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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The Binge (2020)

A typical teen comedy, in many ways, The Binge focuses on three friends who are out for what should be a legendary night out. Griffin (Skyler Gisondo) wants to reach a big party and confess his feelings to Lena (Grace Van Dien), Hags (Dexter Darden) wants a night that massively boosts their status, and Andrew (Eduardo Franco) is just enjoying the journey, fuelled by drink and drugs. Andrew has a mean brother who may spoil their plans, and Lena is the daughter of Principal Carleson (Vince Vaughn), which makes things complicated.

Directed by Jeremy Garelick (who also gave us The Wedding Ringer, but don’t judge him on that alone), The Binge is a decent selection of set-pieces and minor chuckles written by Jordan VanDina with one big twist that adds to the fun. This is a film that is set in an America where all alcohol and narcotics have been banned, with everything accessible only one day a year. Yes, it is The Purge, but with drugs and alcohol. All other laws and rules still apply, as clarified in a hilarious speech from the Proncipal to the school pupils.

Admittedly, there aren’t too many big laughs here, and if you want something unpredictable then a teen comedy is not what you should be looking for, but the idea is good, and silly, enough to do a lot of lifting. It feels like we haven’t had a strong full-on comedy for a couple of years now (maybe that is just the elasticated time factor of the past year or so) and this does what you want it to do be or just over ninety minutes. There’s even a fun musical number to enjoy.

Gisondo, Darden, and Franco are decent leads, the latter having made an impression on me in a number of recent enjoyable comedies. Van Dien is a bright and appealing love interest, typically so lovely and funny that you are not quite sure why she might be interested in the lead character, but these films are mainly fantasies. Then you have Vaughn, giving another superb turn as the Principal, and someone who is very much anti-binge, perhaps with strong reasons to be that way. Vaughn has been excelling in a variety of roles recently, and I hope he is rewarded for some of the great moments that he has been delivering.

There could be more done here, the script could have been polished up a lot more, supporting cast could be better, and the soundtrack could have had a selection of hits throughout, but this generally succeeds in what it is aiming to do. People drink alcohol and take drugs, and the results are fairly amusing. There are also a couple of very fun impressions of Pacino in Scarface.

Unlike the activities depicted onscreen, you probably won’t regret this once it’s all over. Nothing great, but a decent enough choice if you’re in the mood for some dumb fun.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Time Freak AKA Time After Time (2018)

A romantic comedy with the added element of time travel, and the complications that can bring. It's amazing that nobody has thought of trying this before. Except they have, and most recently with a British flavour in a film called About Time.

Time Freak (which is the title I am going to prefer to use for this, as Time After Time is a different, better, movie) won't remind you of About Time at all though. It's totally different. It may be a romantic comedy with time travel as a major component, but the leads are two fairly well-known Brits, and most of the plotting leads towards a lesson about the risk of ruining everything else while trying to make things perfect for yourself. Okay, it may really remind you of About Time. The biggest difference is that this has much more of a teen feel, which helps. A bit.

Asa Butterfield is Stillman, a young man who has had the good fortune to be in a relationship with Debbie (Sophie Turner). Then one day he gets a text, one saying that they need to talk. It's time for their relationship to be over, which he then attempts to desperately avoid, thanks to his invention of time travel. He doesn't travel back alone though. He takes his best friend, Evan (Skyler Gisondo), and the two are able to try and create positive changes in both of their lives.

The second feature from writer-director Andrew Bowler, and his first with the resources of a half-decent budget and selection of better-known leads, Time Freak is a film that starts off well, it's only moments into the thing that we see the time travel in effect, but seems to become more and more unsure of itself as things play out. Bowler realises that the comedy needs to give way to drama, but he throws up some moral quandaries that he doesn't really answer with any satisfaction, or conviction.

Thankfully, the cast help a lot. Butterfield is a decent lead, and certainly feels like someone who could remain likeable while battling his own compulsive nature, while Turner does some of her best work, in what is arguably the toughest of the lead roles (playing the character who repeats a lot without ever being aware of them being repeated). But it's Gisondo who gets to have the most fun, whether he's using the time to try and chat up an attractive young woman or being inadvertently trapped in a short elevator ride that turns into a timeloop hell, he's a big plus for the whole thing, and helps viewers to forget the more troubling aspects of the film for a while.

There's something good in here, something either a lot funnier or a lot darker, but Bowler doesn't have the sense to take everything in one clear direction. That leaves viewers to have conversations in their own heads, or with others, about the ramifications of the central idea. You could argue that many great movies do the same thing, and you'd be right. But those movies provoke thought and dialogue about what has been presented onscreen. Time Freak leads you to consider everything it gets wrong. I still found enough here to enjoy, but it's a very problematic film, in many ways, and I could completely understand anyone hating it, or even feeling that it was quite repugnant for most of the runtime.

5/10

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Mubi Monday: Booksmart (2019)

Booksmart is a fun film, full of energy, that easily sits alongside a number of other teen comedies from the past few decades. Unlike many of those, it was directed and written by women, and also features two wonderful female lead characters (played by Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever).

The set-up is quite simple. Molly (Feldstein) and Amy (Dever) have made a number of sacrifices as they aim to get the grades required for their favoured colleges. But Molly hears a number of people talking about their future plans, which leads her to the realisation that a lot of people had the same aim, they just managed to maintain a better life-work balance throughout high school. Determined to use their last night to make up for years of missing out, Molly and Amy set out to find the location of the hottest party being attended by everyone else in their school year. And so begins a night that will see the young women test their limits, test some drugs, and test their friendship.

Although very much female-centric, Booksmart works brilliantly because it is very much focused on the teen experience, the years spent under intense pressure to please so many people (peers, parents, teachers) before you learn that it's best to just please yourself. Molly and Amy start the movie thinking that they have to live their lives a certain way, which becomes less and less true as they become more comfortable just being themselves.

The script, written by Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, and Katie Silberman, is arguably the best work that any of them have done. It's smart, full of scenes that have an honesty at the heart of them, and very funny. And one sequence involving a pair of Barbie dolls is hilariously surreal in a way that recalls the anarchic silliness of Better Off Dead... (an '80s teen movie that remains woefully underseen).

Olivia Wilde does a great job in her feature directorial debut. She has a number of shorts to her credit, and has obviously been able to observe the film-making process during her many acting jobs, but this is an accomplished and assured first feature, undoubtedly helped by her industry connections (it's hard to imagine the likes of her partner, Jason Sudeikis, or Will Forte and Lisa Kudrow taking on supporting roles otherwise, although you could also argue that a good enough script would have won them over).

Feldstein and Dever are great in their roles, with the former bringing more of the energy into most scenes while the latter is having a more difficult time adjusting to a new level of social interaction and self-identity. Molly Gordon does great work in her small role, Skyler Gisondo and Billie Lourd are wonderfully over the top as two rich kids who find it easy to buy company, but not so easy to make real friends, and Diana Silvers has a couple of very funny scenes as a partygoer who ends up seeing Dever in a more vulnerable state than either would have wanted, and Jessica Williams gets to play a supercool teacher who is rooting for our leads throughout.

Although this is typically rambunctious stuff on the surface, Booksmart excels, like all of the best teen movies, because there's a lot more to it. And a large part of it is truth. As silly as many moments seem, it also nails the maelstrom of feelings that can rush through any teenager's mind every time a major decision has to be made. That decision could be about higher education, or it could about what to wear to a party. It could be about love or lust, or it could be about how far you go to support a friend. Every one is just as important as the other. Well, that is how it feels at the time. Booksmart nails that feeling, and more.

9/10

The movie will be available here.
Americans can get it here.