#dark-knight

#dark-knight

After a decade floundering both critically and at the box office, DC Studios has regained their footing under James Gunn. With the moderate success of last year's Superman and the groundwork laid by a relatively well-received second season of Peacemaker, it seems as if the days of DC's cinematic outings getting pummeled by the MCU are over, as well as their days of approaching the plate without a plan in hand.

Aaron Pierre, the star of the upcoming series Lanterns, will reprise his role of John Stewart in Man of Tomorrow. Pierre plays John Stewart, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, in Lanterns, so his involvement in Man of Tomorrow is somewhat obvious, as we've known from the get-go that Man of Tomorrow will pit Superman and Lex Luthor against Brainiac, an alien villain.

In the 21st century, superhero stories are often judged on how realistic they are - how "gritty," how dark, how "adult." It's never been more visible than with Batman. Between Christopher Nolan's take in the Dark Knight trilogy and the still-ongoing takes by Matt Reeves, it seems like the Caped Crusader was built for the Nirvana-scored, brooding tone of tragic flashbacks and smeared eyeliner.

Today, Amazon dropped a new trailer for its upcoming Spider-Noir starring Nicolas Cage as a brooding Spider-Man variant. Set in an alternate reality where it's still the 1930s, Spider-Noir follows private investigator Ben Reilly (Cage) as he gets back into the crimefighting game as the hero known as "The Spider." As his city's only superhero, Reilly knows that he's the only person with the necessary skills to deal with threats like mob boss Silvermane (Brendan Gleeson).

He did as much 13 years ago in Iron Man 3, the second he dropped his guise as the Mandarin to reveal that he was actually Trevor Slattery. The efficacy - not to mention the morality - of this twist has been the topic of heated debate ever since, but no one can deny that Kingsley isn't utterly sympathetic in the role.

Crime 101 lifts heavily from the oeuvre of Michael Mann, particularly Heat, in setting this thriller in Los Angeles. The "101" in its title is for the 101 freeway, which our solitary jewel thief, Mike (Chris Hemsworth), uses to make clean getaways. That anyone could carve out a life of crime in a metropolis so choked by traffic is a silly concept at best, and the first of many plot holes at worst.

In a non-Netflix world, a film like The Rip flashy, action-heavy, led by two household names should be available this weekend on the biggest high-format screens across the country. But then in that same world, at this particular time, it's doubtful that a film like this would even get made, granted a budget that's reportedly close to $100m, highly unusual for R-rated non-IP.

The role, which spanned nine films, put him up among the world's highest paid actors and made him a global pin-up. Yet the confidence was, in part, a construction. The character you see in interviews, he says, easing into the chaise longue, and the presentation of myself over the last two decades working in Hollywood, it's me but it's a creation too. It's what I thought people wanted to see.