Superman (2025), Hiruko The Goblin, & Hell Comes To Frogtown

Will be trying to get back into film recommendations again, and sometimes these will be fairly brief as I just may port over some of my Letterboxd reviews. Figure a quick rec is better than nothing.

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It's ok to not like things, but I feel like if you don't like this even a little you're trying too hard. Or you're just a piece of shit, y'know.

I've got my tiny little nitpicks, but I felt joy. I felt joy and it was fun, and goddamn I missed seeing fun in Superman movies.

And again, it's ok to not like things. But after working in comic retail for over 25 years and having to listen to people constantly say they don't like Superman for whatever reasons (he's OP, he's generic, he's too boring, too nice), that sounds more like a you problem than a Superman problem. Ya'll don't realize how starved we were as a society for just a good boy to show up and save a squirrel and hug a loving dad.

The nitpicks? I generally don't like seeing the other heroes be so murdery. Hawkgirl pretty much pulled off a move that Swift from the Authority would do, so you can kind of see Gunn positioning for his Authority launch down the road. I don't really feel the need to see the Authority made into a film, and if they're going to cross pollinate hard (will the Justice Gang just be the Authority? Will Guy Gardner be part of the Authority? These are just mixes I don't think we need) then it feels like it's going to be muddy. But, again, nitpicks, and for things that may not happen and if they do they are far down the road.

The twist on Supe's biological parents Jor-El and Lara felt.....pretty bleh. We've had variations kinda like that previously, and I didn't like them either. But I guess it needed to happen to further Luthor's plot, and in the end it's a small bit of the film.

Everything else though, just a fun time. Performances were solid, and they nailed a lot of the characterizations I wanted to see. They were able to present the heart of Clark while also bringing the character into the present and they made him completely charming. The Daily Planet staff was fun, and the only downside was we just didn't get to see more of them. Hoult's Luthor was fantastic, and I just really appreciate starting this iteration with a strong Luthor showing. Loved the Justice Gang (again, just coulda done with less killing), and it's amazing to see Mr. Terrific get the spotlight .

The online bitchfests revolving around this are almost amusing if they just weren't absolutely soul sucking in their stupidity. It's enough to know that the usual trash that would whine about Superman being woke hate this, so therefor I went into it knowing that I would enjoy it. And hey, look at that, a fun action adventure that champions the idea of empathy and being kind turned out to be a great time.

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Hiruko the Goblin (1991)

Aw yiss, this is my shit. Love the Raimi vibes in camera work, love the deadhead spiders. Great visuals and tone all around.

Think Evil Dead meets Junji Ito and you kinda get the tonal gist. There's some great atmosphere throughout and a lot of fun practical effects. The effects are also a bit cheesy, but that just works in the film's favor.

If you like J-Horror, body horror, and the feeling of early 90's Japanese cinema just doing crazy things, do yourself a favor and check this out.

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Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988)

This is kind of a 'the Matrix was just rewritten' kind of moment for me because while the movie is bizarre I find that it's even more bizarre that I've only just heard about it for the first time ever. And I mean sure that happens, but the fact that nobody in my life once thought 'Maybe I should mention that Roddy Piper was in a post-apocalyptic sex satire film with frog mutants' is frankly disappointing and insulting.

And as I watch and learn more about it, it's like:

Wait, this is one in a trilogy of post apocalyptic frog films? They kept making them?Wait, Steve Wang of the Guyver did the frogs? (And they're awesome, btw)

Wait, this director also worked on Pocket Ninjas before he was replaced on that project?

Wait, you replaced Roddy Piper with Robert Z'dar as Sam Hell in the next installment?

It's endlessly befuddling to me, and in mostly a good way.

Overall, fun and silly. There's some questionable moments here and there but for B film trash it mostly handles the sex comedy stuff ok when compared to other crap of the same production level.