Showing posts with label superman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label superman. Show all posts

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Superman 2025: Climbing the Story Mountain and the Soft Application of Dunning-Kruger


You can follow along with this series under the label for Superman2025, a series of posts leading up to the release of WB's new movie in 2025.  All Superman posts since the start of this blog can be found under the Superman label.


With James Gunn's recent social media posts about the start of principle photography on Superman (2025), we now enter into one of the curious aspects of Superman as a character and property:

Everyone has an opinion

Folks have ideas about what the movie should and should not be.  They have bold ideas that haven't been tried before.  They have ideas about period settings, and what would *finally* make Superman click with a wide audience.  They have opinions about why Superman doesn't work for them, but *could* if they just did X.  Folks demand they not do an origin.  Or, they demand Superman dies.  And so on and so forth.

There are the occasional think-pieces and social-media threads arriving in various levels of provocativeness and consideration.  These are usually more focused on the characterization and actually worth glancing at as the writer is often someone working through a thought experiment of the challenge of writing for a guy who can bend steel with his pinky finger and melt a tank with a hard stare.  

One such thought-exercise which made the rounds this week was from writer Michael Chabon.


The ideas thrown out there by social media users and the deeper thinking is welcome.  It's engagement.  It's people with feelings about one of the original superheroes and an American icon.  It's sometimes quality writers pondering the challenges of writing for a character who has been around since 1938 and which seems stuck in place - and so we want to throw an idea or three out there.

It's nice that we *want* to like Superman, and we are being helpful.

Friday, March 1, 2024

Let's Talk About the New Superman Movie - Superman 2025




So.

Let's talk about the new Superman movie happening over at WB.  I mean, eventually.  We'll start by talking about me and why I'm going to focus on just the one thing in a series of posts.  With DC moving into production on a new film, I'm thinking about talking about Superman again on a regular basis.  Y'all let me know if this content would be welcome or useful.

Despite the name, this site was never intended to be a Superman fan site - at least not entirely.  We started blogging back around 2003 over at League of Melbotis, when blogging was very different from what social media is today.  Heck, I don't think I'd even heard the term "fandom" when I started, and wouldn't for a few years. 

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

WB Animation Watch: Scooby-Doo and Krypto, Too! (2023)




Watched:  01/02/2024
Format:  Max
Viewing:  First
Director:  Cecilia Aranovich
Select:  Me


It's not to say Scooby-Doo and Krypto, Too! (2023) is particularly good - it has issues.  But it was better than I figured, which is possibly damning with faint praise.  Look, I'm just not a huge fan of Scooby-Doo, which is hurtful to Scooby-Doo fans, but here we are.  But I do find myself checking out some Scoob from time-to-time as they do these guest-starring movies, like the recent one with Elvira.  

As a DC Comics nut, it has a lot to love.  There's deep cut jokes exploiting a breadth of DC comics and animation history.  You'll maybe recognize bits from cartoons and movies, and you'll see items like Kandor.  Lex Luthor is a really funny supporting character here.  No notes.  I laughed.

Of course I'm a Krypto the Superdog fan, and he's in the movie, but he doesn't talk - which, look, Krypto hasn't had so much as thought-bubble in the comics since the 1970's.  But that's a bit limiting for a show with other talking dogs.  So it kinda sorta works, but.  Maybe a bit confusing?  Still, I'm just happy to see Krypto, so bonus points.

As an animation fan, it has some challenges.  My Scooby-Doo was made in the 1960's - 1980's, by the cheapest animation house outside of Filmation, so this looks like Star Wars by comparison.  But my in-house Scooby-Doo expert has assured me that they've done better by Mystery, Inc. in recent years, so I'll just agree with that.  But for someone expecting Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? style art and maybe Challenge of the Superfriends, it's... fine.  Really, it looks like the art in DC's Scooby-Doo and Batman comics that I pick up once in a blue moon if Krypto or someone shows up.   

There's some funny bits in the movie - there was a Velma's glasses bit that kills.  And I liked some of the gags about, like, the valet at the Hall of Justice.  But some of the old, worn out gags from Scooby-Doo are no fresher in 2024 than they were in 1984.  And there was no gag they couldn't stretch until you were like "I get it.  Enough."

And that included the finale "fight" that went on what seemed as long as any DC superhero movie ending - ie: way past the point where it wore out its welcome.  Which may have been a gag unto itself.  And, of course, any DC fan worth their salt could telegraph the ending twist.

I did have a couple of moments watching this cartoon that made me just sort of stare at DC over the past twenty years or so and want to ask "why do you make it so hard when this is so simple?"  Like, DC needs a Superfriends cartoon, or some version of the Justice League on Max or Cartoon Network, aimed at kids.  I know they have some marketing research that tells them "this is for people between 16 and 24", but that is *nonsense*.  They haven't even tried since I was in middle school.  And I'm old now.*

And seeing all the villains piled on Metropolis, which is treated as a gag, also made me realize why I don't give a shit about most DC events in the comics.   They aren't just the straight up Legion of Doom vs. Justice League match-up that wouldn't just feel like some wank-fest that will be meaningless to most readers.  

If they can make DC Comics work better in a Scooby-Doo cartoon - where the characters don't even really appear - than in most DC media, it may be time for a rethink.

*say what you will, but the 00's-era Justice League cartoon was airing at 7:00 at night.  That was not aimed at kids.  And they buried Justice League Action, which was great, at like 6:00 AM.  It was insane.







Saturday, December 9, 2023

Holiday Watch: Santa Claus - The Movie (1985)





Watched:  12/8/2023
Format:  Amazon
Viewing:  First
Director: Jeannot Szward  


Even as a kid, when I saw the trailer for this movie and it looked a little suspicious to me. I don't know what it says that a kid pretty game for whatever looked at this and was like "nah", but I think that gut instinct was dead on.   I would have been 10 when this hit, so I wasn't really the audience, anyway - just old enough to not want to see "a kiddie movie", but it looked like schlock to me at that age, and I just had no interest.  

Apparently neither did Planet Earth, because the movie made about $23 million against an estimated budget between $30 and 50 million.

Flash forward to 2023, and we put this one on and a whole bunch of things became clear immediately.

Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) was produced by the Salkinds, the same shady guys who put together the first three Superman films and Supergirl.  They have their name up there first and foremost, so you know this is an Alexander Salkind joint.  And if you know anything about the Salkinds you know that if you're ethically a little shaky, these are your guys.  

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Phyllis Coates Merges With the Infinite




Coates appeared only in the first season of The Adventures of Superman from 1952 and the film, Superman and the Mole Men.  

I am a fan of all Loises, and as part of the legion of Loises, Ms. Coates folds a special place here at The Signal Watch.  Her Lois was quite a bit different from Noel Neill's take.  Coates tended to play a bit more into the streetwise, tough newspaper writer persona that would circle back around with some other actors to play the part.  

She left pretty quickly, but one does not play Lois and not get included in the Superman mythos.  As is the tradition, she returned to a different incarnation of Superman, appearing on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the first year as Lois' mother, Ellen Lane.

Of course, Coates was infinitely more than her brief Superman appearances.  She has 145 appearances listed on IMDB, and spanned 50 years in the business (including a lengthy break).  

Let's salute Ms. Coates and remember her for being a terrific part of the Superman legacy!





Thursday, September 21, 2023

PodCast 253: "Justice League: The New Frontier" (2008) - SimonCanada and Ryan talk Comic Book Movies



Watched:  09/09/2023  
Format:  Max
Viewing:  Unknown.  Probably fourth 
Decade:  2000's
Director:  Dave Bullock




An all-new Simon from an all-new nation joints us on an all new frontier! We talk a 2000's-era comic and animated superhero classic. Join us as we jump back to a different era to look toward a better superhero tomorrow!


SoundCloud 


YouTube


Music:
The Flash Theme - Kevin Manthei, Justice League: New Frontier Soundtrack 
Green Lantern Theme - Kevin Manthei, Justice League: New Frontier Soundtrack 


Playlist: DC Comics and Movies 

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Watch Party Watch: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)





Watched:  04/21/2023
Format:  Amazon Watch Party
Viewing:  Unknown
Director:  Sidney J Furie

I won't get into why we did this, but we did do it as a watch party, and I think folks enjoyed the experience if not the film. 

But here at The Signal Watch we also recently podcasted the film, so if you didn't listen to the episode then (and it's pretty good, if I say so myself), now is a great opportunity to hear three dudes who know a lot about Superman stuff talk about the movie.  

SoundCloud

YouTube

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Friday Watch Party: Superman IV - The Quest for Peace

cool job, but you left two behind, Clark



Earlier this week we saw the 85th anniversary of the first appearance of Superman and Lois Lane in print in the famed Action Comics #1.  It's a great comic, and Superman has had many great stories to tell over the years.

This is probably not one of them.

Starting from a promising set-up, the movie is plagued with budgetary issues that impact everything along the way.  It has its highlights, but...  yeah.

Join us as we leap a good decision in a single bound, and behold:  Superman's apartment and its curious decor!  Lenny Luthor!  Lex's goofy scheme to infinite wealth!  A literal Chippendale's dancer as our super-powered meanie/ horn-dog!  

It's the movie that killed a franchise and set Superman back 20 years at the cinema!

Day:  Friday 04/21/2023
Time:  8:30 Central/ 6:30 Pacific
Cost:  $3
Runtime:  90 minutes

(link live ten minutes before showtime)

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Superman and Lois at 85




April 18th marks the 85th anniversary of the release of Action Comics #1.  This comic includes the first published story of Superman and Lois Lane.  

Originally, Superman was imagined as an unstoppable force for good and a champion of the oppressed.  This hasn't fundamentally changed, but the scope and scale at which Superman operates in comics and film has expanded to include liberating whole planets and more nuanced takes on what a man of steel can do and not be painted as a villain by the general public. 

In many ways, Superman is a combination of traits borrowed from existing popular fiction.  Doc Savage had a Fortress of Solitude, The Shadow had dual identities to fight crime, Zorro was out there swashbuckling and in a love triangle of which he was two sides.  John Carter of Mars was an alien on Mars whose origins on Earth made him super-human elsewhere.

Friday, April 14, 2023

Superheroes Every Day Watch: Man of Steel (2013) - Part 1C



Danny of Superheroes Every Day has launched a PodCast!  And we're the first guest!  

In this installment (3 of 3) we discuss the third, incredibly tedious and somewhat horrific act of a movie wherein a superhero debuts and immediately decides cataclysmic collateral damage is no big whoop while he fights his daddy's pal.  

Spotify:



Here's Part 1 C (you can always listen on Spotify or other providers):

YouTube:




Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Superheroes Every Day Watch: Man of Steel (2013) - Part 1B



Danny of Superheroes Every Day has launched a PodCast!  And we're the first guest!  In this installment (2 of 3) we discuss the second act of 2013's, uh... uneven Super-film, Man of Steel.  



Here's Part 1 B (you can also listen on Spotify or other providers):

Monday, April 10, 2023

Superheroes Every Day Watch: Man of Steel (2013) - Part 1



Watched:  03/26/2023
Format:  HBOmax
Viewing:  third?  4th?
Director:  Zachary Snyder

Well, Danny of Superheroes Every Day has started a podcast.  To kick things off, he's selected (1) the film Man of Steel (2013) and (2) me as his guest (!) for what is a 3-part discussion about the film.  

Even at three-parts of about 40+ minutes each, I'm aware of at least two points I didn't make, so that's to say there's a LOT to say about this stab at superhero flicks by the studio that brought you Catwoman and Green Lantern.  Sure, they did those Nolan-Bat-flicks, but we know who they really are.



Saturday, April 8, 2023

Signal Watch Round-Up: Sportsball and Television

 

Sportsball

Futbol is underway

Austin FC


Austin FC is my local team and my point of view when it comes to soccer/ futbol.  I am a fan.  I'll be ride-or-die with this team and the fanbase.  They are off to a very rough start.  

Futbol is a weird sport in that, unlike pretty much every other US-based sport, they don't just play within their league.  They also will play within a variety of Cups series, which adds extra games in the middle of the week.  It's bananas.  But, you can also get knocked out if you lose those games.  Which AFC did. 

It hasn't helped that my guy, Julio Cascante, went down with an injury about twenty minutes into the new season and one of our other strong defenders, Gabrielsen, returned to Norway for family reasons.  Anyway, it's not been great, but it's a long season.  And I'll be there!  Verde!  Listos!

In fact, we have tickets to see them play next week.

Apple and MLS

Apple+ is now the home for all of MLS, which is... fine.  I don't think they're actually sending the folks calling games to the stadiums, and because they're treating it almost like NCAA football coverage, they're missing what Americans depend on in some ways during long sporting seasons - we need coverage by homers.  

I don't know who the people are covering games.  They don't show them, they don't explain who they are, and there's a real tendency in soccer coverage to do it in a "what I would have done here" way I expect out of football games at 11:00 AM on a Saturday by ESPN's third tier guys.  It's not holistic coverage recognizing the audience, it's putting the person calling the game in the position of critic and a second adversary when you're watching.  I love baseball coverage by my local folks because they're living and dying with the team, an extension of that team, and they know to be merciful to the audience listening while also being honest.  It seems like an easy tweak for Apple to make, but I assume that placing teams in every city if very expensive versus having people sitting at a table in New York watching the games on a feed, which is what I suspect is happening.

I was also expecting the obvious to occur and a SportsCenter style show to arrive by Sunday morning after the Saturday matches, but instead it's basically just a dry highlight reel.  This is, in fact, bad.  It both keeps the audience at a distance from the game, players and staff, but it also suggests that there's nothing to see here or discuss, really.  Which...  I'm the first person to make fun of the endless coverage of sports on 5 Fox Sports channels, 10 ESPN channels, 4 NBC Channels, etc...  and the parade of dum-dums who get paid to make stuff up about sports.  But I don't think 30-60 minutes per week to cover an entire sports league that gets no coverage elsewhere is asking too much.  

USWNT


This weekend the US Women's National Team is playing in Austin, and I failed to secure tickets.  I'm a little down about it, but I think they'll be back, maybe even this year as they head toward World Cup play this summer.  

And do plan to watch this summer,  USWNT looks great, but in addition to the usual other power houses, England's team seems to be on an incredible roll.  

But let's see what Rose Lavelle and Crystal Dunn do this year for USWNT.

Baseball Begins

The baseball season is underway!  Cubs are still gelling and look middle-of-the-road so far.  I didn't watch much last year, but am giving it some time again, which means figuring out who some of these guys are, especially on pitching.  

And, it's hard to know how good any of these guys will be over the length of the season.  You see people come in hot at the start of a season and fizzle at the end of month one.  Other people get hot for a while.  Others - especially pitchers - can be all over the place during a season.  I'm excited one of our pitchers seems to have found a good spot as a reliever (Alzolay).  But I also want to see more out of defense, especially around third base.  

And, I've been watching Pitching Ninja videos.

Anyway, baseball!  

Television

The Wire

I never watched The Wire when it first aired.  Until HBOmax, HBO was something I'd have sporadically, but didn't feel the need to watch whatever was the hot HBO show and the movie selection was usually pretty mediocre.  

My brother had the series on DVD and loaned it to Jamie and me in 2007, but according to him we weren't "watching it fast enough" to demonstrate we truly appreciated it.  And he took the DVD set away.  It was hilarious, but I wound up just not watching the show at all.

But now I have the idiotically named HBOmax* and therefore access to The Wire, and I'm watching it with Laura and Marshall, one episode per week.  Laura is documenting her journey through The Wire via this Tumblr.

I am sure my participation is frustrating for my pals as I tend not to say a lot about a TV show until the end of a season.  I'm either enjoying it or I'm not, but I tend not to want to say much about a character's arc until the end of the season, because that's when you can say what worked or what didn't.  Anything before is guess work.  

As I mentioned in our chat, if you've worked for a large organization or one that's "political" (I suspect everyone's workplace with more than six people is political, literally or figuratively), it's a reminder of how people and their self-interest are their own worst enemies when it comes to solving the problems their paid to solve.  Obviously the point of the show, but - it's kind of fascinating to also see it done in a way that isn't just a labor to watch.  You can see the angles without feeling like you're watching Death of a Bureaucrat.  


What Else Are We Watching?


Ted Lasso - I feel like this season is off to a good start, I'm glad it's back, etc... But, man, I hate that they added the fortune teller to predict the future for even one scene.  I know you dum-dums decided astrology was real during COVID, but now we have to deal with fan speculation and, technically, wizards existing in the universe of a straightforward TV show.  Other than that, it's been lovely, and they more or less seem to have found a workable and less awkward storyline for Rebecca this season.

Abbott Elementary - The only 1/2 hour network sitcom we watch.  I'll be curious how long they can keep this up.

Mandalorian - I've seen nothing but the whining on twitter from people who get confused by any story more complicated than a side-scroller videogame, but pretty clearly Star Wars is expanding the timeline and storyline from a pretty narrow window to include the wider Star Wars universe, and that's... a good thing.  I was not a BSG watcher, so this is my first real time spent with Katee Sackhoff, and y'all were right about her.  

Superman and Lois - The weirdly undiscussed Superman show is still 2/3rds soap opera, 1/3rd Superman-ness, and that's... fine.  I've settled in, and after 2 prior seasons, I know the last few episodes of each seasons are where they'll pull out the super-story and remind you how cool Superman stuff can be.  In many ways, Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth "Bitsie" Tulloch are near-exact embodiments of how I think of Lois and Clark in the comics.  It's honestly kind of weird how much they've got it down.  There are things I wish they'd tweak or do differently, but I suspect the budget is a limiting factor for more time at the Fortress or doing Superman things.  But it's a lot for a CW show, so I'm happy about just having a Superman and Lois I can completely buy.

Schmigadoon - Season 2 of the show I've not even heard my theater-pals discuss is underway and you can tell they're a lot more comfortable from jump.  Rather than the Meredith Wilson style of musical, we're moving into Sondheim and Fosse, and while, yeah, maybe it helps to do your homework and this won't be for everyone, I'm *barely* a musicals guy, and this works for me.  Plus, Cicely Strong and Keegan-Michael Key are endlessly funny just existing on screen as folks reacting to what is happening.


*to my dying day, I will believe this branding was the work of people who don't understand the holdings and possible reach of WB's vast library, but who really think Game of Thrones is neat

Monday, February 20, 2023

PodCast 233: "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987) - A KTB PodCast w/ Danny, Stuart and Ryan



Watched: 02/10/2023
Format:  HBOmax
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade:  1980's
Director:  Sidney J Furie



For Danny's Superheroes Every Day blog

Well. It's time to talk about the final, and possibly flawed installment of the Christopher Reeve movies about the Big Blue Boy Scout. Join three fellows who have spent way too much time pondering Superman, Superman movies, and the cinema of the 1980's as they consider topics such as "should this story have been told?", "what could have been?" and "who cooks a duck in someone else's hotel suite?" It's a Kryptonian Thought Beast episode for the ages!


SoundCloud 


YouTube


Music:
Superman Main Titles (8 Bit Version) - 8 Bit Universe 


DC Movies and Television


Superheroes Every Day PodCast Episodes


Sunday, January 8, 2023

Super Watch: Superman - The Movie (1978 - theatrical cut)




Watched:  01/06/2023
Format:  HBOmax
Viewing:  1,000,000th
Director:  Richard Donner

Superman: The Movie (1978) is the movie I've seen most of any film, enough so that I have it pretty well memorized.  At this point, I'd hesitate to say how many times I've seen the movie, but it's dozens and dozens of times.  At least 7 in the theater.  Intentionally, I haven't watched it much the past few years.  I mean, I'm trying to watch new-to-me movies, I can replay any scene in my head any time, I know the beats and jokes, and cool elements and emotions in every scene.  But I also know the plot holes, the mistakes, the dated issues with the film, where that's-a-doll, that's-how-that-shot-was-done, etc...  I even look for where extras were at a difference walking pace in various shots.  

What's probably most notable to modern film audiences is that a movie that plays it mostly straight for an hour has a hard jump in the second half to a far wackier vision of the world it establishes, moving from sci-fi epic to American Rockwell-esque pastoral to a cosmic sci-fi fantasy.  And then...  Metropolis, with hustling big-city folk, fast talking journalists, and Otis bumbling along.  And for the next 90 minutes, the movie is a mix of romance, screwball, camp and heroism.  There's something oddly Broadway-ish about that back 90 minutes - I mean, doesn't Miss Tessmacher seem like she needs an "I Want" song?  Because Lois gets one in spoken-word.

Saturday, December 10, 2022

PodCast 224: "Lois And Clark- S4E11" - a Superheroes Every Day Holiday Episode



Watched:  12/03/2022
Format:  HBOmax
Viewing: First
Decade:  1990's
Director:  Michael Vejar




Danny returns! To talk the 1996 Holiday installment of a Super-favorite. Join us as we get merry in both the 5th and 3rd dimension, talk all-things Superman, where this show fits in to the expansive history of The Man of Steel and how this episode works as a Superman story. So what happens when Howie Mandel arrives and wants to conquer the world? Our man picked the wrong holiday to try that one.


SoundCloud 


YouTube


Music:
Lois and Clark Main Title - Jay Gruska


Holidays 2022

Thursday, October 6, 2022

PodCast 214: "DC League Of Super Pets" (2022) - A Kryptonian Thought Beast Episode w/ Jamie & Ryan

 


Watched:  10/02/2022
Format:  HBOmax
Viewing:  First
Director:  Jared Stern and Samuel J Levine


The podcast goes to the dogs as Jamie and Ryan talk 2022's furriest super-offering. Join us as we sniff around for a take on family fun in Metropolis as Superman's lesser-known pal gets his own feature and DC/ WB tries to kick-start a lucrative super franchise for the kiddos.

SoundCloud

YouTube



DC Movies Playlist

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Happy Birthday, Lois Lane

Apparently I have it in my Google Calendar that today is Lois Lane's birthday.

Happy birthday to the world's greatest reporter!






Tuesday, July 26, 2022

PodCast 206: "Smallville - Part 2 of 2" - Jamie and Ryan Talk Super Television




Format:  Smallville currently streaming on Hulu




Jamie and Ryan put in another hour talking about ten seasons of watching Clark Kent go from a teen saddled with alien powers and a tendency to deceive everyone to an adult who does the same. Join us as we consider the super-task of putting out 220+ episodes of TV, finally getting to where you were planning to go and then tripping over your own feet at the last second with a lead who just seems like he never quite figured out why people were watching.


SoundCloud 


YouTube


Music:
Save Me - Remy Zero 
Breathe Again - Sara Bareilles


DC TV and Movies





Sunday, July 24, 2022

PodCast 205: "Smallville - Part 1 of 2" - Jamie and Ryan Talk Super Television




Format:  Smallville currently on Hulu  




Jamie and Ryan crash into 2001's hit show that wound up running for 10 seasons. It's a super discussion about the show, what it meant to viewers, how fans built a culture around the show, and what it means years later when a star of the show is less than a hero. Join us as we get through an hour of super-talk and we get past the secrets and lies!


SoundCloud 


YouTube


Music:
Save Me - Remy Zero
Island In the Sun - Weezer 


DC Movies and Television