Super First Watch: Superman (2025)

Watched:  07/08/2025

Format:  AMC IMAX

Viewing:  First

Director:  James Gunn

You can follow our posts on Superman at this link, and our posts on the new movie, Superman (2025) at this link.

For More on the Movie:

• Super Watch:  Superman (2025) - a pre review post
• Super First Watch:  Superman (2025)
• Superman Second Watch:  Superman (2025) - Part 1 - Likes/Dislikes/Punk Rock Superman
• Superman Second Watch: Superman (2025) - Part 2 - Characters
• Superman Second Watch: Superman (2025) - Part 3 -  If You Now Like Superman, Hooray!
• Super Third Watch:  Superman (2025)

Light spoilers ahead.  We'll do another post or two on the movie getting deeper into details.

Well, kids.  We made it.  It's 2025, and we have a Superman movie.  

We posted some details of our screening previously, right after Jamie and I took in the flick.

At the top - I'll say, a good portion of my life has been spent reading Superman comic books, watching Superman films, television, cartoons, etc... I've read non-fiction about Superman's storied history as a pop-culture figure and feel pretty confident in saying that I'm up to date on the character.

And, yet, it is very, very strange to see Superman come to the screen and feel less like an interpretation of Superman re-imagined for the big screen by people wanting to put their own stamp on the character, and instead get a movie that feels like someone took a really terrific event Superman comic run and said "this is what we're doing.  On the screen.  With a budget that's equal to roughly the combined GDP of Europe."

Super Watch: Superman (2025) - a pre review post

You can follow our posts on Superman at this link, and our posts on the new movie, Superman (2025) at this link.

For More on the Movie:

• Super Watch:  Superman (2025) - a pre review post
• Super First Watch:  Superman (2025)
• Superman Second Watch:  Superman (2025) - Part 1 - Likes/Dislikes/Punk Rock Superman
• Superman Second Watch: Superman (2025) - Part 2 - Characters
• Superman Second Watch: Superman (2025) - Part 3 -  If You Now Like Superman, Hooray!
• Super Third Watch:  Superman (2025)

This isn't the actual review.  I'll start on that ASAP and get it done - don't worry!  (Because I know how you worry, pals!)  But I also don't want folks really reading what I have to say until the film has been out more than a few random screenings on a Tuesday.

We saw Superman (2025) at the AMC Barton Creek on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 as part of an oddball promotion with Amazon Prime, Fandango and Superman I guess.  

I'll say this:  I really, really liked the movie.  If all you want to know is if I think it's worth a viewing - sure.  Go get a ticket.  

Much as I went into Black Panther terrified this was going to go badly and then was just stunned by what I saw, this was that - only bigger.  It may surprise you to learn I have a lot invested in Superman as a character.

It was also wild to walk into a theater full of people not just in Superman shirts, but sporting the S from this movie in large quantities.  When you shop at one of the biggest comic shops on the continent and they *still* know you as "the Superman guy" it can feel like maybe you're the one person who likes the character.  But holy cats, did the Superman fans come out of the woodwork tonight.  The dudes in front of me were regularly quietly high-fiving.  

Anyhow - I don't think this is just opening night hype. 

Y'all go see my guy, Clark, and his cool friends.

Rock Watch: This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Watched:  07/06/2025

Format:  Alamo

Viewing:  Unknown

Director:  Rob Reiner/ Marti DiBergi

SimonUK and I took in the re-release of This is Spinal Tap (1984) at the Alamo on Sunday evening.  

I don't need to tell you what This Is Spinal Tap is, I hope.  Apparently, The Drafthouse has signed up to host Fathom events, and this included the viewing of the new 4K restoration of the movie, but it's sort of America's original faux-documentary.  It led directly to Christopher Guest's brilliant mockumentary* series and indirectly to the format of shows like The Office and Parks and Rec.  

I have lost track of when and how I saw this movie the first time.  I remember seeing it very young, and not really getting the jokes - minus the "it goes to 11" bit (I want to say as early as 1985 or 1986) but then seeing it again at the end of high school and absolutely getting it (maybe in 1992-93).  By then, I'd had a subscription to Rolling Stone, so some of the references and gags - like the cricket bat - made more sense.

Superman 2025 Pre-Watch: Superman - The Movie (1978)

Watched:  07/05/2025

Viewing:  a lot.  Whole bunch of times.

Format:  Max

Director:  Richard Donner

You can follow our posts on Superman at this link, and our posts on the new movie, Superman (2025) at this link.

In prep for seeing Superman 2025 on the 8th, I figured I owed the OG classic one more spin before settling in for what Big Blue has to offer us in our modern era.  

To catch folks up, I saw Superman: The Movie (1978) during its initial release in December of 1978 or shortly thereafter.  Maybe in Spring of 1979.  But I'd certainly seen it in the theater with my dad and brother during that window when I was 3.  I recall seeing it, as they were giving away gumball machines that were red or blue, and at that time, my brother's stuff was coded blue, and mine was red, so my parents could be even-steven giving us things, but we knew what belonged to who.

I think often of how spoiled we were as kids in the 1980s.  One of my first movies outings was seeing Star Wars in the theater at age 2, and then all of the paraphernalia around the movie from toys to wall paper .  To me, movies were just where mind-boggling things happened, and what was the point if you weren't seeing something amazing? 

Happy Birthday, Debbie Harry

Today marks the 80th birthday of music and arts icon, Deborah Harry.

We're big fans here at The Signal Watch, and have seen Blondie twice to date.  

Last week we were at my brother's house and my eight year old niece came out in a Blondie shirt, and I was like "hey, what?"  Apparently she heard Debbie's solo effort song "French Kissin' in the USA" and was spellbound.  The parents weren't thrilled with the content, but nonetheless, my niece knows a bop when she hears one.  And, thus, two days later my SIL was at Target, saw the shirt, and bought it for B.  

What a world when there's a kid's Blondie shirt at the Target.

I tried to school B on the superior drumming of Clem Burke via "Atomic", but I think she just wanted me to shut up.

Anyway, B and I have now bonded over Blondie.  Happy birthday, Debbie.  We hope you have a great one.

Jim Shooter Merges With The Infinite

A giant has passed.  Jim Shooter, former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel from back when I started reading comics, legendary kid genius writer of Legion of Super-Heroes, and a personality larger than life - passed on June 30th, 2025.

For those who don't know, Shooter landed a job at 13 or 14 writing Legion of Superheroes stories after sending in a spec script to National Comics (before it was DC).  He went on to write some of the biggest Legion stories there ever were before he was out of high school, making the Legion what we know today as distinct characters.  But - he introduced the Fatal Five, Karate Kid, Shadow Lass and more.  He killed off Ferro Lad!  

As editor-in-chief at Marvel, he introduced Dazzler, Power Pack, GI Joe, Transformers and oversaw some classic work on X-Men, X-Factor, Avengers, Daredevil and other characters.  

After Marvel, he founded Valiant comics, and worked for several comics companies over the years, including returning to DC for about a year on Legion.  

In the heyday of Twitter, he did as some creatives did and began chatting with fans and sharing wisdom - until it became obvious it wasn't worth doing.  It was nice while it lasted.

He meant a lot to me as the guy pulling the strings at Marvel when I first picked up Marvel comics.  And again as an adult as I discovered Legion for myself - really only 20 years ago.  To some of his own generation, he was a controversial figure.  I don't care - in so many ways, Shooter was right.  We're still reading the comics he oversaw and wrote, they're a lot of what has been turned into movies, and a generation of us came to comics under his watch.  

You gave a lot of us mythology, stories and inspiration, and you'll be missed, sir.

2010's Watch: Bad Times At The El Royale (2018)

Watched:  06/29/2025

Format:  Prime

Viewing:  First

Writer/ Director:  Drew Goddard

It's possible in fifteen or twenty years, this movie will be found and puzzled over as featuring folks who are now established stars, mixed with longtime stars.  Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) features Cynthia Erivo in what I will say should have been a break-out performance and her entree into film stardom, rather than her having to wait until Wicked.  She's clearly already a star.  Lewis Pullman is here.  As are Chris Hemsworth, John Hamm, Jeff Bridges and a not-50 Shades-ing Dakota Johnson.  

But this movie came out and tanked.  That's neither here nor there, but it has meant that it's not exactly on the forefront of people's minds as few eyes saw the movie in the theater and it's not found an audience on home video. 

What's odd is that Metacritic comes in at a mid-range-ish 60, and the audience score is a generous 71.  And yet... no one saw this.

However, maybe in the same way of The Last of Sheila from 1973, it will find an audience that will make sure it has a cult following.  Or not.  (I heartily recommend The Last of Sheila.)

Doc Watch: My Mom Jayne - a film by Mariska Hargitay (2025)

Watched:  06/28/2025

Format:  Max

Viewing:  First

Director:  Mariska Hargitay

I don't watch Law & Order much, but for a while back in the 00's and 10's, SVU was the one I'd watch in re-runs.  And Mariska Hargitay was hard to miss as the ultra-driven cop, Detective Olivia Benson.  But it was probably in the 2010's that I figured out her parents were screen legend Jayne Mansfield and body builder Mickey Hargitay.  

Mansfield is the stuff of Hollywood Babylon legend, following a career path that feels one-part Monroe, one-part Jane Russell.  I've seen only two or three Mansfield movies, and she struck me as very good at what she did (I liked her a lot in The Burglar), but she and I don't cross paths much in my TCM viewing.  

Once I knew about her parentage, I also never could quite sort out Mariska Hargitay's domestic situation, as I couldn't believe she'd even been born when Mansfield died in a car wreck in 1967.  It seemed Mariska was a smidge older than I'd guessed (good genes, I guess) - but she was three at the time, and in the car when it happened.  But, due to her age when Mansfield passed, Hargitay didn't have memories of her mother, and she wasn't raised by her.  

The doc, My Mom Jayne: a Film by Mariska Hargitay (2025), is Hargitay coming to terms with who her mother was, learning who she really was away from the public, and embracing her relationship with the woman she never really knew.  

90's Watch: The Cutting Edge (1992)

Watched:  06/27/2025

Format:  YouTube

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Paul Michael Glaser

This is the second time I saw this movie, the first time being in the late 90's.

I mentioned I was going to watch The Cutting Edge (1992) to some dudes my age (heyo, Marshall and Paul) and we all kind of said what I think is true:  this movie wasn't really aimed at us, we all saw it, and thought that if you're going to make this movie, this is pretty good.

At least that was my memory of it before watching it again.  

And, yeah, it's still true.  

I mean, it's got some very 90's vibes, but because of the era, it has a bit of that "we're adults and so we're going to act like (young) adults, not tall teenagers written for a Disney daytime show".  

The basic plot is that D.B. Sweeney plays a hockey player who suffers an injury that will keep him from playing professionally.  He's struggling in life when he's approached by the coach to be the partner for a difficult pairs skater (Moira Kelly!).  Who can't keep a pairs partner.  Because she's a raging B.

It follows the enemies-to-lovers thing that people seem to love (see: Jane Austen) which is not a spoiler because the poster had Sweeney and Kelley looking like they might make out right there.

The cast is small, but doesn't need to be huge.  Terry O'Quinn plays Kelly's rich dad.  

There's a pretty good conclusion to the film with characters having actual moments of self-actualization and whatnot, even if it's all swaddled in 90's sports-movie cheese.

I dunno.  It's fine!  I even kind of like it.  If I were on a date in the 1990's, I would take Jamie to it and try not to say too much about Moira Kelly being dreamy.

Since I saw the movie the first time, I've watched countless hours of ice skating thanks to Jamie's abiding interest in the sport - and now I know that very little of what happens in this movie is how skating actually works.  But enough works that it's not utterly broken.  

My only other real note is that a girl from my high school class that I never spoke to or shared space with married D.B. Sweeney and was with him until what Google tells me was 2023.  I kinda vaguely/sorta remember her when I look at her picture.  She would not know me at all.  It all works out.

Musical Watch: Wicked (2024)

Watched:  06/26/2025

Format:  Peacock

Viewing:  First

Director:  Jon M. Chu

I am a huge fan of the OG Wizard of Oz.  My second biggest regret about ending the podcast was not covering that movie before we put away our mics.  In my opinion, Wizard of Oz is not just an important film, it's a key to American film and culture.  

That said - I am fine with derivative works.  Of course people want to explore this amazing world in which Wizard of Oz takes place, to consider and deconstruct and shuffle around the cultural icons of the movie, look into the characters, themes, etc...  It's a bubbling well for interpretation, commentary and America.

Wicked (2024) came in riding decades of popularity as a stage show and soundtrack.  Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenowith were launched to super stardom with the show and became fixtures.  People who don't care about Broadway probably already knew two of the songs by osmosis before ever buying a movie ticket.  It's one of the few 21st Century Broadway shows to break into the pop consciousness like 20th Century shows like Oklahoma!, Phantom, Cats or Les Mis.  

This film adaptation did great at the box office and was at least an American phenomenon.  It did fine overseas, but likely suffered from being an English-language musical about a play that probably hasn't been getting seen in Beijing, etc...  quite yet.  And who knows if they care about The Wizard of Oz in Lichtenstein?

But in the states, it made almost half-a-billion dollars.  As the movie was released in late Fall, Christmas season 2024 was pink and green with the movie's merchandise and imagery everywhere.  It was kind of neat.