film + tv reviews

23 July 2025 - Superman - 5/5 STARS

Kindness is punk rock.

Admittedly, I've been hesitant to engage with DC as a lifelong Marvel girlie, but this film was genuinely such an amazing experience. Upon actually engaging with Superman as a character, my blatantly-ignorant opinion of his "basic-ness" has shifted to an understanding that he is SO FUCKING COOL BRO!!! HOW WAS I A HATER FOR THIS LONG??!??

Um... anyway. After seeing this movie, I've come to the understanding that Superman is my exact favorite character archetype that I see in so many of the stories I consume. At the end of the day, he has love and empathy for everyone and everything, he's able to get knocked down and admit when he has "lost," and despite the fact that he is an alien, his greatest strength is his deep-rooted humanity. He carries this love for people despite knowing of atrocities... The good, the bad, and the ugly of humanity don't change a thing in his unending love for them. And good lord, I eat that shit up!! Autistic girlies with high empathy: I know y'all know what's up...

As I said with Thunderbolts*, this film is immensly comforting and to me, what super hero films are really about. I'm esctatic that this is the type of Superman we get and, really, it just proves that love is - love has always been - the punk rock thing to do.

15 May 2025 - Thunderbolts* - 4.5/5 STARS

I recently watched an interview with James Gunn where he said something along the lines of, "Super hero fatigue isn't real, what's happening is really mediocrity-fatigue." It's a sentiment I've thought about a surprising amount since I heard it, and I think Thunderbolts* exemplified an - at least, temporary - end to that mediocrity-fatigue. It was a breath of fresh air!

I could probably talk forever about Yelena and how her characterization is so much different (better!) from the unfortunate characterization of her sister, Nat, but I have limited space here! The found-family trope, the overarching theme of "you are not alone," and the down-to-Earth characters made this film immensly comforting, funny, and so enjoyable to watch.