Friday reviews: 10 November 2023

The Marvels, EO, Headspace and Fingernails are in cinemas, Nyad is on Netflix. Fingernails is also on AppleTV+.

The best film I saw in a cinema this week was made in 1991. Last night’s fundraising screening of Thelma & Louise at the Light House Cuba had all of us coming out nodding and saying, “yup, still holds up.”

To paraphrase a remark from Bob Dylan about music, the question “Why do you talk about old films so much?” can always be answered with “Because there are more good old films than there are good new films.” Novelty has its place, and I love that there is new stuff to talk about each week, but never to the exclusion of past greats.

But, back to the present and the latest attempt by Marvel to stop stumbling and get the MCU train back on the tracks.

It’s interesting to read other reviews and to see responses split largely along gender lines. There seems to be an assumption in some parts that a female-led superhero picture will inherently be less interesting but that really isn’t the case here.

The strengths of The Marvels is in the relationship and rapport between the three ‘marvels’ that give the film its title: the original Captain Marvel (Brie Larsen), the most powerful being in the universe but essentially exiled to sort shit out in the outer reaches of the galaxy; Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), grown-up daughter of Captain Marvel’s best friend; and Kamala Khan (aka Ms. Marvel played with pizzazz by Iman Vellani), fresh from the Disney+ series of the same name.