Summer of Superman

As those of you who talk with me outside of the blog already know I am a huge Superman fan. I not only have the original Reeve's movies in multiple home media formats but have a plethora of merchandise of the character including a huge tattoo of the character on my left arm.

So with a new cinematic interpretation of the character from the Director of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy set to take flight in July I decided to review and give my thoughts on Superman's previous endeavors on the big screen hopefully leading up to the latest film after I see it next month. 

Blue Beetle

I saw Blue Beetle the other day, here are my full thoughts and opinions on it.

Blue Beetle is the latest film from Warner Brothers based on their DC Comics. It is the first to be produced directly by the newly formed DC Studios.

The Good: The acting and visual effects. Xolo Maridueña was great as the titular character of Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle. He had great chemistry with his costars and I really believed that they were a family.

The Villainous Henchmen was surprisingly deep and well written.

The Bad: The core plot is generic. "Bad Guy Bad, does evil cause their bad" "Superhero destroys half the city while learning to control their powers"

The Unfortunate: This is still part of their "DC Extended Universe" which struggled coming out the gate and now that the word is out that this Cinematic Universe is officially dead and being completely rebooted from the ground up, this movie was set up to fail. It is the type of movie that should have been released 4-14 years ago when Superhero movies were at their peak or in their infancy/adolescence and it would have done much better at the box office.

The Unfortunate (cont.): The movie also starts to touch on themes of Anti-Corporatism and how many Hispanics come here looking for a better life but end up getting screwed over by Mega Corporations who take advantage of them and get away with paying them shit wages. It also started to touch on what many young people are struggling with as well and that is getting a college education only to graduate and find out that the high paying career they were promised when they got out doesn't exist.

But unfortunately the movie doesn't delve too much into those themes instead it plays it safe and plays them off as off gags or 1 note character development issues instead of defining moments of the movie. This movie SHOULD have delved deeper into those themes!

 Film is a powerful tool that can get people to think about issues in a different light they may not have thought about before (example 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still) and in a popular genre it is a great way to reach people.

The Disappointing: Those of you who are comic book readers know that Jaime Reyes is the 3rd person to bear the title of Blue Beetle. The first Beetle was Dan Garret (later spelled Dan Garrett), the second and most popular was Ted Kord. This movie hints at a possible Ted Kord: Blue Beetle Movie. But with this one struggling at the Box Office it is very unlikely we will get one.

Consensus/Rating: There has been much talk and bitching about this movie's marketing about it being "Preachy Woke Politics" The movie isn't "Woke" nor is it "Preachy" unfortunately though cause the movie's rather generic plot there was no other way to promote it I feel that would have helped people go out and see it other than hyping up that it is the first ever Hispanic (Live Action) Superhero.

Overall I would give the movie a B+ 7.5/10. Definitely go and see it in theaters if you are a DC Comics over Marvel fan if not check it out on Redbox or HBO Max/Prime Video. It is a very entertaining movie

COMING SOON: The Batman (2022)

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a film by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as The Daniels). It stars Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) Ke Huy Kwan (The Goonies, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), Stephanie Hsu (Marvel's Shang Chi), Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween franchise), and James Wong (Big Trouble in Little China).

Everything Everywhere All at Once can best be described as if MAD Magazine had written a Kung Fu movie with Buddhist subtext sprinkled throughout. It is charming, funny, exciting, and heartfelt!

It is currently nominated for 11 Oscars and 10 BAFTAs including but not limited to Picture, Leading Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress.

If you haven't seen it please do, it is the most fun you'll have watching a movie in years!

My Fellow Americans

My Fellow Americans is a 1996 Political Satire Directed by Peter Segal (Tommy Boy) and starring James Garner (The Notebook, Maverick), Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot, The Odd Couple) and Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters). 

This film is revolves around two former Presidents on opposite ends of the Political spectrum (and fierce politcal rivals) that get caught up in a post Presidency scandal that threatens both their legacies. Now they must team up to clear their names along the way they discover the real America.

This film when it came out was met with mixed to negative reviews and subsequently bombed/underperformed at the box office. With some critics calling the film "toothless" and "safe". However it is due to the film not going into heavy punches at the specific parties and the policies of that time is what makes the film uniquely timeless. Which is a very VERY rare feat for political satires. 

James Garner and Jack Lemmon's on screen chemistry is surprisingly refreshing and as stated before the jokes are just as funny and relevant as they were almost 25 years ago when the film was first released. In today's extremely hot political climate this film is a perfect breather to remind us just how dumb the whole thing is at the end of the day. I highly recommend it and if by some chance a executive at Warner Bros reads this please give the film a HD transfer and release on 4K/Blu Ray.

Trivia:

James Garner was a last minute casting choice. His part was originally supposed to be played by Lemmon's close friend and long time costar Walter Matthau but unfortunately due to a myriad of health problems Matthau was unable to commit to the project.

This film has a cameo future Comedy Director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy) as a reporter. It is also 1 of Michael Peña's (Ant-Man) first roles

The Lone Gunmen

The Lone Gunmen is a failed 2001 spinoff of The X Files revolving around the trio of Conspiracy Theorists that were Mulder's friends and a way for him to "leak" information about the Government's wrongdoings and shady shit to the Public.

Despite being created by X Files creator Chris Carter and future creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul Vince Gilligan, The Lone Gunmen comes across as dull, obnoxious, and tedious. I think this stems from the characters while being fun in small doses whenever they appeared on The X Files just not being strong enough to hold their own show. The show I felt  tried to hard to be a silly sitcom instead of a hard Conspiracy Thriller. Overall the show is very lackluster and I wouldn't recommend it even for the most hardcore X-phile.

Addendum: if there is a bright side to the show than it is that Vince Gilligan learned from his mistakes with Lone Gunmen when creating Better Call Saul. Since even though that Saul Goodman was the quasi Comic Relief in Breaking Bad, is spin off show is more of a serious courtroom drama with humor sprinkled in instead of a full blown sitcom.

Joker

Joker is Audience acclaimed Director Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Old School) Dramatic debut. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker and is based off the popular DC Comics Bat-villain.

Now before I go into my review I should let it be known that I went into this film with very low expectations! The trailers made it seem like another DC trainwreck and early on it was reported that while Bruce Wayne would be in the film there would be no Batman. So I was like "Really?! A Joker movie without Batman?! What kind of stupid shit is that?!" Not to mention that Joaquin Phoenix is the 2nd actor to play the iconic villain in less than 5 years (a few years prior we had Jared Leto play him in the film Suicide Squad).

Joker is a origin movie centered on the iconic Batman villain of the same name. It was partially influenced by the Graphic Novel The Killing Joke written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland. Similar to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy Joker is ground very much in reality so no "vats of chemicals". Instead we get mentally ill Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) who is prone to fits of uncontrollable manic laughter. Arthur is a clown for hire who aspires to be a stand up comedian like his idol late night talk show host Murray Franklin. Unfortunately Arthur isn't very charismatic and is very awkward which leads him to be bullied by his co-workers, jumped in the streets, and belittled by his boss. When we first meet Arthur he is a dancing clown and sign spinner for a company that is going out of business. He gets his sign stolen and jumped by some kids in the street. Unfortunately things only go down hill for him as he eventually loses his job and on his way home he gets jumped on the subway. Which starts his path down to becoming the villain that all Comic Book fans love to hate.

Joaquin Phoenix's natural awkward charisma is on full display here and it plays to his advantage as we get to see him go from awkward loner to charismatic Clown Prince of Crime. His performance ranks up there with the late great Heath Ledger's!

Todd Phillips' script and direction is brilliant! Taking the most evil and sadistic character in all of Comic Book history and succeeds at making him a purely sympathetic character which I didn't think was possible. Combined with his unusual camera angles which capture every bit of Phoenix's unique take and somehow makes his awkwardness even more unsettling and awkward then it already is. 

Hildur Guőnadóttir(?)'s score is magnificent! It is dark, menacing, and haunting.

**SPOILER ALERT**

If I had to gripe about this film it would be that we are forced to watch Thomas and Martha Wayne's death yet AGAIN for the 3rd time in 10 years and the 4th time since the Joker made his big screen debut in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman.

TRIVIA:

This is so far the only Batman related film in his 30 years of big screen adaptations and more than 50 years in popular media to have actually been shot and filmed in New York City. The others were California (Batman the series 1966), London (Batman 1989), Los Angeles (Batman Returns and it's sequels), Chicago (The Dark Knight trilogy), and Detroit (Batman v. Superman)

Star Trek: The Next Generation

So I finally finished the entire series of Star Trek: The Next Generation and I felt that TNG (as it is known to Trekkies) was better acted and had better writing than The Original Series of Star Trek (aka TOS). 

But I felt that TOS had better and more memorable characters and wasn't afraid to take risks and face both critical, and Studio backlash for tackling "uncomfortable" socio-political themes of the day. 

TNG dropped the ball numerous times on this front in favor of technology. Especially in regards to the burgeoning Gay Rights movement and the AIDS Crisis.

Overall I would give Star Trek: The Next Generation a B+ overall and The Original Series an A+

PS I do wonder if in the future instead of Brexit being finalized instead the UK takes over the EU. This would explain why Capt. Jean Luc Picard despite being born and raised in the heart of France to a long family of French citizens has a British accent, British mannerisms, British tastes in hot drinks, is well versed in Shakespeare and British Folklore such as Robin Hood, as well as British drinking songs