Spiderman - No Way Home, Review: Spidermen Indian release today, American release tomorrow. How exciting! Shot during the Covid 19 Coronavirus pandemic. How daring! Third part of a Trilogy – Homecoming (2017) and Far from Home (2019). How challenging, if you are not a die-hard fan and do not remember the previous homings well-enough! A cast that consists of Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, J.K...

Avengers, Endgame: Thanostradamus As star casts go, Avengers: Endgame runs up a mind-boggling score. Like in theatrical performances, where all characters come on to the stage after the performance to take a bow, Endgame brings them all on screen, even resurrecting the dead, in a show of ultimate strength, before their nemesis is vanquished. Just as it takes two lives to conquer the dark force, the dark force itself needs to be conquered not once but twice. It is ingenious writing, to lay out...

Captain Marvel, Review: Skrull duggery, the Kreeps, a charismatic cat and muddled memories To many Indians, who grew up reading DC comics in the 50s, 60s and 70s, Captain Marvel is a man, and he acquires super-powers upon uttering the magical acronym, SHAZAM: genius of Solomon, strength of Hercules, unbreakable will of Atlas, lightning blasts of Zeus, power of Achilles and speed of Mercury. Named Billy Batson as a human, Captain Marvel’s powers comprised super strength, flight, invulner...

Spiderman, Into the Spider-verse: Spiderman is dead; long live Spidermen “I love you” yells PDNY cop Jefferson Davis, to his son Miles, as he drops him off to school. After a few seconds, he insists that Miles yell back, “You gotta say I love you back.” Miles, the would-be new Spiderman, finds this awkward, and asks, “Are you serious?” and when his Dad says “I want to hear it”, he yells back, “I love you, Dad.” On his police-car PA s...

Venom, Review: High-breed Hannibal lecture Alien organisms are brought to earth by a mad industrialist who experiments by hosting them in human bodies, to form hybrid beings. These high-breeds feed on living humans, possess immense strength and can take over the human host at will, both in mind and body. What’s more, they can, and do, talk to the hosts in English, most of the conversations being lectures. Alien organisms inspired by Hannibal Lecter, a Hollywood cannibal who has been eat...

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Wassup the ante Ant-Man 2 begins while Scott Lang is under house arrest by the FBI, some two years after he interfered with Captain America’s mission in Germany. That is in perfect sync with Ant-Man 1, which was released in 2015. Part 2 features expanding and shrinking ants, wasps that fly at fabulous speeds and a woman who suffers from 'ghost syndrome', which makes her body density change from visible to almost invisible and again visible, in milliseconds....

Avengers-Infinity War, Review: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust #Book of Common Burial Prayer, 1662: Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life. #‘Ashes to ashes, funk to funky’ Artiste: David Bowie, Album: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), 1980. From all appearances, a large number of Marvel’s Avengers and their partners in common cause have become ashes by the time the film ends. Whether any of them will be Re...

Thor-Ragnarok: Of hammers and horns, Avengers and Revengers Add humour. Suspended in mid space inside a trap-net by the fire demon Surtur, Thor asks a fellow prisoner how long has he been there. Pans out the fellow has already turned into a skeleton by this time, and, on hearing Thor’s query, his jaw (bone) drops off, literally. That’s the first scene, and the first laugh. After a marathon bout as gladiators in a cosmic arena, Thor and Hulk are freshening up, and Hulk comes out of...

Spiderman: Homecoming, Review by Siraj Syed: The Age of Coming This tale of and by (the opening credits say so) Peter Parker is just a shade slower than Transformers 5, which means it is crack-neck, if not break-neck. Nevertheless, that’s some relief. Looks like it is the trend now, and this is what comic/superhero films are going to be all about—hundreds of rapid fire cuts and thousands of barely discernible special effects, all adding up to a good two-and-a half hours or thereab...

Movie memories, by Siraj Syed—X-Men-The Last Stand (2006): Fire and ice X-Men and X-Women in all their glory, with abilities that, together, are capable of almost anything, like battling forces of the government of the USA, and each other, in this threequel to X-Men (2000) and X-2 (2003). What would have been a trilogy, has continued into 2017. Having three to four years in between the successive franchise films works for the project, even in later editions, though there was a spate du...

The Guardians of the Galaxy-Vol. 2, Review by Siraj Syed: Turn-up the volume TGOTG goes back to 1980, when Peter’s father was courting his mother, and then comes to present day, when he s about 35. Like Vol. 1, the film is a riot of colour, sci-fi (visuals) and hi-fi (sounds), even celebrating its own prowess in painting the screen with an explosion of VFX hues, like a futurist child’s dream display of fire-works. It also taps upon latest sound techniques to run music, SFX and dia...

Siraj Syed reviews Doctor Strange: Surgery and sorcery go hand in hand Comics can be victims of overkill, especially when they traverse the distance from page to screen. Casting might be (mis)guided by name and fame, when suitability is of greater import. Marvel’s Doctor Strange, with part Disney talent and full distribution channels in tow, is ridden with both pitfalls. It’s a marvel then that the film manages to serve above par, enjoyable fare, for which credit largely goes to t...

Ant-Man, Review: Up the ANTe When a comic-book super-hero film engages you on two fronts, exhilarating effects and hearty humour, the audience is in for a good time. It is debatable whether going the whole hog on either front, at the cost of the other, would have served the plot better, but Ant-Man has turned out to be refreshing and innovative viewing. In 1989, scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D., after discovering that the organisation tried to send him off to Ru...

Images Copyright Marvel Comics and Columbia Pictures All Rights Reserved by Marc HalperinAfter a comprehensive worldwide casting search Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios have their new Spiderman, Andrew Garfield has been chosen to portray Peter Parker. Spider-Man returns to the big screen in 3D on July 3, 2012.  The new film directed by Marc Webb, will begin production in early December  from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt.  Bloggers, pop culture commentators, and everyday fans have spe...