Zack Snyder's Justice League (HBO Max, 2021)

 I liked the 2017 release of Justice League enough, I guess. I enjoyed the team-building aspect of the flick, and the deep debate within the team about whether they should use a power dropped into their laps to resurrect a dead Superman. 

I prefer to watch team-based superheroes debate and argue in the clubhouse more than I enjoy watching them kick invading aliens in the ass.

But in total, the Josh Whedon-polished Justice League was a major disappointment. The plot was choppy and difficult to follow and the movie lacked character development. And man, those jokes! From Bruce Wayne greeting Aquaman with "I hear you talk to fish," to the hijinks of an immature Barry Allen, the jokes stripped away a seriousness from the movie's tone that couldn't be overcome. 

Zack Snyder's Justice League remedies most of the issues I had with the 2017 film. The use of Steppenwolf and his role as an herald of sorts to Darkseid is much improved in the Snyder cut, making this movie more cohesive. Characters are better developed -- how could they not be with twice the run-time of the original? -- and the tone is more serious. Banter is an important component to superhero stories. But it was a distraction in the Whedon-produced film. 

It's not that in the Snyder cut. 

There remain small issues I have with the movie. I still hate -- I mean really, really hate! -- this version of The Flash. This character seems a hodgepodge of Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen, and I was annoyed every time he was part of a scene. Cyborg is a little too robotic for me, although that's a creative decision with which I can live. But this version of Aquaman is more serious and much more fun to watch than he was in his own movie, Wonder Woman's character is consistent, and Bruce Wayne is better portrayed by Ben Affleck than he is by any actor not named Bale.

People will debate the four-hour run time, and that debate is legit. Is it necessary, or is it a vanity play by Snyder? I think it's necessary. It allows the time to build a better foundation for plot and character development, and gives appropriate time to explore some of the plot devices glossed over in the previous film. 

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Joe Walsh -- the legendary rock guitarist, not the less-than-legendary former congressman -- wrote the song "Decades," in the early 1990s. His song was a reflection on each decade of the 20th century, with highlights about the good and the bad that happened in each. 

His comment on the 1980s? "The 80s were a waste of time." Period. He called it and moved on. 

He was right. 

The 1980s, in the US of A at least, was a decade of greed and selfishness. "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good," said Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. And an entire generation ate that shit up. We wanted to look good, feel good, and have more tomorrow than we had today. Truth became less important than  acquisition. And we talked ourselves into believing that was OK because, well . . . that perspective allowed us to focus on getting more stuff. 

Wonder Woman 1984 is commentary on that lifestyle. The movie points out the obsession we had way-back-when with how we look, what we have, and how we're willing to embrace dishonesty to achieve our desires. WW84 is a morality play that teaches us the quest to achieve our greatest wish typically harms other people. And when that wish is finally fulfilled it often comes at a great cost to who we are as individuals and as a society. 

That's the best part of Wonder Woman 1984.

The movie has a lot of problems that can't be ignored: the special effects are campy and the plot is thin. The greatest blunder, in my opinion, was in the presentation of Maxwell Lord. The movie character Maxwell Lord bears no resemblance to the DC comic Maxwell Lord. While that inconsistency can be frustrating to fanboys, in this case the movie version of Lord is simply over-the-top goofy. 

That hurts the movie because he's too big a loser to be taken seriously. 

Gal Godat is fine as the super-heroine, and Chris Pine lends a lot to the movie. But it's Kristen Wiig who is the breakout star of this flick. She has to show tremendous range to make her Barbara Minerva work, and she pulls it off well. 

The movie answers the long asked question: "Can Wonder woman fly?" And, there's a fun mid-credit scene you'll want to stick around for.