Movie Review of “Superman” (2025)

superman

© James Pyles

Last night, I watched James Gunn’s Superman (2025). OMG, where do I begin?

Oh, Spoiler Alert. This review is full of them.

First of all, let me say that I get where Gunn was taking the film and the character. He was balancing Superman as an alien vs Clark as a human. This is seen both in how goofy (in my opinion) both Superman and Clark (played by David Corenswet) appear and behave. Face it. Clark really doesn’t have to act like an inept nebbish to keep people from finding out he’s Superman. Why would people even believe Superman has another identity and if he did, he could be anyone living anywhere.

The secret to Clark’s insecurities, sometimes unstable behavior, and pathetically Boy Scout (even by campy comic book and earlier movie and TV standards) actions and attitudes lies in his humanity, in being raised by Martha and Jonathan Kent on a farm in Kansas.

The Kents, played by Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell respectively, are the quintessential country hicks. I’ve worked in rural settings before, and Ma and Pa Kent might as well have been Ma and Pa Kettle. They weren’t necessarily strong or heroic and are never seen struggling over raising a son from outer space. They’re “just plain folks” and their defining characteristic is how much they love their son.

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Writing in Light

candles

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

“You want me to write about Hanukah on Christmas Eve.” Mike pressed send in the chat.

“It’s an optional extra credit writing assignment,” Charlotte replied in chat. “Anyway, I thought you didn’t celebrate Christmas.”

“Not in the traditional sense. I don’t believe Jesus was born anywhere near December. Besides, nothing in the Bible says to celebrate his birth,” he sent.

“The assignment is Hanukah,” she replied.

“Okay, how about this? The Hanukah candles held a double meaning for him, both indicating miracles, the burning of the oil to rededicate the Temple for eight days, and the Light of the World.”

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Book Review of “Cold Days” (2012)

cold days

© James Pyles

This morning I finished reading Jim Butcher’s Cold Days (2012), the 14th book in “The Dresden Files” series.

Chicago’s resident wizard, Harry Dresden, is back from the dead. He’s also now the Winter Knight serving the often cruel Winter Queen Mab, and has to figure out what to do since everyone he’s ever known thinks he’s literally six feet under.

Spoiler Alert: This review’s loaded with them so if you haven’t read the novel and want to be surprised, stop here. I will say that the book is well worth your time as are all the others in the series.

Anyway…

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Kickstarter for “Ruins: A Space Opera Anthology”

ruins

Promotional image for the anthology “Ruins.”

Across the vast expanse of space and time lie the remnants of civilizations that reached for the stars—and vanished. Silent cities carved into asteroids. Derelict megastructures drifting between galaxies. Temples buried beneath the red sands of dead worlds.

This book contains 13 bold tales of humanity’s encounters with these cosmic ruins.

That’s how the narrative for the Kickstarter for “Ruins: A Space Opera Anthology” begins.

Just to be clear:

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Death’s a Beach

beach

PHOTO PROMPT © Peter Abbey

For everyone else, it looked like a normal December on the beach in California. Some folks still enjoyed a “too cold for me” dip in the ocean. More, like me, just wanted to walk in the semi-warm weather.

Death always haunts us since, after all, we’re mortal. However some deaths hit harder than others. Most of them are family and friends. Every once in a while, it’s a public figure that some love and others hate.

Then they seem to either get too much of one or the other, at least on social media. I’d rather be walking on sand.

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The Trickster Healer

alley

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

He finally found his prey in a tourist attraction. It took months, working with a couple of dozen patients on his caseload, listening to hundreds of hours of tape. Finally it paid off.

“Dr. Chiron.” Andrew looked up from the bench in the middle of the alley. “What are you doing here?” Andrew’s right hand twitched as if he wanted to reach for the gun in his jacket.

“I knew you’d be here at this moment.” Jacob Chiron pulled the trigger of his semi-automatic three times eliminating another serial killer. Being a psychologist was a good cover for hunting them.

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Review of “Jurassic World: Rebirth” (2025)

rebirth

© James Pyles

In my last review, I mentioned getting two movies from the public library. The second was Jurassic World: Rebirth. I almost want to say “reboot” because we get a whole new cast of characters, most notably Scarlett Johansson playing the mercenary Zora Bennett.

The film takes place a few years after events in Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) starring another Marvel movie alum Chris Pratt as Owen Grady. Dinosaurs are now sharing the planet with all the other 21st century life forms including humans. However, due to changes in oxygen, temperature, and so on, most dinos are living in areas somewhere near the equator. That’s a convenient way to limit their exposure to people, but it was previously established that at least some dinosaurs can live in colder climates.

Well, this is entertainment.

Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen the film and want to be surprised, read no further. You have been warned.

The movie starts in 2008 in a dinosaur genetics lab on Île Saint-Hubert. In previous films, we’ve already seen that audiences got bored seeing the “same old dinosaurs,” so the big money people demanded that the scientists create ever more exciting (and more dangerous) hybrids. The lab has a stupid accident, dropping containment and all hell breaks loose.

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Review of “Captain America: Brave New World” (2025)

brave

© James Pyles

Last night, I watched a couple of movies I got from my local public library branch. The first one was Captain America: Brave New World (2025). I have to agree with the opinions of most of the other folks who have long since seen this film. It wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t great either.

Spoiler Alert: Before I go on, be aware there are plenty of spoilers below. You have been warned.

I should say that I’ve never seen any episodes of the TV show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) nor do I intend to. I’ll assume that the little bits and pieces in the movie I didn’t understand such as who the heck Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) was supposed to be were introduced in that series.

It seemed a little improbable that Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) was President of the United States given how hostile and aggressive he had been across his military career. Then again, there were a few small parallels to our real-life President Donald Trump, so maybe it wasn’t such a fantastic leap.

The movie, from what I understand, was styled after any number of political thrillers involving dark conspiracies. That said, I think Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) did a better job in that arena.

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Fear Burns Like A Fire

market

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

The dark woman looked nervous as she served the older white couple their coffee.

“Thanks.” He nodded his head and smiled when she set the tray down. His wife looked at the waitress, the owner’s granddaughter, with unbidden pity.

“This is the last place in town to get a decent cup of coffee,” he said putting two sugar cubes into his small cup.

“Harry, she was scared to death of us,” said his wife.

“I can hardly blame her.” He took a sip and decided it needed to cool. “The whole anti-immigrant movement has chased away most families like hers.”

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Book Review: “In Shadow Spawned: The Shattered Throne Sequence Book One”

in shadow spawned

© James Pyles

I’ve worked with authors Jason Russell and A.S. Charly before, but as an author submitting stories to a publisher, namely Starry Eyed Press. I’ve also read and reviewed books they have previously written. Since I believe one good turn deserves another (and I hope they’ll review some of the stuff I didn’t write for them), I decided to buy and review their latest offering In Shadow Spawned: The Shattered Throne Sequence Book One

It’s available from Amazon in Hardcover, paperback, and Kindle formats. I chose the latter for affordability and instant access.

NOTE: There are some spoilers in my review so keep that in mind before continuing.

The story takes place in the mythical realm of Delandaar, an ancient time of Kings and Empires which also includes wielders of something called Glyphs. These are conceptual objects that existed before the first human languages and adepts can learn to manipulate the power of their meaning.

The novel opens with one such practitioner, Daks, in pursuit of someone or something that has attempted to assassinate his King. He fails to catch it, but whatever force committed the deed is not an isolated occurrence. Other mysterious and terrible events have been happening across the countryside. Those activities spur not only Daks, but a number of other people and groups into the adventures we see in this novel.

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