Tag Archives: james-gunn

And So It Goes

Today is Thursday, August 21, 2025. Today I finally saw James Gunn’s new version of Superman at the local Midway Theatre at 3. Elliot eschewed seeing the film since the DC character is not his bag. I saw the film with my Austin Street Diner friend “Jerry.”

For those who haven’t seen it yet, I won’t give away the plot that much here. In the title role, Gunn cast David Corenswet who was seen earlier in Pearl and Twisters and he cast the star of television’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Rachel Brosnahan, as Superman’s earthly squeeze, Lois Lane. In this latest incarnation of the 87-year-old superhero, there is less emphasis on the origins of Superman. It’s suggested in flashbacks and a few scenes in which his adopted parents, Ma and Pa Kent, are seen onscreen. They are the most homespun couple you will ever see on the screen and they are played by Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell as Martha Kent.

All in all, I enjoyed this newest version of Superman in that the principal character is seen more vulnerable and getting his ass kicked by many of his adversaries in the film. I believe Corenswet brings all the charm, sincerity, and strength to the role of Superman. The same goes for Rachel Brosnahan who brings a modern take on the Daily Planet’s star reporter, Lois Lane. In the film, she’s been seeing Clark Kent/Superman for three months but has her doubts about continuing the otherworldly relationship.

The film opens with an extended fight sequence pitting Superman against The Hammer of Boravia which leaves him on the ropes. This adversary comes to Metropolis looking for Superman after he has involved himself in an invasion between neighboring countries Boravia and Jarhanpur. While Superman and The Hammer square off against one another, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) works on his own plan to subvert the public perception’s of Superman in order to conquer him once and for all.

The movie gets bogged down a bit with extensive CGI usage and the emergence of another squad of heroes, the Justice Gang, fronted by Guy Gardner as Green Lantern, (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who are brought in to pick up the pieces when Superman is sometimes injured in battles with his foes.

All of the main characters are acted quite well in the film. However, the film did seem overlong and too jumbled, with the over-reliance on pocket universes and other scientific mumbo-jumbo. The characters of Perry White (who is Black here) and Jimmy Olsen were underutilized as well as Superman’s adoptive parents. However, Superman’s dog, Krypto, is featured prominently in many scenes here. The CGI incarnation of the superhero’s dog seemed quite realistic, I must say.

My friend Jerry was more disillusioned with this Superman because he didn’t enjoy the overuse of CGI in the production. I can sympathize with him, but I did enjoy it overall. Here Hoult as Luther is not as humorous and clownish as he was portrayed by Gene Hackman back in 1978. He’s more ruthless and envious of Superman’s popularity which fuels his smear campaign against him throughout the movie.

All of social media and its toxicity is brought to the fore of this modern retelling of the comics legend. This is revealed as Luther carries out a misinformation campaign against Superman with the aid of social media. Also, the country of Boravia could then be compared, possibly, to Russia and Jarhanpur could be viewed as Ukraine according to today’s headlines. It is soon learned that Luther is secretly helping Boravia in its conflict against its neighboring country.

When the film ended, I called Elliot to meet us downstairs so that we could drive to Diner Bar for dinner. I lucked out in finding a spot around the corner and put in money for 40 minutes on the meter.

It was a nice day, despite the cool weather where I wore a jacket for the first time in August as well as jeans. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be warmer, with temperatures in the 80s. I prefer this to an early fall in August.

Well, it’s late here and I cannot force myself to parrot the news of the day after seeing this paean to kindness, civility, and morality, all of it sorely lacking in this country at the moment!

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Despite fervent backlash against a movie, a fucking movie, by Dump’s red hats, Superman has soared to first place among millions of Americans who have made this film this country’s No. 1 film in terms of summer revenue. Severely criticized by bigoted MAGAts for its embrace of immigrants, the film’s more all-embracing theme of kindness and charity toward the “other” has been accepted by moviegoers everywhere. In an online article for Daily Kos by Oliver Willis entitled “Americans reject MAGA meanness as ‘Superman’ soars,” the reality of the mean and stupid embrace of xenophobia has been totally rejected by those millions of Americans who have metaphorically flown to theaters across the country to see the film. This has made the film the No. 1 movie in the United States.

The movie’s success is another humiliating loss for the MAGA movement which campaigned against the film’s proimmigrant themes. Here is a direct quote from the article: “But the film is also a resounding rejection of the bitter, cynical meanness that’s been a hallmark of President Donald Trump’s second term.”

Since its release on July 11, the production has earned more than $122 million and received a rating of 83 percent from critics and 93 percent from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. That resounding success comes on the heels of the right’s full-throated attack on the film for its being “woke” and their predicting overall failure for the film, which certainly hasn’t come true. Conservatives or the far right – “red hats,” as I call them – were angered by director James Gunn’s description of the film as an “immigrant that came from other places.” However, these idiots don’t know the origin story of the superhero as I know it since I’ve been buying Superman comics for a very long time. Of course, he’s an immigrant and is not from this Earth.

Those on the right were woefully wrong in predicting the movie’s failure, as in Fox News pundit Tami Lahren forecasting the “woke” film’s demise. This noncritic said this about the film: “The new ‘Superman’ movie went woke and will probably flop.” Boy, I wonder how this clueless host feels now since the film has literally soared since it was released?

For those who need a crash course on the history of the comics’ best-known creation, Superman debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938. Superman is the sole survivor of the planet Krypton who landed in Kansas in a rocket designed by his father Jor-El and was adopted by a farm couple who pass him off as their own child, Martha and Jonathan Kent. The writer states uncategorically, “Superman is an undocumented immigrant – and he has been for all 87 years of his existence.”

The superhero is described as a “champion of the oppressed” and a champion of social justice since the very beginning of his launch.

As for the filming of this new incarnation of Superman, it was written and filmed before the Orange Ogre won the 2024 election, “but audiences can see the clear contrast between the film’s embrace of kindness and the daily meanness of the Trump administration.”

For Dump, cruelty is the point. But for Superman, that is absolutely not the way.

Thus Superman stands for truth and justice – the complete opposite of what MAGA is all about. Unfortunately, this comic book character is a fantasy, an ideal that doesn’t exist in the real world. And one must wonder why this stupid MAGA community got all ruffled over an ideal, a fantasy, anyway. Don’t they have other more serious things to worry about like losing their Medicaid, their Social Security benefits, and so on?

As for myself, I was almost ready to see Superman myself and I was looking forward to writing a review for it in this blog, but I didn’t go. My new friend from the Austin Street Diner who I’ll call “James” couldn’t commit himself to go and see it in the afternoon. So I’ll have to wait for another time. Be patient! I will get there eventually.

Tomorrow Elliot and I will be finally dining with my cousins “Rivka” and “Dillon.” We were supposed to have gotten together a little over a week ago, but we canceled owing to the severe weather forecast for that night and the extreme heat.

Have a good Wednesday.

I will also take the car out for a spin and I’m a little apprehensive since I’m driving to my comic bookstore, the site where the car was dented last Friday. I’ll be on the alert, but I have no control over what might happen to the vehicle once it’s parked. I have to believe what happened was quite rare.

Have a good Wednesday then.

Another little car trip is planned for Thursday, July 17, till Friday, July 18. We’re driving to Princeton, New Jersey, to visit “Zander” and his wife “Nalah,” as well as their two-year-old daughter “Naomi.”

So I’m not sure when I’ll see you again. If not tomorrow, then it’ll have to be either Friday or Saturday.

And so it went!