With 2025 coming to a close, it is time for us to choose what the best entertainment of the year was. And just as the Academy Awards have their "Oscars", so too the Catholic Skywalker Awards have their "Kal-El's"
So of the movies I've seen this year, here are the winners:
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Writer/Director James Gunn throws you into the deep end at the very start of the movie. He completely skips the entire origin story. In fact, he skips what would normally be the first act of a movie. We are told that three weeks earlier Superman (David Corenswet) stopped a war between two nations and that three hours earlier one of those nations sent a metahuman to Metropolis who beat Superman so badly that he had to retreat. The movie begins with that shot from the teaser of Superman crashing into Antarctica to get to the Fortress of Solitude. There are no flashbacks to get you caught up, instead the movie pushes forward at breakneck speed. In the Fortress, we encounter a looped message from Superman's Kryptonian parents Jor-El and Lara who tell him that he is to do good for the Earth. But the rest of the message has been corrupted and has never been heard. But this message established Superman's whole mission of being a hero.
The story centers around Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) and his obsession to take Superman down. During these exploits, Superman is sometimes assisted by "The Justice Gang," consisting of Guy Gardner "Green Lantern" (Nathan Fillion), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). As Luthor's plans continue to unfold Superman's life begins to fall apart all the while Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) work behind the scenes to help him.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot, because watching it unfold is part of the fun.
Why did I love this movie so much?
Part of it is that it feels like the comic books I read come to life. Moreso than most superhero films, is able to translate that feeling of reading good comic books. Most of the time these either go too goofy and campy or they go too "realistic." This movie is bright and colorful with imaginative spectacle while at the same time having clear, distinct, and interesting characters along with a strong dramatic through-line.
Perhaps my feelings are colored by the fact that Gunn nails the essence of the comic characters. Superman is the ultimate aspirational hero. He embodies goodness. I can tell you when I went from liking to loving the movie is when in a moment of frustration Superman yells, "Good Gosh!" His refusal to take God's name in vain won me over.
But the other characters are also interpreted very well. Guy Gardner is a jerk who you love and that is how is portrayed. He is frustratingly dismissive and arrogant, but you just can't help but love him because of this as he knocks people down with a giant green middle finger. Gunn also perfectly translated Mr. Terrific to the big screen. He is a genius who is always the smartest guy in the room who and it frustrates him so much to have to slow down and explain everything. I love how Mr. Terrific's biggest problem with Luthor doesn't seem to be his evil, but his shoddy science. In the James Gunniest scene in the film, we also get to see Terrific take down an entire group of bad guys while an obscure pop song plays in the background. Luthor is played with an energetic evil. Lois is portrayed as smart and strong without having to take Superman down a notch.
A note here about the dog, Krypto. I was skeptical about his incorporation into the movie as too campy. But Gunn makes it work. While Krypto is often present to help Superman get out of a jam, he is almost as unruly and destructive as some of the villains. The best way I can describe him is chaotic good: when he shows up he could just as easily make things worse as better. The movie captures that love you have for an unruly dog that doesn't understand how you could be upset when he loves you so much.
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Thematically the movie works incredibly well. This Superman is a young man who is still trying to find who he is. He has the simple trust of a Kansas farm boy and he sees the world in those very simple terms. There is a scene towards the beginning where Lois interviews Superman. The scene actually goes on for a long time and should grind the movie to a halt, but instead I found it fascinating as Lois pushed Superman to reflect on his actions. Lois questions everyone and everything as a good skeptical reporter should do. Superman trusts his moral compass because he feels the responsibility to protect the innocent. Neither are necessarily wrong, but the conflict leads to some great character sparks.
In one of the movie's most touching scenes, Pa Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince) has a heart to heart with Clark about the role of parents and children and identity. It is a simple moment but profound in its simplicity. And it is the simple, country decency of Pa and Ma Kent (Neva Howell) that form the invisible backbone of the movie.
The performances are generally excellent. Corenswet steps into the role perfectly. His Superman is not the legendary icon that Christopher Reeves was. Nor is he the angsty and brooding Henry Cavill. There is an innocence to Corenswet's performance that is different than in most interpretations of the character on screen. I heard a reviewer say that he plays him like a large boy and his dog trying to do his best in a complicated world. Brosnahan is a fantastic Lois. I completely buy her chemistry with Corenswet along with their conflicts. Her strength and intelligence is always present but always in a feminine and not masculine way. Hoult's Luthor is a step above Jessie Eisenberg's. He talks fast and thinks fast and is so casually cruel about life that he is the perfect foil to the life-loving Superman. Fillion plays Guy Gardner to perfect. But a real standout is Gathegi as Mr. Terrific. On the page, this character could come off as robotic, because he is at times rather cold. But instead of cold, Gathegi makes him cool. He has a swagger and a confidence that make you want to be like him. And the Kents play there part with an honest country simplicity. Ma keeps calling Pa a "mush" because he is overly emotional, but it comes off with less of a criticism but more of a tender teasing. These two aren't secretly sophisticated sages. They are just a plain man and his wife who seem to embody hard work, love, and family.
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But above all, in 2025 particularly, I left the theater feeling good. I was shocked how few theatrical movies this year were capable of doing that.
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| Original photo by Erik Drost |
"Gunn definitely brought his A-game when directing this movie. Even now some of his visuals are sticking with me. He knows how to make Superman look iconic (as when he is rising out of a destroyed building) or romantic (as when he flying in air while kissing Lois) or vulnerable (as when he is beaten up in the fetal position in the ice of Antarctica). This is a fun movie to watch. He wisely incorporates the John Williams score that Zack Snyder avoided so much. But Gunn uses it to maximum effect for both thrills and inspiration."
I was also shocked at how well he was able to keep you engaged in the non-superheroics. The long interview scene with Clark and Lois is just as interesting and fascinating as any other part of the movie and it did not require tights and CGI. He showed that he understood that unless we cared about the characters as people, no amount of spectacle would draw us in.
life with music and into a practical and stable life of accounting. What could have been a stereotypical wet-blanket of a character instead has surprising depth. He gives a beautiful speech about how noble it is to be an accountant and magical math is. Credit is due here to the writer, but Hamill is the one who makes that speech come alive with a sense of gentle, generous wisdom. All the while you see as his character carries a dark secret that he tries to shield away from his young grandson. While I did not like the movie, this performance was excellent.
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Rental Family is such an interesting movie because it challenges you with its premise: selling emotional catharsis with performance. In the film, a company hires actors to play parts to live out moments for emotional fulfillment for clients in Japan. For example, they act as mourners for someone who pretends to be having a funeral so that he can hear people say good things about him before he dies. But the company also sells lies. The main story revolves around Brendan Fraser's character lying to a little girl pretending to be her American father.
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