Change Your Image
qisfork
Reviews
Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020)
Just okay.
I was really excited for this one. Despite my feelings on him as a person, Max Landis really delivered a take on Superman that had lots of heart, soul, and wit in American Alien. Now, a few years later, Superman: Man of Tomorrow takes that story and wrings it dry.
It's not a direct adaptation, but the elements are clearly borrowed from Clark's sleepover as a child, to his initial Superman costume, to settings like LexCorp, and Lobo being his first fight against an alien. And I get it, adapting Max's work is rightly controversial, but I wish they had stuck it a little closer to the original comic than trying to make an original story out of his initial concepts.
What made American Alien work vs Man of Tomorrow is that it allowed Clark to be more experimental and full of personality. He got drunk, he reveled in how popular he was becoming, and sometimes he feared how powerful he actually was. Man of Tomorrow Clark feels dull, monotone, and completely lacking of charisma. I thought Darren Criss was a great choice for Clark, but I entirely put the blame on the direction rather than the choice of actor.
Even Lobo, one of the most bombastic personalities of DC, feels oddly stripped of his fun-ness as the score of the movie sticks itself into ambiance and silence rather than a big bodacious overture.
Tone, or lack there of, seems to be the biggest detractor of this film, making an hour and 26 minute film drag longer than 2 hour blockbusters, yet also feeling like its missing scenes that add any heart. I get it, Clark feels like an alien and is afraid to reveal his identity as one - but is that really the lesson you were adopting from American Alien?
I still await a Superman origin film that really encapsulates that "Kal-El" is the boy scout puffing his chest and Clark is the real American man underneath.
Also, making Parasite a Godzilla clone was just plain dumb. His death feels directly stolen from Shin Godzilla.
Muppets Now (2020)
Spots of Brilliance Steeped In Mediocrity
As a huge Muppets fan, I've given myself 3 years to get used to Matt Vogel's Kermit, and you know what? It's fine. I'm not going to focus on that to bring down the review, like others on here. I'm going to review this based on the content alone.
And man that content is STALE.
We return to the traditional sketch format but with a twist. Each skit is presented to us as Scooter uploads them from his computer. This replaces Kermit or Clifford introducing us to skits live on stage and it lacks any sense of energy or humor. Even worse, any other Muppet appearances are done via video chat on Scooter's desktop, so nobody is ever truly together during the interstitials like in Muppets Tonight, the Muppet Show, or hell even the Muppets on ABC. In fact, it reminds me of the Jim Henson Hour, which also failed to capture me because of the obsession to appeal to newer technology (back then, filming everything with a green screen, today - presenting everything via Zoom Call???). The problem with this format is that it doesn't allow for any chemistry between the puppeteers to shine and heavily reminds me that we're in a pandemic that forces everyone to be away from each other (even though this was filmed LAST YEAR). The decision to put the entire show in this format is so baffling to me, as it feels like an insanely inferior version to the viral Muppet clips from early YouTube (in which every clip ended with Statler and Waldorf making fun of the video). Speaking of which, two episodes in and where are they???
As for the skits, two episodes in, we're already getting repeat guests so they clearly filmed more than one skit in the same day and it feels very cheap. Beyond that, there's this obsession now to make all the skits educational and like buzzfeed or something. Strangely, this is another thing it happens to carry from the Jim Henson Hour. The Swedish Chef skits teach cooking with a guest star. Miss Piggy's Life"sty"le vlog reminds us of the importance of exercise and fitness, Bunsen and Beaker teach us about the elements. The appeal of the Muppets to me had always been in pure comedy for adults and kids alike, the injection of education makes the attempts at comedy much less genuine, and often ruin jokes entirely. Even then, some of the skits that aren't trying to educate are also really bland and feel ultra rehearsed. Kermit's Muppet Masters skit and Pepe's Gameshow comes to mind here. With the Muppet Masters skit, it's just... Not that funny, and seeing Miss Piggy yell out hashtags screams of a baby-boomer trying to remain relevant. Pepe's Game Show features two human characters that don't add anything to the humor at all. I understand they are marketing this as "unscripted" but the camera work and lighting design give the entire scene an ultra-rehearsed feel that further makes the two humans feel like actors reading from a script than genuine people. They also just didn't bounce off the Muppets that well, just having minor reactions to anything they were doing.
There is some sparks of brilliance I will say. I do enjoy the skits where Kermit attempts to interview guest stars. It feels like a nice call back to the original seasons of the Muppet show, however they do run a little long. Also, pretty much anything the Swedish Chef does is funny, but the turkey reacting to what he does immediately ruins the joke. The turkey is never a part of the joke, she just reacts to it alongside the guests and make comments about what he's doing, which is effectively just explaining the joke to the audience. Despite all that, he still manages to be pretty funny. I also did enjoy Beaker vs. the Alexa-Beaker in the 2nd episode, although I do imagine had Jim done it, it would've been a puppet rather than an actual object.
I suppose that's the problem at the end of the day though. A lot of the show feels cramped and made on a scratch thin budget. They're mostly working with the puppets they already have rather than making new exciting puppetry gags that Jim or Brian had done in the past. I know it's only been two episodes so far, but I can tell it's just the Muppets making Buzzfeed Education content. Even though we're FINALLY back to sketch based content, it's a far cry from what the Muppets really need to do produce back on top.
Strange considering they made a whole 2 movies on what made the Muppets good, and immediately recanted on that chasing "what's trendy."