TheRetroCritic

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In the hope of reviving a decidedly retro superhero in the way that Warren Beatty brought back Dick Tracy in the early 90's, studios decided to make The Phantom , a film based on the comic strips from the 1930's. The Phantom was not going to be an easy sell for audiences with the old-fashioned tone, Billy Zane wearing that purple onesie and the 30's setting even though the cartoon series Phantom 2040 was still technically on television and the movie boasted a kickass poster. It's obvious from the get-go that the filmmakers wanted to somehow capitalise on the popularity of the Indiana Jones movies as we follow some clueless explorers looking to find a skull in an old temple before the superhero shows up to foil their plans. Amusingly, the Indiana Jones movies would later emulate The Phantom by making  The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull all about skulls. Looking at the box-office numbers, it seems like audiences didn't exactly flock to this movie which flopped h

Well, here's one for the ladies: Oh, who am I kidding? This is something we can all enjoy! Bring on The Wolverine !

The film that started it all... kind of. Jon Favreau's Iron Man was really the moment where Marvel revealed to the world their mad intentions of putting together crossover mega-movie  The Avengers . As we all know, they pulled it off remarkably but it could have all gone pear-shaped super early. I mean, with the likes of Captain America and Thor it wasn't going to be a walk in the park to make each character and their far-fetched stories plausible, let alone cram everybody into one movie. But Iron Man showed early on that you can make a silly superhero flick without screwing it up, creating a movie that, even to this day, is simply a lot of fun. Robert Downey Jr is genius billionaire douchebag Tony Stark, who is made to face the reality of his misguided work directly and henceforth grow a conscience. The entire movie is one big build-up to the creation of that badass armored suit with some cool action scenes and a last-minute villain thrown in for good measure. Because

Well, it's the weekend and although many more Batman things are in store for the rest of Bat Month, including my thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises , here's more DC goodness in the shape of the first teaser trailer for Zack Snyder's Man Of Steel starring Henry Cavill. Wow, a "gritty" Superman movie?! It's so crazy it just might work... 

"Man Thing"... What WAS I thinking? Here I was picking up a Marvel-approved comic-book monster movie directed by Brett Leonard ( Lawnmower Man ) expecting something a bit like Swamp Thing : kitsch, stupid fun. Perhaps even an underrated, gory action flick? If you haven't guessed yet, I was wrong. Talk about a waste of time...  If you call a movie Man Thing and make it all about some giant swamp creature, I would suggest perhaps showing the character? Because otherwise what you're left with is bad actors playing bland secondary characters going back and forth to some swamp faking you out every time, making you think you're going to see something when in fact you're not. You're just not. I mean, I have no problem with big build-ups but this is hardly The Third Man : this sucks. So when you do finally see Man Thing, 10 minutes from the end, why would you even care? The ending of the film should have happened within the first 20 minutes! This is

Ok, I'm rising... I've risen: chill. Ok I'm risin', I'm risin'! Jeez...

Green Lantern is no Superman. As a character, green ring-toting Hal Jordan can be as likeably cocky as he wants he'll never be taken as seriously as his DC comics buddy. For one thing: his story is absurdity itself. Something about free will having a colour (?), purple aliens and magical glowing lanterns...? If only there was a live-action film! Oh... Well, they gave it a go. After the trailers popped up ages ago online, it seemed pretty clear that although clearly a lot of money was pumped into the project, a lot of Green Lantern would still fail to transcend the inherent silliness of the whole premise. Ryan 'Van Wilder' Reynolds alone seemed to lack a certain je-ne-sais-quoi one looks for in a superhero. Just look at Brandon Routh: adorable Clark Kent but The Man Of Steel? Surely you jest. Surprisingly though, Green Lantern is no disaster. In 3D, at least, it is visually fun even if the effects are very hit-and-miss. The CGI costume is a tad off-putting, a lot of