I am not committing to watching all the animated slop coming down the pike. But I am pretty fascinated by what James Gunn is cooking up right now even if it’s not exactly been tailored to my tastes.
3. Peacemaker Season 2
This season is somehow worse than the first season mostly because now the show is not this odd duck outside a mess of a superhero universe. Now, it’s a key cog in the new DCU. The central premise of this season was that John Cena has secretly had access to a portal to other dimensions this entire time and this allowed him now to reunite with his family. It seemed to be an ideal world until it was revealed America had become a fully Nazi state. I don’t know. Sure. I did nazi it coming if nothing else.
2. Peacemaker Season 1
Is this show good? No. Does it help pass the time when you are on the treadmill? Kind of. The Butterflies gimmick is a great story for a “superhero” television show. John Cena is JUST capable enough to lead a television show. The other characters are solid enough. So what is the show’s problem? It just feels like everyone is acting like Ryan Reynolds here only to dialogue written by James Gunn that is still infected by Joss Whedon. Like, even as a mild Ryan Reynolds apologist, I don’t want to watch a show with everyone doing Ryan Reynolds impressions.
1. Superman
James Gunn has gone full nice-core with Superman in a mostly competent film that is not unpleasant to watch but also inspires no wonder or excitement. Our latest Superman is explicitly designed to kick off a new DC film universe, but it also wants to be its own standalone film, blah blah blah we have been living in this world for almost two decades now. We know the deal. It’s all fine.
The film is well cast, mostly speeds on by, is mostly inoffensive, and even has the benefit of rather bluntly and directly presents a version of America where corporations and the military work hand-in-hand to a run a series of client states around the world at the expense of the third world in order to enrich a handful in this country.
To what end? I do not know, and I guess it does not matter. Maybe this is just the best we can do. Maybe the era of truly interesting films about comic book super heroes is over. Or maybe I am just too old to find any joy in the new ones. Either way, something feels irrevocably broken when it comes to big studios making movies without genuine geniuses behind the screen.
The Reel World 