one world's Illuminati, consisting of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart, Star Trek: Picard), Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell, reprising from What If...? & Agent Carter), and Reed Richards (John Krasinski, ex-The Office). Clocking in at just over 2 hours, "Multiverse of Madness" doesn't overdo things, instead trying to simplify the story.
Check the trailer:
There is a pre-credits scene with a certain, ah, consort of Strange's, and the post-credits scene involves long-time Raimi collaborator Bruce Campbell. That's all I'm going to say.
Former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada can be blamed for one of the most controversial Spider-Man storylines in the last 20 years, because it was published on his watch.
Sometime after the first Civil War miniseries, in which Spider-Man revealed his secret identity as Peter Parker, Quesada green-lit "One More Day", in which, in exchange for his ID being erased from people's memories, Peter's marriage to Mary Jane Watson ended after 20 years or so in the comics. Quesada's attitude was, heroes like Spider-Man shouldn't be happy. Apparently, he might've been in the minority when Marvel did the wedding as an Amazing Spider-Man annual, which was one of the first Marvel comics of the modern era to garner mainstream media attention.
This change briefly took effect in the daily newspaper strip, written by co-creator Stan Lee. However, Lee rebelled against Quesada's edict, and restored the marriage in the strip in short order.
Hollywood's answer is "Spider-Man: No Way Home". Where in the comics Mephisto made the deal with Peter, the iteration of the devil has not been introduced in the cinematic universe as yet. So, after the conclusion of the last Spider-film, "Far From Home", Peter's ID has been compromised, thanks to the machinations of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhall), who had been killed off in the last film. J. Jonah Jameson (JK Simmons) and the Daily Bugle, of course, are at the forefront, but the Bugle's not just a newspaper anymore, at least in this context.
So Peter meets with Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Chaos follows because of Peter's bumbling. The multiverse opens, allowing some familiar villains to reappear. Electro (Jamie Foxx). Dr. Octopus (Alfred Molina). Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). Dr. Curt Connors, aka The Lizard (Rhys Ifans). Flint Marko, the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church). The two previous cinematic iterations of Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire & Andrew Garfield) also surface. There's also attorney Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), advising Peter (Tom Holland) and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), who's still got the attention of Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau).
Check the trailer.
Sony & Disney/Marvel spent a chunk of cheddar on CGI & FX for this one. A little too talky at the start, as if they thought they needed everything explained. Soundtrack includes De La Soul's "The Magic Number", from their 1989 debut, "Three Feet High & Rising". "Number" is based on the Schoolhouse Rock track, "Three is a Magic Number". The late Bob Dorough was given credit as the writer.
The current "Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness" picks up where "No Way Home" leaves off. We'll look at it another day.
Each auteur, or, filmmaker, has his own vision when it comes to franchises such as DC's "The Batman".
Ten years after Christopher Nolan had completed his Bat-trilogy with "The Dark Knight Rises", and after Ben Affleck walked away from this project, Matt Reeves took over as co-author & director, with Robert Pattinson ("Twilight") stepping into the cape & cowl.
Set two years into the hero's career, "The Batman" is built around a demented serial killer, the Riddler (Paul Dano), but it's not really the Riddler we all knew. Of course not. Reeves used the real-life Zodiac case as an inspiration for turning Riddler into a psychopath far removed from previous iterations of the character. In truth, Riddler, as we see him in the movie, is actually a mash-up of the Prince of Puzzlers and a more recent add to the Batman's Rogues Gallery, Hush, subbing Hush's bandaged face covering with a mask & goggles, Whereas past screen Riddlers have been cunning, but not crazy, Dano's Riddler is both. His cover as a forensic accountant recalls a similar path taken in the Gotham series.
Because modern fandom and WarnerMedia suits practically demand it, Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz), is inserted as a waitress working at the Iceberg Lounge, currently under the management of one Oswald Cobblepot, aka Penguin (Colin Farrell). The romantic tension between Bat & Cat is there almost instantly. Cobblepot has a more pronounced limp than he had on Gotham, but the how & why of the limp has never been revealed. It's early enough in Batman's career where police Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright, What If?) is working hand in glove with the Caped Crusader, over the objections of his superiors.
Clocking in at a shade over 2 1/2 hours, "The Batman" does feel as though it was padded at the end with the flooding of Gotham Square Garden after Riddler had been captured. The fact that he has followers will lead some to suggest a political allegory involving a certain demagogue.
Let's check the trailer:
While the soundtrack is sleep inducing to some, I could recommend a retro soundtrack, a la Marvel's movies, to wit:
"I Love a Rainy Night", Eddie Rabbitt.
"November Rain", Guns & Roses (because most of the movie is in the rain).
