Resistance is Futile: "Ne Zha II," reviewed.

Ne Zha is part boy, part demon, all movie star. (CMC/A24)

 I’m well aware that many an enthusiastic plus-one has endured a similar cycle of befuddlement / intermittent exhilaration / ultimate exhaustion during a quarter-century where in the entire American industry has remade itself in the service of lore-dense, 2.5-hour-plus “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” and superhero sagas. No one who can easily tell Mr. Terrific from Mr. Fantastic should complain that a film that has brought so much delight to so many people is too confusing. And yet, I must confess I spent most of the very bright Ne Zha II in the figurative dark.

My Washington Post review of what is currently the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time is here.

Ed McBain, Akiria Kurosawa, and Spike: "Highest 2 Lowest," reviewed.

The great Jeffrey Wright in Highest 2 Lowest. (Apple/A24)

My Washington City Paper review of Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee’s loose present-day adaptation of the 1959 Ed McBain novel King’s Ransom, which was previously the basis for Akira Kursoawa’s 1963 High and Low, is here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Alien: Earth"

Babou Ceesay as Morrow, the cybernetic Inspector Javert figure of Alien: Earth. (F/X)

On today’s Pop Culture Happy Hour I had a gay old time (double) jawin’ with Glen Weldon and Joelle Monique about Alien: Earth, an attempt by Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley to implant a feature-film embryo into a prestige-TV host body.

"The Naked Gun," denuded.

Liam Neeson has a very particular set of briefs in The Naked Gun. (Paramount)

Funny is back, baby. My Washington City Paper review of The Naked Gun ‘25 is here.

Supermen Return

Lex Capacitor: Nicholas Hoult and David Corenswet are archenemies. (Jessica Miglio)

I have a piece in the Paper of Record today running down the sordid history of the first Superman movie franchise, the one that started with Richard Donner’s iiimperfect masterpiece. Is that a contradiction? Let us agree to disagree.

And here’s a deleted scene, of sorts, from the piece, addressing the 2006 “Donner cut” of Superman II, which was released on home video only once the rights issues around Marlon Brando’s footage were resolved so his voice and likeness as Jor-El could be used in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns that same year:

When the contractual issues regarding Brando’s participation were settled so that director Bryan Singer could use the Brando footage from 1977 in 2006’s Superman Returns, film editor Michael Thau took the opportunity the assemble “The Donner Cut” of Superman II, a curio that draws upon unseen footage from the late-seventies production — and even, in one instance, a screen test of Kidder and a scrawny Reeve, who’d not yet bulked up into Kryptonian shape — to offer a rough approximation of what Donner had intended some 25 years earlier.

Fourth Time's the Charm: "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," reviewed.

When it comes to putting First Family of Marvel Comics in the movies, the fourth time’s the charm. My Washington Post review of Fantastic Four: First Steps is here.

Talking "Superman" '78 on The Next Picture Show

I’m on the marvelous podcast The Next Picture Show! I recorded my appearance last Wednesday night live from my parents’ kitchen, while my dad was in Fair Oaks hospital, and my brother, who’d just flown in from Tokyo, dozed on the sofa in the living room. Which prevented me from asking him to leave the TV off for three hours while NPS regulars Genevieve Koski, Keith Phipps, and Tasha Robinson and I discussed Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman and James Gunn’s 2025 Superman — the subject of the next Next Picture Show — in one marathon session. I was filling in for Scott Tobias, and not one of us thought to exclaim, “Great Scott!” That’s negligence, if not malpractice.

Hail to the Chiefs: Ranking the Ten Most Two-Fisted Action Movie Presidents

“A reunion of the blue-chip screenwriting-and-directing duo of Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg, and a showcare for the generational acting skills of Daniel Day-Lewis — sorry, that was 2012’s other Lincoln movie, which in focusing on the final three months of our most-revered president’s life omitted every one the Illinois statesman’s totally sick vampire kills.’”

So many jokes had to come out of my Washington Post ranking of the ten most two-fisted action-movie presidents.