Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity.

Marvel Studios’ “Secret Invasion” stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Martin Freeman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charlayne Woodard, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Dermot Mulroney, Christopher McDonald, Katie Finneran, with Emilia Clarke and Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle.

Ali Selim directs the series and executive-produces, along with fellow executive producers Kevin Feige, Jonathan Schwartz, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Samuel L. Jackson, Ali Selim, Kyle Bradstreet and Brian Tucker. Kyle Bradstreet is also the head writer, and Jennifer L. Booth, Allana Williams and Brant Englestein serve as co-executive producers.
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There is sadness in both remembrance and storyline but the emotional content feels respectful and expansive. Introducing an entirely new race of people and having them be both friend and foe helps to defy expectations.

This is far and away one of the most character-driven Marvel films and it challenges the audience with a thoughtful but somewhat leisurely first few reels. When it kicks into gear, there are some well-paced and expertly executed action sequences.

By the film’s end, you are left with a feeling of the tremendous respect the filmmakers had for the man that was Chadwick Boseman and they do his memory proud. They have opened up the franchise with endless possibilities and it will be fascinating to see where they go next.
Rob Hudson
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As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.

Introducing Tenoch Huerta as Namor, king of Talokan, the film also stars Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” directed by Ryan Coogler and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore, opens in theatres November 10, 2022.
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Professor Goodman (Andy Nyman) is the host of a reality television show, Psychic Cheats, that debunks tales of paranormal events. He is summoned to meet Charles Cameron (Leonard Byrne), a psychologist and fellow debunker that has gone missing. At this meeting he is given three cases to study and so it all begins.

These three events are somewhat conventional stories about things that go bump in the night. In their telling, there is an undercurrent of both creepiness and a theme that holds them all together. It’s under the surface and obscured but there.

The last reel transforms the film into something that fans of the genre will relish. A chance to think unconventionally and find the underlying meaning before the final resolve. It’s up to the skill and knowledge of the viewer as to whether or not they will arrive at that point before or after the filmmaker’s final reveal.

Rob Hudson
www.iconmovies.com.au

Chadwick Boseman (Get On Top and 42) puts in a stellar performance with a regal delivery and stately manner befitting of the role’s royal origins. He gets strong support from Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years The Slave and Star Wars) as his love interest who is also committed to social justice and Danai Gurira (The Visit and All Eyes On Me) who is riveting as a real badass who puts her country above all.

All the main characters have values systems that are very strong and their struggles are noble ones, even the big baddie, Michael B. Jordan (Creed and Fruitvale Station) turns out to have a solid value system for a bad guy. Success at delivering a superhero film devoid of one dimensional characters gives hope to many other members of the MU..

Its wonderful to get lost in the dark with characters this admirable and somewhat unusual for the universe from which they have sprung. Some of the special effect visuals are less sharp in focus and a little difficult to discern but in difference to the genre, it’s the interpersonal relationships that provide the film’s real firepower.
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Unperturbed by this, Peter Jackson has attempted to do the exact same thing with his Hobbit films bar the good sense to realise prior to publishing that destroying the tone of the original book is, in fact, a bad idea. Is it arrogance or egoism on Jackson’s part to presume that he can improve upon Tolkien or is it economic studio interference to produce a cash cow? I suspect a fair portion of both but the result is the same: a three hour movie extravaganza of a children’s novel which numbers but a few hundred pages that is more bloated than Bombur’s belly.

The film begins with a pre-credit sequence showing the destruction of Lake Town by the dragon, Smaug. That this sequence ought to have been the grim finale of the previous film speaks again to the dishonourable, money-grabbing intentions of Jackson and the studio alike. It is the literary equivalent of finishing a book mid chapter, which is precisely what Jackson did with the previous instalment, The Desolation of Smaug.

Time and time again throughout this trilogy Jackson has departed from Tolkien’s script in ways that substitute the economy and elegance of the source material for Hollywood tropes favouring slapstick comedy, bombastic action, invented villains and fabricated romances. In his attempt to reinvent the wheel, Jackson and co have delivered a fully pimped out 16 wheel limousine replete with bar service, 8 TVs and a swimming pool. In case there’s any doubt, I’m saying this is a bad thing. An exquisitely crafted horse drawn sulky would have been more appropriate.

As was the case in the previous two films, CG is on full tilt here. There’s a CG sheen to just about everything in the film, from the rocks to the Orcs to the faces of the stars. There’s something very unnatural about it all; it all looks very ‘shot in a studio’, which, of course, much of it would have been. But since The Wizard of Oz major advancements have been made in cinema to make films look like they were not shot in a studio but Jackson has disregarded this almost completely. Like a dwarf in gold, he seems to revel in all this shiny new (unrealistic looking) technology. The result is a film that doesn’t even look like it’s trying to look real. Add in the HFR (high frame rate) component and it all looks astoundingly fake, sticking out like the voice of Billy Connolly in a crowd – wait, that happens too!

Martin Freeman is miscast as Bilbo. There, I said it! The problem with Freeman is his inability to overcome his natural comedic nervous shtick. As a result, you never know whether he is being serious or playing a scene for laughs. His performance is devoid of the childish fuddiduddiness that typifies the character of Bilbo, a characteristic that Ian Holm nailed with aplomb. Freeman would have done well to impersonate Holm.

Performances from the ex-Rings cast of McKellen, Blanchett, Lee and Weaving are naturally splendid though these guys must be sleepwalking these roles by now. Other performers seem cast for their personality rather than their acting chops – Stephen Fry, Billy Connolly – and this is distracting, extricating you from the on-screen fantasy.

The film ends hopelessly unresolved. The movie is called ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’ and the battle is fought for the riches left behind from the slain dragon but what happens to the treasure in the end? What happens to the all-important Arkenstone? Do the Elves get their share of the loot? How do the broken men of Dale and Lake Town fare. What happens to the Dwarven Kingdom? Will Billy Connolly become king? It seems that the most important thing to happen after these three lengthy films is that Bilbo gets to go home.

Jackson has done to The Hobbit what he inflicted on King Kong: he’s taken a much-loved classic and ruined it with self-indulgence. After his excellent Lord of the Rings adaptation, Jackson ought to have been the man to author the definitive Hobbit film. Sadly, that film remains unmade.

Stuart Jamieson
www.thehobbit.com