Way of the Gunn

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone.

Yesterday, James Gunn announced many details about the DC cinematic universe under his stewardship. I hope what he plans makes Warner Brothers a lot of money because I like what he's pitching. He talks about an interconnected set of stories in which the priority will be placed on writing and creative vision. It sounds a lot like the MCU but just a guy like Gunn being in charge of it makes me think it could actually be interesting.

I watched Gunn's The Suicide Squad again recently. I think it's the most rewatchable of any superhero movie of the past few years and Peacemaker was absolutely fantastic. I'm surprised he's taken on the writing of the new Superman movie since, tonally, I'd have to think it'd be very different from what he does best. But I think we can at least trust him to steer it away from irony and rote grimness.

There has to be some lightness and romance in Superman. That's what people keep coming back for, even when it's not especially good. I'd also like to see a cockier Superman, a guy who's just a little bit of a smug asshole, as he often seemed in the '40s and '50s. I'd like to see someone like Seth MacFarlane in the role. I suppose The Boys is kind of mining this territory already but considering how popular the Homelander character has become, for reasons less ironic than intended, this could be the moment of a super bastard.

Whatever happens, I just hope they make Poison Ivy a bombshell again.

Twitter Sonnet #1665

Repentant tourists tip the idol's weight.
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Consumer teeth deserved a second fate.
Condemned to breathe an airless story's told.
As colours take their places pictures move.
Depression names the dust a money woe.
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Resplendent archer draws her golden bow.
Redemptive spider butts were round as pie.
Substantial soil clutched the marble eve.
Possessive roofs exude a mortal sigh.
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Electric screens dispatched the flying dream.
Consistent waves deliver writhing bream.

The Face of the Comic Con

Dig my new exclusive Comic Con lapel pin! Yeah, that's right, it's . . . a guy. I guess it's Superman from the cowlick. It comes with the ever useful Comic Con bag which is also covered with Warner Brothers/DC advertising. I love those bags, don't get me wrong, I've accumulated a good pile of them and they're real handy when you're moving house. There are twelve exclusive pins, each with a different DC here, it was my good fortune to get one of the least identifiable.

To-night's Preview Night and, as usual, I didn't feel like watching any of the TV episodes being shown to-day so I just availed myself of the opportunity to pick up the printed schedule, souvenir book, and printed schedule. There aren't very many panels I want to see this year. I might try getting into the Doctor Who panel to-morrow but my heart won't be broken if I don't make it in--the whole thing will probably be on YouTube before I get home anyway.

I'll offer some advice now to anyone reading who's attending Comic Con this year. I'm a San Diego resident and I've been going to the Con for over twenty years. One of the things that's changed in the past couple years is Horton Plaza, the shopping mall in the middle of downtown. Its owners, Westfield, have been deliberately letting it die, letting leases expire--the rumour is they want to turn it into apartments. This is relevant to Con goers who, in past years, always had the option of forgoing the ten hour wait for a hundred dollar slice of rubber and instead going to a normal mall food court and getting an average priced slice of pizza. That food court is gone, even the Taco Bell closed. It's just a bunch of sad empty stores up there now. There is an overpriced supermarket on the bottom floor, though, called Jimbo's, which is sort of like Whole Foods with less of a selection. The Ralph's across the street is still there, too.

For my money, the best place to get lunch, if you have time and energy to walk ten blocks, is Pokez on 10th and E. But I've found the best option for years is to simply pack a lunch. The key to waiting in the queues is to accept the reality of Being In the Queue. Don't think about getting to the end of it, just Be In It. And prepare yourself to Be In It. A path is formed by laying one stone at a time, as the giant said on Twin Peaks.

Anyway, I'll be at the Con most of the time from to-morrow morning 'til Sunday night, posts here will probably be short, then I'll write longer Con reports next week.

Twitter Sonnet #1135

A lifted veil reveals a varied mug.
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A tapered cloudy sky could sink the tug.
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An early soul deduced the ghosts've gone.
The shredded bundle yet could haunt the place.
The numbers back decreed the gen'ral hunch.
The common loaded die determined lunch.

The Life of Lois

After hearing Margot Kidder passed away yesterday I decided to watch Superman II again last night (the Donner cut). The first film's better than either version of the sequel but I feel like Kidder has more screentime in II, despite being fifth or sixth billed. This is probably do to other actors' agents being better negotiators, leveraging clout for higher profiles. Thankfully to-day actors seem to have too much shame to pull that kind of thing.

Superman II is a movie about shame, Marlon Brando's ghost (in the Donner version) imbuing Superman with the sense of duty--telling him virtue is its own reward in an earlier scene, setting up the idea that having a relationship with Lois is too selfish. To be fair, a relationship does take a lot of time and Kal-El probably already wastes too much time being Clark Kent. There are probably at least a million horrible things happening every minute in the world that would benefit from Superman's attention.

Still, it's weird to stick to such a point of logic when we're talking about a movie where Superman can reverse time by reversing the Earth's rotation and it seems to take an hour for that kid to fall down Niagara Falls. And Margot Kidder looks so sweet in the super shirt.

Richard Donner, director of the first film, was fired from the second film and replaced by Richard Lester, who received credit for the theatrical version released in 1981, despite a lot of footage having been shot by Donner. Donner finally released a cut in 2006 which, among other things, restored Marlon Brando's scenes to the film--he'd been entirely cut in the Lester version. But there are a lot of other differences, too, like the fact that the first scene with Kidder and Reeve is entirely different.

I'll admit the juicer scene in the Lester version is a little funnier than the scene in the Donner one where Lois starts to figure out Clark bears an uncanny resemblance to Superman. But I like the energy of the Donner version better. Nothing quite equals the His Girl Friday inspired tone in the first film's first scenes with Lois but Donner maintains a sweetly innocent tone that every incarnation of Superman since has taken itself too seriously to attempt. Even though Lois drawing glasses on a picture of Superman clearly seems to have been inspired by a thousand conversations people've likely had that began with, "Why doesn't Lois ever . . . ?" It's the story playing catch up with the too clever audience but at the same time reminding us that such nitpicking misses the point.

Kidder never seems dumb when she's not seeing the Superman behind the bumbling Clark--she had the sense to play it straight and like the screwball comedies that inspired most of her scenes with him there's plenty of other things going on to distract her from examining him. Why should he be the centre of the universe? The common criticism is that Clark is a long term joke Superman is playing on Lois but in the Donner films the persona is almost like a form of self-punishment, an exercise in keeping himself humble. It's like he's silently pleading with Lois to be his dom but she hilariously has no time for it aside from a few random crumbs of cruelty. And kudos to Lois for not falling into that black hole. Kidder's performance in particular is as much a surpassingly human take on Lois as Reeve's is on Superman. In spite of my problems with the Zack Snyder films, I do think Amy Adams is good casting, but Margot Kidder is always the "real" Lois for me.