noahputt

I really don't enjoy watching a movie and feeling like I'm not in good hands with its director. Unfortunately, that was my experience with this iteration of Superman.

The choices made in this movie are so perplexing. Gunn did well with Guardians, but his vision for Superman (if he has one) is all over the place. The humor in Guardians generally worked, but Superman's scenes are littered with comedic beats that fall flat on their faces. (The animated dog, Krypto, is the only performance with comedic timing.)

If I had to guess, too many conflicting and overly-specific notes from the studio/producers are to blame for this mess of a movie, but that's me giving the creatives the benefit of the doubt.

People leaving harsh reviews for this movie need to lighten up. Messy as POOLMAN may be, I'd rather watch it than 99.99% of the "original" streaming movies that are out there. It's enjoyable to watch Pine, who clearly loves movies, just giving it his best shot and having a lot of fun in the process. If anything, I think the high production quality does the movie a disservice. But there's lots of love, charm, and earnestness in this movie, and I enjoyed its absurdity and silliness. Just give it a chance and try not to overthink it. If you don't like it, turn it off. Not everything is for everyone, but at least this one tries.

I don't think I would have appreciated this film if I'd seen it earlier in my life. Its depiction of life in small-town white America-its myths, its cruelties, its lies, its deprivations, its disparities, its loneliness, its disappointments, its bleakness, its nostalgia for a time that never was or will ever be again-is so specific, but so universal.

Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan are masters of their craft and steal the show. I don't know who else was nominated for Best Supporting Actress that year, but it's no wonder why Leachman took home the statue. A heartbreaking and flawless performance.

Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion is perfectly cast as the moral center of the film. His presence is meta in the best way possible, with no winks given. Just a simple, honest performance that speaks for itself (and another acting statue, to boot.)

It's fun to see a young Jeff Bridges just beginning his journey as an actor. Timothy Bottoms is good as the young protagonist Sunny, and makes you wonder why his career never took off. Maybe due to a limited range that lent itself well to Sunny but didn't translate to other roles? In her screen debut, Cybill Shepherd is appropriately vacuous, if somewhat one-dimensional.

Bogdanovich recreates the early 50s twenty years after the fact with a balance of verisimilitude and style-though sometimes leaning more heavily into style, with jarring Wellsian close ups and shadows. Everything feels deeply intentional, even if the intention isn't always clear.

I'm glad I caught The Last Picture Show while I still could. I can see why it's considered one of the great films of its time.