Superman (2025)

I'm not interested in comparing this incarnation of Superman to other recent onscreen incarnations. Mainly because this film blows away almost every other film outing for the man of steel, but also because there's no need. I will say that I did enjoy a cinematic exchange between Superman and Batman that had the latter refining a definition of what constitutes bravery. It's a shame that the movies didn't really dive much further into those kind of considerate diversions more often, particularly when you see how effective it is in this movie.

As beloved as the character of Superman is, he's always been a bit tricky for some to get a handle on. It's difficult to create tension and fun around someone so seemingly-invulnerable and full of noble intention. There are only so many times that we can see him being felled by a piece of kryptonite.

Writer-director James Gunn tackles this problem head on, giving us a Superman movie in which our hero is often, to put it bluntly, on the end of a major bloody hiding. Things start in the middle of one such encounter, with Superman (David Corenswet) having just been defeated in a fight for the very first time. It's a bad defeat, particularly for someone not used to the concept. Thankfully, a fortress of solitude and some helpful robots soon get Supes back in the air. That means that he can soon get back to his usual schedule of maintaining his Clark Kent disguise alongside Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and co. at the Daily Planet, keeping the people of Metropolis safe from the many strange invaders that keep trying to smoosh them, and being monitored and plotted against by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). 

Christopher Reeve remains my favourite Superman. He is the high benchmark against which all others are measured, although it must be said that everyone given an opportunity to don the suit and cape on cinema screens has had a bloody good go at truly embodying the character for a new generation. Nobody gets everything right though. Cavill was fantastic as Superman, but I found him less believable in the few times we saw him as Clark Kent. Brandon Routh found himself stuck in a film that ensured he could never avoid being overshadowed. Corenswet is very good here, although he doesn't get too much time mixing with people in his normal "human" mode, but I have to say that he has the advantage of being the star of what is now my favourite Superman movie. I still love many of the others, but Gunn shows just how much he knows, and believes in, this hero.

There's nothing subtle here, but nobody really expects subtlety from a Superman film. Still, considering the fact that you have scenes with someone taking a stand against a genocidal government that makes them unpopular, a moment depicting busy online trolls in the best possible way, a busy plot that makes room for some deliberately old-fashioned and vital investigative journalism, and an entire plot revolving around someone good becoming demonised by others simply because of the circumstances that led to their arrival in America . . . this puts our hero in a world that is both a beautifully-realised Metropolis and also something not too dissimilar to our own.

Intentionally or not, and it has to be the former (let's be honest), Gunn gives audiences a much brighter and apparently lighter take on the hero that we've seen mired in some grimdark fare for a decade or so now. That doesn't mean the film is full of sunshine and rainbows though. There are big themes dealt with here, and the main characters are sketched out so well that a few major moments in the third act had me getting all misty-eyed in the cinema. In fact, there's a speech here that, while not unlike dialogue we have heard from various other movie characters throughout the years, is incredibly moving simply BECAUSE it is being said by Superman, and he's portrayed as someone that we know absolutely means every word of it. That's what this film has that other recent Superman outings have lacked - heart. There's also some humour, of course, but it's not the same kind one-note witticisms that have started to become an issue with many other blockbusters recently.

Neva Howell and Pruitt Taylor Vince are a wonderful and warm new set of foster parents (aka Ma Kent and Pa Kent), Skyler Gisondo is a good fit for the role of Jimmy Olsen, and María Gabriela de Faría, Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, and Isabela Merced all have fun as, respectively, The Engineer, Mr. Terrific, Guy Gardner, and Hawkgirl. Wendell Pierce is an excellent Perry White, Sara Sampaio eventually gets a scene or two in which to shine as Eve Teschmacher, and, if you've seen any of the pre-release advertising, you should already be prepared for Krypto to steal the show/slightly irritate you, depending on how you feel about very cute dogs wearing capes. Everything relies on a central trio though, and I cannot find fault with Corenswet, Brosnahan, or Hoult. They're given enough room to step into some big shoes and try to make each role their own, and I'm going to say that they succeed more than I had thought possible. I didn't spend any of my time watching this film comparing their characters against past portrayals. I quite simply rooted for Superman, waited for Lex Luthor to come unstuck, and enjoyed the intelligence and tenacity of a Lois Lane who wields her journalism skills as her very own super-power.

Superman will, like all of the best super-heroes, mean so many different things to so many different people. But this Superman is probably the hero we need right now. And it's only one or two very minor criticisms that have stopped me from rating this as a perfect film. Hell, the final scene made me smile so much that I might even add that one extra point whenever I get around to rewatching it, and I am definitely aiming to rewatch it ASAP.                   

9/10

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Prime Time: Identity (2003)

Sometimes people forget some really great movies. They're still around, and they're not derided, but they're not celebrated for being as great as they truly are. Identity is one of those films. It's a great film from James Mangold. It has a great cast. It's a whole load of fun. And you could argue that it was a precursor to the fancier and more sophisticated whodunnits that have achieved more success, and critical acclaim, in recent years. Am I implying that part of the reason for Identity being forgotten/overlooked nowadays is sue to a certain snobbery? Maybe. The film is trashy, but it's absolutely happy to revel in the trashiness while proving to be consistently entertaining for a perfect 91-minute runtime.

A bunch of people all end up at a motel on a dark and stormy night. They don't know one another, but someone seems to know them. People start to die, and each corpse has a motel room key assigned to it. Not necessarily the room that the deceased was occupying. The room keys signify a countdown. 10, 9, 8, you get the picture. The killer seems intent on getting their way until you can state "and then there were none."

Written by Michael Cooney, who seems to have been figuring out the best way to tell this story before he took a hard left turn into writing/directing movies about a killer snowman (Jack Frost and Jack Frost 2: Revenge Of The Killer Mutant Snowman), Identity is a load of pulpy clichés all treated with care and unnecessary seriousness by Mangold and his cast. And, let's face it, as good a director as Mangold is, his cast here take everything to another level.

Who should I spend time praising first? John Cusack before he stopped caring about his work? Ray Liotta having a fine old time, especially when he responds to any potential threat by reassuring those around him that he will shoot anyone or anything coming for them? Amanda Peet being sassy until she starts to pine for some orange grove that she hopes to see in the near future? John Hawkes getting much more screentime than John Hawkes usually gets in something so mainstream? Rebecca De Mornay? Clea DuVall? John C. McGinley? Alfred Molina? Jake Busey? Pruitt Taylor Vince? Nobody does a bad job, even if (in fact . . . especially if) they're allowed to chew the scenery for a while. The material can handle such grandstanding melodramatics, and everyone in the cast is happy to oblige. There are also small roles for Holmes Osborne, Marshall Bell, Leila Kenzie, Carmen Argenziano, William Lee Scott, and one or two others.

I know that I started this review by stating how great this is, and I know that people will have assumed that was hyperbole. They'll be waiting for a bit of balance here, some criticisms to show that I still have my faculties intact. Sadly, that's not ever guaranteed when it comes to me. If the big finale had been played out in a way that felt serious or earnest then the film would have failed completely (just look at something like Serenity), but Mangold and Cooney don't make that mistake. The ending is ridiculous. They know it's ridiculous. They also know that ridiculous can be ridiculously entertaining.

I love the script, I love the music by Alan Silvestri, I love the cinematography by Phedon Papamichael, I really do love everything about this. While I don't expect many to love it quite as much as I do, I implore you all to revisit it. Or, at the very least, remember it for the fine filmic fun it is. With respect to the fine Kenneth Branagh, I'll take this over any star-laden Poirot remake any day of the week.

9/10

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Dead By Dawn 2016: Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Jacob's Ladder is one of those movies that I missed when it first came out. And I didn't catch it until approximately fifteen years. I appreciate that many other movies came and went in that time that were influenced by this one, but I've still never quite loved it as much as many other horror fans. It's a good film, don't get me wrong, and the cast is a wonderful one. It's just never as horrifying or downright eerie as it could be, especially when you compare most of the movie to a few of the impressively unnerving images that are produced in the first half of the film.

Tim Robbins plays Jacob Singer, a Vietnam veteran who starts to have dark and unsettling visions that affect his health and daily behaviour. It's also making things difficult with his girlfriend (played by Elizabeth Pena). Are the visions the result of some experimentation on his unit during wartime? Are they signs of a mental breakdown? Or are they something more sinister?

Director Adrian Lyne works confidently here, and also makes popular that special effect that we will refer to by the technical term "really fast shakey head and blurry face moves". He doesn't rush things, even when the third act will probably be obvious to many viewers. This is a film more about the journey than the final destination, funnily enough, and that journey is interspersed with some fantastic phantasmagoria.

The script, by Bruce Joel Rubin, is equally confident, taking the time to flesh out a number of the supporting characters while leaving plenty of breathing room for the moments of tension and spookiness. In fact, it could bee argued that the main strength of the film is how it gets you to invest in a number of people who could so easily have been consigned to much smaller roles without any real damage to the central horror strand of the narrative.

That's also helped by the casting. Robbins has always impressed me in the way that he can equally use his full height to his advantage or fold himself up to make himself more vulnerable, depending on the role. This is somewhere in between, with Jacob a man who has clearly left his army days far behind him yet retains the strength to withhold a sustained attack on his mental faculties. Pena is a strong woman opposite him, alternating between sympathy for what Jacob appears to be going through and reminding him that she will only put up with so much shit. Elsewhere, Danny Aiello is a chiropractor who tries his best to guide Jacob through his dark path, Jason Alexander pops up momentarily to portray a lawyer who may or may not end up helping the ex-soldiers find out what was done to them, and Pruitt Taylor Vince, Ving Rhames, Eriq La Salle, and one or two others play the men who fought alongside Jacob in his platoon.

As influential as it is derivative, Jacob's Ladder remains an impressive horror that is relatively interesting and intelligent throughout, and also played completely straight. Which perhaps explains, more than the actual premise, why it went down so well in 1990, when first released.

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7/10

Captivity (2007)

The beautiful Elisha Cuthbert stars in this disappointing movie, one of many to try and make some money after the success of movies like Saw and Hostel. It's basically a thriller but there are enough moments of nastiness to edge it over into horror territory, albeit light horror territory (hardcore gorehounds should look elsewhere for their fix).

Elisha Cuthbert plays Jennifer, a beautiful young model who is kidnapped and awakens to find herself in a pretty secure holding "pen". Her kidnapper seems delighted to torture her in a variety of psychological ways and things only start to look ever so slightly brighter when Jennifer realises that she is not the only person being held against her will. There's a young man (Daniel Gillies) being kept in a room beside her and the two of them work together to try and make good their escape.

I didn't hate Captivity and I could, if I had to, watch it again but let me be clear about something - that's only because of the presence of Elisha Cuthbert, a gorgeous woman who would I would marry today if it wasn't for the fact that a) I'm already happily married, b) I'm probably not her type and c) the restraining order forbids such a joining together, as well as stopping me from ever walking along her street again.

Captivity is just lame. There are a couple of decent moments throughout but barely enough to keep the average viewer alert and interested. The script by Larry Cohen and Joseph Tura is pretty weak, for the most part, and things only pick up in a third act that throws in a couple of twists and turns that don't really surprise as they should. It's a shame because I like Larry Cohen, as do many other horror and thriller fans, but this is far from his best work.

Director Roland Joffe isn't particularly well-suited to the material and it shows. He fails to create any tension, the few fake-out moments cause groans as opposed to gasps and everything feels safe and slick as opposed to full of potential danger. It's watchable but it's a thriller with no real thrills.

Elisha Cuthbert is lovely in the lead, absolutely convincing as a young, attractive woman who makes money from looking young and attractive. Daniel Gillies is okay in his role though he proves to be quite disappointing as things unfold. Pruitt Taylor Vince is pretty good, as he so often is, and Laz Alonso and Michael Harney do just fine with their small amount of screentime.

There are, of course, a lot of movies out there that are a lot worse than this one. There are certainly a lot worse movies that have been "inspired" by the Saw franchise (*cough* Nine Dead *cough*). That doesn't change the fact, however, that this one is simply average at best.

5/10

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