vol. 9: i'd give superman five stars if it was just about his dog
on the latest superman who now has a new friendship group, a misbehaving doggo and a brighter costume. I love you and thanks for reading!!!
A friend asked how Superman was and this is what I text back:
It was the better of the supes
He has nice dimples???
Also I liked that it wasn't gritty like the other ones and it feels more fun and unserious
Also: —
there is a dog
So I liked it and found it entertaining. It is colourful, and not gritty/moody/dark as the Zack Snyder films. It’s goofy and there’s comedy which for the most part works. The thing that irked me the most is that it’s a very busy busy movie, plot wise and it’s also very very busy visually, much like director James Gunn’s other movies.
(If Superman was solely about his dog Krypto, I would give it five stars lol)
Plot: Superman’s nemesis Lex Luther releases a no-context video on the internet that turns the Superman fandom rly rly toxic and he has a potential war on his hands and it’s stressy and chaotic.
Starring: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced
This film is the first in Warner Bros. rebooted DCU’s Chapter One: God’s and Monsters - the set up is quick and easy, I like that most of the lore has been established, Lois (Brosnahan) is in a situationship with Clarke (Corenswet) and knows he’s Superman. Plus we don’t need to explicitly see how he was left on Earth as a bubba (much like how the Tom Holland Spider-Man reboot bypassed Uncle Ben’s death). I’ve been giving a lot of 3.5 stars out to movies but I feel like a lot of the US-summer tentpoles have been “fine and fun” which.. Superman falls under.
Clarke/Superman is established as a superhero and at the Daily Planet and in this he’s on a bit of a personal journey where he wants to use his power for good and to help humanity ETC, even though he has questionable journalistic integrity and ethics. (Interviewing himself for scoops, a big no-no!)
He’s also got a new friendship group, made up of Green Lantern (Fillion) Mister Terrific (Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Merced) who help him fight monsters and Kaijus (that Luthor (Hoult) makes and uses to terrorize Metropolis).
There’s a lot going on, but the central plot is about Boravia, an ally of the United States that wants to invade the neighbouring country of Jarhanpur (which is… oddly very topical??), and Superman had stopped the first invasion.
So there’s all these moving pieces, plus Superman has a dog called Krypto who is very badly behaved and loosely based on director James Gunn’s dog. (Gunn describes Krypto as a “little jerk” lol) plus Luther has all this cool new tech which allows him to make (Polly) Pocket Universes.
I liked the characters, the story, but it was so busy I found it hard to keep up. The chemistry between Lois and Clarke are great, and Lex is compelling as a villain (he’s very overstimulated and hyperfixated for a majority of this film) but I found that everything out of Lex’s mouth was a lot of exposition/explaining or just being angry.
The plot also had a lot of coincidences so at time you do have to suspend disbelief - there’s a scene where it’s revealed Lex was able to clone Superman with a hair he salvaged from a random battle, coincidently.
One thing that’s always frustrated me about Superman is the fact that when Clarke is wearing his glasses means no one is suss or recognizes he is Superman! In James Gunn’s version, Clarke has “hypno glasses” which distorts his face for people lookin at him! [Which has now resolved every issue I’ve ever had with the character.]
I think it’s easy to expect films to be well shot, nice to look at etc nowadays but I think part of the gage of what makes me like a film is how memorable it is, given how much is churned out. There’s been so many films I’ve enjoyed watching at the time but then have entirely forgotten they existed.
In terms of that metric, Superman was a lil forgettable and what struck out most to me was the dog, Krypto and the Clois chemistry which was 10000000000x better than in Man of Steel (Amy Adams and Henry Cavill are fine actors, they just don’t spark I guess!). I especially like the Clois scene where they were having conversations about matters of the heart in front of a neon rainbow blobby tentacle monster fight!
Interestingly, Broshanan was asked why she thinks these characters endure, and her answer was pretty wholesome, which I found was also a consistent undertone to the movie - it was quite hopeful.
RB: I think they endure because they’re aspirational. They show us the power of courage and empathy and loyalty and give us hope that good will always win and is worth fighting for.
PS: My fave piece of content from the press tour: a glow up, just like in the Princess Diaries.
Stuff from this week:
✿ I watched Bong Joon Ho’s Memories of Murder (2003) (I’m slowly going through the NYTimes’ list of 100 best movies of the 21st century). This affected me possibly worse than David Fincher’s Se7en (1995) which I did not anticipate. (I watched Se7en when I was 20 and… I rmb feeling so unsettled and ill!)
✿ MICHELLE YEOH CONTENT (she’s voicing the English dub of Ne Zha 2, the highest grossing animated film of all time).
✿ I’m so excited for Rian Johnson’s next Knives Out, which again stars an ensemble cast- it’s getting its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October.
✿ Rush Hour now comes with some context
🐶 Pupdate 🐶
Rey with her friend Sola this week!
Warmest virtual hugs
Thuy