Hollywood never tires of telling certain stories. They’re always going back to the same well. Trust me, I’m a jerk, and I love to remind them of it. So, when DC announced Superman would once again be jump-starting their newly re-established cinematic universe, I was skeptical. Well, the comic book tentpole finally hit theaters this week. Does Superman leap to box office gold in a single bound? Or are we heading straight for another “Martha” situation? Read on.

Superman 

Superman follows the titular superhero (David Corenswet), who finds himself struggling to match wits with supervillain, billionaire and all-around bad guy Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). Will “Supes” be able to rise up and meet the challenge? Rachel Brosnahan, Skyler Gisondo, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi and Isabela Merced co-star in the movie. James Gunn directs Superman from his own script. 

I was admittedly skeptical looking at the trailers. I desperately wanted to buy in, but something kept holding me back. Do we really, truly need yet another Superman? 

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Kids, I could not have been more wrong. I should know this. Always trust in James Gunn. Few filmmakers feel quite as at ease with finding not only the heart but also the humor in a story. Gunn and Corenswet gel to find such a delightful sense of wonder in Superman, and this made the film for me.

Unassuming Sweetness

There’s a lot of pressure on Superman, and with that, a lot of focus on David Corenswet as he steps into the iconic titular role. Some should likely recognize him for his recent work in Twisters and Pearl. For most, though, this is the young actor’s big-screen breakout. 

Corenswet brings an unassuming sweetness to the daunting part. As Superman, he’s a Boy Scout, and that’s okay. His sense of wide-eyed wonder is imperative to Gunn’s narrative vision and sells the story’s emotion. It’s easy to get caught up in Clark’s joy, and with that, his pain.  

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David Corenswet is, however, only one member of a supremely talented cast. In truth, it would be impossible to call out all the stellar performances by both new and existing members of Gunn’s recurring acting troupe. With names like Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk in the cast, this felt like a return to a joyful old-school “Nerdvana,” the likes of which we haven’t seen in a long time. 

A Crusading Reporter 

However, there’s one more performance I’d be shirking my duties if I didn’t call out. Friends, I’ve been a Rachel Brosnahan fangirl going back to her days on Manhattan in 2014. It remains one of the best shows no one talked about, so call me biased. It’s probably true. 

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that I’m in love with Brosnahan’s portrayal of Lois Lane. Her’s is a rare comic book love interest that steps beyond the usual formula. She has her own voice, her own life and a story that could easily be told. I’m officially sending a plea to the DC TV programming team. Can we get an Agent Carter-like series featuring Lois Lane as a crusading reporter? I would watch the heck out of that. We need that spin-off. We deserve that spin-off. 

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Doesn’t Break Its Stride 

Gunn, meanwhile, is far from a newcomer to superhero films. We know this. I was pleasantly surprised to find, though, that Gunn avoids falling into the usual Superman traps. For one thing, this isn’t an origin story. We really didn’t need to see Smallville and what happens to Pa Kent yet again. 

With that, I suppose, there are some light struggles with characterization. As the audience, we’re ushered into a fully established world. Gunn assumes (rightly so) that most already know Superman’s origin story. There’s some pointed narrative setup, but the film doesn’t break its stride to stop and fill in needless gaps. 

Ultimately, though, Luthor’s “hands-off” villainy allows Superman to step into a different comic movie structure. The resulting film is packed to the gills with stunt set pieces. There’s plenty of comic action, but it never feels hurried or jammed, despite the fact that Lex Luthor throws a lot at our protagonist. With everything that happens, it’s hard to see where the next threat is coming from, and with that, there are stakes that often feel lacking in comic book movies. There’s a beautiful tension here. 

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A Wide-Eyed, Wonderful Look 

As the final credits rolled, I found myself with the biggest smile on my face. Superman restarts the DC Cinematic Universe with infectious joy. This doesn’t feel like the same old Superman origin story, and that’s how it should be. This is a wide-eyed, wonderful look at the complicated truth of humanity. Here’s hoping the rest of Gunn’s DCU follows suit. 

Superman is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Movie Review: JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH

A film nerd from my earliest years watching Abbott and Costello, that eventually translated to a Master’s Degree in Film History. I spend my time working on my fiction projects in all their forms, as well as covering film and television.

Latest posts by Kimberly Pierce (see all)

Blackpink is back in the area.

The K-pop girl group, made up of Rosé, Lisa, Jennie and Jisoo, triumphantly kicked off the North American leg of the Deadline world tour Saturday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. After taking a two-year break to focus on solo projects, the group reunited for its first U.S. concert since the Born Pink tour concluded in 2023.

Despite dropping only one group number since then — hardstyle, Diplo-produced “Jump,” released Friday — Blackpink sold out two nights at one of the Los Angeles area’s biggest venues.

“This is incredible. It is such an honor to perform at the SoFi Stadium for you guys,” Rosé said. “We are really really excited to be here.”

Sarah Hoang has been a Blackpink fan since 2019, following their Coachella debut that same year. To celebrate her first time seeing the girl group, the San Diego resident passed out commemorative tickets to other fans.

“I’ve been waiting for them for a long time,” Hoang said. “I was really excited to be finally seeing them in L.A., especially at the first tour of the U.S. leg.”

The stadium was awash in pink as fans went all-out for their idols. While many dressed according to the band’s namesake, others took inspiration from the girls’ solo projects. Concertgoer Evelyn Rios, who lives in Los Angeles, nailed Jennie’s look from the “Ruby” album cover in her all-black outfit and cherry-red wig. A fan since 2020, she attended the 2023 show at Dodger Stadium and noted she was most excited to hear “like Jennie.”

The show consisted of five acts and an encore, alternating between group and solo sections. Blackpink started off strong, firing through “Kill This Love,” “Pink Venom” and “How You Like That.”

The Saturday night set list was identical to the one in Goyang, South Korea, last weekend, save for Lisa’s solo section. While the maknae — or youngest member of the group — performed “New Woman” and “Rockstar” for the tour’s opening dates, she opted for the edgier “Thunder” and “Fxck Up the World” Saturday night.

Lisa’s two-piece Louis Vuitton set evoked Wonder Woman as she conquered the stage, lightning crackling behind her. Channeling the same spellbinding energy from her Coachella set earlier this year, where she also performed tracks from “Alter Ego,” Lisa proved why she’s among K-pop’s most magnetic performers.

All four solo projects are sonically distinct, and seeing them back-to-back highlighted just how artistically diverse the Blackpink members are. Jennie, who also performed solo at Coachella this year, leaned into her hip-hop influences as she delivered a mashup of “Mantra,” “with the IE (way up)” and “like Jennie.” Meanwhile, Jisoo pleased with the effervescent, electronic pop of “earthquake” and “Your Love.”

Rosé prompted laughs from the audience as footage of her filming a TikTok and eating French fries backstage played leading up to her solo section. When she finally appeared in front of the audience, she took a more intimate approach, sitting at the edge of the stage with guitarist Johnny “Natural” Najera.

Starting with heartbreak anthems “3am” and “toxic till the end,” Rosé concluded with the upbeat, global chart-topping single “Apt.,” during which she brought a fan on stage. Released with Bruno Mars in October, the song still sits comfortably on the Billboard Hot 100.

Blackpink debuted “Jump” before its official release last weekend in South Korea, so Los Angeles fans were prepared for the long-awaited comeback single. They jumped and danced all the way through the addictive track when Blackpink performed it not once, but twice.

“I must say the song is really addictive the more and more I hear it,” Rosé said after the first run. “I personally think it’s the most exciting one to perform during our set.

With a mix of old and new hits, Saturday night brought together both longtime fans and K-pop newcomers.

Sydney Grube and Thet Aung drove up together from San Diego just for the concert. While Aung has been a fan since the group began, Grube started listening after seeing Lisa in HBO’s “White Lotus” in February.

“I started listening to all the solo acts, and then started listening actually to the Blackpink music,” Grube said, adding that she was most excited to see the individual sections.

The concert also united fans of all ages, with plenty of families arriving in coordinating outfits. At one point, Blackpink even shouted out all the “baby blinks” in the audience — many of whom were not even born when the group debuted in 2016.

“I did want them to dance more, but they did really good,” said 9-year-old Tara Castro, who was wearing a Blackpink hat and glasses. “They’re my favorite K-pop.”

With tour dates charted through January, fans are expecting new music — perhaps even a full album — sometime soon. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of Blackpink in our area.

Tyler Perry wants to be taken seriously as a filmmaker, so this review of “Madea’s Destination Wedding” will do so. Even though it’s the latest in his series about his most famous character, the combative but goodhearted grandmama Mabel “Madea” Simmons, and is, like nearly all of the rest, fitfully amusing but slovenly and easily forgotten.

In this one, Madea and company head to the Bahamas and get into shenanigans at a luxury hotel. It’s unfortunately typical of Tyler Perry’s comedy output. It runs an hour and forty-five minutes but feels much longer. A strain of misogyny runs through it. It doesn’t introduce any story complications, much less any real stakes for the characters, until more than halfway through its running time. It largely consists of improv-heavy chunks of light clowning; that’s a strange phrasing, admittedly, but what else do you call a scene that doesn’t have anything resembling shape, much less a satisfying payoff?

Perry, as usual, is the credited writer and director in addition to playing multiple characters from Madea’s family, the Simmons, including Madea’s wild-haired, shambling, rascally brother Joe and their earnest son Brian, a prosecutor (played by Perry without special makeup). The story begins with a comedy set piece: Madea, her ex-husband Leroy Brown (David Mann), and their daughter Cora (Tamela Mann) getting accosted at a gas station by would-be robbers, whom Madea bashes into submission with her purse. Then we jump to Joe and his ex-wife Debra (Taja V. Simpson), a former drug addict who cleaned up and married a rich guy, in a fancy restaurant, where they are to be joined by their son B.J. (Jermaine Harris) and daughter Tiffany (Diamond White). Tiffany shows up with a dreadlocked young man named Zavier (Xavier Smalls) who exudes smugness and greets Joe with “Whassup, my n—a?” This is the prospective groom that Tiffany wants her dad to approve of. She’s never mentioned him until this moment.

The destination wedding of the title has already been locked into place by Debra’s rich husband, who is prepared to foot the bill for both the bride and groom’s families. Brian’s pride prevents him from accepting. He’s understandably peeved that Tiffany agreed to this scenario without introducing her man first, and thinks Zavier is a sleazy character. But Brian and other members of the family accept the arrangement and go to the Bahamas to support Tiffany, with Brian putting down a deposit for incidentals.

It takes half the movie for them to get to the Bahamas, check in, look at their rooms, and experience the many splendid areas of the hotel, which include a casino and a huge water slide. The scene where they check in takes several minutes. So does the scene where they figure out the logistics of their lavish suite of rooms. There’s a scene in a gift shop where lots of stuff is added to their bill, and scenes in the casino where Joe gambles and tells the house to add his tally to the bill. You can see where things are going.

There’s a funny, purposefully overwrought sequence where Xavier invites Joe and Leroy to his bachelor party. Joe convinces the pious and clean-living Leroy that it’s a gospel-themed party, practically a church service. Leroy ends up surrounded by scantily clad, twerking dancers, shrieks like a child, and sprinkles them with holy water. Perry is often a hoot playing both Madea and Joe (who twerks very slowly while balancing on his cane). But there’s a lot of flab in the scenes of banter and misunderstanding.

“The Nutty Professor” this ain’t. Little thought has been given to how people end up where they need to be to overhear something they shouldn’t or interfere in a conversation that was supposed to be private. Sometimes people walk up and stand there in plain view while the others remain oblivious to their presence. Farce should be more meticulous than this. It’s like Perry isn’t even trying. Quality control is low even by his hit-and-miss, too-many-movies-a-year standards.

You could say this is disappointing if Perry hadn’t been mostly disappointing for a very long time. From the start of his prolific, at times machine-like filmography, there have been times when he seemed to be evolving as an artist—I’m mainly thinking of “For Colored Girls,” “Mea Culpa,” and “A Jazzman’s Blues,” where he was more adventurous with camera placement, editing, and the expressive use of color. “A Jazzman’s Blues,” based on his first screenplay, might be his best movie overall; it certainly has the best final shot: a Georgia man who just learned he’s of mixed-race parentage and that his Black father was lynched, sits down on his white mother’s front porch, and the camera pulls back at such an angle that a Confederate flag above the entrance obscures our view of him. But just when it seems like he’s about to level up as an artist, he reverts his default, which is half-assing it.

Then there’s the worldview. Perry is deeply religious and fundamentally reactionary in his politics. The plot of this one pivots on a father demanding that a daughter’s fiancé earn his approval lest the marriage not happen. It portrays Tiffany with no personality or, it seems, free will, and Debra as a rich man’s trophy wife who’s trying to execute a secret agenda. And it’s been sprinkled with a little bit of religiosity. So it makes a strange kind of sense that the parts of his films dealing with criminality, addiction, and any type of sex that isn’t plain vanilla are shot more imaginatively than the parts depicting faith and goodness. (A lot of filmmakers—even the great Martin Scorsese, who once wanted to be a priest—are more exciting to watch when they’re depicting bad people.)

But the Perry films praised in this piece are melodramas, which by nature have to be intense and extreme in order to work, and Perry the actor usually doesn’t appear in them, which must free him up to think about how the movie looks. Furthermore, a melodrama can be gripping even if you find its values unrefined or merely outdated. Example: almost any melodrama that was made prior to whatever decade you’re in. The original “Mildred Pierce” is darkly pre-feminist in its portrayal of men and women, but that doesn’t matter, anymore than it matters if the values expressed in an opera or a blues song are retrograde. So really it’s all on Perry to make a great or even very good melodrama, and he hasn’t done that yet. Why? Maybe he just doesn’t want to commit to learning more about film history and technique than he already knows, because if he did, he’d have to make fewer movies.

The comedies that star Perry as the still-wildly popular Madea and various members of her family, are funny junk: collections of messy, overlong sketches with a smidge of narrative binding them together. The movie camera is a tool for artistic expression that has its own language and can speak so eloquently that dialogue is optional; you can see that Perry understands that in his melodramas, which range from pretty good to awful. But there’s no trace of that Perry in the comedies. They seem cobbled together in editing and have no visual personality. Most corporate training videos have more style movie. Perry usually just puts characters in a particular space, arranges them like pins on a clothesline, and lets the cameras run until he’s gathered enough material for the editors to work with.

Comedies like “Madea’s Destination Wedding” do practice a high level of craft, but ut it mainly has to do with the skill level needed to turn ad-lib heavy acting into something coherent when you’ve got two or more characters played by Perry acting opposite each other in the same scene. There is clearly a bit of compositing involved, but much of it looks like the product of tricks as old as the movie camera itself. I.e., they set up the actors and shoot the scene several times from various angles, making sure to only have one Perry character visible at a time (or putting doubles in the foreground with a wig on). That’s ingenious, in its elemental way. Peter Jackson did something similar in the original Tolkien trilogy, in scenes where big and small characters conversed.

Admittedly, the logistics of filming a Tyler Perry film with Perry performing multiple roles is not what most viewers will be thinking about while watching this movie. But there’s little else to recommend it except for the performances, so it’s natural for your mind to wander there.