Marvel’s latest is…well, it’s a lot. There’s a lot to like about The Marvels but a lot more besides. That’s not to say the Nia DaCosta space epic isn’t heaps of fun. It is. Bolstered by a terrific central ensemble, The Marvels is heartfelt and funny and just the right side of zany. But it’s also a very much overblown beast and surprisingly uninvolving. What with Marvel’s ongoing determination to lather all of recent projects in computer generated excess, a failure of the plot to tether itself to anything especially material rather nulls the impact. Fans will, no doubt, find much to enjoy, to mull over and dissect. As for the more casually invested, the pleasures here are rather transitory. There’s a reason so much of Marvel’s once billion-dollar bankability now feels a distant box office memory.
David Fincher’s Fight Club only ever had one rule. It’s a well known one. Emma Seligman’s 2023 high school update doubles the number. Rule one of Bottoms’ ‘gay, untalented, and ugly’ Fight Club is straightforward enough. Listen. Always and to everything. The second is more flexible: never ever – ever! – be late. Unless, that is, you’re a smoking hot cheerleader, who may or may not be an as-yet-undiscovered lesbian. Let’s add a third. The third rule of this Fight Club is that all members must spread the word. Talk about it! Bottoms is a blisteringly funny new elementary comedy and right up there in the pantheon of genre classics.
Blumhouse have grand ambitions for Five Nights at Freddy’s. It’s why so much of this inaugural adaptation of the wildly popular video game franchise feels like set up. Certainly, there’s more mythos than murder here. Perhaps, in the long run, this will pay off. There’s no doubting a sequel will come, with box office records already set to tumble. A lack of gore, securing a lower than expected age certification, will go a long way in audience reach and potential. But that’s all business-speak. Where is the thrill and flair? What of the story? In the here and now, episode one is much too muted for its own good. Often dull, even. There’s much to admire but not quite enough to inspire great yearning for a sixth night on the big screen.
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