I think we are all feeling a bit of superhero fatigue. The MCU beat us down, releasing movie after movie after movie, and then TV shows and animated series. And they were all connected. Initially, it was fun. It was cool to watch those superheroes in their separate films and then bring them together as the Avengers. But then it started to feel like homework. Like you needed to get a degree in comics to understand what was going on. DC didn’t fare much better. They pretty quickly gave up on the whole idea of tying every film together, but then they forgot to make actually interesting films.
Buy SupergirlRecently, James Gunn took over the film division for DC, and he has a plan, I guess. Superman was pretty good, and now we’ve got Supergirl. It did not do well at the box office. This was partially due to misogyny, partially due to superhero fatigue, and mostly because it is likely not a very good movie. Critics and fans alike gave it tepid reviews.
So, why the heck am I making this my pick of the week? I’m not really sure, to be honest. I think I want it to be good. I remember taking my daughter to some of those earlier MCU films and seeing the joy on her face. There was something special about being in a theater full of people watching Iron Man or Spider-Man and the rest do battle against interesting bad guys, fighting big fights, making quips, and actually having some nice emotional beats. There was a wonderful energy to those moments, and I’d like to get them back.
I have to hold out hope. I’ll probably watch this film soon, and that hope will be extinguished, but for now, hope is all I’ve got.
Like most superhero films these days, this release of Supergirl comes in a variety of packages, the most robust of which include loads of special features, including features on nearly every aspect of the filmmaking.
Also coming out this week that looks interesting:
Batman Knightfall: Part 1: One place DC Comics has excelled far above Marvel is in their animated department. DC has made numerous animated films, and while not all of them are amazing, they are usually pretty good. And they do a much better job of adapting the actual comic books than any of the movies. Knightfall is the comic that introduced Bane, the antagonist in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and is the man who broke Batman’s back. Nolan took a lot of liberties with the source material, so it will be interesting to see how well this adapts it.
12 Angry Men: Criterion upgrades Sydney Lumet’s classic courtroom drama to UHD. [Read Gordon S. Miller’s review of the Criterion Blu-ray.]
Minions & Monsters: I haven’t paid much attention to the Minions since the second Despicable Me film, but those cute little freaks clearly have a fanbase. This one got rave reviews and follows the Minions as they go to Hollywood and unleash a monster.
Passenger: This horror movie finds a couple being pursued by a monster after they witness a horrific accident.
Leviticus: Two star-crossed boys find themselves stalked by a monster that takes the shape of each other.
Danza Macabra: Volume Five — The Spanish Gothic Collection: Severin Films brings yet another collection of obscure Spanish gothic films. This one includes: Strange Voyage, Exorcism’s Daughter, The Dracula Saga, and The Turn of the Screw.
Roaring Fire: A new boutique Blu-ray label, Toy Robot (a subsidiary of Arrow Video), is on the market. One of their first releases is this film, which stars Hiroyuki Sanada as Joji, a Texas Ranger who discovers he has a twin brother he never knew about. A trip to Japan unveils many more secrets about his family.
The Inspector Wears Skirts: 88 Films presents this collection of four films that sound like a Japanese Police Academy but with an all-female squad of recruits.
