Stubs - Supergirl

Supergirl (2026) starring Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet, Jason Momoa. Directed by Craig Gillespie. Screenplay by Ana Nogueira, Based on Characters from DC. Produced by Peter Safran, James Gunn. Run time: 108 minutes. Color. USA. Superhero

Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) with her best friend, Krypto.

 

Something that Supergirl has in common with John Wick is that nobody hurts her dog. Just like Wick slayed a whole hell of a lot of people because someone killed his dog, Supergirl aka Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) goes on a revenge tour when her dog Krypto is left incapacitated by Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaert), the leader of the Brigands, a rowdy group of space pirates. Along the way, she picks up Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridle), a youing woman who has witnessed Krem kill her father, mother and brother, and is out for her own revenge. Add to that Kara has just three days to find Krem, who has stolen her spaceship, and return with the antidote to save Krypto, a daunting task.

Supergirl is based on DC comics and utilizes characters that would be well-known to longtime readers. How accurate it is to the comics themselves is not something I'm equipped to answer.

The film has not opened as well as had previously expected, but some of the blame on that can be the rather lackluster intro Superman (2025), which is supposed to have kicked off a revival of the DC Universe under the leadership of James Gunn. But some of it has to do with the film itself.

Mortal Kombat II (Film)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Mortal Kombat (2021).

Back in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Warner Bros. released their first film in a rebooted Mortal Kombat film series, simply titled Mortal Kombat (MK). As this release occurred as part of a day-and-date theatrical and streaming film slate for that year, I watched it through HBO Max and liked it enough (with a much more positive view on a rewatch), though I was unsure if it would ever materialize. Sure enough, this year saw the release of Mortal Kombat II (MKII), which received a better critical response (64% on Rotten Tomatoes vs 55% for the original), though with a shaky box office return that may put the prospect of a third film in jeopardy. Nevertheless, I actually watched this one in a theater, albeit a few weeks late, and walked away wishing for the potential third film.

TMNT (2007)

Although the initial Turtlemania wave died down at the tail end of the 1990s, the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) cartoon proved to be the adrenaline shot that the franchise needed to continue forward. As such, this would eventually lead to a new theatrical film in 2007, simply titled TMNT (TMNT 07), only this time fully animated in CG. While my first viewing was some years after the film initially released, I decided to give it another try after watching the original live-action trilogy, in part because it is meant to serve as a sequel to those films. It did make a lot more sense in this context, but it still had some issues.

A Minecraft Movie

Note: This review contains spoilers for A Minecraft Movie.

What happens when you make a movie based on a video game with no story? Markus “Notch” Persson tried to find out in 2014 when his company, Mojang, struck with a deal with Warner Bros. to develop Minecraft, Persson’s creation and currently the best-selling video game of all time. As with many Hollywood projects, however, the project went through development hell for nearly a decade, surviving several personnel changes both at Warner Bros. and at Mojang, including Microsoft purchasing the company and Persson subsequently stepping down. Finally, in 2022, production finally went into full swing, with filming conducted in 2024 and the final release in 2025. Although the film received mixed reception from critics, with a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, it still earned just shy of $1 billion at the box office against a budget of $150 million. A rather impressive feat.

Although I had some experience with Minecraft, I didn’t really watch it out of any genuine excitement. The first trailer left a bad impression between its use of The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” and editing that didn’t contain a single trace of sincerity. The following trailers did a better job with showing the actual plot and comedic tone, but did little to wash out the sour taste left by the initial reveal. Of course, when the movie succeeded despite expectations, it gained awareness not for any indication of quality, but from the memes that spawned from it, including the infamous “Chicken Jockey” trend that caused headaches for theaters and the employees who had to clean up huge messes, not helped by how director Jared Hess didn’t really discourage the behavior (he did benefit from the increased ticket sales, after all). The non-zero possibility of witnessing such chaos firsthand discouraged me from seeing in the theater, even if I really wanted to, so I didn’t consider it until I could stream it on HBO Max, free from spills, live chickens or rowdy theatergoers, if only to see what all the fuss was about. About 100 minutes later, I walked away fully convinced that such an average film’s success came entirely from memes, for better or worse.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

When you hear about Roald Dahl’s famous 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, chances are that you will instead think of one of its many adaptations, most likely either the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka) directed by Mel Stuart or the 2005 film directed by Tim Burton that was named after the book (Charlie), if not the more recent 2019 film Wonka that serves as a prequel to the 1971 film. As someone who grew up with Willy Wonka and had read the book maybe once at some point, I was curious about the 2005 film and saw it in a theater when it first came out, only to generally dislike it in favor of the original adaptation. Following a theatrical screening of Wonka that was followed by another rewatch of Willy Wonka, I more seriously considered giving Charlie another chance, even reading the book shortly beforehand since it was meant to be more accurate, and finding that the preceding film was not quite as inaccurate to the book as some people make it out to be. After streaming the 2005 film on Max (formerly HBO Max), since I no longer owned a DVD copy, I appreciated it a little more for its attempts at book-accuracy, but still found myself overall preferring the 1971 version.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Although the DCEU consisted of mostly duds (depending on who you ask), one of the few films that stood out was Shazam!, a 2019 film about the DC hero of the same name (previously known as Captain Marvel). While not without its flaws, it was still a very fun time, enough that we eagerly awaited the 2023 sequel, Fury of the Gods. Unfortunately, while Fury of the Gods still entertains, it feels like something got lost along the way.

8-Bit Christmas

It’s not often we watch new movies on a whim, but sometimes it’s good to take a risk like that. 8-Bit Christmas, based on the book of the same name by Kevin Jakubowski, is such a film, one that we didn’t know about until shortly before it premiered on the HBO Max streaming service, with the hook being that it was a Christmas movie centered around the atypical subject of a video game console, in this case the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). I will admit I went into this with low expectations, even with Neil Patrick Harris getting top billing, however, while imperfect, it turned out to be a lot better than I expected.

The Suicide Squad

Of the DCEU films that I’ve seen, the Academy Award winning 2016 film Suicide Squad is easily one of the worst, which was sort of a misguided attempt to emulate Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, only with a haphazard and forgettable story thanks to heavy executive meddling. When I heard the announcement of a sequel known as The Suicide Squad, I already wasn’t sure about it since I had been burned the first time, however my hopes were raised when I learned James Gunn himself was attached to direct, during the brief period in which he was not working for Disney (I will not get into why). Though it was one of several movies affected by the ongoing pandemic, I awaited this movie as the release date approached in the hopes that Gunn would be able to salvage the original film. After watching it on HBO Max as part of their day-and-date programming, I found the movie to exceed my expectations, even being a vast improvement over the original.

Space Jam: A New Legacy

If you’re reading this, you’ve very likely heard of Space Jam, a 1996 film where Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan team up to defeat a group of aliens in a game of basketball. While it did okay critically, the film proved enough of a financial success that Warner Bros. immediately went into talks for a sequel. However, the project languished in development hell until 2014, when a sequel featuring LeBron James was officially announced, though filming didn’t start until 2019. The final product, whose production was largely unaffected by the global COVID-19 pandemic, released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max on July 16, 2021 as part of the slate of day-and-date releases for the platform. Unfortunately, the 25-year gap between films resulted in something less of a real sequel to Space Jam and more of a glorified ad for both Warner Bros. and LeBron James.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable - Chapter I

Note: This review contains massive spoilers for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, begun by mangaka Hirohiko Araki in 1987, tells the multi-generational story of the Joestar family and their continuing battle against the forces of evil. The series is split into currently eight Parts, each focusing on a different Joestar, with Part 3 introducing the concept of Stands, which are psychic powers reflecting the personality of the user. Part 4, Diamond is Unbreakable (1992-1995), tells the story of Josuke Higashikata and his misadventures in the fictional town of Morioh, solving mysteries about his hometown along the way.

I will admit that, while I had heard of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and was aware of its limited US import in my high school years, it didn’t really grab my attention until the series received a proper anime adaptation in 2012, and since then it has become one of my favorite anime/manga series in spite of whatever flaws it has. My curiosity was piqued when, at the height of the increased popularity of Diamond is Unbreakable following its anime adaptation, a live-action film based on the series, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable – Chapter I (JP: JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Daiyamondo wa Kudakenai Dai-Isshō), was announced in 2016 to be directed by prolific director Takashi Miike, though I held off on actually trying to watch the film until it had a proper release stateside. The opportunity finally presented itself when Viz Media brought it over in subtitled form on Blu-ray in 2020, though I did not end up actually watching it until some time later. As someone who has read the official English translation of Diamond is Unbreakable from Viz and watched the anime twice, once in subtitled form on Crunchyroll and once in English dubbed form through a Toonami broadcast, I thought it was a good movie overall, though it could have been improved in places.

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Video games movies haven’t had the best track record for the longest time, but the efforts of films like Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu have helped change that perception. In the past, however, there was the occasional film that broke the stigma, at least among fans, including the PG-13 Mortal Kombat film from 1995. While I haven’t seen that film as of this writing, and have only played Mortal Kombat (2011) and Mortal Kombat X, I like the series enough that I looked forward to Mortal Kombat (2021) and watched it opening day through HBO Max. It doesn’t achieve a flawless victory, but it does show that film adaptations of video games can still be good in the right hands.

Tomb Raider (Film)

While Tomb Raider has existed since 1996, I didn’t really play any of the games until the 2013 reboot, Tomb Raider (2013), and its sequels, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Though they had flaws, I evidently enjoyed them enough to keep up with the series and felt interested in watching the 2018 film, Tomb Raider (2018). As with the games, I didn’t watch the other two Tomb Raider films with Angelina Jolie, so I didn’t have any expectations when I finally watched this film through Vudu. As both a video game adaptation and an action-adventure film, it’s not the worst but definitely needed some improvement.

Zack Snyder's Justice League

If there’s one thing Warner Bros.’ Justice League is known for, it’s its troubled production. During its original post-production period in 2017, director Zack Snyder stepped down due to the untimely death of his daughter, Autumn. At that point, Joss Whedon took over and went through two months of reshoots, resulting in a bifurcated mess of a movie. Though we thought nothing more of the film after its original release, diehard Zack Snyder fans started the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, which eventually actually worked when the studio formally announced a release of the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League for the HBO Max streaming service. Shortly after the HBO Max release, we sat down to watch it and generally agreed with the sentiment that it surpassed the original theatrical cut of the film, but found that its runtime of just over four hours held it back in places.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Though the rematch between monster movie icons King Kong and Godzilla lies just around the corner, our buildup to Godzilla vs Kong wouldn’t be complete without a look at its direct predecessor, Godzilla: King of the Monsters. With a five-year gap from Hollywood’s previous Godzilla film, Godzilla (2014), the film also doubles as a celebration of the franchise’s 65th anniversary and the first Hollywood Godzilla to feature other Toho kaiju. Though King of the Monsters generally pleased Godzilla fans, critics were harsher, mainly citing issues with the story and characters. After finally getting a chance to watch it ourselves, in 3D no less, we find ourselves agreeing more with the critics.

The Powerpuff Girls Movie

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Powerpuff Girls Movie.

When I first discovered the world of TV animation as a kid through Cartoon Network and its original generation of original IPs, The Powerpuff Girls was one of the first shows I got really hooked on and stayed with for most of its 1998-2005 run (and the less said about the 2016 reboot the better). Naturally, when a theatrically-released movie, known as The Powerpuff Girls Movie, was announced for 2002, I was excited at the prospect and saw it on the big screen when it came out. I recall being a little disappointed after walking out of the theater, as it turned out to be a feature-length origin story for the Powerpuff Girls and primary antagonist Mojo Jojo. However, some time after finding a copy of the DVD release for cheap at CD Trader, I decided to try and give this movie another chance. Over 18 years later, the movie held up a little better than I remembered, however while the animation is great, I had some issues with the storytelling.

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

After a viewing of Scooby-Doo (2002), we noticed that the sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, was also available for free streaming and decided we may as well give it a watch. Like the previous film, I remember seeing ads for it at the time, but nine-year-old me had no interest. Watching it now, we noticed immediate improvements over the original and I think I might’ve liked it as a kid, but it’s still not a great film.

Scooby-Doo

Note: This review contains spoilers for Scooby-Doo.

As we delved into other animated Scooby-Doo movies, we decided to also take a look at the 2002 live-action film, Scooby-Doo. One major aspect of this decision was the knowledge that James Gunn wrote the screenplay years before he got big with Guardians of the Galaxy. I remember the advertising not clicking with me when I was a kid, plus I also wasn’t that into Scooby-Doo at the time, but we decided to take advantage of a free Amazon Prime stream to actually watch it. As it turns out, nine-year-old me was smarter than 27-year-old me.

Scoob!

Scoob! finds itself at a unique point in history, both for releasing a little after the franchise’s 50th anniversary and for having its release affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This third big screen outing for Scooby-Doo was originally slated for a May 15, 2020 theatrical release, only to get delayed indefinitely by the pandemic, but then revert back to its original date as a Premium VOD release due in part to the success of Trolls: World Tour. Out of curiosity, and to fulfill the purpose of Scooby-Doo Month on this blog, we bought the film at $25 (as opposed to a $20 rental) and watched it on “opening day”. While we went in with uncertain expectations, especially with the knowledge this was meant to kickstart a Hanna-Berbera Cinematic Universe, we thought it ultimately fell flat, both in its intended goal and as a Scooby-Doo film.

Joker (2019)

In the midst of their slate of big-budget action-driven superhero films, Warner Bros. has released a, comparatively, low-budget character-driven film based on one of DC’s most iconic villains, the Joker. Giving the Joker his own film and making it a psychological thriller is rather fitting, but making it unconnected to the larger, and still-ongoing, DCEU is a bit of a gamble, if only due to the risk of confusing audiences about continuity. This risk seemed to pay off early, however, when it got an eight-minute standing ovation at the 76th Venice International Film Festival, where it also won the Golden Lion, the festival’s highest prize. After I saw the film in its opening weekend through a 35mm print, I walked away feeling like I generally agree with its praise, but there are certain elements that are not for everyone.

Batman & Robin

When watching movies, you’ll sometimes see one that already has a certain reputation, either good or bad. At this point, it’s best to watch it yourself just to see whether or not it deserves said reputation. You may find that the movie is either overhyped or underappreciated depending on your point of view or how other people have told you about it. In this case, the movie we happened to watch was Batman & Robin (1997), which, even from its initial release, gained and maintained a reputation as one of the worst movies of all time. Even though I haven’t seen Batman Returns (1992) or Batman Forever (1995) from the Burton/Schumacher tetralogy, I still found myself understanding this film’s reputation, though I feel it’s somewhat exaggerated.