The View From The Mountain

Superman is back, again. Writer/director James Gunn, who gave us some fun superhero movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is now working the other side of the street for the DC Comics’ cinematic equivalent, starting with writing and directing the fantastic The Suicide Squad (2021) and then moving onto writing the HBO-Max animated series Creature Commandos , which was a freaky superhero team show that was ultimately about as entertaining as watching paint dry. Thankfully, his new project, a feature film dealing with the Last Son of Krypton, Superman, is much better. Gunn presents David Corenswet as Superman in a film that smartly eschews the creaky exploding planet origin story in favor of ‘a day in the life’ storyline where this Man of Steel has already been established as a beloved hero of the people of the city of Metropolis. It opens with Superman crash landing in the artic, after a bruising battle with another super powered being called the Hero of Boravia. The wee...

Once upon a time, back in the 1960s, they released a cool figure model kit of Superman smashing through a wall. I kept seeing this on the shelves at various stores as a kid, but never bought it because I was too intimidated back then to build it. Well, long story short, I bought this re-release of the kit that came out back in 1999. I also bought an aftermarket resin head of George Reeves, who had played Superman on the 1950s TV show. The resin head is in the same scale (1/8th) as the model. It was a fun kit to build,and one that I pretty cool to own. I really like how it has Superman in a dynamic pose that shows off his super strength. And having the George Reeves head on this figure is the icing on the cake for me. I was a fan of the George Reeves Superman series as a kid. Here's a shot of the model with the George Reeves head, comp...

This weekend, Netflix debuts Marvel's The Defender s, which unites the heroes from the superhero series Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage , and Iron Fist into one action-packed adventure. I've already seen The Defenders and it's immensely enjoyable and comes highly recommended. In honor of the Defenders debut, here's a list of my top ten superhero films (subject to change if or when new superhero movies come out, or if I change my mind--which is often). Let's start the countdown. 10: Ant Man -- Paul Rudd as a superhero? Oh yes, please. More of a comedic heist flick than a straight up superhero film, Ant Man is a great deal of fun. And any superhero movie that’s got the divine Evangeline Lilly in its cast can’t be all bad. 9: Iron Man -- the film that launched the present cinematic Marvel superhero universe still stands as a great flick in its own right. Superhero tropes are challenged here while Robert Downey Jr.’s considerable charm is allowed to run ...