If there’s one thing that former Netflix, current Prime Video darling Mike Flanagan knows, it’s how to tell a sinister, twisty sort of story. And if there’s one thing that Sony Pictures has proven to be painfully useless at, it’s telling a sinister, twisty sort of story.
With that in mind, no one seemed to be expecting the Fall of the House of Usher mastermind’s thoughts on Madame Web—the home video-grade superhero flick that’s sweeping the nation at the moment—but he took the time to grace us with them anyway via Letterboxd, and let’s just say the result has effectively turned Madame Web into an honorary Usher child (if you know, you know).
In his Letterboxd review, Flanagan opted not to address the film in the main body of the post, but instead copied and pasted the transcript from an AMC advertisement into it whilst flooding the tag page with all the point-form criticism one could ever need, including four dedicated ADR-centric tags, which isn’t nearly enough to properly take aim at its target.
In all seriousness, though, Flanagan’s review is much more than a cheeky potshot at a film whose existence should anger rather than amuse moviegoers. Indeed, by wrapping this criticism up in a blanket made of AMC ad material, the Midnight Club creator has inadvertently expressed that a film like this isn’t even worth giving one’s thoughts on. If Sony doesn’t even want to take Madame Web seriously (as evidenced by the woeful state it was allowed to be shipped off to theaters in), why should anyone else do so outside of the professional film reviewers who were well and truly on the front lines with this one?
Kudos to calling it as you see it, Flanagan, and if you’re reading this, please put your hat in the ring to direct the MCU’s inevitable Ghost Rider project.
(featured image: Sony Pictures)
