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. 

Project Power

Like many, I spent a large chunk of my childhood fantasizing about having a super-power, and what I'd do with that power once I'd mastered it. 

Flight? Flying would be a neat sensation -- the first few times, anyway -- and get me across town faster. But as my lone superpower? Meh. 

Super speed? I couldn't afford the grocery bill necessary for maintaining the metabolism required for that lifestyle. 

Invisibility? Fantasizing about that super-power always reminds me of a Porky's movie. 

Super-Intelligence? Comic book characters with super-IQs always dress in nerdy costumes (see Mr. Terrific's "fair play" costume branding).

Super-Elasticity? See Invisibility. 

Project Power, the Netflix original starring Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Dominique Fishback, shows us what our world might be like if a drug existed that would give you super-powers for five minutes. 

5 minutes. 

Project Power pretends to be a sci-fi flick about super-heroes, and there is some of that in the plot about a pill that gives enhanced animal-based powers to users. But really, the movie is a standard about a man fighting against overwhelming odds to find his kidnapped daughter. The plot is predictable, the script melodramatic, and the whole thing underachieves. The story builds to a dramatic super-powered fight where a character's power is revealed to be that of a  . . .  wait for it . . . pistol shrimp.

I prefer the power of invisibility. 

Dark Phoenix

My summary of the entire 114 minutes of Dark Phoenix. 

Brightburn

With apologies:

Faster than a movie that has a substantive plot. More powerful a sleep aid than Melatonin. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound yet poor character development prevents that from happening.

Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a sociopath!

Yes, it's Brandon Breyer, strange visitor from another planet, who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Brandon, who can fly at nearly invisible super-spend so as to avoid expensive special effect costs, bend steel in his bare hands when he's angry at lawn care machines, and who, with no forethought to disguise, draws attention to himself as a socially awkward pre-teen in middle school, fights a never-ending battle for no real reason other than he just really wants what he wants.

Shazam!

Sha -- fuckin' -- zam!!