Madame Web (2024)

This much maligned Marvel superhero flick isn't so bad if you are not fussed by its relatively small (for superhero movies) budget or by its lack of male muscle and brawn (instead we have female teamwork and clairvoyance), and you need to be able to look past some weird dubbed voice acting that is never explained, but Dakota Johnson, a presence as light as a feather (like her mum in Working Girl, you feel she might blow away in a wind) is captivating as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic experiencing strange things in the lead up to her discovering by movie's end that she is a spider-enhanced superhero. 

★★★☆☆

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Little Evil (2017)

This horror-comedy that must have been written by a step-parent in-the-know has recently married Gary (Adam Scott) slowly coming to suspect his new stepson is the devil incarnate and while the movie cleverly draws on classic horror tropes (most notably from The Omen), it also cleverly likens a step-parent's devotion to a partner's child to demon-slaying, suggesting it is every parent's (and step-parent's) job to close the door to evil in a child's life.

★★★☆☆

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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Despite its worthwhile message and the fact it is based on the beloved James Thurber character, this ill-conceived, ponderous Ben Stiller vanity project is the pits, unsuccessfully melding comedy (wet), adventure (daft), sudden, unexpected pop culture spoof (bewildering), and endless product placement (shameless), and made even more unbearable by its cast of adults playing adults who act like children, all of them, from cloying start to maudlin finish.

☆☆☆☆☆

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