The Naked Gun (2025)

I was a big fan of the silly humor of the original Police Squad and its follow-on movies.  This latest in the exploits of the LAPD’s special squad now follows Frank Drebin’s son, played by Liam Neeson.  He has the same straight-man vibe that Leslie Nielsen did that made the first run so successful.  The movie pays homage to original cast members (and in one case DOESN’T pay homage on purpose). Pamela Anderson was a lot better as the female lead than I expected.

It has been years since I have heard my wife laugh so much at anything, so I think the movie is successful.  There were a couple of running gags that lost their effectiveness, but I admire that they kept up with it. We could do with more farce in our lives and the exercise of examining the background for the humor instead of what’s right in the foreground.

About the only jokes that fell flat for me were the ones intimating a sex scene when looked at via infrared goggles.  For me, that just went to a place that I don’t remember the original stooping to for laughs.  I suppose that might be the influence of Seth McFarlane, or it just might be what’s permissible now versus the late 1980s.

It was great to watch a movie with less than a ninety-minute runtime, and that included watching the credits for some additional smirks and laughs.  I blinked to miss the movie’s run in theaters but was glad to see it on Paramount+.

 

Superman (2025, HBOMax)

I’d been putting off my first “home watch” of the Superman reboot and the right time came up yesterday.  After reading all of the “Easter Egg” site posts, it turns out that the major thing that I missed (the mural of heroes in the Hall of Justice)  is a background detail that you can’t focus on without screen grabs anyway!

It’s been three months since the big-screen release and on this rewatch, David Corenswet’s Supes and Clark Kent hold up. Ditto Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane.  More props to Skyler Gisando as the best Jimmy Olsen since Jack Larson.

Bringing in the minor characters of Otis and Miss Teschmacher from the Donner Superman (1978) was a nice nod to the fan base, but having so much screen time devoted to evil genius Lex Luthor as a bingo caller  (B2! I16! G12! G12!) seemed to cheapen the rest of the plotting to discredit and kill Supes.

My personal jury is still out on James Gunn’s take on the DCU. He’s doing many good things, but with the Gunnsian florishes that border on grating with me. The obscure punk music accompanying a slo-mo battle won’t ALWAYS work.  He’s getting the overall tone right, though, so I guess you have to allow a guy his tells.

Speaking of Guy–Nathan Fillion is doing a good job as Green Lantern, but I finally figured out what’s bothering me. NOT the haircut, but that he should be a redhead.  The character of Hawkgirl feels like a token female superhero; she hasn’t had much to do.  Mr. Terrific seems a little too “street” for the third-smartest man in the world–the performance goes back and forth for me.

They took a major “liberty” with Metamorpho’s powerset to further the plot. (He’s supposed to be able to make the elements that occur within the human body, so kryptonite shouldn’t be one of them.)  It was such a relief not to have origin stories for heroes OR villains in this movie that James Gunn gets slack from me for not sticking to 100% fanboy approval here.

July 11, 2025 Shared with Your friends

Spent some time tonight rereading some of the ‘new classic’ Superman stories. A tiny bit in the movie is from All-Star Superman; didn’t see anything directly cribbed from Superman for All Seasons. But Gunn took the feel from so much overall. Couldn’t absorb all the ‘thanks’ at the end but a lot of creators I respect were named. Go see it…. You will believe a man can fly.

New note: After having seen Peacemaker S2 credits, it looks like a standard of DC Studios content is going to be to thank all of the creators of the characters in the comics.  It was great to see Mart Nodell (creator of Green Lantern) and Ramona Fradon (creator of Metamorpho) listed in there beside a veritable host of amazing talent from DC’s history.

 

How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)

NOTE: The show’s been finished for over ten years, but if you are watching it for the first time, don’t read this as it spoils some parts of the last season.

I had this to say after the series finale:

March 31, 2014
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OMG HIMYM. Strangely satisfying. Will say more later out of respect for those who couldn’t watch it tonight.

Only, I never went back and said more.  Lately, YouTube has been showing me short clips of HIMYM and I was reminded that Cristin Milioti played the Mother well before her Emmy-winning performance on The Penguin. (And, wow, two very different characters!)

I was invested in the show as it aired, and after watching a few of those clips I went back and found that the series was on Hulu, and watched four episodes of season 9, their last.

I was bowled over by Milioti’s performance, and the way that she and Ted were perfect together was a joy to watch, especially recalling all of the near misses before they met on the train platform in Milioti’s standout episode 16, “How Your Mother Met Me.”

Watching their near-misses and meet-cute encapsulated reminds me a bit of the opening of Up, when we witness one of the greatest love stories ever, and then we get the rest of the movie.  That’s more appropriate than I first realized, as in HIMYM we see years of loving moments with Ted and Tracy only to find out she died of an unspecified illness.

The show’s creators always intended the ending they left us with (even filming the kids’ parts years before).  I don’t know if I would still call the ending “satisfying.”  I do know that Ted was incredibly lucky to have found his true love.  In my fifties, having watched many relationships around me, I realize that the kind of do-over Ted and Robin get is something incredibly rare and precious.  Maybe I’d be happier with the ending if that came through just a little more.