TheRetroCritic

My review of the 1994 comic-book movie The Shadow , starring Alec Baldwin.

Review available on the new website .

Director Joe Johnston brought The Rocketeer to life in this Disney film from 1991 starring Bill Campbell and Jennifer Connelly. While it was critically well received, it didn't earn quite enough at the box-office to guarantee a sequel but it's still seen as something of a cult gem. Created in 1982 by comic-book writer/artist Dave Stevens, The Rocketeer is a homage to classic serial heroes: an all-American good guy with one special ability, fighting against cartoonishly evil villains. The ability in question being a jetpack which stunt pilot Cliff Secord (Campbell) finds with airplane mechanic Peevy (Alan Arkin) when a bunch of gangsters steal it from Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn). Cliff uses the rocket pack to save people and fight back against those looking to harm him but this puts his girl Jenny Blake (Connelly) and others close to him in great danger. The main antagonist being Neville Sinclair, a popular Hollywood actor (played by a scene-stealing Timothy Dalton)

I talk a bit about Spider-Man: Homecoming .

After two disappointing and critically panned Wolverine movies, Hugh Jackman returns to conclude his X-Men spin-off trilogy on a high note with Logan , the film that, he claimed, would be his last time ever playing the role. We meet Logan much later in the timeline: he is older, weaker, he's an alcoholic limo driver whose days are spent picking up meds to appease a sick Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) deadly seizures. His eyesight is failing, he isn't healing as fast as he used to, even his claws get stuck when they come out so this is a post-Wolverine Logan at his absolute worst on his most physically draining mission yet. Because he is more vulnerable, you feel every punch, every stab and it's genuinely heartbreaking to see such a tough, once unbreakable superhero on auto-pilot, even considering suicide as an option. This is a dark, gritty and mercifully R-rated take on the character FOX studios were reluctant to jump into for so long and yet it's appa

An unlikely favourite comic-book movie of mine growing up was Doc Savage: The Man Of Bronze , the 1975 big-screen adaptation of the old Lester Dent pulp magazines. I was later surprised to learn that, not only did the film receive negative reviews and failed at the box-office upon its release but the French dub inexplicably gave Ron Ely a lisp. Don't ask, I don't know... While the film tries to stay true to the character of Doc Savage and his story in the comics, it also keeps a tongue-in-cheek tone throughout, occasionally poking fun at the dated nature the pulp hero. This might have confused audiences back in the day who may have expected a more earnest action film, sort of like how Last Action Hero didn't do well with reviewers who weren't expecting a flood of in-jokes. But although Doc Savage has its cartoonish moments, it's not really a spoof and it captures the spirit of the titular hero and his adventures rather well. Doc Savage is given his own patri

1997 was not a great year for superhero movies: not only did we get Batman & Robin but we also got Spawn and, although the latter was much more interesting and original than the former, it received some pretty rough feedback from critics and audiences alike. Based on the dark supernatural comic-books, Spawn sees special forces soldier Al Simmons (Michael Jai White) get double-crossed by Jason Wynn (Martin Sheen), the head of the agency who sent him on his latest mission. Simmons is burned alive and left for dead leaving him not only horribly disfigured but undead as a short trip down to Hell dooms him to eventually lead the Devil's army. In retrospect, attempting to tell this story on a $40M budget was somewhat over-ambitious seeing as the film was not only packed with special effects but builds up to a climax set in Hell with Spawn fighting a demon. Michael Jai White does a solid job as Spawn and it's pretty refreshing to see a film with an African-American superh

Back in 2004, Marvel were busy making comic-book movies left and right, releasing about two to three superhero films a year on average. Along with Spider-Man 2 and Blade: Trinity , the same year we also got the reboot of The Punisher starring Thomas Jane as anti-hero Frank Castle. A complete departure from the late 80's Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie, this was meant to bring the character to a wider audience telling his origin story and showing his arc from war hero to revenge-thirsty vigilante. With John Travolta cast as the villain Howard Saint, the mob boss who orders the death of Castle's entire family following an undercover job leading to Saint's son's death. With everyone he cared about gone and himself left for dead, Frank Castle regroups in an out-of-the-way tenement and starts to shoot his way through Saint's men before accepting his new life as The Punisher. This all sounds potentially exciting and packed full of good old-fashioned violence and yet

The first attempt to bring Marvel's The Punisher to the screen was this 1989 film starring Dolph Lundgren in the title role. It was received about as well as every Punisher movie has to this day in that critics and audiences universally ignored or dismissed it. This Punisher is still seen as a failure by most and it is often criticised for the acting and the changes made to the character's story. The fact that he never even wears his trademark skull T-shirt at any point in the film, I'll admit, was a stupid omission and it doesn't exactly help sell the iconic look he's known for. Dolph Lundgren, however, was a decent casting choice, his monosyllabic tones adding to the cold, bitter aspect of the character and his towering frame definitely makes him a believable threat. There's also something to be said about seeing the Punisher just shoot big guns in rooms full of bad guys. It's brainless but it works and it is instantly satisfying: this movie does tha

Back in 1990, following the huge success of Batman , Warren Beatty brought back another comic-book superhero for a modern, darker big screen outing: Dick Tracy , the yellow trench coat-wearing detective who punches grotesque-looking enemies with silly names in the face. The film stars Beatty himself as Dick Tracy with Madonna in the femme fatale role and the likes of Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, William Forsythe and James Caan playing some of the wacky villains. Armed with a cool Danny Elfman score, songs by musical maestro Stephen Sondheim and an impressive visual art style, the comic strip-turned-blockbuster received mixed reviews upon its release but did well at the box-office. Unfortunately, no sequel or reboot was ever produced and, as a result, people tend to bypass or forget the movie altogether. Which is a shame seeing as, if this film is any indication, it's a franchise with tons of potential. The plot sees Dick Tracy and his girlfriend Tess (Glenne Headly) take a you

The Justice League comes together in this animated feature which sees the likes of Batman, Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman join forces to take down Darkseid and his army of mutants who are planning to invade the Earth using portals. If that sounds familiar it's because this is essentially the plot of the first Avengers movie. Swap Loki for Darkseid and it's basically the same deal except with DC characters. Which isn't a bad way to go, frankly, since it gives us an early glimpse at what the Justice League live-action movie could potentially look like, with added Zack Snyder foggy CGI, of course. The film kicks off with Batman investigating strange abductions in Gotham City as Green Lantern shows up to help and they are soon off to Metropolis to get Superman's take on the alien technology they picked up from one of the Parademons. Following an accident involving an alien box found by The Flash in Central City, a football player is turned into Cyborg and h

The idea that Marvel was not only going to be introducing a rather unique crime-fighter to its already plentiful collection of movie superheroes but also was going to give the film itself an R rating made Deadpool instantly appealing as a project. The casting of Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson made sense despite a shaky attempt at bringing the disfigured anti-hero to the screen in Wolverine: Origins and having starred in the hugely unpopular Green Lantern movie. A promising leaked trailer led to a legion of fans demanding to see the full movie and... here we are! The playful yet violent tone of the film is introduced right off the bat as the opening titles show a paused car crash with credits replaced by piss-take descriptions of the cast and crew. What follows is a narrated, fourth wall-breaking journey inside the mind of the mouthy, twisted superhero who is hunting down bad guy Ajax (Ed Skrein) in order to get him to fix his mutated body. Along the way, we're taken back to W