Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, and Gal Gadot in Red Notice — Photo: Netflix.
Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber — Screenplay by Rawson Marshall Thurber.
Rawson Marshall Thurber’s Red Notice is an action-adventure buddy comedy film about the search for three priceless eggs once owned by Cleopatra. In the film, FBI Special Agent John Hartley (played by Dwayne Johnson) is forced to team-up with Nolan Booth (played by Ryan Reynolds), an internationally renowned art thief, in a race against time to find all three eggs before Booth’s main competitor, The Bishop (played by Gal Gadot), finds them and sells them to the highest bidder.
Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman (left) and Chris Pine as Steve Trevor (right) in Wonder Woman 1984 — Photo: DC Comics / Warner Bros.
Directed by Patty Jenkins — Screenplay by Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, and Dave Callaham.
The highly anticipated sequel to Patty Jenkins’ 2017 film, Wonder Woman, has finally arrived in Denmark. The film was released in theaters around the world (and simultaneously on HBO Max exclusively in the United States) in December of 2020, but, a week, or so, prior to the theatrical release in Denmark, all Danish theaters were ordered to close due to the second wave of the Coronavirus global pandemic. At the time of writing, theaters are still closed. This also means that Wonder Woman 1984 eventually skipped Danish theaters entirely.
In the mean time, frustratingly, the film was not made available for premium-video-on-demand in Denmark, and it took the distributor this long to release the film on HBO Nordic. That’s right, almost exactly three months after it was released on a streaming service in the United States. But now, thankfully, that wait is over. I’ve finally had the chance to watch the sequel to the hit 2017 superhero film led by Gal Gadot. Unfortunately, while I appreciated the original film, this sequel just feels misguided.
Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, and Jason Momoa (left to right) in Zack Snyder’s Justice League — Photo: HBO (Max / Nordic).
Directed by Zack Snyder — Screenplay by Chris Terrio — Story by Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder, and Will Beall.
In 2017, Warner Bros. released the film titled Justice League in theaters worldwide. This was a superhero team-up film that was supposed to be the third installment in a series of films set in Warner Bros.’ cinematic universe that has been dubbed the DC Extended Universe. The previous two installments — Man of Steel and Batman v Superman — were directed by Zack Snyder, who had essentially become the godfather, or the face, of the DC Extended Universe.
Snyder was also supposed to complete Justice League, but, due to a family tragedy, he decided to step away from the film and let Joss Whedon, the seasoned superhero filmmaker hired by Warner Bros. to replace him, finish the film. But Whedon and Snyder are very different filmmakers and they have different sensibilities, and, ultimately, the theatrical cut of Justice League was met with largely negative reviews. The final product lacked a uniform vision and tone, and it started to become clear that a lot of the essential material that Zack Snyder had planned for the film had been left on the cutting room floor.
It is that time of the year once again. It is time to reveal what superhero films, video games, songs, and television shows I enjoyed the most in 2017. Now, do note, this year the announcement of the awards is a bit different. This is only the first half of the awards — the more in-depth film nominations won’t be announced until late February. But we do have a lot to get to today. To see the full list of nominees for this first part of the 2017 I’m Jeffrey Rex Awardsgo here. Continue reading “5th I’m Jeffrey Rex Awards, Part One – 2017”→
I don’t believe in the idea that general audiences have superhero fatigue. Each and every year it is the superhero films that comprise most of the spots on the list of the ten most successful films of the year. They make a lot of money, and a lot of them are pretty great. But some of these heroes are iconic, and even some of the performances are iconic. Today I want to honor the ten best superhero performances given by actors and actresses portraying these iconic characters. Continue reading “Best Superhero Performances – Special Features #12”→
The following is a review of Justice League – Directed by Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon.
A couple of months ago, I was looking through some old pieces of paper that I had found in a drawer. In it, I found a membership certificate for some sort of Danish Batman-fan club, and it had my name on it (actually, it was misspelled). This certificate was from when I was just around the age of six or seven.
I am telling you this to provide you with a bit of context for my own background and my love for DC Comics. I’m one of those kids who would hunker down and read Superman comics in the back of the store, while my dad was talking to the comic book store owner. Did I read Marvel Comics too? Definitely, but that shouldn’t take away from my love for DC Comics. I am now, and always have been, a fan of these characters. Continue reading “REVIEW: Justice League (2017)”→
The following is a review of Wonder Woman – Directed by Patty Jenkins.
Although there are a lot of female heroes to read about in comic books, few of them have been given a chance on the big screen. In fairness, Hollywood has tried to make female superhero films work before, but when those attempts didn’t work out well, they weren’t really interested in pursuing other similar projects.
Jeannot Szwarc’s Supergirl was critically panned, as was both Pitof’s Catwoman and Rob Bowman’s Elektra. Now, in 2017, we are finally getting a good film about a true feminist icon. Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman is here, and while it isn’t perfect, it is a strong origin story for an important comic book character. Continue reading “REVIEW: Wonder Woman (2017)”→
The following is a quick review of Criminal – Directed by Ariel Vromen.
In Vromen’s Criminal, a valuable CIA agent (played by Ryan Reynolds) is killed, but the CIA, led by Quaker Wells (played by Gary Oldman), are in desperate need of his memories. So they contact Dr. Franks (played by Tommy Lee Jones) who might be able to transfer the agents memories into the body of a convict (played by Kevin Costner) so that they can finish the CIA mission. Continue reading “REVIEW: Criminal (2016)”→
The following is a spoiler-free review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a Zack Snyder film.
Batman v Superman is finally here! Comic book fans have been wanting to see this film for decades, and moviegoers have been waiting for a proper sequel to Man of Steel since 2013. Somehow this film had to appease both audiences. My complicated history with Man of Steel has been heavily documented on this blog, and I don’t think I’ve really loved a Zack Snyder-film since his remake of Dawn of the Dead.
Needless to say, I was really worried about this film. Superman used to be one of my favorite comic book characters, and Batman still is one of my favorites – I want them to be given a proper treatment on the big screen. I just wanted to like it – that is all I wanted from this film. But, to be perfectly honest, I did not. At least not all of it. Continue reading “REVIEW: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)”→
I'm Jeffrey Rex 