Superman (2025)

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Superman (2025)!

Original image located here. Accessed 26th December 2025

When I was a boy I saw the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeve. I did enjoy it but in retrospect that was the starting point for super-hero movies, proving they can work and draw in the numbers with people both inside and outside of comic book fandoms. 
However in years since, Superman has become a difficult character to get right, with subsequent movies being dour affairs (Henry Cavill) or good ideas weighed down with lousy ones (Brandon Routh).
So can James Gunn, surely the patron saint of taking lesser known/tainted material and doing something grand with it?

I will say this: This movie does learn from the mistakes of it's predecessors. There is plenty of colour, it ditches the desaturation of Cavill's era and has an effective leading man in David Corenswet. But perhaps the most striking thing about this movie is that it truly understand how a Superman movie is supposed to work: Gigantic set pieces, Superman's powers being utilised in fun and inventive methods, the realisation that Superman is meant to serve as an example and some true heart. And no Jon Peters for miles. 

And with that, this blog comes to a close for the year. This year has been a journey and a half and I hope you all enjoyed going with me with every step.
And I hope to speak to you all again in the new year when there's more movies to discover...

The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?

And this week's Friday night movie has been.....The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?!

Original image located here. Accessed 15th February 2019

For the uninitiated, this is a crowd-funded documentary discussing the unmade Superman movie Superman Lives, circa sometime in the late nineties. The trails and tribulations of this unmade movie are well-documented but this iteration offers unseen imagery, of designs, footage of costume tests and the experiences of those involved.

Prior to seeing this documentary i had read up on the troubled production of Superman Lives. And whilst it is fascinating to see the unseen material, the most interesting part is the involvement of producer Jon Peters. Previous accounts on Superman Lives have painted Peters as the bad guy with stories of him being incompetent, a bully, throwing in ideas with no rhyme or reason and not taking Superman seriously beyond him being a meal ticket. So it is fascinating, especially in the wake of the odd stories of him as told by Kevin Smith, to hear his voice. Granted he comes across as arrogant, of questionable honesty, spinning the narrative in his favour and a jerk, but he has a say at least.
All in all, a fascinating documentary and indeed, a glimpse at some truly lost potential