The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Maybe if this film had been made and released two decades ago, before the entirety of the superhero splurge, I might have watched it thinking, wow, they really made something amazing here. But we cannot undo these things we’ve done, as someone once said, and the effect of having seen superhero group after superhero group after superhero group save the world again and again and again cannot be easily nullified. As it is, no amount of interesting conceptual design, or nostalgic kicks, or even just plain, good storytelling and performances, can get this work to break through against all that has come before it and lead the viewer to anything more than mild appreciation, to a diminished admiration that battles against a flattened sense of what a movie like this is supposed to be. It’s fine, really; all of the above mentioned elements are well done, and if you’d never seen another entry in the genre you’d probably rave about this one. But few of us out here are infants without prior experience, so the impact of this iteration is very much dulled. More standard than fantastic. 

Nosferatu (2024)

Gothic hardly covers it. Every frame of this film teems with expressions of the gothic ethos, making it an especially rich and evocative viewing experience, especially if you are familiar with the source materials. It is actually refreshing to see the vampire genre not treated as a mere fashion show for the pretty and perfect but as a story much closer to the folkloric roots of the thing (literally): as a true horror of pestilence, existential fear and death. Romance is underplayed in the face of primal forces—because, after all, we’re talking about a walking corpse here. The cast does a fine job of conveying all of the above with sincerity, and the script stays true to the roots of the tale, yet adds a few interesting twists and at least mildly provocative details. Finally, this film makes the point that horror, though certainly bound to blood and gore at its core, is not necessarily limited to over the top violence, slasher action or shock moments, but that atmosphere can deliver the basics of the genre, when it is done right. I wouldn’t guess what Stoker would have to say about this, but I suspect Murnau would be most pleased to see such a stylish and sophisticated expansion on his earlier masterwork. Great stuff.