Halloween is done for the year, and this is what this blog’s content will look like most of the time. Me talking about movies, TV shows, books and things that have been out for a while and people have mostly discussed to death already. I mean, it’s called Late to the Party for a reason.

I’m a fan of what James Gunn can do with material from comic books. I loved the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, I thought his version of Suicide Squad a massive improvement over the first movie and Peacemaker is fantastic, but I didn’t love his Superman.

This is a “me” problem though. The movie is very well made, it’s well acted, it’s fun, it sets up the larger DC cinematic universe, introduces cool new characters and it has that great mixture of action, comedy and character drama that Gunn does so well. My only criticisms are that Lex’s plot feels unoriginal and as much as I liked Mister Terrific and want to see more of Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, the “Justice Gang” weren’t instrumental in the plot. Those aren’t the reasons why I’ll probably not add this movie to my bluray collection though, it’s Superman himself.

Back in the early ‘80s, when we got our first VCR, home videos were too expensive for most people to buy themselves, almost everyone rented them, but, my dad managed to get us a bootleg VHS cassette that had two movies on it. Star Wars: A New Hope and the Christopher Reeves Superman, and my brother and I watched those two movies over, and over and over. We never got tired of them. That portrayal of The Man of Steel made a strong impression on us, and not just us, but everyone who played the character for the next few decades. Until David Corenswet.

Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain, Brandon Routh, Henry Cavil all had their own takes on the character, but they still played the Last Son of Krypton with certain consistent traits. Even Tom Welling on Smallville and the animators of Superman: The Animated series and Justice League portrayed him in a serious, upright, almost formal manner, so this latest incarnation’s casual, laid back, Everyman portrayal isn’t what I’m used to.

To be clear, it’s not bad, it isn’t wrong and I’m not going to start saying “He’s not the way Superman’s supposed to be.” I’ve been reading comic books long enough to know that whenever a character is handed over to a new creative team, things can change, but sometimes a change just doesn’t click with me. I stopped reading Spider-Man after just the first issue when Zeb Wells took over. Not because it was bad, but because I just didn’t like what he was doing with the character.

I think this is a Superman for a new generation (my grandson absolutely loved it). I’m probably just too used to seeing the character portrayed a certain way and can’t adapt my mind to seeing it done differently. I’m still looking forward to the next film of the James Gunn era. What I’m seeing from Supergirl looks great and Krypto was absolutely fantastic. I’ll probably watch the next Superman too. I didn’t hate this one, not by a long shot, but I won’t be rewatching it over and over like it’s 1981 again, or even like I’ve done with many of the MCU movies.