Film Flash: One Life

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Powerful and inspiring film about how ordinary people can do extraordinary good.

Sunday Best: Live-Action Lex Luthors

 Last week we looked at the best live-action portrayals of Superman.

This week I wanted to look at Lex Luthor.  In many ways he is the primary Superman villain.  This is particularly interesting because he does not have any powers himself.  He is almost like a a dark version of Batman: rich, brilliant, and determined.  

For me, the best Luthors are the ones who carry with them such supreme confidence in their presence that they can stand toe-to-toe with Superman, looking him in the eye in such a way that even Superman would think twice about messing with him.  

7.  John Crier - Supergirl

I think it was actually very clever to have Cryer play the part of Lex after portraying Lenny Luthor in Superman IV.  I also think Cryer did a decent job with the part and was much more menacing than I expected.  But ultimately the overall writing and tone of Supergirl did not let him really shine in the part.

6.  Jesse Eisenberg - Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice

A lot of people did not like Eisenberg's performance as Luthor.  However, I think it is largely misunderstood.  Zack Snyder set up in Luthor an fractured image of modern masculinity, one that replaces strength and honor with bullying and vindictiveness.  Eisenberg's Luthor is someone who hates Superman because the Man of Steel makes him feel powerless.  And while I understand and appreciate this take on Luthor, it is not one that is very much to my liking.

5. Kevin Spacey - Superman Returns

Spacey is a fantastic actor and I thought he was a great choice for the part.  You can tell in some scenes he is having a blast chewing up the scenery.  But he is too restricted by Singer's quasi-sequel to have to be shoe-horned into being in line with Gene Hackman.  If they had let loose the reigns, he could have been the best Lex.

4. Gene Hackman - Superman, Superman II, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Hackman is always great in everything he does.  But as a fan of the comics, I always found his Luthor to be just a little too silly.  Perhaps his playful, comical attitude works well to balance out the seriousness of the movies.  But the funnier he was, the less seriously I took him.  Although you could see him believably kill millions to get what he wants.

3. John Shea - Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

For a long time this was my favorite portrayal of Lex.  It was very smart to cast him as older than Superman so that he had the ammunition of wisdom and experience.  He also fit easily into the mold of the charming and powerful tycoon.  There were times I almost found myself rooting for him and this made him truly dangerous.  Because in the end, you could see how ruthless he was beneath the surface.

2.  Michael Rosenbaum - Smallville

Rosenbaum had the advantage of years to slowly craft his Lex together.  He made in him a slow-moving tragedy.  He was a Macbeth who starts off somewhat heroic, but slowly lets his darker side take him over.  As with Shea, you rooted for him, even though you knew it was pointless.  But as he fell more and more into the dark side, you could feel his power and his presence grow.  By the time all was said and done, he had been formed into the ultimate Superman villain.

1. Michael Cudlitz - Superman and Lois

I will admit that this choice is very fresh, but I could not help being overwhelming impressed with it.  Like Shea, he plays a little older and more experienced that Superman.  But he also carries with him an incredible physical presence.  There is a scene in the final season when Superman confronts Luthor on the road.  Lex gets out of his car and walks up to Superman and stares him down in a heated confrontation.  What was amazing was that you could see how Superman was intimidated and it was absolutely believable.  Cudlitz was able to show a rougher, less-refined side of Luthor, but he seamlessly transitioned into the corporate titan.  Everything about him embodied the best (or if you will "the worst") in Lex Luthor from the comic books.

Thoughts?

Trailer Time: Superman - Teaser Trailer (2025)

Of all the movies that are coming out in the next year, this is the one I am most excited about.

James Gunn is a kind of Jekyll and Hyde film maker.  He either does movies that are fun and uplifting like Guardians of the Galaxy or he does nihilistic, vulgar schlock like The Suicide Squad.  

I am hopeful that this movie will be the former rather than the latter.

One of the things that this tease indicates to me is the more wholesome tone.  Seeing Krypto running to help Superman was so heart-warming.  

The production looks fantastic.  The sets, costumes, and special effects look like they are top notch.  Even though I think Guy Gardner looks stupid, I think that this stupidity is part of his overall character in this movie.

What's interesting is that the action looks very similar to things we saw in Man of Steel (which is also a movie that I love).  By all indications, this new Superman is supposed to be a return to optimism away from the darker tone of Zack Snyder's film.  But it looks like they are not going to shy away from some of the big questions and challenges of the last Superman films.  The shot of the child raising the Superman flag moved me deeply.

I think David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Holt all look great in their parts.  I particularly love how different they make Clark and Superman look.  But I want to see their chemistry in a subsequent trailer.

Thoughts?

Film Flash: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Like most Christian movies: big on heart, short on good writing.  But still charming,
enjoyable.

New Evangelizers Post: The Truth of Myth

        

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

You will often hear that the Creation stories in the Bible are “myths.”

For some people, this is very challenging to hear. To the modern ear “myth” means “a story that is not true.” You can see this play out in popular shows like Mythbusters, where things that are false are labeled “Myths.” In fact, in a recent edition of the Catholic Study Bible it says: “‘Myth’ is an unsuitable term, for it has several different meanings and connotes untruth in popular English.”

However, I would like to take this time to reclaim the larger understanding of the word “myth.” On this view, the Christian should not feel threatened when hearing of myths in the Bible.

Instead, a myth is a story that conveys deep truths, but it is not necessarily written to convey facts. CS Lewis explains it thus: “In the enjoyment of a great myth we come nearest to experience as a concrete what can otherwise be understood only as an abstraction.” In other words, myths are stories that attempt to convey a deep, sometimes mysterious truth in the concrete method of story.

When I teach this concept of myth to my students, I begin by talking about the “Hero Myth.” The famous author Joseph Campbell wrote The Hero with A Thousand Faces in which he looked at the “Hero Myth” as it exists in all cultures over time. He found that there were common threads that held them together and that these concepts are true about the world.

In class, I have my students begin to list heroes that they know. We get an eclectic list sometimes that often includes:

Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, Daredevil, Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and so forth.

After they finish their list I ask them what they all have in common. Often my students cannot find a single common thread at first. But then I ask them: “How many of them are orphans?”

It then dawns on them that all of the people on the above list have lost one or more parents. When I ask them why, they struggle to find an answer. I suggest to them: “Don’t we know that it is true that a hero overcomes great obstacles? If your life is easy in every way, then you cannot be a hero. And what is the easiest way for a child to understand someone overcoming great obstacles than for them to deal with the loss of a parent?”

I then point out how they all have mentors who teach them how to be a hero: Jonathan Kent, Uncle Ben, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dumbledore, Splinter, and so on. But I also point out that they all lose their mentors along the way. That is because heroes have to learn how to be heroic, but then they have to stand on their own. A hero must be the one to fight his or her own battles and not have someone fight them.

And with the above list, I ask them how many makes acts of self sacrifice. And most of them have clear example where they are willing to give up their lives for others.

This is a very oversimplified version of Campbell’s point, but you can see that a hero is someone who overcomes great obstacles, who learns to fight their own battles, and is willing to put others before themselves.

This is not a fable or a just-so story. This is a myth, which means that it is true.

The description of a hero above is a true description of a hero in the real world. When we saw the firefighters running up the steps of the Twin Towers on 9/11, we recognized them as heroes. This is not simply a matter of sentiment or opinion. We know that this is true heroism because he have encountered in our hero myths. Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, and Luke Skywalker may not be historical people, but their stories open us to the truth about the world.

True myths touch on the deepest truths human life and the human heart.

When people say that the Creation story is a “myth,” I always take that to mean that it is true in the most profound sense.

You can read the whole article here.

Sunday Best: Live-Action Supermen

 With the conclusion of Superman and Lois, I thought it would be a good idea to see where star Tyler Hoechlin ranks in the canon of Live-Action Supermen.

To be fair, I have not seen every live-action portrayal in-depth.  I've only seen snippets of Kirk Alyn or Gerard Christopher, so I w uld not be able to give them a fair shake.  Also Nicholas Cage only had the very brief cameo in The Flash.  So I will stick to the ones that I have at least some familiarity with.

So here are the top Supermen

8.  George Reeves (The Adventures of Superman)

For his day, Reeves was exactly what Superman needed to be: the perfect hero all the time.  But, like the campy Adam West Batman, the flat nature of the character makes him much more a product of his day than something that can be enjoyed in all times.  But for his day, Reeves embodied truth, justice, and the American Way.

7. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns)

I don't fault Routh for being as low on this list.  Superman Returns did not give him a lot to work with.  On top of that, he was forced into a very narrow performance path where he had to do his best to imitate Christopher Reeve.  Given more time and a better script, I think there would be a lot more depth seen to his performance.

6. Dean Cain (Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman)

I like Cain very much.  But one of the things he failed to do with this performance is create a clear differentiation between Clark and Superman.  As a result, he sometimes felt like he was just Clark pretending to be a superhero.  However, he had enough charm to keep us watching.

5.  Tom Welling (Smallville)

He must have done something right to carry the show on his back for a decade.  The thing that he had going for him was that he could pull off the simple dececny of a man born to good parents while at the same time ramping up the teen angst of the man who would be Superman.

4. Brandon Routh (The Flash)

Routh is on here twice because he played two different Supermen.  On The Flash he had a chance to play the Kingdom Come version of the character, one who had been beaten down by tragedy.  While his time on the show was brief, it gave us a glimpse into what a good Superman he could have been if he had been given enough time.  Regardless, it was a joy to see him stick the landing.

3.  Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman, Justice League, Black Adam)

I loved Cavill's portrayal of Superman.  He was a man conflicted and forced into making dark choices while trying to find the idealism that would define him.  He made the part his own while taking some of the best character traits from previous performances.  A towering figure, you could believe he could bend steel.  And when he lost his senses, he was absolutely terrifying.  But he showed that all of that power was held in check by a decent soul.

2. Tyler Hoechlin (Superman and Lois, Supergirl)

When he first came on to the scene, I wasn't terribly impressed with him.  But I think that had more to do with the overall production team at Supergirl.  Once he was able to showcase his talents on Superman and Lois, Hoechlin was able to give us a deep, multi-faceted view of the Man of Steel.  He was a man of struggles, who could not cure his sick wife or fix all of his teenage sons problems.  But he was first and foremost a husband and father and those things informed his life as Superman.  As Superman he stood in the place of a father-figure: larger-than-life and ready to protect you with every once of his strength.  He was believably strong and resolute while showing us his complete simple vulnerability.  I was so happy with his performance.

1.  Christopher Reeve (Superman I-IV)

As good a Hoechlin, Cavill, and the others are, they will always be runners-up to the might Christopher Reeve.  As I've written previously on this blog: Many good actors have played the part, but he will always be THE Superman.  His performance is genius.  When he speaks about truth, justice, and the American way, he does so with complete conviction and authority.  He does not come off as naive.  He walks in his outfit not like its a costume but a royal garb.  He exudes confidence in everything but not arrogance.  Once again we see that simple virtue come forth that is so hard for modern people to understand.  The best display of Reeve's genius is when he picks Lois up for their date.  He takes off his glasses for a moment and we see the physical transformation Reeve goes through from Clark to Superman.  By simple facial movements and posture changes, he becomes someone else.  It is amazing.

Thoughts?

Superman and Lois: Finale Review

 

I remember writing about the pilot episode of this show.  I wrote:

When Superman was first introduced in the CW Arrowverse I was not terribly impressed.  No offense to actor Tyler Holchin, but with the iconic nature of the character, I just didn't think that they did the Superman justice.  On Supergirl, it felt like they were terrified that Kal-El would overshadow his cousin in her own show...

The concept for this show is the Lois and Clark are raising two twin teenage sons.  This is a side of Superman we really haven't seen.  His romance with Lois has been the subject of lots of stories.  And the idea of them raising a child has been explored in great detail by writers like Peter J. Tomasi.  But the dynamic of two teen sons is incredibly intriguing.

And now here we are at the end.  The show ran for 4 season and only had 54 episodes in total.

But that finale packed a wallop.

It was one of the best series finales I have ever seen.

This season, we saw storylines familiar to comic fans, particularly we had the classic Doomsday storyline.  Along with this we had Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) placed front and center as the main villain.  And I have to say that Cudlitz knocked it out of the park.  He might very well be the best live-action Luthor I have seen.  When he stands toe-t0-toe with Superman, you can understand why he is terrifying, even without powers.  This season has been a long series of defeat with just enough victory to keep fighting.

I will do my best not to spoil the details of the episode, but the action was some of the best of the series.  Of all of the CW DC shows, Superman and Lois always felt the most cinematic.  While there are severe limitations on a series like this, the film makers do great work with what they have.  There is an amazing shot of Superman standing resolute in the middle of the street, with slow-motion explosions behind him that adds such a powerfully dramatic look to the final confrontation.

The performances are generally excellent.  I already called out Cudlitz.  But Tyler Hoechlin (Clark) and Elizabeth Tulloch (Lois) at their best.  Both of them face impossible odds and we can see the full emotional spectrum play out.  In one of the best moments, Superman is losing the fight.  Lois revives him and he finds out that she sent their sons into the battle.  Superman argues with her about how it is his job to protect them, but she argues that he needs their help and that they have to become men now.  My summary does not do justice to all the conflicting emotions of fear, pride, love, and resolve that are all at play in that scene.

And scenes like this highlight the wonderful thematic elements of the show.  The main conceit ("Superman and Lois Lane Raise Teenagers") was always grounded in primal truths about parenthood.  The show asks the question: how do you raise teens to become good people in a fallen world?  By placing it in the context of a comic book story, it elevates the question rather than denigrating it.  It shows that passing on virtue to your children is the most heroic thing imaginable.

This is true, even when the odds seem impossible.  To the show's great credit, Clark and Lois are not perfect Mary Sues who always get it right.  They are flawed, but their flaws are always grounded in one of their good qualities.  In the above example, Clark desperately wants to be a good father.  Men know in their bones that a good father will do everything he can to protect his family, even if it means he has to die.  But because of this, he is sometimes blind to the fact that he is not as strong as he used to be and that he has to accept help from his children.  How often do we see this this struggle play out in our own family dynamics as the years go by?

All of the stories with their plot-threads and themes find a good resolution in this finale.  But it is the 10-minute epilogue at the end that casts this finale into the stratosphere.

The pilot episode began with a prologue, narrated by Clark.  The finale ends with an epilogue narrated by him as well.  The symmetry of it is quite beautiful.  And here is also where the finale sets itself apart.  Most finales end with an ellipses, where you leave the story open to imagined further adventures.  

This finale ends on an exclamation point.  This is the definitive end to the story.

But even more than that, the show brings the focus back to what is at the heart of the story.  The big superhero flights of fancy are only there to protect the core.  CS Lewis wrote about the state and he said this:

“The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging his own garden--that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time.”

The point Lewis is making is that all of the extraordinary powers should be at the service at ordinary life.  Superman and Lois uses all of its spectacular super powered adventures to remind us that the true meaning of life can be found.  And above all there is a focus on love.

I remember a story about St. John the Apostle.  Whenever he would give a homily, he would always preach about love.  When someone confronted him about why he was always preaching about love and John replied, "Because that's all there is!"

Superman and Lois reminds us about this truth.  There is something deeply profound about how the show sums up everything here.

And so we will end with the final words of the show:

And suddenly it came to me, what life is all about. Joy, hope, forgiveness, wonder, friendship, family, love... it was all because of love. It’s the thing that makes love worth living. Do everything you can to find love, to give it, to hold onto it, because life, it goes by so fast.”