The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

SPOILERS BELOW

The word I had in my mind when it finished was 'pleasant'. Which may feel a bit like damning with faint praise but is in fact just faint praise. Like, I enjoyed it the whole way through, and I probably liked it a bit more than Superman (2025). But that movie takes some big swings, this one just does exactly what you'd expect in a very competent way, less hyperactive way. It feels like the flipside of that movie - drops you in media res, lots of catch up to do, does what is needed to keep the cinematic universe on track (for DCU, a big bold explosive Everything Is Happening movie, for MCU a movie that feels a bit different to the others and is confident enough to not do much and just be well made - to not be Brave New World, basically). I liked the characters, I thought Galactus was cool and scary, I was invested in the drama, there was some good action and lots of delicious production design. And it's (unavoidably) unfair that the 60s setting and branding and all that may get dismissed as a good starting point that got fumbled, because it is a big strength of the movie and if some incredibly diligent spoiler-avoider went to see the new MCU movie and got hit with this, they'd be blown away by the audacity of setting it in the retro-futuristic 60s of a parallel Earth and the skill with which that is done.

Honestly, the one thing I felt it was missing was an early action set-piece where we get to see them use their powers and defeat some goofy Silver Age baddy without breaking a sweat, because it's pretty action and powers light. Wouldn't have minded them adding ten minutes to the movie to segue from the big intro montage into a fight against the Mole Man.

Rating: a competent, confident, pleasant watch

Superman (2025)

It's enjoyable, lots of fun ideas, a loathsome Luthor, lots of cheerworthy moments. But you do have to be in the mood for a Superman movie with big George Of The Jungle vibes that feels like a VFX showreel pretty much the whole way through. I was genuinely wondering throughout whether the projector set-up was correct because pretty much every single shot is a medium or close-up. And then on top of that the camera is constantly whipping and flipping, it's like one of those long choreographed GotG fights except for entire sections of the movie throughout. Along with the 'not only are we going to skip the origin story, we're also going to drop you into this story in media res and have a bunch of other non-origin superheroes flying around too' approach, it did at times make me yearn for a bit of the old Donner pacing; this felt more like dropping into the middle of an anime show. But I liked it more than any of the Snyders or the Singer and at least half of the Donners, and it's probably what needed to be done to get this new DCEU going. I just hope any direct sequels are confident enough to take a breath every once in a while.

Rating: fun, but often hyperactive to a fault

Thunderbolts* (2025)

SPOILERS BELOW

Overall really enjoyed it! It has good writing and action and, like, actual characters. It makes the most of its dark hero/anti-hero/villain team-up concept, too: there's playful stuff like the moment where they're doing the standard 'all fighting each other due to misunderstanding' thing but because they're all Dark Characters a knife gets thrown at someone then caught out of the air three times in a row but also they don't pull their punches with the characters having done some shitty stuff as well as experienced it, and still being pretty messed up or just arseholes.
The banter's good and not just Marvel Quipping, the actors are good. Halfway through I was thinking "this is what the tv shows should have been like!"
There are some flaws - it loses energy once or twice, sometimes a bunch of the team fall out of focus for too long in a way that someone like Joss Whedon wouldn't allow, and while it's great that it has some themes they get extremely literal and blunt and not in quite an inventive enough way to push the climax over the top.
But I was still onboard by the end of the movie and I'd be happier to see more of the Thunderbolts than of the New Guardians Of The Galaxy, say.

Rating: has some issues, but overall very enjoyable and light on its feet.