​James Gunn’s Superman casts its Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) as a former punk enthusiast, a fitting interest for a burgeoning journalist speaking truth to power.  There’s nothing punk about the character of Superman (David Corenswet), a farm-raised hayseed whose  goofy alter-ego Clark Kent doesn’t take much acting.  Contra Kill Bill, Clark Kent and Superman are the same person, except Kent doesn’t shoot lasers out of his eyes and punch kaijus in the jaw.  In response to Lois’ jibes about his corniness and earnestness, Kent retorts that maybe that’s the new punk if her irony and complexity is the norm.  In the wake of Zack Snyder’s grimdark imagining of the character, Gunn brings a new sensibility to DC and Warner Bros, redefining punk in opposition to Snyder and Gunn’s old employer at Marvel, who also have an allergy to earnestness.  Some real-world resonances and old-fashioned spectacle complete the picture and get Gunn’s tenure as studio head at DC off to a stirring start.

One of the most irritating critiques of Oppenheimer was its omission of the Japanese victims of the atomic bomb.  Christopher Nolan chooses to omit any images of their suffering beyond on off-screen newsreel.  It’s easy to imagine the worse version of the film that does include those images, just as it’s easy to conjure up the opposite critiques.  How dare a white Englishman appropriate Japanese misery for use in his blockbuster?  The best people to deal with the aftermath of the atomic bombings of the Japanese are the Japanese themselves, a truism that’s been enacted over and over again in countless movies made by Japanese directors, up to and including Godzilla, one of Japan’s most enduring 20th century cultural exports.  Godzilla Minus One continues in this long tradition as the latest version of the lumbering nuke-metaphor became an international hit and a critical darling.  Director Takashi Yamazaki expertly balances big-screen kaiju thrills while exploring and purging the strain of suicidal nationalism that infected Japan during World War II.  

​I haven’t seen the original Road House, though it gets mentally grouped in with the muscly action trash that dominated the 80’s.  Maybe it’s better than the Commandoes and Cobras of the world, but it sits comfortably alongside its genre buddies with their big body counts and hacky quips delivered in a Schwarzeneggar accent, Stallone mumble, or Seagal whisper.  Present-day action filmmaking is too cloaked in irony to pull off the same kind of tone, preferring a that-just-happened incredulity to the you’re-damn-right-it-did swagger of the Reagan/Persian Gulf era.  It’s therefore interesting to see what a modern remake of Road House might look like, and how that 80’s tone translates to current sensibilities and filmmaking trends.  However, Doug Liman’s adaptation is fruit of a poisoned tree.  As Hollywood moves away from superhero movies and is in search of its next big blockbuster trend, let’s hope they leave the 80’s in the rearview where it belongs.

​Of the major global outposts for movies, India is the one I’ve had the least experience with.  I’ve seen two Satyajit Ray films from the 50’s (both great), The Lunchbox starring Irrfan Khan (pretty good), and, most indicative of India’s cultural exports, 2022’s RRR.  That last one is what most think of when they imagine the work of Bollywood/Tollywood; epics with frequents musical interludes and intricate dance numbers.  RRR was a strong introduction to this kind of filmmaking, though it’s not the kind of cinematic empathy-building that I’ve found in countries as varied as Brazil, Romania, Iran, and South Korea.  Indian non-musicals, removed from the heightened nature of the genre, seem few and far between, and that’s generally what I want in my foreign film-watching.  Monkey Man, from actor/writer/director Dev Patel, isn’t exactly that, as it’s a bloody revenge flick with plenty of choreography, just not the kind that everyone dances to.  It does, however, give a peak into a culture and a nation that I feel like I should know more about, given its place in the world, while also delivering on the martial arts ultraviolence of its genre predecessors.