Movie Review: ****^Superman (1978)

 Superman/Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) is sent to earth by his parents (Marlon Brando and Susannah York) as his planet, Krypton is due to explode.  They send him to earth, where differences is gravity will give him super powers.  There he is adopted by the Kents (Glen Ford and Phyllis Thaxter).  When his father dies, he moves to New York and becomes a reporter.  There he works with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), photographer Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure) and his boss Perry White (Jackie Cooper).  Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) is a criminal boss and mastermind.  He is intent and igniting a nuclear bomb to create an earthquake so California with drop into the sea.  This will propel his properties in the desert to be seaside property.  

He figures out Superman.  He is from another planet, and vulnerable to kryptonite.  He uses this to incapacitate Superman and launch his two nuclear bombs.  However Luthor is betrayed by his girl (Valerie Perrine).  She released Superman, who in turn saves his friends and the world.  

At the Movies: ****Superman 2025

 David Corenswet stars as Superman in this version of the franchise.  Lex Luther (Nicholas Hoult) provides the villain and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) the love interest.  Luther has a secret weapon.  Somehow he has cloned Superman, and so he has a genetic equal, and then with his coaching he has made a Superman one+.  However on Superman's side he has a crazy dog, with super powers.

The most important information comes to light when Lex Luthor breaks into Superman's lair.  They not only break all the robots, take the dog prisoner; but they also access the message from Superman's parents that Superman was to be a god.  The message was corrupted so Superman never heard that part of the message.

Luthor uses this information to have Superman arrested.  He then puts him with a being (Anthony Carrigan) that can replicate kryptonite which he does causing Superman to lose his powers.  But Luther goes too far when he murders a man in front of Superman and this being.  Luthor is holding the beings baby hostage.  He turns off the kryptonite and provides light to help Superman restore himself.  Then Superman rescues the baby and we are off to the races. 

In the meantime Lois Lane has recruited Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) of the Green Lantern group which also includes Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced).   Luthor has been making worm holes throughout the universe, for which he ultimately pays a big price.  He rips a tear in the fabric of the universe which threatens earth.  Superman attends to this while the Green Lantern group confront a military country that has been working with Luthor.  Superman also attends to Luthor.  It is the dog that destroys all the drones that let Luthor see the action so he can tell his clone what to do.

I think the relationship between Clark Kent/Superman is what makes this movie click in the end.  At the end they are sneaking off for an "interview" giving themselves a chance to kiss.  Fun stuff.  I am into all things superhero.

TV miniseries Review: Marvel Disney+: ****The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

 This is wonderful extension of the Captain America saga, as the title changes hands.  At first Sam Wilson isn't sure if he can take up the mantle of Captain America, so gives up the shield.  Bucky, who was the Captain's best friend is disappointed.  The government gives the shield and title to John Walker.  

Our heroes are confronted by a group of super soldiers called the Flag Smashers.  They are feeling life was better off during the period of the blip, when resources weren't spread so thin.  Now there are millions of people who have reappeared and are basically homeless, or putting others out.  Karli Morgenthau is the leader of this group.  With their super strength they are formidable combatants. The Falcon and Bucky are out to track them down.  They are joined in the hunt by Zemo and Sharon Carter.  John Walker, Captain America tracks them down by following The Falcon.   

After taking the last dosage of super soldier serum, John Walker disgraces the shield.  This leads to a major confrontation between he, and The Falcon and Bucky.  The Falcon is now ready to take up the mantl of Captain America.  

Subplots include Isaiah Bradley, who was given serum some 30 years prior, but his African American status lead to his incarceration for 30 years while the experimented on him.  Joaquin Torres is The Falcon's liaison in the military.  Another subplot is Sam Wilson's family's struggling business, and Bucky coming to terms with his past as The Winter Soldier, where under mind control he killed many people.  In the end the government is going to. do better to reconcile with the ideas of the Flag Smashers.

Anthony Mackie as The Falcon, Captain America, Sam Wilson.

Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier.

Erin Kellyman as Karli Morgenthau, leader of the Flag Smashers.

Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Captain America, U.S.Agent.

Daniel Brühl as Baron Helmut Zemo.

Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres.

Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Power Broker, a former SHIELD agent.

Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley

In Theaters: ***^Shazam

Her is a teenager turn superhero.  This movie also takes at crack at the importance of family, even if that family is a foster home.  It is only in family, that Shazam fulfills his true potential.  We have an evil villain who is pretty good in being the champion of the seven sins.  He turned out to be a pretty bad dude.  Asher Angel plays Billy as a youth, and Zachary Levi plays him as the superhero Shazam.  Mark Strong portrays the evil Dr. Sivana.
This is not the usual DC comic fair.  This movie is lighter and funnier than a traditional DC comic.  SUperman however does make a cameo towards the end of the movie.

In Theaters: ***^Incredibles 2 (2018)

Most of the new crew is back, but who knew it would take 14 years, or that it was really that long between Incredibles movies.  We pick up where we left off.  However in this case two siblings come forward with a plan to restore the superheroes to their former status.  However not all is right with the plot. 

	Craig T. Nelson	...	Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible (voice)
	Holly Hunter	...	Helen Parr / Elastigirl (voice)
	Sarah Vowell	...	Violet Parr (voice)
	Huck Milner	...	Dashiell Parr (Dash) (voice) (as Huckleberry Milner)
	Catherine Keener	...	Evelyn Deavor (voice)
	Eli Fucile	...	Jack-Jack Parr (voice)
	Bob Odenkirk	...	Winston Deavor (voice)
	Samuel L. Jackson	...	Lucius Best / Frozone (voice)

In Theaters: ****Glass (2019)

  This is another classic from M. Night Shyamalan.  I love the movie, but hated the ending.  Our three superheroes, Glass (Samuel Jackson), David Dunn or “Overseer” (Bruce Willis) and Split (James McAvoy) who plays many split personality characters, both male and female, including "The Beast” who can walk on the ceiling and hurts and kills others.   They are in a psychiatric unit headed by Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulsen) who has developed a method of curing super heroes.  She attempts to convince them that they are all delusional.  Casey Cooke portrays a young woman who is a former prisoner of “The Beast” but is infatuated with his true character.  Eventually the treatment goes wrong and there is a big confrontation at the end. 

Movie Review: ****^Big Hero 6

This movie comes to us from Disney and won the Oscar for best animated feature of 2014.  This Disney feature does not have singing, but has action.  A cast of misfits from what is affectionally known has nerd school end up as super heroes based on their using what ever technology they had been developing for superpowers.  They go up against an evil nemesis who has stolen the nano bots developed by Hiro.  The nano bots work together and are controlled by a central mask or control.
This movie has several plot shifts and unexpected surprises.  We watched it while we had family here this weekend, and even the little babies were fascinated with the Big white hero.  Oh, 5 people heroes and one big robot hero who turns out more human than us all, based on his programming to do everything in his power to help others heal.
This movie was a pleasant surprise for me, but it had already grossed $600 million before I watched it.

Movie Review: ***^The Rocketeer

I remember really enjoying this movie, and Natalia and Mark really enjoying it when they were little.  However in watching it again, I wasn't as impressed.  This is a hero vs Nazi spy movie, and on that level it works.  However it lacks some of the punch and story line some subsequent movies have.  Cliff (Billy Campbell) is a test pilot, who dreams of participating in air races.  His dream goes south when his prototype plane crashes after he is shot by a fleeing criminal.  The criminal is also caught, but not before hiding his bounty in a plane in the hangar.  Turns out he had stolen a new people propelling rocket.  He and his friend, mentor, Peevy (Alan Arkin) test the prototype, and decide to use it.  This only gets them into trouble.  First the criminals who want it, and the Nazi spy, Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton) who is paying them to steal it.  Then also the federals who want to recover it.  You add to the mix Cliff's pretty girlfriend, Jenny (Jennifer Connelly) and you have the makings of a pretty fun jaunt.  It is kidnapping the girl that turns things in the Nazi spy's favor, but when they criminals discover who they are working for, things change.  This movie even adds a German dirigible, which crashes into the Hollywood sign and destroys the "land" ending.  This movie is fun, but just lacks that extra oomph.