More from Richard Newby
How ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Broke New Ground 20 Years Ago
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. In 2005, these four elements opened up a whole new world. A world filled with history, heroes, villains, deities and immense powers. While it has been said by pundits on numerous occasions that there will never be another modern mythology the likes of Middle-Earth, Star Wars or Harry Potter, they were […]
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What Did Dakota Johnson Actually Say?
Oh, what a tangled web we’ve woven. Sony’s latest entry in its Spider-Man Universe, Madame Web, opened this week to dismal reviews and pessimistic box office prospects. I’m not here to defend the film. But I am here to take issue with the discourse surrounding the movie in recent weeks. It seems it’s no longer […]
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The Best Horror Movies of 2023
While the industry as a whole felt more downs than ups this year, horror films continued to be a consistent attraction overall. While the studio hits were not quite as splashy as they were 2022, the year saw the birth of new franchises (M3GAN, The Pope’s Exorcist, Talk to Me, Thanksgiving), the revitalization of the […]
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Why the Age of Marvel Is Not Quite Over
There was a time, not so very long ago, when a new release from Marvel Studios would be a guaranteed hit, regardless of whether the film starred one of the world’s most popular superheroes or introduced audiences to characters few knew. Pundits wondered how long such an interconnected franchise could sustain itself, as the Marvel […]
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Insomniac Has Cracked the Code to Spider-Man, But Will Marvel Listen?
Balance. It’s the core theme of Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 for the PlayStation 5, the follow-up game to Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020). The game alternates between Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Mary Jane, each character taking on different missions, both focused on strengthening their communities and protecting NYC from the emergence of threats […]
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Where Have All the DC Fans Gone?
It’s been more than a decade since Man of Steel ushered in the DCEU, and 10 years this very week since Ben Affleck was announced to play Batman in Zack Snyder’s cinematic saga. We all know the turmoil that endeavor ultimately resulted in, and the seemingly ceaseless restructuring of DC that followed partially as a […]
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Every ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Movie Ranked, Including ‘Mutant Mayhem’
Who could have guessed that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s small, black-and-white indie comic about anthropomorphic crime-fighting turtles that began as a parody of superhero storytelling would not only be around forty years later but also have the love and investment of several generations of fans? Whether you discovered the Turtles […]
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‘Batman’: 41 Most Memorable Quotes From the Superhero
From 1966's film featuring Adam West to 2022's Robert Pattinson starrer, and all the Batmans in between (Michael Keaton! Val Kilmer! George Clooney! Christian Bale!) Ben Affleck!) a look at the most memorable lines of dialogue from each film
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It’s the End of DC As We Know It
The dawn of a new DC Universe is upon us, with James Gunn and Peter Safran planning a new slate of film, TV and gaming projects. But before we get there, we have nine months of what feels like the last gasps of the DCEU, which is coming to an end, almost poetically, a decade […]
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Marvel Seeks to Focus an Ever-Sprawling Universe with Phase 5
Marvel Studios is entering a rebuilding phase with the Feb. 17 launch of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. After Phase 4 laid the foundation for the multiverse post-Avengers: Endgame and expanded prolifically across film and television, Phase 5 is shaping up to be more narratively focused, and a little more patient with its rollout, as […]
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6 Burning Questions About DC Studios’ New Slate
Hope. That’s the feeling most fans were left with following the announcement of Warner Bros. Discovery’s slate for the DCU (DC Universe). Following a decade of inner turmoil over what to do with their largest property, creative conflicts, a revolving door of leadership, the studio finally has a clear path forward with James Gunn and […]
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‘M3GAN’ Is a Horror Film for the TikTok Generation
She’s an internet sensation and trend-setter. She’s a four-foot-tall killer with attitude. She’s M3GAN, and for producers James Wan and Jason Blum, she may very well be one of the most important additions to Universal’s library of monsters in recent years. Frankenstein’s monster for the iPad generation has been created, and if her social media […]
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