In 2002, the superhero genre achieved an ideal form in “Spider-Man,” which built upon aspects from the Superman and Batman franchises as well as 1998’s “Blade” and 2000’s “X-Men.” Over the subsequent two decades, the genre developed and expanded, but a consistent aspect throughout is the cinematic expression of the experience of superpowers. This was…
In the pantheon of Bond, James Bond, there are shots that strike from a golden gun and others that leave one neither shaken nor stirred. One film often regarded as being among the latter is 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” infamously featuring George Lazenby as 007 who never returned to don the tuxedo. Despite…
The special forces sub-genre combines elements of the cop, spy and soldier film, and is characterized by jargon, hardware, institutionalized yet independent characters and almost-but-not-quite overwhelming odds. Notable examples include “Tears of the Sun,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Triple Frontier” and “The Expendables” franchise. Given their practice of taking established generic traditions and infusing them with…
