Django (1966)

A lone man trekked through a muddy landscape, dragging a coffin behind him.  Though he carried a saddle, he had no horse.  Eventually, he stumbled upon several Mexicans whipping a woman.  Why?  No sooner had he spotted the horrific scene than the Mexicans were gunned down by five red-scarved men.  Were they to be her rescuers?  Maria (Loredana Nusciak) was a prostitute who had been a favorite of Major Jackson until she fled to the Mexicans.  Jackson hated Mexicans, killing them whenever he could.  Jackson's men - who all wore the red scarf - had been sent to execute Maria.  Before the men could burn Maria on a cross, Django (Frank Nero) finally revealed himself.  Jackson's men offered to put him in the coffin he dragged.  He gunned them all down.

The small town located near the Mexican border was almost completely abandoned.  Only Nathan's Saloon and Brothel was still active.  Everyone recognized Maria and suggested she leave immediately.  The same advice was given to Django.  He declined.  He was out for vengeance and would not leave until he had it.

Though entertaining, the story is ludicrous.  Django is a veteran of the Civil War, having fought for the North.  Unsurprisingly, Major Jackson fought for the South.  It is implied that Major Jackson killed Django's finance while Django was away.  Why else is he so obsessed with Jackson?  In any case, it is probably the late 1860s or so.  In his coffin, Django has a belt-fed machinegun.  Yeah, that didn't exist yet.  Worse, the belt with bullets hangs out of both sides of the gun and never feeds.  It appears to have unlimited ammo.  The gun is pure nonsense.  The setting must be in western New Mexico because the Mexican-American border isn't the Rio Grande, but Django mentions Pecos as a place to buy another machinegun.  The streets of town are always muddy, but it never rains.  Also, the mud is always fresh.  When Django leaves in the morning with his coffin and boots, the mud on both is still wet.

The movie is just a variation of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), which itself was a Western retelling of Yojimbo (1961).  Considering the number of Django-titled films, I expected more from this.  What made this so popular?  It was viewed as extremely violent for its time and is rated as one of the best Spaghetti Westerns not directed by Sergio Leone.  As an odd sidenote, Django was named after Django Reinhardt, a jazz guitarist who had a crippled hand; by the end of the movie, Django has two mutilated hands.  Strange.

Just okay.

Superman (2025)

On a frozen landscape, Superman (David Corenswet) plummeted from the sky and crashed into the hard-packed snow.  He wass bloody and beaten, having suffered his first defeat in battle.  He summoned Krypto, his dog, with a whistle.  The dog dragged him to the Fortress of Solitude.  Oddly, the fortress was inhabited by numbered robots - Four (Alan Tyduk) is the lead robot - who immediately tended to Superman's wounds.  Though far from fully healed, he left to resume his battle with the Hammer of Boravia.  The Hammer offered only a skirmish before withdrawing.  Recently, Superman had prevented a war between Boravia and Jarhanpur, thus the payback by the Hammer.  Superman's independent tinkering in foreign policy didn't please the Pentagon either and provided an excuse for Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) to move against Superman.  As the government knew they could not contain Superman, it outsourced the task to Luthorcorp.

This is a very different Superman movie than usual.  The immediate appearance of Krypto the superdog was a first.  The Justice League - here tentatively called the Justice Gang - is up and running.  In fact, it predates Superman, who has only been on scene as a hero for 3 years.  The Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) is the leader of the gang, which also has Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi).  The staff at the Daily Planet is larger than expected (i.e., lots of characters with speaking roles) and included Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Cat Grant, Steven Lombard, and at least one other guy.  Lois already knows that Clark and Superman are the same person; they are currently dating.  Lex also has an extensive band of minions, most of human are computer jockeys.  However, there is also girlfriend Even Teschmacher, and a couple of supervillains: Ultraman & the Engineer.  Then there are the add-on characters like Metamorpho, Jonathan & Martha Kent, Malik Ali the random citizen and Superman supporter, and President Vasil Ghurkos of Boravia.  So many characters.

DC has done this before.  Marvel has such a huge headstart in the cinematic universes that DC keeps trying to make a phase 2 or phase 3 movie when they haven't made the foundational movies.  Worse, it doesn't link with the existing movies.  Where are the crossover characters from Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and so on?  There is a cameo of Peacemaker (John Cena), but that's all I noticed.

How does Metropolis still exist?  During this film, the city is attacked by the Hammer of Boravia, suffers an attack from a Kaiju (think Godzilla), sees some giant jellyfish battling the Justice Gang, is ground zero for Superman's fight against Ultraman and the Engineer, and finally gets ripped in half by an expanding tear in the fabric of space.  No chance I would live here.

Considering the level of destruction, the portrayal of Superman saving people, dogs, and even squirrels was goofy.  Nonetheless, I like that David Corenswet is a return to the generally well-adjusted and cheerful Boy Scout rather than the grim and depressed Henry Cavill.

Too busy.  Too much background noise.  However, it was fun to watch.

Return of the War Department

President Trump has signed an executive order renaming the Defense Department to the War Department.  For most of American history, it was the War Department.  In 1949, it was changed to the Defense Department, presumably to be less hostile sounding.  Of course, since the change, the US has generally lost wars.  Defense is a passive term.  You stand behind your castle wall and hold off the attackers.  That's defense.  By renaming the department, we linguistically dumped half of the mission: offense.  Is it mere coincidence that we've lost wars ever since?  Probably.

Pete Hegseth becomes the first Secretary of War since Kenneth Royall in 1947.  Three presidents have served as the War Secretary - James Monroe, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Howard Taft.  Let's see how things go with a War Department for a few decades and hope things improve.