By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) WHAT'S CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR ABOUT? When the United Nations wants to assume authority over the Avengers, the heroes are divided over whether to comply. The ideological divide, coupled with a villain's machinations, eventually pit the super-friends against one another. IS IT ANY GOOD? (GRADE: A+) Getting right everything Batman v. Superman got ...[Read More]
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR Family Movie Review
THE AVENGERS Family Movie Review
Review (Grade: A) The most impressive superhero film since The Dark Knight, Marvel Studios’ The Avengers is a funny, thrilling, and character-driven crowd pleaser. Seeing the five films that preceded this one (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor,and Captain America) may enrich the experience, but it’s hardly necessary; the film stands well on its own for those who want to just jump in ...[Read More]
CAPTAIN AMERICA Family Movie Review
REVIEW (GRADE: B) : As a superhero-origin movie, Captain America lays out cliche after cliche, following the template of numerous films that have come before it. As a patriotic crowd pleaser, however, it offers plenty of old-fashioned delights. I have to borrow what another reviewer said here, because he summed it up perfectly: “If you’ve got a problem with any of the plot points in Captain ...[Read More]
THOR Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) REVIEW (GRADE: B+) Rent or buy Thor here. Though I've been into superhero movies since I was a boy, I was never a comic-book guy. Knowing nothing of Thor's story except that he was literally the god of thunder from Viking mythology, all I had to go on was glimpses I'd seen of his costume. I repeatedly thought: He looks ridiculous, even for a supe ...[Read More]
IRON MAN 2 Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) Rent or buy Iron Man 2 here. Robert Downey Jr. reprises his star-making role from the first film, as a charmingly egotistical, but ultimately courageous superhero. The film has a terrific cast, some clever banter, and a handful of genuinely thrilling action sequences, but the story isn’t as focused or compelling as that of the first film. It feel ...[Read More]
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) Rent or buy X:Men Origins- Wolverine here. Meh. I know my sisters loved Wolverine, so I won't bad mouth it too much here, but the whole thing felt undercooked to me; plus, the inconsistency of Sabretooth being Wolverine's intelligent brother, compared with the radically different conceptualization of the character in the first film of this same s ...[Read More]
THE INCREDIBLE HULK Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) Rent or buy The Incredible Hulk here. After Director Ang Lee's (Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) artsy-fartsy take on The Hulk tanked at the box office a few years ago, things looked dire for the big green dude. So what was in order? Recast the franchise, get a new director, and basically pretend the first one never happened ...[Read More]
IRON MAN Family Movie Review
By Jonathan Decker (Family therapist, film critic) The Gist With hard-hitting action, unsentimental morality, and a fantastic dry wit (courtesy of a great script and Robert Downey Jr.'s excellent delivery), Iron Man is the perfect film to open the summer. Which isn't to say it's a ‘perfect film', but its so much fun you won't care. **** (out of five). PG-13 (bloodless but intense action viol ...[Read More]