Justice League superheroes are back to defend a world without hope
MOVIES
Big Release on Nov.17: Justice League
Big Picture: They say timing is everything, and non-fictional America could sure use a Justice League right about now. Too bad the capes, tridents and tiaras are only to be found on the silver screen. As for the film, it finds Bruce Wayne believing in human decency and camaraderie again in the wake of Superman’s death, as the batty billionaire goes about uniting a super team.
Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash join forces to protect the planet from an assault of epic proportions.
After the super-serious, gloomy failings of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Man of Steel, DC Comics plays the Joss Whedon Avengers’ card and goes for the funny bone amid all the heroism. There are quips a-plenty in this script, and thankfully Whedon himself even took over as director from brooding specialist Zack Snyder. But don’t worry, things aren’t all lollipops and rainbows. The heroes protect a “world without hope” plagued by rising crime, war and terrorism. Apparently, humanity packed in its good side after Superman’s loss.
Forecast: The Kryptonian member of this superhero team is MIA from the trailers. In my personal opinion, it’s a safe bet that Superman will return from the grave to save the day.
TV
Big Events: Marvel’s The Punisher (Nov. 17, Netflix); Mudbound (Nov. 17, Netflix)
Big Picture: The Defenders and Iron Fist were stumbles in Marvel’s bid to flex its spandex on the small screen, but The Punisher should be on target for genre fans. Jon Bernthal reprises the vigilante character in this new series from Hannibal writer/producer Steve Lightfoot. We meet Frank Castle, a U.S. military hitman who shoots first and asks questions later – only to be haunted by his misdeeds. Naturally, his solution is to shoot more people for vengeance. (It’s a classic American tale!) The show’s tagline — “the truth must be taken” — even sounds like it was lifted from an NRA pin.
Meanwhile, Mudbound is a Netflix original film that adapts Hillary Jordan’s 2008 novel. It offers an epic, personal story about the Second World War and racism — focused on a white and a black family, and shifting from the war’s battlefields to the battlefields back home in rural Mississippi. The star-studded cast includes Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell and Mary J. Blige (who is getting the most awards’ buzz). This topnotch drama comes with pedigree — it bowed at Sundance.
Forecast: The Punisher shoots to entertain, and should please the anti-hero’s many fans. But in an America beset by bigotry and gun violence, I will take Superman’s idealism over angry vigilantism. (If Superman can make Batman lighten up, maybe there’s hope for us all.)
MUSIC
Big Releases on Nov. 17: Mavis Staples (If All I Was Was Black); Barenaked Ladies (Fake Nudes)
Big Picture: This is Jeff Tweedy’s third-time around producing the legendary Mavis Staples (they already won one Grammy), and the Wilco frontman wrote all the tracks on this effort. Staples wanted the album to take on American’s current divisive social climate. “We’re not loving one another the way we should,” she says. “Some people are saying they want to make the world great again, but we never lost our greatness. We just strayed into division.”
Tweedy takes her comments further: “There is something that feels complicit at this moment in time about not facing what is happening in this country head on.” Tracks includes If All I Was Was Black and Peaceful Dream.
Meanwhile, the Barenaked Ladies can always be counted on for a little levity and humour. The band just celebrated 25 years, and are now gearing up to tour Fake Nudes, their 15th studio album. “I think it’s a very important time for optimism,” the group’s Ed Robertson recently stated. “We live in a world that tends to emphasize the negative. I think it’s kind of a false narrative — we certainly have problems that we all need to address, but the narrative that we’re in constant danger, that doom is imminent, is not real.” (If The Punisher is on your Christmas gift list, he could use a copy of this album).
Canadian guest artists on the release include Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy and Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle.
Forecast: Mavis will make it back to the Grammy podium; BNL will make you smile.