‘Daredevil: Born Again’ review: Disney+ revival delivers justice

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“You’re guilty. That guilt, that shame — that’s my home, Red. And I can see it on you. I can smell it on you. It’s all over you.”

Guilt, particularly the Catholic variety, is a living, breathing thing in “Daredevil: Born Again.” The new TV show — a revival and continuation of the three-season Netflix series now streaming on Disney+ and officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — is drenched in it, the emotion serving as both a reckoning of the past and a harbinger of what’s to come. But instead of drowning under that soul-crushing weight, “Born Again” faces it head on in formidable fashion, tackling meaty subjects — disability, loss, justice, power — while offering up the fantastically crunchy action you’d expect from the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

In “Born Again” (the first two episodes of which are now streaming), it’s been years since the events of Season 3 of the Netflix series, in which blind superhero Matt Murdock/Daredevil puts a stop to mob boss Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio, respectively, both reprising their roles in the new series). Now, Matt, a devout Catholic, has stashed away his devil-inspired, blood-red crime-fighting suit and is sticking to his day job as a defense lawyer. However, that reprieve from using his training (both in fighting techniques and honing his other senses to supernatural levels) is short-lived, with a gasp-inducing opening sequence that shatters any illusion that this revival wouldn’t be as gritty and brutal as its predecessor.

“Born Again,” named after the 1986 comic book arc written by Frank Miller (but not actually adapting that comic), originally was meant to be an 18-episode season only loosely connected to the Netflix series, with a lighter tone and a more episodic structure. Thankfully, that didn’t end up happening (honestly, who wants a cheerful Daredevil?). Marvel brass stepped in, hired new writing and directing talent — including showrunner Dario Scardapane — split the season into two (nine episodes for this one, eight for Season 2) and reverted “Born Again” to being more serialized and connected to the previous series. It was the right call: Despite seeing some of that original vision seep through at times (multiple episodes were already filmed before the creative pivot), the overall tenor of the revival feels appropriately mature, weighty with consequences and surprisingly patient with its plot.

Speaking of, “Born Again” is a bit of a slow burn. We know Matt doesn’t want to be Daredevil anymore, that he wants to help people from inside the system. We know Wilson is out of jail and running to be mayor of New York City. We know they’ll eventually clash; Kingpin, like Thanos, is inevitable. It takes a few episodes for the story to really get up and running (especially because there are some strange narrative off-ramps, like a way-too-long bank robbery sequence that brought the story to a halt), but once it does, “Born Again” becomes engrossing. Without spoiling details, it dives into the moral quandary of the value of vigilantism in a violent world, the difference between justice and vengeance, how power and access to it is a corrupting force, how a disability colors others’ perceptions of you, how guilt eats at you until there’s nothing left but grief and rage.

But it’s the talent of Cox and D’Onofrio that elevates “Born Again.” Cox cloaks himself in the guilt that smothers Matt; he can shatter your heart with a rueful grin. D’Onofrio, on the other hand, can unnerve with the calmest of voices; you never know what to expect from him, and it’s disorienting. When they’re both on screen, the chemistry simmers with tension.

Visually, “Born Again” is a step up from the Netflix series. (I will say, though, that I’m disappointed the opening title sequence was changed; the original one was a masterful execution of symbolism, while the new one feels a bit on the nose.) Creative camera work abounds: a close-up of bloody knuckles, first Wilson’s, then Matt’s; a crimson filter as a bullet pierces someone; taillights reflected in a pair of eyes. Then there are the action sequences: When Daredevil and Co. do brawl out, it’s glorious (and very appropriately rated TV-MA).

The quote that opened this review happens early in “Born Again,” during an unexpectedly cathartic conversation between Matt and Frank Castle (aka the Punisher, played once again with gruff charm by Jon Bernthal), but it speaks to the heart of the revival: How do you move forward when all you can see is the past? Thankfully, while this first season ends on a bit of a cliffhanger (which, no surprise), we do have a sense of what’s to come in Season 2. But while we wait for that, this season delivers — and that feels like justice.

‘Daredevil: Born Again’

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: Disney+

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Movie review: ‘In the Lost Lands’ an earnest eyesore

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There’s something strangely moving about the filmography of Paul W.S. Anderson and his muse, wife Milla Jovovich. The couple have been making absolutely flabbergasting sci-fi and fantasy B movies for 23 years — of the 14 features Anderson has directed, Jovovich has starred in seven, including the “Resident Evil” franchise, and the pair show no signs of stopping. It fact, it seems the Anderson/Jovovich films will continue until morale improves.

Perhaps Anderson’s love language is making his wife act against a green screen, and it seems to be working, at least for their marriage, if not the cinematic results. Their latest effort is “In the Lost Lands,” a dystopian postapocalyptic fantasy Western based on a George R.R. Martin short story, with a screenplay by Anderson and Constantin Werner. The entire thing looks like a steampunk “300” with nods to George Miller’s “Mad Max” movies, but rendered almost entirely in gray scale. With pops of red, fiery accents and an overly stylized digital look, it also calls to mind Robert Rodriguez’s comic book adaptation “Sin City.”

It’s an eyesore, but it’s an eyesore like no other, which makes it distinctive, at least. Truly, there is no one who does vulgar auteurism like Anderson. The man is committed to his sci-fi/fantasy sometimes video game adaptation dreck — and his wife — and one can’t help but be moved by devotion like that.

Jovovich is joined in this one by Dave Bautista, who plays a swaggering gunslinger named Boyce, packing a two-headed rattlesnake in his holster. He’s the most prolific Casanova of this wretched place, bedding both the scheming young queen (Amara Okereke) and a shotgun-wielding tavern wench (Deirdre Mullins). Jovovich is the witch Gray Alys. The film opens with her escape from a public hanging using mind control, and she becomes a folk hero (“the witch who would not hang”) to the oppressed populace of the city.

Compelled to grant wishes, Gray Alys promises the queen she’ll venture into the Lost Lands outside the city to retrieve the power of shapeshifting wolf man (one could even say a werewolf). With only six days until the full moon, she enlists the help of the hunter Boyce to take her into the Lost Lands. In hot pursuit is the Enforcer (Arly Jover), a religious fanatic (you can tell by the big cross on her chest and the the crosses on the faces of all her underlings) dispatched by the Patriarch (Fraser James) to bring Gray Alys back to be tried for heresy.

Got all that? It’s really quite simple, just a chase movie across a barren postindustrial land filled with dangerous beasties and criminals in search of a magic power. Back in the city, the scheming and backstabbing and oppressing continues apace.

There’s a decidedly uncanny quality to “In the Lost Lands,” which exists entirely in a gray computer-generated void studded with the wreckage of civilization. Anderson alternates between extreme wide shots of the digitally rendered landscape and medium close-ups for his stars because it’s pretty much all he’s afforded against the rest of the set. For about 40 minutes, the whole thing feels like a simulacrum of another movie, or a movie trailer. You keep waiting for the thing to actually start until it’s already well underway.

But there is something kind of endearing about the straight-faced approach to this deeply stupid movie, an earnestness that’s hard to come by these days. Is it entertaining? Not really. But does it look good? No. Is the script decent? Not at all. And how about the acting? Nothing to write home about. But the visual effects must be good? Still no. Yet, you have to appreciate the commitment to the bit on the part of Anderson and Jovovich, still making these movies after all these years. She’s still putting on a mullet wig and some facial tattoos and doing some silly make-em-ups with her husband. If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is. And Bautista is a welcome screen presence at any time, despite the limitations of the material and goofiness required of him.

“In the Lost Lands” is likely not destined to be a cult classic but by the time Jovovich and Bautista are fighting a bunch of skeletons in an abandoned nuclear power plant, its boneheaded charm reaches the only apex it might find. The rest is a race to the finish of predictable twists, pixelated clashes and po-faced line readings. Is this a real movie? I’m not entirely certain, and I certainly can’t recommend watching it. But I am amused by the bizarre Anderson-Jovovich oeuvre and hope they keep cranking them out.

‘In the Lost Lands’

1.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for violence)

Running time: 1:41

How to watch: In theaters March 7

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Men’s basketball: Gophers have big opportunity Sunday at Rutgers

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After losing nearly everyone to graduation or the NCAA transfer portal last spring, Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson built a team, in fairly quick order, around his ace in the hole — returning power forward Dawson Garcia.

The basketball talking heads were unimpressed, picking Minnesota to finish dead last in the suddenly 18-team Big Ten, which tells you what you need to know about anyone’s preseason picks.

The Gophers (15-15 overall, 7-12 Big Ten) are set to play their regular-season finale Sunday’s noon tip at Rutgers (14-16, 7-12) with a chance to finish 11th in the conference and above .500 overall.

But the team wants more.

“This team has continued to fight, maintain confidence, and get better,” Ben Johnson, in his fourth season as the Gophers’ head coach, said Saturday. “They’ve gelled as a team. We’ve had to play through ups and downs, and we still figured it out. I know they don’t want it to end.”

The Gophers have secured a spot in the season-ending conference tournament, the winner of which earns the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. That’s not likely, but it’s not out of the question that Minnesota receives an NIT bid next Sunday.

Have the Gophers done eight for a second straight NIT bid?

“I wish I had a good answer,” Johnson said. “I have no idea, but I do know this: The best thing to do is keep winning. If you keep winning, all that takes care of itself.”

The only reason the Gophers aren’t a lock to make the second-tier postseason tournament is a handful of bad losses at home — North Texas, Northwestern and a double-overtime loss to Ohio State they had all but won in regulation.

Otherwise, the Gophers have the wins to make them attractive: No. 17 Michigan, then-No. 15 Oregon and Ivy League champion Yale.

Plus, the Gophers have a 7-8 record against Quad 1 teams. That’s a better ranking against Quad 1 — an NCAA tournament selection metric that uses opponents, sites and statistics to rank wins and losses — than eight teams ahead of them in the Big Ten standings, including Ohio State, No. 35 in the NET rankings.

If the Gophers are at least overachievers, and at best a first step in Johnson getting his program on track. He has one year left on his contract, and two guaranteed games to show athletics director Mark Coyle he is the answer.

Johnson said his team is essentially healthy, even Garcia, the team’s leading scorer who pulled himself out of last Sunday’s victory at Nebraska because of a sore ankle. And, the coach points out, Rutgers is a Quad 1 team, as well.

“I’ve talked to the guys about that: ‘Think of where we started. Now we have the opportunity to go on the road against a really good Rutgers team and play for the 11th seed (in the conference tournament).’ Now, it’s about the opportunity to challenge themselves and combine that with some momentum. It’s all positive.”

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Happy Lady’s Charm totally free Review, Signs, Info and Suggests 2025

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