Superman (2025): One of my challenges with Superman has always been his invincibility, and that the only thing that can affect him in a material way is kryptonite, from his home planet of Krypton. It makes any human adversary laughable as there is nothing that a human can do hurt Superman. Most who are interested in the superhero genre are very aware of the Superman backstory as we have seen it as early as 1978 with Christopher Reeve in the lead and none other than Marlon Brando playing his father Jor-El. We also further explored it in Man of Steel, in 2013 with Henry Cavill donning the blue suit with red cape. In both versions we see the baby, and younger Clark growing up in Smallville before he embarks on working in Gotham City at The Daily Planet. In this latest version, we start the film with an adult Superman and Clark already acting as a reporter. It feels like we missed a lot of the set up.
For me a drastic improvement for this story is the casting of Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane. Brosnahan has more chemistry with the new Superman played by David Corenswet. This was sadly lacking with Amy Adams and Cavill. Here we see that Lois and Clark are already well within a relationship, as his appearance in her kitchen making her dinner shows. I give very little away by bringing this forward. The difference is that Lois and Superman in prior versions takes time and we see their connection (or lack thereof). Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve showed it well. Their first flying scene together was sweet.
On to the plot and the villain, in this case once again it is Lex Luther this time played a bald Nicholas Hoult, as opposed to Gene Hackman from 1978. I will cease with the comparisons with prior films, and discuss the plot points. As indicated earlier I have a challenge with invinsibility, and the solution proposed is to lean harder into the entire concept of “mega-humans” skating very closely with the concept of mutants in X-Men. It seems Lex Luther has found a mega-human and imprisoned him in a basic way to then do something utterly ridiculous. I won’t describe it further, except to say that this impacts Superman directly. But I getting ahead of myself. Before we have this imprisonment, there is a creature (looking like a demented Stitch) who grows enormously quickly that attacks Gotham City. The uber-pacifist Superman intent on saving everything and anything, like a squirrel notably, ignores the hundreds and perhaps thousands of people in the buildings that are collapsing like dominos during his battle with Stitch 2.0. We also have a character called The Hammer who also seems to battle Superman effectively. The explanation for this just leaves me to shake my head. Yes, it’s a superhero movie and there is a level of disbelief expected, but holy crap! This seems to all be instigated by the leader of the fictional country of Baravia, who looks more than a little like Albert Einstein.
But that aside, I was also deeply troubled by the treatment of the midwestern Kents. Here they are turned into rednecks with very little to impart on Clark. There was one quality exchange between Jon Kent and Clark but it is overshadowed by the whole Clark portrayal. Superman’s actual parents (Jor-El and Lara) also don’t get a much better treatment. For me, the one highlight in this version was Jimmy Olsen (played by Booksmart’s Sklyer Gisondo) who is looking to impress Perry White by finding new information to assist the quickly unfolding worldwide event. A weak aspect is the introduction of the Justice Group (Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Mr Terrific!!) (I am not making this stuff up!). Oh and the introduction of Superdog Krypto who is altogether annoying and incapable of obeying the simplest of commands. Finally the whole pocket universe sidelight. In all, as you can see from the above, it is A LOT. So much is going on many levels. The CGI fighting that we saw notably in The Matrix when Neo fought multiple agent Smiths, comes across as not realistic. It’s been done before, and nothing has been added to the premise. So in summary, I like Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. I think that this Superman embodies the role well, and shows that he can have an edge, although Henry Cavill is still my Superman. The rest of it was forgettable and I am glad that I didn’t spend any money to watch it. For those who place this high on the overall Superman library, I cannot agree. It is simply too much. I will note that there is some swearing in this movie which may give some parents pause in taking their children. Margot Kidder never swore before.
Spirited Away: In looking at some of the lists of Best Movies since 2000, there was listed in a few this cartoon from 2001. This is on Netflix, and I choose to check it out, especially since I was pleasantly surprised with Princess Mononoke from 1997. I can see many similarities between the two, which makes sense as it is the same director. I will say that I preferred the prior film to this one.
This film opens with a family moving to a new location. Father, mother and daughter, named Chihiro, who is spoiled, entitled and whines to get what she wants. None of these are endearing qualities. Quickly the family travels to a tunnel and they walk through into what they think is an abandoned amusement park. The parents get separated from their daughter and choose to eat some fresh at a restaurant. Daughter meets up with a young man, named Haku, who tells her that darkness is coming and she must leave that place straight away. Chihiro feeling helpless without her parents seek them, only to find that they have been turned into pigs. She is escorted into the main bathhouse, and Haku implores her to demand a job at the house. You see those in the bathouse don’t like humans and they will try and throw her out.
The story develops and Chihiro finds a way to endear herself to those in the bathhouse. There is an ongoing battle between the woman in charge of the bathhouse and her twin sister. All within the bathhouse are embroiled within this, as creatures come and go. One in particular customer is a large smelly slug-like creature that requires some assistance, both with a wash and with an injury. The story carries on with Chihiro simply looking to find her parents, return them to human form and return them to their own world. Haku assists in securing a deal for Chihiro to accomplish this.
The animation is good, with many new and creative creatures in this alternative world. Some are quite repulsive, and others quite novel. The Faceless customer is quite intimidating and capable of horrific things. This isn’t Disney animation, nor Pixar and that is to its credit. This story and the other are new takes for a genre that can do things that real film of people simply cannot do. I was not as satisfied with the resolution in this film in comparison to Mononoke but that doesn’t take away from this being an enjoyable viewing. I would not, and did not, include this in my top films in the past 25 years listing. That is a very high bar to reach but it is a valiant try and an effort worthy of a viewing.
Mondays With Robbie 