Superman (2025)

On his own initiative, Superman (David Corenswet) has sought to prevent a war between an allied nation of the United States and its neighbour, much to the annoyance of the American government and tech billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).

A social media campaign is orchestrated to turn the American people against Superman, and even his girlfriend, Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) starts to question him.

Superman is not another origin story, rather throwing readers into the non-stop action in media res. However, Superman's backstory is explained episodically throughout the movie as it's a central theme of the story.

This brand, spanking new iteration of the Man of The Steel unapologetically blends the wholesome positivity of the Christopher Reeve era of Superman movies with both Silver Age comic book zaniness and modern sensibilities.

It's clear from the get-go that writer/director James Gunn loves comic book superheroes and has a deep knowledge of his chosen universe, presenting deep cuts - such as Superman's robots and flying dog, Krypto; Metamorpho The Element Man (Anthony Carrigan); bowl-haircut-sporting Green Lantern Guy Gardener (Nathan Fillion); Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi); and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) - in a matter-of-fact way, rather than tongue-in-cheek.

Superman isn't embarrassed to be a comic book movie, rather it dives headlong into the superhero genre tropes with relish, emerging as one of the finest and most accurate adaptations of the beloved source material that we've yet seen on the big screen.

Gunn's film captures the brightness and optimism of the best, most truthful, Superman stories, yet still manages to weave in the character's inherent "look after the little guy" political nature that has been part of the Last Son of Krypton's makeup since he was created by a pair of Jewish immigrants in the 1930s as a rebuttal to the rise of Adolf Hitler.

Launching the new DC Comics cinematic universe, Gunn brings his A-game to his iteration of Superman, meaning I was hooked from start to finish, and came away totally smitten by this work of art.

However, something I kept to myself until I actually saw this film: I actually wasn't sure if Superman was going to work under the character's current cinematic stewardship.

While I adored Gunn's Guardians of The Galaxy trilogy for Marvel, for embracing the wackiness of comics, his other recent superhero-related shows, such as Peacemaker, Suicide Squad and Creature Commandos, have left me cold. These attempts to force "mature themes" (ie. swearing, crass humour and graphic violence) onto DC characters just doesn't work for me.

These are attitudes I'll embrace on more independent  "superhero" worlds, such as Invincible and The Boys, because they are their own thing and their "edginess" is there for a reason, but for me the 90-year-old beating heart of the DC comics universe isn't like that at all, it's purer, family-friendly and more aspirational.

And that's exactly what Superman is.

PULP PICTURE OF THE MONTH: The Legend Of Tarzan (2016)

To cut a long story short, The Legend Of Tarzan wasn't just the best action movie of the year it was released, but also found a place as one of my all-time favourites.

Director David Yates' period piece is as near perfect a Tarzan tale as I could have hoped for, drawing on Edgar Rice Burroughs' source material (as well as the popular pulp era movies) to serve up a true edge-of-the-seat, straight-forward, non-stop, roller coaster of an old school, ripping yarns adventure.

Simply put, they don't make films like this any more... more's the pity.

It's Africa in the late 19th Century and Belgium emissary Leon Rom (Spectre's Christoph Waltz) is the sole survivor of a diamond-hunting raid on the mythical city of Opar. Captured by Chief Mbonga (Guardians Of The Galaxy's Djimon Hounsou), Rom is offered a deal for access to the city's diamond supply: he must bring the chief's arch-enemy to him. This being Tarzan!

Tarzan aka Lord John Clayton III (True Blood's Alexander Skarsgård) has returned to England and is living the life of a lord with his lovely wife, Jane (Suicide Squad's Margot Robbie).

He receives an invitation from King Leopold of Belgium to visit the Congo and is reluctantly persuaded by American George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) to take up the offer, as George wants to follow up rumours of illegal slavery in the country.

Along with Jane, the two men head to Africa, and the pretence of John Clayton's invitation being a diplomatic issue is quickly torn asunder when Rom and his mercenaries attack the village where our heroes are staying, kidnapping Jane in the process.

The Legend Of Tarzan then becomes a race against time, not only to rescue Jane, but then to prevent Rom getting the diamonds to the coast to pay off a huge mercenary army that will soon be landing to enslave the country's entire native population to work for King Leopold.

As well as drawing on the traditional source material, both Burroughs' novels and the early films (there's a couple of Weissmuller yodels - but given a more bestial remix - as well as visual nods to my favourite Johnny Weissmuller outing as Tarzan: 1946's Tarzan And The Leopard Woman), The Legend Of Tarzan also draws heavily in tone and style from another of my all-time favourite pulp action films: Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Waltz, while playing a variation of his usual deadpan arrogance, is essentially a different take on Paul Freeman's Belloq. The dinner scene between Rom and Jane is a clear homage - down to the knife-stealing - of the similar scene in Raiders, between Belloq and Marion.

The Raiders' tone is also reflected in the moments of levity that slip seamlessly between the darker, more violent, episodes (I'd cite the fight between Tarzan and a train carriage full of soldiers as a particularly strong example of the balance of action and humour).

The CGI effects are slick, dynamic, and beautiful, sucking you into the film rather than shattering any suspension of belief you may require for Tarzan's magnificent, superhuman, displays of strength, endurance, and agility, or his - and others- interactions with the fearsome wild life of Africa.

Kudos also to scriptwriters Adam Cozad and Craig Brewer for a screenplay that continually escalates to a monumental showdown, while cleverly weaving in Tarzan's origin story - in flashbacks - without reducing The Legend Of Tarzan to being simply yet another retelling of the 'birth' of Tarzan Of The Apes.

If you like old school adventure movies, particularly those that inspired, or were inspired by, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, then this is the film for you. It's exciting, inventive, and thrilling, modern-yet-retro, and a must see for Tarzan fans new and old.

Black Adam (2022)

Thousands of years before Billy Batson was granted the power of Shazam, the Wizards chose a rebellious young slave in the kingdom of Kahndaq, where a corrupt king is forcing his citizens to mine for the magical Eternium metal necessary to forge the powerful Crown of Sabbac.

Flash forward 5,000 years and Kahndaq is now controlled by the mercenary army of Intergang (a major criminal organisation in the world of DC Comics), but archaeologist Adrianna Tomaz (Person of Interest's Sarah Shahi) has a lead on the location of the Crown of Sabbac.

However, her expedition is ambushed by Intergang soldiers and her only hope is call upon the land's mythical protector... and so ends up summoning Teth Adam aka Black Adam (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson).

Black Adam makes short work of the Intergang army, but in the process attracts the attention of Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) who dispatches The Justice Society (the very first comic book superhero team, from the 1940s) to bring him in.

Without any fuss we are introduced to team leader Hawkman aka Carter Hall (Leverage's Aldis Hodge), powerful sorcerer Dr Fate aka Kent Nelson (James Bond himself, Pierce Brosnan), the delightfully clumsy and goofy Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo) and Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell).

Not only do the heroes find their hands full when they confront Black Adam, but they find the people of Kahndaq are against them as well, being more inclined to support their home-grown saviour than 'invading' Americans.

Directed by Orphan's Jaume Collet-Serra, Black Adam really caught me by surprise with its superb balance of action and character work.

One of the best recent DC superhero movies, and certainly better than both of Zack Snyder's first two Superman films, Black Adam finally presents a convincing justification for the harder edge that DC films are perceived to have over those of MCU. 

I've always had difficulty getting my head around the idea of Black Adam as a hero - or even anti-hero - because of one particular image that is forever burned into my brain from 2006's comic book series 52 (issue three) ... when he suddenly ripped the B-list villain Terra-Man in half.

The fate of Terra-Man at the hands of Black Adam

But the movie presents a genuinely rounded view of Adam, with his origin story turning out to not be as straight forward as we presumed, that goes out of its way to explain his complex character.

In fact, to my eyes, pretty much everything about Black Adam is perfect, from the set design to the costumes, creating a sense of verisimilitude that makes the film feel like a comic book brought to life.

The film only really goes off the rails slightly in the third act, with the introduction of the demonic villain Sabacc, a visually stunning entity that is sadly devoid of any personality and whose sole purpose is to serve as a punching bag for the protagonists.

There was also a suggestion quite early on that the only thing that could really hurt Adam was Eternium, but that seems to soon be forgotten in all the excitement.

Beyond the obvious Shazam! connection (check out the mid-credit scene in Shazam! Fury of The Gods where Waller tries to recruit Captain Marvel for the JSA), Black Adam has lots of Easter Eggs entwining it in the broader DC Universe of movies and there's even an awkward mid-credit scene here (clearly pieced together from shots of the two characters not in the same room) designed to further cement this.

It's almost a shame then that Warner Bros decided to reboot the whole cinematic shindig under the auspices of James Gunn because with Black Adam (and the far weaker Shazam! Fury of The Gods) you get the feeling that this particular cinematic universe was just starting to pull itself together.

I really want to see Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's Black Adam in action again in the new Gunn'verse, perhaps fighting alongside (a recast) Captain Marvel and other more traditionally heroic comic book characters.