Movie Review: Superman IV - The Quest for Peace

Stars: 1 out of 5

Pros: Um…some moments of late 80’s cheesy fun

Cons: Abrupt ending makes me not willing to forgive the film’s many flaws

The Bottom Line:

A lecture on peace

Film filled with late 80’s cheese

Feel free to skip

“Why Are There No Air Travel Expenses For You, Kent?”

Oh, I’d heard it was bad.  But, in my quest to watch all of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, I still felt the need to watch Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.  Actually, I didn’t think it was a complete waste until we reached the end.  But then I started thinking about it, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized it’s bad.

This movie finds Clark Kent/Superman (Christopher Reeve) facing changes.  He’s selling his farm back in Smallville.  Meanwhile, The Daily Planet has been bought out by a publishing magnet (Sam Wanamaker) who focuses on tabloids.  The new publisher has put her daughter, Lacy (Mariel Hemingway) in charge of the paper, and she has a huge crush on Clark.  Meanwhile, Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) is still madly in love with Superman, but she has become friends with Clark.

Things start to really get going when a young boy writes to Superman, asking him to do something about nuclear war.  Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) escapes from prison with the help of his nephew Lenny (Jon Cryer) and starts plotting his revenge on Superman.

The movie is cheesy in a way that the first two movies aren’t.  I won’t deny that.  But, somehow, it feels a bit more on purpose than the tone I called out in Superman III.  Gene Hackman, especially, is having fun really playing it up.  Granted, his Lex was never exactly a super grounded, menacing villain.  But his attempt to fight Superman this time around, Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow) does nothing for the film.  It’s almost painfully cheesy.  Still, I was willing to buy into it.

What I did have trouble swallowing was Superman’s sudden announcement that he’s going to rid the world of all their nuclear weapons.  Like that’s going to help at all.  People will just create new ones.  And, I guess what we were seeing was people going along with it as they shot them into space for him to collect?  That just seems odd as well.  I remember how big a concern nuclear war was in the 1980’s.  But this movie, instead of attempting to address it in a meaningful way, just falls back into wishful thinking.  Just proof that Hollywood using “entertainment” to lecture isn’t something new.

It was really hard to follow the world that these characters were living in, too.  Lois seemed to know Clark’s secret a few times.  And then, the next minute, she was as clueless as always.  Meanwhile, Lana Lang isn’t even mentioned despite the fact that she was supposed to be working at The Daily Planet at the end of the previous movie.

I’ve seen some complaints that the special effects are a step down from the first two films in the series.  I actually didn’t find that to be a problem.  My problem was, there are a ton more of them.  Superman fights Nuclear Man quite a bit in the second half of the film, with both of them flying in and out of the atmosphere.  There are entire sequences that are just them fighting.  All of that requires effects.  And the more effects there are, the worse it is going to look.  Not to mention, if you see the effects for 30 seconds vs. minutes on end.

I found the acting to be a bit uneven.  Clark and the crew at The Daily Planet were fine, and I bought their performances.  Lex Luthor and his cohort were over the top, really playing up the cheese.  Somehow, it worked for me.  I’d forgotten that Jon Cryer was in this movie as Lex’s nephew.  It’s fun since he would go on to turn in a fantastic performance as Lex in the recent Supergirl TV show on The CW.

Then there’s a scene where Superman and Clark are supposed to be on a double date.  It was a bit of mindless fun, but it went on far too long. 

Honestly, I was chalking some of this up to late 80’s cheese.  No, the movie wasn’t especially good, but when viewed through that lens, I was a little more willing to let it go.

Then we reach the ending, when the movie pretty much just stops.  I wish I were joking, but I’m not.  I’m unclear on how we permanently stopped Nuclear Man.  Not to mention how the person Superman rescued was even breathing in space.  I’m willing to buy Superman note needing to breathe, but a human?  Then, we get quick wrap ups to several storylines that make little sense and certainly weren’t set up by the earlier events of the film.  Not to mention how I found what lead to Superman’s recovery to be a cheap plot device even if it was set up early in the film.

A better ending would have let me chalk up the flaws with being a late 80’s movie.  But the rushed stop we get to Superman IV: The Quest for Peace makes me much less forgiving.  Yes, this pretty much is as bad as you’ve heard.  Don’t bother unless you feel the need to watch all of these movies.

Movie Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Action, entertaining enough

Cons: Plenty of flaws in just about every department

The Bottom Line:

Aquaman returns

In this uneven sequel

Don’t rush to see it

“Are You Calling Me One in a Million?”

I always intended to watch Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.  I just wasn’t interested enough to watch it in the theater.  After all, by the time it came out, we already knew that the DC Superhero movies were getting a reboot, so there was no rush.  But thanks to cable I finally got to see it.

The movie picks up several years after the first one, and we fortunately get brought up to speed, which also helped me remember who all the characters are.  Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, (Jason Momoa), has married Mera (Amber Heard), and the two have a baby.  He’s finding fatherhood very rewarding.  And yes, they are living on land.  Arthur is finding his job as the king of Atlantis to be much less rewarding than he’d hoped, mainly because he keeps getting tied up in bureaucracy and meetings.  Seems life under the sea isn’t that different from life here on land.

But, over the course of five months, greenhouse gases rise to the point that they are greatly disrupting weather on Earth, both for land dwellers and Atlanteans.  What Arthur doesn’t know is that it is the word of David Kane, aka Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).  He’s out to get his revenge of Arthur.  But to track him down, Arthur will have to turn to an unlikely ally.  Will it be enough to defeat him?

I enjoyed the first one, so I had hoped to enjoy this one as well.  Sadly, it wasn’t nearly as good as I hoped it would be.  I did appreciate the run time of just over two hours.  There wasn’t much wasted time, and the action scenes, while still frequent, weren’t overly drawn out.

Unfortunately, they could have cut out one action sequence to given the characters a bit more time to be developed.  That said, I did like how one relationship grew, but most of the characters felt like pieces being moved around by the plot instead of fully fleshed out characters.  This is a script problem instead of an actor problem.

Not that all the acting was good.  It seemed just about everyone had a moment where the acting was off.  Yes, some of that was definitely the writing, which was weak all the way around.  Some of the lines the characters had?  They were cringe worthy no matter how they were delivered.

Which brings us to the climax.  Much of it worked, but there was one aspect that had me rolling my eyes.  Hard.

Plus, we had to get a couple of lectures in about climate change.

Even the special effects are a mixed bag.  Once again, I loved the illusion when they were under water.  But some of the effects looked downright cheesy.

Now, all of this sounds like I hated the movie.  That’s not true.  It was entertaining enough to keep me engaged the entire way through and get caught up in the third act.  I’m glad I finally watched it.  But, it’s just a case of the flaws being obvious and distracting, which kept me from getting fully invested.

I’m not sorry I finally watched Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.  But it’s not a movie I’ll be rushing back to watch any time soon.  Only if you are trying to keep up with superhero movies would you need to seek this one out.

Movie Review: Supergirl (1984)

Stars: 1 out of 5

Pros: Brenda Vaccaro’s performance is fun

Cons: The rest of the movie is a mess

The Bottom Line:

Story has plot holes

Honestly, not much works here

You can skip this one

“You’re Superman’s Best Friend?”  “No, He’s My Cousin.”

I’d heard bad things about 1984’s Supergirl, but I was still curious about it.  And, since it was available on one of my streaming services, I figured I should give it a chance.  You know those bad things I’d heard about it?  They were all true.

Our story opens in Argo City, a giant floating ship filled with refugees from Krypton.  Among them is Kara-El (Helen Slater), who, when we meet her, is playing with the sphere that powers the entire ship.  Shocking, it gets away from her, dooming all those on the ship unless it is retrieved from Earth, where it landed.  So, Kara-El goes to retrieve it.

Unfortunately, before she lands, it is found by Selena (Faye Dunaway), a witch.  It actually makes her able to do magic, so Selena wants to keep it, figuring it will help her plans to take over the world.  Will Kara-El be able to find it?

This movie had so many plot holes you could have floated Argo City through each of them.  Okay, so Kara-El wasn’t the one who took the sphere in the first place, but still, why would anyone do that if it is what is keeping everyone alive?  Why, when Kara-El lands on Earth, did she bother taking on a secret identity since her parents and friends’ lives were dependent on her bringing the sphere back as quickly as possible?  How did Selena find a way to tap into some of the Superman mythos at random?  Why did Kara-El emerge from her pod in a costume so much like Superman’s?

Okay, so Kara-El’s secret identity was there to introduce us to characters from the Superman stories.  Her roommate is Lucy Lane, as played by Maureen Teefy.  And Lucy just happens to be dating Jimmy Olsen, as played by Marc McClure, the only actor from the Superman movies to show up here.  But still, that seemed to slow down what was supposed to be a ticking clock story.

I don’t know that I feel like the plot ever made up for the plot holes.  While it wasn’t quite as bad as a random series of events, it did throw in some truly random things, as if the writers really didn’t know what to do and had to fill screen time while including things Superman fans know about.  Even so, you can pretty much guess where it is going early on.  It’s just the details you’ll have no way of predicting.

Then there’s the acting.  Most of the cast is playing things so over the top it doesn’t work.  There’s fun camp, and then there’s this.  The exception to this is Brenda Vaccaro who plays Selena’s sidekick with the right level of camp and sarcasm.  I found her fun.  I’ve seen Helen Slater in other things, most noticeably in the recent TV show Supergirl, so I know she can do a wonderful job when given good material.  This wasn’t it.  Same holds true for others in the cast.

Of course, the effects are dated.  This came out in 1984, after all.  Even then, I’ve seen better effects from that time period.  Or maybe, I was just enjoying those movies more so I was more forgiving.

There’s a reason you haven’t heard much about 1984’s Supergirl.  And there’s no reason to seek this out to watch it.

Movie Review: Superman III

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Some acting

Cons: Uneven, cheesy, just generally disappointing

The Bottom Line:

Good performances

In subpar super movie

Overall cheesy

“I’m From Metropolis.  I See Superman Every Day.”

While I’ve never watched the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, I knew their reputation.  So, even though I wanted to watch Superman III, I also knew not to set my expectations too high.  Even so, this movie disappoints.

After spending several minutes on an unexplainable series of near misses and hits in Metropolis, we meet up with Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) as he pitches a story about a man attending his fifteen-year high school reunion.  Yep, Clark wants to head back to Smallville.  Inexplicably, Perry White (Jackie Cooper) agrees to the idea, and Clark sets out.  While there, he reunites with his high school crush, Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole).

Meanwhile, computer programming savant Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) catches the eye of his boss, evil rich mogul Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn).  Ross wants to use Gus’s abilities to program computers to bend others to his will.  And his will is making more money.  Will Superman be able to stop him?

You might be wondering where Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane is in all of this.  That’s an excellent question.  She heads off on vacation near the beginning of the movie, and pops up in the last scene to set up a romantic triangle that I’m assuming doesn’t pay off in the next movie.  Essentially, she has a glorified cameo. 

They were setting up Lana as a new long term love interest here.  It’s very obvious to anyone paying attention.  Honestly, I would have liked to see that play out in another movie.  Sadly, Annette O’Toole wasn’t invited back for the next one because she was excellent as Lana.  Fortunately, she was able to transition this to playing Martha Kent on Smallville.  Because of knowing that connection and enjoying her work on that show, I was curious to see this movie.

So that’s covered the romance of it all.  What about the rest?  Honestly, the movie is just strange all the way around.  There are long sections that don’t really add much to the movie.  Some of them were attempts at humor that fall flat, at least today.  Some of them are character moments, but they go on too long.  One extended scene is used as set up for the climax, but I feel like we could have gotten something without the extended time.

Part of it is because Clark/Superman is in a parallel story to the villains without really knowing much about them or what they are up to until it is time for act three.  It feels like we are just plodding along as a result.

In the middle of the movie, Superman gets broken.  Again, this part of the movie went on too long, and I found the resolution to it a bit unsatisfying.

Which brings us to the climax, where the movie devolves (if that is possible) to a cheesy science fiction movie, complete with an all-powerful computer.

And the effects?  Can we say 1983?  Okay, so I’m sure they were state of the art at the time, but they are dated now.  I’d be more willing to go along with them if the movie were better overall.  But there is one part of the climax that is nostalgically bad, if that makes any sense.  Well, old video game players will get it.

Having said all this, I couldn’t help but think how modern some parts of the film felt.  Even back then, we were talking about the dangers of computers and what they could do to our society.  Then there’s the fact that the villain is a rich guy who wants to get richer.  Somehow, he didn’t feel nearly as much a lecture as an equivalent villain would in today’s movies.  Maybe because he was part cartoon.

And no, I don’t think any of the actors were bad.  They were playing the parts as they were supposed to.  It’s the way they were written.  Those who are playing their characters straight were pretty good.  And I did like the scene where Superman/Clark had to confront what he’d turned into from an acting standpoint.  Christopher Reeve was good there even if the scene was pretty hokey.

I do want to circle back to the humor.  While much of it fell flat for me, there were some moments I enjoyed.  And, overall, I did appreciate the lighter tone of the film.

I know the fourth movie is viewed as even worse than this one.  I’m almost afraid to watch it.  But I’ve come this far, so I’ll give it a watch.  Know what you are getting into if you decide to watch Superman III.  Yes, what you’ve heard about it is true.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Action and acting

Cons: Pacing in mostly predictable story

The Bottom Line:

Guardians are back

Fighting to save one of them

Predictable film

Quest to Save Rocket

Somewhere along the way, I got behind on Marvel movies again (and newer movies in general).  Part of it is the cable movies I’ve been watching.  But part of it is pure laziness.  I wasn’t going to see stuff in the theater and I wasn’t even trying to catch it on streaming.  But I’m trying to catch up now.  We’ll see how long it lasts, right?

All of that to say that I finally sat down to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.  And I may have found another reason why I let myself get behind.

When this movie opens, it finds the Guardians on a planet, trying to recover from a recent, devastating loss that has hit their leader, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), especially hard.  But when an outside force attacks, leaving Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) fighting for his life, Peter and the rest jump into action to try to find a way to save him.  But the only way forward is going to put them on the radar of a truly evil man.  Will this mission cost all of them their lives?

As I was watching this movie, the biggest thing I struggled with was the fact that I didn’t care.  I mean, you know where the story is going to go, the only question is the how.  Now, I will confess that a couple of things along the way did surprise me, but most of the big questions fell into this predictability.

It also didn’t help that we had extended flashbacks finally filling us in on how Rocket became the racoon we all know and love.  I will give them this, it was definitely relevant to this story.  But I still felt like we could have gotten that same information in less time.  Considering the movie is two and a half hours long, finding something to leave on the cutting room floor would have been nice.  Then again, it wouldn’t have given Bradley Cooper as much to voice in the movie.  I feel like one purpose of these many flashback scenes was to show how truly evil the villain was, but we got that from the modern storyline.  We really didn’t need to devote as much time to the flashbacks as we got.

I think another part of the problem was that we just had too much randomness in the film.  Some of the stops along the way felt weird just to be weird.  Maybe these stops served a purpose, but it just felt like a chance to visit another alien planet.

Now, I will give the film this – the effects looked good to me.  Sadly, we can’t always say that about modern special effects.  And the acting was all good.

And this isn’t to say that the film was bad.  I did get drawn in.  I found the action scenes lots of fun.  And a few moments of humor made me smile and chuckle.  But it wasn’t enough to really make me feel like I’ve missed anything by waiting this long to watch the movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 definitely continues the struggles that Mavel has had in the post Endgame era.  It’s not that this is a bad film.  But I’m also not sorry I haven’t watched it sooner.

Movie Review: The Flash (2023)

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Emotions at the end work

Cons: Very little else does

The Bottom Line:

Flash gets solo film

But more time spent on others

He deserves better

“Do You Want to Get a Bite?  I’m Still Hungry.”

Yes, I’d heard all the issues with The Flash and the rumors of reshoots even before it came out in 2023.  But, I always intended to give this movie a shot at some point.  It was pretty much as bad as I’d heard.

No, I don’t remember all the behind-the-scenes drama and delays at this point.  But it was one of the last movies in the failed Zack Snyder DC Universe.  That killed interest as well since, by the time it came out, we knew we were getting new versions of these characters.  Really, the movie was doomed.  Not that it was good.

Anyway, the story sort of focuses on Barry Allen, aka The Flash (Ezra Miller).  He’s a science tech in a crime lab who is attempting to clear his father (Ron Livingston) of a crime he didn’t commit – killing Barry’s mother Nora (Maribel Verdú).  But then Barry gets the idea to go back in time to keep his mother from being killed.  What could possibly go wrong?

Of course, we all know what could go wrong.  But in this case, it means a movie that is mostly set in an alternative universe.  Act one sets things up in pretty good fashion.  Yes, there’s an action sequence that could have been cut if they really wanted to speed things up, but that’s a minor issue.  It does what it needs to do to get the story going.

Act two is where the movie really falls apart.  Yes, it is fun at first watching Barry figure out what he’s done and then have to start interacting with a new version of himself.  But here’s the things.  This is called The Flash.  It’s supposed to finally be a chance for us to get to know the big screen version of the character.  But we quickly go meet Michael Keaton’s version of Batman and then rescue Supergirl, as played by Sasha Calle.  And who is our villain?  General Zod (Michael Shannon).  If we were going to have a Flash movie, shouldn’t these cameos from other characters be kept to a minimum?  And shouldn’t we have had one of his villains as the threat we are facing for much of the movie?  Barry felt like a supporting character in his own movie, which is ironic given his complaint early on during that first act action scene.

Now, I’m going to contradict myself.  The movie could have done with less Barry.  Essentially, we have two versions of the character through much of the film, both played by Ezra Miller.  And I found both versions annoying much of the time.  Now, I’m not talking about the acting.  This is the way the character is written to be played.  But seriously, could we make him less awkward?

And, to be clear, none of the complaints are aimed at any of the actors.  It is the script that lets them down.

Meanwhile, if I hadn’t watched the show, I wouldn’t have gotten that Kiersey Clemons’s Iris West is a pretty important character in Barry’s life.  She’s an afterthought.  Yes, the lead character’s comic book love interest is sidelined in his big movie.

The special effects are also poor.  Laughably poor at times.  You get a sense of where how things are going to look from that first act action sequence, and they don’t get any better.  For a big budget movie like this, it’s very surprising.

Given all I’ve been saying, I was surprised at just how much the climax touched me.  Yes, we still managed to get the emotional impact we should have.

Going into this movie, I did try to separate my expectations from the TV show The Flash, which I mostly enjoyed, especially the first few seasons.  While not exactly a story that show told, I still feel like that show did the similar story so much better.  Granted, they have multiple episodes to tell a story instead of only two and a half hours.  But this movie didn’t really even try to tell Barry’s story.

And yes, we get more cameos from various versions of DC characters, including those from the Zack Snyder series.  We could have done without most of them since they didn’t really add anything to the story.

The only reason to watch The Flash is if you are a die hard superhero fan, especially since this version of the character is no longer important.  You can just skip this mess of a film.

Movie Review: Superman II

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Great action scenes as Superman’s story continues

Cons: Slow second act, Lex is useless

The Bottom Line:

Superman is back

Film still has pacing issues

Not classic for me

“Not Everyone Can Have X-Ray Vision.” “Do I Detect a Note of Jealousy?”

In my quest to watch the Christopher Reeves Superman movies, I had recorded the second when it was on cable.  As much as I had issues with the original, Superman II had its own issues.

After a bit more of the prologue with General Zod (Terence Stamp) and his two hence people on Krypton before it explodes, we get the opening credits, which also act as a refresher of what happened in the original movie.  Pretty clever, at least in my opinion.

When we are off to Paris where Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) is trying to cover some terrorists who have set up a hydrogen bomb in the Eiffel Tower.  When Superman (Christopher Reeve) takes it to space to it can explode without causing any damage, he accidentally frees General Zod and the other two prisoners from the Phantom Zone where they’ve been held prisoner all this time. 

While the trio make their way to Earth with the intent to taking it over, Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve, obviously), and Lois grow closer, leading to Clark making a choice with huge implications.  Oh, and Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) manages to escape from prison thanks to help from Eve Teschmacher (Valerie Perrine).  What havoc will he cause?

Obviously, with the backstory out of the way, this movie can get off to a faster start, and the opening act is fun and thrilling.  We know how it is going to end, but it’s still fun getting there.

It’s the second act where the movie struggles.  We get General Zod’s trio working on taking over the planet while Superman and Lois are out of touch (the wonders of life in the pre-cell phone days).  For me, it dragged.  Couldn’t Superman have learned about the threat earlier?  Because we knew where it was going to go, and I wish the movie had taken less time getting there.

Then comes the third act, which is what we have all been waiting for.  And it was worth it.  I enjoyed the fight.  Yes, we got lots of special effects, but the fight was still contained enough that we could follow what we going on.  Modern superhero movies could learn from it.

Other issues with the film?  I watched the original theatrical cut, and it had a huge plot hole in it.  I had to go back to the internet to figure out exactly what happened.  Yeah, my theory was right, but really?  A line of dialog would have resolved it.  Also, what point did Lex Luthor have in this film?  I get that it’s Lex, but we really didn’t need his character.  They could have accomplished the little bit he did in other ways.

None of what I just said is a slam on the actors.  They are all great at bringing their characters to life.  It’s the fault of the screen play.

The effects are dated; we can definitely tell when a green screen is being used.  But it’s a movie from 1980, so that’s no surprise.  As long as you keep that in mind, you’ll be fine.

I know that the next two sequels aren’t as well regarded as the first two movies, which makes me curious to watch them and see what I think.  I’m also curious to rewatch Superman Returns, which I haven’t seen since it was in the theaters almost twenty years ago.

While Superman II is by no means a bad movie, it isn’t a classic for me, either.  I think nostalgia plays a large part is how much people enjoy it.  For me, that was lacking.

Movie Review: Superman - The Movie (1978)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: The main cast bring to life characters we quickly care about

Cons: Too much set up before story gets going

The Bottom Line:

Good performances

Can’t overcome poor pacing

Still, it has some charm

“Would You Like a Glass of Wine.”  “No Thanks.  I Never Drink When I Fly.”

For years, I’ve been meaning to go back and watch the Christopher Reeve’s Superman movies.  I think I’ve seen the rest of the live action takes on the character up to 2025 (and I’ll watch the new movie at some point).  So I finally went back to where it began – 1978’s Superman: The Movie.  It’s got a very slow start, but I did enjoy the second half.

If you know nothing about the character, this movie is a good introduction.  If you know much about the character, you’ll find the first 45 minutes or so rather boring.  Heck, the entire first scene of the movie doesn’t come into play here, but my understanding is it is critical to the sequel.  I’m sorry, but it really should have been saved for that film.  Anyway, we see Superman’s parents send him to Earth, the Kents find him, and a couple of scenes of him as a teen before he heads to his Fortress of Solitude to become the Superman we know.

Then, the movie finally gets going.  That’s when we meet the rest of the core characters we know and love.  Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) takes a job as a reporter at the Daily Planet in Metropolis.  There, he meets Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), star reporter who he immediately gets a crush on.  But just as he’s settling into his new life, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) sets a plan into motion that only Superman could stop.  Will he be able to?

Clearly, I didn’t like the first 45 minutes.  Yes, there are some cool moments for those of us who know the characters from the comics (or just the lore in general), but it does nothing to advance the story.  Some of the character set up is interesting, but a little goes a long way.

Once the heart of the story starts, things do pick up.  I enjoyed seeing how the characters interacted.  While the banter might be mild by today’s standards, I still enjoyed it.  I did find Lois especially harsh to Clark, but that’s a minor complaint.

And I have to praise the actors.  They do a great job of making these characters come to life, and their warmth with each other helped pull us in.  I can see why so many people praise Christopher Reeve.  He makes Clark Kent and Superman distinct.  There’s one scene in particular where we get to see it, and it makes his performance shine.

But even so, the story is seriously lacking.  If Lex didn’t introduce himself to Superman in the vilest way possible, Superman never would have known he existed.  Maybe it’s the story telling of the time, but I expect more interaction between the hero and villain before the end.  Or at least a hero who is trying to stop something evil.  Here, it feels a bit like an accident.

The end?  Epic.  I’d seen parts of this movie (if not all of it) years ago when I was a kid, but I didn’t remember much.  A few of those moments from the climax were still in my brain, and I enjoyed seeing the context.

The movie is almost 50 years old, so I’m sure you won’t be surprised when I tell you the effects are dated.  Yes, some of them hold up, but quite often, they don’t.  But that’s okay.  Just relax and let yourself enjoy them.  Frankly, there’s something charming about them even if we are used to more state-of-the-art effects today.

I will be interested in seeing how these movies progress.  While many people do enjoy Superman: The Movie, I found that it showed its age a little too much in the storytelling to truly pull me in.

Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Effects and acting seemed fine to me

Cons: Too strange, Nothing to make us care

The Bottom Line:

Head to Quantum Realm

Movie is completely strange

I struggled to care

“You’ll Be Great.  It’s Just Like Flying a Bike.”  “Is the Bike Alive?”

It wasn’t until the second half of 2024, that I watched any of the Marvel movies from 2023.  Granted, from what I’ve heard, I’m not missing much, but since I have Disney+, all I’m wasting is my time.  And, since I’ve mostly kept up with the shows, I figured I’d go ahead and catch up on the movies.  Up first was the third Ant-Man movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.  Having watched it, I just have one question – What the heck did I just watch???????????

The movie opens with us catching up with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) after the events of Endgame.  He’s a hero and he’s even written a book about his time in the Avengers.  He’s still dating Hope (Evangeline Lilly), who is running the Van Dyne company now.  His daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton) has become something of an activist as well as a genius scientist.

During a family meal, Cassie shares that she’s made a major breakthrough.  She goes to demonstrate that, with the help of Hank (Michael Douglas), she has created a device that can connect with the Quantum Realm, so it can be mapped.  When Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) realizes what is going on, she panics and tries to shut it down, only to have it turn itself back on and suck the five of them in.

They land in the Quantum Realm in two groups.  Scott is with his daughter, while Hank, Janet, and Hope are together.  Can they find each other and figure out a way home?  What will they encounter along the way home?  And what isn’t Janet telling them?

Okay, so I wasn’t bothered by the fact that Janet has kept something from the rest of them.  She is trying to forget about what happened when she was stuck there for 30 years.  I get it.  And she never expected her past to come back again.  But why must we have characters saying something bad is coming but not telling us what it is?

Before we even get there, we have Cassie’s activism.  When Scott tries to parent, he’s the one who winds up being lectured.  I feel like there is a version of this scene where Scott makes the point that what Cassie did was wrong but he is also challenged to do more.  Maybe I’m just looking for a sitcom ending instead of a scene fifteen minutes into a movie.  There’s also the lecture that Hank starts to give about the benefits of socialism before he’s shut up to get on with the climax.

But here’s my biggest issue.  When we get to the Quantum Realm, we are treated to lots of special effects and some magical creatures.  Normally, I’d be all for that.  This is fantasy, after all, right?  But as I watched the movie, I couldn’t help but feel that the writers had to be on something.  I mean, this is a psychedelic dream with so many odd things happening that it’s just too wacky.  In better hands, I think there’s a version of this script where those strange creatures and things worked.  Maybe a world where things were consistent.  Instead, it felt like we were pulling one from column A and one from column N in creating the Quantum Realm.

The story?  It works.  I’m not sure I cared since I knew the characters would figure out a way to defeat the bad guy and get home.  There’s lots of talk about there being a multiverse and we also get a big introduction to Kang, who was supposed to be the major villain of this phase of the MCU.  One of the end credits scenes is taken directly from Loki’s second season, where Kang also played a large part.  Of course, with Jonathan Majors’s conviction of domestic violence, that’s all gone out the window as well.

But not to worry, just in case you thought things had gone too well at the end, we get Scott’s monologue about how things are going to fine.  There’s nothing for him, or us, to worry about.  Seriously, stop worrying.  No, it’s not as clever as it is supposed to be.

Considering how many special effects there are in the film, I thought the film looked fine.  I seem to remember hearing some people complaining about the effects, but I didn’t see it.

Likewise, the acting was fine.  However, too many of the cast aren’t given much to do by the script.  It’s a shame to see that talent wasted.  That includes Bill Murry and William Jackson Harper, who essentially just have cameos.

At the end of the day, I just couldn’t care about any of it.  Which is a rather bad thing for a movie.  We’ve got to have stakes we care about if we are going to be invested.

If you haven’t bothered to watch Ant-Man and the Wasp –Quantumania yet, you really aren’t missing anything.  You only need to watch it if you want to stay up to date on Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.  But if you feel that way, you’ve probably already watched it.

TV Show Review: Gotham Knights - Season 1

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Lots of twists and suspense with fun characters

Cons: A few things set up for a second season we will never get

The Bottom Line:

Murder of Batman

Can this group prove innocence?

Short show worth watching

“What Happened to Don’t Do Anything Stupid?”  “I’ve Never Been Good at Taking My Own Advice.”

I’ve been watching DC Comics shows on the CW for so long, that I really don’t pay too much attention to the premise of the shows any more.  I figured I’d at least give the first episode of Gotham Knights a try before I decided whether I’d watch any more or not.  By the end of that episode, I was hooked and I was along for the thirteen episode ride.

Yes, the show is set in Batman’s Gotham.  But the show opens with the murder of Bruce Wayne, which leaves his ward, Turner Hayes (Oscar Morgan) devastated.  He’s even more shocked when he learns that Bruce was also the vigilante known as Batman.  But things that a turn when evidence surfaces that shows Turner paid for Bruce’s murder.  Clearly, he is being framed.  And the assassins?  A fellow group of teens that include Duela (Olivia Rose Keegan), the daughter of The Joker, and twins Harper and Cullen Row (Fallon Smythe and Tyler DiChiara).  The four go on the run together in an effort to stay out of jail for a crime none of them committed.  Helping the fugitives are Turner’s friend Stephanie (Anna Lore), an expert hacker, and Carrie (Navia Ziraili Robinson), who was the current Robin.  Then there’s DA Harvey Dent (Misha Collins) who is unofficially trying to help the fugitives because something doesn’t seem right to him.  But Harvey has his own problems.

The group quickly uncovers a conspiracy involving a secret group that has really been running Gotham for decades.  But can they prove it?  Or will they be killed in the process?

As I said, I was quickly hooked, and I couldn’t wait for each episode to roll around so I could find out what was going to happen next.  The characters were great and the twists compelling.  The odds were always against our characters, and I just couldn’t see how they’d go about proving their innocence.  Good thing I’m not one of them, right?  And yet, we do get a satisfying resolution by the end.

Yes, I lead with that.  Going in, I suspected this was going to be a one and done series given the changes that we had at the CW and how many of their shows were being cancelled at the time.  It wasn’t too long into the series airing that we found out I was right.  Yes, the show leaves some things dangling in an attempt to set up a potential season two.  And, while I would love to know what happened next with those cliffhangers, the main driving story for this season is resolved, and I can live with how the series left things.

Given that this is set in the Batman world, that means the show is dark.  Not too dark, but darker than some of the stuff I normally watch.  Know this, and you’ll be fine.

Also, this was a 2023 CW show.  That means we have a large group of LGBTQ+ characters in the main cast.  I was rolling my eyes as that was introduced in the pilot since it was not only predictable but felt forced.  But I’m glad I didn’t let that turn me off.  Yes, some of those themes were explored, but given the plot driven story, we weren’t given that much time to be lectured.

The cast is fabulous at bringing their characters to life each week and making us care about the story and the outcome.  I have to give a special shout out to Olivia Rose Keegan who is delightful as Duela.  Her character gets some of the best lines and she nails them each time.

If you passed on Gotham Knights, you really missed out.  It is worth tracking down the show and enjoying these delightful thirteen episodes wherever you can.

TV Show Review: Superman & Lois - Season 4

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Everything fans have loved continues here

Cons: These ten episodes are the end

The Bottom Line:

Season to wrap up

Show never misses a beat

And wraps things up well

“What Do You Think Superman and Lois Lane Will be Remembered For?” “I’d Like to Think Truth and Justice.”

I went into the fourth season of Superman & Lois sad because I knew it would be the final season.  But I was grateful that they were given ten episodes to wrap things up.  I expected it to be quite a ride, and I was right.

The season picks up exactly where season three ended.  Clark as Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) is fighting the monster that Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) had sent to attack the superhero.  It doesn’t go well, and that leaves Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) and the couple’s twins Jonathan and Jordan (Michael Bishop and Alex Garfin) to not only pick up the pieces but also figure out how to fight Lex, who has set his sights on destroying Smallville on his way to getting his complete revenge on Lois Lane.  Will anyone be able to fight what is coming?

I was a little worried going into this season since, when the show was renewed for a fourth and final season, we learned that only the characters I’ve mentioned so far would be coming back as series regulars for the final season.  As much as I love the entire Kent family, I also love the supporting characters we’ve gotten to know over the first three seasons.  However, the producers quickly assured us that we would see plenty of them over these final episodes.  And they were right.  While not everyone was in every episode, we saw enough of them to get meaningful wrap ups to their storylines.  And, their appearances felt meaningful, too, not just one offs to wrap things up.  Yes, it was noticeable that not everyone was in every episode like we’d gotten used to seeing, but it wasn’t painfully obvious.

That’s because the things we loved were still here.  The characters were all still fantastic no matter how many episodes they were in.  I’ve always loved that the characters were so well drawn and made us want to root for them.  They reacted to things in a realistic way even if we were yelling at them to do something different.  And their relationships were the key to everything.  Yes, there is conflict between them at times, but when it matters, they are there for each other, which is what I have loved about this series so much.  That holds doubly true for Clark and Lois.  They are such a dynamite couple.

And the story is suspenseful.  Given that we are dealing with Superman, the way the writers keep us on the edge of our seats is remarkable, and that was the case here again.  Granted, we are dealing with a villain who is smart and out to destroy Lois using cunning instead of brute strength.  We do get a couple of lighter episodes which was great breathers, but they were just as exciting to watch for what they showed us about the characters.

All this is held together with phenomenal acting.  The writers put the characters through their paces, and actors never missed a beat.  The special effects are also well done.  I bought what I was seeing on the screen.

Which brings us to the finale.  I’m not going to spoil anything.  I know lots of people who loved it and are praising it (and some who didn’t).  I liked it, but the bittersweet tone it took wasn’t quite what I was expecting.  Still, I did find it satisfying.  I think this may be the best series ender we got from an Arrowverse or Arrowverse adjacent show.

I think Superman & Lois might have spoiled me for other iterations of Superman.  I definitely won’t want to jump into anything else with the character too quickly.  Instead, I want to live in the glow of this show’s take on the world’s most famous superhero.  If you’ve been enjoying the show, you’ll definitely want to see how it ends.

Movie Review: Deadpool 2

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Some humor, action, growth for Deadpool

Cons: Way too many jokes that were in poor taste and too much gore

The Bottom Line:

Pretty much like first

Which means mostly did not like

So don’t recommend

“What Am I Going to Do?”  “Probably Something Terrible.”

No, I didn’t especially enjoy the first Deadpool movie.  But with all the hype surrounding Deadpool & Wolverine, and the fact that I could watch it free on Disney+, I decided to go ahead and give Deadpool 2 a shot.  Yes, I had the same reactions to this movie I did the first one.

When the story begins, we find Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) out stopping human traffickers.  No, he’s not doing it the usual way of making sure they get arrested.  He’s flat out killing them.  Of course, the problem with that approach (or going after evil people in general) is that sometimes, your work can follow you home.  It happens to happen to Deadpool on his anniversary, with tragic results.

However, a devastated Deadpool can’t die, despite his efforts.  And, through a series of events, he finds himself with a new goal, helping a boy with powers (Julian Dennison) who is dead set on revenge.  Considering an assassin from the future (Josh Brolin) is after the boy, will he be able to do it?

My biggest issue with the first movie is back here in full force – the double entendre.  They are in full force almost the entire movie.  Okay, I’ll admit, I did like a couple of them, but most of them went too far and were too excessive for my tastes.

Which is too bad because I really enjoyed some of the other humor.  The movie once again breaks the fourth wall constantly, and most of those jokes are great.  I loved the meta humor as well.  These jokes definitely made me want to keep watching because I was enjoying that.

On the other hand, there is the excessive violence.  Yes, it is cartoony, but it wasn’t remotely in good taste in my opinion.  The excessive gore was quite disgusting.

But here’s where the movie made a big change from the original.  I actually liked Deadpool more than I did originally.  He wasn’t quite the antihero he was there.  That meant, I could get on board more with rooting for him to succeed in his goal, especially when he starts trying to help the boy in the second half.

And the action scenes themselves were usually pretty good.  Yes, that’s where the worst of the gore came in, but when it wasn’t reveling in that, they were fun.  We did get some obvious special effects during these scenes, but for the most part, I bought what I was seeing.

I will give the actors full credit for making us care about the outcome of the story as they brought the story to life.

You’ll definitely want to watch through the additional scenes during the credits.

At the end of the day, I’m not sorry I watched Deadpool 2.  But I also don’t plan to watch again and I don’t recommend it.

Movie Review: Venom - Let There Be Carnage

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Character growth

Cons: Violent; too much set up

The Bottom Line:

Violent sequel

With little to recommend

Die-hard fans only

“Those Two Need Some Serious Couples Counseling.”

When I enjoyed Venom more than I thought I would, I decided to give the sequel a try.  Sadly, Venom: Let There be Carnage didn’t really have any of the fun of the first one, but it had all of the things that bothered me.

Life has not improved for Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) since we last checked in with him.  In fact, he’s still trying to get back to being a reporter, so he’ll take any story that comes his way.  Which is why he agrees to an interview with convicted serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson).

The interview is…interesting.  Eddie thinks it is a waste of time until Venom, the symbiotic alien living inside him, pieces together some clues that help find more of Cletus’s victims.  But Cletus’s execution goes wrong.  With Eddie and Venom on the outs, can anything stop Cletus now?

I’ll admit, the first movie was a mixed bag for me.  Yes, I enjoyed much of the humor, but the violence was so extreme, and I found Eddie and Venom’s fighting irritating and a little too stressful to be entertaining.  Unfortunately, this movie is all of the things I didn’t like with little of the things I did.  While Venom is a little better behaved than he was in the first movie, he’s still out of control much of the time.  We don’t really get any of the humor that made the first one tolerable for me.  And the violence?  I’m truly perplexed that this movie got away with a PG-13 rating.  I guess because so much of the violence is CGI generated?  It seems extreme to me.

Not to mention that the movie takes so long with its set up that, by the time things were set up, it was time for the climax.

On the other hand, I did appreciate the character growth we got for Eddie and Venom.  It wasn’t that original, but it felt natural based on what else is going on.  I also liked what was going on with returning characters Anne (Michelle Williams) and Dan (Reid Scott).

This is an effects heavy movie, even for a superhero film.  They mostly worked here, although they were extremely excessive.  Seriously, the climax is pretty much two CGI monsters fighting each other.  Again, makes it a little hard to care about the outcome.

The actors all do a good job bringing their characters to life and reacting to the CGI.

If you enjoyed the first movie, you’ll want to check out Venom: Let There be Carnage.  If, however, you found it average, you’ll be glad you skipped this one.

Movie Review: Venom

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Action and fun

Cons: Predictable; special effects seemed off

The Bottom Line:

New superhero

Familiar origin plot

But still, there’s some fun

“How Did You Do That?”  “Apparently, I Have a Parasite.”

Venom wasn’t on my radar to watch when it first came out.  Even when a sequel came out, I figured it was a comic book movie that wasn’t for me.  However, a friend suggested we watch it, and I went along.  While I’ve seen movies I’ve enjoyed more, this one was better than I expected.

The movie centers on Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), an investigative reporter who will go to any length to get a story.  At times, that includes crossing lines he shouldn’t cross, like taking advantage of his fiancee’s (Michelle Williams) work emails to get a jump on a story.  When he tries to use that information to confront Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) about his inhuman medical research, it goes wrong and Eddie loses his job and his fiancée.

However, Eddie was right, as he learns first hand one night in Carlton’s labor.  That’s when Eddie accidently gets infected with an alien symbiote that begins to control him.  And this might be Earth’s only chance against others who want to take it over.  Will Eddie learn to work with the symbiote in time to save the planet?

I’ll admit, part of my problem with this is that it is a typical superhero origin movie.  We know where things are going, and it goes there.  I felt myself waiting for the typical plot points to happen so we could get to something new.

That’s not to say there weren’t a few surprises along the way.  A plot twist or two I hadn’t expected threw me off, and there were plenty of fun scenes along the way.

I was surprised to find that the special effects didn’t really work for me.  Since Venom, the creature that Eddie turns into, is all CGI, that was an important element to the film.  It just looks fake.  I know, I know, how is a space creature supposed to look?  Still, it just didn’t look quite right to me.

But I did have fun along the way.  There are some great action scenes and there is plenty of humor.  Some of it was a bit grosser than I like, but I still laughed multiple times over the course of the movie.

I’m glad I watched Venom.  While I’m not anxious to watch it again, I’m curious enough to watch the sequel at some point.  This isn’t a rush out and watch movie, but if you are curious about the film, you’ll be glad you watched it.

TV Show Review: Superman & Lois - Season 3

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Writing and acting beautifully tackle tough subject with other stories

Cons: For some, the cancer story will be too hard

The Bottom Line:

Tackling cancer

With other storylines, too

Makes a strong season

“Where Are the Paperweights?”

It’s no secret that I’ve been loving Superman & Lois, the last of the DC Comic shows on The CW.  Season two got a little strange for me, but I still liked it.  I found that season three made some surprising choices but was ultimately stronger for it.

The season opens as Clark Kent and Lois Lane (Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch) are getting ready to celebrate the 16^th birthday of their twins, Jordan and Jonathan (Alex Garfin and Michael Bishop stepping into the Jonathan role).  With Clark joining the staff on Smallville’s paper, they think that everything will be going well in their world.

However, bad news is just around the corner, and this time, it is something that Superman can do nothing about.  Lois has a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.  As everyone attempts to deal with it emotionally, Lois thinks it might be the best way to continue her investigation of Bruno Mannheim (Chad L. Coleman), a criminal she’s been trying to nail on and off for years.  He runs a state-of-the-art cancer treatment center in Metropolis.  But will that be too much for her health?

Yes, there are storylines going on beyond Lois’s cancer this season, but it is front and center in every episode.  I felt it was respectfully done and showed the ways that everyone impacted by it reacts realistically.  However, that does come with a warning for those who are dealing with it or have gone through it.  It might be too much.  Go in cautiously, and if it gets to be too much, step away.

But I have to give the writers credit.  They could have taken some easy ways out, and they didn’t.  They faced things head on, and the result was good.  I think it will be cathartic for some people.  It will certainly be hard for those dealing with it currently or in the recent past.  Only you know how you will react.

As I said, there are other storylines going on.  Mannheim and his evil empire is a large part of that.  I wasn’t familiar with this particular villain, so I enjoyed watching how all of that played out.  There were some great twists.

Meanwhile, Jordan is still trying to figure out how to use his new powers, and how to use them appropriately.  And Jonathan tries joining the local fire station.

And there are the Cushings.  I’ve got to admit, I have struggled some with what they did with those characters in season two.  I was a bit happier with where they left them at the end of this season, but I still wish they’d made different choices for the characters.

And it’s a good thing that I am happy with much of where the characters are.  We are going to get a season 4, but only the Kent family is coming back as regulars.  The rest of the cast coming back for guest spots or as recurring characters hasn’t been ruled out, so I’m hoping we’ll see more of these characters pop up in multiple episodes if not every week.  I’ll miss the Cushings, the Irons, General Lane, and Chrissy if they don’t.

I already praised the writing, but the actors all nailed it every week.  I didn’t want to look away because the actors were pulling me in with their performances.  There’s lots of drama this season, which the cast excels at, but they make the most of some lighter moments, too.

There are thirteen episodes in season 3.  It was a struggle to wait from week to week to watch them.  Now that they are all out, I bet you race through them.

I’m going to miss Superman & Lois when it is over.  The strength that was season 3 of the show proves just how wonderful it is.

Movie Review: Deadpool

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Some of the humor, the action

Cons: Much of the humor, hard to root for any of the characters

The Bottom Line:

Anti-hero born

Action and off-color jokes

Result not for me

I Was Warned Away from This Movie.  They Were Right

Over the last few years, I’ve heard lots of praise for Deadpool.  But a few friends have all ended their praise by saying, “But this isn’t a movie you’d enjoy, Mark.”  I believed them, but a small part of me was curious about it, so I decided to watch it with a friend recently.  Those warnings?  They were completely right.

The movie introduces us to Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) in action as he is in the process of getting the information he needs to get revenge on someone who did something horrible to him.  And it’s in the middle of flashbacks that we learn just what happened to him.  He used to be a man named Wade who happened to fall in love with a woman named Vanessa (Morena Baccarin).  Just as their relationship was fully blooming, Wade got horrible news.  In an attempt to fix things, he agrees to some questionable experiments.  What might the consequences be?

Because the movie starts out about two thirds of the way into the story, we jump right in with the action, and then we get the context to this origin story.  Considering how similar origin story movies can be, I did like this approach despite my usual dislike of this story telling framework.

There is plenty of action.  There’s a great opening and closing scene, and a few other fun action scenes along the way.  I bought the action, stunts, and effects, although this wasn’t as heavy on the special effects as some superhero movies can be.

The people I know who praised the movie love it for the humor.  Unfortunately, much of that is double entendre humor.  While I will admit to finding some of that funny, here it was just too crude for my tastes.  And there was a lot of it.  In many ways this movie is as much comedy as action/superhero.

Some of the humor did come from Wade breaking the fourth wall, sometimes with other characters and sometimes just to us.  These jokes I did appreciate.  Well, most of the time.  At times, I felt like it was trying a bit too hard.  It came across as “Look at me, aren’t I clever.”

Deadpool is very much an anti-hero.  I don’t usually go for revenge movies, and that’s essentially what this movie was.  Yes, I was rooting for him, but I wasn’t rooting for him completely because of that.  Not to mention that Wade really was rather shallow early in the movie.

Speaking of early in the movie, there is an extended sex scene early on in the movie.  Keep that in mind before you watch it.  This is an R rated movie.

The results of all of this was a movie I wanted to like, but I didn’t wind up enjoying.  I know plenty of people who did enjoy Deadpool, but it just isn’t for me.