Very enjoyable indeed, and it seems we’re finally free from the Snyder influence as well as the colour-drained imagery. This is Superman not just in primary colours but as an unabashed boy scout, a good person who often lets a nice, calming remark go with the rescue of an understandably frightened person. I was often reminded of JMS’ memoirs in which he wrote what Clark Kent meant to him as a child - someone who is above all other things kind, who combines his strength with decency, who was a friend. (Given JMS had the abusive childhood from hell, fictional Superman was literally the only person who was.) Also, director James Gunn doesn’t go for the relentless slapstick/gag machinery which had put me off the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie for a while (and off Thor: Ragnarök), which isn’t so say the movie is without humour, absolutely not, but it’s used in a way that leaves the more serious scenes room to breathe. Perhaps the fact helps that we have here in the year 2025 a movie with a hero who is an illegal alien (and gets explicitly attacked for that reason), whose enemy is a demagogic techbro billionaire who uses literal evil monkeys on social media to campaign against him (and that’s the most restrained thing he does, his other plots going all the way to the usual world endangerment as par the supervillain course), and a US government who thinks nothing of teaming up both with the billionaire and with villainous foreign dictators, outsourcing the imprisonment of our immigrant hero to them to get rid of the pesky human rights he’d nominally have on US shore…. Yeah.

(Subtle, this movie is not.)

I loved how absolutely committed to its comics origin the film is, most obviously with Krypto. If you’ve seen the trailer: Krypto’s appearances in the movie are all like this in tone during the movie, and it’s adorable even for a cat person like me. Most of all, I loved that Lois Lane, played by Rachel “Mrs. Maisel” Brosnahan, really gets to be a reporter in every fibre of her being, in a show, not tell manner. The scene in which after Clark made the mistake of saying he’d let her interview him as Superman she relentlessly grills him (not in an unfair way, I hasten to add, but asking exactly all the questions which a good reporter WOULD ask in this particular situation) is as good as advertised, and it’s Lois’ reporter instincts that hugely lead to saving the day. (Along with various other factors and people, making this in addition to everything else a good ensemble movie. Also, since the movie starts with her and Clark already in a relationship and with her knowing he’s Superman, we skip the Lois-Clark-Superman-secret identity trope. (Look, I loved Lois & Clark in the 1990s, but it really would not work anymore today if we’re to believe in Lois the excellent reporter. )

( Somewhat more spoilery from here )

In conclusion, I really liked this one, and look forward to Gunn’s further contributions to the DC movieverse.

In which Gaal unleashes her inner Hari, and lots of revelations happen in all plotlines.

( Spoilers need to get the plan back on track by any means necessary )

Since because of Foundation I'm currently watching Apple plus again, I also marathoned the first season of Silo, which I didn't have the chance to do last time I watched Apple. In the meantime, I had watched the series Paradise over a the Mouse Streaming Service, and in reviews, comparisons to Silo had been made, which enhanced my curiosity. (Now that I've seen the first seson, I know why, though I would say the shows are far more different than similar, even the resoective premises. At best, you have some parallels in some of the conditions and in one of the results. Which is why I still think it was a mistake to not conclude Paradise (which had a good season, don't get me wrong, but I think the quintessential core story is told within it) as opposed to giving it another season, whereas I look forward to Silo's second season (because while the first one has a concluded main story arc, it is very much written as the start of a larger story).

( Spoilers don't know who built the Silo, or why )