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REVIEW: Justice League

/ Chris Luckett / Leave a comment

Image: Warner Bros.

Chris Luckett

Reviewing a superhero movie basically just comes down to comparisons. “Captain America: Civil War is brilliant, but not quite as brilliant as The Winter Soldier.” “Spider-Man: Homecoming was good, but it was no Spider-Man 2.” “How awesome is it that Logan was even better than X-Men: Days of Future Past?”

It’s quite helpful in Justice League‘s case, as there are so many comparisons to be made. And perplexingly, DC’s supergroup movie doesn’t just invite them but encourages them as the movie goes along, blatantly and immodestly stealing from any successful superhero movie it can think of in a vain effort to win the critical and fan love that has seemed to come so naturally to the Avengers, X-Men, and Spider-Man series but been unattainable for DC since the Dark Knight era.

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REVIEW: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

/ Chris Luckett / Leave a comment
Image: Warner Bros.

Image: Warner Bros.

Chris Luckett

In a lot of ways, Fantastic Beasts (including its four sequels) is the new The Hobbit. Not only does the series serve as a prequel to the bigger story of The Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter, but stretching an already-thin book into a multiple-film tale causes inescapable problems.

Peter Jackson’s Hobbit film series suffered from trying too hard to compensate with visual effects, desperately trying to obfuscate its narrative deficiencies. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them would likely suffer the same fate if not for one powerful advantage: one of the most talented and impressive casts of any movie this year.

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