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Now Playing: SUPERMAN (2025)
Krypto refusing to budge from Lois's lap while she pilots the spaceship was nothing short of genius.
More dog, less kaiju.
SUPERMAN (2025) Writer & Director: James Gunn / Based on characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster / Cinematographer: Henry Braham (1.85:1) / Design: Beth Mickle / Editors: Craig Alpert, Jason Ballantine, & William Hoy / Composers: David Fleming & John Murphy / Acted by: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Sara Sampaio, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Bradley Cooper, Angela Sarafyan, & María Gabriela de Faría / Countries of Origin: USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand / Rating: PG-13 / Length: 129 mins.
I don’t profess to be a scholar of Kryptonology, but I am (barely) old enough to remember watching The Adventures of Superman during its initial run. (George Reeves was my first celebrity suicide.) As soon as I was able to read, Dad became my comic book pusher. Every Saturday evening on his way home from the eponymous Larry’s Grill, he would stop at the Thorndale el newsstand and pick up the early Sunday editions of the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. Buried deep within the color sections of those horseshoe-curved newspapers tucked under Larry's arm was a stack of the latest offerings from DC, Harvey, and Archie comics. I studied each issue with the same jeweler’s eye to detail as the Warren Commission paid the Zapruder footage.
Friends and I would swap comics and spend hours squabbling over which superhero truly was the GOAT. It’s the original no-brainer. Superman didn’t need a bat bite to endow him with limited powers. He was born with them. After all, “Super” is the first word in his name! By the very nature of his indestructibility, Superman wins first time, every time. Period. I eventually ditched comic books, and I probably should have done the same with comic book movies after the Richard cut (Lester, not Donner) of Superman II, a sequel that eclipses both forerunners and descendants alike with its inventive, amorous, laugh-out-loud approach to spinning a levelheaded superhero yarn.
Leave it to Zack Snyder to come along and fuck it all up (though I didn't care much for Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor in Superman Returns, either).
According to Google AI, there have been 11 Superman movies, counting those in the DC Extended Universe in which he makes an appearance. (Make it an even dozen if you take into account Superman vs. the Mole Men, or 29 if you include Max and Dave Fleischer’s 17 spiffy Technicolor cartoons.) I long ago abandoned whatever little urge there was to be a Marvel completist, but it’s safe to say I’ll go to my grave having seen every live-action Superman feature (Lois and Clark and Smallville don’t count) that Hollywood sends our way. The good news: Superman 2025 is the best the franchise has had to offer since Superman II. Bad news: that amounts to faint praise when a computer-generated dog with a playful streak has more going for it than any of its human counterparts.
What's this? The theatre masking at the big Grossmont is not set for 'Scope? Well whaddya know? I was spared a trip to the lobby to complain. It's the first Superman picture to dispense with an anamorphic lens?!
The history of Superman is recapped in a fleeting 50-second opening crawl before the film reveals our hero lying in a field of blinding white snow, save for a few splotches of red around his nose and mouth. The Daily Planet headline should read: SUPERMAN BLEEDS! The last such instance took place in an Alaska greasy spoon, when mortal alter-ego Clark Kent lost the first of two bouts against a trucker named “Rocky.”
There are a few modifications to the legend, added to wink at (piss off?) the backward thinkers in attendance. In the 1940s, Superman flew under the handle, “Strange visitor from another planet,” which in present day terminology translates to "illegal alien." And when it comes to descriptive terminology for a guy who can fly, “metahuman” has replaced “superhero." Conservative critics have gone so far as to harp on the film's liberal ideology: Trump-fluffer Kellyanne Conway took issue with a TV interview in which “Superman” star David Corenswet failed to say “American” when mentioning Superman’s slogan of “truth, justice and the American way.”
Video:
Trailer: SUPERMAN
Superman movies did away with oversized monsters and robots as early as the Fleischer cartoons (The Arctic Giant and The Mechanical Monsters, respectively). Here, the robots are cute and spindly and get assigned light housekeeping duties at the Fortress of Solitude. The one named #4 speaks with a British accent that sounds too close for comfort to C-3PO; one hopes the resemblance was intentional, and that Gunn was having a high time siccing baddie Engineer’s (María Gabriela de Faría) bandsaw mitts on the Lucas clones.
The biggest threats here — to both to mankind and narrative structure — are the “Hammer of Boravia,” a 7-foot tall CG fire-breathing metahuman, followed by a Kaiju bent on terrorizing Metropolis. Both exist for two reasons: to court the Asian market and to hawk merchandise. Parents and other assorted suckers will be asked to drop mucho Kryptocurrency on everything from a Funko POP! Krypto ($14.99) to a Daily Planet latte mug ($17.98) to a tailored cosplay costume ($285.00). There's even a Superman surfboard ($1220.95).
Of all the characters not to revive, Lex Luthor’s (Nicholas Hoult) personal assistant Eve Teschmacher leads the pack. Born of celluloid, not pen and ink, Ms. Teschmacher was a figment of Richard Donner and Mario Puzo’s imaginations, dreamt up for the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie in 1978. She was far from a braintrust as portrayed by Valerine Perrine; in Gunn’s hands, Victoria’s Secret supermodel Sara Sampaio is the dumbest blonde of all. A one-joke vacuity, Teschmacher spends most of her screen time taking selfies. Before it’s over — and in order to justify the use of the stereotype — guess who proves to be the smartest blonde of the bunch?
We still believe that a man can fly. This time, it’s the various spaceships they buzz around in that are difficult to swallow. The final fight looks to have been filmed inside a Lite Brite box. (But Krypto refusing to budge from Lois's lap while she pilots the spaceship was nothing short of genius.)
Identity crisis is inherent in a Superman movie. This time around, he wonders if the glitched holographic legacy Jor-El and Lara left behind included instructions to dominate, not protect stupid earthlings.
Corenswet does justice to the character and fits the costume. Gone are the days of Superman’s greased-back hair, fronted by a distinctively articulated spit curl. The Ace comb hasn’t been made that could rake Superman ‘25’s hair. Rather, it appears that Clark uses a heavy-duty commercial bathroom hand dryer to affect that oh so tousled super-coiffe.
A cursory look indicates golden boy James Gunn is the only director to date to slalom in and out of superhero sagas for both the MCU (Guardians of the Galaxy[s]) and DC Films (The Suicide Squad). And he’s certainly no slouch when it comes to having an encyclopedic knowledge of and appreciation for the Man of Steel, particularly the two films produced by the father and son team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The opening credit typeface, the look of Metropolis, and John Williams’ lushly romantic love theme are all tributes to the Salkind’s commitment to printing the legend of America’s hero.
But Gunn finds difficulty in reining in the script’s unwieldily structure. Action scenes take forever to play out, but even so, they’re nothing compared to when Clark is out of uniform. Absent are the vital signs of l'amour toujours between Clark and Lois. Rachel Brosnahan portrays Lane as if she were a college journalism student, not a byliner for a great metropolitan newspaper. Their romantic relationship has just passed the three-month mark, a time when the dewey-eyed blush of romance still twitterpates one’s heart. But when they're alone together, their exchanges sound like they're members of a debate squad, or a long-married couple going at it. Where’s the sizzle?
The internet is a-twitter with talk of Superman showing more interest in saving a squirrel than he does millions of dollars worth of public streets and utilities. Were this real life, I’d be leading the chants of, “So long, Rocky.” But it's a movie, and no squirrels — not even the computer generated variety — were harmed during the making of this picture. Shut up and pass the popcorn. **
Here's something you might be interested in.
Now Playing: SUPERMAN (2025)
Krypto refusing to budge from Lois's lap while she pilots the spaceship was nothing short of genius.
Now Playing: SUPERMAN (2025)
Krypto refusing to budge from Lois's lap while she pilots the spaceship was nothing short of genius.
More dog, less kaiju.
SUPERMAN (2025) Writer & Director: James Gunn / Based on characters created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster / Cinematographer: Henry Braham (1.85:1) / Design: Beth Mickle / Editors: Craig Alpert, Jason Ballantine, & William Hoy / Composers: David Fleming & John Murphy / Acted by: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Sara Sampaio, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Bradley Cooper, Angela Sarafyan, & María Gabriela de Faría / Countries of Origin: USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand / Rating: PG-13 / Length: 129 mins.
I don’t profess to be a scholar of Kryptonology, but I am (barely) old enough to remember watching The Adventures of Superman during its initial run. (George Reeves was my first celebrity suicide.) As soon as I was able to read, Dad became my comic book pusher. Every Saturday evening on his way home from the eponymous Larry’s Grill, he would stop at the Thorndale el newsstand and pick up the early Sunday editions of the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. Buried deep within the color sections of those horseshoe-curved newspapers tucked under Larry's arm was a stack of the latest offerings from DC, Harvey, and Archie comics. I studied each issue with the same jeweler’s eye to detail as the Warren Commission paid the Zapruder footage.
Friends and I would swap comics and spend hours squabbling over which superhero truly was the GOAT. It’s the original no-brainer. Superman didn’t need a bat bite to endow him with limited powers. He was born with them. After all, “Super” is the first word in his name! By the very nature of his indestructibility, Superman wins first time, every time. Period. I eventually ditched comic books, and I probably should have done the same with comic book movies after the Richard cut (Lester, not Donner) of Superman II, a sequel that eclipses both forerunners and descendants alike with its inventive, amorous, laugh-out-loud approach to spinning a levelheaded superhero yarn.
Leave it to Zack Snyder to come along and fuck it all up (though I didn't care much for Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor in Superman Returns, either).
According to Google AI, there have been 11 Superman movies, counting those in the DC Extended Universe in which he makes an appearance. (Make it an even dozen if you take into account Superman vs. the Mole Men, or 29 if you include Max and Dave Fleischer’s 17 spiffy Technicolor cartoons.) I long ago abandoned whatever little urge there was to be a Marvel completist, but it’s safe to say I’ll go to my grave having seen every live-action Superman feature (Lois and Clark and Smallville don’t count) that Hollywood sends our way. The good news: Superman 2025 is the best the franchise has had to offer since Superman II. Bad news: that amounts to faint praise when a computer-generated dog with a playful streak has more going for it than any of its human counterparts.
What's this? The theatre masking at the big Grossmont is not set for 'Scope? Well whaddya know? I was spared a trip to the lobby to complain. It's the first Superman picture to dispense with an anamorphic lens?!
The history of Superman is recapped in a fleeting 50-second opening crawl before the film reveals our hero lying in a field of blinding white snow, save for a few splotches of red around his nose and mouth. The Daily Planet headline should read: SUPERMAN BLEEDS! The last such instance took place in an Alaska greasy spoon, when mortal alter-ego Clark Kent lost the first of two bouts against a trucker named “Rocky.”
There are a few modifications to the legend, added to wink at (piss off?) the backward thinkers in attendance. In the 1940s, Superman flew under the handle, “Strange visitor from another planet,” which in present day terminology translates to "illegal alien." And when it comes to descriptive terminology for a guy who can fly, “metahuman” has replaced “superhero." Conservative critics have gone so far as to harp on the film's liberal ideology: Trump-fluffer Kellyanne Conway took issue with a TV interview in which “Superman” star David Corenswet failed to say “American” when mentioning Superman’s slogan of “truth, justice and the American way.”
Video:
Trailer: SUPERMAN
Superman movies did away with oversized monsters and robots as early as the Fleischer cartoons (The Arctic Giant and The Mechanical Monsters, respectively). Here, the robots are cute and spindly and get assigned light housekeeping duties at the Fortress of Solitude. The one named #4 speaks with a British accent that sounds too close for comfort to C-3PO; one hopes the resemblance was intentional, and that Gunn was having a high time siccing baddie Engineer’s (María Gabriela de Faría) bandsaw mitts on the Lucas clones.
The biggest threats here — to both to mankind and narrative structure — are the “Hammer of Boravia,” a 7-foot tall CG fire-breathing metahuman, followed by a Kaiju bent on terrorizing Metropolis. Both exist for two reasons: to court the Asian market and to hawk merchandise. Parents and other assorted suckers will be asked to drop mucho Kryptocurrency on everything from a Funko POP! Krypto ($14.99) to a Daily Planet latte mug ($17.98) to a tailored cosplay costume ($285.00). There's even a Superman surfboard ($1220.95).
Of all the characters not to revive, Lex Luthor’s (Nicholas Hoult) personal assistant Eve Teschmacher leads the pack. Born of celluloid, not pen and ink, Ms. Teschmacher was a figment of Richard Donner and Mario Puzo’s imaginations, dreamt up for the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie in 1978. She was far from a braintrust as portrayed by Valerine Perrine; in Gunn’s hands, Victoria’s Secret supermodel Sara Sampaio is the dumbest blonde of all. A one-joke vacuity, Teschmacher spends most of her screen time taking selfies. Before it’s over — and in order to justify the use of the stereotype — guess who proves to be the smartest blonde of the bunch?
We still believe that a man can fly. This time, it’s the various spaceships they buzz around in that are difficult to swallow. The final fight looks to have been filmed inside a Lite Brite box. (But Krypto refusing to budge from Lois's lap while she pilots the spaceship was nothing short of genius.)
Identity crisis is inherent in a Superman movie. This time around, he wonders if the glitched holographic legacy Jor-El and Lara left behind included instructions to dominate, not protect stupid earthlings.
Corenswet does justice to the character and fits the costume. Gone are the days of Superman’s greased-back hair, fronted by a distinctively articulated spit curl. The Ace comb hasn’t been made that could rake Superman ‘25’s hair. Rather, it appears that Clark uses a heavy-duty commercial bathroom hand dryer to affect that oh so tousled super-coiffe.
A cursory look indicates golden boy James Gunn is the only director to date to slalom in and out of superhero sagas for both the MCU (Guardians of the Galaxy[s]) and DC Films (The Suicide Squad). And he’s certainly no slouch when it comes to having an encyclopedic knowledge of and appreciation for the Man of Steel, particularly the two films produced by the father and son team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The opening credit typeface, the look of Metropolis, and John Williams’ lushly romantic love theme are all tributes to the Salkind’s commitment to printing the legend of America’s hero.
But Gunn finds difficulty in reining in the script’s unwieldily structure. Action scenes take forever to play out, but even so, they’re nothing compared to when Clark is out of uniform. Absent are the vital signs of l'amour toujours between Clark and Lois. Rachel Brosnahan portrays Lane as if she were a college journalism student, not a byliner for a great metropolitan newspaper. Their romantic relationship has just passed the three-month mark, a time when the dewey-eyed blush of romance still twitterpates one’s heart. But when they're alone together, their exchanges sound like they're members of a debate squad, or a long-married couple going at it. Where’s the sizzle?
The internet is a-twitter with talk of Superman showing more interest in saving a squirrel than he does millions of dollars worth of public streets and utilities. Were this real life, I’d be leading the chants of, “So long, Rocky.” But it's a movie, and no squirrels — not even the computer generated variety — were harmed during the making of this picture. Shut up and pass the popcorn. **
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