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The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Aquadude!

Assuming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the end of the franchise, the current DCCU goes out with a roar. The last superhero movie before the DC/Warner superhero reboot and the last one before an almost comic-related movie-free 2024, Aquaman is a worthy venture that elevates the hero to almost Superman … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Simply Marvelous

The Marvels, the latest big screen foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has been the subject of harsh criticism by the League of Armchair Critics who trashed it without the benefit of actually seeing it. They will tell you the all-female superheroine cast was “too woke” and that the story was too … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: We Named the Sequel Dial of Destiny!

Now THAT is how to end a movie series! Indiana Jones rides triumphantly into the sunset with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, a movie so good that we can now pretend 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull never happened. Dial of Destiny is everything fans could want in an … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: FLASH! He’ll Save Every One of Us!

The Flash, a long-anticipated movie bereft with problems and controversy, is an ambitious undertaking which fluctuates wildly from brilliant to pedestrian, succeeding more often than it fails. The plot, pulled right from the comics, is intriguing. Overcome by sorrow, the Flash (Ezra Miller) ignores the … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse!

The animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse may be the most significant Marvel movie since the last Avengers movie. The writing is brilliant, the animation is the best I've ever seen (though they still too often use the boring, blocky triangle body shape for men), and there are more than enough Easter … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Guard On, Ye Guardians!

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 may be the best film of the trilogy, with tons of action, pathos, and casual humor sprinkled perfectly throughout. It’s one thing to create a silly comedy (see Spaceballs) and another to insert actual funny lines and sequences that do not detract from the overall seriousness of a … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Doctor, Heal Thyselves!

Remember reading those early adventures of Dr. Strange and wishing you could see artist Steve Ditko’s crazy reality-tearing images on the big screen? Turns out, you can. Using the universes created by the late Ditko as a canvas, Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens the door to the next phase of … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: That’s THE Batman to You!

The latest cinematic excursion into the Batman franchise is a rather overlong dip into the past, featuring a youthful Bruce Wayne in his second year as the caped crusader. It ignores all previous Batman films and sets up a new, and welcome, Batman universe. His primary adversary in this rather convoluted … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: The Matrix Re-Matrixed!

The Matrix Resurrections is exhausting. There are many worlds within worlds within worlds that Keanu Reeves and friends move through at a dizzying pace. They change appearances and locales along the way until it all becomes quite confusing. Fans of the original trilogy will likely enjoy it, but folks … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: The Eternals!

The Eternals ranks with the best of Marvel Universe movies and ushers in a new era of films. There was some concern about a new film that introduces so many new characters into the already crowded Marvel universe, but the fears are unrealized. The Eternals, based on Jack Kirby’s 1976 comic series, takes … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Suicide Squad!

It took a Marvel Studios director to show DC/Warner Brothers how to make a superhero movie. Fans can thank James Gunn (who directed Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy) for writing and directing a DC comic film that can stand up to Marvel’s. Solid characterization, a faithfulness to the original comic … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: From One Kajillionaire to Another

Kajillionaire is an interesting, little art house movie that examines a man and woman and their adult daughter who live in a world of lies, theft and deceit – and a complete lack of emotion. Robert (Richard Jenkins) and Theresa (Debra Winger) are borderline insane, living by their wits on the edge of … [Read More...]

Thirteen Ways, Part VI: Wishes, Careful and Not

Editor’s note: In the series, we've asked 13 interesting people to consider a work of comic art and tell us what it means to them. They can focus on the character, the history, the artist, the context, how it makes them feel…heck, even how it doesn’t make them feel. For this installment, we asked comic … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: It’s an Event! An Actual Event!

Now we’re talking! This is the kind of new comics week we have been dreaming about since the shutdown in March. Marvel’s Empyre saga is unfolding nicely and the long-awaited Batman Joker War is starting off with a bang. Either of these multi-issue crossovers could tank (remember Atlantis Attacks?) or end … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: This Week and Last Week

While last week, whether by design or coincidence, was a huge one for independent comics, because neither DC nor Marvel released any books. Well, the mainstream comics are back in force this week. DC released many more than Marvel, but Marvel’s got a big one coming next week, and it’s free. In a … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: 2-for-1 Special Edition!

Irresistible, one of the first post-quarantine films of the year, is an unconventional rom-com disguised as a political movie – or vice versa.Former late night talk show host Jon Stewart wrote and directed this film starring his buddy, Steve Carell, as Gary Zimmer, a disillusioned Democratic political advisor … [Read More...]

Thirteen Ways, Part 5: A Very Clever Hat Thief

Editor’s note: In the series, we ask 13 interesting people to consider a work of comic art and tell us what it means to them. They can focus on the the character, the history, the artist, the context, how it makes them feel…heck, even how it doesn’t make them feel. For our fifth installment, we welcome the … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Finally!

After months of being denied fresh fantasies, the NEW comics have returned. Finally! Like many of you, I have been re-reading tons of old trade paperbacks and various collected editions of my favorite characters: Avengers, Justice League, Superman, X-Men and, of course, the Metal Men. Yes, the Metal … [Read More...]

Thirteen Ways, Part 4: Tales of Wordiness!

Editor’s note: In the series, we ask 13 interesting people to consider a work of comic art and tell us what it means to them. They can focus on the the character, the history, the artist, the context, how it makes them feel…heck, even how it doesn’t make them feel. For our fourth installment, we welcome … [Read More...]

Thirteen Ways, Part III: Desire and the Man Who Helps

Jacques Lacan talks about the necessity for an incredulity towards our fantasies.  Our goals and dreams play an essential role in moving us through daily life and getting us out of bed in the morning. We strive towards reaching those goals; writing that book, finding a meaningful human connection, … [Read More...]

Thirteen Ways, Part II: The Glass, the Bottle, But Not the Blue

Editor's note: In the series, we ask 13 interesting people to consider a work of comic art and tell us what it means to them. They can focus on the the character, the history, the artist, the context, how it makes them feel…heck, even how it doesn’t make them feel. For our second installment, we welcome the … [Read More...]

13 Ways: The First Way

Editor's Note: In my past life, I used to spend some time talking about poetry in classrooms. One of my favorite poems to offer classes was "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens. In that poem, Stevens basically writes thirteen mini-poems, all ostensibly--you guessed it--about … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Bloodshot Is a Spondaic Word!

Bloodshot is a far better movie than you would expect it to be. Director David Wilson took writers Jeff Wadlow and Eric Heisserer’s interpretation of a middling 1992 Valiant Comics hero and turned it around with some clever, unexpected twists. The movie gets the basics down. Just as the character was … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Of Things Unseen, Seen

The Invisible Man strikes a new genre in film – superhero-horror. Actually, it’s more like supervillain-horror movie, since the brilliant scientist who creates an invisibility suit is an evil sadist. It is his live-in girlfriend, Cecilia, played to perfection by Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale), who is … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Airboy!

YES! Airboy is back in comics for the third time in 75 years and it is the book that we fans longed for. Even better, the guy who wrote the entire 50-issue 1980s run for Eclipse Comics, Chuck Dixon, has returned and picked up exactly where he left off in 1989. And while I don’t agree with Dixon’s politics … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: DC’s 5G! Can You Hear Me Now?

It looks like there are some big changes coming in comics at DC, changes which we have seen coming incrementally for some time. And, as a reader for a long time, a very long time, I am not unhappy about new versions of old characters getting to shine -- as long as the original versions stick around. I’m … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: Underwhatever

Take a pinch of Alien, a dash of Creature From The Black Lagoon, a page or two from the Cthulhu story of your choice, and some vague references to humans destroying the environment, mix it all with an attractive cast and voila: Underwater. It looks like the critical community is split almost exactly down … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: The Rise of Skywalker!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a brilliant tale of redemption, rebellion and resurrection, as the original Star Wars story cycle comes to a satisfying conclusion with this ninth installment. Rise, which opens Friday, is a bit long at 2.22 hours, but director and co-writer J.J. Abrams creates a welcome … [Read More...]

The Sanctum Sangiacomo: He Wrote THAT, too?

To most comic readers, the writers of the books they love are faceless and formless. This is fine; the writer’s works should stand alone. In the case of J. Michael Straczynski, it turns out that the challenge that is his life is the most riveting story of all. Becoming Superman is the frightening real … [Read More...]