Tag Archives: David Corenswet

Supergirl (Craig Gillespie, 2026)a

 

I’m a big fan of the SUPERGIRL: WOMAN OF TOMORROW graphic novel on which the current SUPERGIRL film is based. I loved the idea of making Supergirl a punky, self-destructive young woman with issues, who heads off to planets with red suns so she can get good and proper drunk; and I think Milly Alcock is excellent. Screenwriter Ana Nogueira has woven in all these proto-feminist elements, the relationship between the super-powered young woman and the young girl out to avenge her family; making some of their biggest adversaries also be powerful women; a sub-theme of young women abducted by macho fascists for child-rearing purposes…..I’m beginning to see why so many young men of a certain type disliked the film. But there is more, more reasonable people may dislike. The director seems tone deaf to the story’s capabilities. A film called SUPERGIRL and Jason Momoa as a who-knows-what drunken semi-God has to rescue HER? Are you kidding? There are too many flashbacks, too much context-telling. But I love Milly Alcok’s bruised, determined, face, fuelled by rebellion. I wish the film had been better. Matthias Schoenaerts is wonderful as the villain (though again the film could have better showcased his performance). David Corenswet, who I love as the most recent Superman, is not only wasted here, but rather diminished, something this director seems to have a knack for.

José Arroyo

Eavesdropping at the Movies: 447 – Superman (2025)

DC, which for the best part of two decades has failed to put together a cinematic universe of comic book adaptations to rival Marvel’s MCU, regroups and goes again with director James Gunn in charge of what will be known as the DCU – and what better superhero to introduce the new brand than the original: Superman.

David Corenswet’s performance and physique are extremely appealing, recalling an era before steroids and dehydration were considered compulsory in order for a man to be thought of as sexy. We appreciate the film’s lightness of tone and sense of humour, although one of us argues that the whole experience is so audiovisually hyperactive and loud that the tone doesn’t support all the jokes, and it’s simply exhausting to endure. We also discuss wokeness, the right wing’s determination to have a culture war, and obvious parallels between Lex Luthor’s villainy and that of Donald Trump; destruction of cities and the concomitant human cost; what made the previous Lex Luthor interesting; and why putting on glasses is an effective method of disguise.

Listen on the players below, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, or YouTube Music.

With José Arroyo of First Impressions and Michael Glass of Writing About Film.