“SUPERMAN” *My rating: C+ (HBO Max)
129 minutes | MPAA: PG-13
Well, it’s an improvement over the dour Zack Snyder’Henry Cavill adaptations, but James Gunn’s “Superman” mostly made me appreciate the insanely clever balancing act of the first Christopher Reeve “Superman” (1978).
No origin story here. It begins with Clark Kent (David Corenswet) already co-habiting with fellow reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), who is well aware of his powers. Evil mastermind Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult, strangely uncompelling) wants to bring down our hero.
Superman’s alien origins are at the heart of the yarn. Our man comes to believe (mistakenly, it turns out), that he was sent to Earth not to serve its people but to rule them. This leads to a crisis of conscience. Meanwhile Luthor picks up that idea and runs with it to justify his persecution of the Man of Steel.
Corenswet makes for a likable if not particularly dynamic Superman. But he’s got no chemistry with Brosnahan. Far more engaging is Superman’s apparently untrainable dog Krypto, a computer-animated mutt who combines puppy-like misbehavior with insane strength and speed.
Gunn’s “Superman” has been accused of woke-ness, apparently because it presents its hero as an illegal immigrant and because a subplot — about one country’s invasion of its impoverished neighbor — strikes some viewers as a commentary on the war in Gaza. Maybe. Maybe not.
“Superman” isn’t bad. Nor is it particularly good.
Lily James
“SWIPED” My rating: B (Hu;u)
110 minutes | No MPAA rating
Save your Coke bottles, ladies. Men are shit.
That’s the unstated but inescapable message percolating through “Swiped,” a tale of female empowerment (and frustration) based on the career of Whitney Wolfe Herd, who was instrumental in creating the dating app Tinder.
Rachel Lee Goldenberg’s film (she co-wrote with Bill Parker and Kim Caramele) follows Herd (Lily James) as she navigates the treacherous waters of the social media industry in the 2000 teens.
Geeks will appreciate the tech history laid out here, but the film’s real concern is the hellish mistreatment Herd was subjected to. If you thought the computer world was enlightened and egalitarian compared to old school business…well, no. Her male co-workers take credit for her innovative ideas. And when she dares complain, she finds herself the object of corporate slut shaming.
On the personal side, the co-worker she falls in love with turns out, after a period of charming behavior, to be a sexist sleaze ball. Herd goes solo to develop her own app, using funds provided by a Russian tech magnate (Dan Stevens) who seems too good to be true. He is; the dude’s got Epstein-level baggage.
Ultimately Herd found true love (with someone well outside her business circles) and founded the wildly successful female-oriented dating app Bumble. She is now rich and powerful.
“Swiped” is inspirational, sure. It’s also unsettlingly cautionary.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 