Choosing the obscure character MADAME WEB (2024) to headline a superhero movie makes Morbius look high concept by comparison. Dakota Johnson plays EMT Cassandra Webb, who discovers her in utero exposure to mystical spider-venom has endowed her with precog abilities.
Those abilities eventually show her the sinister Ezekiel (Tahar Rahim) who gained spider-powers from the same venom is out to murder three girls he believes will become superheroes and kill him down the road. The girls are understandably freaked by Cass’ interest in them until Ezekiel makes them realize she’s on the level; can her powers help them survive against a guy who’s Evil Spider-Man?
This has gotten trashed as a terrible movie. I don’t think it’s that bad, equivalent to one of the better made-for-TV films in Cyborgs, Santa Claus and Satan. I particularly like Cass’ use of her abilities in the big fight with Ezekiel. But no, it ain’t anywhere near the level of a good MCU film such as Spider-Man: Far From Home. It’s also an odd mish-mash of elements; Madame Web is from Denny O’Neil’s dreadful run on Amazing Spider-Man, Ezekiel comes from J. Michael Straczynski’s run (I wasn’t a fan of that one) and the three girls are assorted spider-heroes (I believe they did work with Madame Web at one point but the ending still feels like a knockoff of DC’s Birds of Prey). If not great, it’s still superior to Morbius. “How would you know if you can climb walls if you’ve never really tried?”
DAMSEL (2024) got good reviews from some friends of mine. Certainly the set-up — a princess in an arranged marriage discovers she’s being set up as sacrifice to a dragon with a score to settle with the local royals. This spent too much time with the princess wandering around the spooky caverns and then wrapped up the plot too fast for me. “It’s not me you should fear — this is the end of your story.”
Moving on to TV, I rewatched the first season of iZOMBIE (2015) in preparation to watching the rest — I don’t know why I didn’t keep going when it aired originally as it’s a good show, based on a DC comic book. Rose McIver plays Liv, a newly turned zombie who controls her craving for brains by working in the morgue as a coroner’s assistant, which gives her easy access to freshly dead gray matter. Eating brains also gives her some of their memories and personality, which leads to her working with a cop (Malcolm Goodwin) to investigate murders, under the ruse she’s a psychic who can sometimes flash on information about the victims (in reality, she samples their brains).
What keeps this from becoming a straight Zombie Detective story is that there are quite a few zombies in town, the result of an experimental energy drink. Blaine (David Anders) is killing people to supply his fellow zombies with their needed food; Liv’s ex Major (Robert Buckley) suspects a kid he knows is one of the victims. Things get increasingly complicated as the season goes along … but throughout, McIver’s performance is top-notch whether she’s playing pure Liv or the personalities assumed after snacking. “Could I twirl like this if I were drunk? Probably but I wouldn’t look half so graceful.”
The first season of the Britcom THE VICAR OF DIBLEY (1994) introduces us to Reverend Geraldine Granger (Dawn French) who shocks a small village when she’s appointed their new Vicar because she’s a — you know — Not A Man! Gwen’s quirky humor and relatively free-spirited outlook rub local bigwig David (Gary Waldhorn) the wrong way so we see them feud over church policy and spending along with dealing with the other local eccentrics. One of the better British sitcoms I’ve seen in recent years. “I believe we’re surrounded by more butter than we realize, sometimes in cunning disguises.”
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